Film & TV Language: Sound

Our next aspect of film language is crucial: Sound.

A reminder of our notes on Sound:

Sound is incredibly important to our understanding of a film.  The music, dialogue and sound effects (SFX) all contribute to the way we appreciate what we are watching on the screen.    

Diegetic and non-diegetic sound

Diegetic sound comes from the world of the film we are watching.  This could include dialogue by characters in the scene or music or other sound that comes from a source we would naturally expect that sound to come from, e.g. a radio or TV.

Non-diegetic sound is added during post production, e.g. voice over or music sound track.

Parallel and contrapuntal sound

Parallel sound is music we would normally expect to hear accompanying a scene, e.g. soft romantic music might be played over a love scene.

Contrapuntal sound is music that we don’t normally associate with the scene we are watching, e.g. classical music played over a bloody fight scene.

Sound bridge

Sometimes you will notice that sound from a scene continues even though the visual image has moved to the next scene. Alternatively, the sound of the following scene may begin before the image changes. This is a called a sound bridge and helps create a smooth transition from one scene to the next.

Homework: parallel and contrapuntal sound video

Complete this video task in pairs - you only need to create ONE video between the two of you but it must be uploaded to YouTube and posted to BOTH of your blog.

1) Choose a 60 second piece of music - ideally from YouTube and not something that is likely to be blocked on copyright grounds.

2) Using editing software (Windows Moviemaker is fine but Adobe Premiere is available on Media PCs) produce a one-minute montage of images and video. Half the images need to be parallel to the music and half need to be contrapuntal. Think carefully about how you can best select images and video to have a significant impact on the audience.

3) Upload the finished video to YouTube and embed it in your own blog with a brief description of what you've created. Note: due to videos being blocked on copyright grounds, please also save the exported video file (e.g. MP4) into your student folder on the M: Media Shared drive.

4) Present your video to the class next lesson, explaining the thinking behind your work.

Sound analysis: blog tasks

1) Watch any of the sound clips in the Film Language booklet that we didn't get to in class and write answers to the questions to go with each clip on your blog. E.g. A Clockwork Orange, Life On Mars, Once Upon A Time In The West, Once Upon A Time In America. The clips are all available on the Media Shared drive M: > Resources > A Level > Film Language.

2) Find a film clip on YouTube that uses sound in an interesting way. Analyse the use of sound, making sure you use the key language we have learned about sound in film:

• Diegetic and non-diegetic sound
• Parallel and contrapuntal sound
• Sound bridges

Remember to discuss/analyse all the different types of sound present in the clip:

• Music
• Dialogue
• Voiceover
• Sound effects

You also need to highlight or put in bold any use of media language.

Complete for homework - due date confirmed by your Film Language teacher.

MIGRAIN: Narrative

Narrative is a vital concept for A Level Media.

We look for narratives - stories - to make sense of media texts. Everything from film and television to news and adverts relies on narrative to help audiences understand the message. 

There are narrative patterns and three key narrative theories we need to learn as part of our introduction to A Level Media. The notes as a reminder:

Narrative patterns

Linear Pattern: progresses forward towards a resolution - Beginning, Middle and End.

Multi-strand Narrative: popular in broadcast TV (e.g. soaps) and film. Involves more than one narrative running parallel involving different characters and locations.

Documentary narrative: this may revolve round a central theme (e.g. troublesome neighbours) or group of people.

Long-running TV series such as Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad have one major overarching narrative and lots of mini-narratives. The overarching narrative runs over the series, the mini narrative may be resolved within an episode.

Narrative theories

When studying narrative in Media, we need to be able to identify what the story is and how it is being told. There are three key theories we need to learn and apply:

Enigma and Action Codes - Roland Barthes

Barthes suggested that stories have certain codes that audiences understand and respond to.

ENIGMA codes: control how much we know and help hold our interest. It creates mystery during the narrative.

