A2 transition-pack

CTK – Media Studies: AS-A2 Transition 2015
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-CONTENTS-
PAGE TOPIC
3 AS-A2 TRANSITION INTRODUCTION
4 SCHEME OF WORK
5 AS-A2 FILM SCREENINGS
6 A2 COURSEWORK BRIEF
7 THE HORROR GENRE
11 CREATING A TREATMENT - GUIDANCE
13 CREATING A STORYBOARD - GUIDANCE
15 THEORETICAL CONCEPTS - GUIDANCE
17 SUMMER WORK - GUIDANCE
18 SUMMER WORK - MARK SCHEME
19 ASSESSMENT PACK
20 ICONIC HORROR - VIDEO INFORMATION
25 SEMIOTICS - LESSON NOTES
27 SUB-GENRES - VIDEO INFORMATION
29 THEORY LESSON NOTES
31 TRAILER CONTENT ANALYSES
33 TREATMENT
35 SHOT-LIST/STORYBOARD
37 THREE FILM SCREENING CRITS
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- AS-A2 TRANSITION - INTRODUCTION -
Welcome back AS students! The next four weeks will be focused on preparing you for the
A2 Media Studies Course, covering both the exam (G325) and coursework (G324) units.
• You will be introduced to the A2 coursework brief & review past work (Trailers, posters etc.)
• You will explore the Horror Film Genre + its most iconic films.
• You will be study the conventions associated with horrors many film sub-genres.
• You will investigate film theory and how it applies to the horror genre.
• You will analyze the contents of horror teaser trailers.
• You will understand the purpose of a storyboard and treatment and create your very own.
• You will also have the opportunity to watch SIXTEEN real media text horror films.
Week 1: A2 Coursework Brief – Research the Horror Genre – Iconic Films – Horror Semiotics.
Week 2: Horror Sub-Genres + Conventions – Theoretical Concepts – Trailer Content Analyses.
Week 3: Treatment & Shot Lists/Storyboard – Inferred Meanings & Representation – Horror Quiz.
Week 4: Summer Work Guidance – (Extension Activity: Review of Past Student Work).
- ASSIGNMENTS -
ASSIGNMENT 1
COMPLETE THIS TRANSITION PACK
1. Iconic Horror Video Information
2. Semiotics Lesson Notes
3. Sub-Genres Video Information
4. Theory Lesson Notes
5. Trailer Content Analyses
6. Treatment
7. Shot-List/Storyboard
8. Three Film Screening Crits
ASSIGNMENT 2
PRACTICAL SKILLS PORTFOLIO (& SUMMER
PROJECT)
1. Edit Task: What if…was a Horror film?
2. Poltergeist Swede
3. Garageband Horror score
4. Location Recee Selfie
5. Summer Assignment: Test film trailer, shoot
and edit on phone
THE STANDARD OF THESE TASKS DETERMINES WHICH GROUP YOU WILL BE PUT IN FOR
THE WHOLE A2 YEAR. DO A GOOD JOB... YOU WILL WANT TO BE IN AN A-GRADE GROUP
ALL DUE SEPTEMBER 2015
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- AS-A2 TRANSITION - SCHEME OF WORK -
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Poltergeist Swede & the Summer Assignment
To complete the tasks, download this free app:
Transition Horror Film Screenings
Weds 2pm – 4pm in S025
Week 1: Rec
Week 2: Nightmare on Elm Street
Week 3: The Exorcist
Week 4: Scream
Media Students Only – all students must complete a minimum
of 3 x Crit Analysis for R&P
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- A2 COURSEWORK BRIEF -
CREATE A FILM PACKAGE FOR A HORROR FILM
TEASER TRAILER – 40 MARKS
POSTER – 10 MARKS MAGAZINE – 10 MARKS
WEBSITE – 20 MARKS EVALUATION – 20 MARKS
Individual Roles & Responsibilities:
The exam board wants to see students develop their practical skills further than they did in A.S. One way, to
ensure this is to assign individual responsibilities within the group. Each student’s area of responsibility
must be clearly explored on the group’s blog/website. They could be: Camera operator, director, make up &
costume supervisor, editor, designer etc. It is important that one student is blog or website administrator
(upload documentation/ensures that each member contributes to the project/updates team log).
