Week 3 ~ Media Arts ~ Filming

The 4 P’s: pre-production, production, post-production and presentation

Production

This week we worked on the production phase of the film. By participating in a learning experience that could be similar to what we teach to our students we are able to experience the benefits and challenges of the learning experience for ourselves. Something I would emphasise in a filming task is the importance to be organised, for us the pre-planning sheet ensured we had the right resources and remember the plan for filming. By having the story board we could tick off each scene we had completed at each location and remember the shot types we were doing. Also by allocating roles for each scene, we all had the opportunity to practice each role although by the end we settled into the roles that suited each person best. This is another aspect I would emphasise with students as it was a rich experience to engage in roles I may not naturally be drawn to.

By participating in a learning experience that could be similar to what we teach to our students we are able to experience the benefits and challenges of the learning experience for ourselves. As well as being a hands-on creative experience it crosses into multi-literacies, combining literacy for English and creative and media arts. Jason Ohler (2013) describes 4 literacies; oral, digital, art and written. Oral storytelling is the oldest form of storytelling but also possibly the most applicable to digital storytelling as films tell stories orally. However in the process of developing an idea, the written form is also included. Art is another key form of literacy as an engaging and creative form of expressing ideas. The digital format presents different challenges to literacies in other formats, being so multidimensional. In the case of the film we will incorporate the oral and visual media forms to depict meaning.



Source: Leglise, N. (2014)

The group working on filming- I'm discussing the last shot with the group

Oral

Source: Google Images http://www.google.com/imghp 

 Digital

 Written

 Art

References

Ohler, J. (2013). Storytelling and new media narrative. Retrieved (22/04/2014) from: http://www.jasonohler.com/index.cfm

 

Week 2 ~ Media Arts ~ Pre-planning

The 4 P’s: pre-production, production, post-production and presentation

Pre-production

This week’s focus was on the pre-production phase of film development. We had to develop ideas for a one minute film with the motif “fly”. In groups we had to develop an idea each and the vote on the best one. The motif fly allowed us to all develop our own idea however the notion of a travelling balloon stood out as the best idea for the film. Although it may seem difficult at first, the process of developing an idea proved to be fairly easy and the process and the pre-planning sheet assisted us to layout a comprehensive plan.  We also had to develop a storyboard to detail the story-line and shot types planned for the film.

Our film is of a narrative genre and follows the plot form (Layne, Lewis, 2009). The exposition occurs quickly as the balloon is introduced to the audience in the setting of the quad with a lighthearted mood. The rising action or conflict in our film occurs in the form of man (balloon) vs self in a physical journey where the balloon overcomes adversity in the form of obstacles throughout the university. The resolution is comic one as the journey of the balloon is minimised by the easy and instant response to its message in the form of a text message.    

Narrative Format (Dillingham & Ohler, 2003) - The process of developing a narrative for film

References

Dillingham, R.& Ohler J. (2003). Visual portrait of a story [Diagram]. Retrieved from http://courses.coe.uh.edu/brobin/7358-lit/class7/visual-portrait.jpg

Layne, R., Lewis, R. (2009). Plot, theme, the Narrative Arc, and Narrative Patterns. Retrieved from http://www.sandhills.edu/academic-departments/english/film/narrativearc.html

Week 1 ~ Media Arts ~ Tropfest Junior

For children, there is no such dichotomy of online and offline or virtual and real – the digital is so much intertwined into their lives and psyche that the one is entirely enmeshed with the other ... what they do in their virtual worlds significantly affects how they connect to society.

(Thomas, 2007, p. 3 as cited in Gibson & Ewing, 2011, p. 44)

Even as a young adult, born into a world in which the internet has always existed, there is still an evident generation gap in the perceptions and interactions with technology in everyday life between myself and the generation I will be teaching. Thomas (2007 as cited in Gibson & Ewing, 2011) surmises this perfectly as the young students of today do not perceive the digital world as an alternative reality, competing for our attention but rather a single reality in which technology features in every aspect of life. We must as teachers accept this reality and facilitate technology as a tool for teaching our content as well as teaching ICT competency as an important skill in its own right.

A prime example of the confidence of children with technology is the Tropfest Junior competition.  Its entrants are capable of producing creative and engaging film using technology available to most people, something the 2012 winner has demonstrated perfectly. The premise of the film is something I can relate to as the two children are faced with the prospect of what genre of movie they are going to create. They evaluate a number of ideas and use a range of effects associated with certain genres to create a humourous film with the theme “juice” depicted in a hilarious and explicit manner. This would be a great video to show students as inspiration as to what they could create for themselves, it certainly has inspired me!    

Tropfest Junior 2012 winner

Source: Tropfest Junior (2012)

References

Gibson, R & Ewing, R. (2011).Transforming the curriculum through the arts. South Yarra: Palgrave Macmillan.

Tropfest. (2012, 18 February). Let's make a movie! [video]. Retrieved (13/03/2014) from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AlRHOpX8BA