Revision Resource

Decoding Questions

"How  important is technoligcal convergence for institutions and audiences within a media area which you have studied"

How important is two media industires working together for companies and the people who buy the games in the computer games industry. - Mention the use of Cinematic Advertising, the use of the Internet in indie games on KickStarter, sales on the internet, Advertising of games on YouTube and development videos. $3,000,000 raised on KickStarter by Tim Schafer

 "Discuss the ways in which media products are produced and distributed to audiences, winthin a media area you have studied"

Talk about the production and distribution stages of the video games industry - The way in which retailers pay money to sell the games in sell same and distribute it around the world both instore and online. Retailers such as Amazon, Tesco and Game sell games online and instore, while Steam, PlayStation Network and Xbox Live all sell their games via download. The big name companies operate a "closed door policy" which means that they don't allow anyone to find out information about the game.

Video Game Production
Video game development is the process of creating a video game. Development is undertaken by a game developer, which may range from a single person to a large business. Mainstream games are normally funded by a publisher and take several years to develop. Indie games can take less time and can be produced cheaply by individuals and small developers. The indie game industry has seen a rise in recent years with the growth of new online distribution systems and the mobile game market.

Most video and computer games are developed by third-party developers. In these cases, there may be external and internal producers. External producers may act as "executive producers" and are employed by the game's publisher. Internal producers work for the developer itself and have more of a hands-on role. Some game developers may have no internal producers, however, and may rely solely on the publisher's producer.

For an internal producer, associate producers tend to specialize in an area of expertise depending on the team they are producing for and what skills they have a background in. These specializations include but are not limited to: programming, design, art, sound, and quality assurance. A normal producer is usually the project manager and is in charge of delivering the product to the publisher on time and on budget. An executive producer will be managing the all of the products in the company and making sure that the games are on track to meet their goals and stay within the company's goals and direction.

For an external producer, their job responsibilities may focus mainly on overseeing several projects being worked on by a number of developers. While keeping updated on the progress of the games being developed externally, they inform the upper management of the publisher of the status of the pending projects and any problems they may be experiencing. If a publisher's producer is overseeing a game being developed internally, their role is more akin to that of an internal producer and will generally only work on one game or a few small games.

Assassins Creed Franchise

"Assassin's Creed is an historical action-adventure open world stealth video game series that, as of 2012, consists of five main games and a number of supporting materials. The games have appeared on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, iOS, HP webOS, Android, Nokia Symbian, Windows Phone platforms, and the Wii U. The main games in the franchise were developed by Ubisoft Montreal, with the handheld titles developed by Gameloft and Gryptonite Studios, with additional development by Ubisoft Montreal. All games in the franchise are published by Ubisoft. The series has been a success and won a number of awards. The series took inspiration from the novel Alamut by the Slovenian writer Vladimir Bartol."



Assassins Creed  is a video game made produced by a large company, Ubisoft. Work began on Assassins Creed III in 2010, and after work had been done by a team of 1300 people the game was eventually released in November 2012. The game was developed by a team of people operating a "closed door policy" which means that information on the game only comes via leaks on the internet, or via the "making of" documentary that was featured onYouTube (See Below). The game wasthe most pre-ordered game in the history of gaming, and after spending $52 Million on advertising (£4milion in the UK alone) thenthat is little surprise.

The Assassin's Creed Franchise has now been going since 2007 and had become one of Ubisoft's flagship games in this short five year period. The franchise has been very successful and has still managed to keep fans interested even in the current 5th installment of the game. The successfulness of these franchises come from the familiarity with the character, the game and trust in the developers that they can once again make a successful video game. Assassin's Creed has used three different characters in the installments of the game, Altair, Ezio and Connor, however they are all linked to Desmond, the character whom we see in the present day at the start of every game. He uses a special device, named the animus to go back in time and go through the experiences of his ancestors in order to collect certain artifacts.

Double Fine Adventures

Double Fine Adventure is a Point and Click Action-Adventure Indie game designed by Tim Schafer. He is a developer who made Ation-Adventure games when they were popular, and since their demise he has tried to remake another but has never been able to due to lack of money. So when he put the idea for the game on KickStarter in February 2012 he would never has expected such a positive response. Having set out to try and make $400,000 he ended up making $3,336,371, money which could be used to improve the game is various ways. People who pledged money towards the game benefited from rewards and these rnged from a free copy of the game to lunch with the two main developers (Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert). The thing that got people to pledge money to the game was the video that Tim Schafer uploaded to YouTube trying to drill up support for the game, the response to which was so outstanding that they met the target of $400,000 in less than 8 hours. This coupled with the lack of a point and click adventure game has meant that Double Fine Adventure has thrived and could become one of the most successful indie console games of recent times.

 

Double Fine Adventure doesn't have a big marketing budget like Assassin's Creed, and this allows for more money to be spent on the game. Tim Schafer has relied on word of mouth accross forums, YouTube and social media to market the game and so far this has been a strong approach. The game is also saving money by not being distributed in a box with a disc, but instead as downloadable conent meaning. This means it is available on Android, iOS, PSN, Xbox Live and Steam. 

