Heading 2 on your blogs

Your notes on your blog for this section of the work should be headed 'Research Tasks' - you can use the questions to organise bullet points. Write as much as you need to, fully answering the questions, but make sure that you insert as much multi media as possible (eg links to youtube, embedded films from youtube or other hyperlinks. Below is a copy of the brief:

Media Studies A Level, Advanced Portfolio, Research and Planning

Main Task: Making a Short Film lasting Five Minutes

Research and Planning Task

Study some selected short films and your own choice of short films, and make notes to answer the following questions. Afterwards, record your answers as fully as possible in bullet point form on your blog, under the heading: ‘Research Tasks’. Identify each film you discuss with its title, director and year of production.

1. Identify the genre/s or style/s used, providing micro evidence of conventions used in the film in terms of style or content (eg iconography, mise en scene, sound, narrative structure, themes and issues, characterisation …)

2. All films use genre or style conventions uniquely. How does this film use genre/style conventions uniquely? What aspects of their use do you find interesting or inspiring?

3. How does the film use the short film format? What are the advantages of the short narrative? How is the narrative structured? (It is not essential to discuss Todorov’s theory here, but you do need to account for the choice of narrative structure and ordering, and the choice of opening and ending). Again, make some comments related to your own planning where possible: what are you inspired by?

4. What do you find interesting about the use of sound? Use sound terms to analyse, and consider whether you might extend any of the ideas yourselves.

5. Themes and issues and representation: what does the film seem to be about? Does it ‘position’ the audience to take a particular view on the subject matter? If so, how is that achieved? Which social groups are represented by the film? Explain how they are represented, using evidence: consider whether stereotypes are used, and whether this is a sympathetic representation of these types of characters?

Suggested Films:

Conversation Piece, (Stewart), 2009

Wasp (Andrea Arnold), 2003

Joyride (Gillespie), 1995

Eight (Daldry), 1998

Lou-Lou Lives Here (Grian) 2003

Select your favourite 2 from Virgin Media Shorts