Group Blog

              For this year I will be working with my two friends named Lauren and Savanna. When choosing these two to be in a group with I had to take many things into account. I have known both of my teammates for a while so thankfully I already knew what they would bring to the table. It was important for me to pick the right group. A group that would work together not against each other. It was also important to find a group with different elements. This is so we can have a variation of minds at work. For example, if we were thinking of an idea for something we would have many to choose from since we all thought differently. Having this variation and being able to get along are important and I'm glad we can do so. We all also bring different skills to the table.

          To begin, Savanna is an amazing editor. She loves to edit and does it on her free time. She knows all about the editing softwares and the different editing styles. Savanna also has a lot of creativity. She is able to think of ideas quickly and expand a general idea into an elaborate plot. Lauren also has skills of her own. Lauren is very organized and is good at planning. She can set a plan and stick to it, which is useful when it comes to the filming process. Lauren is also good at socializing and being in a social environment. This would come to use if we needed to ask for filming permission at a store or needing to ask someone assistance when filming. I posses skills as well that balance out the group and show that everything is brought to the table. I am good at filming and seeing a vision. I can manipulate a camera to get the exact shot a director would be looking for. I can also be very creative and full of ideas. These skills allow us to be a triple threat in AICE media.

I'm Back!

     

              After being away from AICE media for so long, I am finally back! This year I am taking A-level since I took AS last year. I am so excited to see what this year holds. I am ecstatic to see where my media skills go. I want this class to challenge me and help me broaden my knowledge on all things film. This class is much more in depth, which excites me. The final task this year is a short film. This fills me with joy but also rattles my nerves. I am joyous because I have always wanted to attempt a short film. The idea of presenting an entertaining, while properly structured film seems so fun. It also seems challenging because it is a short film. Time is going to play a huge factor in the decisions made and the films main plot.

            This is where my nerves kick in. A short film is a lot of work and is harder than what I did last year. So, when I start to think about this I become nervous. I just want to turn in a good piece of work. I also want the short film to be easily conveyable and enjoyable. I want people that are watching it to say "wow, that took me through a whole story". When I get nervous about these things I have to remind myself of how well I did in AS last year. I also remind myself that I just have to work hard. Overall, I can't wait to start the planning process and get to work!

                                            

     

Audience and Institution Practice Essay

 Question #5: In Relation to the Media Area You Have Studied, Discuss the Ways Audience Consumption Has Changed Over Time.



