Btec Tv and Film Portfolio

Requirements for production Resources for Productions

Production of logistics

The BBC is a worldwide broadcaster and broadcasts to over 200 countries in the world, which means that is over 247 million households, CNN only broadcasts to 200 millions, which makes the BBC the largest news channel in the world. The radio stations they have as well have very long wavelengths and some broadcast in over 33 different languages. Outside the United Kingdom the BBC broadcasts commercially funded channels such as BBC America, BBC Canada, and BBC World News. One viewer said ‘I feel the BBC is very informative and always gets straight to the point weather it’s the news or an episode of The Eggheads.’

Newcoporation is a media conglomerate that operates worldwide. Its major shareholder and managing director is Rupert Murdoch. Within Newscoporation, Murdoch has ownership into MySpace, 20th Century Fox, STAR, FOX Television Stations, National Geographic BSkyB. All the things listed before are all to do with television and are broadcasted on air, Murdoch also has shares in to newspapers and magazines including, the, which is a very political magazine. Murdoch owns many newspaper which are all over the world, he owns 21 newspapers in Australasia including an Australian Version of the Sunday Times, Murdoch owns six newspapers in the UK including the broadsheet newspaper The Times. He also owns two international newspapers and The United States newspaper The NY Post that discusses Sports, Celebrities and political events. Recently though readers have been moaning that the Newspaper ‘has been playing with the political truth for years, but now they no longer can distinquish between journalism and fiction’. As if all these weren’t enough to own and control in 1990 Newscorp joined with the famous book publishers Harper&Collins to form ‘Harper&CollinsPublishers’, this operates in the UK, Australia, USA and Canada. With such a blooming Empire, Rupert Murdoch is now worth over £30billion.

Vertical integration is a style of management control; vertically integrated companies are united through a hierachy with a common owner, each member of each hierachy will create a product to satisfy a common need. This also means vertical intergration is when one firm is interested in and engaging in different aspects of production, e.g. growing raw materials. There are three types of vertical intergration, each one been very diffferent:

Backward Vertical Integration: This means a company may create subsidiaries in order to produce some of the inputs they need. For example, the Ford Company in the 1920’s created factories to produce the car parts they desired, this therefore making the product better quality.

Forward Vertical Integration: This means when a company will again create subsidiaries but this time to market or distributes products they have made, for example a movie studio create a chain of Cinemas.

Balanced vertical integration: The company sets up subsidiaries that both supply them with inputs and distribute their outputs.

Horizontal Integration is very different to vertical integration. First of all horizontal is much more popular the vertical integration.Horizontal integration occurs when a firm in the same industry and in the same stage of production is being taken-over or merged with another firm which is in the same industry and in the same stage of production as of with the merged firm. Eg: A car manufacturer merging with another car manufacturer. In this case both the companies are in the same stage of production and also in the same industry. An example of this would be AOL Time warner as AOL which is a huge interent server joined wth The Warner Coperation which is a huge media buisness which consists of Warner Bros.co and DC Comics. Rupert Murdoch runs his in a horizonally integrated way and this is why is companies are so successful as when two or more companies combine they become stronger and richer.

Globalisiation is when businesses chose to set-up or expand into other countries, Companies that operate in several countries are called multinational corporations (MNCs) or transnational corporations (TNCs). Many businesses and companies, which chose to globalise, are from economically developed countries such as the US and the UK. The reasons businesses do this is they can find cheap labour and find accesses to markets where goods can be sold. Media and globalisation are said to be very closely linked because we have to use the media in order for globalization to have an affect, even if this is listening to Latin American music or watching a Bollywood film created in India. An example of someone creating globalization of some sort would be Simon Fuller, who created Pop Idol, his ideas were later sold on as US Idol, American Idol, and even Australia Idol and all proved to be very successful.

Marshall Mchulan was the man who created this ‘global village’. This is was he called the global shift from printed media, e.g. books to electronic media, which would involve radios and televisions. He described the global village in one interview in 1960 as ‘The global village meant the media was rapidly integrating the planet so events in one part of the world could be experienced from other parts in real-time, which is what human experience was like when we lived in small villages. He thought that the even though the media was improving it would be positive in some ways as it would enhance human communications but was worried that manipulative advertising would be created, this may be why later he wrote a book on how women were used to advertise certain products.

Oligopoly is when a firm is owned and controlled by a small amount of companies. An example of an oligopoly firm are all of the gas firm as only around two firms control the majority of the gas companies. An example of a media firm running in this way is Disney and AOL Time warner.

