media

1. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in progression
from it to the full product?
Transcript
Music Production instrumental to fade in and play for approximately five
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Resident DJ
Over music
Good evening and welcome, I’m xxxxx and you’re listening to radio
Beacon. Yesterday’s education discussion based on the world of
media was quite inspiring and this evening we have Miss Candice
Russell, from the Beacon School in Surrey here, to discuss what she
has learnt from her preliminary task to her full product. Welcome
Candice.
Candice Hello and thank you inviting me into your studio
Resident DJ Let’s commence with what was your preliminary task?
Candice My preliminary task was a continuity exercise to demonstrate my
understanding of match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180
degree rule. I filmed a character walking through a door and across a
room, then sitting down and conversing with another character.
Resident DJ What was your full product?
Candice I produced a two minute introduction for a social realism film, titled
‘Limbo’ in which I had to take into consideration not only the
technical elements, but research, planning and development before I
could actually commence filming my piece. The introduction is based
around the topical theme of transgender.
Resident DJ What considerations did you take into account when you were
filming your full product?
Candice Camera shot sizes, their angles, composition, movement and white
balancing.
Resident DJ How were the camera shot sizes and angles different from your
preliminary task and why?
Candice During the preliminary task, I only used long, mid and close up shots,
because I only had a limited understanding. A lesson covering shot
sizes and angles allowed me to comprehend all the different types I
could consider for my main task and as a result I effectively tried to

2. include as many different shot sizes and angles as possible.
Resident DJ Can you explain why you did this?
Candice The representation behind technical shot sizes and their angle will
allow an audience to decode not only the narrative, but the hidden
message behind each one. For example, in my full product, the
representation of the extreme close up shots; of my protagonist
putting on makeup, convey the importance of his issues. Linking this
to the bigger macro picture, depicts how an extreme close up shot
can detach from the full picture but at the same time allow a glimpse
into the window of Mark’s anguish and how he actually feels.
Resident DJ How did camera movement improve from your preliminary task?
Candice My preliminary task was a continuity task, with no need for any other
movements. It was only when I had completed and evaluated a
comparative camera operations task that I really understood how
effective movement could be achieved. The exercise I did, taught me
about fluid motion, lead room, nose room, head room and
anticipatory framing. All these factors help to create a representation
either with a hand held camera or with a camera mounted on a
tripod.
Resident DJ How did this create representation in your introduction?
Candice Hand held camera movements give an on edge feel and realism to
my characters action, when he is placing his secret box beneath the
bed. At a macro level, hand held camera movements’ show the
viewer that Mark feels uncomfortable in his own skin.
Slow pan tripod mounted camera movements given to the long shots
of my character walking past the retail shops; convey his loneliness,
isolation and the hidden fear of his sexual identity being discovered.
Resident DJ How about composition? How did this skill develop?
Candice During the preliminary task I did not take into consideration any
composition and surrounding aesthetics, as I did not feel they were
really important, but after completing a camera composition exercise
along with a self evaluation, allowed me to establish various
composition elements.
Resident DJ What type of composition elements?
Candice There were a lot of composition elements to take into consideration,
in the use of a frame such as -is there negative or positive space, is it

3. in the foreground, mid ground or background. The depth of the
frame is important, because elements such as line, shape, pattern,
texture and rhythm all need to be analysed. Furthermore, lighting
and colour need to be addressed and does this all set the required
mood and tone to the frame.
Resident DJ To what extent did you implement these techniques?
Candice The compositions of my frames were carefully positioned to highlight
aspects of form, shape, colour, texture and dynamic diagonals within
the mise-en-scene. By using simple and existing surroundings, the
genre is instantly recognisable to the viewer.
Resident DJ White balance was another technique you mentioned earlier,
please explain what this is and how did you use it in your film?
Candice White balance is a camera mode and process that removes
unrealistic colour casts to ensure what is perceived as white will be
produced on the film as white. An exercise I completed at school
allowed me to evaluate the differences between automatic,
tungsten, daylight and custom white balancing from both interior
and exterior factors. I chose to implement a custom white balance
for the interior shots and a daylight white balance for the exterior
shots. These white balance options gave my product the impact of
realism with naturalistic tones. If I had chosen different settings, then
the overall impact would have seemed quite artificial.
Resident DJ It sounds you have progressed and learnt many technical camera
skills, but what about any development skills?
Candice Before shooting my preliminary task, I only produced a one drafted
script and storyboard that were very basic. Before filming my full
product, I had created a blueprint storyboard along with a blueprint
frame and analysis. I evaluated their effectiveness after a critical
feedback session with Mr Becker my media tutor. This then
encouraged me to rethink some of my narrative and as a result I
produced my second drafted storyboard and script. To help me
understand my audience I produced an online qualitative audience
questionnaire based around this script. Their feedback along with my
tutor’s encouraged me to produce my final storyboard and detailed
script to include elements of diegetic and non diegetic sound.
Resident DJ Did research help you any way to progress?
Candice Yes, my preliminary task was a directional task with no need to
research any elements, but on the other hand my full product,
needed careful research into films from the professional domain to

4. look at the technical micro choices made by the director and how
these relate to their macro concerns to link to the themes, issues and
representations being explored. The use of technical codes, within
realist texts, function in two ways to communicate cultural meaning
and emotional situations and I wanted to achieve the same effect in
my final product.
Furthermore, I also had to take into consideration the preferences of
my target audience from a quantitative questionnaire, I had launched
on facebook.
Resident DJ What type of planning did you conduct along the way and why did
you do this?
Candice There was no in depth planning for my preliminary task, but before I
could commence filming my full product I had to seek location
permission, have a contingency plan, complete a location recce,
produce hair, makeup, costume and prop itemisations. All these
individual decisions helped to create the final outcome to my
production. For example, my protagonist did not have a red checked
shirt, on the day of the shoot, so I compromised and he wore a
yellow checked shirt instead. Without any itemisation he could have
turned up wearing whatever he actually wanted to.
Resident DJ I expect editing is editing and both tasks were completed very much
in the same way
Candice Well, actually no, I used imovie software to edit my preliminary task
and adobe premiere prime software to edit my full product. Adobe
premiere is a more complex editing suite that hosts a lot of different
options than imovie. There were a lot of extra items to consider in
my final product such as title placements, music and the construction
of the final tile.
Music To fade in and play behind the conversation
Resident DJ Well Candice you have been very informative and shared a lot of
details. All the crew here at radio Beacon, including myself and I am
sure our listeners would like to wish you every success for the
future.
Candice It has been a wonderful experience, thank you very much.
Resident DJ It has been a pleasure.
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