RECOMMENDED MEDIA AND FILM UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENTS

• University of the West of England School of Creative Arts
• Warwick University Department of Film and Televsion Studies
• Royal Holloway University of London Department of Media Arts
• Goldsmith's University Department of Media and Communications
• De Montfort University Department of Media, Film and Journalism
• Ravensbourne College
• University of the Arts, London
• Cardiff University School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies
• University of Sussex School of Media, Film and Music
• University of Kent at Canterbury School of Film Studies
• University of East Anglia School of Film and TV
• University of Lincoln School of Media
• Westminster University School of Media
• Leeds University School of Communication
• Bournemouth University Media School
• University College, Falmouth

WHAT CAN YOU DO DURING THE SUMMER AND IN SEPTEMBER?

1. Try out the links here to different courses and information about them. Have a good read of the specific detail or the courses on the websites - if you like the sound of the detail of the course, then take your research further. The course content should inspire you! If it doesn't, don't go any further. You should be aiming to prepare a short list of courses. In September you can discuss your choices with either your Media/Film teacher or your form tutor.

2.Think about your future, where you see yourself in the industry and possible careers opportunities out there. Do some research! Find our what kinds of jobs are out there. Mr Williamson has a great dvd about what it is like to work in the industry. Have a look on the following website: http://creativeskillset.org/

3. Register on UCAS - there is specific school guidance on how to do this and Mr Course is in charge of this process. You will start this process before the end of term with your form teacher. 

4. Check your predicted grades in Sept - probably the same as your AS grades - and see whether it looks as if you will be qualified for the courses to which you want to apply. Be realistic! There is no point applying for courses that require A grades if you only achieved C grades!

5. Draft out a personal statement, using Mr Course's guidance, you will be given examples and guidance from your form tutor. Find a teacher with relevance knowledge about your chosen subject to read it for you. It seems silly to ask your Maths teacher to read your application to study French! 

6. Fill in your UCAS form bit by bit and get clued-up on what you need to provide for your application to be sent off successfully. All the information will be in the pack Mr Course will provide for you. There is a lot of competition for production courses, the later you leave it the less likely you will be to get in. An application by October half term latest is recommended but earlier is ideal. After half-term - these courses fill up quickly and you may not get a look in.

7. Visit the places you want to go to and talk to students about what they think of the courses and facilities.  Prepare a set of questions before you go so you don't forget anything! 

8. Put together your DVD portfolio (production courses only). This is known as a showreel and should contain anything relevant that you have done. This would normally include projects completed in Media or Film over the last 2 years, and any outside project work you have done that demonstrates creativity.

9. Read around the subject - Media Magazine and Empire for example are all stocked in the Media Department and will help you get up to date with current industry developments and academic debates. If you get invited for interview you will need to show you are really interesting in the industry.   Follow @robertclackfilm to keep up to date with current articles without having to even look on the internet! 

10. If you can get some work experience - great, but this is not essential. What is more important is providing evidence of a passion for Media that goes further than just enjoying/doing well at GCSE or A level Media. Presenting yourself as a creative person with initiative and drive is important for many of the production degrees - work experience is helpful but so is having made a film, doing photography or other related creative activity outside school/ in your own time.

MEDIA AND FILM DEGREE COURSES

Typically, you will find courses under the following headings:

Film and Television Studies - academic/ largely theoretical courses
Cultural Studies - academic/largely theoretical courses, strong links with sociology
Communications - academic/largely theoretical courses/strong links with New Media and Cultural/Social Studies
New or interactive media/digital media/multi-media/media technology - practical and theory mix, focus is on interactive/online media and technology
Media/TV/Film/Video Production - largely practical, industry driven courses which include placements and specialised training
Media Arts, Media Design - highly creative content, strong links with Art + design
Journalism/Broadcast Journalism - practical and theoretical mix, industry driven courses with strong focus on specialised training and industrial placements
Advertising/PR/Marketing - academic and theory mix, focus on specialised training and placements. You may be better specialising later on if you are not sure you definitely want to work in this area of the industry

A different approach is recommended for those of you applying for theory courses as opposed to practical.
Theory courses - you have more time to apply, you don't need a showreel, they interview less and are looking for a different set of skills evidenced in your application. They are still very competitive but the process is more standard and less specialised.
Practical courses - usually require a showreel of work and almost always interview applicants. These are very competitive courses and you really should have more film work than just the projects you have completed on your course. 