Crowd Funding

How is crowd funding affecting the relationship between institutions and audiences at the Publishing, Design, Marketing and Distribution level? Answer with Assassins Creed and Double Fine Adventure

One of the key changes in the video game industry is coming through Crowd Funding, an idea where people can post their ideas on the internet for things such as Music Albums, Films, or in this case Video Games. Here I will be talking about the effects that Crowd Funding has on the Development, Publishing, Marketing and Distribution, with Assassins Creed and Double Fine Adventures as the main games in this essay.

Crowd funding has changed the relationship in the development of the games. In most games the publishing of the game is done solely through big companies such as Sony, EA or in the case of Assassins Creed, Ubisoft. Assassins Creed has developed as a franchise and has appealed to a larger audience through its many different genres. But in recent years we have seen changes around this, and now the audience of the game are starting to become involved through websites such as Kickstarter are enabling smaller companies and developers to put their ideas on the internet. The audience are then able to fund the game and allow the people who develop the games to use the money to make them games. They do this by being offered incentives, and the incentives vary based on how much is pledged. Double Fine Adventure is a game which has been made through this process. Tim Schafer was turned down by various companies, and via kick start he managed to raise $3,336,371, much more than his target of $400,000. He managed this through video presentations on YouTube, and this encouraged 87,172 people to pledge through various incentives, ranging from a copy of the game, to a t-shirt, to a lunch with the creators of the game.  The plus side to this that they only have to give 5% of the money away, and they still keep full control over the game.

The Design and Production of games produced via crowd funding are very different to that of Ubisoft. Ubisoft have a “closed door” policy, where the only time that we find anything out about the game is via the marketing or an occasional leak which doesn’t involve the audience in the game. However, with Double Fine Adventures the audience of the game are much more involved in the story and the looks of the characters meaning that it can actually be fine tuned by the audience, and this also provides much of the marketing of the game, therefore saving large amounts of money that games like Assassins Creed cannot. During the production of the game Tim Schafer produced several making of videos to inform the audience as to the progress that is being made and they can see what their money is being put towards. The production of the game can then be tailored towards the audience much more than conventional games.

Crowd Funded games have the added bonus of not having to spend money on the marketing of the game. They have their target audience and can keep them informed via email about the game, and therefore they can use free advertising, as well as word of mouth of the customers across the internet, and in particular the 87,000 who are already supporting Double Fine Adventures. Last year (2011) Ubisoft announced that they had lost $45million, and a large percentage of this had been spent on the marketing of the game alone as they have had to put a large sales drive in to try and force people to buy the games.  The Indie Developers don’t have this problem, allowing them to spend more of their money on the game, allowing them to make a much higher quality product than they might otherwise have been able to.

Finally, we have the big impact on the distribution that cloud funding is providing. With the lager games companies when trying to get their games into retail they have to spend vast amounts of money on just getting it into the shops. Retailers such as Amazon and Game are two of the main retailers in the UK and many games come through them. However with Crowd Funding they already have the information of 87,000 people, who will all receive the game, and the rest of the copies of the game can be bought through Steam, The App Store, The Android Market, The Playstation Store and The Xbox Live Market, meaning that Double Fine Productions do not have to pay all the costs of putting the game onto discs and getting them in boxes, they can simply get the games on the market and then they will never run out of copies.

In Conclusion I feel that Crowd Funding could be the next big thing to revolutionise the way we play video games. Judging by my findings I think that by the time that the next generation of games consoles come out the more well known companies in the video game industry will start to see declining sales, while the Indie Games makers and the Crowd Funded games will start to become much larger than they currently are.

Assassins Creed Franchise

How do Franchises establish and develop continuing sales figures? Write a response to the question using Assassin's Creed III and detailing the following areas: Publishing, Development, Marketing and Distribution

The Assassin's Creed franchise is a franchise based on a game that was initially released 5 years ago, in 2007. The game back then sold over 8 million copies, and since then the series has continued to sell in such high figures. The narrative of the whole series has remained pretty much the same throughout, although this is a very popular structure. We start off with Desmond, who is the ancestor of a series of Assassins. He is the main character, yet we very rarely play as him in the game. The game starts with him entering the animus, a system for where he can relive the memories of his ancestors to collect artifacts from history.

 

 Altaïr From The Original Assassin's Creed

In the publishing of the game Assassin's Creed III has been aimed at the same audiences as before. Males, although this time around they have aimed the game at people older than 18 rather than 15, and some of their fans have grown up with the series, much in the same way that the Harry Potter fans have grown up with their books and developing the characters, while at the same time the books have beocme much more adult. And in the 5 years of Assassin's Creed it has increased in the age. Over the course of the three main Assassin's Creed games (1, 2 and 3) there have been three main characters; Altaïr, Ezio and Connor. Each of these have also developed throughout the series, so much so that Ezio became a very key figure in the series, and was a very popular character amongst the fanbase.

