Some Media Terms

Visual Codes - what you see in the scene, what makes up the mise-en-scene 

Narrative Codes - how the story is constructed

Semiotics - the theory of signs


Sign - actual object

Signifier - physical attributes of the sign


Signified - meaning constructed from the physical attributes of the object 

Iconic Sign - what the actual object is


Indexical Sign - a sign that suggests something has happened


Symbolic Sign - iconic sign given a sympolic meaning


Syntagmatic Structure - how the narrative is constructed through signs 

Camera Positions and camera movements

Low angle shots: Shot taken from below High angle shot: Shot taken from above

Tracking: Moving the camera itself towards, alongside or away from the subject, or to follow a moving subject

Hand-held shot: Shaky and wobbly camera, no tripod. Convays a sense of immediacy or naturalism.

Pan: Pivoting the camera to a side to scan a scene or follow a moving subject. The camera remains stationary

Arc: A 360 degree trip around the subject 

Point of view shot: A shot from a characters point of view. We are positioned as the character 
Two shot: Any shot with two people in it
Reaction shot: A shot showing a character's response to a piece of action or dialogue 

Framing

Framing

Very long shot/wide shot: this shot is often used at the beginning of a film or sequence and acts as an establishing shot, showing where the action is taking place.
Figures appear small in the landscape.Long shot: A shot in which a figure can be seen from head to toe
Mid shot: Shows the figure from the waist to the head. The character is easily recognisable, but you can also see what they are doing with their hands
Medium close-up: From cheast to headBig close up: Head only, used when expressions are importantExtreme close up: From just above the eyebrows to just below the mouth, or even closer. 

9 Frames Activity

The task set was to create 9 frames that display titles for a film opening.  I created a storyboard/shot list for the film 'CRAVE'. I then found nine pictures off the internet and I Posted them to blogger. This exercise is to give us a more visual sense of how a title sequence should look.

Preliminary Production Task

For our OCR preliminary task we have to record a very short film which contained 3 Basic Rules:
Shot-Reverse-Shot,  Match On Action and the 180 degree rule.

The scenario was a youth comes into a school during lesson times, steals a computer by hiding it in his jacket and makes a run for it.

Location: Cherwell Secondary School (Northsite) Student Entrance Just Past The Gate and the Alleyway that leads from Cherwell to Summertown.
Soundtrack: Dizzee Rascal - 'jus a rascal. This song was chosen because it helps connote the Atmosphere of the scene and particularly how the youth was feeling throughout the scenes.
Editing: The editing is to be limited to the basics; Continuity editing, jump cuts, and fast forwards on Certain Clips.

Shooting Schedule (AM):

9:10 Establishing Shot walking towards the Gate while stealing laptop
9:15 Reverse shots facilitated by a makeshift dolly to keep it smooth
9:20 Action Shot of youth running from the gate
9:30 Tracking Shot of youth running down alleyway
9:40 Reverse Tracking shot round corner of alleyway in front of youth
(give or take 5 minutes for each procedure in the shoot)

Anchorage

Anchorage is basically used in media to attach meaning to something through either the matching of words to images or the juxtaposition of two images which construct a meaning. It is mainly linked to advertisements.
For example picture captions, they tell us in words exactly how the subject should be read/interpreted.