Film & TV Language: Editing video

Your final Film & TV Language practical task is an editing video that introduces the basics of narrative filmmaking.


This is a another great opportunity to develop our filming and editing skills prior to starting our coursework later in the year.

Editing video: Continuity task

Your Editing video involves 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. 



Key skills

The following clips and links should help you with the key skills you need to demonstrate in your preliminary exercise.

Match on action


Match on action (or cutting on action) is an editing technique for continuity editing in which one shot cuts to another shot showing the same action of the subject in the first shot.


This creates the impression of continuity - the action creates a 'visual bridge' which is easy for the audience to follow.

Look at this YouTube clip for match on action - the cuts you want to look at in particular are at 2 seconds, then again at 18 seconds:

Note: if video does not embed, click on this link to open in YouTube.

Shot/reverse shot

Shot/reverse shot uses over-the-shoulder shots to show a conversation between two characters. Look at this example from the Hunger Games movie - specifically between 0.50 and 1.30.

Note: if video does not embed, click on this link to open in YouTube.

With shot/reverse shot, you need to observe the 180 degree rule. 

180 degree rule

The 180-degree rule of shooting and editing keeps the camera on one side of the action. This keeps characters grounded compositionally on a particular side of the screen or frame, and keeps them looking at one another when only one character is seen onscreen at a time. 


It is referred to as a rule because the camera, when shooting two actors, must not cross over the axis of action; if it does, it risks giving the impression that the actors' positions in the scene have been reversed. [source: Columbia Film Language Glossary]

In other words, draw an imaginary line between the two characters facing each other and then make sure the camera never crosses that line during the filming of that scene. This video is a brilliant explanation of the rule:

Note: if video does not embed, click on this link to open in YouTube.


Task list: planning


1) Decide who you will work with. Remember, the filming can be in pairs/groups but you MUST edit individually. 

2) Discuss what your preliminary exercise will involve – location, sequence of events, who will act etc.

3) Write a short script for the preliminary exercise. Remember, scripts outline movement and shots as well as dialogue. The BBC Writer's Room is a brilliant resource for tips and examples of TV scriptwriting. Here's a genuine TV script example from Luther to check you are formatting your script correctly.

4) Write a shot list of every possible shot (and a few extra) you will need for this preliminary exercise. An example shot list is here.

5) Draw a complete storyboard for the sequence you plan to shoot - every shot should be in there. Storyboard sheets are available on the top of the filing cabinet in the corner of DF07.

6) Upload your completed planning to your blog then book out a camera and start shooting and editing your film.

Deadline: Wednesday 12 December

Film & TV Language: Cinematography clip analysis

We have watched some excellent, creative videos showcasing your work on camera shots, angles and movement.

However, due to recent trips we have not managed to analyse all of the clips for cinematography. Complete the tasks below to finish this aspect of the course:

Cinematography: final blog tasks

Create a new blogpost on your Media 2 coursework blog called 'Cinematography final blog tasks'. Then, while logged in to a school computer, go to the Media Shared drive > A Level > Resources > Film and TV Language and watch the clips in the Cinematography folder.

1) Using your printed booklet (an electronic copy is available in the folder above) watch any of the clips you haven't seen in class for Cinematography. Complete the tasks in the booklet in full paragraphs for each clip.

Due: Wednesday 5 December

MIGRAIN: The Cultural Industries

One of the most important aspects of the Industries key concept is how the cultural industries are structured and the influence they have in society.

Academic and media theorist David Hesmondhalgh has written extensively about the Cultural Industries and A Level Media students need to develop an understanding of his work.

Cultural Industries: notes

Hesmondhalgh discusses the way the cultural industries operate and explores their effect on audiences: “Of one thing there can be no doubt: the media do have influence.”

He points out that societies with profitable cultural industries (e.g. USA, UK) tend to be dominated by large companies, have minimal government regulation and significant inequality between rich and poor.

Do cultural industries reinforce these conditions?

The cultural industries: a risky business

Hesmondhalgh acknowledges that media companies are operating a risky business. There is no guarantee a creative product will be a success.

They offset this risk both creatively and through business structure. In terms of media products, they use stars, sequels and well-known genres.

In terms of business, they use vertical integration and diversification to spread their risk and maximise profit.

Commodification

Hesmondhalgh discusses commodification in the cultural industries (turning everything into something that can be bought or sold).

He suggests this creates problems on both the consumption and production side. For the production side, he points to certain areas of the cultural industries where people are not fairly rewarded.

Hesmondhalgh: diversity in the media

Hesmondhalgh has explored whether the cultural industries truly reflect the diversity of people and society.

Hesmondhalgh references Mosco (1996): “There is a difference between multiplicity – a large number of voices – and diversity – whether or not these voices are actually offering different things from each other.”

