A HUGE congratulations to each and every one of you for creating some terrific film openings. You have all demonstrated considerable skill(s) in the process and the end results are particularly pleasing. It’s a real shame that these do not form part of your final grade, but I hope that you feel that you have all achieved something from the process.
They can be viewed here: http://www.vimeo.com/user1506020
Have a great holiday 
Just a wee update to highlight that past papers for all levels of Media Studies can be found on the SQA website here http://www.sqa.org.uk/pastpapers/findpastpaper.htm?subject=Media%20Studies
Please download these for practice purposes and to develop your awareness of what is expected of you in the exam.
Marking instructions for the papers can be found here http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/4399.html It is crucial that you look at these too so that you understand what the marker is looking for.
Have fun!
Have recently been enjoying checking out the mass of short films that are available on the BBC Film Network site. I would urge you to spend some time delving into the library that they have of up and coming new talent within British film. For example this short Dragonfly is so simple and effective, yet it really encapsulates so much about a young boy’s desire to escape the hardships of his homelife - I’m certain that one or two of you will be inspired by it. I also liked the short film Dog which is quite a dark animated tale of loss and comfort.
It just goes to show that we have so much talent in this country.
Your task: find a different short film on the site, share it with the class and blog about it.
Just a few pointers regarding your Media Production Unit. It’s great to see so many of you engaging with this aspect of the course and use your creativity and research skills to their potential. Am also pleased to see groups discussing the obstacles that they have encountered so far and that you are making tracks to overcome these - remember that everyone has a voice and you must listen to them!
Keep up the great work!
Your Brief:
Create an opening sequence to a film in the genre of a thriller - 2 minutes.
• medium (film)
• purpose (entertainment)
• form (opening sequence)
• genre (thriller)
• target audience (teenagers 15 -19. ALSO remember that these videos will be put on my Vimeo page where parents, teachers, and general members of the public will be able to view them)
• length (no less than 2 minutes)
• deadline (end of March 2010)
• internal controls (eg group size, available resources, weather, locations, access to information)
• external controls (eg legal, regulatory and/or market controls). This is not really applicable for this production, but do think about organisations like the BBFC.
What I am looking for:
An effective opening which establishes the central narrative.
Continuity editing
Mise-en-scene that relates to the whole film (eg a character’s clothing, props, makeup)
Lighting
Effective and appropriate use of music
Use of thriller conventions (eg an enigma), especially film noir.
Good communication and negotiation skills
Use of technical terms
This is an absolutely wonderful site, full of key insights into what documentary filmmakers consider to be of value in their art. A wide range of documentary filmmakers give their opinions about the different strands of this genre and it all “comes from the horses mouth”, as it were! Here is the link to the site Capturing Reality
The site includes these topics:
Getting Started
Exploring the Genre
Planning and Preparation
Relationships
Truth, Perspective, and Ethics
The Shoot
Sound
Editing
Final Thoughts and Anecdotes
This is ’stolen’ from the great site AS and A2 Media Studies
These sites are great for establishing the relative success or failure of case study films at the box office. Remember that DVD sales at Amazon (their rankings for the film’s respective genres) is another indicator.
Try their search engine. They are great for statistics including box office stats., etc.
http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org/weekendboxoffice
http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/distributionandexhibition
Another useful site for stats and info. is IMDB. See their left hand columns after finding your institution’s films. Search other parts of the site, too.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1131729/business
Wikipedia has got to be a useful port of call for each part of your case study film and its institutions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boat_That_Rocked
Newspaper reviews are often crucial for discovering the reasons why a film succeeded or failed. Newspaper reviews are also a key source for finding out about box office statistics and comparisons with other or previous films in the same genre:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2009/apr/07/richard-curtis-boat-that-rocked-box-office
http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/86395/the-boat-that-rocked.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-boat-that-rocked-15-1660783.html
Pearl and Dean - business section is really useful for statistics, target audiences, comparisons with films in the same genre, etc.
http://business.pearlanddean.com/
Check out this very good site that contains lots of video interviews with directors, editors, cinematographers etc http://www.makingof.com/
Here’s a bit of blurb about it:
MakingOf is a behind-the-scenes Web destination, founded by Natalie Portman 
and Christine Aylward, that provides an intimate, fresh look into the process of creating entertainment by the insiders themselves. Our mission is to champion the art and craft of entertainment creation. We started MakingOf because we realized that so much of what goes into entertainment creation is unavailable to the people who love and consume it the most. We wanted to give fans a way to experience that creation and learn from the insiders and thus MakingOf was born. When you visit MakingOf you will experience behind-the-scenes content, exclusive access to industry insiders, and an interactive, entertainment-focused community forum. It is your all-access pass to learn from and interact with actors, directors, producers, writers, and more. Film school for everyone! And film is just the start. Stay posted as we add additional features.