Connor from Assassin's Creed III

Assassin's Creed has used a very similar engine through the series, however improvements have allowed for improvements. The first Assassin's Creed game used the Anvil Engine under the name of Scimitar. This is an engine which is also used by Prince of Persia. Assassin's Creed II, Brotherhood and Revelation are all also on the Anvil Engine. However, the brand new AnvilNext engine allows for better weather cycling, and for a crowd of up to 2000 people in any one place at a time whereas it had previously only a few hundred, these developments have been huge in making the franchise better for the gameplayers and the fans. AnvilNext also allows for characters to disappear during the game, as well as Ai and graphical improvements. The game design has also increased in size over each of the Assassin's Creed games, meaning that the players have much more to achieve in each game, meaning they are more likely to keep on playing the game. Gameplay has also improved, as Assassin's Creed I feels much more rigid when compared to Assassin's Creed III which has much smoother movement due to the increases in the quality of the engine, leaving gamers much more reasurred that the character will follow their commands rather than following a different path when free-running. 

 

In the marketing of Assassin's Creed the developers of the game have been releasing data about the game in the build up to Assassin's Creed. These include things such as images, information about the story, gameplay videos and videos about the making of the game. The luxury that companies have nowadays is that they can post videos on YouTube for free, and therefore gain free advertisement of their games. These videos and pieces of information about the game are key for the players of the game, and all fans of the series begin to anticipate the games more and more. These are also very exciting for the new gamers as they allow a sneek peak at a product that they may way to purchase. There are many franchise games which release demos too which also allow for people to sample the game, perhaps for the first time, and this allows them to make a good judgement on trying out the game. In March 2012 Ubisoft also announced that they would be spending over £4 Million to try and increase the sales figures. This is as well as lots of interviews which people from the game to say that this Assassin's Creed is possibly the best ever.

The distribution of the game is the final aspect in the creation of the game. Companies such as Game, Amazon and Play are large distributors of the game, and do schemes in the pre-ordering of the game to allow discounts or bonus features for the people who buy the game. Supermarkets such as Morrisons, Sainsburys and Tesco all get involved in the sales of the game, and contribute towards the expected 8 million sales of the games. Another form of sales on the games are on the Xbox Live Market and the Playstation Network for people who don't want a disc copy of the game, but instead would rather download the game onto their device.  

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

Formats Released In

Playstation 3

Xbox 360

Microsoft Windows

Mac OS X

Cloud

Copies Sold

As of May 2011 Ubisoft annouced that 8 million copies of the game been sold

Money Made From The Game

The Video Games Industry

Structure 

Publisher - The publisher is responsible for licensing the rights and the concept on which the game is to be based. Large publishers/developers also handle both the marketing and distribution themselves. In the international game industry, the publisher and the developer are generally the same concern. For example, the large American game publisher Electronic Arts (EA) owns a number of development companies that develop games based on licences EA has obtained.

Developers - Some developers started as companies that developed games on contract.• Today, the great majority of developers are independent game companies that develop games based on their own rights, and publish the games themselves. Some game companies can thus be regarded as both publishers and developers.

The Distributor - The job of the distributor involves marketing the game, handling packaging and transport and in some cases providing user support. The international publishers sometimes function as distributors for small game developers. In such cases, the distributor owns no rights to the product, but helps in making it available on the market.

5 Most Important Games of All Time

5. Madden Football (1990)
The first John Madden NFL football actually premiered in 1988 but it was the second version in 1990 that set it on its path to annual releases and becoming the best-selling sports game of all time with over 85 million copies sold as of 2010. Former coach and broadcaster lent his name to the series, insisting on realism. Each year giddy football fans line up at midnight to get the newest game and to see what new additions have been made.  Perhaps the biggest key to Madden’s long success is its exclusivity contract which gives it the only game with rights to NFL player names, team names, and stadiums, virtually guaranteeing a monopoly on the NFL. The sucess of the Madden series then lead to EA creating the popular FIFA franchise which is popular on the oppsite side of the atlantic to Madden. 
4. Space Invaders (1978)
Space invaders was developed by Taito in Japan and licensed to Midway in the U.S.  This simple blast the alien invader games is perhaps more responsible for the rise of the arcade game industry in the late 1970’s and early 1980s than any other game. Over 60,000 machines were sold in the U.S. It became the first “must have” game on the Atari 2600 and quadrupled sales of that console in 1980. The game was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto who would later go on to design classic games like Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, and F-Zero

3. World of Warcraft (2004)
World of Warcraft wasn’t the first massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), but it’s become the most popular and influential. First released in 2004, World of Warcraft took the Warcraft real-time strategy series and turned it into an online game for the world to enjoy. As of 2011 the game had over 11 million subscribers and holds the Guinness World Record for the most popular MMORPG by subscribers. Developer Blizzard Entertainment has produced numerous expansion packs to keep players coming back for more.    

