SOME POINTERS ON THE MAGS TASK

The marking criteria would be a good place to start - I summarised all aspects of this in http://a2mediablogs.blogspot.com/2009/11/final-deadlines.html

some of the more unsual covers here are actually from Thai film mags, source: http://blackholereviews.blogspot.com/2007/03/movie-magazines-in-thailand-spoilt-for.html

If we take the specific criteria for PRINT products, this is how an excellent, A-grade product is described:

Level 4

The candidate is expected to demonstrate excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:
using IT appropriately for the task set;
showing understanding of conventions of layout and page design;
showing awareness of the need for variety in fonts and text size;
accurate use of language and register;
appropriately integrating illustration and text;
framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;
using a variety of shot distances as appropriate;
shooting material appropriate to the task set;
selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;
manipulating photographs as appropriate to the context for presentation, including within text, within particular IT programmes, cropping and resizing.
Where a candidate has worked in a group, an excellent contribution to construction is evident.

 A few quick thoughts then on how to arrive at this exalted level:

STAGE ONE: RESEARCH CODES, CONVENTIONS, INDUSTRY, AUDIENCE TARGETING

1. research actual film mags, noting aspects of layout/design/colour and balance of image/text, plus aspects such as use of fonts, font size, breakout boxes etc
   
   
2. try to include some data on the size of the film mags sector - ie ABC data (see the earlier posting on mags for useful links here) - and some detail on what challenges face it (oh, say the threat/opportunity that new media/web 2.0 presents! But also the democratisation of punditry: through blogs and websites, and reading user comments on amazon, YouTube and many others, we no longer rely quite so much on the expertise of professional print and broadcast journalists to form our views of new movies)
3. make sure that you're thinking about target audience as you take notes; look for obvious signifiers such as plentiful shots of scantily-clad ladies and smutty humour/double entendres in mags with a primarily male target aud (HotDog, an otherwise rather good film mag, was an example of this - not to be confused with the curious canine mag!); reviews of rom-coms will often say much about the target audience too. The style of language used is critical: informal, slang for downmarket/mass market publications, perhaps more formal and complex language for a more sophisticated, film literate audience - it would be useful to make some reference to Sight and Sound as an eg of an upmarket film mag
   
4. pick out an actual magazine publisher - this could be one without any film mags currently - and do a little research; explain how your concept for a film mag would fit within its profile 

Okay, so you've researched the codes and conventions, and looked a little at mag publishers too...so what about the creative side?

The Best Film Resource in the World...Ever

I'm adding plenty of material on http://mediabritishcinema.blogspot.com/ that would be useful and very much relevant for your blogs...

New equipment

We do now have some new equipment:

- additional tripods, so there will be a tripod for each camera;
- spare batteries (5/9 have arrived so far; there will be a spare for each camera, though you may need to give these their first charge before using - check!!!);
- a scanner should arrive next week;
- a portable audio recorder - same (expensive!) model as that borrowed from Music, creates mp3s - ideal for podcasts and recording dialogue for over-dubbing;
- more firewire leads to ensure there is 1 per camera bag - you need to take more care that these are always put back in the bag;
- more DVDs, useful for both the AS exam (mostly Working Title movies, but also a Shane Meadows boxset) but also the A2 exam question on Media and Collective Identity (our main case study: 'Britishness'). I'll get these into the Library next week

If anyone has any Working Title or Warp movies that aren't currently in the Library (or held in F6), or any that they think would be useful for looking at the idea of Britishness, please bring them in so I can have a whiz through them and pick out any useful scenes. Also, any film magazines you no longer need would be much appreciated!

Confirm Your film details please

I'll tack the following up in F6; please write in any missing details (i.e. production co/s and working title)
[UPDATE] - thanks to Tom, the first to pass on the required info!
I'm seeing some excellent, creative work on your production logos by the way, a very encouraging sign that you will somehow maintain the tremendously high standard from last year's productions!

A2 Productions 2009-10 Group Blog Title   

Mag article design tips

Magazine Pages Design and Analysis Tips    

Semiotic analysis of a teen mag cover

Semiotic Analysis of Teenage Magazine Front Covers by Siân Davies

Mag Cover features

Its worth putting this in as a separate post; image comes from http://www.magforum.com/cover_diagram%20copy.jpg - an excellent website all round this
The written analysis can be found at http://www.magforum.com/cover_secrets.htm 

Film Magazine Resources

I've put notices in both staff and student news asking for donations of film mags - ask around yourselves; the more you have to look at in F6 the quicker and easier it will be to get this part of the coursework done, and done well...

