Media studies 2009-2011

This Is England

This Is England is a 2006 drama film written and directed by Shane Meadows. The first opening scene shows many shots of britians icons set in 1983. The film illustrates that the skinhead subculture, whose 1960s roots include elements of black culture (especially ska, soul and reggae music), eventually became adopted by white nationalists, which led to divisions within the skinhead scene. Black outs are used to show credits in the opening shots, many shots are used in the opening credits such as an establishing shot is used to create the scene and show the location, a close-up is used to show facial expressions and wide shots are also used to body language and the action in the scene, a two shot is used to show the relationation between two people. Much of the film was shot in predominantly residential areas of Nottingham, including St Ann’s, Lenton and The Meadows, with one section featuring abandoned houses at the former airbase RAF Newton, just outside of Bingham, Nottinghamshire. The opening fight sequence was filmed at Wilsthorpe Business and Enterprise College, a secondary school in Derbyshire. Additional scenes were filmed in Grimsby, Turgoose’s home town. 

The foundation portfolio is worth 50% of our AS grade. The first task we have to do is the preliminary exercise. For this we have to film someone walking down a coridoor, walking into a classroom, and sitting down giving someone else an object or item also including some diologue. The exercise had to be done in group of 3-4 in a group which we then created a storyboard. After filing are shots we then had to edited into a short video clip that had some sence.

Evaluation

I believe are video meet all the projects briefs as we had all the different shots such as the two shot, medium shot, wide shot, match on action and close up shot. The short film could have been improved as one of the shots didnt have enough head room and also the lighting in the coridoor was very dark and then when entering a light room the white balance did not look right when looking at the end project. Also a few shots were shot into the window which doesnt look good on the final outcome.

Adobe premiere have many different tools which they can be used by clicking on the appropriate icon with your mouse or by pressing shift and the appropriate button.

• Track Select Tool – (the Arrow pointing right inside a little dotted box). This is used to select multiple tracks at any on given time. To acess this with your keyboard press Shift M
• Ripple Edit Tool – (Two Arrows, one pointing left and the other pointing right, with a little line down the centre of them). This is used to adjust your clips. To access this with your keyboard press Shift B.
• Rolling Edit Tool – (Four Arrows, two pointing left and two pointing right and like the previous one, with a line down the centre). This is used to adjust clips without affecting the length. To access this with your keyboard press Shift N
• Pen Tool – (Looks like the end of a fountain pen). This controls different points in your clips. To access this with your keyboard press Shift P.
• Rate Stretch Tool – (Two Curved arrows with a line inbetween). This can change the length and the speed of the clip at the same time. To access this with your keyboard press Shift X.
• Raxor Tool – (Looks like a blade). This can cut a clip in half or as many clips as you want. To access this with your keyboard press Shift C.
• Hand Tool – (Looks like a hand). This can change the way you view your timeline. To access this with your keyboard press Shift H.
• Selection Tool – (The Arrow, like the one on your computer). This is used to select clips on the timeline. Click on this with your mouse of press Shift V.
• Slip Tool – (Two arrows with two lines at either side). Moves the clips points without affecting the timing of the clip. To access this with your keyboard press Shift Y.
• Slide Tool – (A little box with a tool coming out of either side). Moves different clips along the timeline and moves the rest of the clips to fit. To access this with your keyboard press Shift U.
• Zoom Tool – (A little microscope). This can zoom in on different clips on your timeline. To access this with your keyboard press Shift Z.

The abobe premiere Workspace consists of five panels. The first being the project panel, this stores everything used for your footage, e.g audio, footage, titles. The next being the monitor panel, this is where you can watch your clips back and see what editing worked well. The information panel which shows information about your clips. Next the timeline panel, this is where you arange your clips in the order you want also adjust the time span of the clip and finally, the tools panel. The tools panel gives you different options of tools to add to your video, by adding them to the timeline.

Editing is the ordering of shots to create meaning in your film such as…

• Montage is bringing together different unrelated images to create a meaning, it can also be used to show time passing.
• Linear is a sequence of time that makes logical sence.
• Non-Linear is the opposite of Linear, this meaning it disregards time.
• Point of View (POV) is where the camera shows what the person is seeing. 

Editing is a part of post production and one of the most important things in film. Editing is where you take different shots and put them together to create meaning, flow and style. It helps you remove any unwanted footage and put together your best footage to make your film work.

There are many different shots when shooting a film such as extreme wild shot (EWS), very wide shot (VWS), wide shot (WS), Mid shot (MS), medium close-up (MCU), close up (CU), extreme close up (ECU), cutaway (CA), cut-in, two shot, over the shoulder shot (OOS), noddy shot, point of view shot (POV) and weather shot.

Extreme close up- In the closeup shot, a certain feature or part of the subject takes up most of the frame. A close up of a person usually means a close up of their face. A close-up of a person emphasizes their emotional state.

 Very wide Shot – A very wide shot is much closer to the subject than an extreme wide shot, but still much further away than a wide shot.  The subject of focuss is still visual, but the emphasis is very much on the place and environment around it.

Two Shot – A two shot includes two people mostly in mid shot which is mainly focused on establishing a relationship between subjects or a two-shot could also invole movement or action.