YOUR ABSOLUTE FINAL DEADLINE IS TOMORROW - FRIDAY 26TH APRIL!!!

THERE CAN BE NO EXTENSIONS ON THIS DEADLINE.

MAKE CERTAIN THAT YOU HAVE COMPLETED ALL 7 QUESTIONS FOR THE EVALUATION, AND TRY TO IMPROVE ANY EARLIER POSTS IN LINE WITH MY ADVICE.

YOUR FILM MUST ALSO BE POSTED TO THE BLOG AS GOOD QUALITY BY THIS TIME TOMORROW.

THE EVALUATION DRAFT DEADLINE HAS NOW PASSED

THE DRAFT DEADLINE HAS NOW PASSED, ALONG WITH THE OPPORTUNITY FOR FEEDBACK FROM SUPERVISORS.
THOSE WHO MET THIS DEADLINE WILL HAVE RECEIVED DETAILED FEEDBACK FROM ME TODAY OR EARLIER IN THE HOLIDAY TO IMPROVE THEIR WORK.
NOW YOU MUST ALL WORK TOWARDS THE FINAL EVALUATION DEADLINE IN YOUR OWN TIME. THIS IS THE FINAL AND NON-NEGOTIABLE DEADLINE. NO WORK, NO MARKS!
 REMEMBER, POOR WORK ON THE EVALUATION CAN LOWER YOUR RESULT BY A WHOLE GRADE OR MORE, AND THIS WOULD BE A GREAT SHAME FOR ANY OF YOU!
PLEASE NOTE: YOU WILL NOT BE GIVEN ANY CLASS TIME TO DO THIS AS WE ARE NOW FOCUSSING ON EXAM PREPARATION - ONLY 4 WEEKS TEACHING LEFT!

DRAFT EVALUATION DEADLINE APPROACHING!

Hi all,
I hope you're having a good Easter break...
This is just a brief reminder that your DRAFT EVALUATION needs to be uploaded to the blog by the end of Friday at the latest in order to get feedback from me to improve. I strongly recommend that you take advantage of this, as experience shows it's usually worth at least a grade. Well done to those who have already posted something - I'm working my way through these during the week. Keep checking the blog or get blogger as an app to your phone to access it easily.

Rooney Mara in Side Effects

GROUPS WHERE URGENT BLOG WORK IS NEEDED BEFORE THE DEADLINE ON FRIDAY 22ND:
DAN, DAN, GEORGE, GEORGE
TOBY, DAN, SAM, NIALL
LEAH, LUCY, ABBIE
EMILY, ELLA, RUBY
RYAN, JAKE MM, TOM

In some cases the whole group needs to work harder on the blog, and in others, some individuals within the group need to have a bigger presence on the blog. Read my comments and act on them!
See good level 4 blogs here and here and here

PS IF ANYONE FANCIES EDITING ON THIS SATURDAY, MARCH 23RDAND THINKS THEY COULD BE SELF SUFFICIENT (NO TECHNICIANS), ASK US ABOUT COMING IN ON THE CAMPUS OPEN DAY!* ANDREW MANN AND MYSELF WILL BE THERE CHATTING TO VISITORS AND SHOWING OUR DEPT, AND WE'D LOVE SOME STUDENTS TO BE EDITING TO ILLUSTRATE THE EXCELLENT WORK YOU DO! Anyone deciding to do this will automatically earn their group an extension on the deadline above to Monday March 25th.
*You must let us know first though in case there are too many people!

I'm getting concerned about some of your blogs, which are missing vital material, variety, effort and detail. This is not the case with all groups, but some of you are not giving enough attention to this, and very few of you are spending the 3 HOURS PER WEEK OF YOUR OWN TIME that EACH of you are expected to spend on the production work. As editing work should be done together, most of those 3 hours should be spent on your posts on the blog. Remember, this is the EVIDENCE of your own work, but it is also a product in its own right, so it needs to be creative, varied, colourful, interesting and intelligent to gain level 4.
LOOK AT MY COMMENTS ON YOUR OWN BLOG TO FIND OUT WHETHER I THINK YOU'RE UNDERACHIEVING ON THIS.

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK: NOW'S THE TIME TO GET AUDIENCE FEEDBACK ON YOUR ROUGH CUT AND AS SOON AS  POSSIBLE ON YOUR FINAL CUT AFTER FRIDAY. WHY NOT CREATE A VLOG TO ADD TO YOUR BLOG IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY? YOU SHOULD CERTAINLY CREATE A TWITTER FEED TO THE BLOG AND LINK TO FACEBOOK. FEEDBACK MUST BE FROM YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE SO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE DEFINED THIS AS A GROUP, AND THAT YOUR INVITATION TO MAKE COMMENTS GETS TO THIS AUDIENCE. POST EVIDENCE TO THE BLOG AS YOU GET IT. Audience feedback and how you used it  is assessed via the EVALUATION and you will soon be doing this!