You'll find some useful info and links on the mag industry at http://bauermags.blogspot.com/ though its been a while since i've added to it.Don't forget there are THREE mags held by the Library on film; you may just have noticed the subtle blown-up-to-A3 hint on this in F6...

Basing your style fairly closely on an existing mag is fine; as always be clear and specific on your "influences"! Style of language, design choices, headlines and tone appropriate for the target audience (which you need to detail) are all important. IT IS ABSOLUTELY NOT AT ALL IMPORTANT THAT YOU PICK A MAJOR MAGAZINE TO MODEL YOUR MAGAZINE ON; A FANZINE IS FINE SO LONG AS YOU DETAIL THE REASONS BEHIND YOUR DESIGN AND LANGUAGE CHOICES

There are obvious resources such as www.guardian.co.uk/media/magazines (and its regular features on ABCs - Audit Bureau of Circulation figures - not the same as sales, but a verified count of the number of magazines in circulation, including free titles and 'bulks'). You probably haven't come across www.magforum.com which has many great features - including a guide to the terminology used to denote the various features of magazine covers, and a glossary.

There is more of this over on the mags blog, but you can find a lot of info on specific companies by looking up the Media Guardian, but also sites such as http://www.mediauk.com/owners/88/bauer-media and publishers own sites (eg www.ipcmedia.com). The Press Gazette is useful (eg http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=44141&c=1)
Also did a quick bit of googling (starting with "uk film magazines" and then trying some variations) to unearth the following:

http://www.empireonline.com/magazine/
http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/magazines-newspapers/empire/
http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/Press-Office/News/ABC-Circulation-Figures-January-June-2009/ [includes figures on their film title, Empire]
http://www.totalfilm.com/magazine
http://shop.littlewhitelies.co.uk/product/little-white-lies-issue-26-the-where-the-wild-things-are-issue
http://www.world-newspapers.com/film-magazines.html
http://www.vertigomagazine.co.uk/issue.php?sel=cur&siz=1
http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/issue/200912
http://www.uncut.co.uk/magazine/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_film_journals_and_magazines
http://britishfilmmagazine.com/
http://www.premiere.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premiere_%28magazine%29
http://www.horrorfilmmag.com/
http://www.fangoria.com/ [wouldn't work for me at home, but possibly as I tend to block cookies]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_film_journals_and_magazines
http://uk.dir.yahoo.com/Entertainment/Movies_and_Film/Genres/Horror/Magazines/
http://www.filmquarterly.org/index2.html
http://independentfilmquarterly.net/
http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/
http://www.indiewire.com/
http://www.ifmagazine.com/
http://www.indieslate.com/
http://britishfilmmagazine.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/20/business/the-media-business-american-film-magazine-sees-the-end.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2001/apr/07/books.guardianreview
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entertainment_Weekly

FINAL DEADLINES

I'll put these up in F6 for your reference should you forget, but they are as follows:

(COMPLETE) ROUGH CUT, BLOG FULLY UPDATED:
- MONDAY, 7TH DECEMBER

DRAFT ANCILLARY TEXTS, RESEARCH COMPLETE:
- WEDNESDAY, 9TH DECEMBER

FINAL FILM, BURNED ON DVD + UPLOADED ON BLOG:
- MONDAY, 14TH DECEMBER

DRAFT EVALUATION, HANDED IN + ON BLOG:
- THURSDAY, 17TH DECEMBER

FINAL BLOG, EVALUATION:
- TUESDAY, 5TH JANUARY

Thats a lot to squeeze in, which is why last friday was the preferred date for finalising shooting. I'll review the blog requirements and photocopy a complete checklist shortly, but its vital, to safeguard your marks for Research and Planning, that you can evidence:

• thorough research into the codes and conventions of the format (SF/TT; film mags; posters) and genre/s ... with frequent, detailed and specific references to actual media texts
• frequent audience feedback
• use of a variety of new media (podcasts, YouTube etc)
• meticulous, detailed planning prior to shooting: storyboards, screenplays, shotlists, drafts, production schedule - you need to upload some footage that you shot but rejected; as you're designing poster/mag, keep saving (as draft 1 etc) to show evidence of the changes you made
• additional points were made previously
• even if you only set aside a couple of hours to do what you can, I'd suggest you scour back through as much of this blog - and the British Cinema blog - as you can, as you'll find a lot of info, resources and analysis that you can use for your blogs!!!
  

