UNIT 7 : Understanding the creative media sector:

Understand the structure of these sectors:

• Television
• Publishing
• Radio
• Marketing
• Computer games
• Film

Radio And Television:

• BBC
• Channel 4
• Global (classic FM, Heart, KISS)
• ITV
• Sky UK
• Virgin Media
• Wireless group (talks sport)

• Cross media convergence and synergy
• vertical and horizontal integration 
• share of ownership
• mergers and takeovers
• product diversity
• sources of income

UK Film Sector:

Example one:

A clockwork orange:



vertical intergration

How are sounds incorporated within a movie scene and how do they affect the movie mood (atmosphere) and meaning (understanding)?

IT

(Distorted painting scene):

The horror classic IT had its recent remake in 2017 and made a big impact for fans of the horror genre and the original film itself due to its updated form of the film with new use of CGI making the film have a different aspect for the audience as the 1990’s version IT shows usage of special FX makeup.

The scene being analysed is well-known in the remake, the distorted painting. This specific scene begins with the sounds of the villain's footsteps to build an ominous atmosphere, this use of diegetic sound begins to change the dynamic of the scene as tension is built as the audience and the character hear the distant footsteps approaching. This affects the mood as it builds a rigid atmosphere. Furthermore, the purpose of this is to allow the audience to gain a more personal feel to the actor as they also fear for the next outcome of the scene, allowing the audience to have a feel of schadenfreude as they gain a sense of relief they are not experiencing the actor's current situation. At the time mark of 1:27 (2) of the scenes clip, we see a visual close up shot of the lights beginning to flicker alongside a conventional sound effect of its flickers, deepening the dark atmosphere created, this is achieved through a hyper-real technique. It also enlightens the audience on the importance of the scene as they see a new villain in appear.

(1)

Overall, the scene would not have been as effective upon the audience if it didn’t have the different uses of its heightened sound effects. Sound is a common conventional form of horror films being able to add more of a shock factor for its audience whilst keeping them more engaged.

Children of men

(Car scene):

Children of men is a dystopian film which features certain aspects to allow a sense of realism to the narrative and storyline through filming aspects of single camera use and sound incorporation to set the mood and tone helping to add to the drama/fantasy genre.

The specific scene of discussion in this report is the car scene mid-way the movie. This is a significant scene in the storyline. One main way this scene’s importance was achieved was through sound editing. Evidently, the background noise is levelled out by different layers of sounds, an example would be the cars radio music continuously playing in the background. This adds to the authenticity of the scene alongside the single camera use as this allows the visual and audio effects to achieve a more realistic experience for the audience as we gain a point of view being besides the character taking in what is happening at the location of the scene by the visuals.

In the same scene, one of the characters gets shot. As the bullet is fired the sound pierces the air by the use of synchronous sound effects. However, as the characters weren't close enough to the bullet to receive that piercing effect that is portrayed this shows use of a hyper real sound effect. The use of hyper-real sound effects for the bullet emphasises its value in the scene to add depth to the matter of one of the characters getting killed.

Stacey Dooley:

(Documentary)

Dooley begins to portray the new increase of young drug dealers across social media platforms in the UK. To raise awareness to the issue a documentary format is used, to further achieve enlightenment of the crisis certain aspects of sound use are incorporated.Through the use of non-diegetic music, a sinister tone is produced, this is to allow certain scenes to form tension where needed to build the on the mood and atmosphere. For example, when Dooley attended appointments made with the drug dealers’ suspenseful music was added to engage the audience. Therefore, the music is arguably necessary to help build the ambience by foreshadowing a darker scene ahead due to the danger behind drug dealing. Furthermore, where the music is applied an allowance of scenes bridging forms, therefore, from a more technical perspective editing is made easier as the scene can jump from one another according to the non-diegetic music.

In addition, the mood is played upon by usage of synchronous sounds that have been incorporated to heighten rigidity creating an emotional strain in the mood for a deeper engagement by the audience. This is evident through the non-diegetic hyper-real sound effects used to notify the audience of Dooley's messages. Thus, providing a build-up of the ambience as we as an audience share a similar reaction of shock to the messages received about the main matter of the documentary, young drug dealers over social media.

Overall, due to filming aspects the documentary would face some potential technical difficulties. These risks may include the need of subtitles due to the far proximity between the camera crew and those being interviewed based on the outdoor location for the covert observation. This altercation could also face the technical difficulty of interference with the audio of the conversational dialogue between the members being filmed due to windy weather or rain. However, as these aspects of difficulties are uncontrollable this could mean that the camera crew may come prepared for these situations to prevent cause of useless footage that cannot be used or having to re-film certain scenes which is almost impossible as the documentaries purpose is to catch the authenticity of the matter between the link of social media and drug dealing with help of the filming location and interview format playing on a sense of realism.