MakingOf has four main features:
Filming Now: Come backstage and explore behind-the-scenes content captured during the creation process. We’ll bring you on set, where you’ll learn about everything from casting to editing. This section of the site will also offer interviews, movie trailers, photos, and unseen clips. Stay posted as we add additional features and refresh our content.
Community: Coming soon to MakingOf is an interactive network for you to engage with industry experts and to exchange ideas, gain knowledge and connect with your fellow fans. Register now
Wisdom from the Insiders: Hear exclusive interviews with leading industry insiders. Learn about your favorite filmmakers’ passions and inspirations. And — if you’re interested in the profession of filmmaking — get advice from the people who live and breathe film.
The Vault: Revisit movies of the past as we take you behind the scenes into our library of content that includes interviews, movie trailers, photos, and unseen clips. Stay posted as we add additional features and movies.
Here is an excellent article on the documentary that we will (almost certainly) be watching and analysing next term as part of our Non-Fiction unit. It’s taken from here http://www.dfgdocs.com/Resources/Doc_Reviews/113.aspx
On August 7, 1974, a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit steps out on a wire suspended between the World Trade Center’s twin towers. At 1,350 feet above ground, he dances on the wire with no safety net for almost an hour, crossing it eight times before he is arrested for what becomes known as “the artistic crime of the century.” After six years of obsessive planning, Petit became an overnight sensation.
Man on Wire, by director James Marsh, garnered top jury and audience prizes at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival for its brilliant retelling of Philippe Petit’s clandestine highwire act. Marsh boils Petit’s act down to its criminal yet playful essence, and lays out the story like a heist-thriller movie. The result is a portrait of a bank robbery or criminal conspiracy for the good, the planning of which lasts eight years and six months.
Man on Wire is a fascinating watch from many angles. If anything the sheer mechanics of this stunt are enough to get someone to watch the film. How does one casually run a cable between the twin towers? But the real meat of the film, and half its brilliance, revolves rather around Petit’s strategic and meticulous planning for what he and his cohorts came to call “the coup”. The other half, and the very reason it garnered prominent awards at Sundance, is in the film’s masterful telling.
The film is driven by interviews and recollections from Petit and his accomplices. Petit himself is an artist of unusual charm and a very energetic and entertaining raconteur. Had Marsh conceived his film as a single talking-head shot of Petit alone, that would have been enough. But Marsh managed to assemble the entire stunt crew to help balance Petit’s mania, and has them each candidly recount their own part in the masterplan.
Marsh skillfully weaves two timelines into the story: the procedures on the day of, and the six years leading up to, the coup. The day of the coup is illustrated through the very skillful use of staged reconstructions, and from the very beginning the film feels like the windup to a heist-thriller. And unlike many docs including freshly staged action, the line between new and archive is fairly invisible.
The second narrative features old footage of Petit and his crew practicing in a field in France. The footage is playful and amusing, and helps lend the matter its comic and innocent tone - something that is felt right up to the ultimate performance. The wire walk (or dance) itself ends up being a liberating and refreshing act of non-violent criminality, that warrants its place in New York folklore.
Man on Wire is literally wonderful and majestic, and is best suited to a theatrical viewing. Petit and his gang all still seem enveloped in wonder that such a thing could be accomplished. Indeed Petit’s feat seems even more wondrous when you consider that the fragile Frenchman survives while the mighty towers lie in ruins.
In fact, though there are no overt and deliberate associations made with 9/11, one cannot help but draw a connection with the latest perpetration that the twin towers have come to be remembered for. James Marsh is a resident of New York, and perhaps this movie comes as an unconscious reaction to the more somber mood that the towers have come to symbolize, and is his attempt to reclaim a pleasant memory of them.
The links to these two slideshows have just come to my attention.
Can’t remember if Scribd can be accessed within school or not, but if it’s blocked, make sure you take a look at these slides at home and take some notes on what they say.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/14824555/Film-Distribution
http://www.scribd.com/doc/19965102/Brief-and-Intro-to-Audiences-and-Institutions
Came across quite a neat part of the BBC website which gives basic information to certain fonts used on 7 different movie posters.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/08/entertainment_knowledge_of_all_fonts/html/1.stm
This is more suitable for Intermediate One level, but could be used across levels.