JAMES BOND

Trailer for the new Bond film "Quantum of Solace" at

FILM-MAKING TECHNIQUES

Students take note! As part of your Media Studies and/or Film Studies courses, you will be required to do some filming. This means you must be familiar with all the basic language of film including the various types of shots. This includes camera angles and transitions and the reasons for using these shots. Sound is equally important.

Always ask yourselves: how will using this shot/angle/sound affect my audience?
Check out this link excellent link at You Tube:



I look forward to seeing some of these techniques being used in your own work in September.

FILM STUDIES: BOOK OF THE MONTH

"The Whole Equation" by David Thomson is an ambitious book. It seeks to chart the history of cinema and Hollywood in terms of themes and personalities - it is quite eccentric, quite brilliant and wonderfully flawed. However, the chapters on the birth of cinema: Edison versus the Lumieres and the impact of sound and colour are excellent. Furthermore, Thompson's comments on the "dreaming" element of cinema, whether it is necessary to view film as "art" are thought-provoking as is his discussion on its future. A very good read indeed.

THE GREAT DIRECTORS: AKIRA KUROSAWA

When Akira Kurosawa was in his early 20s, his older brother Heigo committed suicide. Four months later, the oldest of Kurosawa's brothers also died, leaving Akira as the only surviving son of an original four at age 23. Kurosawa's next-oldest sibling, a sister he called "Little Big Sister," had also died suddenly after a short illness when he was ten.

Known as "Tenno", literally "Emperor" by cast and crew alike, this multi-talented, giant of cinema has influenced many film-makers over the last fifty years. Part-perfectionist, part-dictator, his films are unique and bear his stamp; whether is be the use of telephoto lenses or weather as a central part of story-telling.

Find out more about this remarkable director at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_Kurosawa

YEAR 10 MEDIA STUDIES

The lesson tomorrow (16.04.07) will focus on genre in relation to institutions, texts and audiences. In advance you must consider the following:

1. How can texts be identified as being part of a genre, what elements help to identify it in this way: thematic, iconographic, representational?

2. Why do institutions produce films at certain moments in time and what do those texts say about the culture they are produced in and its values?

3. How do audiences relate to those genres now in comparison to the ways in which previous audiences have responded in the past?

The theorists we will be studying are Andre Bazin, Robert Warshow and Lawrence Alloway.

GENRE: ANDRE BAZIN

Whilst the definition of "genre" is the subject of debate, it is generally agreed that one of the key researchers in this area, was the great film theorist Andre Bazin. Bazin queried why a purely American type of film: the cowboy western, which was about American issues and American history clearly appealed to audiences worldwide irrespective of their culure and background. This led him to develop a theory of genre.

Find out more about Bazin and his research by clicking this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Bazin

YEAR 10 MEDIA

We have been reading "Donnie Darko" as part of our analysis of codes and conventions of the cinema.

For a review of DD click the link below:

www.imdb.com/title/tt0246578



For a "Donnie Darko Codes and Conventions" worksheet click the link below:


www.zshare.net/download/codes-and-conventions-donnie-darko-doc.html

THE GREAT DIRECTORS: JOHN FORD

It is no exaggeration to say that John Ford is one of the greatest filmakers in the relatively short history of this artform. A tangible influence on many directors, in a career that spanned both the silent film era and the "talkies", Ford made 140 films.

A chronicler of American history and the ordinary American, Ford is one of the great storytellers. His images remain imprinted in the mind long after the film has ended. Whether it be the panoramas of monument valley or John Wayne's isolation and loneliness at the threshold of the family home at the end of "The Searchers", Ford'svision remains unsurpassed by any American Director.

Read more about this truly great filmaker at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ford

Watch the trailer for "The Searchers".

The Great Directors: Preston Sturges

A truly great and prolific film-maker, Preston Sturges is the perfect example of a director who could work within the Hollywood Studio System and yet make his own mark on the films he created. Indeed, while within the system his talent thrived, yet when he left to make independent films, his work and reputation fell into decline.

Find out more about this remarkable director at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_Sturges

Film Club

"The First Rule of film club is that there is no film club..."

Apologies to "Fight Club" but this side of the term will see the formal establishment of the Academy Film Club. Full details will be announced over the next fortnight. If you would like to be part of its running or want to know more, come and see me in Room C5.