Bibliography:

1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy_NVFY9r1A

2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy_NVFY9r1A

LESSON 1 - WHAT IS SINGLE CAMERA PRODUCTION?

CLICK HERE FOR POWERPOINT FROM LESSON

TASK 1

Task 1: Understanding 'single camera production'

a) Define 'single camera production':

A production produced and captured by one camera.

b) Identify the advantages and disadvantages of single camera production (refer to examples where you can):

Advantages Cheaper cost, helping to fit into a budget. Quicker to set-up. Easier for travel.	Disadvantages Longer to set-up. Repeating shots due to the shots only being taken on one camera. Recording may take longer to film and download footage.

c) How does multi-camera differ to single camera productions?

• More equipment.

• More expensive ass footage can only be taken in the studio, green screens would be needed for more locations increasing costs.

• Using several cameras to capture several shots.

• Shots are edited in real time as they are taken, saving time.

• Lighting is above the studio floor and is remote controlled. Allowing lighting to be selected on characters and props when needed, allowing perfect lighting, whilst keeping the lighting equipment out of the way of the cameras. This allows contrinuity, as equipment does not have to be set up each time filming is in action.

• However, every camera needs a person to operate the cameras. With multi-cams many cameras are needed meaning more people in use for camera operation increasing costs.

• Multi-cam is quicker with capturing action due to the use of several cameras at once as several angles capture an authentic result rather than having to keep reenacting the same scene to capture more shots with a single camera.

• In terms of multi-cam editing is a quicker process as it is captured in real time in different angles allowing more angles from different shots to be captured all at the same time.

• Filming with a single camera is more time consuming as scenes need to be recaptured and relighted, preventing an authentic achievement of contrinuity. 

• Everything is the film industry is moved by money, however single camera is often much cheaper due to a smaller budget of using one camera and a smaller camera crew.

Format:

• Films and programmes have a format linked to narratives.
• Single format is one self contained story, usually a film.
• Serial format, tells one story over a few episodes.
• Series format, continuing characters but portraying different stories, eg Friends.

Genres:

• Horror: Blood, moon, super-natural beings, weapons
• Crime: Weapons, cults, killer, robbery, money
• Comedy: Families, friends, sunny weather
• Sci-fi: Aliens, ufo, dystopia, futuristic 
• 
  

Series:

Single drama:

Crime drama genre:

Soap Opera genre: Eastenders

Sitcom/Comedy:

Linear narrative:

Nonlinear narrative:

Flashback narrative:

Open ending narrative:

Closed ending narrative:

Realist narrative:

Anti-realist narrative:

d) List 3 examples of single camera shows/films (aim for different genres)

1) Children of men

2)

3)

List 3 examples of multi-camera shows (aim for different genres)

1) Friends

2)

3)

e) What is the definition of genre? Why is this important for audiences?

A specific category of production.

Why are camera angles important:

• The director puts a lot of thought into what to show and how to show it, these are creative decisions that have an effect on the audience.
• Different angles allow us an audience to pay attention to certain aspects in the shot that we need to see in relation to the story line.
• Change of shots can show who in terms of character has control in that scene.
• Different shots can also be used to show different settings e.g. a long shot would help build the mise-en-scene of the production.

Framing:

• Involves two elements, these are the shot size, how far away the person or object is.
• Secondly, the camera angle, where the camera is in relation to the object or person in focus.

Extreme long shot:

Long shot:

Medium long shot:

Medium shot:

Medium close-up shot:

Close-up shot:

Big close-up:

Extreme close-up:

Camera Movement:

4 categories:

• The pan and tilt
• the dolly or tracking the boom or crane
• steadicam

Functions of moving camera shots:

• To reveal dramatic information by enlarging the viewer's perspective.
• It expresses a dynamic sense of movement. 
• Makes a shot more sensors and exciting.

• The pan: a lateral movement on screen, often used for fight scenes, conventionally are used briefly for shorter shots to give a taste of the scene otherwise a lengthy pan shot could be disengaging for the audience.
• A variation of the pan is an ARC shot where the camera pivots at a 360 degree on its tripod to signify the importance of the character in the scene or the characters surrounding depending on the context.
• The tilt: the camera pivots vertically up and down. Used to capture new areas of the scene or to call attention to certain aspects of the scene.
• The dolly: the camera on the tripod and base physically travels through space, they produce motion perspective.
• The boom or crane: mounting a camera on a boom or crane creates a dramatic effect by revealing the scale of the scene action that any other camera movement cannot.
• Steadicam: jitter free images from hand-held camera work, often used for documentaries to provide an intimate and personal feel to the conversation.
• Zoom lenses: creates a zoom shot as an attachment to the camera lens.
• Tight framing: a sense of constriction created by a lack of space being shown around the subject in the lens.
• Loose framing: shots that have a great deal of open space around the subject and can give aa sense of isolation or freedom.
• Deep focus framing: objects or characters remain in sharp focus from positions near and far from the camera. Can be used to help build a story and a relationship between the characters in the scene.
• 
  

