Why is it important to have British film?

British film in today's society plays a vital role in contemporary culture, without it the world wouldn't be able to gain an insight into the identity of UK nation and regions as well as the changing face of Britain's different communities. It is important to have British film as if they become successful it enables them to have the power to change attitudes and making people think, both at home as well as abroad. It is also significant as it is the mirror in which we see ourselves and the window through which the world sees us and the impact of British film upholds particular traditional values and mocked, challenged and undermined them. The importance of British film is it's diversity through class, cultures and multiculturalism, for example in the successful film, Notting Hill starring Hugh Grant, it explores the various cultures living in the particular area showing the audience the diversity within Britain. In another British film, Four Weddings and a Funeral also starring Hugh Grant explores the characteristics of different British people as well as the different classes within our society showing the sophistication of the middle class in comparison with the working class.

A2 Dancing In The Distraction Factory

Andrew Goodwin wrote a theoretical paper called "Dancing In The Distraction Factory" proposing many key features which distinguish a music video as a form.

• There is a relationship between the visuals and lyrics as the visuals usually illustrate, amplify and contradict the lyrics.


• There is a relationship between the music and visuals either illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the music.


• Particular music genres may have their own music video style and iconography, such as live stage performances in heavy rock.
  
• Demand on the part of the record company for alot of close ups of the main artist or vocalist.


• There is likely to be reference to voyeurism, particularly in the treatment of females, but also in terms of systems of looking, i.e screens within screens, binoculars, cameras, etc.
  
• There are likely to be intertextual reference either to music videos or to films and TV texts.

Pop: Britney Spears; Hit Me Baby One More Time

Britney Spears is a well known pop-artist selling millions of records in her prime, I chose the music video "Hit Me Baby One More Time" as it films her in school dressed as a young girly girl which is very strereotypical of girl pop. There are many elements of the video which predominantly link to the Andrew Goodwin's theory, as their is a demand on the part of the record company filming various close ups of the artist showing the audience of who provides the vocals overall. The video is based in a high school with other students around, starting with the class breaking into a choreographed dance routine. The locations within the school include the gynasium, classroom, corridor and playground showing the mise en scene to be consistent throughout the video. There is a relationship between music and visuals as the rhythm of the music connects with the video itself which is essentially a key theatre within Goodwin's theory.

Rap: Eminem and Rihanna; Love The Way You Lie

Certain aspects of this music video conforms to Goodwin's theory as the lyrics link with the particular visuals shown, as the visuals illustrate the story to the lyrics of the song. For example Eminem raps about the house in the video being set on fire and it shows the house burning in certain parts of the video. It links with the genre of rap as it is seen to be violent which is shown in the video between the man and woman fighting as well as the excessive drinking which also shows the relationship between the lyrics and visuals as there is rapping about the woman wanting to leave the man shown in the video. The use of lyrics and visuals helps the audience gain a better understanding of what's actually going on in the video which is essentially like telling a story from the lyrics. Another theory proposed by Goodwin is the demand of close ups of the main artists who are Eminem and Rihanna, the structure of the video is sufficient as although there are actors performing the story based on the lyrics there are certain camera shots making the audience aware of who provides the vocals.

Country and Western: Billy Ray Cyrus; Achy Breaky Heart

This particular music video highlights Goodwin's theory of iconography as the artist is filmed performing to an audience as a live stage performance, there is also a variety of close ups of Billy Ray Cyrus as he's primarily the main artist singing. There is relationship between music and visuals as the filming has quick cuts from the artist to the audience linking to the style of the music.

Rock: Blink 182; All The Small Things

This music video links to some of Goodwin's theories as there is a relationship between the specific music and videos due to the fact that it's quite upbeat, fast and flowing to the genre of the music. There is a short, choreographed dance routine in part of the video and there are certin aspects of editing used such as quick cuts from one scenario to another. Throughout some of it there is a link to voyeurism shown in terms of systems of looking through binoculars as a man is being attacked by a dog referring to someone who habitually observes others without their knowledge which is another significant feature distinguishing a music video, there is also a demand on the particular record company for alot of close ups; there is a main artist but as Blink 182 consists of a group of 3 singers there are some close ups of the members individually and together through the duration of the video. This particular genre of music portrays the band to have their own particular music video style as well as iconography as it shows elements of some live performances to their fans.

Heavy Metal: Slipknot; Left Behind

By watching this music video you automatically get the indication that it's based upon a heavy metal genre, it essentially has a relationship between the lyrics and visuals. The reason is because the band are singing about Corey's childhood, the lead singer of Slipknot and there are some elements of the video where there's a reconstruction of him growing up as a young child. As well as the relationship between lyrics and visuals there is also the relationship between the music and visuals because the speed and the volume of the specific genre is illustrated by the video itself. There is also a range of different camera angles, for example there are many close ups of the lead vocalist as well as shots of other members of the band itself; this links to Goodwin's theory as there may have been a demand on the part of the record company for the specifics camera shots.

A2 Media: Practice Productions Evaluation

As we are currently preparing ourselves for our A2 course we were assigned to make a short video called "The Phonecall". We were placed in groups of approximately 4 people following a plan of how the shooting had to be done, we had the choice of the scenario of the filming and we decided as a group to film 2 characters consisting of a male and female. The story was based upon a young vulnerable girl who rang up the boy telling him she was pregnant and trying to confide in him despite the fact they had problems in the past, he becomes worried and frantically tells her he'll be there to comfort her. We met the aim of our task by following the brief of the various shots to make in order to create a successful video.