The marking criteria is summarised in this document - reproduced below:
a2 Course Work Marking Criteria

"Drag me to Hell"

Read a review here which may entice to look up this movie, or at least the key issue of the morality involved in slashers. There has been something of a shift away from the straightforward kill to punish sin (sex, drugs, boozing) to play with ideas around fate/karma (final destination) and a sense of vigilante justice (saw) which this seems to be reflecting

a sample snippet:

It's great to see that despite swimming in the mainstream for so long Raimi still has enough blood and guts gusto to pull off a project like this - a PG-13 one at that. It also speaks to the times that all this torture comes from the actions of one's ambition at the cost of another's life. Even if it is too simplistic to truly make any serious ethical statement, the idea that a seemingly decent person has to painfully pay the ultimate price for a selfish in-the-moment mistake - the kind a lot of us make every day - now that's horror.

Some Sound Advice, and note on boom

On the boom, its strictly 1st come, first served, but no one can book it out twice in a week. You need to see John, preferrably pre-registration, to see if its free and also to book a time with John on the day you want it to run through the set up and use of the boom mic kit.
You can request it a 2nd time in a week, and check with John later in the day if its still free, but anyone else coming at any stage will get priority if you've booked it once that week.

I'll add a note on recording ambient sound, and the possibility of over-dubbing, later [I trust everyone gets the Basil Brush reference?]

AMBIENT SOUND

Whenever and wherever you are recording there will generally be some ambient sound - background noise generated by the environment you are in - eg computer fans or people walking past in F6; cars, dogs, the wind, leaves rustling outdoors.
For a typical scene you will be cutting together shots taken at different times, even if only a few minutes or even seconds apart. This has consequences...
Say a dog was distantly barking in shot A (x looks at y); you cut to shot B (close-up of y) and back again to A (x looks at y). This shot-reverse shot sequence is meant to appear as all in real-time, continuous action on screen, but this can be easily undermined if the ambient sound is noticeably different between shots A and B (no dog barking in shot B).

Advanced audio editing is a theoretical solution. More practical is recording an audio track for 30secs or so, whatever would be long enough to cover a continuous section, in the environment your scene is set. If you did discover a problem with the sound, you at least have the option of binning the audio track on your footage, and OVERDUBBING this ambient noise track. For any dialogue you'd want to record your actors saying their lines, ideally able to see a screen where they can see themselves and so judge the timing. Lip-synching is a tricky, fiddly business, but your end result is hopefully a more polished piece.
---------------------------------------

Young Britney is of course rather notorious for her lip-synched 'live' performances, an issue which also came to global prominence with the rather disgraceful decision to replace the young singer at the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony with another considered more photogenic.

--------------------------------------
I'm hoping to purchase a portable audio recorder next week with this in mind.

Re-shooting a scene because of scenes is unlikely to be practical; recording sound (if you didn't originally) will not require costumes or getting your actors to some isolated spot, and is a more feasible solution.
------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to link this into the real world of media production you'd do well to consider the spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone, in some ways a masterpiece of over-dubbing, though not always so well lip-synched. Leone tended to add sound in entirely separately to the shot footage, an immense challenge which he pulls off with real alacrity. There was some controversy when the by now rather old actors recorded some new dialogue for a new cut of one of these.
Bad cases of dubbing are a popular item of discussion on the web; try http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFFz-MpRZFk for example, or http://www.japanator.com/bad-dubbing-the-worst-professional-dub-in-the-world-finnish-digimon-5874.phtml Some 'voiceover artists' have acquired quite a following, eg Paul Frees.
When the Conservative government insisted that Sinn Fein members could not speak on TV, an outraged media responded by using actors to over-dub the transcript of whatever they said, in some cases using deliberately daft accents to do so to make clear their utter disdain for the policy (which was eventually overturned) [some articles on this: 1 2 3 4 5 This BBC article is a good summary; wiki on the broadcasting ban]

And I almost resisted the temptation to post this trivia question: which rhythmically global one-hit wonder, featuring Norman Cook (aka Fatboy Slim) had a huge hit with "Dub Be Good To Me"?