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- THE HORROR GENRE -
- SLASHER SUB-GENRE -
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- SPLATTER SUB-GENRE -
- VAMPIRE SUB-GENRE -
- PSYCHOLOGICAL SUB-GENRE -
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- ZOMBIE SUB-GENRE -
- MONSTER SUB-GENRE -
- J-HORROR SUB-GENRE -
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- THRILLER SUB-GENRE -
- PICK A SUB-GENRE -
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- CREATING A TREATMENT- GUIDANCE -
WHAT IS A TREATMENT?
A treatment is essentially a breakdown of your movie/TV production. It can be anything from a single page, to
twenty pages (or even more, depending on the density of the script). A treatment is a blueprint for a
screenplay. In essences, a treatment is a Short Story, covering the basic ideas and issues of the production as
well as the main characters, relationships, locations, and story angles.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A TREATMENT?
There are two major purposes of a treatment. Initially, as a device for the writer to organise their thoughts and
develop the texture of a script. Secondly, to sell the proposed movie to a commissioning editor, financial
backers, or major stars. It is often presented in the form of a pitch, which explains why proposed financiers
should invest their money in to an idea. It has to be impressive! Treatments are written in the present tense,
are concise, grab the attention, and are interesting to read.
HOW TO WRITE A TREATMENT?
Your treatment should read as a short story, in detail, stage-by-stage as it unfolds. It reveals the full story
sequence and its structure, key scenes, the main and secondary character personalities, relationships, and
how they change and develop. Treatments have different functions: a writer may compose a highly detailed
treatment in preparation for the first draft, but this will have to be scaled down to meet requirements of busy
producers and development execs.
TREATMENT CHECKLIST
• Production Team Name: Include Logo
• Movie Title (Working Title): Title can change through Production stages.
• Tag Line (If Appropriate): Quote, one line/phrase from/about the film.
• Format: TV program, video, film, trailer, advert etc.
• Genre: Include sub-genre if appropriate.
• Tense: Always present tense.
• Intended Audience: Who do you think will enjoy your proposal?
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• Synopsis: Outline of story/angle/summary of main events/similar to the back of a DVD (50 words).
o SAMPLE - ROCKY (1976): Rocky Balboa is a struggling boxer trying to make the big time. Working in a
meat factory in Philadelphia for a pittance, he also earns extra cash as a debt collector. When
heavyweight champion Apollo Creed visits Philadelphia, his managers want to set up an exhibition
match between Creed and a struggling boxer, touting the fight as a chance for a "nobody" to become
a "somebody". The match is supposed to be easily won by Creed, but someone forgot to tell Rocky,
who sees this as his only shot at the big time
• Characters: Profiles and relationships between other characters.
o SAMPLE: ROCKY (1976): Robert Balboa is a Roman Catholic Italian-American boxer, living in the slums
of Philadelphia in 1975. ‘Rocky’, as he is known, begins dating Adrian Pennino, a shy pet shop worker.
Rocky worships her and will do anything to give her a better life. Adrian is the younger sister of Rocky’s
best friend Paulie. Paulie is a drunk, and is often horrible to both Adrian and Rocky. Despite this, Rocky
will always look out for him. Lastly there is Rocky’s trainer Mickey Goldmill. Mickey is old, but an
expert within boxing. Rocky greatly respects and cares for him. Rocky gets his big break to fight the
undisputed World Heavyweight Champion, Apollo Creed. Although Rocky respects Apollo as champion,
their relationship becomes strained as Rocky feels he can not only compete, but win.
• Dialogue: None!
• Style: Concise, vivid, evocative; keep the text simple and visual. AVOID: abstract language, camera
movement/angles etc.
• Length: Hours/Minutes of proposal.