Monopoly is similar because is can raise prices or restrict production just like oligopoly. Monopoly is a company, which owns nearly all of the market of a certain product or service. By definition, monopoly is characterized by an absence of competition - which often results in high prices and inferior products. Bill Gates is a great example of this as he is prepared to crush or put out of business anyone who tries to dominate digital entertainment. Bill Gates has weakened many businesses one including Burst.com in which Gates attempted to close down and not get a ‘foothold in the market’ of a video streaming website.

It is dangerous that the media is controlled by one person or a small group of people, Rupert Murdoch has a huge slice in the media so this means he has lots of power and respect. Unfortunately if is just a minority controlling a majority, there will be usually a lot of conflict as only one side of opinions would be taken into account.

Task Two [P1 M1 D1] Case Study.

Sky

Sky is a multimillion company, which earns around £743 million pounds a year. It is a subscription server and for a basic Sky package costs £17 a month. But for a more developed pack which may include sports channels and music channels is can cost up to around £40. Around 21 million viewers in 8.9 million households enjoy an unprecedented choice of movies, news, entertainment and sports channels and interactive services on Sky digital.

‘Because we know people are busier than ever, we’ve created Sky^{+’.sky plus was created to fit around the customer, it is a video recorder which can hold up to 40 hours of recording. The good thing is you don’t actually need a video recorder, it is built into the Sky Box. You can set the Sky Box to record a full series for you, and then you can watch it in your own leisure.}

Many companies now a days will try and persuade you to subscribe to their services. An example of a subscription service is Sky Tv. You pay a set amount every month to get certain channels. An example of a music service going this is, Napster, where you pay £9.99 a month to download as many songs as you like. With the Sky subscription service you can choose as many channel as you want to watch, for example it will cost you, if you already have a Sky+ box which will cost £99, £47 a month to get all the channels Sky has. The channels include all children channels, movie, sport, knowledge programmes, music pack and a variety pack which has a selection of all different channels including new ones like: Watch.

Sky also offer broadband and phone services as well but you can only get these if you are an existing Sky TV customer. It would cost you £10 a month on top of your TV subscription fee for unlimited usage and a free wireless router. However, if you did choose just the broadband, as you were a new customer and did not want Sky TV it would cost £25 a month. If you were interested in Sky Talk, is again only available to existing Sky TV customers so it will cost you £10 a month on top of the Sky TV service. The talk service gives you unlimited or free time call and you only pay for the line rental. The table below offers additional features you can get when subscribing to Sky Talk.

Task three - Funding [P1 M1 D1]

When buying a television now it is always equipped with at least five analogue channel. These five channels are BBC One, BBC Two, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel Five. The BBC is a Public Service broadcaster, so it does not make any profit. It also broadcasts in over 200 countries and over 33 different language so it will appeal to wide audience. ITV, Channel 4 and Channel five are all commercial broadcasters so they use adverts in order to make money.

Freeview Television is the easy and free way to enjoy digital channels. There is no subscription fee or a contract. All you need to do is buy a digital top box and that is it. Once you have the top box you are entitled to 48 digital channels which consist of BBC Three, E4, Nuts TV, Uktv History and Dave. The channels listed above are all created for entertainment purposes, it also has channels to inform: BBC Parliament and SkyNews and also channels to educates which include CITV for children and even an NHS Direct channel. A good arial coverage is needed to get freeveiw. Freeview is an organisation created in 2002 by DTV Services Ltd, a company owned and run by its five shareholders - BBC, BSkyB, Channel 4, ITV and Arqiva. As all the shareholders are very important and powerful , one of the shareholders including media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, we can see why Freeview has been such a success.

Satellite television is growing and more and more people have it. Over 85% of the UK population own a satellite television. Satellite television is television delivered by the means of communications satellite, as compared to conventional terrestrial television and cable television which is broadcast by ground cables. In many areas of the world, satellite television services supplement older terrestrial signals, providing a wider range of channels and services, including subscription-only services. It is very popular although normally to receive satellite television you must purchase a receptor such as Sky dish and digibox, Freesat, Virgin Media etc. Digital television is very popular now and it is has been agreed that by 2012 Europe and Ireland will cease analogue terrestrial TV transmissions.

Audiences interact with television much different now. Audiences can build up relationships with the televisions. Programmes like the X Factor allow us to control television so we can choose the outcome of a program. This makes the audience feel valued and needed. There are many other channels which need to audience for them to operate properly, e.g. shopping channels. If people do not ring up and order things the programmes would not be able to function as they would be selling nothing, also as people phone in this gives the presenters of shows of this content to talk about things. Music channels also have a lot of communication with the audience, programmes such as the red button chart mean the viewers get to chose which songs are played, by people voting for song it also allows the programme to understand which songs are popular and which songs aren’t. On MTV on a few programmes you can actually text in to get your message up on screen. This is a good way of keeping the viewers hooked as it makes them want to wait and see their message.