SOME KEY POINTS ON YOUR BLOGS

I'll write up a more detailed review at the weekend if I get the chance, but some brief, though rather fundamental observations on your blogs:

1. too many lack the more basic, prosaic posts - eg on the hardware, software, the task etc. Not a good idea as..
2. You've 4 weeks of term time left!!! All of you still have to shoot, edit, soundtrack your productions. Having a long list of posts to add in - to safeguard marks for Research and Planning - in the midst of this is not a good plan
3. audience feedback is absolutely critical at every stage - test out your title, your narrative; get some test footage asap and seek aud feedback on this. 
4. Making constant links between your production and real life examples is equally critical: Have you clearly compared yours to actual texts when writing up your audience profile for example?
5. many of you are simply failing to reflect your learning from AS: when writing about narrative for example you should be considering the theories of Propp, Todorov, Levi-Strauss, Barthes etc - and then there is the extensive terminology for both semiotics and the film industry
6. nobody seems to have started planning their ancillary texts yet. Remember, you are producing a PACKAGE of texts, so need to get some research into magazines/posters (radio trailers if you're confident you can do this well) underway
7. re-read any and all comments made, especially by me - too few of you are actually acting on the points made in these
   

YR 11 ASSEMBLY NOV 25TH...

I'm going to show the montage of your AS work at the next Yr11 assembly, and put out the general appeal for actors/composers etc. Ideally this would have been earlier, but if anyone has any specific requests (I got zero returns of the form I posted yesterday) make sure to let me know in advance, even if its simply extras. Helena, Lucy and Kristie will be there too; if anyone else wants to make a direct appeal/pitch then let me know asap

VOLUNTEER/S WANTED TO PACKAGE DVD OF YOUR WORK

As part of the Creative Arts evening (Dec 16th) we plan to screen your AS work (and maybe some A2 work if its ready), and sell a souvenir DVD for £4 featuring all your productions, including some footage from the film festival and your intro's, plus a couple of your shorts from July.
It would be nice to present this as a package, complete with cover and liner notes - any volunteers to take this task on?

VOLUNTEER FOR BASIC EDITING JOB WANTED

Any volunteers to import some footage of PE activities, adding some basic titles before saving as a QuickTime movie (avi/mp4) and passing the newly smooth production back to Miss Haigh?

FORM FOR ANY FINAL ACTOR/COMPOSER REQUESTS

If you're still after any actors, or a soundtrack composer (and maybe a make-up/SFX artiste), please download and use this brief form; I'll post blown up copies in the post-16 centre and email round the Creative Arts. Its a bit late to be ideal, but I'm also going to be speaking at the Year 11 assembly on the 25th Nov about opportunities for acting/composing, so if any of you would like to accompany me to outline your needs let me know.

Boom mic test footage, + note on signing it out

Remember, if working in a group, none of you can sign it out unless ALL 2 or 3 of you have got the permission slips signed by your parents and returned to me. There is a list in F6 of all that have been returned.

You may recall we took some simple test footage with and without the boom mic being used; you were simply asked to say your name and add a comment (some of which are a touch eccentric!). You can see/hear for yourself the results here...
Please note that this has been highly compressed; the original file, at 1.3Gb, is 13 times the file size limit imposed by blogger, so the considerable difference in audio quality will not be as evident as on the full quality clip!

Couple of slasher links, eg women in slashers, Fri 13th box office

Review box office takings across the history of the franchise at http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/series/FridayThe13th.php      (See below) According to a recent Guardian article (I've linked this elsewhere) its been left in the shade by the Saw franchise, now the most successful of all horror/slasher franchises.
Sky's brief guide to the genre: http://movies.sky.com/a-brief-bloody-history-of-the-slasher-movie
"25 Memorable Slasher Starlets" from rottentomatoes.com - useful overview of final girls and scream queens over the last 49 years, starting with Marion Crane: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sorority_row/news/1843905/25_memorable_slasher_starlets

Released	Movie Name	1st Weekend	US Gross	Worldwide Gross	Budget
5/9/1980	Friday the 13th	$5,816,321	$39,754,601	$59,754,601	$550,000
4/30/1981	Friday the 13th Part 2	$6,429,784	$21,722,776	-	$1,250,000
8/13/1982	Friday the 13th Part 3	$9,406,522	$36,690,067	-	$2,250,000
4/13/1984	Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter	$11,183,148	$32,980,880	-	$2,600,000
3/22/1985	Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning	$8,032,883	$21,930,418	-	$2,200,000
8/1/1986	Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives	$6,750,837	$19,472,057	-	$3,000,000
5/13/1988	Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood	$8,245,038	$19,170,001	-	$2,800,000
7/28/1989	Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan	$6,251,310	$14,343,976	-	$5,000,000
8/13/1993	Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday	$7,552,190	$15,935,068	-	$3,000,000
4/26/2002	Jason X	$6,649,006	$13,121,555	$16,951,798	$14,000,000
8/15/2003	Freddy vs. Jason	$36,428,066	$82,622,655	$114,326,122	$25,000,000
2/13/2009	Friday the 13th	$40,570,365	$65,002,019	$91,700,771	$19,000,000
Totals			$382,746,073	$464,978,535	$80,650,000
Averages			$31,895,506	$38,748,211	$6,720,833