• Ratio: If your script is 100 pages and your treatment is 10 pages, then 1 page of treatment = 10
pages/minutes of script. Keep to this proportion.
• Rewrite: As with a script, you need to do a number of drafts of your treatment. Each draft should
concentrate on cutting away all unnecessary detail and making the story as vivid and engaging as
possible. Less is more!
• Locations: Possible early thoughts on places to shoot.
WHAT THE PRO’S SAY
• “The most common phrase in Hollywood is not ‘Let’s do lunch.’ the expression you’ll most often hear
in production, studio, and agency offices is: ‘OK, send me a treatment.’ Michael Halperin - Writing the
Killer Treatment
• “Treatments can be a poisoned chalice. They are enormously difficult to write, a nightmare, &they
only give you a sense of the movie. The problem is: you can’t write a script before a treatment.” Adrian
Hodges - Screenwriter
• “This treatment not only tells the story, but it sells the story. It is a market piece. You write it for
producers, talent, and directors - you want them to love the story. You want them to say, ‘what a
great concept! Let me read the script!’” David Trottier - The Screenwriter’s Bible
• “A treatment may not get a project made, but if it’s good and interesting it will at least get you an
interview with the powers that be.” Allon Reich - Channel 4 TV/Film
• “An outline is for you; a treatment is for them… the creation of a treatment is almost a required step
in selling your script.” Howard Jay Smith - Opening the doors to Hollywood
If you are serious about making a successful film, you must master the craft of writing treatment
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- CREATING A STORYBOARD - GUIDANCE -
Storyboards are graphic organizers in the form of illustrations or images, which are displayed in a sequence for
the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture. Storyboarding is a useful tool for getting students to plan and
visualise their ideas, ensuring they make use of a variety of shots and angles.
Film
A film storyboard is essentially a film comic. Produced in pre-production, it helps film directors visualize the
scenes and find potential problems before they occur. Often storyboards include arrows or instructions that
indicate movement, and provide a visual layout of events through the camera lens. Most technical film craft
details can be efficiently described either in picture, or text.
Animatic
In film and special effects work, the storyboarding stage may be followed by simplified mock-ups called
"animatics" to give a better idea of how the scene will feel with motion and timing. At its simplest, an animatic
is a series of still images edited together and displayed in sequence. More commonly, a rough dialogue and/or
rough sound track is added to the sequence of still storyboard images. This allows directors to work out
camera positioning, shot lists and timing issues. Often storyboards include zooms and pans to simulate camera
movement. This will highlight the need to either include or cut shots.
Creation
Storyboards can be created by hand drawing or digitally on the computer. If drawing by hand, the first step is
to create or download a storyboard template. These look much like a blank comic strip, with space for
comments and dialogue.
EACH STORYBOARD FRAME MUST INCLUDE:
Type of Camera Shot/Angle/Movement
Frame/Shot number
Editing notes - SFX/Music/Dialogue.
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- THEORETICAL CONCEPTS - GUIDANCE -
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- SUMMER WORK - GUIDANCE -
• Over the summer holidays you will be expected to produce some work on the horror film genre.
• This will be handed in on your first A2 lesson in September along with your transition period pack.
• How well you complete this work will impact which group you are put in. You will be placed in a
group with students who have put the same amount of time and effort in to their work as you. If you
are lazy, you will be placed with other lazy students.
• Past students have produced amazingly creative work and as a result placed in to an A-Grade group.
Possible Ideas:
Horror Theories - Horror Films - Horror Sub-Genres - Film Franchises - Costume & Maybe Try Outs – SFX/After
Effects Try-Outs - Original Film Concepts/Treatments - Original Film Marketing Campaign - Horror Timelines -
Origins of Horror/History - Horror Trailer/Poster/Magazine Analysis – Moodboards - Horror Sound Research.
