This document outlines the requirements and timeline for a media studies assignment involving planning, producing, and evaluating a 2-minute opening sequence for a new fiction film. Students must blog extensively about their research, planning, and production process. The final submission involves a blog with research on film openings, a 2-minute opening video, and a multimedia evaluation answering specific questions. A detailed timeline is provided breaking the project into pre-production, production, and post-production phases over the course of 3 months.

1. AS MEDIA STUDIES
FOUNDATION PORTFOLIO IN MEDIA
IntroducingYour MainTask

2.  Napoleon Dynamite opening sequence
 http://vimeo.com/5524216

3. Preparing Minds
 What is:
 Action match?
 Shot/ reverse shot?
 180 degree rule?
 Blog?
 Why are they important?

4. Success Criteria
 We will
 Note down key information about final task
 Answer and ask questions, where relevant
 Plan a basic research/ development schedule

5. What you need to do
 Blog including detailed research/ planning (20 marks)
 Titles and opening of new fiction film - 2 mins (60 marks)
 Continuity features:
 Action match
 Shot/ reverse shot
 180 degree rule
 Other features
 Titles (essential)
 Genre-specific features (e.g. mise-en-scene/ music)
 Range of shots/ camera movement (essential)
 Range of edits/ effects (if appropriate)
 Evaluation (20 marks)

6. Examples
 I will email you a dropbox link allowing you to
access these.

7. Effective Openings
 The Fall
 Fight Club

8. Weekly Tasks
 Maintain blog (at least 3 entries a week – OCR
suggest one a day)
 Include images/ video clips supporting work
(planning + work in progress)
 Consider all aspects of production process,
including institutions, audience and
representation
 Include as much detail as you can, justifying
choices made
 Link to your work in progress
 Thorough outline of production process

9. Planning – Lvl 4
 Planning and research evidence complete and detailed
 Excellent research into similar products and potential
target audience
 Excellent organisation of actors, locations, costumes or
props
 Excellent work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or
storyboarding
 Excellent level of care in the presentation of research and
planning
 Time management is excellent

10. Production work should demo
 Material appropriate for target audience and task
 Titles used appropriately according to institutional
conventions
 Sound, images and editing used appropriately
 Material shot appropriate to task set, including:
 controlled use of camera
 attention to framing
 variety of shot distance
 close attention to mise-en-scene
 Editing so that meaning apparent to viewer and with
selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and
other effects

11. Demonstrate
 Steadiness of shots where appropriate
 Framing shots, including/ excluding elements
 Variety of shots/ distances
 Shooting appropriate material
 Selecting mise-en-scene
 Colour/ lighting/ objects/ setting
 Editing for meaning using appropriate effects
 Accurate use of sound/ image
 Appropriate use of titles

12. Production Checklist
 Places
 Rehearsal
 Setting
 Production Base
 Transport
 Post-Production
 People
 Call sheets
 Actors
 Technical
 Camera
 Continuity
 Support
 Things
 Props
 Costumes
 Technical
 Script
 Cameras
 Media
 Log sheets
 Storyboards
 Schedule
 FX/ SFX

13. What do you need to know?
 Pre Production
 Research
 Scripting
 Storyboarding
 Location scouting
 Production schedule
 Call sheets
 Shooting
 Logging shots
 Continuity

14. Evaluation
 Evaluate / reflect upon creative process/ experience
 Evaluate electronically, guided by key questions
 Should not be solely textual; combination of text/
image/ presentation/ video/ audio etc.
 Examples of suitable formats for the evaluation:
 A podcast
 DVD extras
 Detailed blog entries
 PowerPoint/ Prezi
 Director’s commentary
 “Making of” documentary

15. Evaluation Questions
 Following questions must be answered:
 How does product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products? - Must research these
 How does product represent particular social groups? -
Must aim to include a social group
 What kind of media institution might distribute product and why?
- Research studios and distribution
 Who would be audience for product? – Research audience
 How did you attract/address your audience? – Evidence from
planning/ final product
 What have you learnt about technologies from process of
constructing product? – Evidence from blog (shooting/ editing)
 Looking back at preliminary task, what have you learnt in
progression to full product?