ACTION codes: events or actions in the story that are important in developing the narrative, e.g. a gun being cocked signifies that a violent scene will follow.

Todorov: equilibrium

Tzvetan Todorov proposed a theory of equilibrium:

Equilibrium: An existing state of harmony

Disequilibrium: Equilibrium is disrupted by an unfortunate event or evil character which leads to a chain of events involving conflict

New Equilibrium: The evil forces are defeated, the conflict is resolved and harmony exists once more

Character theory: Propp

Vladimir Propp came up with a list of stock characters in narratives by examining Russian fairytales. He called them the seven spheres of action:

The Villain: Creates a complication in the narrative

The Donor: Gives the hero something that will help in the resolution

The Helper: Helps the hero in restoring the resolution

The Princess: Has to be saved by the hero

The Dispatcher: Sends the hero on a task

The Hero: Central protagonist, saves the day and restores equilibrium

The False Hero: Rare character that appears to be good but is revealed to have been bad all along.

Narrative blog task

Complete the following questions using the Media Factsheet resource available on the Media Shared drive. 

You'll find them in our Media Factsheet archive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets

Read Media Factsheet 14 - Telling Stories: The Media's Use of Narrative and answer the following questions:

1) Give an example from film or television that uses Todorov's narrative structure of equilibrium, disequilibrium and new equilibrium. 

2) Complete the activity on page 1 of the Factsheet: find a clip on YouTube of the opening of a new TV drama series (season 1, episode 1). Embed the clip in your blog and write an analysis of the narrative markers that help establish setting, character and plot.

3) Provide three different examples from film or television of characters that fit Propp's hero character role.

4) Give an example of a binary opposition.

5) What example is provided in the Factsheet for the way narratives can emphasise dominant ideologies and values?

6) Why do enigma and action codes (Barthes) offer gratifications for audiences?

7) Write a one-sentence summary of the four different types of TV narrative:

• Episodic narrative (the series)
• Overarching narrative (the serial)
• Mixed narrative
• Multi-strand overlapping narrative (soap narrative)

8) How does the Factsheet suggest adverts use narrative?  


You will be given lesson time to work on this but will need to complete for homework - due date specified by your exam class teacher.

Bank of England film competition

The Bank of England is running a film competition based around the subject of independence.

The brief is flexible and the length of the film is between one and three minutes - the more creative the better.

There are full details on the Bank of England website here. 

Note: you need to pre-register this weekend if you want to take part. You then have until December to make the film.

It's a great opportunity to make a film for your portfolio and also potentially win a prestigious award (not to mention decent prizes!)

Media Awards 2017: THE NOMINATIONS

The nominations are in for the Media Awards 2017!

With the ceremony just two weeks' away, these are the films and music videos that will be battling it out for a prestigious Greenford High School Media Award. The quality level at both GCSE and A Level was exceptionally high and it has been an extremely difficult process narrowing down the nominations for our Oscars-style event.

Tickets will go on sale on Monday 9 October priced £4 for early bird tickets and £5 in the week of the Awards. Be quick - the event sold out in just three days last year!

A Level nominations

Best Year 12 Original Screenplay
Out of Mind 
Hiraeth
Nowy Poczatek

Best Year 12 Production Design
Voice of the Void
Euphoria
Nowy Pockzatek

Best Year 12 Dialogue/Voiceover
Click
Approval
Euphoria

Best Year 12 Cinematography 
Unstable
Voice of the Void
Click

Best Year 12 Sound Design
Voice of the Void 
Approval
Out of Mind

Best Year 12 Film Editing
Unstable
Click
Hiraeth

GCSE nominations

Best GCSE Cinematography
Take a Bow – Shanella Dammanpilage Done
Earthquake – Ahmed Hassan
Unfaithful – Blaise Marden

Best GCSE Music Video Concept
Radioactive – Tyler-Jade Kelly
Don’t – Shabd Magon
Mrs Potato Head – Areej Mehdi

