Week 26 (wb 23rd March)

This is the 7th week of controlled hours for Unit B321 (hours 12 & 13). At the end of this lesson, you will have a maximum of 17 hours remaining.

If you are following our recommended timetable of tasks, you should now be completing the existing film poster deconstructions. Remember, you are attempting to demonstrate that you know the technical language for film posters and that you can read representations within the poster. Look at previous posts for further guidance (especially those posted when you were deconstructing posters before Xmas).

Here are some examples of deconstructed posters as a guide (please do not use these examples in your own portfolio).

Annotated Deconstruction of Casino Royale

Annotated Deconstruction of From Russia With Love

Written Deconstruction of The Mummy

You can also look in our mock up of a completed portfolio for examples of different methods of presenting your poster deconstructions. If you don't have access to the physical portfolio, you can download a scan here.

Out of Hours Learning

Consider your film poster deconstructions. How are you going to present them? What are you going to write? Consider both technical print media language and issues of representation.

Once you have deconstructed existing products (film posters) it's time to start thinking about your own film poster. The first stage is to present a Flat Plan of your poster. Click here, here or here  for examples of Flat Plans (or see the Individual Portfolio mock up).

Week 25 (wb 16th March)

This is the 6th week of controlled hours for Unit B321 (hours 10 & 11).

If you follow our recommended timetable, by the end of this week you will have completed your Analytical Assignment and started your Research & Planning.

Completing Your Analytical Assignment

Once you have finished your Analytical Assignment, use the Moving Image Analysis Tool to identify the key technical media language you have used in your assignment. Perhaps, circle or highlight each of the technical words you have used on your printout of the Analysis Tool. Are you completely satisfied with the amount of media language your have used?

Then, use the Success Checklist to RAG assess how well you have addressed each element of the success criteria. Do you need to add anything else to your assignment before you submit it?

Finally, read your assignment carefully. Address any spelling issues identified by the spell checker. Do all of your sentences/paragraphs make sense? Is your font size 12? How good is your presentation? I recommend that you align your text using the 'justified' option (combines left & right alignment to use 100% of the line space).

Starting Your Research & Planning

How you use the R&P time is up to you, but don't forget that you need to complete the following documents, trim them and glue them into your Individual Portfolio before starting the 'Product Construction' phase of the unit (making your film poster).

• Identify the Production Brief
• Proposed Production Workflow Diagram
• Existing Film Poster Deconstructions (Technical Codes & Representation)
• Target Audience Research
• A Target Audience Profile

At the end of this week's lessons, you will have 19 hours left, so you need to have started the R&P before the end of the week . We recommend the following allocation of time;

Research & Planning - 5 hours (2.5 weeks)

Construction of Product (Film Poster) - 8 hours (4 weeks)

Evaluation - 6 hours (3 weeks)

Recommended Durations for Research & Planning Documents To Complete Within Remaining 5 Hours

Identify the Production Brief (including printing, trimming & glueing) : 10 mins

Proposed Production Workflow Diagram : 20 mins

Existing Film Poster Deconstructions : 3 hours (for 2 or 3 posters)

Target Audience Research : 45 mins

A Target Audience Profile Document : 45 mins

Presentation of Your Individual Portfolio

• Leave enough blank pages for your Analytical Assignment at the start of the portfolio.
• Then glue in the Production Brief Document.
• Then leave a single page for your completed print product (original film poster).
• Then leave a further 3 blank pages for your completed Evaluative Commentary.
• The next blank page is where you start your Research & Planning. Don't forget a title for this section of your Portfolio (a full page title page if you like). The first documents I would expect to see are the Proposed Production Workflow and your Real Media Product Deconstructions (analysis of existing film posters). These will be followed by the target audience documents.

Resources

All of the resources you need to deconstruct film posters are already on this blog (see Week 11), but here is a shortcut to the Film Poster Analysis Sheet download.

Out of Hours Learning

Why not prepare your film poster deconstructions? Identify the film posters you are going to deconstruct and consider the use of technical print codes and representation.

Week 24 (wb 9th March)

This is the 5th week of controlled hours for Unit B321 (hours 8 & 9).

If you follow our recommended timetable, by the end of this week you will have 1 hour remaining in which to complete the conclusion for your Analytical Assignment.

Out of Hours Learning

In preparation for your last Analytical Assignment session (week 25) you should think about...

1. What are your conclusions? Here are some questions that you may find helpful;

Representation of Women (conclusion)

• Has the representation of women changed over time? If so, how? Does this reflect changes in social values? Does this reflect changes in audience expectations? Does this reflect changes in what audiences find acceptable? Does this relate to other gender related issues/changes during the 20th century? Is there a link between the representation of gender and age? Does the representation of women differ from the representation of men? If so, is this fair? How do the roles of women in films fit into the narrative theories we studied? How do you think the representation of women in films will develop in the future?

Representation of Earth's Response to Alien Visitors (conclusion)

• How does the representation of Earth's response to alien visitors change over time? How do different social groups respond in different ways? (children/authority/adults/military/etc). Are there any patterns across all the films for these specific social groups? Is there a link between the representation of aliens and world politics in the 20th century (see Alien Invasion documentary link in sidebar)? Do the films you researched fit any of the narrative theories we studied? How do you think the representation of interactions between humans and aliens will develop in films in the future?

Copies of the poster for each of the films you are studying have been added to the 'Set Works' section of this blog. Hard copies are also available if you wish to deconstruct the posters as part of your portfolio.

FINALLY, UPDATE THE LESSON EVALUATION DOCUMENT. HOW WELL DID YOU USE THE CONTROLLED HOURS TODAY? ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE PROGRESS YOU MADE IN THESE LESSONS? IS YOUR PORTFOLIO 'ON TRACK'?