16. Evaluation – Forms/ Conventions
 Need to be able to identify conventions
 Will come from research into openings
 Should be explicit in the first stages of your blog
to revisit in evaluation
 Includes media language, representation, use
of titles, use of music, mise-en-scene etc
(effectively, macro and micro features
 Could be done as a video including
comparisons of your work and your research

17. Evaluation – Social Groups
 Product must include a social group.
For example:
 Teenagers
 Ethnic groups
 Social demographics
 Consider work on representation and apply
this when researching and planning
 May affect genre/ form of final piece

18. Evaluation – institutions
 Need to know which kind of companies make
and distribute movies of genre/ style you are
making
 Mainstream or niche?
 Conglomerate or indie?
 Info fromWikipedia/ IMDB/ Box-office mojo
 Demonstrated through research and choice
of distributor/ studio for final piece

19. Evaluations - audience
 Need to know who watches your genre of
film – demographics/ psychographics
 Can do primary/ secondary research
 Should find data from the web (e.g. box-
office figures) as well as market information,
if available
 Might consider primary and secondary
audiences (e.g. “Lego Movie”, Pixar films etc.

20. Evaluation – attracting aud
 How was final piece designed to meet
audience needs?
 Evidence from your piece compared to existing
pieces
 Interviews/ vox pops with target audience
reflecting on film
 Detailed deconstruction of what you did/ why you
did it – could be in Prezi form, for example,
including stills/ clips

21. Evaluation - technology
 Need to regularly blog about engagement
with tech (cameras/ editing)
 Identify problems and solutions
 Take photos/ screengrabs
 Record clearly what you did at the time
 Will effectively be a reflexive post
 Can take into account development from start of
course
 Should be incisive and clear – the more primary
evidence the better

22. Evaluation - comparison
 Compare your preliminary project(s) with
your final piece
 What did you do better?
 How did you improve?
 Consider both planning and production as well as
editing
 Where is the evidence
 For example, a comparison of shots/ edits from your
final piece; a reflection on planning exemplified
from early stages of blog

23. Timeframe – Dec 2015
 By Fri 27th November
 Decision made about genre/ form of final video
 Research begins into opening sequences, institutions and audiences.
 Social group to be represented identified
 By Friday 18th December
 Research into existing opening sequences completed (min five)
 each example analysed in detail with regard to questions to be posed in
the evaluation, notes made on how example might be of value to projects
 At least one blog entry dedicated to each of institutions (e.g. distribution
companies, studios), audiences (some evidence) and representation
(reasons)
 Planning begins in earnest

24. Timeframe - Dec/Jan 2015-16
 19th Dec-4th Jan (Christmas “holiday”)
 Pre-production planning undertaken (regular blog updates)
 Include:
 Scenario
 Script
 Sketches
 Storyboards
 Location scouting
 Prelimary footage
 Animatics
 Call sheets, props lists etc.
 Etc.

25. Timeframe – Jan/Feb 2016
 5th January
 All pre-production planning (including storyboards, production
schedules, call sheets etc.) completed/ posted to blog in digital form.
 Might also include test footage and mood boards
 1st February
 All material required for project shot, converted and uploaded onto
media servers
 During the period 06/01-30/01, you are invited to periodically upload brief
examples of work to blog for peer and staff review
 12th February
 Rough edit completed and uploaded to blog for peer/ staff review
 22nd February (including half-term “holiday”)
 Final cut begun

26. Timeframe – Mar/Apr 2016
 7th March
 Final edit completed and uploaded to blog and media server in order
to gather audience response and feedback
 9th March
 15 min presentations of work, including initial evaluations and
outlines of audience response
 11th April (including Easter “holiday”)
 Detailed blog entries answering the evaluation questions uploaded,
coupled with a video commentary

27. Next Steps
 You will have three weeks to complete planning
 This gives you:
 21 days
 9 lessons + non-contact periods
 You need:
 Minimum 5 films in detail (screengrabs, clips, analysis)
 Audience data (primary/ secondary)
 Representation issues
 Institutional information
 How are you going to organise your time?

28. First thing to do…
 Look at some examples of successful blogs:
 Elleah Stanton
 Antonia Hendry
 Zoe Crick
 Kathryn Dowson
 Katie Boal
 James Corker

29. Plenary
 Questions?
 Task one
 Complete a blog entry explaining the institutional
conventions of film titles
 Use the “Art of theTitle” website to help you