How are mainstream and independent films different?

1) How are mainstream and independent films different?

Mainstream films are generally the thoughts and wants of the majority of people. However in the reality, the mainstream is far from organized; rather the concept is often considered a cultural construct. This includes:

• Something that is available to the general public;
• Something that has ties to corporate or commercial entities.

As such, the mainstream includes all popular culture, typically described by the media. mainstream films are screened accross the country at various times of the day contrasting the Independent films as they usually screen only one film at a time and only at certain times a day. Independent films often contrast mainstream films with the use the subcultures, countercultures, cult followings, underground cultures and (in fiction) genre, these films go against the majority of media concepts.

2) The UK film council are trying to make the independent films more accessible to the public in 3 different ways for example;

Improving access – our Digital Screen Network is made up of 240 digital screens across the UK that now show non-mainstream films regularly.

Raising awareness – Our Prints and Advertising Fund provides £4 million every year to help British distributors promote non-mainstream films.

Increasing information – our website, http://www.findanyfilm.com/ is one of the UK's leading websites for film fans looking to watch, buy, download or rent great films.

Digital distribution & D.S.N

Digital distribution

Digital distribution (also known as digital delivery or electronic software distribution) is the practice of providing content in a purely digital format, which is downloaded via the internet straight to a consumer's home. Digital distribution bypasses conventional physical distribution media, such as paper or DVDs. The term digital distribution is typically applied to freestanding products; digital add-ons for other products are more commonly known as downloadable content.
Digitally distributed content may be streamed or downloaded. Streaming involves downloading and using content "on-demand" as it is needed. Meanwhile, fully downloading the content to a hard drive or other form of storage media allows for quick access in the future.

D.S.N Digital Screen Network

The average Hollywood blockbuster opens on 300-plus screens across the UK; most independent films, restored classics, documentaries and foreign language films still struggle to reach over ten per cent of those screens.
Digital screening cuts the cost of releasing films (a digital copy costs around one tenth of a 35mm print). That's why UK Film Council and the Arts Council England have created the Digital Screen Network – a £12 million investment to equip 240 screens in 210 cinemas across the UK with digital projection technology to give UK audiences much greater choice.
Cinemas in the network have already screened non-mainstream films including Control, This is England, Good Night and Good Luck and the Oscar®-winning The Lives of Others, as well as classics like ‘meet me in St Louis’, ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and ‘Casablanca’.
Digital Screen Network cinemas hosted the UK Film Council and BBC Two's Summer of British Films season - a sell out tour running from July to September 2007 featuring British classics such as ‘Goldfinger’, ‘Brief Encounter’, ‘Billy Liar’, ‘Henry V’, ‘The Wicker Man’ and The ‘Dam Busters’

shots and transitions work

Shots

long shot

This category includes the FULL SHOT showing the entire human body, with the head near the top of the frame and the feet near the bottom. While the focus is on characters, plenty of background detail still emerges: we can tell the coffins on the right are in a Western-style setting, for instance.

medium shot
Contains a figure from the knees/waist up and is normally used for dialogue scenes, or to show some detail of action. Variations on this include the TWO SHOT (containing two figures from the waist up) and the THREE SHOT (contains 3 figures...). NB. Any more than three figures and the shot tends to become a long shot. Background detail is minimal, probably because location has been established earlier in the scene - the audience already know where they are and now want to focus on dialogue and character interation. Another variation in this category is the OVER-THE-SHOULDER-SHOT, which positions the camera behind one figure, revealing the other figure, and part of the first figure's back, head and shoulder.

close up
This shows very little background, and concentrates on either a face, or a specific detail of mise en scène. Everything else is just a blur in the background. This shot magnifies the object (think of how big it looks on a cinema screen) and shows the importance of things, be it words written on paper, or the expression on someone's face. The close-up takes us into the mind of a character. In reality, we only let people that we really trust get THAT close to our face - mothers, children and lovers, usually - so a close up of a face is a very intimate shot. A film-maker may use this to make us feel extra comfortable or extremely uncomfortable about a character, and usually uses a zoom lens in order to get the required framing.

shot reverse shot
Shot reverse shot (or shot/countershot) is a film technique where one character is shown looking at another character (often off-screen), and then the other character is shown looking "back" at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other.

