Showreel

Unit 6 Media Campaign AKF CC V4 from Connor_Crampton



Unit 19: Roles and Responsibilities

Writers
The main role of any writer for any production is to be able to research certain topics or things that will be discussed in the project, they are solely responsible for creating and developing an engaging narrative featuring an emotional impact with the viewers. A lot of writers that work on projects are freelance (meaning they work for free and are hired on for particular assignments).

In the gaming industry writers work the same way where there is big groups of writers that bounce ideas off of one another to figure out the storyline. For certain game companies the writers work in small groups to ensure the story is exactly how it is wanted.

Corporations

Almost all pitching ideas for four of the biggest corporations (Fox, Sony, Disney and Universal) go through established relationships this help to create a "safe bet" so that established names who have already worked for big companies or agencies. The biggest UK corporations like the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 often commission scripts and budgets for TV shows that will appear on their channels.

Sometimes with writers being freelance workers they are given opportunities to submit some scripts to big corporations and if the corporations like the scripts they could possibly commission the script to be made for one of their channels.

Communication
When pitching ideas to higher ups in a its very important and crucial to have clear communication skills so that the producers and director has a basic understanding of the idea that is being pitched to them. In any media format it's important to be able to make your points known when discussing ideas that would benefit the whole production, this is mostly important during meetings when many ideas are getting pitched around to see what will get made.


Time Management
When working in a professional environment it's important to be able to manage time effectively so that you will have the correct amount of time to get a script completed on time. It's also important to do this because it shows that you are interested in writing scripts and trying to get projects green-light.

Unit 10: Film Production

For the task that I have been given I have to analyse and compare the stylistic codes and conventions of fictional genre film in reference to its target audience. The genres that I decided to look at are action and horror, the reason why is because they are the most popular and most recognisable. By looking at two iconic action movies Die Hard (1988) and Hot Fuzz (2007) I will be able to compare the conventions and characteristics and see how they are linked.

As the most used film genre, action films often use the same conventions these include; fights, weapons, explosions etc. These have made action films stand out and always seek attention from an audience, and help them to have an emotional attachment towards the protagonist. These films would be mostly aimed at people who enjoy 80’s action movies (Die Hard) or other action movies (Hot Fuzz). I will also be looking two horror movies (Shaun of the Dead and Saw), and try to find a link in both movies to connect them together.

There is a popular theory by theorist Steve Neale suggesting that “genres are instances of repetition and difference”, this means that cinema genres are made up of repetition and that often movies include the same things in other movies. For example, in action movies there are always gunfights and explosions and that audiences enjoy seeing the same things over because they will be able to recognise it. Neale’s theory and ideas are seen in both Die Hard and Hot Fuzz where both movies have gun fights and explosions. These movies both share several recognisable genre stylistic codes and conventions.

Arguably the most iconic scene from Die Hard, where McClane kills Hans after shooting a window behind Hans and killing one of his guards, and Hans stumbles towards the window but grabs onto Holly’s wristwatch so McClane unfastens it Hans falls to his death.

CV

Name: Connor Crampton
Age: 20
Place of studies (secondary and college): Academy 360 and Sunderland College Bede Campus

Grades:

English Literature and Language: D
Maths: F
Science: F
History: D
Graphics: D

Target Grade for Academic year 18/19: DMM
Personal Grade for Academic year 18/19: DMM

Why I chose Media

The main reason why I chose the media course is because I found it a very interesting course to study, and wanted to know about the television and film production side of the media industry as well as learn more about the journalism side of all media. The TV and movie side of media has always interested me even when I was younger and just casually watching the news and as I was getting older I wanted to know how how a TV production was put together and how hard it would be to work in this industry.

What I hope to accomplish

The thing that I hope to accomplish after finishing media is to get the best grades possible for all of my work for this year, this is so I can either get some freelance work or hopefully work for a major organisation. The reason why I hope to accomplish what I want is because I feel like it will help me massively and make me a lot more confident in general.