Television is a well-known form of media and it can be watched in many types of ways. There are many websites set up to watch television, these are usually created so if you miss a program on a channel on television you can catch u by watching it on the internet. Channel 4 and BBC are great example of this. The BBC has a system called BBC iPlayer which means you can watch any channels you might have missed within the last seven days. You can watch and catch up with all over the nine BBC channels online. Channel 4 is slightly more developed. Similar to the BBC’s iPlayer it is a free service, but on the Channel 4 website you can watch clips from the last twenty five years! Aswell as been able to watch television on the internet you can also purchase previous sets of series which are available on the same websites which you can watch television.

There used to be a huge, mass audience around the nineteen sixty’s. The audience then could only watch the channels, which were available, and there would only usually be one television so this meant family’s would spend more time watching television together. Now there are more audiences to satisfy the uses and gratification theory is more important as well. The diversion theory is very important as there are more audiences to entertain and diversion is more important as the channels need to keep the audiences hooked so they will not choose different method of watching television or watch something else. The surveillance theory is very important as well as there are many other way to find out about the news including other types of media like the internet and newspaper. The gratification theory is still as relevant as it was fifty years because it still focuses on four main aspects of the audience.

As the audience is segmented, which shows the viewers are progressing and different audiences are increasing. This is useful for advertisers as certain programmes or channels can advertise certain things and they will be recognised for this. For example Sky Sports advertise Nike wear and it makes sense as they are a Sports channel. This is positive that all channels which have a certain niche can advertise things which relate to it, how ever the negative effect of this is, in reality these small niche channels will only reach so far so their limits are stretched. Also if there are so many small niche audiences, this means advertising companies have to do more advertising which will cost more, whereas if there was just one mass audience the advertising would be more compact.

As the audience is segmented, which shows the viewers are progressing and different audiences are increasing. This is useful for advertisers as certain programmes or channels can advertise certain things and they will be recognised for this. For example Sky Sports advertise Nike wear and it makes sense as they are a Sports channel. This is positive that all channels which have a certain niche can advertise things which relate to it, how ever the negative effect of this is, in reality these small niche channels will only reach so far so their limits are stretched. Also if there are so many small niche audiences, this means advertising companies have to do more advertising which will cost more, whereas if there was just one mass audience the advertising would be more compact.

Subscription

Other subscription companies include Virgin, BT, and HBO. Similarly to Sky, Virgin, BT and HBO all offer broadband and phone services as well as television options. HBO is an American subscription service it is slightly different though as it goes with the cable or satellite provider you are already with and it tells you weather HBO is compatible with it and what services from HBO you will be able to get.

When regarding all subscription services, they are available to subscribe to though the internet. For example, when subscribing to Sky you can do it over the internet and it doesn’t take long. All it take is to chose which package you would like (also if you would the Sky broadband and phone options as well), fill in a form of personal information, payment methods and then the final stage to definitely confirm you would like to subscribe to Sky. Subscribing online has its benefits as well as you can get £50 worth of M&S vouchers. When subscribing BT services it will cost £42.49 for the first three months for phone, broadband and television services. After three months the payment goes up to £55.49. BT’s services are meant to:

‘Great for everyone at home – get a BT phone line with unlimited UK calls at evenings and weekends, high-speed wireless broadband for multiple users, unlimited downloads and all of BT Vision's great entertainment on demand.’

With all subscription services there are options to ‘Pay Per View’ so the customer can buy a one of program. An example of this might be a Sky Box office movie which only ever cost £3.75, nothing more, nothing less. Also people may choose to buy certain boxing matches, e.g. a Ricky Hatton fight. Also for children , parent may want to purchase WWE Wrestle mania which will cost a one of payment of £14.95. Pay per view is very popular as many sports games are only available on pay per view. Baseball, basketball, ice hockey and football are all very popular in the states. An example of purchasing 80 games of baseball in America it would cost $199.

Many television programmes, which are on television all, have different sponsors. An example of this is the television soap, Hollyoaks and their sponsor is Wrigley’s extra chewing gum. This is understandable as the audience will be young and most likely trying to impress people, bad breath doesn’t do this, so this is how the chewing gum comes into affect. Foxy Bingo sponsors the chat show ‘The Jeremy Kyle Show’. The show is aired in the morning so there will not a lot of young viewers watching, the audience probably consists of elderly people, and elderly people enjoy bingo so this sponsor is very important. Many businesses chose to associate themselves with certain programs because they relate to the audience and what the show about. The hit us show ‘Friends’ is sponsored by Appletizer which is a non- alcoholic drink so the younger audience can relate to the sponsor and also the drink is associated with socializing as the sponsor quotes ‘Enjoy Appletizer with Friends’. This means enjoy the drink while watching Friends, but also with your friends.