Despite their size, are the cultural industries dominated by a narrow range of values and ideologies?

Cultural Industries: blog task

Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet 168: David Hesmondhalgh’s ‘The Cultural Industries’. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets

Read the Factsheet and complete the following questions/tasks:

1) What does the term 'Cultural Industries' actually refer to?

2) What does Hesmondhalgh identify regarding the societies in which the cultural industries are highly profitable?

3) Why do some media products offer ideologies that challenge capitalism or inequalities in society?

4) Look at page 2 of the factsheet. What are the problems that Hesmondhalgh identifies with regards to the cultural industries?

5) Why are so many cultural industries a 'risky business' for the companies involved?

6) What is your opinion on the creativity v commerce debate? Should the media be all about profit or are media products a form of artistic expression that play an important role in society?

7) How do cultural industry companies minimise their risks and maximise their profits? (Clue: your work on Industries - Ownership and control will help here) 

8) Do you agree that the way the cultural industries operate reflects the inequalities and injustices of wider society? Should the content creators, the creative minds behind media products, be better rewarded for their work?

9) Listen and read the transcript to the opening 9 minutes of the Freakonomics podcast - No Hollywood Ending for the Visual-Effects Industry. Why has the visual effects industry suffered despite the huge budgets for most Hollywood movies?

10) What is commodification? 

11) Do you agree with the argument that while there are a huge number of media texts created, they fail to reflect the diversity of people or opinion in wider society?

12) How does Hesmondhalgh suggest the cultural industries have changed? Identify the three most significant developments and explain why you think they are the most important.

Complete for homework - due Friday.

Film & TV Language: Cinematography feedback and learner response

Your one-minute cinematography videos are a great way to make sure we have learned our camera shots, angles and movement.

Once we've screened the videos in class, you need to complete the following tasks on your blog:

Cinematography video feedback/learner response

Create a new blogpost called 'Cinematography video feedback and learner response'. 

1) Make sure your video is on YouTube and embedded on your blog. 

2) Type up your feedback/comments from your teacher.

3) Type up your feedback from fellow students.

4) Now reflect on your work and write your own comments. Add three WWWs and three EBIs underneath the rest of your feedback.

5) Learner response: think about what you learned making the video and also watching others. What will you do differently when you start the coursework in the summer? What tips or tricks have you learned from others that you can use next time? Are there any specific aspects of camerawork that you need to revise or practice?

Complete this for homework if you don't get it done in the lesson - due date specified by your coursework teacher. Don't forget the additional blog tasks for Cinematography too!

MIGRAIN: Audience theory - Effects debate factsheet

The media effects debate is a crucial aspect of A Level Media Studies.

Do media texts have a negative effect or influence on their audience? Should we be worried by violent videogames or movies? Do we need to give audiences more credit for their ability to distinguish between fiction and reality? Now we've learned a range of key audience theories to help us explore these questions we need to revise the main aspects and develop our own opinions on these issues.

The effects debate - blog tasks

Firstly, make sure you have completed all the blog tasks from your MIGRAIN: Audience theory 1 lesson as well as the tasks on Audience theory 2 - Cultivation theory, social learning theory, moral panic and the influence of the internet. These posts also contain the key notes if you missed either lesson for any reason.

Then, complete the following tasks using the Media Factsheet available on the Media Shared drive. 

You'll find them in our Media Factsheet archive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets. Remember, you can't access these at home so make sure you save the factsheet to a USB or email it to yourself if you need to complete any work at home.

Read Media Factsheet 030 - Media and Audiences -The Effects Debate and answer the following questions:

1) Complete the questions in the first activity box (beginning with 'Do you play violent games? Are you violent in real life?')

2) What are the four categories for different effects theories?

3) What are the examples provided for the hypodermic needle theory - where media texts have been blamed for certain events? 

4) What was the 1999 Columbine massacre? You may need to research this online in addition to the information on the factsheet.

5) What are the reasons listed on the factsheet to possibly explain the Columbine High School massacre?

6) What does Gerbner's Cultivation theory suggest?

7) How does this front page of the Daily Mail (from this week - Wednesday 16 November) link to Cultivation theory? The Mail Online version of the story is here.




8) What does the factsheet suggest about action films and the values and ideologies that are reinforced with regards to violence?

9) What criticisms of direct effect theories are suggested in the factsheet?

10) Why might the 1970s sitcom Love Thy Neighbour be considered so controversial today? What does this tell us about Reception theory and how audiences create meanings?

11) What examples are provided for Hall's theory of preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings?

12) Which audience theory do you think is most convincing? Why? It is important that you develop critical autonomy in judging the arguments for and against different theories and form your own opinion on these issues.

Finish for homework if you don't complete it in the lesson: due next Friday.