TV Drama Exam

Below is a selection of past exam clips from Section A. Have a go at writing your own analysis at home.

Clip 1: Age

Clip 2: Gender

Clip 3: Sexuality

Clip 4: Gender

Clip 5: Gender

Clip 6: Disability

Clip 7: Ethnicity

Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin’s 6 Features of Music Videos

In his book Dancing in the Distraction Factory, Andrew Goodwin points out characteristics and features that can be found in music videos. Below is the six characteristics he believed to be conventions of the music video genre.

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics.
   (e.g. stage performance in metal videos, dance routine for boy/girl band, aspiration in Hip Hop).
2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with images.(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
3. There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music.
   (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).
5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
6. There are often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).

From Andrew Goodwin, DANCING IN THE DISTRACTION FACTORY, 1992.

WJEC Moving Image Awards 2014

WJEC Moving Image Awards 2014

Moving Image Awards

WJEC’s new Moving Image Awards are designed to recognise the best moving image productions made by students aged 14-19 at schools and colleges offering WJEC qualifications.

The awards are organised by WJEC and supported by the British Film Institute. The shortlisted entries will be screened at an awards ceremony at the BFI on Friday 19 September 2014. Shortlisted entrants will be contacted directly and the full programme for the awards ceremony will be published on WJEC’s website in July.

The Categories

1. Film sequence (any genre)
   This could be an opening, title, closing or climactic sequence from any genre of film.
2. Short film 
   This should consist of a complete narrative rather than a film extract.
3. Music video
   This should either use an original music track (e.g. by a local band/artist) or, for established bands/artists, one without an existing video.
4. TV sequence 
   This could be an opening, title or key sequence from any genre of TV programme.

There will be a prize for the winning entrant/s in each of the four categories, as well as one overall individual prize and one prize for the best entry for an individual under the age of 16.

The Criteria

We are looking for creative, original and high quality moving image productions in either English or Welsh.

The productions should:

• be submitted by Tuesday 20 May 2014
• be between 3 and 5 minutes in length
• use only original filmed material
• be made by 14-19 year olds between September 2013 and May 2014
• be made individually or in a group of 4 maximum (where each entrant must have a specific technical role, i.e. camera work, editing, sound design, but not acting)
• be made at a school or college offering WJEC qualifications
• be the entrant’s/entrants’ own work
• be suitable for a school/college audience

Copyright is the responsibility of the entrant(s).

All entries must be authenticated by both the entrant/s and an appropriate teacher on the application form.

Excellent Thriller Blogs

http://www.connormurrayrc.blogspot.co.uk
http://fundaosmanrc.blogspot.co.uk/
http://connorcahill-hayesrc.blogspot.co.uk/

AS Media - Thriller Coursework - TITLES

Format of TITLES for AS Thriller Coursework

After the IDENT use a FADE IN. The titles should then be in the following order:
(1) 'Your Production Company' Presents
(2) A Film by 'One name - usually the director'
(3) Starring or With
(4) Male star
(5) Female star or other way round
(6) Title of film - or could be at the end
(7) Also starring - 2/3/names - each on seperate title
(8) Then 3/4/5 of the following - you choose - each on seperate title
Editing
Music
Cinematography or Director of Photography
Casting
Set Designer
Costume Designer
Script
(9) Then Producer(s) - can be more than one
(10) Always finish with Director - one name, usually the same as A Film By ...
(11) Could put title here
Remember to use LiveType and try to make titles interesting. They can be either over black or superimposed over your film. Space them out over the two minutes of the film.Give the audience plenty of time to read the titles. 
(12) Finish with a fade out & fade music out

The Film Industry - Scheme Of Work

Areas of Focus.

•      the issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice;

•      The importance/influence of the ‘big six’: Disney, Paramount, Warner, Universal, Columbia and 20th C.Fox

•      The problems smaller film companies have.