I feel that the filming was very consistent and steady when filming the different shots, we managed to apply a range of camera shots in order to gain a more in depth understanding of the developments of filming. Although the characters didn't travel as much and were practically in one spot during filming meant we couldn't use much of a tracking shot but managed to pan the establishing shot of the young boy before he receives the phonecall. This type of filming was very proficient as we made sure that the speed of the camera was steady enabling the audience not to feel disorientated whilst watching the short film. We also used a ranges of camera angles as well as shot distances enabling the film have a more proficient and professional approach for the target audience. There were many problems such as the mise en scene, although we planned the establishing shots of both characters we didn't take into consideration any plug and light switches that were behind the male as it drew attention from the audience. As this was a problem it would be something significant that we'd consider in the future.



When it came to editing the shots we did start off quite basic due to the fact that we had no experience of using the editing program on the apple macs, we took it in turns of changing and adding features to the film. We applied various sound effects to some shots, such as the establishing shot of the male was in a crowded room which meant we needed to apply loud talking sounds to fit in with the scene. We also applied various transitions to our film such as the short credits towards the end informing the audience of the characters we filmed as well as the creators.

I felt the task was extremely beneficial as it gave me a good understanding of the different ways of editing the range of shots we filmed. In the future I will be using my understanding of capturing shots along side editing them sufficiently. To watch our final product click on this URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhrASy_jL9s. Overall I found the task very enjoyable despite the fact some elements became tricky to edit but as a group we took it in turns to overcome any errors.

Slide 15 - Conclusion

In conclusion, I am extremely pleased with the outcome of my completed magazine as a whole and I feel I've developed through the use of technological elements I encountered whilst working through media product. My understanding of Photoshop as well as blogging has improved as I learnt new skills to apply when creating magazine and posting blogs regularly; despite the fact I'm happy with the outcome the only thing I'd take into consideration in the future is to spend equal time on planning as I tended to put a great deal of energy into my front cover and contents page which resulted me in somewhat neglecting the double page spread. I'd also vary the image shots and distances for my magazine to make it look more appealing, but overall I feel I have completed the task of using various forms and conventions applied in a professional magazine.

Slide 14 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

This slide shows the basic knowledge I had of using Photoshop and the progression I made through planning.

With regards to the style of writing, when creating my preliminary task the writing wasn't as professional as it could have been, whereas my main task looks more organised and structured efficiently but my preliminary task looks very dull and boring. As you can see on my preliminary task my images weren't edited and I placed them in any place on the page making my contents page look unorganised and badly structured as I did very little planning. Therefore I edited my photos in the main task so that they look sufficient enough to look less tacky.

The house style for my preliminary task wasn't consistent at all, the use of colours were different and the way it was constructed wasn't planned out which is why I'm glad that I leant from the things I done wrong in my preliminary task and made the improvements in my main task. As my background on the contents page was very dull as I used the "gradient" tool I made sure I changed it to look more formal by using the "fill" tool to make sure I applied different elements when using Photoshop. As I didn't organise my headings for the contents page in section in my preliminary task I researched various magazines and found that it looked more professional using specific titles for various stories included in my Fusion product.

Slide 13 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Looking back at my preliminary task I feel that I've learnt a lot about the different elements of Photoshop as well as knowing how to construct a magazine with a professional approach.

As you can see in this slide my preliminary task wasn't as successful as my main task, I used the primary elements such as headings, headlines and basic images. I then did extensive research on how what to apply to my media product and progressed considerably as I took more time into my planning and this was therefore show in my completed magazine.


I feel my heading is unclear in the preliminary task and doesn't stand out as much as the type of font I've applied to my main magazine, having a dull title would portray the magazine to be somewhat boring and unappealing. On my front cover of the preliminary task there isn't a main stories as I have placed two images showing there to be two different stories, whereas in my main task I made sure I applied one main story on the cover to attract my audience and is also planned out and structured efficiently showing it to have a more formal yet professional approach.


With regards to the headlines I have used on my main task it explores a wide range of stories that are highlighted in my music magazine, this is a good convention compared to the way I've set out my preliminary task as I have ensured I've used different stories to attract different types of readers who are interested in my media product. This contrasts with my preliminary task as I used headlines that were to do with formal news within the school which showed I didn't widen the range of stories that could have been included in my magazine such as games, competitions and things helping students to relax in becoming stress free.


When thinking of applying a background to my preliminary task I simply used the "gradient tool" which was very simplistic, making me have a two tone background. Although this did fit in well with my task I made sure I applied the "fill" tool making sure my main magazine had more of a professional approach to it. As I have mentioned numerous times before, my planning for my preliminary task compared to my final task was extremely unorganized resulting in a messy and tacky product, I felt that planning helped me dramatically change the way I was creating my media product.

Slide 12 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

In this slide it also shows my technological understanding and progression through the use of Blogger, as at the start I had no experience on blogging which was something I needed to pick up quite quick. When first creating my posts as you can see I put minimal effort into them, but as I started to understand using blogs I began to get to grips with blog spot and I learnt to add photos which are shown in this evaluation. In conclusion, I feel I have learnt a great deal about blogging and how to add features to my blog.