Lecture opportunity and textbooks

If you are applying to university (or thinking of doing so next year) then there are plenty of extra-curricular activities that will elevate your application above other students.

One of these is attending free lectures at London universities on topics related to your subjects or potential degree. The other is reading academic books related to your subjects to demonstrate that you read around the subject.

Gresham College lecture: Has the Internet Changed News for Better or Worse?

Gresham College is running a FREE lecture aimed at media and journalism students on how the internet has changed news. Year 13 students have just studied this topic (and continue to study online, social and participatory media) and Year 12 students will be covering this later in the course.



The lecture is free to attend - you simply need to turn up to the venue, Barnard's Inn Hall, 30 minutes before the start. You can find directions here. Remember you'll be in a professional, academic environment and need to act accordingly. It appears that it will also be broadcast live over YouTube from the link above so that's another way to engage with the lecture.

Reading around the subject

Reading books by some of our media theorists is a great way to expanding your knowledge across A Level Media. The books on the bookshelf in DF07 will give you an introduction to the type of books you could read - something like Clay Shirky's Here Comes Everybody is accessible and relevant - but you'll need to get your own copy as we unfortunately can't lend out the media copies of the books. The library has some of these books available to borrow and the librarians can point you in the direction of the Media and Film section.

A Level Media Textbooks

As previously advertised, there are now two textbooks available for the new specification AQA A Level Media Studies course. We would strongly recommend you buy both textbooks as collectively they cover the whole course in terms of subject content and also feature many of the CSPs that will come up in the exams. We now have copies of these books in school so you can see what they're like.

The details:

AQA MEDIA STUDIES FOR A LEVEL YR 1 & AS: STUDENT BOOK

• NEW SPEC: AQA Media Studies for A Level Yr 1 & AS: Student Book 
• AUTHOR(S): Stephanie Hendry, Elspeth Stevenson 
• AWARDING BODY: AQA 
• LEVEL: A Level Year 1 & AS 
• ISBN: 978-1-911208-03-7 
• SUBJECT: Media Studies 
• PAGES: 272pp 

AQA MEDIA STUDIES FOR A LEVEL YEAR 2: STUDENT BOOK

• AQA Media Studies for A Level Year 2: Student Book 
• AUTHOR(S): Stephanie Hendry, Elspeth Stevenson 
• AWARDING BODY: AQA 
• LEVEL: A Level Year 2 
• ISBN: 978-1-911208-09-9 
• SUBJECT: Media Studies 

BFI filmmaking residentials


Applications are now open for the BFI's residentials - an opportunity for young filmmakers to work with industry talent and develop skills and contacts for a future career in film or television. You can find the full details here.

MIGRAIN: Audience theory 2

Forming opinions on the effect the media has on audiences is a crucial aspect of A Level Media Studies.

There are a range of theories we need to learn to help develop our understanding and opinions of this topic.

Audience theory 2: notes

Bandura: Social learning theory
Albert Bandura’s social learning theory came from an influential psychology study involving a bobo doll and children’s behaviour after observing violent acts. 

Social learning theory suggests people learn from one another, via observation, imitation, and modeling.

Stanley Cohen: moral panic
Moral Panic occurs when someone or something is defined by the media as a threat to society. The term was created by Stanley Cohen.

Cohen suggested in his 1972 book ‘Folk Devils and Moral Panics’ that a moral panic occurs when a “condition, episode, person or group of people emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests”.

Cohen suggested the media plays an important role in creating moral panic, even if just through news reports.

Cohen defined his five stages of moral panic as:

1) Something or someone is defined as a threat to values or interests
2) This threat is depicted in an easily recognisable form by the media
3) There is a rapid build-up of public concern
4) There is a response from authorities or opinion makers
5) The panic recedes or results in social changes




Technopanic: the modern moral panic
A technopanic is simply a moral panic that focuses on something linked to new technology.

George Gerbner: Cultivation theory
George Gerbner researched whether watching television influences the audience's ideas and perception of everyday life. 

Cultivation theories suggest that TV viewing can have long-term, gradual but significant effects on the audience’s attitudes and beliefs (rather than behaviour).

Gerbner’s Cultivation theory states that high frequency viewers of television are more susceptible to media messages and the belief that they are real and valid.

Heavy viewers are exposed to more violence and therefore are affected by the Mean World Syndrome, the belief that the world is a far worse and dangerous place than it actually is.

Source: Mass Communication theory

Audience theory 2: blog task

Create a new blogpost called 'Audience theory 2 - blog tasks' and answer the following questions:

1) Social learning theory has been criticised for simplifying the causes of violence in society. Do you think the media is responsible for anti-social behaviour and violence?

2) How is social learning theory relevant in the digital age? Are young people now learning behaviour from social media and the internet? Give examples.