•      the importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing;

•       Internet, newspapers, radio, television, billboard posters, Social Media (Facebook/Twitter) etc.

•      the technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange;

•      Such things as Netflix, Love Film, 3D, home cinema, Digital camera/projector.

•      the significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences;

•      Eg. 3D, Digital Camera/projector, home cinema, Smart TVs, Laptops, Tablets , the effect of Piracy etc 

•      the importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences;

•      Internet,  Netflix, Love Film, home cinema, Smart TVs, Laptops, Tablets etc. , Social Media like Facebook and Twitter.

•      the issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by international or global institutions

•       How are we targeted? How much choice do we have?

•      the ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour.

•      Where, When and How do you watch films? What do you watch? How typical are you? Piracy?

The Film Industry Scheme of Work.

1.     The Exam - Make notes on the key points from the Main PowerPoint Slides 3-6.

2.     The Basics – the chain of events -- Make notes on the key points from the Main PowerPoint Slides 7-10.

An introduction to the problems faced by small, British independent film companies and the way they overcome these problems.

3.     ‘Films of a Life’.  - Make notes on the key points from the Main PowerPoint Slides 132-160

4.     ‘Shifty’ a successful ‘micro budget’ film - Make notes on the key points from the Main PowerPoint Slides 109-131

5.     Film 4- Make notes on the key points from the Main PowerPoint Slides 44-58.

In contrast an introduction to the big six film companies and the importance of the Blockbuster (some Case Studies)

6.     The ‘Big Six’ Production Companies - the importance of Blockbusters - Make notes on the key points from the Main PowerPoint Slides 15-24

7.     “Iron Man 3- including the importance of the Chinese market.

       Make notes on the key points from the Main PowerPoint Slides 210-240

8.     “The Hunger Games” (look out for how the next film in the series is being promoted)  – Make notes on the key points from the Main PowerPoint Slides 161-200

9.     “Prometheus”   - Make notes on the key points from the Main PowerPoint Slides 201-209

         The Chain – Production, Exhibition and Distribution.

10.                        Film Production - make notes on the key points from the Main PowerPoint Slides 11-44.

11.                        Film Distribution (including marketing / publicising a film)

12.                        make notes on the key points from the Main PowerPoint Slides 58-98

13.                        Film Exhibition make notes on the key points from the Main PowerPoint Slides 99-108

…………………………………………

14.                        Past Questions from slides 242 onwards.

You must make sure you can answer all of these questions before the examination.

Section B - The Film Industry

Digipak Template

Shifty

AS Evaluation Questions

Infogram

An Interesting Presentation Tool

This is an interesting method of presentation used in The Guardian. You could use this same method for the following:

• target audience research 
  
• visual representations of your idea for your thriller/music video 
• one of your evaluation questions

You can make your own inforgraphs using a range of different websites. Some are more advanced than others:

Quite an advanced website is https://magic.piktochart.com/ . It has lots of free templates and you can create some really interesting things.  Here is an example:

If you're in need of something a bit more basic and less time consuming then infogr.am  is the one for you
Here is an example:

Target Audience Research | Create Infographics

A third option is http://www.easel.ly/

Here is an example:

easel.ly

Album Art Exercise

A2 Music Video Coursework

Album Art Exercise for Digipak & Advert

Follow the link below and complete the exercise to create your own album art quickly and simply. When finished post onto your blog and evaluate the effectiveness of the finished piece of work.

http://petesmediablog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/death-of-album-part-2.html

Main Postmodern Power Point

Mr Williamson's Postmodern Scheme Of Work

1.     Film Run Lola Run –notes from  Power Point on Blog - characteristics:

     self reflexive, fractured narratives, no meta narratives, inter-textual     reference, like a game.

2.     Film Pulp Fiction – –notes from Power Point on Blog - repeat characteristics.

3.     Television  - Introduce “The Simpsons” Main Power Point 120-138.

Inter-textual reference Link with “Pulp Fiction”Episode’  “22 Short Films about Springfield” (Series 7 Episode 21), the whole episode is a loose parody of Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction”. – link with Martha Stewart Show etc.