2. Wii Sports (2006)
Wii Sports came packed with the Nintendo Wii console when released in 2006 and because of that it enjoys the status as being the best-selling video game of all time with over 75 million copies sold. But more importantly, Wii Sports became the greatest social videogame, allowing friends and families to compete in sports like tennis, baseball, bowling, golf, and boxing. Wii Sports has bridged generations becoming the game to have a strong following among senior citizens. Wii Sports has thrived in retirement communities where golf and bowling leagues sprouted up en masse. Wii Sports signalled a change in the video game industry, and it brought many people to gaming for the first time.
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1. Super Mario Bros. (1985)
Released at the launch of the original Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Mario is also largely responsible for the NES’ initial success. It was the best-selling game of all time for over two decades until being supplanted by another game on our list with over 40 million units sold. Mario has gone on to become Nintendo’s flagship character with each new system they release, and the name Mario can sell almost anything that Nintendo wants it to. And more importantly the 2D platformer is still very popular and addicting today, meaning that this game can be played over and over again by different generations without ever getting bored.

The Effects of Changing Technology on the Video Game Industry

Since the start of the 21st century there have been massive leaps in technology which have allowed the video game industry to evolve. At the start of this century Sony were just about to bring out the Playstation 2 which saw huge improvements on the Playstation 1. There was much more space, better processing and things seemed much more realistic. Skip forward a few years to 2003 and we see the the introduction of the EyeToy which would allow users to control things on screen using motion. Although this didn't catch on very well it was the start of a big change in gaming. By the middle of the 00s we were introduced to online gaming for the first time via Xbox Live which enabled players to play against one another via the internet, and this is a huge thing today. And thenw e come back to the EyeToy. In the current generation of games consoles we have the Playstation 3, the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii. All three of these can use motion in order to enchance the gameplay. The PS3 has Playstation move which is very similar to the Ninentdo Wii in the way it enables players to use a remote to play the game, and the Xbox Kinect which is a much improved version of the EyeToy.

Upcoming Game

Call of Duty: Black Ops II, abbreviated as COD: BO2, or simply BO2, is an upcoming first-person shooter developed by Treyarch and published by Activision. This is the ninth main installment for the Call of Duty franchise, set for release on November 13, 2012. It is the sequel to Call of Duty: Black Ops and was announced on May 1, 2012e. It is the first game made by Treyarch to be set in the future, and also the first direct sequel produced for the series by the studio. The story takes place across two separate arcs, one recounting events in the 1980s, and the other following characters in the year 2025.

1980s

The 1980s story arc follows the exploits of Alex Mason, fighting in a proxy war in Angola whilst suffering from a disorder as a result of his brainwashing in Vorkuta. Viktor Reznov will reportedly return in this section of the game, and it has been suggested that his friendship with Mason will continue to be explored.
This portion of the game chronicles the rise of Raul Menendez, the primary antagonist of the game in the 2025 chapter. Known locations in this section are Angola, Afghanistan, Panama and parts of Central America.

2025

In 2025, a cyberattack targets the Chinese economy, crippling the Chinese Stock Exchange. In retaliation for this, the Chinese government has banned the export of rare earth elements, sparking a "Second Cold War" between the United States and the People's Republic of China. During a Chinese invasion of Los Angeles, David Mason - the son of Alex Mason - and a team from the United States Navy Special Warfare Development Group must escort the American and French presidents to safety as they come under attack from automated weapons and Menendez's men. In the time since the 1980s, Raul Menendez has styled himself as the leader of the Cordis Die, a populist faction hailed as the champions of victims of economic inequality. In his role as their leader, Menendez has taken control of the "keys" to the armed forces, hijacking the United States' automated weapons systems and turning them against their masters. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Frank Woods has survived his encounter with Lev Kravchenko and escaped from Hanoi. He has taken refuge in a secret location known as "The Vault" and has anticipated Menendez's rise to prominence. Woods serves as the narrator for the 2025 story arc. Known locations are Los Angeles, The Vault, Singapore, Yemen and Cayman Trench. 

Gameplay

Departing from the notorious linear campaign style of past Call of Duty games, Treyarch has decided to take a non-linear and sandbox approach to Call of Duty: Black Ops II, (meaning no back-to-back missions with the same outcome every time replayed) instead the old linear style has been dropped in favor of "a more open ended campaign that relies heavily on player choice. "There will be significant points within the single-player campaign where the player is essentially given control over the course the game will take. It won't be a simple "A, B or C" choice either, it will be more expansive than that, for example, not protecting a certain character won't lead to a mission failure, instead it will change the course the game will take. To help with the departure from a linear campaign are a set of special missions dubbed Strike Force. These missions are sandbox, and play similarly to a Real Time Strategy game. The player can assume the role of a commander, command ground forces, and on top of this, there will be the ability to go back to the traditional first-person and take part in the action themselves. The player gets to have a chance of taking control of many different warfare technology such as unmanned vehicles, jets and robotic automobiles. If the player dies in a Strike Force mission, the story will go on, keeping the record of deaths rather than loading to the last saved checkpoint. The missions will go on to change the story, even change Menendez's plans. By the time the cold war ends the player will see that they have made the results different.





  

'Worst' Paragraph Rewritten

Editing is used in this clip in order to show us the feelings of the lesbian woman. We see lots of fades involving the lesbian woman, particularly when she is with the other woman which could perhaps show us that she is dreaming up ideas. Another way that the editing is used is again through fades. After the 'rape' scene we see the fade, and the fire in the bedroom is through her body, which could possibly show the danger. It also juxtaposes the two scenes, because on is her being 'semi-raped' and the other is her lusting over the other female character in the scene. The editing is used in conjunction with the camera shots, and we see the point of view shots used so we can see what she is looking at.