What job I want in media

The job that I want most is to be a journalist for magazines in the film/TV genre, this is because this is where I think I'll be able to do the best work I can because of my massive interest in film and tv and the different aspects that pull the industries together. The main reason why i believe that I'll be doing the best work i can is because I'm already interested in journalism and writing so I think it'll be a good fit and that I'll get on ad work well.

What backup job I would want

I haven't thought about this much but I know that I'll have to incase my journalism job doesn't work out for whatever reason, so for my backup job I would want to be a writer because I already have a interest in writing so this will be a easy second choice job. The reason why I would want writing as a backup job is because it still involves me being creative in some way but on a bigger scale,

Draft Storyboards/ Final Storyboards

This first storyboard shows off how the story will process and how the movie will change for being set out as a basic horror movie with friends friends and a killer on the loose.

In this storyboard I've added camera cuts and put in different camera angles so it doesn't look like its all shot in a long shot. Instead there are close ups and medium shots.

The picture on the left is the main location for my movie which is a forest because I felt it would help tell the story better of three friends getting lost in the woods when a psychopath finds them and hunts them down.

After thinking over some locations the forest area fits the best because there is a lot of space to move around in so it won't make my movie feel slow by using the same spots to shoot in. There is also a building the friends get taken to by
Sackman (the killer), to freshen up the shooting locations and to also have a mini torture scene in.

This picture to the left features a four-shot of the basic plot of the movie from Sackman's point of view. In the first cell he grabs his signature weapon (his ballpoint hammer), then in the second cell it's the attack between Sackman and two of the three friends where he knocks them out and they're left bloodied. In the third cell its the close up of the hammer covered in blood then finally in the fourth cell it shows a close up of the two friends bloodied and left by themselves.

This picture is a short summary of what happens in my movie, with the first cell showing the friends walking through the forest, then quickly going onto the second cell of the friends walking through but one of them getting taken then the third cell showing another friend taken leaving one alone looking at the knife on the floor left purposely by Sackman, then the final cell showing a close up of Sackman with the last friend in the background laying on the floor after being hit with Sackman's hammer (his signature weapon).

This pictures shows the two weapons that will be used during my movie, the hammer as I said previously will be the main weapon while the knife will be used as a starting point for the attacks and also be used a as a brief distraction for one of the characters to find when wondering through the forest .

In this four shot of the characters you can clearly tell who the "good guys" are and who the "bad guy" is, the reason for clearly labelling them is so that the audience has a clear understanding of who to root for in my movie and who to care for. As you can also see I annotated the drawings to show what kind of costume the characters in the movie will be wearing and the significance of the bad guy wearing a sack to cover up his identity.

In this picture it shows a storyboard design of what my short movie could look like if it was adapted into a music video. As you can see there will be a few cuts but it will mostly be fades and close ups of the actual performance. The reason for doing this is so the audience can get a feel of what my movie would look like, where it would be the friends playing on guitars and singing then a quick cut to a phone saying "2 missed calls". Then cutting to the mysterious person (in this case Sackman) walking through a forest at first then going full sprint to try and get to where the friends are to show them his singing and his old drumkit.

EVALUATION OF ALL STORYBOARDS + SUITABILITY

In the end I'm proud of how my storyboards turned out and that they make sense and fully relate to the plot of my movie, the first storyboard went through some changes before I finally get it the way it was needed and I feel like it will help the audience follow along the story I'm trying to make with my movie. The added camera angles and edits will also help other people visualise how the movie will be presented in its final form.

For the location of my movie I wanted it to be solely based in a forest so it would have the proper tone of a horror movie where the "good guys" always find a way to hide away and remain un-hidden or get caught easily. The main reason for choosing the forest is because it wouldn't feel boring to shoot in and would have a interesting look to it for the plot being friends wondering through said forest then a mysterious masked figure takes them one by one.

