Genre / Ideas

During our group meeting, we finally decided upon a genre for our final media product; 5 minute short film. We have decided upon creating a Religious thriller, this is due to the continuation of creating a thriller whilst also adding religious elements.

Why create a thriller?
We are creating a thriller due to the same eventualities of last year at AS Level Media Studies. We do not have any budget, equipment or facilities in order for us to create an action film or a Science-Fiction as we would need powerful animation software and experienced animators for which we have no facilities in school. We would also not be able to write a comedy due to level of writing required to which none of us have experience or the capabilities to do so.

Thrillers, are still becoming ever more popular, with big releases like;

• In Time - Large budget film and A list actors and celebrities like Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried and Cillian Murphy. Rating of 6.6/10 prior to UK release and 54 user reviews on IMDB

• Johnny English reborn - The follow on of Johnny English and with a budget reported in the region of $45 Million. Universal are hoping for a large return. IMDB

This just goes to show that thrillers are still on the rise and new big releases are already in the pipeline and ready for release over the next couple of months and in 2012. Large production companies like Universal are continuing to throw large amounts of money at the production of Thrillers.

My AS Thriller research
As we are deciding to once again create a thriller, I decided to look back at my thriller research from my AS Level Media Studies blog. However, after watching each other's pitch's and reading their treatments, we decided that it we will add religious elements to the film.

For the AS Level projects, every group decided that it would be best to create a thriller, this was due to the lack of experience in writing other genre's like comedy and we do not have a budget, equipment or the facilities for an action, animation or horror film. These are once again reoccurring factors for our Advanced Portfolio project.

My AS Thriller research post can be found here.

Next Meeting
In order to complete all of the required planning and preparation, so that we are able to start the construction process, we will need to decide upon the role and responsibilities within our production team over the next couple of weeks.

My Group & Film Pitch's

During the six weeks holiday, all GWPAHS media students had to complete a film pitch which would be filmed and assessed by Mr Hood, our teacher. Each member was filmed and depending on the assessment grade were put into a group e.g. top 4 = 1 group. Here i have embedded my group's film pitch's.

My film pitch;

Above, I have embedded my own treatment pitch. I believe in making sure everything is to the best we can possibly achieve, although last year time was a key factor for the reason why my media product was not to the best it could have been. With the formation of a new group; Holly, Rob, Adele and myself i believe we have all round media students, I prefer the technological side with the production; shooting, editing and publishing although i will more than pull the weight during the post-production side which will be crucial in creating a recognizable and professional media product.

Holly Sandford;

Holly is a very organised individual, with huge talent in the pre-production side of media studies as well as behind the camera in the production stages. Holly's organisation will be a great factor within the team, her film pitch was very professional and very realistic for possible use as our group's film idea. Holly is a perfectionist and is very good at spotting errors as to avoid any problems later on.

Rob Abel;

Rob is a very imaginative character within the group and this could play extremely well alongside Holly's organisation skills to create a successful team, Rob's treatment pitch was very professional and his captivating storyline which touched on a new film genre of Religion, which none of us have used , developed or challenged before. Rob's enthusiasm for in depth writing shone in his treatment pitch and his skills will prove very creditable in the pre production; script, storyboard and treatment stages.

Adele Dibble;

Adele is also a very imaginative person whom ideas could also be developed and included within our final media project. I'm sure that although being a quiet member of the group, she will be a huge contributor to the team both in pre and post production. As her creative side will give our media product that extra special twist as her ideas within her treatment like the horror style creation of suspense and tension, could be a huge factor within our final media product.

Now that we have all pitched and the groups have been decided, it is now time to start our research and planning for our product. Next week, we will need to decide upon a genre for our film, so that we can complete some existing product research.

Short Films

What is a Short film?
A short film is any film that is not long enough to be considered or called a feature film, although there is actually no time boundary on the difference between a short or feature film. Short films can be either professional or amateur productions and are often screened at local, national or international film festivals. Short films are often created with no or a very low budget by independent film makers, this compared with feature films that often have very large budgets and are created by large production company's that are solely profit making organisations.

The development of short films
As the introduction and development of web 2.0 and such websites as YouTube and Vimeo, it now means that non-profit film makers are able to upload their short films to a much wider audience rather than having to rely entirely upon film festivals. However, large production company are also releasing short films with new feature films and the introduction of FILMshort and the BBC film network focus entirely upon showcasing short films.

Why are we creating a short?
We are going to create a short film due to having no budget and the short time frame in which we have to write, film and publish the short film. Short films are also a typical first stage for new professional filmmakers.

Examples of Shorts
Below, I have embedded a wide range of different shorts from Drama's, Romance and Thrillers

Welcome

Welcome to my A2 Media Studies blog. I will be using this blog to present my OCR A-Level Media Studies coursework. The main task is centred around creating a contemporary media product, we have decided to create a 5 Minute short film as we have the capabilities both software and hardware to create a stunning piece of film material. Alongside the media product (Film), we must create our own company or brand in which to accompany the film as well as creating two ancillary tasks; Film poster and Film review. Once again, this decision was down to the capabilities within school to create such media.

The Task
Create a 5-Minute 'Short'.
I have included the specification link here.


Why choose too Blog?
I have decided to use a Blog, in particular Blogger over other publishing methods such as a scrap book due to the mixed level of presentation forms available, like being able to embed videos straight from the web in particular YouTube and Vimeo or create stunning online presentations through prezi or upload self recorded screen casts. Obviously such features can not be achieved within a scrap book. As well as things change, using a blog they can be changed immediately however using a scrap book requires having to start the whole book again.

What will be in the blog?
This blog will contain all the steps in the process of creating my media product;

• Planning
• Pre-production
• Filming
• Editing
• Publishing
• Evaluation
• as well as Two Ancillary tasks.