Terminology - Camera Shots

Camera Angles

1 . Extreme long shot

Extreme Long Shot

This can be taken from as much as a quarter of a mile away, and is generally used as a scene-setting, establishing shot. It normally shows an EXTERIOR, eg the outside of a building, or a landscape, and is often used to show scenes of thrilling action eg in a war film or disaster movie. There will be very little detail visible in the shot, it's meant to give a general impression rather than specific information.
The extreme long shot on the left is taken from a distance, but denotes a precise location - it might even connote all of the entertainment industry if used as the opening shot in a news story.

2. Long Shot

This is the most difficult to categorise precisely, but is generally one which shows the image as approximately "life" size ie corresponding to the real distance between the audience and the screen in a cinema (the figure of a man would appear as six feet tall). This category includes the FULL SHOT showing the entire human body, with the head near the top of the frame and the feet near the bottom. While the focus is on characters, plenty of background detail still emerges: we can tell the coffins on the right are in a Western-style setting, for instance.

3. Medium Shot

Contains a figure from the knees/waist up and is normally used for dialogue scenes, or to show some detail of action. Variations on this include the TWO SHOT (containing two figures from the waist up) and the THREE SHOT (contains 3 figures...). NB. Any more than three figures and the shot tends to become a long shot. Background detail is minimal, probably because location has been established earlier in the scene - the audience already know where they are and now want to focus on dialogue and character interation. Another variation in this category is the OVER-THE-SHOULDER-SHOT, which positions the camera behind one figure, revealing the other figure, and part of the first figure's back, head and shoulder.

4. Close-Up

This shows very little background, and concentrates on either a face, or a specific detail of mise en scène. Everything else is just a blur in the background. This shot magnifies the object (think of how big it looks on a cinema screen) and shows the importance of things, be it words written on paper, or the expression on someone's face. The close-up takes us into the mind of a character. In reality, we only let people that we really trust get THAT close to our face - mothers, children and lovers, usually - so a close up of a face is a very intimate shot. A film-maker may use this to make us feel extra comfortable or extremely uncomfortable about a character, and usually uses a zoom lens in order to get the required framing.

5. Extreme Close-Up

As its name suggests, an extreme version of the close up, generally magnifying beyond what the human eye would experience in reality. An extreme close-up of a face, for instance, would show only the mouth or eyes, with no background detail whatsoever. This is a very artificial shot, and can be used for dramatic effect. The tight focus required means that extra care must be taken when setting up and lighting the shot - the slightest camera shake or error in focal length is very noticeable. 

Camera Angles

The relationship between the camera and the object being photographed (ie the ANGLE) gives emotional information to an audience, and guides their judgment about the character or object in shot. The more extreme the angle (ie the further away it is from eye left), the more symbolic and heavily-loaded the shot.

1. The Bird's-Eye view

This shows a scene from directly overhead, a very unnatural and strange angle. Familiar objects viewed from this angle might seem totally unrecognisable at first (umbrellas in a crowd, dancers' legs). This shot does, however, put the audience in a godlike position, looking down on the action. People can be made to look insignificant, ant-like, part of a wider scheme of things. Hitchcock (and his admirers, like Brian de Palma) is fond of this style of shot.

 

A cameraman, raised above the action, gets a high angle shot

2. High Angle

Not so extreme as a bird's eye view. The camera is elevated above the action using a crane to give a general overview. High angles make the object photographed seem smaller, and less significant (or scary). The object or character often gets swallowed up by their setting - they become part of a wider picture.

3. Eye Level

A fairly neutral shot; the camera is positioned as though it is a human actually observing a scene, so that eg actors' heads are on a level with the focus. The camera will be placed approximately five to six feet from the ground.

4. Low Angle

These increase height (useful for short actors like Tom Cruise or James McAvoy) and give a sense of speeded motion. Low angles help give a sense of confusion to a viewer, of powerlessness within the action of a scene. The background of a low angle shot will tend to be just sky or ceiling, the lack of detail about the setting adding to the disorientation of the viewer. The added height of the object may make it inspire fear and insecurity in the viewer, who is psychologically dominated by the figure on the screen.

5. Oblique/Canted Angle

Sometimes the camera is tilted (ie is not placed horizontal to floor level), to suggest imbalance, transition and instability (very popular in horror movies). This technique is used to suggest POINT-OF-View shots (ie when the camera becomes the 'eyes' of one particular character,seeing what they see — a hand held camera is often used for this.

 

Camera Movement

A director may choose to move action along by telling the story as a series of cuts, going from one shot to another, or they may decide to move the camera with the action. Moving the camera often takes a great deal of time, and makes the action seem slower, as it takes several second for a moving camera shot to be effective, when the same information may be placed on screen in a series of fast cuts. Not only must the style of movement be chosen, but the method of actually moving the camera must be selected too. There are seven basic methods:

1. Pans

A movement which scans a scene horizontally. The camera is placed on a tripod, which operates as a stationary axis point as the camera is turned, often to follow a moving object which is kept in the middle of the frame.