YOUR EDITING DEADLINE IS APPROACHING

Deadline Four - Final Product

Film and sound editing to be completed and saved to the network.

Create a back-up of your work – eg a dvd version, or upload to youtube on our channel: centralsussexhh.

Again editing processes, decisions, choices, the experience itself, all to be recorded on the group blog.

Friday 22nd March, 4.10 
Between now and then, make sure that you are recording all of your editing decisions on the blog with illustrations from the mac screens. Discuss different transitions, explaining the reasons for them; use terms for editing; discuss problems and issues editing sound and vision together; discuss and explain any alterations to the storyboard; continue to post your own explanations and evidence of involvement with your name at the head of the post, to ensure you get the marks for your own work; continue to make comparisons between your work and real thriller film openings; go to see as many thrillers as you can.
Once you have done the lesson on titling, or as soon as you're ready, do your own individual research on titles in real thriller openings (name, design, interaction between main film shots and title etc) and explain what you have learned, and how you intend to use that learning.
Begin to design your own titles asap.

YOUR FILMING DEADLINE IS SOON!

Deadline Three – Filming

Filming stage: plan this extremely carefully. Read the booklet on this stage again. Take photos of your shoot as illustration of your decisions and evidence of your own presence. These should be uploaded to illustrate your discussion of choices and decisions made to which you each contribute.

By the deadline below: – all “rushes” (unedited, raw footage) to be completed and logged onto the Mac network as a rough cut into the correct file (Locate AS black and group). 

All Filming processes, decisions and choices clearly recorded on the group blog. Each of you must contribute to this. Use screen grabs to illustrate shots and the shoot itself.

Again, use blog format fully and creatively.

Friday 8^th March, 4.10

YOUR PLANNING DEADLINE IS NEARLY HERE!

REMEMBER THAT IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO FILM OVER HALF TERM, YOU MUST COMPLETE ALL OF THE TASKS LISTED BELOW (ALSO IN YOUR BOOKLET).
YOUR BLOG MUST ALSO BE COMPLETED TO A SATISFACTORY STANDARD, AND MANY ARE NOT CURRENTLY SATISFACTORY IN TERMS OF THE EXPECTED LEVEL FOR AS STUDENTS. You can look at a level 4 blog from last year by scrolling down my blog list (bottom right of this page). Look at links from Andrew Mann's blog and Andy Hampson's blog too. You should check for comments I have made, and ACT on them to avoid losing marks! Many blog posts are far too short, descriptive, lack detail about decisions and choices and lack visually interesting material. Remember that your blog is assessed as a product in its own right.

DEADLINE 2 - PLANNING

The first deadline for research has now passed.
If you failed to meet this deadline, it will have been noted and marks may be deducted for time management (an assessment criterion). You MUST complete this task, even if you failed to meet the deadline.
Your next DEADLINE is for planning. Study the list of requirements to the blog for this deadline. You will not be permitted to start filming unless these are done!

Deadline Two – Pre-Production Planning

A completed storyboard for the entire opening (preferably having used ‘post it’s), including initial ideas about title placing. 

This needs to be made into an animatic of approximately the same length as the final film will be (shots to be timed carefully) with a voice-over explanation and embedded onto the blog.

Also: 

- a synopsis for the whole film narrative from which this will be the opening (about 100 words),

- the script for any dialogue,

- list of roles (see pre-production planning advice)

- images of locations and decisions about locations,                                   

- prop research and justification in terms of character and story

- health and safety, including risk assessments for filming and use of equipment.

- lighting decisions. 

Blog Heading “Pre-Production Planning”(clearly label which group member has taken responsibility for each of the various posts). 

Again, consider blog format – images, text, screen grabs, embedded video, hyperlinks, etc

If you want to film over half term, this needs to be handed in earlier in order that we can check it through and grant permission.

Deadline - Friday 15^th February, midnight.

SUMMARISING THE CONVENTIONS OF THRILLER OPENINGS

DEADLINE SUNDAY FEB 3RD, MIDNIGHT.

You have all been analysing the openings of thriller films to identify features used to create suspense, intrigue, enigma, fear and so on. These are some of the ways in which thrillers engage their spectators and create the genre. You should now be finding your own examples individually and applying some of our findings to these to explain how the openings are constructed in a way typical of the thriller genre. You should also explain how the opening is unique and different to others. You can use the check list below if you wish to analyse your own. YOU HAVE TO DO FOUR EACH.

