Vloggers + UGC rivalling studios + conglomerates?

Certainly not a new topic this, although I haven't completed adding tags to the entire archive of posts, you'll see that 'UGC' (user-generated content) is a common topic (and I'll have a look to add 'vlogger' where appropriate: video-based bloggers).

Gradually being updated - use the tag clouds!

I blog again on this as its a topic we've been discussing in recent lessons, and I've reflected on in recent posts. As Media students today, the demands on and expectations of you are higher than in the past - with the technology at your fingertips, there is an expectation of at least 'prosumer' levels of quality, ideally there being no clear indication (or anchorage) of your work as student productions at all.

Fragment of a past post on this topic.

The skills you're developing are highly marketable and valuable:

Queens, Kittens + QR Codes: Film about Media coursework

NB: Most DVDs have been packaged in a slimline case

A Bit of Background on the IGS Media 2014 DVD

In June 2014 I decided to put together a 2nd feature-length film on my A-Level Media Studies students' work; in September 2014 it was finally completed, and this post takes you through what it is all about, what to expect and what specifically is included.

Click to enlarge; some info on what Movember is for

YOU/audience are the product: Julian Assange

When we consider audience theory in Media Studies, the degree of flux and changing views on this is quickly evident, and a major theme in itself. Which, if any, of the long-established audience theories continue to hold true in the digital age, the web 2.0 era? Is it enough to write of "the former audience", Dan Gillmor's (2011) striking phrase? David Gauntlett even went as far as to declare the "end of audience studies" (2007, 2011), although Julian McDougall's (2009, in a very readable, student-friendly book) more moderate point that audiences are fragmenting, making it more difficult to meaningfully analyse or discuss/define audiences, is perhaps more useful.

There are those who see the blurring of the audience/producer line as full of democratic promise, not least Gillmor, though Henry Jenkins' Convergence Culture (2008) is perhaps the most striking statement of this.

Is Jenkins too utopian, optimistic? [image source]

On the face of it, the democratisation of 'UGC' (user-generated content), fan-made videos etc seems a good thing in weakening the power of the global conglomerate giants who dominate every media industry, often straddling several industries (as even the post-split Murdoch corporations do). But ... the 'new media' (an increasingly redundant term) giants have evolved themselves into even greater corporate behemoths than their old media predecessors. Is Wikileaks founder Julian Assange (still stuck in an asylum limbo in the Ecuadorian London embassy) right when he proclaims:

People who use Google are the product
Every time you go to a party and take a picture and post that picture to Facebook, you’re being a rat. You’re being a narc.

The first statement takes me back to the early days of my Media (and Politics) degree, when a simple enough statement immediately reformulated how I looked upon the media: newspapers sell readers to advertisers; when you buy a paper you're actually packaging yourself and selling yourself. Is the newspaper itself the product or a mere enticement for the actual product, a coalition of demographic types sufficiently attractive to a range of advertisers for the newspaper business to be economically viable?

A popular meme, Google is/Dr Evil [image source]

Following other blogs

Coursework groups should 'follow' each others' blogs, but you should also follow any of mine relevant to your AS/A2 course. There used to be clickable 'follow my blog' links on all blogger blogs, but no longer. Now, you go into your blogger dashboard, look for 'reading list', click add, copy/paste the blog URL (and click on 'add more' to add 3 at a time.

This means as part of your dashboard you'll see at a glance if there are any new posts on any blog you follow, and you can also click on that blog's name to get a list of all posts (and either click on a post title to go to that one post or the blog name to go to that blog in a new tab).

My dashboard lists my own blogs in the top half; below it lists blogs I follow

Just click on 'add' to get the window you see below, where you add blog URLs you want to follow

You can add up to 3 at a time: click the '+Add' and you can add more

Inside: Hollywood blurring audience/producer; are YOU?

'Social film': blurring audience/ad/producer divide

In time, we'll consider various web 2.0 theories that typically argue that the contemporary, highly interactive (as opposed to top-down, one way) web is seeing the traditional dividing line between audience/consumer and producer wither away. Concepts such as UGC (user-generated content) and fan-made videos (a key revenue source for YouTube and record labels, through the advertising attached to these) have become very mainstream. Viral campaigns also present ads as fictional or reality texts (including music videos, not just film/'reality' clips).

The fiasco of Snakes on a Plane showed that democratising and outsourcing creative work to an audience (in that case in an effort to create money-spinning buzz and awareness) can be a disaster, but we will most certainly see more and more of this. I've blogged elsewhere about examples of film production company Working Title's slick marketing campaign for films such as Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, which used online (spy-style) puzzles as part of multimedia campaign spanning supermarkets, posters and other such traditional fare with social media elements.

If you watch the short video below (3mins), ask yourself where the line is drawn here between audience and producer, and film and advertising (the title meshes with Intel's slogan, Intel inside), with the audience given chances to appear in the film and shape the script, whilst the blogs and other online videos and guides that sprang became part of the meta-text (a postmodern theory term).

Then ask yourself what use YOU are making of social media for producing your work. Have YOU used social media for...