2. Tilts

A movement which scans a scene vertically, otherwise similar to a pan.

3. Dolly Shots

Sometimes called TRUCKING or TRACKING shots. The camera is placed on a moving vehicle and moves alongside the action, generally following a moving figure or object. Complicated dolly shots will involve a track being laid on set for the camera to follow, hence the name. The camera might be mounted on a car, a plane, or even a shopping trolley (good method for independent film-makers looking to save a few dollars). A dolly shot may be a good way of portraying movement, the journey of a character for instance, or for moving from a long shot to a close-up, gradually focusing the audience on a particular object or character.

4. Hand-held shots

The hand-held movie camera first saw widespread use during World War II, when news reporters took their windup Arriflexes and Eyemos into the heat of battle, producing some of the most arresting footage of the twentieth century. After the war, it took a while for commercially produced movies to catch up, and documentary makers led the way, demanding the production of smaller, lighter cameras that could be moved in and out of a scene with speed, producing a "fly-on-the-wall" effect.This aesthetic took a while to catch on with mainstream Hollywood, as it gives a jerky, ragged effect, totally at odds with the organised smoothness of a dolly shot. The Steadicam (a heavy contraption which is attached a camera to an operator by a harness. The camera is stabilized so it moves independently) was debuted in Marathon Man (1976), bringing a new smoothness to hand held camera movement and has been used to great effect in movies and TV shows ever since. No "walk and talk" sequence would be complete without one. Hand held cameras denote a certain kind of gritty realism, and they can make the audience feel as though they are part of a scene, rather than viewing it from a detached, frozen position.

 

5. Crane Shots

Basically, dolly-shots-in-the-air. A crane (or jib), is a large, heavy piece of equipment, but is a useful way of moving a camera - it can move up, down, left, right, swooping in on action or moving diagonally out of it. The camera operator and camera are counter-balanced by a heavy weight, and trust their safety to a skilled crane/jib operator.

6. Zoom Lenses

A zoom lens contains a mechanism that changes the magnification of an image. On a still camera, this means that the photographer can get a 'close up' shot while still being some distance from the subject. A video zoom lens can change the position of the audience, either very quickly (a smash zoom) or slowly, without moving the camera an inch, thus saving a lot of time and trouble. The drawbacks to zoom use include the fact that while a dolly shot involves a steady movement similar to the focusing change in the human eye, the zoom lens tends to be jerky (unless used very slowly) and to distort an image, making objects appear closer together than they really are. Zoom lenses are also drastically over-used by many directors (including those holding palmcorders), who try to give the impression of movement and excitement in a scene where it does not exist. Use with caution - and a tripod!

7. The Aerial Shot

An exciting variation of a crane shot, usually taken from a helicopter. This is often used at the beginning of a film, in order to establish setting and movement. A helicopter is like a particularly flexible sort of crane - it can go anywhere, keep up with anything, move in and out of a scene, and convey real drama and exhilaration — so long as you don't need to get too close to your actors or use location sound with the shots.

Mock Exam.

Part Two..

Right at the start of the clip we see the four slaves being marched, but the only thing we really see of them are the rag which they are wearing. These immediately signify poverty and people of a lower class. If we compare this to the guards who marched them in and what they're wearing we see that they are of a higher class than the slaves based on the fact that they are all wearing a uniform to do their jobs. The situation they are immediately shown in tells us that the slaves are inferior to everyone else. Furthermore, the way that they are always shown between the gaps in fences that they are trapped in their environment, and are treated similar to the way in which animals are treated. If we compare the colours which the slaves are wearing, browns and greys, and compare that to the upper classes who are wearing really bright colours with gold trim, it shows us how much difference there is between the different groups of people. They are wearing colours such as white and purple to show us purity.

We see a lot of evidence of a lower class when the slaves are in the small hut, we get a wide angle shot with all four of their faces in, but very little movement from any of them, and no talking whatsoever, the only noise we can hear is from outside, which is the from the guards and the upper classes. When the door opens in the hut we see all three classes in order. The upper classes are sat at the top, the guards stood in the middle who represent the middle class, while the slaves are at the front but below everyone else, signalling the lower class. During the fight between the black slave as the white slave we see a difference between the slaves. The camera is at a low-angle to show how big the slaves are, but the black slave is always closer to the camera, as he his the one that the director wants us to focus upon, but in these shots we still see the upper classes above the slaves. We also get a high angle shot from behind the upper class family, which shows them looking down on the slaves, and while the slaves are risking their lives they just see it as a bit of fun. This is a signifier of a higher class, and conforms to the stereotypes of both rich and poor.