3) Research five examples of moral panic from the last 50 years. To what extent was the media responsible for these moral panics? Was the concern in society justified? How have things changed as a result of these moral panics?

4) Read this introduction to an academic paper on technopanics. What examples are given of technopanics that create fear in society?

5) How does the author suggest that technopanics should be addressed - rather than through government regulation?

6) Do you think the internet should be regulated? Should the government try and control what we can access online?

7) Apply Gerbner's cultivation theory to new and digital media. Is the internet creating a fearful population? Are we becoming desensitised to online threats, trolling and abuse? 

8) Is heavy internet use something we should be worried about in society? How would you define 'heavy internet use'?  

Complete for homework - due next Monday.

Film & TV Language: Cinematography blog tasks

We have watched some superb film and TV clips for cinematography, learning the importance of camera shots, angle and movement.

Being able to confidently analyse camera shots and movement is essential for media textual analysis and may well be required in both media exams (e.g. TV drama or music video).

Your cinematography blog tasks are as follows:

Find the opening sequence to a film or TV drama of your choice on YouTube and embed the video in a blogpost called 'Cinematography blog tasks'. 

1) Write an analysis of the cinematography in the opening sequence. Highlight your use of media language and try to cover camera shots, angles and movement using the terminology we have learned in lessons.

2) How does the camerawork give the audience clues about the setting, narrative and character?

3) Find and analyse four film or TV stills. Embed the images in your blog and analyse the camera shot/angle and what they communicate to the audience.  

Due: next week (day specified by your coursework teacher)

MIGRAIN: Audience theory 1

To develop our study of audience, we need to explore the effects that media products have on us and apply a range of theories to help us do this. 

Does consuming media make us violent? Anti-social? More aggressive? Or has digital technology and social media actually contributed to the lowest drug, alcohol and teenage pregnancy statistics for many years? In addition, we also need to explore what audiences enjoy about the media and ask how active or passive audiences are.

Audience theory:notes

The hypodermic needle model

This is a crude theory from the 1920s that suggests the media injects information into the audience like a hypodermic needle and therefore can have a dangerous effect on us.

The two-step flow model

The two-step flow model was developed in the 1940s because the hypodermic needle theory was considered too simplistic, assuming the audience consumed media without thinking.

The two-step flow model instead suggests the audience are influenced by ‘opinion leaders’ in the media who mediate how the audience react to media texts. The theory suggests the media is not all-powerful and that social factors are important.

Blumler & Katz: Uses and Gratifications theory

Researchers Blumler and Katz reignited audience theory in 1974 by stating that media audiences are active and make conscious choices about the way they consume media.

They suggested there are four main uses or gratifications (pleasures) that audiences get from the media.

Diversion: escape from everyday problems and routine - entertainment.

Personal Relationships: using the media for emotional and other interaction (e.g. developing affection for characters in TV)

Personal Identity: finding ourselves reflected in texts or learning behaviour and values from the media. Reality TV or documentary (Educating Yorkshire) are good examples.

Surveillance: Information useful for living (e.g. Weather, traffic news, holiday bargains etc.)

Rokeach and DeFleur: Dependency theory

Rokeach and DeFleur took Uses and Gratifications one step further in 1976 in suggesting that people have become dependent on the media.


With Dependency theory, they suggest that people rely on the media for information determining their decisions. This means the media can create many different feelings such as fear, anxiety, and happiness.

Audience theory: blog tasks

Hypodermic needle model

1) Read this Mail Online article about the effects of videogames. How does this article link to the hypodermic needle model?

2) How does coverage of the Talk Talk hacking case (see Daily Mail front page below) link to the hypodermic needle model? Why might someone criticise this front page? 

Two-step flow model

1) Summarise the two-step flow model. In your opinion, is the two-step flow theory still relevant today?

2) How does this YouTube blogger fit into the two-step flow model?

3) How this this Telegraph feature on Britain's most popular tweeters fit the two-step flow model? Do you think these accounts genuinely have an influence over their audience?

4) Read this BBC profile of Jamal Edwards. How does Jamal Edwards link to the two-step flow model?

Uses and Gratifications theory

1) For each of the four categories, write about one media text that fits that particular audience use or pleasure. Make sure you explain WHY it fits the category and use images or clips to illustrate your points.

Diversion: 

Personal Relationships: 

Personal Identity: 

Surveillance: 

Dependency theory

1) Do you agree that audiences have become dependent on the media? What evidence or examples can you provide to support your view?

2) How has the growth of new and digital technology in the last 15 years changed people's dependency on the media? Is this a new problem?

3) Reflecting on your own media use, how does your media consumption impact on your emotions? Does the media have an overall positive or negative impact on your health and wellbeing? Why?

Remember, anything you don't complete in the lessons you need to finish for homework - due next Friday.