PLANNING: TRELLO

I have created a Trello account which is a very useful organisational online tool so that I know what I have done and what needs to be done, it helps me keep track of my work and what I am doing. Below is a screen shot of my Trello.

THE BRIEF

I am doing the video brief:

Main task: the titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes.

All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source.

Preliminary Exercise - Antiques Roadshow

Continuity task: filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room, sitting down in a chair opposite another character with whom she/he exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180% rule.

In this exercise we were set the task to create an antiques roadshow clip only using the certain rules which are stated above. We also used some techniques we thought of such as close ups, which is what the real Antiques roadshow uses to display the antiques on the show. We used the shot reverse shots when both characters were talking to each other as well as one character opening and closing a door. We used the 180 degree rule where the camera is in one position and only pans across a 180 degree angle.

Representations of masculinity in The Night Manager

In your summer exam, you will watch a TV drama extract four times and write about how representations are constructed. The extract will be from UK or US television, about 5 minutes long. You will have time to make notes between screenings. The question will have a focus (such as gender, age, class and status, ethnicity, disability, sexuality or regional identity. 
The question will look like this:

Answer the question below, with detailed reference to specific examples from the extract only. 

1 Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of age using the following:

• Camera shots, angles, movement and composition

 • Editing

• Sound

 • Mise en scène

 In today's lesson, we look at how representations of gender are constructed in The Night Manager. We view the trailerhere then watch parts of episode 1 in class.  
To achieve a level 4 mark, you need to be systematic in your written analysis. You should think of each point that you make as made up of three parts, as this is how the examiner will award marks:

• identify terminology (eg. "There are two types of close-up shots of Roper in the opening scene when he is presenting a lecture with slides to a respectful audience who do not know about his secret work as an arms dealer.")
• specific example (eg. "One type of close-up features black and white stills of two-shots, with Roper holding foreign children in his arms as he smiles directly and frankly at the camera, followed by group shots, where Roper has his arm wrapped around a member of the local community in a friendly embrace, again smiling widely. The second type of close up is live action shots of Roper addressing the lecture hall, looking sincere, serious and committed as he describes his charity work with refugees.")
• explanation, analysis, argument (eg. "The effect of these shots is to position him as a caring philanthropist who protects and nurtures the community, especially combined with the speech he gives, referring to his role as philanthropist, entrepreneur, innovator., especially his final close-up  where he talks about 'lifting up his fellow man. Mid shots allow for the significance of his hand gestures to emphasise his earnestness and sincerity.")

We read the MediaMagazine article on how representations of men are constructed in The Night Manager.

Today we started our preliminary exercise which is an exercise to prove that I am able to film, edit and act in a scene given to the group. The rules included a 180 degree rule where the camera is only allowed to move in a 180 degree area, a character opening a door, crossing a room, sitting down in a chair opposite another character with whom she/he exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. Our scenario which was given to us was the antiques roadshow where one character would bring an antique to a professional who would come up with a rough price of how much the object would be.  We only managed to get a bit of editing done in our first session, but in the second session we finished it. The end result, "hey that's pretty good."