During the clip we see plenty of use of sound. When the slaves are being marched out we hear slow music as that links well with the slow pace which they are walking with. While in the hut we hear lots of diegetic sound to make up for the lack of speech. The sounds are mainly related to the fight going on outside, and is metal hitting metal or skin. During the fight that we see we have very fast-paced, tense music, but whenever the camera cuts to the upper classes it all goes calm again, which shows that it means very little other than entertainment for them, but when we go to the slaves we can see that they are fighting for their lives, and that the life for the upper classes is relatively easy in comparison to people of a lower class. The editing also shows us the same sort of thing. Whenever the fight is going on the cuts are very fast paced, with the shot changing all the time, but whenever we cut towards the posh it is a much more focused on them to show how calm their lifestyle is. 

The actions of the characters show us a lot about the different classes too. The way that the black slave is angry towards the upper classes is a stereotypical representation towards the way that lower class people feel about the upper classes. It shows jealousy ad hatred towards those who are better off, and therefore those who are in control. We also see how the rich look down on the poor, by the way that the wife of the family uses derogative language towards the lower class when she calls him an 'imbecile'. This also conforms to the stereotype of the rich looking down on the poor.

Preliminary Work

When we started off doing the Preliminary work we were originally warned as to how difficult it could perhaps be, and watching the previous AS level groups we realised that one of the biggest difficulties would be originality. After a brief period we finally came up with an idea that we considered good enough to follow through with. A teacher leaving the classroom while a student steals exam answers off of the computer. 

Once we had decided on the idea, we worked out who would be taking up what roles in the filming off the clip. Myself and Tom took part in both the filming and the directing of the piece, while Tom and Eliot took on the acting. Before that we had to complete several pieces of paperwork, such as a script, a storyboard and a timeline. Once we have ticked all those boxes we were then able to commence with the filming.

Once filming was underway we tried to get plenty of shots for each small clip, so that we could get the acting spot on and make our editing much simpler. We did this with every small clip and often tried experimenting with different camera shots, to try and get used to using all of the things that could potentially improve the clip. After using up most of our 2 hour time limit on the filming we were soon able to start editing together all our clips. In hindsight I wish I had done a little more on the editing as it would probably have come in handy to have the experience of using the software, but I did a little bit and managed to grasp the basic concepts of Sony Vegas.

Looking back on the work that we did I feel as though our group worked very hard, and we all contributed to the task. Doing the work that we did was something I didn't think I could do in under a week so it has helped me prove myself wrong. Next time we do similar work I intend on using the editing software a lot more to try and utilise it myself rather than relying on others, and perhaps acting and letting someone else have a go at using the camera.

Critique of my Blog

• Good use of images
• Good use of Terminology
• Good links to the theories/binary opposites
• Make more attractive (GIFS, Videos)
• Could have used more on editing, mise-en-scene and music, but what is there is good.

• Could make it better presented and more interesting
• Should mention camera shots and sounds
• Nicely laid out
• Good use of pictures
• Good technical language

• Terminology is well used
• Need more on mise-en-scene

• Chunks of text need breaking up
• Needs a conclusion
• Needs to be more appealing

• More terminology but good reference to the theories
• Less heavy text

• Good analysis of characters and detailed
• Clear understanding of structure etc
• A bit text heavy, needs more pictures
• Flows well, a bit short. Needs more info.

Waterloo Road

Waterloo Road, Season 8 Episode 2 (Spirit Child)



Gerard Findlay (Antagonist)
Gerard Findlay is the Headteacher of Haverlock High. He has a feud against Michael Byrne, the Headteacher of Waterloo Road. In this episode he actually helps Mr Budgen respay his car after it has been vandalised by students of Haverlock and he doesn't want Grantley to get the police involved.

Lula (Neutral, but mainly a victim so we feel sympathy towards her)
This episode is the first time we see Lula. At first she is presented as coming from a stereotypical African family where her uncle doesn't speak English. She is a very mixed character who we gain sympathy for due to the way she is harshly treated by her Uncle and the pastor.

Mr Byrne (Protagonist)
Mr Byrne is very quiet in this episode. He doesn't do too much other than tell Grantley not to tell the police as he doesn't want to cause trouble between Waterloo Road and Haverlock High.

Lula's Uncle (Antagonist)
Lula's Uncle is immediatly shown as being a vicious figure. We see from the start that he scares Lula, and he won't listen to what she wants. He is very religious and doesn't believe in any other methods for trying to help Lula. He is also very vicious towards the teachers at the school.

Tom Clarkson (Protagonist)

Mr Clarkson is presented as a bit of a hero in this episode. Despite what happens to Lula he doesn't give up on trying to help her, and he manages to persuade Lula's Mum to come and rescue her from her Uncle and the Pastor.

Lula's Mum (Antagonist)
Lula's Mum is very quiet in this episode. At first she appears as being very ill, but we later see that Lula's Uncle is actually trying to control her, and that despite what we previously hear she can speak English and she helps Lula out and gets rid of Lula's Uncle.

Connor Mulgrew (Neutral)

Connor is a bit of a troublemaker. He tries to get his mum caught out after having Vodka in school, but then he owns up because he feels guilty. At the end of the episode he accidently sets the house on fire, and because his mum is recovering from drinking he tries to pin the blame onto her.

Christine Mulgrew (Neutral)

Christine is a teacher who has a drink problem. She is caught with alcohol in the school but her son takes the blame for her. At the end of the episode Connor sets the house on fire accidently and blames in on Christine.