Product Placement is illegal in Britain but very common in the US. Product placement means the point at which a film becomes an advertisement. The filmmakers agree to place a company's product or logo visibly within shots. In a trailer for the films ‘Josie and the Pussycats’, the producers managed to fit in over 28 examples of product placement including: Kodak, Coke, Star-bucks, Crispy creams and McDonalds. Also in the 1982 film, E.T, E.T was shown eating his favourite sweet; Reeces Pieces, which made sales of the sweet sky rocket and more people bought and ate them after the film was released. This is an example of product placement influencing the audience and helping the sponsors earn money. Product placement makes a program look good as it appears up to date and in with the trend, it is also useful for the sponsors and advertisers as I gets them recognised to certain genres of films and also earn them money when the product placement has a positive affect. Product placement is also said to be “A truly cost effective form of Celebrity Endorsement”, which means it can enhance a the impact a celebrity has on the audience. Also a product has more impact if a celebrity admits to owning a product. For example in a magazine interview and the celebrity is asked what foundation do you use? The foundation the celebrity uses will therefore have more success as it will make the reader feel they can get the looks if they use the same product.

The rules of product place are however, as prompted by Ofcom:

Companies can pay money to broadcasters to have their brand or products associated with a programme. This is called sponsorship.

Companies are not permitted to pay broadcasters to have their brand or products included in a programme. This is called product placement.

Task four - Ownership and Control [P1 M1 D1]

The term “Public Service Broadcasting " (PSB) refers to broadcasting intended for the public benefit rather than for purely commercial concerns. All of the BBC's television and radio stations have a public service remit, even those that only broadcast digitally. Then the first commercially broadcasted program was aired, ITV. Commercially broadcasted means it is broadcasting for profit. And the use of adverts in-between programs means this is how it makes it money. So the difference between PSB and commercial broadcasting, it that commercially broadcasting is intended to make profit.

Community radio stations are often stations run by volunteers and non- dj professionals. Community radio is a type of radio service that caters to the interests of a certain area, broadcasting material that is popular to a local audience but is overlooked by more powerful broadcast groups. In order for community stations to be aired OFCOM has the right to decide weather they can be. OFCOM do the same things when it comes to television programmes. In Austraila The Community Broadcasting Association of Australia help independent radio and television stations they ‘provide leadership, advocacy and support for our members to actively provide independent broadcasting services and to build and strengthen local communities’ The CBBA help the stations to audio production, audience research, program and music distribution, database development and much more.

Now-a-days many companies, channels and radios are trying to be more independent and this includes Football clubs as well. There is a channel focused entirely on women’s football. It is called ‘Women's Football WSS Live News’, it is a very flexible as the channel can be viewed on the internet, via mobile phones and even on television. As well as the program been free to download and access the website also offers information about how to create your own channel and website. The channel about women’s football was originally set up in 2002 to improve the flow of news about women’s football and it has been successful as now millions of people want to access the channel. In 2001, football clubs claimed back their rights so they can watch their own matches on there channels. Chelsea first aired their match against Middlesbrough and used a Big Brother Presenter to increase hits. Manchester united then caught on and aired their own channel MUTV but their matches would be aired a day after. MUTV has not been very successful as a fan wrote on a review ‘Having to actually pay to watch somebodies amateurish home videos.’ ITV still show highlights on an evening but are not allowed to show the match again. Sky has the rights of over 100 matches but 40 of these are pay-per-view.

In the Television industry there are many types of jobs. All of these jobs fall into two categories: creative and non-creative. To show these jobs i have put them into brain storms.

Below is the brainstorm for creative jobs.

Below is my brainstorm for non-creative job roles.

There are many types of working patterns in the media industry. here are a few examples of the different types you may come across:

Shift-work: shift-work is a practice designed to make use of the whole 24 hours in a day. The term shift work includes both long-term night shifts and work schedules in which employees change or rotate shifts. an example of this may be a camera man as they must film the movie at all time of the day.

Fixed term: fixed term employment means a contact will only last a certain amount of time and finish at a specific date. an example of this may be a caterer for a film set as there role will end when the film ends.

Office hours: Office hours typically means working the hours from around 8am to 5pm from monday to friday. This type of shift pattern may occur more on the non-creative side of the media industry e.g. Accountants amy work the these shifts.

Freelance: Some one who works as a freelancer will work independently and find their own work. When they find work they will usually only be on temporary contracts rather than permanent.

Irregular pattern: Someone who works irregular patterns may be someone who is specialized in a certain area so therefore only needed for certain things. An example of this is a costume designed who designs costumes for a period drama, this manes they will only be needed for period dramas.