Women as directors

Useful article at http://www.netribution.co.uk/people/106/1402-warped-imaginations-darklights-female-horror-directors to look at. The case of Sharon Maguire (look at the long gaps in her IMDB entry) suggests the film industry is still rather sexist? What do you think?
You'll find this is a much-discussed topic, with many references in books written by film insiders (and of course in Film Guardian articles)
Have a look at http://www.birds-eye-view.co.uk/ too.
I'll add more detail to this over on the British Cinema blog...

VERY useful article on short film/industry context

Remember that you've got to approach this as if you are an actual Indie movie producer, looking to tie up a distribution deal, giving consideration to marketing, etc (linking your production to real media texts). This article looks at the experiences of a short film-maker, and how he went about getting an unusual distribution deal that saw his work exhibited alongside a feature film, a deal closely linked to getting a big name actor (Brian Cox - the original and best Hannibal Lector, and also seen in Ken Loach's Hidden Agenda, a social realist movie - in the library! - we'll look at for the A2 exam) on board.

There are a range of articles and pdfs on this which provide further useful info, listed below. It might also be useful to give consideration to Shane Meadows' short, with Paddy Considine, Dog Altogether.
try...this...this...this...this...this...this

USA, USA...

Can you all check your blog has been changed from the default time settings - you may have noticed that you're not living in the USA ... (it can of course be hard to tell, with the ongoing homogeonisation of our high streets through the process of globalisation, not to mention the cultural imperialism of the US, for example through cyphers such as Working Title, arguably part of this hegemonic process...)

Simply click on Settings, Formatting and scroll down for Time Zone - select GMT.

Helps show that you're not all blogging in the early hours!

Deadline for completing principal shoot

Don't neglect planning for the ancillary tasks...

The earlier post on deadlines up to Fri 13th Nov is here.

With pre-production (including research) to be wrapped up for Monday, we need to ensure plenty of time is left for editing. Final Cut is a big step on from iMovie but also therefore much more time consuming. Re-shoots should be kept to a minimum - take plenty of coverage on each shoot to try and avoid the need for this. You can book out the boom mic to use in dry conditions - provided I have a signed letter returned from your parents, as you are responsible for it when loaning it out. Recording separate audio tracks to over-dub may be a necessity, especially if its wet and windy when you shoot, so again it is vital you plan to wrap up principal shooting in a clearly defined timeframe of two weeks (or less).

You need to be setting up a production schedule, and confirming with actors their availability for set times/dates. Weekend shooting may be your best option. Make sure everyone is sharing the duties behind the camera, using the boom mic etc, although it is absolutely fine for you to divide up certain shoots between you, with just one person attending and directing (again, so long as you each have a turn at doing this).

DEADLINES FOR FRIDAY 27TH: 
(1) ALL MATERIAL OUTLINED IN SCREENPLAY/STORYBOARD TO BE RECORDED AND UPLOADED, READY FOR EDITING 
(2) OUTLINE DRAFT IDEAS FOR ANCILLARY TASKS 
(3) DRAFT POST-PRODUCTION SCHEDULE, INCLUDING ANY RE-SHOOTS AND AUDIO RECORDINGS FOR OVERDUBBING, PLUS SOUNDTRACK COMPOSING AND ANCILLARY TASKS

Foxy Lady? Can horror be feminist?

Interesting discussion centred round the new Jennifer's Body at http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2009/nov/09/jennifers-body-megan-fox (you know, reading the Film Guardian can be good for you!)

Blogs4U

Do be keeping an eye on the other blogs, where I continue to post material relevant to your coursework but also wider aspects of the course, especially http://a2media0910.blogspot.com/ and http://mediabritishcinema.blogspot.com/ - both of which you should be a follower of

SCREENPLAYS - Some Guides

See this and this doc (this is a full screenplay)
I might post further links, though you will find several additional resources cited in these guides.
Please ensure you follow the formatting carefully; your choice of font, for example, is not an open one - Courier is the universally recognised font for screenplays.

FORUMS: For, Um, You!

