Write out the following generic question in the middle of your page and annotate the key

words according to what you understand them to mean/stand for

0Describe and evaluate your skills development over the course of your production work from the Foundation Portfolio to the Advanced Portfolio

ProblemsSolutionsWhat I learned

How successful

Research and Planning for 1(a)

0What were the different processes that went into your pre-production work across AS and A2?

0 Different approaches to research/planning

0 How you recorded all of this

0 Audience consideration/research and its effect on the planning/production

0 Research into institutions

0 What you had to have in place before you went to film

Research and Planning

AS A2

What exactly IS Media Language?

0 How a media text communicates meaning through 0 Camerawork

0 Editing

0 Mis-en-scene

0 Soundtrack

0 Film uses verbal and written language as well as the languages of moving image

0 Each form of communication has its own creative language – e.g. Camera close-ups convey intimacy or discomfort at being so near a subject, big fonts in the titles signal significance – MORI

Media Language

0 Understanding the grammar, syntax and metaphor system of media language increases our appreciation and enjoyment of media experiences

0 Example: The camera positioning in the shower scene of ‘Psycho’ places the viewer as a voyeur; in the first instance watching Marion as she washes and then

positioning them as being able to foretell of

her death at the hands of ‘Mother’.

0 The camerawork constructs connotations of

fear and suspense, two generic expectations

Semiotics – Barthes (1977)

0We last saw this theorist with Representation

0Key words

0 DENOTATION = Signifier [Visual/physical on screen]

0 CONNOTATION – Signified [Suggested or Culturally agreed meaning]

0 John Fiske (1982) ‘denotation is what is filmed, connotation is how it is filmed.’

Media Language and Genre/Narrative

0 Meaning is created through analysing the micro elements of a film0 Camerawork – shot types, movement, composition of

frame, angles0 Soundtrack – diegetic, non-diegetic0 Editing – organisation of scenes to create meaning – link to

narrative. Continuity editing (match on action, 180 degree rule, S/R/S. Long or short takes?

0 Mis-en-Scene – Iconography, setting, lighting, costume and props

0 Discuss how generic codes and conventions are displayed through the use of these micro elements in your film

0 Stuart Hall (1980) – how you encoded meaning for your audience and what you wanted them to decode

Structure your Writing

Suggestion 1 (if you think you might struggle with this Q)

0 Separate out your essay to discuss the four technical elements

Suggestion 2 (if you think you can aim for high B/A)

0 Separate out your essay to discuss the production process

0 Pre-production – research into generic codes and conventions, how you applied this in your location search and storyboarding

0 Production (filming) – how you applied camerawork codes and conventions into your filming, costume considerations, characterisation

0 Post-Production – use of your titles, how did your choice of font reflect certain connotations about your film? Soundtrack choices – did you add any foley (sound-effects/hyperbolic sounds) to your film? Voice/over? Diegetic/non-diegetic