• casting?
• initial genre/audience research through fan forums?
• generating pre-release buzz through a company blog/FB/Twitter/Instagram (etc!)?
• gaining audience feedback through any of the above (and YouTube/Vimeo of course)?
• used tagging/labels in Blogger/YouTube etc to attract more hits to help with the above?
• tried YouTube video responses/messages/comments to link to other film/video-makers?
• designed a viral-style campaign element which helps to involve an audience and increase publicity/awareness?
• generated and used a QR code as part of this?
• generally considered options for direct audience involvement in/influence on your production?

This is the film Inside, which is itself a good example of the viral methods used by conglomerates these days to get through to ad-weary and wary consumers (Toshiba and Intel were behind this movie): IMDB, Wiki, links to their FB/website etc are in this article. They coined the term 'social film' for this approach.

Prominence of student work on YouTube

I've blogged previously on the growing number of made-for-fun short horror films on YouTube (especially zombie flicks), reflecting the ongoing impact of digitisation and the accessibility of digital film-making today, but its worth noting too how the battalions of Media Studies students across the land are leaving their own legacy. As students conduct research into their chosen genre before setting out to create their own genre piece, increasingly they could be accessing other students' distilled research to do so!

When doing some tagging on archive posts I came across a mention of how prominent my students' work was on YouTube search results - so, a year or so on, I had another look, and sure enough, a 'slasher openings' on YouTube (Nov 15th 2013) produced the following top results:

IGS student work came top of the pile in this search

You can help make your work more widely seen by using YouTube categories and tagging.

Test screening - Alex Cox's Sid and Nancy

The UK poster

Think carefully and reflect on the role of audience feedback in your work...

I've blogged previously on how BJD initially looked doomed at its key stateside preview, with Miramax's head honcho Harvey Weinstein sat in with a US audience utterly baffled by the film's opening, with its very UK-centric turkey curry references (only for Colin Firth's oh-so-hilarious reindeer jumper to set the place roaring and BJD on to franchise fortunes).

Here's an example of a test audience utterly loathing the Alex Cox (Indie auteur) movie they'd just seen - usually a kiss of death, killing off any hopes of a distribution deal, but not in this case...

[Sid and Nancy] had a preview in LA - one of those events where the invited audience fills out forms and answers a studio's questions. these were some of the responses from the preview audience:
I feel this film was totally evil.

CREATIVITY: Alex Cox on Groupwork dynamics

The following is extracted from the brilliant Indie auteur Alex Cox's X Films: True Confessions of a Radical Filmmaker (Soft Skull Press: Brooklyn, 2008). Writing about production of his debut feature, Repo Man (an archetypal cult movie - not to be confused with the Jude Law vehicle Repo Men), he recalls being challenged over portraying a key female character as a serial adultress. He thought his script was spot on, but then again ...

...I am a white male leftist, already guiltyu of the sins of sexism, racism, and generally wishy-washy-ism. As the days went by, I reflected regretfully on the adolescent sexism of my script. ... I [removed a] sex scene. Still I felt guilty: Debbie was still a poor excuse for a character ... I rewrote the liquor-store scene [giving her a heroic send-off].
This was a good idea. ... By alerting the director, the TV coordinator and casting director improved the picture. Could a film made by a group - where all take the role of a director, say - reach a decision like this? Presumably it could. Who knows? Maybe this interaction points to a more collaborative system, in which a group might make decisions more quickly.
(emphasis added; p. 59)

Have you reflected on the role collaboration played in your creativity? Remember, seeking out (at minimum) audience feedback implies that the audience/producer divide is questionable too! (cf. Gillmor's "the former audience" concept (2004))

If you're willing to try out something a little different, you might just enjoy Repo Man...

Opening EGs: Pretty in Pink (Deutch, 1986)

Image from clothing shop promo, 2013

(this is an example of how you might blog on an example of a film opening; scroll right to the bottom for a key tip. You're not trying to cover every possible theme or point for each opening you analyse, just make sure you end up with 3+ clear examples on all key themes from your range of film opening posts for your summary post) 

Pretty in Pink

Howard Deutch, 1986

Paramount Pictures (prod. AND distrib.)

Budget: $9m; US box office: $40.5m

Opening duration: 2:30/4:41*

RottenTomatoes.com 81%; IMDB 6.6 ; Roger Ebert 4*.

LINKS: Wiki; YT trailer; IMDB; boxofficemojo.

*Scene in house up to 2:57; title theme comes in and out 'til 4:41

[the info above puts the film in context]

SUMMARY/IDEAS I MIGHT USE:
[its useful to pick out ideas/elements you might use] An opening of contrasts: grim mise-en-scene, but straight into the rom-com love triangle narrative. Surprisingly plain sans-serif titles and downbeat title theme song. Front-loaded with titles. Interesting gender representation: is Ringwald stereotype, countertype or a complex mix of both?