high angle shots
In film, a high angle shot is usually when the camera is located high.
With this type of angle, the camera looks down on the subject and the point of focus often get "swallowed up" by the setting.
High angle shots also make the figure or object seem vulnerable or powerless.

low angle shots
In cinematography, a low-angle shot, is a shot from a camera positioned low on the vertical axis, often at knee height, looking up.

tracking shot
a tracking shot (also known as a dolly shot or trucking shot) is a segment in which the camera is mounted on a wheeled platform that is pushed on rails while the picture is being taken. One may dolly in on a stationary subject for emphasis, or dolly out, or dolly beside a moving subject (an action known as "dollying with").

pan
A movement which scans a scene horizontally. The camera is placed on a tripod, which operates as a stationary axis point as the camera is turned, often to follow a moving object which is kept in the middle of the frame.

tilt
A movement which scans a scene vertically, otherwise similar to a pan.


Editing

continuity
is the predominant style of editing in narrative cinema and television. The purpose of continuity editing is to smooth over the inherent discontinuity of the editing process and to establish a logical coherence between shots.

montage
In motion picture terminology, a montage (from the French for "putting together" or "assembly") is a film editing technique.
There are at least three senses of the term:
1. In French film practice, "montage" has its literal French meaning and simply identifies editing.
2. In Soviet filmmaking of the 1920s, "montage" was a method of juxtaposing shots to derive new meaning that did not exist in either shot alone.
3. In classical Hollywood cinema, a "montage sequence" is a short segment in a film in which narrative information is presented in a condensed fashion. This is the most common meaning among laymen.

montage Hollywood
a short segment in a film in which narrative information is presented in a condensed fashion.

transitions
Transitions are authoring tools a video editor can insert between two video clips or still images to create an artistic, professional effect. There are a multitude of transitional effects available, the two most common being the crossfade and dissolve.

cross cutting/parallel editing
The most common transition — an instant change from one shot to the next. The raw footage from your camera contains cuts between shots where you stop and start recording (unless of course you use built-in camera transitions).
In film and television production, the vast majority of transitions are cuts.

dissolve
In film editing, a dissolve is a gradual transition from one image to another. In film, this effect is created by controlled double exposure from frame to frame; transiting from the end of one clip to the beginning of another.

wipes
In film editing, a wipe is a gradual spatial transition from one image to another. One image is replaced by another with a distinct edge that forms a shape. A simple edge, an expanding circle, or the turning of a page are all examples.


Film Clip ' Saving Private Ryan'




the use of camera shots in the clip I have chosen to analyse (Saving Private Ryan) are extremely effective, for starters, the clip uses a tilt technique to take in the full effect of the skies and sea to set the scene, which then cross cuts into a tracking shot of the boats with soldiers on them heading for the shore, which is setting the time and place as this is meant to be an old war film, this emphasises the equipment and vehicles the soldiers use in war also the camera moves very freehand, to give the audience the feel that they are on a boat in the vicious sea much like the soldiers, drawing the audience in to connect with the film so they believe they are part of the storyline, the camera then cross cuts to a close up of a hand shaking making the audience feel the fear and tension that is among these soldiers, and as the camera again uses the tilt technique to follow the soldiers hand up to show him take a drink, this connects the audience to one of the main characters introducing him to the scene, with a close up of the face to emphasize who the character is and to show the look of fear in his face, slowly panning out to show the boats full inhabitance of soldiers, waiting nervously for the battle much like the calm before the storm this is shown by the stern faces of soldiers and how some vomit out of pure fear. The camera changes to a low angled mid shot of the soldier driving the oat, emphasizing his position of power as he commands the other soldiers what to do, with a close up of the main character giving orders to the other soldiers, which also emphasizes the position of power to the audience, then cross cuts to another soldier giving commands, with a freehand camera with a low angle shot to show he is a position of power, whilst also keeping the realism aspect to the film to connect the audience. The camera then moves freehand along the boat looking all of the soldiers in the face connecting the audience to the whole unit, and also cross cutting to the most important characters in the film. The silence used is to portray the ‘calm before the storm’ effect that Steven Spielberg has used to emphasise the following battle scene. A close up of the man lowering the bridge is used to show that the wait is over and the battle is going to begin, cross cutting to the first soldier in a low angle shot getting shot dead, then cross cutting to a high angle shot showing the loss of power as the soldiers are mown down by gunfire, the freehand camera emphasises the tragedy as it puts the audience again in the shoes of the soldiers. This cross cuts to another low angle shot which is freehand showing the soldiers getting shot dead, cross cutting again to an over the shoulder freehand shot of an enemy soldier firing the machine gun at the soldiers on the boat, and as the clip is ending, we see a high angle shot to the main character giving commands again, and then a tracking shot that is free hand showing the cameraman who the audience are now connected to as a soldier, jumps in the sea with the rest of the soldiers.