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- SUMMER WORK - MARK SCHEME -
HOW THE SUMMER HOLIDAY RESEARCH ON HORROR WILL BE GRADED, THIS INCLUDES
THE FULL COMPLETION OF THIS TRANSITION PACK
A GRADE:
Summer holiday research and transition pack submitted by the deadline and demonstrates an EXCELLENT
LEVEL of effort & pride in their work. The work produced will be characterized by a combination of both written
and visual/aural work on at least two mediums and should demonstrate research into existing horror films, as
well as students exploring their own original concepts and ideas for their own horror film. Students show an
excellent level of engagement with the topic, demonstrating at least fifteen hours of independent study.
B GRADE:
Summer holiday research and transition pack submitted by the deadline and demonstrates a PROFICIENT
LEVEL of effort and pride in their work. The work produced will be characterized by a combination of both
written and visual/aural work on at least two mediums and should demonstrate research into existing horror
films, as well as students exploring their own original concepts and ideas for their own horror film. Students
show a good level of engagement with the topic, demonstrating at least twelve hours of independent study.
C GRADE:
Summer holiday research and transition pack submitted by the deadline and demonstrates a GOOD LEVEL of
effort and pride in their work. This work will be characterized by a combination of both written and visual work
on one medium, such as a study of the history of horror, a mood board exploring a subgenre or some footage
filmed on a mobile phone exploring student’s original concepts and ideas for their own horror film. Students
show a good level of engagement with the topic, demonstrating at least ten hours of independent study.
D GRADE:
Summer holiday research and transition pack may not be submitted by the deadline, and may be rushed,
lacking in structure or length. The work itself may have significant errors (in which ever medium has been
used). Less than 3 sides of written work produced, may contain some visual or filmed work. Lacks refinement.
E GRADE:
Summer holiday research and transition pack are not submitted by deadline, or parts may have been copied
from the internet. Less than 2 sides of written work. Rushed. Little engagement with the subject. The work will
not appear to have had much time or pride invested in it. Will get an effort mark of 4.
U GRADE:
Summer holiday research and transition pack are not submitted by deadline.
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- ICONIC HORROR - VIDEO INFORMATION -
1
Title: Dawn of the Dead
Release Date:
Director:
Sub-Genre:
Notes/Facts
2
Title: Halloween
Release Date:
Director:
Sub-Genre:
Notes/Facts
3
Title: Scream
Release Date:
Director:
Sub-Genre:
Notes/Facts
4
Title: Nightmare on Elm Street
Release Date:
Director:
Sub-Genre:
Notes/Facts
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5
Title: Saw
Release Date:
Director:
Sub-Genre:
Notes/Facts
6
Title: Teeth
Release Date:
Director:
Sub-Genre:
Notes/Facts
7
Title: 28 Days Later
Release Date:
Director:
Sub-Genre:
Notes/Facts
8
Title: The Thing
Release Date:
Director:
Sub-Genre:
Notes/Facts
9
Title: Poltergeist
Release Date:
Director:
Sub-Genre:
Notes/Facts
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10
Title: The Ring
Release Date:
Director:
Sub-Genre:
Notes/Facts
11
Title: Carrie
Release Date:
Director:
Sub-Genre:
Notes/Facts
12
Title: The Omen
Release Date:
Director:
Sub-Genre:
Notes/Facts
13
Title: The Evil Dead
Release Date:
Director:
Sub-Genre:
Notes/Facts
14
Title: Alien
Release Date:
Director:
Sub-Genre:
Notes/Facts
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15
Title: Paranormal Activity
Release Date:
Director:
Sub-Genre:
Notes/Facts