Prelims

When blogging on this remember to:

• state what the task is, using the exam board's explanation
• highlight + explain each of the 3 editing techniques required
• highlight + explain what continuity editing is
• note anything you've learned from using hardware or software (cameras, uploading footage, editing software + tools used, exporting an edited file), including screenshots where appropriate
• for any practical task reflect too on anything learned about planning, working with others/in a group etc
• upload to your own YT channel
• embed your prelim
• start all blog posts with PRELIM: (eg, PRELIM: The Task + the Techniques Included)

Details on the prelim task can be found on the course summary handout or here. You can also access past student posts on this.

You will eventually have to answer an Evaluation Question (1 of 7) on this; you can find details on this here.

Blogging on sound in film openings

KEY TERMINOLOGY: NON-/DIEGETIC; AUDIO BRIDGE; ANCHORAGE; EXPOSITION; AMBIENT

Before planning and producing your own film opening, you should seek to research - and evidence this investigation - every aspect of film openings: narrative structure, idents, titles (credits and exposition), representations, audience targeting, genre signifying, mise-en-scene and verisimilitude, cinematography, editing, influence of budget, sound etc
Many of these elements could be investigated/discussed at the same time
The key to this is viewing a range of examples, taking notes and screenshots, and then presenting your findings in the form of well-illustrated blog posts and/or brief vodcasts. Screenshots (and occasionally short video sequences recorded using tools such as VLC - too long and it'll get banned from YT) are absolutely key, and should be saved too in named folders for re-use with your Evaluation and later posts explaining where your ideas come from.

This video assembles the titles of the Scream movies, which show that music isn't always the best means of signifying genre or setting a mood; a montage of sounds can work at least as well if mixed skilfully.

Titles + Idents in Films vodcast task

This 2012 production took inspiration from Scream for its titles...

For this task each of you will examine two films. You then need to compare your findings with at least 1 other classmate, tho you can do so with as many as you like so long as all your examples end up in the vodcast. I want each of you to look at different examples: 1st come 1st served - I'll list the films selected at the bottom of this post.

I'd like each of you to create a simple vodcast on Titles + Idents in Film Openings.

Very simply, detail the idents that appear in each of the films (when listing the films, provide director, year, budget + box office summary) and then the titles that appear at the start of film as part of the film opening (which may mean at the conclusion of the opening - titles often appear once the sequence is concluded and, common with slashers, we start to pick up a second character travelling to the scene of the killing we've just seen).

IDENTS Creating yours!

KEY FEATURES OF AN IDENT:

1. COMPANY NAME
2. JINGLE/SOUND
3. GRAPHIC/VIDEO
4. ANIMATION

Following these 2 vodcasts you will find a further breakdown of what an ident is, its appearance (or media language) and examples from the industry and past students. You should also look at the post for the titles/idents vodcast task.
CREATING AN IDENT USING LIVETYPE: JC VODCAST

FILM OPENINGS VODCAST1: IDENTS (DB)


One of the features the exam board (and general viewers via YT + events such as the Creative Arts Evening) most highly praise about AS work is the company idents featured at the start of them.

One of last year's wackier idents!

Each of you will be creating a company ident, so you'll need to blog (evidence Research + Planning) on the following (the individual post titles are in red):

LINKS LIST Task

•Log in to blogger

•Go to LAYOUT and click ADD A GADGET on the right side; find + select LINKS LIST

•Give it the title ‘Useful Slasher Genre Resources’

•Separately open http://dbhorror.blogspot.com/

•Using my links lists/posts, add at least 5 links to your list, making sure you don’t use the link for the link description

•Save, then reposition so that your blog archive remains the top gadget

•If there’s time left, add another gadget, an RSS feed: for Horror articles on The Guardian (+ again reposition)

•If you hadn’t already, email me the updated progress doc if you’ve made changes

Standalone Company blogs

You should set up a company blog to represent your group production company; a fresh ident + logo for this would obviously be a useful addition (and can help with audience feedback).
In the listing of past blogs at http://asmediablogs.blogspot.co.uk/ I've included spearate links to company blogs (not all of which have that impressive!). Jonny/Joel's Vertigo Cinema, producer of A Bat in the Belfry (as featured in the 2011 Co-Op Film Festival), is a good example.

COMPANY BLOGS: WHAT TO INCLUDE...

STYLE/AUDIENCE:

Divshare + embedding podcasts/MP3s

Don't use YouTube for podcasts.
For the last several years we've used divshare without problems for uploading and then accessing embed codes for MP3 files. I tried it again today (5th Feb) just to check its still working - and, for my account at least (such sites sometimes take away free options for newer members), it is, as these screenshots demonstrate.
Sign up is simple, ditto uploading - remember, its for audio files NOT movie files.

Logged in to my divshare account, I upload, find the file, and (as with YouTube) simply click the SHARE button

This generates the embed code

You can also click on ADDITIONAL SETTINGS below the code. If the player is too wide, reduce the width="335"

And here it is...




There are other options if you don't see the SHARE button on divshare. Soundcloud works along similar principles, though it also has a handy record button so you can record podcasts directly to the site. For this example, I played a YouTube clip then hit the record button...


Here I tweaked the code I pasted in, changing the frame width to 70% and the height to 83. As you can see, it still works, you just don't see part of the soundwave graphic, and the icons are changed. You can play around with the size settings to make it fit according to your needs.
 