New Technologies, Questions

New Technologies
iPhone
Blu-ray
Game Consoles
Streaming
Blogs
Mobiles
Podcasts
Plasma TV
Blackberry
Websites
Email
Camera
HD
Youtube
iTunes
iPod
IM
Social Networking
Downloads
Netbook
Laptop
Sky+HD
Online Shopping
RSS Feeds

How have new technologies allowed film institutions to target audiences?
Consider:- Production, Marketing, Exhibition & Distribution

Production
New technologies can affect the production in a variety of ways, from the more realistic special effects that can be used to the very simple 'Green Screen' which helps to dramatically improve the films, also the use of High Definition benefits the production quality of the film so that the cinema/film experience can be enhanced for the audience.

Marketing
New technologies also have effected the way films can be marketed, as old films would use things such as billboards and bus sides to help advertise their films, by the use of new technologies and social networking, the very cheap in comparison adverts on social networks appeal to a larger audience for less money, saving the film producer more money to spend on the film and less is needed to advertise it effectively.

Exhibition
New technologies effect the audiences experience due to the use of better quality HD filming and more technology to improve the special effects in the film in comparison to the older films which use worse quality filming and less realistic special effects, making the audience not able to relate to the film as much as modern day films, making it more realistic and therefore improving the audiences overall experience.

Distribution
New technologies have enabled film producers to use digital distribution in comparison to the old method of using 35mm prints that cost £1000 each, sometimes more, they can just send files and use files on computers to distribute their films faster and cheaper to a larger target area of the world.

How have the new technologies affected the position of the consumer?
the new technologies have affected the position of the consumer dramatically, allowing the consumer to take control of how much the advertisements can influence their decision to watch the films as they can choose not to click links that are advertisements on websites, however the new technologies can also give the producers a position of power while the audience is watching the films as they can use special effects and better quality production to make people feel certain feelings according to what the producers whant them to feel.






To evaluate
New technologies such as HD and advances in camera technology have allowed the film industry to film in more detail than ever before as they can shoot all Films in High Definition to make the cinema experience more realistic than ever for example, A Serious Man and Avatar has advertisements in high definition which can help convey the quality of the film to give the audience a snippet of how good the film truly is. thanks to the advances in technology, many films can be digitally distributed which can save companies thousands of pounds as it can be sent via the internet and easily copied, making the expense of distribution obsolete as companies won’t have to buy expensive 35mm prints so that the film budget can be used more on the film and less on advertising improving the film as the spare money can be used to improve the quality of the film.



Here is the ‘A Serious Man’ & ‘Avatar’ trailer in HD showing just how advanced technology can affect the quality of filming

Film Distribution Powerpoint

Film Distributions

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The Male Gaze

Merchandise

Merchandise

Is one way that films promote themselves through selling commercial products in collaboration with the film such as toys, books, posters etc.

Viral Marketing

Use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet.

Synergy Marketing

Is a type of marketing that uses the success of existing companies to promote theirs for example James Bond film and Sony’s marketing collaboration.




Product placement

Product placement is a form of advertisement, where branded goods or services are placed in movies, the story line of television shows, or news programs to promote their products for example the Aston Martin and Rolex that James Bond Wears/Uses in the films.



Bridget Jones’ Diary





This film used synergy marketing from The Body Shop, MSN.com, Virgin Megastore and Virgin Atlantic to help promote the film, it also released t-shirts and DVD's to promote the product. some product placement was used to help promote their partners that promote them such as virgin and the body shop.



The Boat That Rocked

The film used product placement to promote itself such as Typhoo Tea, which was one of many things used in the film along with a 60 song soundtrack to promote itself before it was released, as the film was based on old music and the music that was on the soundtrack, that was promoted through playing music from the soundtrack during trailers.

How are the characters of Steve, Fiona, Lip and Ian represented in episode one of Shameless?

How are the characters of Steve, Fiona, Lip and Ian represented in episode one of Shameless?

