Thursday's Lesson

For those of you who missed Thursday's lesson here is a brief overview of what we did and what I would like you to do in order to catch-up the work missed and therefore stay on track.

BLOGS

The three students who attended all linked their blogs to this one, as you can see. This has allowed them the possibility of viewing each other's work and comment on it. To do this for you I will need you to send me the URL (web address) of your BLOG and I will also need you to send me your email so that I can invite you to be a contributor to the main AS blog.

The students also posted their reflections on the work we did in class which dealt with TV drama.

You can see what we watched by following the link to the BBC iPlayer and watching the first 5 minutes of MAD MEN which was broadcast on Wednesday at 10.30 on BBC4.

Our focus of attention was on understanding HOW the filming works and discussing which shots were chosen, for what reason and what other factors are involved with the creation of this carefully crafted TV drama.

Television Drama

• Scenes - discrete units of action which take place in a specific location, scene changes often marked by location changes.
• Locations - places where the action of a scene takes place (sometimes this is a set, sometimes it is a real location or place)
• Sets - controlled filming environments which may be in studio or on location, the important thing is that they are controlled for filming. These are constructed to help create the narrative and support the atmosphere of the drama. Use of specific props, colours, materials and design is vital.
• Lighting - how a set, location and actors are lit for the scene, control over lighting is vital to achieve the appropriate atmosphere for a specific scene. Three point lighting involves Key, Fill and Back lights all of which help to provide natural lighting on the character(s) which are the focus of attention.
• Camera positions - these govern the way a scene is filmed, choosing the right positions is vital in the construction of the drama.
• Shot sizes - ranging from extreme close up to panoramic wide shot, shot sizes (or camera angles) are varied according to the purposes of the drama to help in the telling of the story.
• Focus - the focus of the camera (narrow depth of field - wide depth of field) are chosen to help the audience know what to look at and how to look at it. Changes of focus within a shot can literally move the audiences attention from one place/person to another.
• Costume and Make-up: effectively personal design for characters in the drama, the choices made tell us a great deal about and the personality, job, status, age of the character. They also reflect the time when the drama is set (Period, contemporary, futuristic etc.) and the genre of the drama (comedy, horror, crime etc.)
• Performance: acting, body language, dialogue etc. Vital if conveying the drama and supported by the choices made by the director with regard to all the above.

Look at the clip and using some of what is written above make your own reflection on the scenes and how they have been constructed.

HOME STUDY

This weeks home study is to 'audit' your use of Media across four days (Friday to Monday)

How do you use the media?

Time spent:

• watching TV
• films
• listening to Radio
• online: what do you do?
• mobile: what do you do?

Record this audit to your blog as a new post. Are there any conclusions that you can draw from your use of media.