I haven't tried it, but freewebspace.net is another that came up from a simple free upload embed mp3 google.

Blogging class notes on film openings

The final girl/scream queen binary: Laurie has the school books, the scream queen has makeup!

You can find a detailed guide on what/how to blog here.
We're going to look today at the final girl archetype, Laurie Strode: read more about the theory behind this idea here.

Again, the scream queen smokes signifying her 'deviancy'

Screenshots are always key to back up points made; I've provided a couple for you in this post you can save and upload into your own posts.


Here's how I'd set out a post looking at a film opening.

POST TITLE: Needs to be kept brief, and a numbering system helps, either OpeningEG1: This is England or SlasherEG1: Halloween (orig).

Screenshots and screen recording

We can't quite afford the most popular choice for this - Camtasia - but there is software built into the Macs to capture screenshots (there are also keyboard shortcuts for this, blogged on earlier) and record the screen: "Grab"
You need to go into FINDER; APPLICATIONS; UTLILITIES; GRAB   (or, in Finder just type Grab into the search box!)
This is the most effective means of showing how you've utilised software

You can also try QuickTime has has recording tools most people are unaware of (it also enables you to do basic edits).

FEmale gaze? Adapting Laura Mulvey

UPDATE, 2015: Rather than add another post, I'll add to this one which looked at the example of Magic Mike as an exemplar of an emerging female gaze. That was rather limited to the notion of objectifying; I've added more below on an article for Media Magazine by Sean Richardson in which he challenges us to think more carefully about how a female viewer (de)constructs and receives media images. Yes, media and not least cinema remains somewhat patriarchal overall, but it is just too simplistic to view media entirely through the prism of sexist objectification.


The Female Gaze: Rethinking Representation
Following quotes are from an article in the always excellent Media Magazine (subscription needed - ask the Librarian or me for login details). Sean Richardson wrote in April 2015 on this topic, starting with a simple statement on the impact of male gaze:

Research suggests that advertising campaigns for a female audience are dominated by heterosexual Caucasian size 0 to 2 models. This is a fact, despite what we might think or want, in a multicultural, complex world. Increasingly, accusations have been made by the likes of Naomi Campbell and Dame Vivienne Westwood that representations of women in advertising are too white and nearly exclusively under size 6.

Slasher Genre Overview Vodcast

The idea behind this is simple: you individually summarise the knowledge you've gained from research into the slasher (aka slice'n'dice, aka stalk'n'slash etc) sub-genre of horror, then get together as a production group and compare notes, expressing your shared learning as an in-depth vodcast. It can be both useful and convenient to use one specific film to focus your analysis on (so long as you make a variety of links/examples to other films as you go). Strive to draw links between what you've found out and your current idea. Ideas will change, but as you continue with research take every opportunity to apply it: don't just dump down observations or quotes but clearly show you've reflected on how you might use (or even refuse!) such conventions as you discover. Endeavour to use semiotic terminology and precise media language generally (when discussing a sample scene/shot/edit or sound, provide clear denotation), and reflect on what you've learnt about film budgets and production contexts (Indie v studio) - basically, try to show off what you've learned to date! TRY HARD TO CITE/APPLY SPECIFIC THEORIES/THEORISTS AND BOOKS/ARTICLES - (BRIEF) DIRECT QUOTES WOULD BE GOOD!

Research needs to be ongoing: keep watching + making/posting notes on film openings (or specific aspects of slashers, such as stalking scenes, that you plan to use) and any reading you're doing. You should already have undertaken a wide range of research, as reflected in your...

• Blogging on sample openings (everyone should have at least 10 slasher examples blogged on before we get to the 1st rough cut on 5th Feb)

Re-Pitches

More detail is provided at the original, main pitching post.

You will, as a group, re-pitch twice: Weds Jan 9th WkB P5 + Tues Feb 12th WkA P1. Note, however, that I will frequently ask random group members to go through similar points without notes during lessons in Jan/Feb: every group member needs to be in clear ownership of the idea and production.

Re-pitches must be accompanied by suitable, relevant (audio-)visual material to illustrate your concept, in the form of a video clip that will not be paused (as before: one click to play only so nobody is hunched over a computer).
Also as before: any group that fails to deliver a convincing, very thorough re-pitch and/or fails to satisfactorily answer reasonable questions put to them by classmates or myself will have to re-pitch each lesson until this is achieved.

Use my detailed post and the notes sheet for guidance: you each need to be absolutely clear on evry aspect of your production. The re-pitches provide an opportunity to get feedback from your peers as well as me, including suggestions on improvements, changes or simply useful texts to view.

Every time you get feedback, whether from me, a classmate or other source, always reflect and blog - what change/s (if any) will you make as a result? That may include scheduling some reading or viewing, or additional shoots/location scouting etc. We will again film these re-pitches to give you the chance to fully reflect on everything that is said.

Jan-Feb deadlines + details

The AS Media has 2 equally-weighted units: coursework and exam. Instead of separately working on each, we endeavour to fuse theory and practice throughout the year, using filming/editing exercises to enhance learning of theory, and using theory to enhance learning of filmmaking. Many of the case studies we explore can be used in exam essays.

