Or maybe we just stopped trying?

So the purpose for this post is, i'm gonna try an go through all the stuff we've covered in the year so far. Which would class as revision wouldn't it? As i'm rehearsing what i've already learnt so it's going into my long term memory.
So yeah REVISION GUIDE and other help if i aint ever got my folder with me or i just wana jam at the computer screen and look over things instead of having to decipher my handwriting. So here we go, a brief summary of what we've done so far:

But anyways: back to september~
First of all we were handed an introduction booklet for an introduction to A/S film studies, which goes through all the stuff we'd be learning nd stuff. Like analysis of film language and it's subsequent meaning and messages it puts forth to audience members.

Which can be put into either:
Micro - Small
Macro - Big

And you can furthermore refer to film language as text (film, it's techniques and genre etc)- Or context, which is institutions and stuff, things that the film went through to be where they are now and what they stand for.

The we looked into analysing film sequences and how different shots, dominant colors, music and characterization etc shape meaning. First looking at Moulin Rouge.

And how we should include things like representation, ideaology, arguments, social commentaries in essays and when thinking about film to a deeper level.

We also looked at what film is? and all the different things it stands for:
business, companies making money, marketing, commercialism, hobbies, an area of study, entertainment, film's aimed at a wide demographic, and also has cross-cultural links with tv shows, books, tv series and games etc.

Film can be:

Controversial - explores issues which we wouldn't expect to be seen on screen, or provide a commentary on controversial social issues at the present point in time.

Educational - It can open the audiences mind to reality, or allow them to learn abut certain taboo subjects.

Escapism - It allows the audience to escape into a world that they long for, etc etc.

and we were told to list out top ten films, mine of which are.

1 - Princess Mononoke
2 - The Matrix Reloaded
2 - Spirited Away
4 - Mona Lisa Smile
5 - Get Real
6 - Death Note
7 - American Pie (LOL)
8 - Battle Royale
9 - Sex And The City
10 - Sympaty For Lady Vengeance

Next we looked at components of a film, like narrative, editing, sound, mise-en-scene, lighting, performance, and the camera and cinematography
Then we compared viewing a movie at home to seeing one in a cinema.
And we went through a sequence from Silence Of The Lambs in class and looked at its film language and blah blah blah. We were then given a film Language booklet which explained things in more depth. Alot of things i won't re-write thougth coz i know them and itd be silly because after writing a few essays all the stuff we need to look for in film is already in my head, easy peasy.

At some point we also watched Run Lola Run in class and looked at how films can be non-linear and outside the basket in terms of normality, and stuff we don't expect or see in all films.

Next we looked at story boarding >.<
And were asked to storyboard a poem for homework (which i didn't do because storyboarding is hard and i dislike my drawing skills)
But it kind of showed how hard it is to put words into pictures unless you have a secure idea of what you what kind of message you wana put across to the people watching.

Also we looked at the Psycho shower sequence and looked at why it worked so well and why it's such an iconic sequence.

The, we were told to scrutinize a 3-5 minute film sequence of our choice and deliver it to the class in form of a presentation. Big scare.

But when it came down to it it wasn't so bad, after alot of "arse-farting" about i chose the dinner scene from American Beauty.



And in the presentation i looked at how the viewer is put in the place of the empty seat on the table, and how the camera goes from side to side during the argument like your head would do if you sat there. And how the word "irresponsible" comes up alot during the song played in the background. I can't remember much about it but then i played the DVD commentary. Everyone did pretty goood ont he presentation thing seeing as it was the first one we ever had to do.

Then then then, we looked at the bladerunner upening in class. Made notes on it and how things are put forth, and were told to write a micro essay on it. Which was harddd because the sequence is so vague and short. But i did good in the essay so meh.

But yeah, at this point it was around the start of November i think? From here we were focusing upon our practical task with mr Fairnie and having lost a few of my note sheets we may have gone over more in class than what i've wrote, but oh well things are going good so far. We were told to come up with ideas for a short film/sequence and to think of: style, production values, storyline, a storyboard, context and the target audience. Also we were told to research and watch Short Films!

And in Ms Moore's class at this time we started to look at Hollywoood*
and how we all looked at our own connotations and perceptions of the place, some were:
exaggerated, wealth, success, superficiality, beautiful people, stars, walk of fame, american dream.

We also listed major studios in Hollywood
- Fox
- MGM
- Pixar
- Columbia Tri-star
- Dreamworks
- Sony
- Time Warner
- Touch Stone
- Disney

and also films go through the vertically intergrated system of production - distribution - exhibition.

Also at the notion of film being an Art. Versus the notion of it being mainly for commercialism and making mone. Which led us to watch two documentaries on Hollywood which provided us with alot of information >=]

Next in Fairnies we were told to remember three memorable scenes from films. I chose:

- Sympathy for lady vengeance - hands of a killer
- American Beauty - dinner scene
- American pie - where he fucks the pie LOL

And from this we were told to think up of more ideas for our short film we'd produce and were told to come to next lesson with concrete ideas for our potential film

Next in Ms Moor'es we looked at her cast study of Quantum of Solace on the board. And were set the task of producing our own case study into the marketing, distribution, exhibition and studio research of a Hollywood film,

She told us to look at:
www.impawards.com
www.moviemarketingmadness.com
www.imdb.com
and Mark Kermode

And were told that it had to be in at somethig in December! lots of time, and what i've done so far is in my case study post.

And since then we've all come into groups and shot the footage for our short films, all we need to do now is edit. was a good experience shooting our film :D
considering it was kind of spur of the moment and completely different to our original idea but we got it done and improvised and shot some good scenes of Tara. Alot more fun that i originally anticipated!

We looked at "The magic of movie editing" in class and it's on the blog so i watched it on there, which further informed our knowledge on the history and importance of editing. And we looked at the American Beauty opening sequence with Mr fairnie and were given a good essay example looking at certain aspects of the scene.

Then came the genre lesson in which we had 45 mins to come up with a film, and all we were given was the genre. Pretty hard lol we were given "Musical." Was okay i suppose given we only had 40 minutes. Also we looked at the importance of Genre and how and why it's used. Minimizing economic risk for producers and studios, it allows advertisers to produce a certain style for the advertising campaign as it can link in with the genre and themses of the potential movie. Also it works through audience members prior knowledge and previous experiences they've had with films of a specific genre. And we drew some diagram about how genre is cyclic, etc. It works through repitition and difference and cashing in on typical characters, settings and music (etc) of a specific genre.

But all-in-all, so far fim studies has been fun but i just wanna see our finished edited film which i hope we can finish before christmas, then thats out of the way!