      Audience consumption for film has changed in many ways over the years. Because technology is evolving every day the way an audience watches a film change along with it. Audience consumption has shifted over time and has brought us the films we know and love today.
     The way we watch movies has changed because of the change in technology. When films were first being made, they were consumed using movie theaters. If you wanted to catch your favorite movie you would have to go to your local movie theater. Even though people still go to movie theaters, over time those theaters have changed. The theaters have increased in size allowing more audiences to watch the film. Another major way theater has changed is the quality of the picture. Older theaters were small, and the screen wasn’t huge. Because of technology we now have I-MAX theaters. These theaters have screens that are six times larger than normal movie screens. This 70mm as opposed to 35 mm viewing screen emerges the audience into the film and makes it seem so much more real. This way of watching movies is extremely popular now and takes on a different approach than a plain old movie theatre. Another way movie theater has changed over time are 3D movies. 3D movies have changed the film industry completely. From the first time this concept came out the public was hooked. 3D movies are movies that have been produced so that when the audience puts on 3D glasses the whole film is in 3D. The audience can see the actions popping out of the film and the excitement level reaches a high. This is popular among action movies because there is so much extra action you could view by doing this.  For example, the movie, Black Panther was premiered and became very popular in 3D. This is because of the movies high packed action; audiences prefer the chance to experience the action almost firsthand. Even though movie theaters were the original way films were distributed to the public, they are still being used because they have evolved and kept this way of distribution interesting and popular.
    Audience consumption has shifted from things like movie theaters to TV. Even though television is mostly for shows, movies overtime has been known to run on certain channels. For example, the original Jurassic Park aired both on NBC and USA and the Sci-Fi Channel, they would hold specials for people to watch to promote the movie which were hosted by actors of the film. Doing this allows them to target more audiences. Because television is used by many people of all ages, doing this could hit many households of many ages. After a movie comes out in the theaters a movie would then come to television and would air on many channels. Another way television has become a way of audience consumption is on demand. Movies that are in theaters become available to members of certain television providers. This is called on demand where they can select any movie to watch any time. Newer movies are priced but older movies are sometimes free. This allows people that watch TV to watch movies whenever they would like and to watch them in the comfort of their own home. Television has changed overtime by allowing movies to be played on certain channels and allowing movies to be watched on On Demand, so that they can be watched anytime, paused and have no commercials. Having no commercials is a big deal because audiences can watch the film fully with no interruption. Watching movies on On Demand gives viewers functions they would not have in a movie theater. Viewers can pause the movie, rewind the movie or fast forward the movie. Having these functions and being in control is much more appealing to viewers, so this way of film distribution became popular fast. That is until streaming services.
      After TV, streaming services became popular and the key to audience consumption. Streaming services are services that send films over the internet, which allows people to watch it immediately with no download or time schedule. Some of the most popular among these services include Netflix or Disney Plus. Audiences pay a monthly fee and are able to watch as many free movies as they want. When this came about audiences were immediately on board because of the unlimited access. All types of movies were on these services. This includes the popular franchise Guardians of the Galaxy and the Spiderman movies. Who wouldn’t want to have tons of movies at their fingertips being able to watch them wherever and whenever they want to? These streaming services are available in apps to download onto your TV and in apps that you could download on any smart device. This includes phones, laptops and tablets. This service now made movies portable. You didn’t need to go to the movie theaters or watch the movie on your family TV. These streaming services now made it possible to watch these movies anywhere you wanted and on any device. Streaming Services have changed the way films are distributed to the public and have made watching movies much more personalized.
     Because these streaming services became so popular, people started to take advantage of these free movies. Pirating movies started to become popular. This is when individuals would take movies illegally by filming them in the movie theaters or taking them from a streaming service and publishing them to the public for free. Even though this is illegal it is very popular. This is mainly because people don’t want to pay for the streaming services or a ticket to see the movie at theaters. These people publish the movies on a website and then people watch them. I have watched some illegal movies and its fairly easy to do and the quality is acceptable. This new way of watching movies has become popular overtime. Websites like 123movies.com or putlockers.com take part in this. These websites have tons of movies from old ones to movies that are still in the theaters. This way of watching movies definitely wasn’t available in the past and even though its illegal, it is worth mentioning because it is a major way of audience consumption.
      In conclusion audience consumption has completely evolved over time. From movie theaters to television, streaming services and illegal websites. The way we now watch movies has changed because of technology. Technology is so important to the film industry and controls the way of audience consumption. Who knows, maybe in the future more and more ways of consumption will come about and make watching films much easier and enjoyable.

Practice Extract Essay worksheets

Practice Extract Essay on 24 excerpt

                              24 Extract

       

      The directors main purpose of the 24 extract was to build suspense while emphasizing the tension between the two main characters. The director does this in each scene using different techniques. These include camera movements, shots, angles, costumes, lighting, actors, makeup, props and setting. And sound and editing.

    In the first scene the suspense and tension is introduced by the lack of dialogue. As soon as the man walks in there is a long period of time where they don’t speak to each other. This makes the audience wonder what’s going to happen and why these actors aren’t speaking to each other. Then the actors start speaking and once they do a lot of zoom takes place. The zoom adds emphasis on the subject of the zoom and in this case it adds to that tension and suspense. For example the woman starts to speak and the camera zooms onto the clock to show the time. Then the camera zooms into the man's face to see his reaction. This camera movement takes place a lot in this first scene. Doing so adds suspense with the clock because the audience wonders why it’s so important and the zoom on the facial expressions adds to the tension that the characters already have. As the story goes on the non diegetic soundtrack in the background gets louder. The tension between the man and woman have now started to develop more and are more visible. So because of this the director makes the suspenseful soundtrack in the background louder. For example, when the man and woman start to speak about the bomb the sound gets louder. This adds to the suspense of the bomb and the tension between the two of them. The first scene is building the suspense on the reason why the woman is where she is, the tension that the man and woman have and why it’s there. 