The character Steve is at first perceived to be heroic at the start as he tries to stop the man who has stolen Fiona’s handbag, and hits the clubs bouncer when he disrespects Fiona and Veronica rich because he buys the family a new washing machine and drives flashy cars which gives the impression he has plenty of money. Later in the episode we find out that Steve in fact is a criminal, who dresses as a waiter at a restaurant to fool rich people into giving him their car keys and then stealing the cars for his own personal use and when he’s done, he sells the cars on to make some money.

Fiona is viewed as a slightly stereotypical northern girl, but her friend veronica is the typical stereotype and they contrast sometimes, where Fiona likes to go clubbing and get drunk like veronica, veronica has aspects such as her crudity and roughness that Fiona lacks to fit the stereotype portrayed at the start of the episode in the club and talking to the bouncer. Fiona also later that night has sex with Steve on the kitchen floor portraying a very crude and slaggy side to her, although when her Frank comes back, she turns into a mother figure in the household that looks out for the children and looks after Frank.

Lip is shown to be extremely clever as at the start of the episode, we see him going to help a girl do their homework for money, however he is also shown to be a typical teenage boy as when the girl offers a blowjob because she has no money to pay for his help, he accepts. Lip also is conveyed as a loving brother, as when he finds out Ian is gay, he is upset because Ian never told him and devises a test to see if an is gay, he gets the girl he helps with homework to give him a blowjob, to see if he enjoys it, and when Lip finds out that his brother is having an affair with an older married man, he is worried for his brother as the married man could just be using him for presents whilst Ian loves him.

Ian is a homosexual boy who is the brother of Lip and who works in a shop with his gay lover, who is also a married man. Ian is seen as a average boy apart from his homosexuality, he likes football, works for his money and is happy with being gay. When his brother finds out, he seems ashamed of himself whilst Lip gives him “tough love” to try help him, Ian doesn’t want to hear it as he is blinded by love for his workmate, he also seems very uncomfortable with getting a blowjob from a girl which shows that he is very certain about his homosexuality.

Advertising

Above The Line Advertising

Above the line advertising uses media to promote the films in many ways such as TV, cinema, radio, print, banners and search engines to promote brands. Major uses include television and radio advertising and also internet banners and Ads.

Below The Line Advertising

Below the line advertising, uses different brand-building strategies to promote the film, such as direct mail and printed media that usually involve no motion graphics.

2012

Sony Pictures are going to run a television campaign to promote 2012 that will receive an audience four times larger than the Super Bowl.
The plan is to air a two minute scene from 2012 on nearly every major TV and Cable network in North America. By doing this, the studio expects to reach 110 million viewers. by knowing this we can establish that 2012 used many above the line advertising conventions to market the film throughout the world, as it has a huge budget of $200 million.

A Serious Man

used a below the line promotion scheme as they premiered their film in an independant cinema and therefore shows that this film was not a wide scale venture like 2012 and had a substantially lower budget.

Bunny & The Bull

Bunny & The Bull has the lowest budget out of the three films, resulting in their promotional advertising techniques being below the line, using only their website and trailers in non mainstream cinema's to premote their film, but also uses the above the line technique starring British comedian and esablished actor Noel Fielding, cast as one of the main characters, attracting fans of his previous work to watching the film.

Four Weddings & A Funeral

produced in 1994, this film could not have some of the marketing scemes used today due to the advance in technology but, some of the old techniques used to promote this film are still being used, they have just become more established.in 1994 posters, trailers and merchandise were the key techniques used to promote a new film before it was released, and also still used today, is starring a famous actor to attract the attention of fans of the actors previous works, for example in "Four Weddings" Hugh Grant played the lead role of Charles which attracted a very large audience due to his incredible acting status. since the 90's advertising campaigns have gained many advantages through usage of technology for example, nearly every film imaginable will have some sort of website or page on a social networking site helping to advertise it, using the internet as a key tool to promote films 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Defining British Film (Categories)

A- British Money, Personnel and Resources
B- Co funded = Britian and Foreign investment (majority of finance, cultural content and personnel are british)
C- Mostly foreign (but not USA) investment small british input (financially / Creativity)
D- Films made in UK with (usually) British cultural content but financed fully or partly by American companies
E- American film with British involvement

The Male Gaze - Superbad

This video clip from the film superbad, conveys a stereotypical view of 'The Male Gaze' showing how men percieve women in films and adverts, these conventions are used by the film producer to attract a male audience to make their films a hit, much like adverts use this technique to sell their products.