The next storyboard follows the plot told in 4 easy to follow sections, the first of these being Sackman finding his signature weapon and going looking for any trespassers in his forest, if so then he'll do what he thinks is necessary. Leading into the second cell of him finding two of said trespassers and dealing with them his way, the reasons for setting out my storyboard like this was so Sackman would get his "side of the story" told and have his own spin put on the movie.

For the types of weapons used in my movie I think they will be suitable for the type of movie I'm making, mainly a horror movie so I feel like using a hammer and a knife will fit well with the intended audience and the type I'm making. Another reason why I think I chose the right weapons for my movie is because one of them can be used as a distraction later on in my movie which fits in well with a certain point of my plot.

In the four-shot of the characters it's laid out the exact way that I wanted it to so that it's obvious who the main character is, the secondary and third characters and the villain of my movie are. It is done in this way to help the audience identify who the "good guys" are and who the "bad guy" is, I also done it this way so that the audience get the significance of the outfits being worn by the characters and how much it means for the villain to cover up his face with a sack.

In the last storyboard it shows how my movie would look if it was to be adapted into a music video format, in this case there would be a few more cuts and edits than normal also a lot more close ups would be used to show off the different things happening. For example there would be close ups on one of the friends singing and playing guitar to give it a real music video vibe and also there would be cuts to show other things happening like one of the characters walking then running through a forest because they need to find out where the friends are playing.

Editing Techniques

Editing Techniques

For the clip of Way Down East it features a lot of parallel editing to show how tense the scene is and the dangers that lie within. Parallel editing is a editing technique used to show two different parts of a film happening simultaneously and then linking together to form the full story, however it can also be used to deceive the audience into believing a character is in danger when in fact they aren't.

Another editing techniques used is continuity editing, this is done to make it easier for the audience be able to follow the story of the movie, this is often used in feature films. Continuity editing can be used to contrast montages in which the editor aims to generate new associations within the various shots. This is done so that the movie fully flows together and makes sense to the audience, it also helps to create the effect of continuous action so the viewer won't notice the difference of transitions between the shots.

The clip from Silence of the Lambs also uses parallel editing to help connect the story to make sense to the audience and they think about the dangers that the characters are in, especially Clarice who gets sent to a house where criminal Buffalo Bill is but she arrives without any backup while the backup gets sent to the wrong house to ask questions. A possible reason for this specific type of editing is used could be to help show the audience the type of dangers the characters are in and how much the story is changing in the scenes.

The Clip from Rocky III features some interesting editing in the form of quick cuts to show off different scenes spliced together to fully showcase the montage. With the montage it clearly shows how time is passing and being manipulated but still showing how the character of Rocky is also changing with the cuts from running on the beach to training in the gym. Montage editing is used to show high energy scenes to get ready for sporting scenes, they are also used to show the audience

A reason why this editing was chosen could be to show  the intense training that Rocky undergoes before his fight. This was achieved with the use of quick cuts showing two separate ways Rocky is going about his training with running on the beach then in the gym striking the punching bag and skipping with the rope. The montage is a specific technique used in film editing and is very often used to clearly show a passage of time this is achieved by showing Rocky engaging in physical training, including a non-diegetic song (eye of the tiger) to be used as inspiration and to train harder to become better.

The Clip from Team America shows editing in a specific way where it spoofs traditional montages, these come in the form of close ups and quick cuts to show other forms of training and how the character is changing. It's also showing a lot of things all happening at once to remind the audience of whats going on and with each shot of the training its giving the audience a look at the improvements made so that the character is ready for the final stage of the movie.

A possible reason for the editing being done this is to show a spoof side of film making and their uses of montages to get characters ready for the final and most action filled section of the whole movie, it also helps the audience understand whats going on. The song used in this montage is used to explicitly tell the audience the different techniques and requirements for a successful sports montage as they appear on the screen.

Way Down East:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI2e3pXat54
Silence of the Lambs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts1x6uADFtM
Rocky III:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4soF2wigKSM
Team America:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhWiTORp22k