Lighting

Key Lighting


Key lighting is the brightest light used in films and television, it is usually the main light of the set.

Fill Lighting


This is used to reduce contrast in a scene and heighten the light on certain objects to bring attention to them. Fill lighting is usually less intense than key lighting.


Back Lighting 


When subjects are illuminated from behind. This causes the subject to glow and keep other parts of the scene dark and helps separate the subject from the background.

High Lighting

This is usually used in sitcoms and comedies as it creates a light, happy, friendly vibe. It usually does not have any shadows or darkness.














Rim Lighting


Rim lighting is quite like back lighting, it highlights the object from behind and lightens important parts of the image. 


Chiaroscuro lighting

This uses very strong contrasts between strong and weak lighting and makes the other bolder creating a higher contrast and attracts the audience more as it is quite profound. 

Working Title Studios 5/4/2011

 Tim Bevan

At Working Title nothing happens without their sister company Universal (ownership).
First they find an idea, sometimes its from a book or a whole new idea and they then pitch the idea to do the producers. They make a draft of the script and it takes between 10-12 weeks - the script is the biggest department.

Piracy is affecting the DVD market the worst because DVDs are so expensive, they are now looking at bringing the prices down so more people will want to buy them to reduce piracy.

All films are tricky to make and it all depends on the people working on the film. Fact based movies are the hardest to make because they need to get all the infomation correct. Working Title made a film about 9/11 and that was the hardest film because it was about real life. When adapting a novel to film it's always a gamble because you don't know how the fans of the book will react to a adaptation.

Tim Bevan said that the most enjoyable part was the development stage and the editing.

SJ

Hungary is the best place to film because of the beautiful scenery and there are many locations, and also because is it one of the cheapest places to do so.

Atonement is an art-house film and cost £17 million to make (cheap for a period drama) and took 62 days of filming. It grossed a huge amount of $129,266,06. It is an adaption so it was a  bit of a gamble and though the ticket sales where dropping to see period dramas the DVD sales of Atonement rocketed. 
All the film was shot in locations around the UK.


This famous Dunkirk scene in Atonement took 7 takes and they only had one window to get it done in because of the lighting, the extras were all members of the army and there were only 500 so they tiled them along the beach to make it look like more, the props were all real including the ferris wheel!

What is British Film?

• Kings Speech

The plot is based on a true story about King George  VI who needs to overcome his stammer to speak on the radio at the start of WWII. It relates to British subject matter and all the main actors are English or Australian and caucasian. Stars are in the film such as Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, Geoffrey Rush (Aussie). The director is Tom Hooper and written by David Seidler who are both British. It is a British Historical Drama and is a period drama.
It was financed by the UK Film Council who gave £1m, this company is based in the UK.
The film was distributed by Momentum Pictures (UK), Paramount Pictures (Aus) and company in USA Weinstein company. It was released on 7th Jan 2011 to the public.

• 127 Hours

Another true story based on a man who goes rock climbing and doesn't tell anyone he went, he fell down a crevis and his arm got trapped under a boulder and he was stuck there for 5 days before cutting off his own arm to save his life. Aron Ralsten is played by American actor James Franco and directed by Danny Boyle who is British, he also directed Trainspotting, Sunshine and Slumdog Millionaire. The style of the film is a biographical adventure drama. It was released on the 7th Jan 2011 (the same as The Kings Speech). It was produced by Film4 and Handheld films and distributed by Fox, Pathe, WB.

• Another Year

A British film directed and written by Mike Leigh is a feel good drama about a married couple and their family and friends. All actors in the film are British though not very well known. It's very British and and was produced by Film4. It was all filmed in the UK

• Four Lions

A very dark British comedy about terrorists who aren't very good at there job. It's set in the UK but about the Islamic religion. Almost all of the actors are British but with different cultured backgrounds and parts of the film were filmed in Spain. 

Director is Chris Morris and he is british and has appeared in the IT Crowd.

• Made In Dagenham 

Loosely based on the true events of the 1968 car factory strike where woman walked out because of sexism. Set in Essex, UK and all the actors/actresses are British along with the director Nigel Cole who also directed Calendar Girls, another British film.

 

I consider all of the films apart from 127 Hours to be very British because they are all set in Britain and the characters are British. Four Lions is towards the non British side as the characters are foreign but it's still set in England. 127 Hours is a very American film despite being funded by Film4 and having a English director. It's a American story and filmed in America with American actors, so very unbritish. 

Today's Media

1. Issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media.
The issues with media ownership are that there is no competition - this leads to slow innovation and higher prices. Also it is very commercially driven and mainly applies to big corporations and advertisements; not the public.