Best GCSE Production Design
Unfaithful – Blaise Marden
Mrs Potato Head – Areej Mehdi
Wolves – Annya Ranshi

Best GCSE Editing
Symbolism – Mariam Ahmadyar
Untitled – Kacper Ikwanty
Party – Shahir Joian

Best Actress/Actor

Gifty Kumi – Unstable

Sophie Robertson – Out of Mind

Nasteha Mohamed – Approval

Abdullah Al-Fadhli – Click

Mr Mather – Training

Hussein Hamume – Click

Congratulations to all our nominees and we look forward to seeing you at the Media Awards on Tuesday 17 October!

Film & TV Language: Lighting

One aspect of mise-en-scène that is particularly important in film and TV is Lighting.

Lighting notes


Traditional studio lighting usually comes from three sources:

• The key light is the brightest and most influential.
• The back light helps to counteract the effects of the key light making the subject appear more ‘rounded’.
• The filler light helps to soften any shadows created by the other lights.  There may be more then one filler light.

The key light can be directed from a variety of angles to create different effects.

Underlighting comes from below the subject leading to a distorted effect.  This is often used in horror or science-fiction films.

Top lighting comes from above and can be used to accentuate the features of a character.  It is often used to make film stars look more glamorous.


Back lighting is when the source comes from behind the object to create a silhouette.    

High-Key and Low-Key Lighting

Low-key lighting is created by using only the key and back lights.  This effect produces strong contrasts of light and dark and creates dramatic shadows.  The effect is known as chiaroscuro, which comes from the Italian words for light (chiaro) and dark (oscuro).


High-key lighting means that more filler lights are used.  The effect appears more realistic and might depict either a sunny day or a more dimly lit scene.  The major difference is that, although shadows are still created, the contrast between light and dark is much less pronounced.  

Lighting blog tasks

You'll need to use the Film Language Powerpoint to work through the Lighting tasks. These will require two separate blog posts:

1) Create a blogpost called 'Lighting: still image analysis'

Look at the still images on slides 19-23 of the Film Language Powerpoint. Copy the images into your blog and answer the following questions for each image:

1. Identify examples of high and low-key lighting.
2. Say which depict top, back or under lighting.
3. What effects are created by the lighting in each image?     

2) Create a new blogpost called 'Film noir research'. 

Research film noir - focusing on the genre’s distinctive lighting style. Make notes on the genre and particularly the use of lighting - bullet points are fine. Finally, find a YouTube clip that fits the film noir genre and embed it alongside your research (this can be classic noir from the 1950s or something more recent - neo-noir). How does the clip fit the noir genre?

Anything you don't complete in the lesson will be homework, due next week.

Mr Halsey 12E cover work - Monday 2 October

Apologies - I'm not feeling well so won't be in on Monday.

The next key concept we're working on is Genre. There is loads of work to be getting on with using one of our brilliant A Level Media resources - Media Studies Factsheets. You'll find them in our Media Factsheet archive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets. There are over 150 covering many different topics and texts so well worth a look through if you want an A or A* in Media.

For today's work, everything is on the Genre notes and blog task post - there is a lot of theory to learn but read the notes and we'll go through it as a class next lesson. There are plenty of tasks to be getting on with in the meantime.

Any questions, speak to Mr Bush or Ms Fowler who will be around. Apologies again for missing the lesson!

MIGRAIN: Genre

Genre is a crucial key concept and underpins our understanding of all media texts. 

If you missed the lesson on genre the key notes are here:

Genre: notes

Genres may be identified by the following:

Narrative structures
Plot
Typical situations, characters and relationships

Visual iconography
Mise-en-scene: props, costumes, locations etc.
Cinematography

Ideology and themes
Representations, values and ideologies

Daniel Chandler suggests definitions of genre tend to be based on the notion that they constitute particular conventions of content (such as themes or settings - iconography) and/or form (including structure and style) which are shared by the texts which are regarded as belonging to them.