Dead Man's Shoes, Hot Fuzz & This is England

Dead Man’s Shoes

Budget £723,000

Starring/ celebrities in film
Paddy Considine
Toby Kebbell
Gary Stretch

Directors Aim
the Directors were trying to create a horror movie, filled with revenge at a reasonable budget.

Hot Fuzz

Budget £8 million

Starring/ celebrities in film
Simon Pegg
Nick Frost
Jim Broadbent
Timothy Dalton
Paddy Considine
Edward Woodward
Billie Whitelaw

Directors Aim
The directors were trying to create an action/comedy that used conventional british stereotyping to make an impressive statement, creating a first for making a traditional english cop film like other countries in the world already have

This is England

Budget £1,500,000

Starring/ celebrities in film
Thomas Turgoose
Joe Gilgun
Andrew Shim
Vicky McClure
Stephen Graham
Rosamund Hanson

Directors aim
the Directors were trying to convey a sense of the harsh reality amongst working class british people.

Teenage Stereotyping

Teenage Stereotyping

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Working Title and Warp Films Research Questions

Working Title and Warp Films
Institution and Audiences

AOs
Production Practices to appeal to audiences
Distribution and Marketing strategies to raise audience awareness
New technologies to help target specific audiences
Audience and how they challenge institutions


1. Who are Working Title?
Working Title Films is a British film production company, based in London, England. The company was founded by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe in 1982. It produces feature films and some television productions. Eric Fellner and Bevan are the co-owners of the company now.

2. Who are Warp Films?
Warp Films, a sister company of Warp Records, was set up in 1999 with funding from NESTA. It is based in Sheffield, England with a further office in London and has 14 full-time staff.

3. Are they independent or part of a conglomerate?
Working Title is a conglomerate company meaning it is part of other film company’s e.g. universal studios, whilst Warp Films are an independent film company.

4. How does the ownership of the company affect the budgets for film?
The ownership of the company effects the budgets for a film because larger more successful film companies would have more money to spend and therefore higher budgets for their films than smaller film companies.

5. Create a list of films that both institutions have produced.
Working Title Films About a Boy (film)
Ali G Indahouse
Atonement (film)
User:Nayrouz Aly/Atonement
Barton Fink
Bean (film)
The Big Lebowski
Billy Elliot
The Boat That Rocked
Bob Roberts
The Borrowers (1997 film)
Bridget Jones's Diary (film)
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (film)
Burn After Reading
The Calcium Kid
Captain Corelli's Mandolin (film)
Catch a Fire (film)
Chicago Joe and the Showgirl
Chihuanhas
Dead Man Walking (film)
Definitely, Maybe
Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur
Drop Dead Fred
Edward II (film)
Elizabeth (film)
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Fargo (film)
For Queen and Country
40 Days and 40 Nights
Four Weddings and a Funeral
French Kiss (film)
Frost/Nixon (film)
Green Zone (film)
The Guru (2002 film)
The Hi-Lo Country
Hippie Hippie Shake
Hot Fuzz
The Hudsucker Proxy
Inside I'm Dancing
The Interpreter
Johnny English
Land and Freedom
Loch Ness (film)
London Kills Me
Long Time Dead
Love Actually
The Man Who Cried
The Man Who Wasn't There
Map of the Human Heart
Mickybo and Me
Moonlight and Valentino
Mr. Bean's Holiday
My Beautiful Laundrette
My Little Eye
Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang
Nanny McPhee
Ned Kelly (2003 film)
Notting Hill (film)
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Panther (film)
Paperhouse (film)
Paul (film)
Plunkett & Macleane
Posse (1993 film)
Pride & Prejudice (2005 film)
The Return of the Borrowers
Robin Hood (1991 film)
Romeo Is Bleeding
Rubin and Ed
Sammy and Rosie Get Laid
A Serious Man
Shaun of the Dead
Smokin' Aces
The Soloist
State of Play (film)
Tales of the City (TV miniseries)
The Tall Guy
The Comic Strip
Thunderbirds (film)
United 93 (film)
Wild Child (2008 film)
Wimbledon (film)
Wish You Were Here (1987 film)
A World Apart (film)
The Young Americans (film)

