Titanic clip analysis

After having the Dr Who essay marked I decided to look back at the previous essay we had written. Here I realised how the planning was a lot more basic and unorganised. However it did feature some important conventions such as how colour can connote different tones.

With the method I use now to write notes I can fit in many more notes and locate the points I require much faster, which will be very beneficial in my exam. Moreover, by knowing what to look for when analysing a clip, I will know what is important to include in opening which will result in helping our final piece of work.

Representation of gender - clip evaluation

From my essay I achieved a low band four. For a higher band four mark I must improve on every point, despite just scraping all of them. I believe to achieve this I must write more content in more detail and develop my points.

From this task I have learned how the exam takes place and have a better understanding of how to achieve a high mark. By repeating these mock essays I will hopefully be more prepared for the exam.

I also discovered through completing this essay, that a lot more goes into media than I first anticipated. For example, each part of mis-en-scene can be analysed in a shot and had some affect on the audience. Therefore I will have to consider every single detail when making the opening, as well as just camera shots and dialogue. I feel that by improving on my deconstruction of slips from television and cinema, I may be able to achieve a higher quality opening as we will understand the techniques necessary a lot clearer.

Representation of gender - essay and improvement

Before writing my essay I read the mark scheme to understand what I needed to include. I understood that the main goal in the essay was to relate detailed points back to the discussion topic. Therefore I spoke mostly about the conventions used throughout the clip which could be linked in to how gender is presented. I then explained their effect on the audience and why the makers might be presenting gender in that way.

Representation of gender - clip analysis

In our lessons with Miss Brown we are currently watching video clips from TV and film. We then record ways in which the makers have used conventions to present topics in a certain way. In our first lesson on this we looked at a clip from Dr Who and how gender was presented. We each then filled out a grid that would help us to write a full essay later on.

Overview of important camera angles

In order to further my understanding of camera shots we looked more specifically at some of the basic shots used in film. I found these definitions extremely helpful as well as the numerous camera shot definitions that are featured in the revision booklet. I believe that in our final piece we could create a convincing and engaging opening by just using these shots alone. However, we may use various others shots that possibly make the opening even more thrilling or unique.

Camera shots in The Good The Bad and The Ugly

To further my understanding of camera shots in cinema, I took a look at one of my favourite scenes from 'the good,the bad, and the ugly'. I looked at various camera shots and noted their effect on the audience

From this task I achieved a better understanding of how different camera shots can represent a character or event. Thankfully, the director, Sergio Leone, uses a variety of shots to build suspense throughout his films. Therefore this further understanding of camera shots will be very beneficial when my group and I are planning our opening. Moreover, I learnt that by included a variety of shots the film-maker can achieve a film that is far more engaging to the audience, where as films with repeated shots will appear dull and monotonous to the audience. 

Animatic review (group discussion)

After creating our 'terror in the night' storyboard and animatic we decided to review it in a group discussion:

I believe the most valuable benefit of achieving this task was to see how changing the narrative would change the overall short film. We discovered that by changing the order of shots and narrative of the story, it can become more or less engaging. However in order to enable the audience to follow the story, the order of shots must reveal plot points in an easy to follow way. This therefore risks the audience not understanding certain plot points or character arcs, but if done correctly, can make the experience much more impacting.

Through this task my group also learnt how parts of the planning process worked. We now have a better understanding of how we can plan our final opening, visualise it, share ideas, and therefore make any necessary changes.