(I got these sources from a colleague at school)

For task six we had to write a report on a chosen job within the media industry. I chose to be a Stills Photographer which is a creative job.

Insert here.

A single camera format is where one camera is used for all the shots on a TV or Film set. The director may choose to pan between subjects, use longer takes, or stop the camera and film from a new angle to get the shots he needs. A single camera—either film or video—is employed on the set and shots are often taken out of Multiple camera formats are where as many as five cameras are used simultaneously to catch the same action. The shots that are required are then selected and put together during the editing process. Multi-camera set-up which uses two or more cameras running simultaneously.

The advantages of single camera format is gives the director more control over each shot as each scene is shot individually then edited together to get the perfect end result. Single camera format is used in many TV shows, it was used in The Brady Bunch back in the 1960’s. Single camera format is said to give things a more polished look and make television more sophisticated as shots can be jumped so look-a-likes doubles could play a role if the main actor had a dual part, this would have been impossible in a multi-camera format. Due to the tight editing of single camera dramas, it makes it seem very fast paced. When the potential of the single-camera style is fully maximized, camera movement, the way shots are composed and edited, and other directorial flourishes will be as much a source of comedy as the behavior of the characters. On such shows, the creative teams are more likely to include fantasies, daydreams, and surreal, cartoonish gags, occasionally using computer generated imagery. Single camera format overall gives ore control and a better finish even if it is more time consuming.

Even thought Multi camera format does give the director less control over each shot, it was very cheap and very fast so quicker and cheaper than single camera format. Multiple cameras can take different shots of a live situation as the action unfolds chronologically and so is congruent with events that have a live audience. Multi-camera format is very useful in film when shooting a large expensive scene which can not be repeated. An example of a program filmed in Multi camera format is Friends. Friends was one of the first shows to be filmed in this format and it was a big success.

Since its debut on December 17, 1989 the show has broadcast 442 episodes and the twenty-first season began airing on September 27, 2009. The Simpsons Movie, a feature-length film, was released in theaters worldwide on July 26 and July 27, 2007, and grossed $527 million worldwide.

Serials in television and radio are series that rely on a continuing plot that unfolds in a serial fashion, episode by episode. Serials typically follow main story arcs that span entire seasons or even the full run of the series, which distinguishes them from traditional episodic television that relies on more stand-alone episodes. Worldwide, the soap opera is a notable derivative of the serial.

Serials rely on keeping the full nature of the story hidden and revealing elements episode by episode to keep viewers tuning in to learn more. Often these shows employ recapping segments at the beginning and cliffhangers at the end of each episode. Such shows also place a demand on viewers to tune in to every episode to follow the plot. Life on Mars is an example of a serial. We know it is a serial because it follows the same story all the way through the series, rather than changing every week like a series.

Life on Mars is a British science fiction/police procedural television drama . It was first broadcast on BBC between January 2006 and April 2007, lasting for two series in total.

Life on Mars tells the fictional story of DCI Sam Tyler (John Simm), a police officer in service with the Greater Manchester Police. After being hit by a car in 2006, Tyler awakens in 1973, 33 years in the past. There, he finds himself working for the predecessor of his modern day police force in 2006, the Manchester and Salford Police as a DI rather than a DCI under the command of Gene Hunt(Philip Glenister). Over the course of the two series, Tyler faces various culture clashes, most frequently regarding his modern approach to policing and the traditional un-scientific methods of his colleagues.

A narrative is another word for story and like there are many different ways of telling a story there are many different types of narrative. Below I will explain a few of the different types.

Linear or sequential structure:

These are the easiest to understand, it is when an order of event happen in the correct order, in an order the way they happened. A lot of soaps are like this. It is easier for the audience to watch and also if you miss a few episodes, easier to catch on what you might have missed. An example of a soap using this is Eastenders.

Non linear or non sequential narrative:

This is where a sequence of events is not sow in order. The director may use this format and show the ending of a film at the beginning then show different events which unfold to show how the end became like this. This format is used in many films but also in Soaps such as Hollyoaks and series such as Lost. A great example of a non linear is the physiological thriller Donnie Darko.

Flashbacks:

These are a form of non sequential that involves clips of the past been shown up on screen to the audience. These are used to sometimes create enigma or reveal the story line bit by bit. They were used famously in The Butterfly Effects, these are used to fulfill the narrative as the to the main characters they are flashes of his past which is cannot remember. Flashbacks in soaps are used a lot in Doctor Who.