2. The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing.
Cross media convergence and synergy is very important because it helps publicize the product. Such as Shaun of the Dead - a film and they also sold the soundtrack for it so the audience supports the film by buying it and producing more money for Working Title Films and Universal Studios.

Convergence is important because it enables a product to become more accessible for all the public; such as Microsoft's Xbox 360, not only is it a games console, but a DVD player and an internet modem - good for all the family.  


3.  The technologies that have come out in recent years. 
Technologies that have come out in recent years are smart phones such as Androids, Blackberrys and Apples iPhone. These enable people to do a wide range of things such as stream clips from Youtube, news and sporting clips, music, watch movies and much more. 

Working Title Films

Working Title Films is a British film production company, based in London, UK. The company was founded in 1983. It produces feature films and several television productions such as Atonement.
Atonement is a British film with actors, director and was filmed in Britain (and a bit of France). 
It was a huge hit and won many awards; including a Golden Globe.


Pride and Prejudice is also a Working Title Film and the poster shares the same kind of layout as Atonement. Also, Kiera Knightley features in both and is a typical British actress.
The background in both posters are quite British landscapes as well. 


Here is some information about how successful Atonement was at the BAFTAS.


These are the questions we would like to ask Working Title Films: 
-Would you ever consider being involved in making a 3D film?
-Do you think that eventually 3D will take over from ordinary film?
-What is your favourite film made by Working Title?

How Englishness is Represented in Midsummer Murders

Midsummer Murders has been in the news recently due to the lack of racial diversity in the series; which has been running for 14 years and has not had any complaint in the whole time it has been aired until now.
The producer Brian True-May said this is a representation of a typical small English village in the country and that in these parts of England the racial diversity is lacking. In a lot of cases this is very true, many rural areas do not have people of a different culture living there, in some cases the citizens may have live there for their whole lives.

In the very first episode of Midsummer Murders it shows a quintessentially English village, filled with old ladies on traditional bikes, posh middle-aged men in motor cars, horseback riders and a farmer-y looking chap in a land rover. 

All the citizens in ‘Badgers Drift’ seem quite elderly, eccentric and nosey which is a stereotypical of an English person when being portrayed in television, and the accents they are given reflect the Queens; which to some foreign folk think all English people sound like. The register is very formal, even to friends, and the words they use all pronounced very well.

The houses in which these characters live in are quaint little cottages and old fashioned farm buildings – it’s a very idyllic looking location where nothing could ever go wrong; in the case of some English villages this is very true. The little lanes are surrounded by greenery and hedgerows, and are not wide enough to fit a bike and a land rover down – this suggests a very small population of the village and that the roads perhaps do not get used very much. If it was a very busy area a main road would be added.

Apart from the houses in the area is a small looking village shop and not a lot else, there are plenty of picnic baskets however – one of which the old lady is carry around on her bicycle.

Villages in England are very behind on the times, the decor in the houses is very out dated and the lady in the house is still using a dial telephone (next to it is a cup of tea which further fits the stereotype of the English) and when in the woods she is using a very old fashioned film camera – though this episode was shot in 1997 so we can’t expect too much from the technology.

Natural lighting is used throughout which creates an tranquil environment, the sound is largely diegetic using natural sounds such as birds chirping, leafs rustling in the wind and the bike rolling along the road. The only non-diegetic sound is the music which is quite cheery and summery, then it changes to a more eerie sound with more suspense which hints that something is out of place and all is not well in the perfect community. 

Hollyoaks

Hollyoaks

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Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is the 'second coming' of the internet, it is what it was originally intended for - to be used socially and it allows people to interact with others and put their own opinions out there. Facebook, myspace and Youtube are some of the biggest social networking sites in the world, and it is possible for anyone with access to internet to join these sites. 

The advantages of Web 2.0 is that everyone has a chance to voice their thoughts and information can be quickly distributed around the world. Sites such as Digg enable readers to either 'dig' something if they like it, or 'bury' something if they do not which gives the owner of the site more of an idea what the public likes. Many sites have been bought up by powerful companies to make more money, such as Youtube has been bought by Google now.

However the disadvantages are that anybody can post things on the internet and make up rumours, on sites like Wikipedia things can be altered by anyone, they have moderators but sometimes things slip through. There is also a huge struggle with copyright, because any one can upload things such as music and films, people can upload them for free and do as they want for them. But since Youtube got bought up by Google moderators have buckled down and are taking more control by getting rid of many copies of songs. 

How does the Skins promo trailer create representation of young people?