In this episode we see the conflict between the binary opposites. According to Levi-Strauss most films and TV Dramas are based around conflict between binary opposites. Hero V Villain, Good v Evil and Love v Duty. In this episode Lula and her Uncle are the opposites and stand for Good v Evil. As is usually the case with most TV shows and films good eventually triumphs over evil, despite always looking like evil will come out on top. The story follows a linear structure, where it is all in chronological order. The clips all work as a chain, with something in between the seperate storylines which develop through the storyline. These include Connor and his Mum's drink problem, where Connor accidentally sets his house on fire and Gerard Findley and Michael Bryne's Feud over Waterloo Road and Haverlock High.

We see Love as a duty of care reversed. Normally we'd expect the uncle to be the one showing love towards his niece, but what we actually see happening is Tom loving Lula and showing her care and the Uncle not really being interested. This is a role reversal which helps Mr Clarkson look like a hero. This helps to provide the ending, when Tom managed to get Lula's Mum in just in time and manages to to prevent the exorcism and allow Lula and her Mum to restart their relationship with one another.

This episode manages to fit in with Todorov's theory of narrative equilibrium. We have an Equilibrium where Lula is starting at school, however this doesn't last long before she is already causing trouble by stepping out in front of Mr Clarkson's car. The disruption starts fully when other students try to interact with Lula, she reacts very badly to it and causes problems. Lula recognises this when she tells Mr Clarkson about her Uncle and how he plans on taking her to the pastor for her exorcism. The attempts to repair this start when, after being taken out of school by her uncle, Tom and Lula's mum stop the exorcism from happening, and the police are contacted, and for the main storyline we see the happy ending that was expected. To an extent it also conforms with Syd Field's 3 Act Structure, although nowhere near as well as with Todorov's theory.

The roles of the characters don't conform with Propp's Character Types Theory. We have Tom who is the hero in this episode, Lula's Uncle who plays the role of the villain, Lula's Mum as the helper and Lula as the princess. But we don't have anyone who acts as a donor, dispatcher or false hero. In Waterloo Road many of the characters are based on Stereotypes. Lula and her family are based strongly on a typical Western African family with the way they speak French and being very religious. Whenever Lula's Uncle is on the screen the camera is always looking up at him to try and make him seem as big as possible, while with her Mum we always see her from a long way and dressed as being very ill, almost the opposite of Lula's Uncle.

Elliott Walsh and Brad Matthews

Portrayal

Why represent the police in this way?

The police are represented as being the villains in this, despite the fact that whenever we see the police we usually associate them with being the heroes. The police are portrayed as being faceless and not caring about the immigrants. This manages to show the brutality of real life, that trying to do the right thing can ruin people's lives

Why represent the immigrants in this way?

The immigrants are shown as being very sensitive, and straight away we know that they are the ones who we need to have sympathy. We are also shown that workers who migrate from other countries can't get decent jobs. We see this when Adam looks after the diabetic woman and knows exactly what to do and indeed tells us "I wasn't always a cleaner you know".

What stereotypes are being adhered to or subverted in this clip?
Immigrants having poorly paid jobs is definitely which is being adhered to in this clip, but apart from that all other stereotypes are being de-constructed. Immigrants are often de-humanised and many people think of them as people who steal jobs while being unskilled. But we know that isn't true in this clip as Adam is actually a doctor. The police who are often shown as being the heroes in film and television are shown as being antagonists in this clip. They are shown as being the destroyers of peoples lives and then refer to it as "Just a game".

Can you hypotheses the behind the mediation of this text
This text has been produced to entertain. That is the main purpose of this text is to entertain, as that is why the film has been produced however it has a secondary purpose which is to educated people that our preconceptions aren't necessarily the truth about immigrants. 

Stereotypes, Signs and Schwarzenegger

Ok. So maybe not all Germans put their towels on their sun beds and perhaps not all blondes are actually dumb. But these stereotypes must come from somewhere, and when we see someone in a film who looks like you think they should we automatically assume it is true. But how many time do you go round Halifax or Huddersfield and see someone wearing a flat cap? Very rarely, in the same way that Germans don't all wear Lederhosen and eat sausages. The way we see things completely influences our judgement. For example a red traffic light. The Denotation of a red traffic light is the red light, and the connotation is that the drivers of a car should wait. Being from the western side of the world we know to associate red with danger, and therefore we know to stop. But in China red is almost always shown to be a Lucky colour. If a Chinese person visited the UK and drove through a red light it wouldn't be very lucky at all.

Red for danger? Or Red for luck?

It isn't just colours that we think about differently, it is items and photographs. For example when you see a picture of a sunrise or sunset you immediately think of relaxation, peacefulness and a very happy place. And when you see a rose you think of love and romance. When you see the picture of Arnold Schwarzengger in Conan The Barbarian you think of masculinity, a strong sense of pride and he fact that he is a hero. But when you think about it closer, 'Arnie' uses steroids in order to make himself look more masculine, however steroids actually make the genitalia smaller, which by many men is seen as a big thing about masculinity.