Social Action Assignment 31.1

Documentary 1:

Amanda Knox

(Netflix)

 ‘Amanda Knox’ is a documentary that illustrates the life for those who are criminally convicted as murderers yet still argue for their innocence. As the film crew chooses to have Amanda as the main focus as she narrates her side of the case, a more personal feel for the audience is gained, achieving more insight to produce awareness on how cases like these can affect the lives of those who are labelled as a criminal whilst still arguably innocent. However, as many still believe Amanda to be a murderer with evidence that progresses this idea, the layout of the documentary is structured in an interview format. 

Through this structure of documentation, conventions of criminals can be challenged as the audience can then receive more information on ‘Amanda Knox’ rather than just viewing her as what the media outlets have designated her to appear to be. This enables ‘Amanda Knox’ to be a representation for those who are potentially innocent yet have their lives invaded with hate. In addition, her direct address through her expression of dialogue captured by the camera creates a stronger impact as it forms a more conversational approach. 

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Overall, as the documentary is on Netflix the impact could be arguably global due to the global access Netflix has supplied for its viewers allowing a more social impact for its main purpose of awareness behind the case displayed throughout the documentation and and similar cases with those who share similarities in what ‘Amanda Knox’had faced.

Documentary 2:

When they see us

(Netflix)

The four-part documentary drama series ‘when they see us’is a re-enactment of the real life struggle faced by four men in the US based off their race. This series enables the system to be exposed for its lack of care towards African American’s at the time, although it still seems many of the harsh realities portrayed in the series are still highly present. The series was brought to light through the formats of other media outlets such as social media, as it was such a traumatising case. The fourth episode contains a sit-down interview structure with a small audience, this is done to allow the viewers to see how much the real life events really effected them and changed their lives due to the system wrongly accusing them of rape and attempted murder leading to these four young boys missing out on crucial years of their lives that will never be re-gained whilst facing such rough treatment and conditions from inmates and foul guards in the jail locations. 

The specific purpose of this series was to allow these four men to have their say on their part of the story and to show how they were forced to lie after such brutal beatings. Therefore, showing the world that they’re not what the media and police had painted them to be. This time it was their tie to tell their story and to tell the truth, this was further achieved by having the four men have their say in the fourth episode, capturing real emotion from the traumatic years they faced. In the fourth episode specifically they capture the raw emotion even further by getting close-up shots of the actors who played the roles of the real life victims, in these close-up shots we see them in tears, implying they have a bond with the actors and really gave their best shot at acting as the real life people as they too sympathise for those men who faced the events creating a deeper and more meaningful emotional impact for the viewers. Overall, providing a high social impact globally due to it being a Netflix series that all countries with access to Netflix can then view.

Documentary 3:

What the health

(Netflix)

Netflix has many different forms of social action documentaries, however, the documentary of current discussion is ‘what the health’, a documentary captured in a single camera format, enabling a more personal and authentic mood to the production as health matters are discussed. The purpose of this specific documentary is to enlighten their audience with factual evidence of food we consume on a daily basis that actually harms our bodies and gives us illnesses’and diseases like cancer yet the government and higher corporations still push us to consume these foods knowing that it will increase their income through food sponsorships and through higher health bills due to the sickness these foods cause in the long term aspect. Therefore, not only enlightening its audience but also exposing these big food brands and the government all at once. An example of how they do this is by keeping the audience engaged by showing animations in the production when explaining some facts e.g. “eating eggs everyday can be the same as smoking aa few cigarettes”as many do not know that many of these foods we have been built to believe are healthy are actually carcinogens. The animations used to portray these facts allow the audience to more focused and engaged on the matter whilst learning the statistics being shown.  Thus, allowing a more significant impact on its viewers due to the shock factor created behind the facts presented.

In conclusion, the documentary provides a global change due to its high accessibility on Netflix, allowing its main purposes of enlighten on food risks and health matters to be expressed. The main techniques that allowed the production to convey its main purpose were the use of a single camera to feel as though a one on one conversation was made during the dialogue expressed by the person of focus, whilst using CGI animation when listing key factors that contribute to our bodies health making the facts easier to remember by making them appear to be more interesting through the change in setting and visual effects. 

Bibliography:

1)        

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5SFjSxzS7M)

2)        Documentary 1 – Netflix

3)        Documentary 2 – Netflix

4)        Documentary 3 - Netflix

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