Warp Films
My Wrongs #8245–8249 & 117 (Dir: Chris Morris - 2003)
Dead Man's Shoes (Dir: Shane Meadows - 2004)
Rubber Johnny (Dir: Chris Cunningham - 2005)
Scummy Man (Arctic Monkeys short film/music video)
This Is England (Dir: Shane Meadows - 2006)
"Grow Your Own"(Dir: Richard Laxton - 2007)
Dog Altogether (Dir: Paddy Considine - 2007)
All Tomorrow's Parties (Dir: Jonathan Caouette & All Tomorrow's People]] - 2009)



6. Choose one from each list and compare the budgets for these films and how much they made.

Warp Films-"Grow Your Own" Budget £2.5 million

Working Title Films-State of Play (film) - Budget $60 million Gross revenue $88,336,552


7. Now choose a Hollywood Blockbuster and research the budget.
The Dark Knight- Budget $185 million Gross revenue $1,001,921,825

8. Where do Working Title and Warp Films get their funding from?
Warp Films - NESTA provided early-stage funding to Warp Films. Their debut project won a BAFTA and they have gone on to create a niche brand of short films. Since their NESTA award, the company has been awarded £4.5 million from the UK Film Council, FilmFour and regional funding bodies to introduce the next wave of cutting-edge British filmmakers.
Working Title - Working Title began as an Independent, then had a term deal with Polygram (1992-1998) and currently has an ongoing financing and distribution arrangement with Universal Pictures and Canal Plus.

9. In the case of Warp Films, how does the budget affect the genre they use?
In Warp Films, the budget affects the genre they use because a lower budget film limits the amount of genre’s that can be produced as some films e.g. action will need expensive special effects and more realistic props which low budget films simply can’t afford.

10. What is the main appeal of this genre? Give examples.
The main appeal of this genre is that it is set in real places which make the films more realistic and believable to viewers as it is made in places that exist.

11. Who are the target audience for Working Title and Warp Films?
The target audience for Working Title Films are – a ‘four quadrant’ movie. appeals to all people.
The target audience for Warp Films are – smaller audience, sticking to the genre of the film

12. What is the main genre of the films Working Title produce?
The main genre of the films Working Title produce are mainly comedy films as they appeal to a wide array of audiences.

The Culture Show

Mike Goodridge

talked about four quadrant movies, which are big hollywood blockbuster movies that appeal to a wide audience, and tent pole films, which are films that have a zero risk at loss as they are remakes of things such as comics, that have been popular before e.g. superman, to make a film companys money back for any losses incurred from other more risky films.

Lord Puttnam
talked about how films nowadays are more about "who's in it, not what's in it" showing that a modern day audience doesnt care much for the storyline if it has a famous actor they like in it, thats why they'll see the film. the problem with this is, the actors can not only be incredibly expensive and take a lot of the money that is spent on the film, but also they can be incompatible with the script and so they have to change the film to fit the charecter not the other way around.

Sandra Hebron
says how directors need to take more risks in creating films that make people think more and have a political message. she also says that actors who 'coventure' help with the film producton greatly as they lower their fee to help with the movie and get a cut of the profits.

Shane Meadows
said that he believes relationships with the actors are important
cutting costs such as using room lighting and bying cars from ebay can maake the film have less risk for making profit
uses scenes that already exist for realism in films

Preliminary Task Magazine Cover

I worked with Paul Briggs, and we managed the task between us by each making a basic magazine cover and putting them together, we both took a number of pictures, so that we had a decent spectrum of pictures to choose from, which helps as it shows that we can select the best pictures to use for our magazine so that it can look as good as possible.

We used the school website and newsletters as inspiration, but added our own personal touches to improve the basic school format, such as an updated logo appealing to a more teenage audience with a bright cyan colour and black stripes contrasting on the school emblem.

We used computers with Adobe Photoshop to complete this task, as Photoshop has all of the tools needed to create a magazine cover, such as layers, effects, and the range of photo editing tools that can be used to do a variety of things to make the magazine cover pictures and text look the best that they can.

When planning, we had to take into account the audience and what information would be needed to be used, during shooting the pictures we took into account the relevancy of the pictures in contrast to the information on the page, and whilst editing we took into account the rule of three colours and three fonts, and also we took into account the basic layout of a magazine cover, that can be used to make our magazine look very professional and publishable.