Genre: institution and audience

Tolson (1996) suggests that genre “mediates between industry and audience”.

Abercrombie suggests that “television producers set out to exploit genre conventions... It... makes sound economic sense.” 


Abercromie adds: “Genres permit the creation and maintenance of a loyal audience which becomes used to seeing programmes within a genre.”

Genres of order and integration

Some theorists (including Schatz) have suggested there are only two genres:

Genres of order: western, gangster, action, sci-fi etc. Identified by hero (dominant; male), setting (contested, unstable), conflict (external; fighting), resolution (death). 

Genres of integration: comedies, musicals, rom-coms etc. 
Identified by heroes (couple or collective); setting (civilised space); conflict (internal; emotional); resolution (love).


Neale: “Repetition and difference”

Steve Neale declares that “genres are instances of repetition and difference” (Neale 1980). He adds:  “Difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre” - mere repetition would not attract an audience.


Buckingham (1993) agrees, suggesting contemporary theory sees genre as dynamic: “Genre is not... simply "given" by the culture: rather, it is in a constant process of negotiation and change”.

Schatz develops this idea that genres are dynamic and suggests they go through a cycle:

Innovation: genre codes are established
Classical: conventions are repeated
Parody: codes become clichéd and are mocked
Deconstruction: the genre is experimented with to establish new or different conventions

Genre: blog tasks

Complete the following tasks using the Media Factsheets available on the Media Shared drive. 

You'll find them in our Media Factsheet archive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets

Read Media Factsheet 03 - Genre: Categorising texts and answer the following questions:

1) What example is provided of why visual iconographies are so important?

2) What examples are provided of the importance of narrative in identifying genre?

3) What is the difference between character representation in action movies and disaster movies?

4) What are the different ways films can be categorised according to Bordwell? 

5) List three ways genre is used by audiences.

6) List three ways genre is used by institutions or producers.

7) What film genre is used as an example of how genres evolve? What films and conventions are mentioned?


Read Media Factsheet 126 - Superheroes: A Genre Case Study and answer the following questions:

1) List five films the factsheet discusses with regards to the Superhero genre.

2) What examples are provided of how the Superhero genre has reflected the changing values, ideologies and world events of the last 70 years?

3) How can Schatz's theory of genre cycles be applied to the Superhero genre?


Finally, carry out your own genre analysis using the model provided by media theorist Daniel Chandler. Choose a film or TV text and answer the following questions:

General
1) Why did you choose the text you are analysing?
2) In what context did you encounter it?
3) What influence do you think this context might have had on your interpretation of the text?
4) To what genre did you initially assign the text?
5) What is your experience of this genre?
6) What subject matter and basic themes is the text concerned with?
7) How typical of the genre is this text in terms of content?
8) What expectations do you have about texts in this genre?
9) Have you found any formal generic labels for this particular text (where)?
10) What generic labels have others given the same text?
11) Which conventions of the genre do you recognize in the text?
12) To what extent does this text stretch the conventions of its genre?
13) Where and why does the text depart from the conventions of the genre?
14) Which conventions seem more like those of a different genre (and which genre(s))?
15) What familiar motifs or images are used?

Mode of address
1) What sort of audience did you feel that the text was aimed at (and how typical was this of the genre)?
2) How does the text address you?
3) What sort of person does it assume you are?
4) What assumptions seem to be made about your class, age, gender and ethnicity?
5) What interests does it assume you have?

Relationship to other texts
1) What intertextual references are there in the text you are analysing (and to what other texts)?
2) Generically, which other texts does the text you are analysing resemble most closely?
3) What key features are shared by these texts?
4) What major differences do you notice between them?


This is a lot of work - but you will have plenty of lesson time to complete it (including Friday's lesson). Anything you don't finish this week complete for homework - due next week.