Have you used any online forums yet? Remember, as a general principle you should aim to demonstrate your use of a wide range of (new) media technologies in the process of creating your production. You might post on a forum to take part in a debate, or even to get some audience feedback (perhaps suggestions for titles, taglines, character names, useful films to watch comparable to your idea, etc)
Some of the links in the post below feature forums.
Remember too to try and give some detail of how you go about finding such sites/forums, assuming you're not simply relying on links posted here: detail your search terms, and how you narrow down your results (if relevant)

Some slasher and rom-com links

Just tidying up my bookmarks and thought the following might be useful (if not already posted):
on slashers: http://www.best-horror-movies.com/friday-the-13th-part-2-the-definitive-slasher.html (the site and article; free e-zine to sign up to and a forum); http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2009/03/from_monstrous_metaphor_to_bra.html; http://www.eatmybrains.com/showreview.php?id=119 (not the best written, but a very useful site and a forum)
rom-com/'chick flick': http://titirangistoryteller.wordpress.com/film/the-chick-flick/ (useful analysis, including an historical overview, and range of examples)

The Horror, the Horror...[YouTube for genre research]

(Which is of course the immortal line from Brando in possibly the greatest war movie ever, Apocalypse Now)
This will work for any genre... Tried a simple search in YouTube: 'horror'. Very useful results; there are planty of horror buffs out there who have made compilations of films and characters and various mini-docs. Gives you the opportunity to look at a wide variety of films without having to spend fortunes doing so, though you may of course want to buy some based on viewing a clip or too.

One YouTube user, for example, has created his own channel based around horror, eg this installment of his ultimate scary characters, including Pennywise the clown.
Another user has created a series called 'Scariest Horror Movie Scenes' - see part 1 here.
I haven't watched it, so have no idea if its any good (comment with your views if you do!), but another film has a fan discussing their favourite horrors from the noughties.
Plus there's a micro-site dedicated to horror trailers (probably not teasers though).

How to convert your audio file to mp3

With thanks to the Sams (ok, Sam W!) for this...
basically, import your file into iTunes where you can convert it ... but you have to change some settings to do this.
Open iTunes
Click 'iTunes' on the top menu
Click 'Preferences' from the drop-down list
Look under the General tab for 'import settings'
By default, iTunes will convert files to the aac format ... no good ...
So change this to mp3 from the drop-down menu
Now when you select a track from the iTunes menu you can hold in the CTRL button, mouse click and select Convert to MP3

[UPDATED NOV 6TH] Adding podcasts to your blog

Archive.org doesn't appear to be much use - try finding a file you've uploaded previously and you'll struggle! I've tried another option, SUPLOAD.COM. This is an easy to use site for images, audio and video - BUT appears to have crashed my browser. Try it and let me know if it works for you, or pass on any suggestions of a site for uploading audio/video etc. I'll feed any suggestions/comments back in a new post next week.

supload test
 Download Monty Python - Four Yorkshiremen
            ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Full instructions, found from using the search term 'mp3' in blogger help, can be seen here - http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/blogger/thread?tid=22a056d02a445231&hl=en
 
In brief, sign up to a web service which allows you to upload, store and share audio files; and either add a link to the file or embed an audio player in your blog post

The blog posting suggests using http://www.archive.org/ - which works very much like Scribd.com, but appears a little slow. I trialled this uploading this file
Try clicking this just to check it works, and to see what will happen when some fascinated punter clicks on your eagerly anticipated podcast!

Once you've created an mp3, using iTunes if necessary to convert your audio file - see the post above! - upload this to archive.org or another site; the simplest approach then is to type into your post something like 'Access the podcast here' and make this a link in blogger - copy the link to your mp3 file for this*)
        *hold in the CTRL button and click on the hyperlink for the mp3 on the archive.org page (just right-click on a PC); select 'Copy Link Location', and paste this in as your link in blogger

As you may well be using a video camera to record your audio, an alternative to extracting the audio track and putting it through GarageBand/iTunes is to add some relevant stills to the imported track within Final Cut (preferrably - try to start using this!), upload it to YouTube and use the embed code it generates. You're also then using additional new media for your project.

Remember, your podcast should:

1. outline your idea, the narrative concept, ...
2. what inspired it
3. including influences (films, TV shows)
4. summarise your new-found genre knowledge
5. as well as the codes and conventions of the genre, also talk about the Cs+Cs of the format (SF/TT)
   
6. what you've done so far to make your narrative concept a reality (all your pre-production work)
   
7. your next steps
8. for the following Friday, simply discuss what you've done in the past week, perhaps focussing on certain aspects of research or a genre example you've viewed, or any other aspect that sparked some debate and particular interest in your group/you

UPDATE: I looked at 3 examples of podcasts last night; 2 were excellent, 1 was lively but simply failed to outline the narrative concept, the inspiration for this, etc. Have a look at Jaskia's podcast or Chris B's as examples of good, lively but informative, podcasts

The power of a good idea...