Students need to build up notes and resources for the 7 Evaluation Qs as we go, otherwise they are likely to struggle. Unpublished draft posts are a useful means of doing this. When pod/vodcasting, don't forget this post which has examples (including chatshow style vodcasts)and further links.

In this half-term we:

1. Examine one area of representation each week (exam section 1 + coursework Evaluation Q2): gender, age, sexuality, regional identity, dis/ability, class & status (ethnicity next half-term)
2. Progress to step 9 of 10 on coursework, having already gone through steps 1-4. This means researching + defining target audience; investigating + evidencing mise-en-scene considerations (costume, locations, props etc) + casting (including addressing representations); teaser trailer and treatment; storyboards, animatic, production schedule, screenplay; sample scenes + rough cuts.
3. Take substantive notes on all 7 Evaluation Qs throughout the half-term; you will complete Q3 (distributor) and draft Q2 (representations).
4. In the final week you re-pitch your production idea and revise the production schedule with principle shooting to be completed for returning on 25th March.

WEEK-BY-WEEK SUMMARY

Blogging on learning from the previous week’s lessons should be complete (multimedia and well presented) and updated for the following Monday, though students have the option of blogging instead of writing notes in lessons.

As most students work in groups for coursework, there are opportunities to divide up many of these tasks within the group.

WEEK-B 16 (7-11 Jan): 9th: Re-pitch. 11th: ‘Slasher Genre: An Overview’ vodcast (1 per production group, as is the case for all vodcasts unless stated). (Re-pitch; Genre Overview group vodcast)

WEEK-A 17 (14-18 Jan): 17th: Evaluation Q3 (distributor) completed. Also blog posts ‘Budget’, ‘Target Audience’ and ‘Distribution for our film’ which all overlap with Q3. (Q3; Posts on budget, tgt aud, distribution)

WEEK-B 18 (21-25 Jan): 22nd: ‘Casting, characters, & mise-en-scene’ vodcast. 25th: ‘Are we creating ‘British’ Cinema?’ (group) podcast or vodcast (your choice) for class discussion.

WEEK-A 19 (28-1 Feb): 31st: Teaser trailer + treatment.

WEEK-B 20 (4-8 Feb): 5th: Rough Cut1. 8th: Pre-production complete, including storyboards, schedule, call sheets, animatic + screenplay.

WEEK-A 21 (11-15 Feb): 12th: Rough Cut2 + re-pitch2 + final draft schedule, including blogging tasks. 14th: Final, revised schedule + essay ‘Representations within our production’.

I will explore the possibility of opening up K5 for one day during the break to enable uploading/editing footage if there is sufficient demand (requests via comments or email). Any outstanding filming should be completed before we return. Blog, final cut and all Evaluation Qs are to be completed for March 14th.

Pitches + genre: some pointers on slasher movies

Creature feature or unkillable killer: John Carpenter’s slasher 1978 archetype Halloween (the ending of the original where Myers has been shot but still disappears creates the template for the unkillable killer), and Sean S. Cunningham’s 1980 gorefest Friday the 13^th (Jason Voorhees swiftly becomes an inhuman creature) are the foremost examples. A Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven, 1984) adds a neat twist of a creature killing through teens’ dreams, the late paedophile Freddy Krueger having been burned to death by vengeful townsfolk wreaking his bloody revenge. There are many others, often rather daft, such as the Child’s Play and Leprechaun franchises. Like Jason Isaac’s 2001 Friday the 13^th X (better known as Jason X – great tagline: “Evil gets an upgrade”), some slasher sequels have been set in space, such as Leprechaun 4: In Space (Brian Trenchard-Smith, 1997 – not sure how it even managed to get a 3.1 rating on IMDB!). The fifth and sixth Leprechaun movies are set in ‘the hood’ (sorry, tha hood).

Right there we have one of the keys to the slasher’s enduring success: its capacity for hybridity,

Copyright and YouTube

Your final AS coursework production must not feature any copyrighted material, but some of your vodcasts might. Below I consider some of the issues and considerations involved.

Since YouTube introduced an automatic detection system (see the Wiki) and signed deals with most of the major TV, film and music companies (as you'll have seen from your Media work, these tend to be subsidiaries of massive horizontally and vertically integrated conglomerates such as News Corp and NBC-Universal), the issue of 'fair usage' of copyrighted materials has evolved a little.

Link at the end of the post: a very useful site for exploring the issue further

If any of your work contains any copyrighted material you might find its deleted by YouTube, or blocked in certain nations but not others (dependent on which countries its deals have been signed in). This will particularly the case where you've used lengthy clips from films. Where you've used a short clip, or any copyrighted music, you're more likely to find a notice on your channel uploads page telling you there is 'matched copyright material'.