Realist or Anti realist

Realist or anti realist narratives can also be discussed. Obviously, a realist narrative will draw its power from the portrayal of realistic events. This narrative was used in the film ‘United 93’ which reproduced the events on the 9/11 tragedy. An anti realist narrative will have the freedom to indulge in the inclusion of aliens, vampires and all kinds of beastly CGI nonsense. This narrative was used in the film ‘Jennifers Body’ about a girl who is a vampire and feast on boys who adore her! A series which used anti realist narrative can be seen in ‘Primeval’ which was about finding portals which opened areas of the past and prehistoric creatures!

Range of information:

Unrestricted: The audience sees and hears everything and often they already know the ending. This was used in the film Titanic as it was based on non-fictional events of a cruise line sinking after hitting an iceberg. Restricted is when The audience are introduced to information and plot at the same time as the characters.

Soaps generally use unrestricted information as this allows the viewers to have almost a bird's eye view of all the characters and what is going on. This is an Objective view as well as we can make an objective opinion. However, life on mars uses restricted information to make the program seem more tense and edgy.

Propps theory:

Every story has this narrative. It involves a hero, helper, villain and a damsel in distress. This is illustrated very well in ‘Batman and Robin’. Batman is the hero, Robin was the helper, the villain could have been a handful of characters from The joker to Catwoman. The damsel in distress would usually be a good-looking woman of the public. Most films have this portrayed quite obviously and soaps use this narrative also.

When considering Propp's theory, most drama's/ story lines will follow this. However, in some films people's positions will change throughout the feature. This often happens in soaps to keep the viewers watching and change characters perceptions. Fairy tales always use this theory, as it is guaranteed to be successful because of the target audience. Most complicated films partly use this theory - for example a scary film, such as 'Paranormal activity' does not use a resolution, to make the film seem more scary.

Todorovs theory:

Todorovs theory includes an equilibrium when everything is normal, then a disruption occurs which may means something goes wrong which is meant to be fixed and put back to normal. There is then a resolution which can resolves the disruption. These can go in order to a more sequential narrative or in a mixed up order for the Non-linear narrative.

However, other series and serials, such as Life on Mars are non linear. This means that the shots are not in chronological order and it includes things such as flashbacks. This is also an anti realist drama as it does not represent actual events.

As well as this, films such as Slumdog Millionaire have elements of both linear and non linear as the majority or the film is linear but it also includes flashbacks which are vital to the story.

Because of the different genre's, the films/dramas/ soaps etc also have different endings. Soaps always have open endings as there always needs to be another program so there are often cliffhangers, for example in New Moon, the last scene shows the two main characters, Edward and Bella, and Edward proposes to Bella. It then fades to black before she answers to leave the audience wondering her answer and waiting for the next edition to find out. However, as soaps are multi strand narratives, stories within the drama sometime draw to a close. Films and series drama's however will have closed endings sometimes with elements of open endings. This is because if a film ends with the main characters happy and safe, we don't know what happens to them after this.

Narratives also have different patterns such as goal orientated plot or journeys. These are often used in films as there is a goal or journey that the audience follows depending on if the drama is objective or subjective. For example, Donnie Darko is an extended metaphor all the way through and is one massive enigma. As the film is from a subjective point of view, we do not really know what is going on, wether he is doing the things that happen or if his imaginary friend is real. However, Karate Kid is a goal orientated plot which has an objective point of view so we know everything that is going on in the film. The two films are massively different just down to these two things.

Soaps generally use unrestricted information as this allows the viewers to have almost a bird's eye view of all the characters and what is going on. This is an Objective view as well as we can make an objective opinion. However, life on mars uses restricted information to make the program seem more tense and edgy.

Todorov's theory is also widely used. However, in non-linear narratives this may different due to flashback and such where some of the stages repeats its self, like in Lost.

When the movie begins there is an establishing shot of the area and the main character. Then the camera cuts to two men getting go out of a car in a car park, this is a long shot but also an establishing shot as it exposes more of the area there are in. There is then a point of view shot of the woman looking in a puddle which reveals her expression through the reflection. After this there is a medium shot of the three characters standing on the edge of a train track, this then cuts to a close up of the woman’s face. Close up are used to focus attention on a persons feelings and reactions. Near the end there is a selective focus shot, the woman is stood forward and the camera is on her with the two men stood a distance behind. The view of her is very clear but the shot of the men is blurred, this then switches to the shot of the men been very clear and the shot of the woman to be blurred. This is done to make the audience focus on a certain character. Through the end of the film, the women climbs on to the train track and a worm eye view shot connotes the train coming towards her.