Nice example here ofa short film which leaps straight into the dis-equilibrium and has a nice twist ending. Sharing it is doing exactly what the corporation behind it are hoping for: an example of viral marketing. But then it is CanalPlus, which links in with the AS British Cinema case study of Working Title...

Source: http://bit.ly/KNJHq

Is originality impossible?! [+ a wee note on Film Guardian...]

You may recall a posting on this in last year's blog (still there!) about the seeming impossibility of creating anything original in our postmodern world, leaving us to simply endlessly reshuffle components of multiple genres in hybrid genre film narratives.
Interesting article from the motormouth Joe Queenan (highly recommend his books on cinema - there may be one in the library?) on the Film Guardian site about Hollywood's increasing lack of originality, with interesting references to horror/slashers, spoof/satire/parody and other genres in there.
You may have seen trailers for The Man Who Stares at Goats, based on Jon Ronson's book (an account of his own typically oddball experiences). The very same JR (not Ewing...) is guest editing the Film Guardian site all week, worth a look...not forgetting the free Starsucks c*ffee that has come with the Friday Guardian the last few weeks. One day everyone will drop this fad and return to tea...

*****IMAGE RIGHTS***** [UPDATED WITH NEW TEMPLATE NOV 5TH]

UPDATED TEMPLATE HERE - get anyone and everyone, INCLUDING EXTRAS, to complete and sign one, and then pass on to me to keep filed in F6 (if you want to keep for your own records, photocopy before you pass it on). This is a hassle for both you and me ... but is actually good practice, and reflective of actual media practice.

Not simply linking into your graded requirement to make links to the real world of media production, but also as it is an important issue in its own right, please ensure you address the potentially thorny issue of image rights. You may recall having to sign forms for the Film Festival certifying your right to reproduce the image of anyone involved, a standard procedure should you want to screen your work in any context. This is a very serious concern for Media Studies, so either design a form yourself or use this template (derived from Microsoft). I'm in discussions with the school on what to do in the case of under-18s, and will post the outcome of this shortly.

If you google 'image rights form template' you'll find plenty more

'Teen drama' genre - finding useful resources

I was emailed with a request for help in finding useful resources on this; had a quick look and this is what I suggested in the reply:

if you search amazon and play.com for 'teen film' you'll find some books very specifically on this genre
i also googled 'teen drama film genre' and got some useful results
there are a few books on film in general, including some on film genres, in the library; its worth checking for chapters on teen drama; there have also been some articles on this in the magazines Spliced, Sight and Sound etc - ask the Librarian for help looking for useful material

To that I'll just add - look at a range of key teen dramas: Heathers, Thirteen, Kidulthood, Boyz in Tha Hood, The Wild One, Rebel Without a Cause (and Cliff Ric***d in Summer Holiday and others if you can stomach him, to get a near British equivalent), Quadrophenia, perhaps Ginger Snaps (horror but teen themes) - the 1st names that spring to mind. There's also the John Hughes series of classic 80s drama/comedies (breakfast Club etc). Oh - and Revenge of the Nerds!!

I'd appreciate it if you could comment with any suggested resources or useful films to watch. It would be useful too for anyone in either class doing teen drama to add 1 comment as a group simply saying so, and you could each then try to discuss sharing some resources

this wiki is useful

Deadlines for week ending Friday 6th (and a look ahead to the week after)

There is a lot of detail below, but this should help guide you through the next two weeks. You will find links to storyboard and production log templates below, plus a repeat of the 4 Evaluation questions. You have class time as well as homework time to complete the following (some already have; keep working ahead!).    For Friday 6th then...

1. Complete research into genre/s, using at least 3 books in the process. You'll find writing on specific genres in a range of film/genre books in the library (and can always consider purchasing some yourself!) This is vital with the Evaluation questions in mind (included at the end of this post), especially on how your production links into real media texts
2. (asap) Email as a jpg file a teaser poster to me. When saving in Photoshop, select '8' when asked to choose image quality (its a mere 5 by default!), and take care to email me the jpg file, NOT the psd file! Please include your name/s in the file name so I can quickly locate your work
3. Your first podcast!!! This will be a weekly task from this point (further detail below). For this first one, basically discuss what you've done so far: what your idea is and how you developed it; your understanding of the codes and conventions of the format you're working in (SF/TT) and any examples of this that have stood out; some findings from your genre research; any detail on locations/casting/costume/props etc; what are your next steps?