My vodcasts used clips short enough to be considered 'fair usage'

Rather than delete or block the upload, the more common response is simply to assert that other copyright holders' material has been used, and force ads onto your upload, the revenues from which will be split between YouTube and the copyright holder.
I've tried to find a definitive acceptable length of film clips which won't generate a YouTube blocked upload, without success so far (if you find anything on this please pass it on). I'd suggest aiming for 30secs or less, using freeze frames with original audio removed for anything over this, but that's a guess. Check your uploads for anything being blocked. So far, we've not problems with any A2 music videos, just AS film vodcasts (and a compilation of scenes which used a Depeche Mode a couple of years ago), including one of mine (vodcast on scream queens + final girls, available to view on request) in which I simply used too much of Bride of Chucky.

FairUseTube.org provide a very considered analysis of the issues involved, YouTube's policies and also highlight some of the common abuses - where fraudulent companies simply claim you've used their copyright material when that's not the case. I think I may have found one such dubious claim on my channel, for past AS coursework where the soundtrack was composed in school using GarageBand! In such cases, the fraudulent company pockets the money from ads which YouTube force on to the upload.
See http://fairusetube.org/dvd-ripping-guide; http://fairusetube.org/youtube-copyfraud; http://fairusetube.org/guide-to-youtube-removals and other such links on the site.

YouTube itself offers a guide, including lengthy videos, though they shy away from being specific over such matters as how much of a single TV show, film or other text goes beyond the fair usage doctrine - see also the Wiki on Fair Usage.

The Uni of Houston's DigitalStoryTelling site also features a considered discussion of the issues and legal policies.

Narrative/Representations in 3 slasher openings Task

This task links to one of your Evaluation questions as well as generally boosting your prospects of a good mark for the R+P (and giving you a good grounding in the genre you're working in).

A useful book, available in classroom/Lib/to buy!

The best work here will include some further reading from some of the many books purchased and in the Lib/classroom on horror, tho you should all also be using the horror blog too, and all should be referencing the concepts of final girls and scream queens, plus the male gaze theory, associated with feminist critics Carole Clover and Laura Mulvey.
Here's a couple of useful links:
http://www.horschamp.qc.ca/new_offscreen/final_girl.html
http://www.contamination.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/books/books_theory.htm

THE TASK:
ANALYSE THE NARRATIVE STRUCTURE (CITING/APPLYING RELEVANT THEORIES) + REPRESENTATIONS (OF AGE, GENDER, SEXUALITY etc) IN 3 SLASHER OPENINGS
These can be slashers you've previously analysed.
Aim to accurately employ useful terminology from semiotics plus editing + other media language terms.
Aim to engage with the feminist writings of Laura Mulvey and Carole Clover, and provide your own take on their arguments through your discussion of the examples you're looking at.

Editing in a sample stalk/slash scene

FOR THIS TASK YOU NEED TO REFER CLOSELY TO THE LIST OF TECHNICAL TERMS ISSUED AT THE START OF THE YEAR, AND ENDEAVOUR TO EMPLOY THE RELEVANT EDITING TERMS

The flushing toilet struck a bum note in 1960; it broke a taboo!

This task is a test of your ability to deconstruct a media text - just as you do in both your exam and coursework Evaluation (in that case, its actually reconstructing your own media language decisions). You should endeavour to employ not just editing terminology, but also terms linked to narrative, semiotics, the genre and general shot type denotation.
Its up to you whether you decide to present it as an extended blog post heavily illustrated with screenshots or as a captured video clip with your own voiceover replacing all or most of the original audio (you can also simply reduce the volume level of the original material). Aim to keep captured clips short so they stay within the spirit of the fair usage copyright doctrine.

If you're working on this when other classes are in K5, be mindful of the need not to expose younger students to unsuitable material.

The task then:

Slasher franchise research/presentation task

This task is designed to get you to explore aspects of MIGRAINe... 
GENRE is one of the key concept areas for Media, whether thats the coursework or exam. Learning on this, and the codes + conventions (which I tend to write up as 'Cs+Cs') of each genre, also usefully leads us into aspects of the other main key concept areas:
Media Language (the shot types/editing/sound/mise-en-scene often used in slasher films)
Audience (typical audiences targeted by horror producers, and how they do this [marketing + distribution], plus to what success [budgets compared to box office])
Narrative (recurrent plotlines, moral codes, locations, character types etc; the book Blood Money is very useful on this)
Representations (eg how gender is represented, plus age, region, nationality, sexuality etc - all factors you have to discuss for your Evaluation, as well as in your R+P)
Taken together these form MANGeR, 5 concept areas you'll work on for part of your A2 exam, but we can also add one or more I's to create a MIGRAINe:
Institutions (what sort of film companies produce and distribute slasher films: Indie/subsidiary/'big 6'? How do slasher budgets compare to other genres, and what factors go into this? One of your Evaluation Qs is 'what sort of company would distribute your film, and why?')
Ideology/Values (most usefully considered with representations; we look more at this in A2)

So, while the schedule you have highlights one of these key concepts for each week, they actually overlap: look to apply learning from one key concept to each subsequent one as we work through each, and reflect your learning on your blogs.