16
Title: The Exorcist
Release Date:
Director:
Sub-Genre:
Notes/Facts
17
Title: The Shining
Release Date:
Director:
Sub-Genre:
Notes/Facts
18
Title: Blair Witch Project
Release Date:
Director:
Sub-Genre:
Notes/Facts
19
Title: Human Centipede 2
Release Date:
Director:
Sub-Genre:
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Notes/Facts
20
Title: Cabin in the Woods
Release Date:
Director:
Sub-Genre:
Notes/Facts
21
Title: Friday 13th
Release Date:
Director:
Sub-Genre:
Notes/Facts
22
Title: Rec
Release Date:
Director:
Sub-Genre:
Notes/Facts
23
Title: The Descent
Release Date:
Director:
Sub-Genre:
Notes/Facts
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- SEMIOTICS - LESSON NOTES -
Phallic Power: Knives/Teeth/Fangs/Flesh
Body Transformation
Yonic: Corridors/Birth/Alien
Monsters/ The ‘Other’ & Man vs God
Youth & Virginity (Death of Innocence)
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- SUB-GENRES - VIDEO INFORMATION -
SLASHER
SPLATTER
VAMPIRES/WEREWOLVES
PSYCHOLOGICAL/SUPERNATURAL
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ZOMBIE
MONSTER
J-HORROR
THRILLER
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- THEORY - LESSON NOTES -
Ideology: The Enemy Within (Marxism)
Representation: Final Girl
Feminism: Male Gaze (Mulvey)
Genre Development (Neale)
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Representation: Zombies, materialism &
violence (Kim Paffenroth)
Narrative: Binary Opposition (Levi-Strauss)
Narrative: 3 Act Structure (Todorov)
Narrative: Character Types (Propp)
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- TRAILER CONTENT ANALYSES -
TRAILER ONE
Film Title: Poltergeist
Director:
Year: 2015
Shots of Victims
Shots of Aggressor
Graphic Content
Sound Techniques
Editing Techniques
Camera Techniques
Locations
TRAILER TWO
Film Title:
Director:
Year:
Shots of Victims
Shots of Aggressor
Graphic Content
Sound Techniques
Editing Techniques
Camera Techniques
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Locations
TRAILER THREE
Film Title:
Director:
Year:
Shots of Victims
Shots of Aggressor
Graphic Content
Sound Techniques
Editing Techniques
Camera Techniques
Locations
TRAILER FOUR
Film Title:
Director:
Year:
Shots of Victims
Shots of Aggressor
Graphic Content
Sound Techniques
Editing Techniques
Camera Techniques
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Locations
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- TREATMENT - OWN FILM -
FILM TITLE (WORKING TITLE)
TAG-LINE
SUB-GENRE
TARGET AUDIENCE
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PROTAGONIST
ANTAGONIST
SYMBOLIC CODES

SYNOPSIS
NARRATIVE - TODOROV THEORY APPLIED
EQUILIBRIUM:
DISEQUILIBRIUM:
RESOLUTION:
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INFERRED MEANING/REPRESENTATION

- SHOT LIST/STORYBOARD - OWN FILM-
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- FILM CRIT: ONE -
FILM TITLE:
YEAR OF RELEASE:
DIRECTOR:
BURTON THEORY
PROTAGONIST:
ANTAGONIST:
THEME:
STOCK CHARACTERS:
STOCK SITUATIONS:
ICONS:
BACKGROUND & DECOR:
TODOROV THEORY
EQUILIBRIUM:
DISEQUILIBRIUM
RESOLUTION:
FILM REVIEW:
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- FILM CRIT: TWO -
FILM TITLE:
YEAR OF RELEASE:
DIRECTOR:
BURTON THEORY
PROTAGONIST:
ANTAGONIST:
THEME:
STOCK CHARACTERS:
STOCK SITUATIONS:
ICONS:
BACKGROUND & DECOR:
TODOROV THEORY
EQUILIBRIUM:
DISEQUILIBRIUM
RESOLUTION:
FILM REVIEW:
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- FILM CRIT: THREE -
FILM TITLE:
YEAR OF RELEASE:
DIRECTOR:
BURTON THEORY
PROTAGONIST:
ANTAGONIST:
THEME:
STOCK CHARACTERS:
STOCK SITUATIONS:
ICONS:
BACKGROUND & DECOR:
TODOROV THEORY
EQUILIBRIUM:
DISEQUILIBRIUM
RESOLUTION:
FILM REVIEW:
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AS-A2 TRANSITION
MEDIA STUDIES
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