Your brief for Advanced Production was to produce a short film in its entirety so, when considering the media concept of language you need to consider that of film.
If ‘language’ is defined as how we communicate, then it can be interpreted in many levels when it comes to the medium of film. We know that each language consists of learnt “words, phrases, grammar, punctuation, rules and common practices” (Wohl, Michael; The Language of Film 2008). Therefore we could transfer this understanding to the micro elements of film, camera, sound, mise-en-scene, editing etc, and/or go to a deeper level of analysis with a detailed look at choices of shot sizes, match-on-action, rules of continuity, framing and how they are pieced/edited together to create a sentence and therefore a language of communication.
Unlike the other concepts in this part of the exam, we are not so much looking at what we are communicating but how we are communicating it. All of the decisions you made in your short films about which shots, angles, costume, set design, location, lighting, character movement, etc, play a part in this discussion.
Arguably the language of film can’t be discussed separately from genre, narrative, representation and audience as your knowledge of each of these influences the decisions you made throughout production.
When constructing the plot of your short film you were led by the conventions of the short film genre i.e.depicting an underlining message and constructing the story around the development of one character. (You’ll need to use examples of your film and those you’ve studied in here.) You also want your film to be successful with its target audience and therefore the constraints of the conventions of that genre need to be acknowledged, used or diverted from, so that while audience expectations are fulfilled at the same time you are offering up a film that will be remembered for its uniqueness, ‘creativity’. You could bring in Daniel Chandler, David Broadwell, and or Steve Neale at this point.
At this point I think it would be useful if you highlighted how you’ve been conventional in your use of micro elements and how together they create the required language of communicating that genre.
To be continued……
Wednesday, 11 July 2012
Question 1b Audience Theory Task
Having stretched your critical thinking to include Audience Reception Theory you now need to reflect on your learning and consider how what you have learnt can be linked to the planning of your short film script.
WARNING - This is going to take some time so make sure you put the effort in. It will not only make your film better but also help you with the exam later... I PROMISE.
Tasks -
- Watch a minimum of 4 short films and analyse them for the following possible audience receptions.
- Preferred Reading / Dominant hegemonic position
- Negotiated Reading / Negotiated hegemonic position
- Oppositional hegemonic position
- Aberrant decoding
- Moral Panic
- Mode of Address
- Profile the Target Audience (this will be linked into the success of the film so check out how it did at festivals etc, and what these festivals represent, are looking for).
- Consider the viewing environment
- Combine your thoughts from the above analysis and your lesson notes to produce a written/blogged review of what you will need to consider in writing your own short film script.
Gauntlett on Audience Theory
Why are there no clear answers on media effects?
Gauntlett "10 things wrong with the 'effects model'" (1998)
1. The effects model tackles social problems 'backwards'
2. The effects model treats children as inadequate
3. Assumptions within the effects model are characterised by barely-concealed conservative ideology
4. The effects model inadequately defines its own objects of study
5. The effects model is often based on artificial elements and assumptions within studies
6. The effects model is often based on studies with misapplied methodology
7. The effects model is selective in its criticisms of media depictions of violence
8. The effects model assumes superiority to the masses
9. The effects model makes no attempt to understand meanings of the media
10. The effects model is not grounded in theory
Question 1b Audience Theory - Reading
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| Doodlebug |
Here are 3 weblinks on the discussion of Audience Theory. You will need to read them carefully and make notes on your thoughts to be discussed in class. Your notes will be for revision purposes and so need to be put in your files for classes.
Media Know All Key Concepts on Audience
Philip J Hanes on The Advantages and Limitations of Focus on Audience in Media Studies
David Gauntlett
Question 1b Representation Theory Task
Tasks
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| Gas Man |
Tasks
- Summarise the key points of representation theory from your reading and lessons making sure you reference accurately.
- Analyse the representation of people, places, objects, events, cultural identities etc. in three existing short films. You may use up to two that you have previously studied but the third must be a different short.
- Comment on how your new understanding will influence you in the designs of your own short film.
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