THE FRANCHISE RESEARCH/PRESENTATION TASK

Details follow on this. You will each sign up to one slasher film franchise to research (listed in order of the original film's release); this can be paired or trio work, but if so your are jointly responsible (ie, no matter what excuse/explanation either one comes up with, failure to complete satisfactorily will trigger an automatic detention for each in a group), so consider this before saying you'll work in a group.

IDEALLY, PRESENT YOUR WORK AS A VODCAST, but you can if you wish present it as a Ppt, with any relevant video clips embedded into a blog post ready to play. You could do a combination, gathering together key images + video clips into a vodcast, rather than looking to play short clips from a number of embedded videos. Any time spent producing a vodcast will benefit you not just for the R+P mark but also in reducing your workload later on, when we come to the Evaluation. The key, as always, is plentiful specific screenshots and/or short clips/trailers etc, though this is a research-led task requiring you to use various websites (and which would benefit from a brief browse of the indexes of some of the many horror books in the classroom or Library).

Here's a couple of examples from a similar exercise in 2011(you can find more in the 2012 AS playlist) - note the use of frequent screenshots, tho' actual video clips + further onscreen titles would make these significantly better.

Microdramas feedback + analysis

Its vital you take good notes from lessons where we're screening + discussing work; the whole point is that you learn from the experience and apply the lessons/insights gained to improving your next production...
Here's a range of s'shots from the 2012 microdramas with points attched, reflecting some of what we discussed in the lesson. I haven't attempted to order them - but having renamed every one as I saved it, s'shots for linked points are in any case ordered together. You'll also see I've kept the YouTube timer in the shot; its useful to have the time reference so you can find sequences if you need to later for reference, use in Eval vids etc.

There are 18 shots below.

TITLES: white font on black signifying serious drama; the titles fade in and fade out of focus, adding visual interest. The graphic also connotes violence/horror

FALSE SCARE:  a common slasher opening convention, this lulls the aud into a false sense of security ... then you hit them with a real scare! These need careful framing + shot variation; if you reveal the impending false scare it won't work

FRAMING/VIOLENT SCENES: The pic below shows that there were better options for framing/positioning killer Jake. We also discussed how long takes are particularly ruinous for violent scenes: the longer a single take of violence is on screen (generally) the less convincing it becomes (it loses verisimilitude). The preferred reading here was lost, and an oppositional reading of comedy generally prevailed.

NOV-DEC POSTS

This post is along the same lines as the post for Sept-Oct Learning, meaning you've got an easy point of reference for all tasks + don't need to search for info on any task.

The list starts with posts which overlap from the end of Oct on microdrama pitching + planning.
As repeatedly mentioned, you're advised to work ahead where you can and manage your workload effectively. By the end of this half-term you will each have pitched a proposal for a slasher film opening; a lot of the work before then centres on researching the genre and analysing examples from the genre, so you should start on that NOW. There are plenty of books on this in the Lib + in K5, plus a range of DVDs you can borrow, including feature length documentaries (you could get together in small groups to watch some of these + discuss/share notes)

There are opportunities to use slasher films you've already analysed for multiple tasks, so it will pay dividends to look ahead and browse through the various task posts, and strive to organise your own workload.

THE MAJOR TASKS/DEADLINES:
In most cases there will be a blog post with further information on any homework set. Blogging on learning from the previous week’s lessons should be complete and updated for the following Monday. Dates below reflect the days we have a Media lesson. This half-term’s deadlines have been set to facilitate working ahead on substantive tasks for weeks 11-15.

IGSMediaStudies YT Top 10 Vids Oct 2012: 2011 vodcast #3!

WEEK 9 (6-9 Nov): Tuesday 6th: have completed microdrama shoot (if not already done before half-term break) + blogging on planning process + the shoot (organisation, roles etc). Note that the Codes + Conventions vodcast that should have been completed in week7 will now be screened and discussed in week10. [Microdrama guide; vodcast guide]

WEEK 10 (12-16 Nov): Monday 12th: have blogged on learning from film festival masterclasses (+ update as necessary for Tues 13th following Monday’s discussion). Microdrama to be completed + on blogs for Thurs 15th lesson. Cs+Cs group vodcast [from week7] will be screened on Tues 13th. [guides as noted for Week 9, also in Sept-Oct guide]

Use my Horror blog!

WEEK 11 (19-23 Nov): If not completed in lesson time last week, complete your ‘General film openings Cs + Cs summary’ post for Monday 19th. Franchise vodcast for Friday 23rd (playable on blog as YouTube embed). Blog notes from others’ vodcasts for Monday 26th. [Franchise vodcast guide]

WEEK 12 (26-29 Nov): Monday 26th: ‘Idents Idea/s’ post (+blog notes from others’ vodcasts from Friday 23rd). Ident to be completed + handed in by the end of Thursday 29th lesson. Thurs 29th: complete ‘Titles + idents in 4 slasher openings’ task [which you can work on Mon/Tues/Thurs when not working on idents]. [Idents guide; Titles in 4 egs guide]

WEEK 13 (4-7 Dec): Tuesday 4th: Blog on learning from last week’s lessons (incl. ident work). Friday 7th: vodcast/blog on editing/shot selection of 1 chase/stalking scene + 1 killing scene. [Titles in ... guide; Editing in ... guide]