I believe the consistency of the magazine layout worked well, as all font styles and layout colours were the same from both the magazine cover and contents page, and use the traditional basic magazine layout, where the masthead is on the top of the cover to keep a very simplistic but effective layout. We kept the colour palette to the school colours theme with turquoise and black fonts, and with cyan, yellow and white as a background colour to contrast the text on the page so it stands out effectively. The colour palette appeals to a teenage audience as it uses bold and bright colours, whilst still using dull colours to show the more adult like and professional look, which shows sensibility and practicality as the text contrasts well with background images and background colours.
If we had more time/ another chance to do this I believe we would use a variety of different Photoshop tools to make our magazine cover work a lot smoother, as the colours scheme is very block coloured. Also we could have taken more pictures, to have a larger variety of options for the front cover and therefore improving the overall look of the magazine/

From completing this task, I have learnt a variety of things, mostly how to use Photoshop tools effectively and have improved on using the magnetic lasso tool, which in future will help me with other picture related work. I also have learnt further aspects of magazine covers such as the placement of pictures, and text on the page to be effective and follow traditional magazine layouts.

The Royal Tenenbaums 'Chas' Charecter Analysis

Directed by Wes Anderson, “The Royal Tenenbaums” follows the lives of three extremely smart children, Chas, Margot and Richie who are the main characters of this film that introduces them as a ‘family of geniuses’. The character I shall be analysing is Chas
The character I shall be analysing is Chas, a very successful and serious child as, being much like a little business man, who takes most of his meals in his room on the second floor of the house at his desk to ‘save time’, this shows the business like essence that Chas has as he is not prepared to waste time while in the middle of some very business related projects, such as in the sixth grade, he went into business breeding Dalmatian, mice which he ‘sold to a pet shop in little Tokyo’ showing again his ingenuity as a child genius, who was also a successful business man making money from a very young age. For a child, Chas shows his mature nature as he started buying real estate in his early teens, and also negotiated the purchase of his fathers summer house on eagles island, which shows again how intellectual this young boy really is, understanding when to buy and sell real estate and negotiating the summer houses purchase, where whilst shooting, his father shot a bb between two knuckles in his left hand which was stuck for the rest of his life. Unlike his brother and sister, he was not as close to them as they were together as he seems to be a rather loner of a character that was only interested in the money, although he participated in Margo’s first play, on her tenth birthday party, which their father (Royal Tenenbaum) drenched their spirits by saying that the play was unrealistic. However, Chas seemed very distant from his father, who seemed to favour his other son Richie, possibly because of his incredible sporting skills. One last point I would like to get across is the fact of how Chas has been a financial success from an incredibly young age, being a business man of sorts, even drinking coffee which is something that not many ordinary children would do.

Rocksound Magazine 'Mock- Up'

This magazine has a traditional basic magazine layout, where the masthead is on the top of the cover to keep a very simplistic but effective layout. the colour pallette uses yellow, white, and a variation between different shades of blues and turquoise which does not comply to the rule of three but, the extra colour is for added effect among text to emphasise it's meaning, and also contrasts well with the picture and background to stand out on the page. This is used for simplicity as the picture can contrast well against the background. The colour palette shows a teenage/ adult audience as it doesnt show extremely bright colours that may attract a younger audience, but more toned down and relaxed colours. By doing this 'Mock-Up' of a magazine cover i have learned various things for example the basic rules for a magazine cover, how a basic layout can be very effective, and how contrasting slightly text colours from background images and colours distinguishes and makes text stand out and more appealing on the page.

Eastenders Prelim

The task that we were set was to recreate a scene from Eastenders, the popular soap opera. the scene had a very generic setting as like most soap opera's, it started off with a scene inside a house where the phone rang, giving a midshot whilst answering the phone and led into another technique used in many soap opera's, further on in the scene during a conversation, the shot- reverse- shot technique, which shows the reaction of who is being spoken to, usually from an over the shoulder shot, where the camera switches between the two charecters points of view. many of our shots seemed very rushed and, had we had more time, we could have probably acted better during the shots, however, our shots seemed to flow quite well and our continuety was good, which was one new thing i learnt from this excercise along with the shot-reverse-shot technique which i shall carry on into later filming excercises to enhance my filming skills.

All About Me

All About Me

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This was a presentation task i was asked to do on myself which shows my interests and hobbies, it integrates a powerpoint and youtube video into the post.