While the film is going on there are also flashbacks. The camera shot used in these involve and establishing shot that reveals a park with swings and then further on through the film, another establishing shot of a graveyard. There is then a medium shot of s dead person lying on the floor, which then cuts to a point of view shot of someone looking at pills in there hand. The two are linked and this possibly connotes the pills had something to do with the death. There is also an over the shoulder shot used of a women finding the pills in her book, which is placed there by the girl. There is then a shot of the main character and women who has just found the pills; this reflects again the main character has given the women these pills. Near the end of the flashbacks, there is a low shot of the main character as she sits near a gravestone. This makes her appear big and heroic but then a long shot reveals her depressed and bewildered.

Task 7:

I am going to make a single camera drama by using various equipment and technologies. First of all, I am going to film my shots with a hand held camera which looks like this:

This will allow me to get realistic shots to suite the genre of my film. It will also be easy to get to the location of shooting and easy to use - to save time. Our film is set in the past and also meant to seem quite mysterious so shaky camera shots fit the genre better.

As my film is going to have a voice over, I am going to use an Edirol R-09 voice recorder which is a professional piece of equipment used to pick up sound. I choose to use this piece of equipment as you can change the settings for different types of environment to get the best quality out of the voice recording. It looks like this:

After I have recorded all of my sound, I will import it into Garage band, a software which allows you to edit your recorded sound and get the most professional sounding results. On here I can cut out bit of the recording I don't need and even add sound effects or jingles to the recording. It will go onto a page which looks similar to this:

When I feel satisfied with the voice over, I will be able to import the sound, and the bits of footage I have recorded on my camera into I-movie. When I have done this, I will be able to put the footage together with the sound to make the short film complete. On I-movie I can put the recording over video clips in order to create audio to go with my video pieces, I can also change the volume of the recording so can fade it out on clips and also make it louder to appear more prominent and significant. I-movie looks like this:

Once both audio clips and video clips have been finished they will be put on to iMovie and transitions and credits will be put over them to complete the movie. By using all this high quality software and computer programmes we will create the best movie and best possible finish.

The only props we used was a white overall and two milk bottles and a few copper pieces. The other characters were just wearing normal attire.

Task 8 [P1 M1 D1]

In order to create the production we had to create a script and a treatment so we had something to follow. Below is my script:

Script for single camera drama:

6.00 am, Cobbled street, Character talking in their head, angry tone:

Music bed: Suspenseful music...

Cigar being lit, cut to establishing shot of cobbled street, with dimmed street lights and shops on either side:

It’s that time again, and people think they can just walk all over me. But its not gonna happen anymore.

Male feet walk into the camera shot, cut to close up of side of his face as he walks past:

Why should these people push me around? I have feelings too. My reputation around here needs boosting, and I’m about to do it…

We see him carry on his journey up the street with different shots which do not reveal the identity of him...

How should I do it? Fast, slow, quick, easy? I can’t think, and I just want it to be over, so I can get on with my life.

Its all I can think about, now Its come to it, I don’t know if I’m regretting it? What if it’s the wrong thing to do?

Will it just harm my reputation even more? Which would be just be defeating the object? Oh no. Too many thoughts in my head. Just do it!

I’m getting closer to it now, its nerve-racking to think it will only take a matter of minutes and it’ll be over.

We see the character turning a corner and then an establishing shot of a old door, which he makes his way up to, he then knocks on the door and a woman answers with a worried look on her face...

dialogue of the man: "Hiya love, got your milk money?" Smiles...

Music bed: Happy, Cheerful music...

The man then skips happily down the road, doing a heel click at the end. Fade to black and words say "The Milkman"

Treatment:

Objective: The proposal for this short film is to make the audience think that a hit man is wandering around the cobbled streets. The objective is to acheive an anti-climax effect at the end of the film where the audience discover the hit man is just infact a milkman doing his rounds.

Setting: Cobbled streets of Pudsey set in the 1920s in the early hours of the morning.

Time: 2 minutes long

Description: The film will be created in the style of 'film noir' so very eery, dark and mysterious. The short drama focuses on a man who is an estranged milkman who is angry about been taken advantage of his customers. However as only body shots and close up of the characters body are shown we do not know the man is a milkman and he appears to be a hit man on a mission. The character is wandering around the streets looking for his victim and he ends up at a house. The woman comes to the door looking scared but then this is when the identity of the milkman is revealed as he asked for his milk money, this therefore causing an anti-climax. The shots will be around 10 seconds long but no longer as film needs to seem edgy and mysterious and not give too much away. The goal of our film is to convince the audience the character is going to commit a huge, horrific crime then shock them when he just a milkman.

Remarks:

• Our film will be shot using a small HD hand held camera. This is too purposely create a imperfect finish and a sort of 'Blaire Witch' feel. This makes the footage seem more real life.
• The face of the character is only shown as the end as this keeps the audience hooked as the do not know his identity and this adds to the anti climax affect.

There will be a music bed to show and reflect suspension, and also a few sound effects and a voice over, running over the music bed.

