The Brief

THE BRIEF

Your mission is to carry out the following brief:

Preliminary exercise: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

Main task: the titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes.

All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source.

The coursework is worth 50% of the AS (same at A2) and the marking (detailed later) is divided into 3 sections:

1 RESEARCH AND PLANNING: 20%

2 PRODUCTION: 60%

3 EVALUATION: 20%

Your work is marked partially on my observations of your approach and level of organisation, but fundamentally its a DVD and your blog that are marked.

All three aspects are assessed as one of the following:

MINIMAL, BASIC, PROFICIENT, EXCELLENT

You are all capable of meeting the assement criteria of EXCELLENT!

RESEARCH & PLANNING

To hit ‘excellent’

(16-20 marks):

1 There is excellent research into similar products and a potential target audience.

2 There is excellent organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props.

3 There is excellent work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding.

4 There is an excellent level of care in the presentation of the research and planning

5 Time management is excellent.

EVALUATION

To hit ‘excellent’

(16-20 marks) requires meeting the following:

1 Excellent understanding of issues around audience, institution, technology, representation, forms and conventions in relation to production.

2 Excellent ability to refer to the choices made and outcomes.

3 Excellent understanding of their development from preliminary to full task.

4 Excellent ability to communicate.

5 Excellent skill in the use of digital technology or ICT in the evaluation

PRODUCTION

To hit ‘excellent’

(48-60 marks) requires meeting the following:

1. There is evidence of excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:
2. holding a shot steady, where appropriate;
3. framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;
4. using a variety of shot distances as appropriate;
5. shooting material appropriate to the task set;
6. selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;
7. editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer;
8. using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set;
9. using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;
10. using titles appropriately.

WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR/NOTE/DISCUSS

SECTIONS/THEMES: You could simplify this to the 4 technical areas you have to consider for your exam, which would help you sharpen your skills for it. Use the handouts with summaries of key terms to help with this. (Don't use numbering in your sub-headings)

• cinematography (camera work, shot types, angles, framing, movement)
• editing (including transitions, SFX; linear or non-linear; (dis)continuity etc)
• sound ((non-)diegetic; use of music [often signifies core target audience + genre - can also be clumsy and overused; say so if you think so]; audio bridge; voiceover etc)
• mise-en-scene (includes props, locations, costume, makeup - verisimilitude?)

You also need to analyse representations in your exam. Titles and idents are also an important part of openings. A non-Media student will invariably focus on narrative and give a linear description (this happens, then this happens...). Narrative is useful to note, but be brief, and focus as much on exposition (what and how much/little info is provided for the audience on time period, location, key characters, genre etc; its likely narrative enigma will be employed to some extent). So, narrative/exposition is a useful heading.

Also worth considering:

• intertextuality (links/references to existing texts)
• genre conventions observed ... or broken (very useful to note so you can find examples to look back on when designing your own work. you could also note hybridity here, where you see signifiers of 2 or more genres [to help widen audience appeal])
• how the opening concludes and the main movie resumes (the final shot of your opening is incredibly important, so its worth carefully noting these)
• particularly useful shots/details - if you see something you think is well done and you might want to take influence from its worth highlighting

Again, I'm not setting out any compulsory sub-heading titles; pick your own, just make them clear and stick to the same wording across all your posts.

If you've already done some posts which focus simply or narrative, or don't clearly set out useful info in a way you will be able to quickly find it in future, edit such posts. Remember, you're marked on blog presentation too. 

• IDENTS: How long are they typically, how high-tech/complex; how many do we see; where do they appear
• TITLES: This is a key part of your overall coursework task, so detailed notes are important. Which roles/companies are noted; what specific language is used; do any names/companies appear more than once; what font (serif/sans-serif; colour; case) is used; note the positioning (does this differ between titles) and any animation; any graphic element to the titles; is there a gap between titles or do they continuously appear (eg company names - A Warp Films Production - a gap then individual credits?)
• OPENING SHOT: always worth noting. Any audio bridge linking it with idents?
• RUNNING TIME OF OPENING: How long is the self-contained opening sequence? Is it clear where this ends?
• CLOSING SHOT OF OPENING + TRANSITION TO MAIN BODY OF FILM: Always note the final shot too. Do you get a fade-out or other transition or a straight cut? Are titles used to reinforce a change of location/time immediately after the opening ends?
• EDITING: any transitions to signify ellipsis; any SFX; continuity editing style or any hallmarks of discontinuity?
• LENGTH OF TAKES + EDITING PACE: looooong takes or fast-paced editing with short takes? much variation in this? Simply by following one character/keeping referring back to them also suggests to the audience that they are a central character.
• SHOT VARIETY: ask yourself as you watch these whether you think further shots should be inserted - is there sufficient shot variety? This and the above point are linked. Look for simple things too like two-shots used to signify personal relationships.
• MISE-EN-SCENE: This links to the above point: what does the mise-en-scene communicate to the audience (providing exposition on location, time period, genre etc)? Is verisimilitude achieved (can you see evidence of costuming, set-dressing, props etc)?
• SETUPS/SCENES: Each time you leave a room or other part of a location you have to work to setup the next scene: how many setups or scenes are involved?
• FLASHBACKS/MAJOR ELLIPSIS: Halloween is one of many that opens with events and then gives a title stating x years later so we know we're now in the present.
• NARRATIVE ENIGMA V EXPOSITION: What do we learn about setting, time period, narrative, characters, genre - and what is intentionally withheld? Do we appear to meet antagonist or protagonist/s? You could also comment here on plot, cliffhangers etc
• SOUND + MUSIC: Note use of diegetic and non-diegetic sound. Specifically, how is music used, if at all - is it continuous; are multiple music tracks used; does the volume level rise? Does the music genre seem to hint at the target audience and/or genre?
• GENRE SIGNIFIERS: Do you see anything which seems to point towards a particular genre?
• INTERTEXTUALITY: Are there references to existing texts?
• REPRESENTATIONS: Use of stereotypes, countertypes, a mix of both? When looking at horror openings, be alert for stock characters like scream queens, masked killer, jock, nerd, final girl, ineffective adult/authority figure etc
• GENRE/BUDGET/ERA SPECIFIC? You'll find that conventions have changed over time and also vary with budget and genre.

MEMORABLE ASPECTS: Quite simply, anything you thought was particularly interesting or noteworthy. Especially as you begin to work on horror openings, you should note where you see useful examples of costume, dialogue, editing etc which you may well take direct inspiration from.