Main Power Point – 140-163.

Essay Why is this episode Post Modern? Main Power Point 164-177

4.     Television “The War You Don’t See” + BBC News War in Iraq introduce Baudrillard - –notes from Power Point on Blog on Baudrillard -  Main Power Point Baudrillard 27-49.

5.     Television Episode “Homer Badman” (Season 6 Episode9) of “The Simpsons” is postmodern. In this episode, Homer himself becomes the subject of the media spotlight when he is wrongfully accused of sexually harassing his babysitter - Main Power Point Baudrillard 27-49 + slide 50. + 273-306.

6.     Television  “Outfoxed” –  Main Power Point Baudrillard 27-49 (particularly 42-46).

7.     Television  Power of Meta Narratives – Main Power Point Lyotard 11-17 + 188-193. “Lisa the Iconoclast” (Series7 Episode16) highlights the distress caused to the local population when Jebediah Springfield is exposed as a fraud.

8.     Television Power of Meta Narratives Main Power Point Lyotard 11-17 + 194-206. “Lisa the Sceptic” (Series 9 Episode8), Lisa challenges Christianity by claiming a fossil is not an angel.

9.     Television Simpsons “She of Little Faith” Season 13 Episode 6 Disc 2. Main Power Point 210 – 218.

10. Film  “Inglorious Basterds” where history is re-written and Hitler, Goebbels, Borman and Goering are killed (all the rotten eggs in one basket). –notes from  Power Point on Blog. Main Power Point Jameson 20-26 and 326 -325.

11. Film In “Scott Pilgrim versus the World” the defeated ex lovers perish in the same way enemies are eliminated in computer games. –notes from  Power Point on Blog – Main Power Point 53-59 + 60-119

12. Television  Simpsons Self Reflexivity / Pastiche – Main Power Point 236 -241.

13. Television Charlie Brooker - “Big Brother”, “The Only way is Essex” and “Geordie Shore” – Foucault – Panopticon

14.                Simpsons Revision Main Power Point 317-323.

a.  Essays – all four must be completed.

15. Explain why the idea of postmodern media might be considered controversial.

16.                Explain how certain types of media can be considered postmodern.

17.                Postmodern media blur the boundary between reality and representation. Discuss this idea with ref to text you have studied.

18.                Discuss why some people are not convinced by the idea of postmodern media.

Iron Man 3 (2013) #3 "Chinese Version" Deleted, Extended & Alternative S...

Is Hollywood's Blockbuster Model Broken (From BBC)

Is Hollywood's blockbuster model broken?

By Edwin Lane Business reporter, BBC News

It may have lacked a generation-defining event movie like 1977's Star Wars, or even a technological ground breaker like 2009's Avatar, but 2013 was still the year of the Hollywood blockbuster.

This year, 26 films costing more than $100m (£61m) each were released by the major Hollywood studios - more than ever before. They are likely to have raked in tens of billions of dollars in worldwide box office revenues as a result - close to the record $35bn (£21.5bn) delivered in 2012.

Some of the films did badly. The Lone Ranger, starring Johnny Depp, barely made back the $250m it cost to make. But the hits outweighed the flops: Iron Man 3 took $1.2bn in box office receipts around the world, topping the charts and making it the fifth highest-grossing film of all time.

But despite the runaway successes, there are concerns within Tinseltown that blockbuster budgets are getting dangerously high.

Bankrupted

"There's eventually going to be an implosion, or a big meltdown," said Hollywood elder statesman Steven Spielberg in a speech earlier this year. "Three or four or maybe even a half dozen mega-budget movies are going to go crashing into the ground, and that's going to change the paradigm."

It has happened before. In 1980, Heaven's Gate effectively bankrupted United Artists. The budget for the sprawling Western got out of control, the film bombed, and the studio was forced into a takeover by MGM.

The irony is that Spielberg almost singlehandedly invented the blockbuster genre. When his film Jaws was released in 1975, Hollywood realised that making a few big-budget films a year that appealed to the masses was more lucrative than making dozens of smaller ones, and a business model was born. Since then budgets have soared and artistic merit has taken a back seat.