Proposed Sequence Sample of Events:

1) The first shot is that of a cigar been lit and the character taking a puff out of it.

2) There is then an establishing shot of the location – which is cobbled streets to fit with the noir genre.

3) After this, the audience see several shots of the character – ones that do not reveal the identity of the character. For example the feet of the man just walking…

4) Then we see the character turn a corner.

5) There is then a close up of his hand knocking on a door.

6) As the door opens, we see a women looking extremely concerned.

7) When the camera turns back to the male character, we see him with a happy face asking for his milk money. This is the anti climax that we hope to create.

8) We then see the character skipping down the drive of the house, when the camera fades out.

9) There is then a black screen with white writing which says “THE MILK MAN.”

Task 9 [P1 M1 D1]

We created a story board so we knew what to film for each scene. Been more organized meant that creating the film was a smoother and quicker process.

Task 10 [P1 M1 D1]

As I working with another person we had to make a schedule to make sure we completed all the work and had some organisation so no tasks got missed. We created a production table, we did the video quite fast so the production schedule is quite short and precise. Below is my production table.

Also when we edited the movie we had to to keep a record of this also. This was so we could keep a check on what had been edited and what still needed to be done.

Task 11 [P1 M1 D1]

As we were filming a production out of school and with other people we had to fill out a risk assessment. This was to make sure the members of my team were in safe hands and they did not risk the chance of injury.

Task 12 [P1 M1 D1]

This is my single camera drama completed.

Task 13 [P1 M1 D1]

Evaluation of my single camera drama

Purpose: The purpose of the productions was to create and build up an atmospere of tense pressure and many enigmas. After confusing the audience and keeping them hooked on the production it was then our aim to create an anti climax so people knew who the hit man actually was. The main type of genre we wanted to portray was film noir/horror but the second was comedy. I feel this was reflected in the film very well and the quality was to a high standard.

Audience: The audience said that my film fit with the codes and conventions of both my genres within the film. They all laughed at the anti climax which is what I had hoped to achieve during the filming and editing process. The audience got the preferred reading of my drama and I think this is because they were my primary target audience.

Representation issues: 
My single camera drama pretends to have negative messages but in actual fact gives out fun and positive messages. There was only one ethnic group included in my film as it was set in England in the 1920’s when different ethnicities were not always incorporated in films and television. The music, in both parts, added to the mood of my piece as when the tension and enigma was building up, so was the volume and tempo of the music. This helped to create the tension helped with the anti climax effect at the end. After the anticlimax has been given away, the music turns into a fast paced happy tune, which helps to show the comedy and joke element portrayed in my drama.

The locations and cinematography were both extremely important in my film, as it was supposed to be a film noir genre, and this is quite hard to create. To create this, I went to a dark cobbled street with low light that creates shadows to represent the time of day and the element of creeping around in the dark for the horror element of our film.

The language used in the film was appropriate for the target audience of teenagers and adults. The audience thought that my drama looked realistic for the genre’s included in my drama.

Technical issues: The levels of the voices and music both went up and down at appropriate points depending on what effect I was trying to create. For example just as the tension builds up to the top, the music levels and voice levels were very high as it was meant to represent what the character was thinking. My film used a variety of camera shots as I was not giving away the identity of the character straight away, I needed a variety of shots to keep the audience interested and want to keep watching to find out the real identity of the character. An external microphone was used to record the voices as the camera I used could not pick up voices and there would have been too much ambience in the background from outside. The editing process was very demanding as there were a lot of clips that needed effects and transitions put on them to be approraite to the genre. The transitions were sometimes not smooth but this was deliberate as the film was not creating a smooth and easy journey, the transitions were meant to represent this. The credits and fonts were appropriate to the second genre; comedy, as they were at the end and had to portray the joke included at the end of the film.

Conventions/Narrative:
I think that the following things were appropriate the genre’s:

- Locations.

- Cinematography.

- Camera Shots.

- Music.

-Voices.

-Props.

My film included an enigma to keep the audience interested, which is important in a good narrative. It also included an equilibrium, disruption and resolution, which is typical in a drama but also a simple but effective way of keeping the audience interested. We also think that the main character is a villain, but is in fact a hero which is a different way of portraying characters in dramas. I would regard my drama as a single strand, which is appropriate for the audience and genre.

Own performance/Self evalution:

I feel I did well when producing this video. I did not learn any new skills but refreshed old ones i had forgotten about e.g editting voice overs, extracting audio from videos and just simple things like importing certain clips. My strengths when creating this video were my organisational skills so when things had to be done by and organizing the people who starred in the video too meet. Another strenght I feel is the idea which me and my team mate came up with, it was different and completely different from everyone elses.