How does the skins promo trailer create representation of young people

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Explain, using specific examples, how the expansion of digital media has been an improvement for audiences.

Digital media has been a huge improvement for audiences over the last decade by the way in which people watch things and even where! Before you could only watch films and shows on TV or at the cinema, how you can watch pretty much anything on a laptop or even a games console now, and a plus of this is that it's more portable and you can watch it anywhere there is an internet connection. Smart phones, such as iPhones, Blackberrys and Androids  are also a huge technological advance as you can watch films etc on these also.

Since the early 2000s videos have been wiped out and DVD's took their place, they provide a much better and clearer image and sound, then to progress from these blu-ray discs have been released which take the experience to a whole new level. Watching films at home is now just as good as going to the cinema to see something. As well as films, there is a new way of viewing things on the TV with services such as freeview, Sky and Virgin Media. Sky and Virgin enable you to pause live TV, record things so you can watch it later and even record a whole series so you never have to miss an episode.

Now because more people can watch films there have been a lot more genres and sub-genres created to please the audience, a lot of viewers now are watching and enjoying cult films more than the big blockbusters of Hollywood. 'Paranormal Activity' was a massive hit world wide and it took very little money to make it. Whereas high budget films with well known actors such as Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie in'Frank' was a big flop and got many bad reviews.

Narrative Theories

Propp, Todoror, Bathes and Levi- Strauss all have different theories about narratives and they are:

Levi- Strauss - Binary Opposites

That each genre of film and television all has an opposite, for a contrast to set the story; without this there would not be much of a story. 

Examples:

• Wilderness - Civilization
• Space - Earth
• Good - Evil
• Male - Female
• Hero - Villain

Barthes - Action & Enigma Codes

Barthes said that there are two ways to keep suspense in a film, the action and the enigma codes.

Action: Events on the screen which leave the audience thinking about what will happen next, they do not know what is following thus creating suspense. 

Enigma: Something which makes the audience question what is happening/going to happen.

Todorov - Narrative Structure

Todorov says there is a structure in five parts which is how all films are set out;

1.     Starts with an equilibrium (everything is normal)

2.     A disruption takes place

3.     The disruption is attempted to be solved, but fails.

4.     The disruption gets solved.

5.     The equilibrium is back to normal, but because of the previous events it has been changed.

Propp - Folk Tales & Character Types

Propp said that there were eight types of character which apply to a narrative:

1.      The villain/antagonist - Bad character

2.     The hero/protagonist  - Someone who saves the day. Does not always have to fit conventions such as male and brave.

3.      The donor - Character that provides hero with useful infomation ect.

4.      The helper - Aids the hero throughout

5.      The princess - The reward at the end, object of villains scheme. Not always a female.

6.     The father figure  - Provides support. Not always male.

7.      The dispatcher - Makes the hero start their quest.

8.      The false hero - Appears good but is actually an undercover bad person.

Game Show

For my game show it is a mixture of an assault courses and general knowledge questions, will be called Bamboozled and to win it you must get the fastest time in the course and the most amount of questions correct.
Production: This will be filmed in a studio for the quiz side of it, then in some country where health and safety is not so strict, e.g Argentina. It will be slightly like the Krypton Factor, but more entertaining and for a wider audience.

This could be converged by playing it online, making a video-game of it and playing it on such consoles as; wii, wii fit, xbox kinect, playstation move. Then you could play it online with others and compete, or play with others in your home.

Distribution & Marketing: This is will be distributed both online and on television to apply to a wider audience and so people who do not have TV (e.g students) can watch it too. Adverts will be shown on popular webistes such as You-Tube, Facebook and Hotmail. 


Technologies: The main technology that will be used for this are internet and television, as pretty much everybody in the UK at least owns one, or both. This way it could be spread around faster and easy, links could be given to people and they could play along at home.

The Male Gaze

In 1975 a feminist named Laura Mulvey published an essay entitled  “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”  - in it she states that it looks at women as being mere objects and nothing else. This is because a majority of things are aimed at heterosexual men and so to incite them to a product they use women, because sex sells. This however was in the 70s and since then things have changed slightly and now it can be used both ways, using the men to attract women to a product.  This was originally just based on films but is now used throughout other medias such as adverts, fine art and television. The woman in the advertistment becomes what is being sold rather than just premoting it, men look at it and like what they see, then women look at it and think if they use that product they too will look like that and think that the image they see is what a man wants, so becomes this normally false image of a women.


Here is a comic strip with some dinosaurs to clear things up.

Media Evaluation - Final Draft

Media evaluation

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