CAMERA

·                  ECUs to distort

·                  shallow depth of field to draw attention to objects of
significance or distort perspective

·                  tight framing to restrict view - called restricted narration - eg
where only parts of body are visible, identity concealed>
shock delivered or enigma created

·                  Wide shots to create unrestricted narration and dramatic
irony and suspense

·                  Still (tripod) camera work (observation? suspense?)

·                  hand held camera for realism and/or subjectivity

·                  canted frame for disorientation

·                  pov shots/voyeurism

MISE EN SCENE

·                  variety of exterior settings, but often urban , or rural (rarely
suburban like Haywards Heath!)

·                  interior settings often reflect threat or sinister action - everyday
objects create menace

·                  Iconography of suspense: props may add to characterisation, OR
may create ENIGMA

·                  low key lighting

·                  desaturated colour or symbolic use of colour (eg red)

·                  creation of 'pathetic fallacy' (symbolic weather)

·                  costume, hair, make-up create realism and/or symbolise who
spectator is expected to dislike or like

EDITING

·                  continuity editing used for sense, flow, coherence and
realism

·                  parallel cutting used to connect 2 characters or places -
simultaneous action

·                  cross cutting used to connect 2 or more characters and
CREATE SUSPENSE

·                  occasionally: DISCONTINUITY EDITING (jump cuts or
shock cuts) used to fragment and disrupt sequence,
matching unsettling mood

SOUND

·                  diegetic sound used for realism and/or mood

·                  non diegetic sound as music or sound fx used to
construct mood/atmosphere and suspense

·                  parallel sound enhances vision

·                  contrapuntal sound may introduce threat or create
sinister mood

·                  dialogue used sparingly

WHERE TO FIND THRILLER OPENINGS

Can't think of any thriller films?
You will need to be prepared to spend several hours finding examples.
You can try using lists made by film fans on the internet (search for thriller films). Check with me that they can be classified as thrillers for our purposes (remember the difference between thrillers and horrors). If you are in college, ask to borrow some from our office for the lesson. Try to find UK thrillers, as UK films like yours will be, have distinctive use of mise en scene. Use youtube for some, but remember that you cannot use a trailer (look for the title 'part 1'). Have a look on the college streaming page for TV - planet estream - linked from the student homepage or moodle home page and browse TV thriller openings, but make sure that most of your research is based in Film as the pace is often different. Don't forget to search for big name directors in this genre: Alfred Hitchcock; Kathryn Bigelow; David Fincher; Quentin Tarantino etc.

LIGHTING AND SOUND TASKS DEADLINES

You should all be getting on with finishing the sound work (garageband, foley and copyright free music task) and the lighting task set (see moodle under FOUNDATION PORTFOLIO). I gave groups 1 week for both tasks, which means that this work should be finished by the beginning of next week and uploaded to the blog with comments/explanations.
YOU SHOULD BE BEGINNING YOUR THRILLER OPENING RESEARCH TOO, SO START TO LOOK FOR OPENINGS YOU MIGHT ANALYSE - DON'T FORGET - TRAILERS ARE NOT OPENINGS, THEREFORE NOT ALLOWED!

FINAL PRELIMINARY DEADLINE AND NEW SOUND WORK DEADLINES

 

THE FINAL EDITING DEADLINE FOR THE PRELIMINARY TASK IS WEDNESDAY 23RD. THERE WILL BE NO EXTENSION ON THIS DATE DUE TO THE SNOW DAY AS THIS WAS MORE TIME THAN MOST GROUPS NEEDED.

YOU WILL ALL HAVE DONE SOME WORK ON GARAGEBAND, ADDING SOUND TO AN EXISTING FILM CLIP. THIS MUST BE FINISHED IN YOUR OWN TIME BY THE END OF THIS WEEK, AND EACH GROUP MUST POST THE RESULT TO THEIR BLOG. THIS WILL BE MARKED AS PART OF YOUR RESEARCH AND PLANNING.

In the next lesson this week, you will be learning key LIGHTING terms and you'll be set some practical homework to post to blog.

PRELIMINARY EDITING DEADLINE APPROACHING!

THIS WEEK YOU WILL BE DOING THE MOCK IN YOUR DOUBLE LESSON.
YOU WILL HAVE ONLY 2 FURTHER LESSONS TO EDIT THE PRELIM, BUT YOU MAY CONTINUE TO EDIT IN YOUR OWN TIME.
EVERY STUDENT IN SHOULD BE PRESENT FOR THE EDITING TO DEVELOP SKILLS, SO CHECK WHEN YOU ARE FREE.
THE FINAL DEADLINE FOR THE PRELIM TO BE FULLY EDITING AND UPLOADED TO YOUR BLOG IS: 23RD JANUARY.
THERE WILL BE LESSONS ON SOUND THEORY AND PRACTICE, AND LIGHTING THEORY AND PRACTICE FROM THE BEGINNING OF NEXT WEEK ON BOTH SIDES.