As soon as you've shot some sample scenes, pass them on so a test screening can be arranged in class time - again, keep those 4 Evaluation questions in mind as you work! (Audience feedback is one of the four highlighted areas)

By Friday the 13th...

By the way, if there is any interest in having lessons themed round Fri the 13th let me know...
[EDIT, NOV 10TH: WE'LL PUSH THIS BACK TO MON 16TH, BUT BE CLEAR THAT MEANS YOUR PRESENTATION PPT OR MPG IS WITH ME FOR THE START OF THAT LESSON + PRE-PRODUCTION IS COMPLETE, AND RECORDED ON YOUR BLOG]

     1: have completed main pre-production tasks:

• casting, with detail of choices (comparisons to sim roles in other films; issues of representation, and whether you intend to challenge or reflect stereotypes, etc). Provide images, and video of casting session/auditions where relevant. Have you asked your cast to sign a waiver giving you permission to reproduce any footage they appear in?! [you should!!!]
  
• location scouting: again, make links to existing films; explain your choices and detail any 'set dressing' that will be required (so, address issues round props/mise-en-scene here); take some sample footage in any location to uncover any potential issues over sound, lighting and physical access to positions from which you can get your intended shots. Have you got any permissions required?
  
• costume/prop/make-up (etc) requirements - again, make links to existing films!!! As was the case last year, I'm already seeing some very detailed blogging on this (eg Megan and Lorna, who are working on a very specific historical period - again!)
  
• soundtrack - some notes on initial intentions for music and any other sound recordings/compositions required - plus, crucially, detail of who you're working with to achieve this (if someone within the group, detail what technology will be used)
• storyboard and screenplay draft 1 - these may be fairly rough at this stage, but you must ensure both are detailed and complete BEFORE commencing principal shooting (you can access s'board templates here here and here, and read the wiki on s'boards)
• production schedule: from your storyboard, develop an overall shotlist; then break down the shoots you intend to do, with dates and requirements (equipment, costume/props etc, actors), and further break down each shoot with a shotlist (ideally, create your own, but use this or this production log template if you prefer). Make sure you identify who is taking the shots in each case - a role you should ensure you each perform.
  

    2: have parlayed this into a presentation on your project (min. 2 mins, max. 5 mins) which you will present to the class, ideally using Final Cut instead of PowerPoint - what is it about (brief pitch: its x meets y meets z + synopsis: brief narrative outline), what have you done to date and what are your plans for the next week or so; are there any aspects you would like some audience feedback on? If you have some sample footage (or perhaps footage from casting/scouting), try to use this [EDIT NOV 1OTH: in essence you're looking for a 2-5min presentation, mainly delivered verbally, but using some edited footage, for example of location scouting or casting, to illustrate your points; consider also simply creating a stills-based animatic to illustrate your points, eg shots of characters from actual films to compare with shots of actors]

     3: your 2nd weekly podcast!!! What has changed since last week?! Any particular areas of interest or intriguing findings? You could involve your cast or even composer in this! Try to get some audience feedback, especially in the form of comments - perhaps agree to comment on a colleague's if they comment on yours!

A NOTE ON PODCASTING

Once more, look at the Evaluation Questions (use of new media technologies...)!
We're not after an epic production here: simply sit down (or stroll if you prefer!) and chat about what you've done, and your key findings from research, viewings, test screenings or location scouting for example, for a minute or so. Highlight each week - it is a weekly task! -what tweaks or developments have occurred to your plans (narrative, screenplay, storyboard, locations, cast or whatever), what you've achieved, and what you intend to work on before your next exciting podcast!
We don't yet have any portable audio recorders, so you can do this in F6, recording using GarageBand; using your own portable audio recorder; or using a video camera (simply export the audio track).
Make sure everyone is equally close to the microphone being used, and try to avoid recording in high winds or in noisy places like the Post-16 centre!
WHATEVER OPTION YOU SELECT, THE FILE YOU UPLOAD TO YOUR BLOG (and FaceBook or any other sites you choose - just note this on your blog, illustrating with a printscreen shot) MUST BE AN MP3!!!







Those Evaluation Questions...
 
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Media A-Level spec

I've put a link to this on the main A2 blog, which you should also be a follower of (just 4 of you are to date...)