Hollywood watchers say it's a statistical certainty that another bomb to rival Heaven's Gate, or even 1995's Waterworld, is around the corner. But the difference, they say, is that modern Hollywood studios are equipped to cope.

After a wave of acquisitions in the 80s and 90s, the six "majors" that dominate global box office are now parts of massive media conglomerates. They have found ways to both boost profitability of their films and mitigate the risks associated with making such huge investments.

HIGHEST-GROSSING FILMS OF 2013 WORLDWIDE

1.     Iron Man 3 (Walt Disney) - $1.2bn

2.     Despicable Me 2 (Universal) - $919m

3.     Fast & Furious 6 (Universal) - $789m

4.     Monsters University (Walt Disney) - $744m

5.     The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Lionsgate) - $730m

6.     Man of Steel (Warner Brothers) - $663m

7.     Gravity (Warner Brothers) - $642m

8.     Thor: The Dark World (Walt Disney) - $620m

9.     The Croods (20th Century Fox) - $587m

10.   World War Z (Paramount) - $540m

Source: Box Office Mojo

The first thing the studios have done is spread the risk by getting dozens of smaller production companies to invest alongside them, reducing their exposure to a potential flop.

Revenue streams

The second thing is that they have made the success of their films almost a sure thing.

Recent research by British film academics John Sedgwick and Mike Pokorny has found that not only have blockbuster films become more profitable over the past 20 years, they have become more reliably profitable: in the late 80s just 50% of major studio films turned a profit. In 2009 it was 90%. Flops have become rare.

"[Studios] are ruthlessly good at getting returns from their investments," Prof Sedgwick says. "Hollywood has got better and better at it. The more you spend, the more you get back. It seems to me to be an extraordinarily successful model."

How have the studios achieved this?

The first step has been to generate new revenue streams. In the early days of Hollywood, 100% of revenues came from ticket sales. Now it's just 20%. The rest of the money comes from television licensing, DVD sales, merchandising and other commercial deals.

"Blockbuster films are not really films," says Charles Acland, a professor of communication studies at Concordia University in Montreal, and author of the book Screen Traffic. "They are in fact very elaborate 'tent-pole' business models that connect all sorts of different commodities in all sorts of different industries."

The second step has been to look beyond the domestic US market, where cinema audiences aren't really growing, and look overseas to developing markets such as China. 

Iron Man 3 earned two-thirds of its revenues outside of the US. The Chinese version of the film even had four extra minutes of footage, featuring Chinese actors and half a dozen Chinese product placements.

Finally, the studios have become incredibly risk-averse in terms of the types of films they produce. Instead of taking a chance on new directors and original ideas, they produce tried-and-tested franchises, remakes and book adaptations.

Communal experience

A look at this year's top 10 highest-grossing films reveals just two original screenplays - animation The Croods and 3D epic Gravity. In both 2012 and 2011 there were none in the top 10.

As a mark of the power of the franchise, The Amazing Spider-Man was released last year, and Sony has already pencilled in dates for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, 3 and 4 stretching until May 2018.

That's on top of Spider-Man 1, 2 and 3 released between 2002 and 2007.

Hollywood faces challenges. Executives are sweating over a virtual collapse in DVD sales in recent years amid the growth of online streaming services such as Netflix. The major conglomerates that control the studios are seeing profits faster at their television arms than in the film industry, and are cutting costs.

But perhaps the more worrying long-term problem is what Charles Acland calls "aesthetic bankruptcy". The blockbuster business model necessarily leads to making bad movies.

The perception that Hollywood peddles lowest common denominator crowd-pleasers at the expense of "serious" cinema means screenwriting talent is increasingly moving over to television. This year director Steven Soderbergh threatened to quit altogether.

But while blockbuster franchises continue to bring in billions worldwide, there is little sign that Hollywood will change its ways.

"If you want a shared communal experience of the film that everybody's talking about right now, then you go to the movie theatre," Prof Acland says. "The blockbuster is very stable in Hollywood. It's not going to go away any time soon."