WEEK 14 (10-14 Dec): Monday 10th: blogging from last week’s lessons. Thurs 13th: Pitch (90 seconds, with any supporting materials on your blog as a video file, even if there is no audio). Any unsatisfactory pitches will be redone on Monday 17th, and those students barred from joining any group until they have presented a thoroughly researched and prepared pitch. Friday 14th: ‘Narrative/Representations in 3 slasher openings’ task (for which you can refer back to examples you have already examined). [Pitching guide; Narr/Reps in... guide]

WEEK 15 (17-20 Dec): Mon 16th/Tues 17th: as a group negotiate + agree your blog/R+P tasks for these 2 lessons and for returning on January 7th. (post on blog as 'Initial SCHEDULE Dec-Jan')

Microdrama blogging

The microdrama is a significant task which merits thorough planning and subsequent reflection; it acts as an extended preliminary production, taking you well beyond the simple continuity prelim task the exam board set. Its vital therefore that your blogging on this is thorough. You had the list of required post titles from the point the task was introduced; these are further broken down below. First, here's the list - the non-microdrama posts are linked to this work, through which it is intended you reflect your learning to date, including grasp of semiotics and narrative theory.

SEMIOTICS: THE CONCEPT + KEY TERMS
SEMIOTIC RAP
KEY NARRATIVE THEORIES
MICRODRAMA PITCH
MICRODRAMA: PLANNING
[blog on these 4 for the start of next half-term]
MICRODRAMA: THE SHOOT
MICRODRAMA: EDITING
MICRODRAMA: FINISHED FILM + REFLECTION
FILM OPENINGS: SUMMARY OF CONVENTIONS


MICRODRAMA: PITCH
Thorough detail of your proposal, what it involved, what it required, why it would make an attractive proposition, how it reflected narrative theory, with use throughout of relevant media language (semiotic, industry, narrative, shot type, editing etc terms). Brief reflection on how your pitch was received - feedback from me as well as your classmates.
 MICRODRAMA: PLANNING
As this is your 1st major production you need to grasp that from now on planning must go beyond verbal discussion and making it up as you go along! Look at the assessment criteria for the R+P and you'll see that things such as storyboards, organisation of actors and time management are all cited, while for the product itself aspects such as mise-en-scene are also marked - meaning you've got to give careful consideration to costume, location, props etc as well.
So, I expect to see:

• storyboards
• narrative synopsis [a brief summary of the narrative, which should employ relevant terms from Propp, Todorov, Barthes, Levi-Strauss: use the handout on narrative theory to help]. For the coursework proper a screenplay will be required.
• production schedule (with any updates on additional (re)shoots)
• there should be a call sheet (provided to both groups in Oct)
• mise-en-scene: details of any location scouting or other aspects researched + choices/decisions made. Detail location/s, costume, props, make-up etc and explain your choices. Useful to refer to verisimilitude here.

MICRODRAMA: THE SHOOT
For the main production you need to thoroughly document every shoot, and you should do so here too:

• what difficulties did you face in organising the shoot?
• what problems arose during the shoot?
• were there any instances of having to think creatively to get around such problems?
• did the group assign roles? was there a specific cinematographer, producer, director (even asst. director or asst. producer)?
• what documents did you use to structure the shoot? did you keep a note of shots taken if you didn't have a call sheet can you see why its considered fundamental to filming at all levels?
• what lessons have you learned from this experience?

After we've looked at your final films and feedback you may want to return to this post and reflect on the concept of coverage, and also the usefulness of taking cutaway shots.

MICRODRAMA: EDITING
Its vital you track your own learning progress with Final Cut - and the only practical way you're going to be able to evidence that is through appropriate screenshots. So, reflect on the range of tools you employed during the edit of your microdrama. In some cases, especially as you edited in groups, its worth including notes on how you achieved certain effects - as you may well forget before you next use the software.
Either in this post or the next highlight the successes of your editing work through screenshots from the film.
Reflect on your application of continuity editing techniques; how you varied the shot on screen and avoided excessive long takes through crosscutting/intercutting.
Also reflect on the pros + cons of editing in a group (as you will be for your main coursework production) - what have you learned which will help you to make this more productive next time?

MICRODRAMA: FINISHED FILM + REFLECTION
I always aim to give detailed feedback on major pieces of work, and your work will be screened with comments from myself, your classmates and within your group too; note these and reflect on the points made, building on the insights you had already gained yourselves prior to class feedback.
Without a fulsome process of reflection you will largely squander the opportunity to learn from this time-consuming exercise.
Pepper your analysis with relevant terms - applying the terms is how we learn them. That includes semiotic, industry, editing, shot type and especially narrative terms. 20% of your exam mark comes from Use of Terminology, while your coursework is also part-marked on Communication Skills which includes such terminology.
There should also be plentiful screenshots, suitably captioned. The Word doc below will help identify the sort of aspects you should consider. Reconstructing Your Creative Decisions- Deconstruction of Your Debut Film See this post for a range of points/screenshots from the 2012 microdramas.