Trace the marketing campaign for Attack the Block

Put together a PowerPoint presentation on the marketing campaign for Attack the Block.

 

• Find as many posters for the film as you can
• Have links to the offical trailers... were there any teaser trailers or TV spots?
• Was there a premiere?
• Reviews and interviews? (TV, magazine, newspaper, web etc)
• Merchandise?
• Websites - what appears on the website? (video, games, cast biographies etc)
• Was there any other internet presence (eg Facebook, viral ads etc)
• Anything else?

 

You don't have to write anything about it at this stage - just compile as much material as you can. Post the Powerpoint to your blog using Scrib'd. (upload Powerpoint to Scrib'd, then embed the document in a new post called Attack the Block Marketing Campaign.

Activity for Thursday 3 November

Case Study: Universal Studios.

Like last lesson's research task, I want you to find out about another film production company - Universal.

Universal is quite different to Big Talk Productions, they take more of an executive role in film production.

So, answer the following questions:

• When was Universal Studios founded?
• Which parent company owns them?... and which company owns the parent company?
• Describe the job that Universal does in film production.

Take a look at their films from 2011: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Universal_Pictures_films#2011

Choose 5 films from the list including Cowboys and Aliens.

Provide the following details:

• Name of film and release date
• (other) Production Companies
• Distributer
• Producer(s)
• Director
• Writer(s)
• Stars
• Budget
• Gross revenue (up till now).

Film Industry

This is what the exam board says you should be prepared for:

A study of a specific studio or production company within a contemporary film industry that targets a British audience (eg Hollywood, Bollywood, UK film), including its patterns of production, distribution, exhibition and consumption by audiences. This should be accompanied by study of contemporary film distribution practices (digital cinemas, DVD, HD-DVD, downloads, etc) and their impact upon production, marketing and consumption.

Your first task is to research Big Talk Productions. This British film production company will be the first part of our case study.

- How long has the company been around?
- Who runs it?
- What does the company do?
- What films have they made?

For each of their films you should include:

- Name of the film
- date of release
- Director, writer(s), stars
- Producer(s)
- Distributer
- Budget
- Gross revenue

You can find all this information at http://www.imdb.com/ and http://boxofficemojo.com/

Ethnicity Essay

For your records, here's the Hotel Babylon clip from the January 2010 exam.


The question was -


Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of ethnicity using the following:


Camera shots, angles, movement and composition
Editing
Sound
Mise en Scene

Your essays will be marked using the criteria:

Explanation, Analysis and Argument (20)
Use of Examples (20)
Use of media terminology (10)

Ethnicity Essay

Regional Identity Essay

Watch the clip from Doc Martin. Write as much as you can in about an hour on how the Camera, Editing, Sound and Mise en Scene construct the representation of regional identity.

This essay brings everything together. Write about all 4 aspects as equally as possible.
 

Post it to your blogs today.

Matt.

TV Drama - Regional Identity

Sound

Terminology of sound in TV Drama textual analysis includes:

Diegetic Sound - sound from within the TV Drama world. Sound which the characters can hear.

Non-diegetic sound - sound from outside the film world. Can include soundtrack, theme music and voice-over.

Soundtrack - music chosen to go with the moving images. Helps create mood and atmosphere.

Sound effects - usually added in post-production, can include gun shots, explosions and other sounds which might be difficult to achieve by recording on set.

Theme - recurring music which goes with a show or a specific character. EG James Bond or Darth Vader

Ambient sound - the natural sounds of an environment such as birdsong for a country location or traffic noise for a city. This is sometimes recorded as 'wildtrack'... which means recorded separately and added in post-production.

Dialogue - the speech of characters. In analysis feel free to discuss both what characters say and how they say it - their intonation and accent... always use the word 'dialogue' rather than speech or 'talk'.

Sound bridge - when the soundtrack starts in one scene and continues into the next. This helps generate the mood and the atmosphere of a scene.

Editing

Task:
Analyse how the editing helps to construct the representation of disability.


Here's the clip: http://youtu.be/auSAGvpM7W8

Try to use as much terminology as possible.

Transitions:
Hard cuts
Action match
Eyeline match
Graphic match
Crosscutting
Shot reverse shot
Jump cut

Other kinds of transition:
Wipe
Fade in/out
Dissolve/Crossfade

Try to discuss how the editing affects the pace of the clip.
Which characters are privileged by the edit?
Which characters are marginalised by the edit?

Camera analysis of Monarch of the glen clip.

Write up your notes on camera work in the clip. How do the following help construct the representation of age:

- shot sizes (CU, MCU, LS etc)
- composition (two shot, over the shoulder shot etc)
- movement (pan, track etc)

Monarch of the Glen Clip

Mise en scene analysis

How does the Mise en scene help construct the representation of age?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTQDipfN8JA&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLFB82E5E1AA5FBC19

Mise en scene includes:

Set / location
Lighting
Costume
Props
Blocking
Body Language
Make-up

Your First Task - start a blog

Welcome to media studies!

A blog is how you will present most of your work to me.


It gets rid of the need for all that pesky paper... don't get me wrong, paper has a time and a place, but for research, and later for your coursework, a blog is better... you can add hyperlinks and embed Youtube and other cool stuff.


So....

1. You'll need a Google account (a @gmail.com email address) - if you don't have one, set one up.
2. Go to Blogger and create a blog which features your name in the title, eg Joe Bloggs Media
3. There are options to customise your blog, but don't get carried away now - you can do that later.
4. Email me the blog address (eg http://joebloggsmedia.blogspot.com/) to this address:

haveringcollege@gmail.com

When you've done that you are ready to make your first post...

Using the notes you took earlier in the lesson write a blog post on the key concepts of media studies.

1. What are they?
2. What does each key concept refer to, what does it mean?
3. How does the exam go about testing your knowledge of each concept?