      In the second scene the tension between the man and woman builds and the suspense along with it. In this scene we see a lot of over the shoulder shots. This scene has a lot more dialogue between the man and woman so this shot is used to show their dialogue. The director used this rather than another technique because the actors are speaking but the conversation isn’t getting heated yet. The director uses this shot to build the tension between them, because their conversation is coming to a boil. While this is being used there is also a pan in place. When the man is speaking to the woman in this scene, the camera cuts from her face to an over the shoulder shot of him speaking to her. The camera pans back and forth as the man paces, when speaking to the woman. This camera movement adds suspense because when someone paces while having a conversation it usually means they are angry. By adding this pan of the camera it adds emphasis to the man's emotion and his anger that he has for the woman he is holding in. This adds suspense because the audience is not sure what he might do next. This adds to the tension because this is all taking place as the conversation between the two heat up. As the story goes on we see a cutaway shot of two other people in a viewing room. This shot shows that they are being monitored. This alludes that in this extract there’s not a lot of actors. There are only four and the other two aren’t even a main focus. This lack of actors was a specific move by the director to make the conversation between the two have more tension. The actors might not have said what they said or acted the way they did if more people were in the room. So by not using a lot of actors in this extract the director is adding emphasis to the tension. The second scene adds even more into the suspense and tension between the man and the woman and let’s the audience infer a big blowup at the end of the extract. 

    In the final scene the suspense and tension rise even more and then get to an all time high. In this scene the conversations get more serious and more intimate so eye-line match is used many times in this scene. For example, when the man and woman’s conversation develops into a conversation with more anger, they get closer. So the author switches from over the shoulder which shows the conversation is tense but more laid back to the eye-line match conversations which show the more tension that conversation holds. Using an eye-line match editing technique makes the conversations between the man and woman more tense and this gives the audience a feel of suspense. As the story continues more props are used in the scenes. In the last scene the table and chair present in the interrogation room the man and woman are in are used in a way the audience wouldn’t see coming. The man flips the table in anger at the woman because she won’t give him what she wants. After this happens you can feel the tension intensify between the two. Right after this the man then takes the chair the woman is sitting in and slams it into the wall and chokes her. This is the time where tensions reach and all high because the man has now resulted to violence. So by using these props in this scene in a violent way the author is adding loads of suspense and making the tension between the two so thick that you could cut it with a knife. After this happens the other two actors that were monitoring the man and woman in the room start running to the room where it is happening to save the woman. This makes the two shot that the man and woman were in into a wipe left and then a split screen. During this split screen you can see the man choking the woman and the people running. Using this split screen adds suspense because the audience wonders if the people will arrive in time to save the woman or if the man will kill . The director could’ve just done a cutaway and showed the people running but the split screen adds suspense and makes the scene more tense. This final scene is the cherry on top for the extract. The tension between the man and woman is now very intense and there is a lot of suspense amongst the audience.

   In conclusion the directors purpose of this extract was to build suspense while emphasizing the tension between the two main characters. The director did this by using several techniques. All of these techniques add to the storyline and allude to the theme. Using specific camera movements, shots, angles, costumes, lighting, actors, makeup, props and setting. Is what makes the theme of this extract so obvious and so important.

CCR for Final Task

   

       This is the CCR for my final task. Because the global pandemic got in the way of my original plans to film the video I had to improvise. I was supposed to have several friends help me out with the video. They were going to act in it alongside me while I answered my questions. But, like previously stated this was impossible to do considering the conditions. So I came to a talk show like video. I am very proud of the results, knowing the circumstances.

Final task: Movie

 
         This is our movie. This was the last project my group and I worked on and this was done around early March. Our challenge was to create the first two minutes of a movie. This was a challenge because this meant title scenes and using actual dialogue. This was very fun to make and really allowed us to see the extent of our skills. In the final task, I directed and produced the film , acted in and assisted in the editing process.