Year 10 Poster Task

Task:
Select a poster of your choice from the action genre and answer all the questions below.

Posters occupy a space between art and advertising. They have a clear commercial purpose - to promote an event or product - but they also have artistic value. People buy them and hang them on their walls. Museums have whole galleries devoted to poster art. When analysing a poster it is important that you evaluate both how well it fulfills its purpose (i.e. promotion) as well as its aesthetic value.

When analysing a poster, you should consider the following broad questions before you start to focus on the details:
•What are the main colours used in the poster? What do they connote?
•What symbols are used in the poster? Do you need audience foreknowledge to decode the symbols?
•What are the main figures/objects/background of the poster? Are they represented photographically, graphically, or illustratively?
•Are the messages in the poster primarily visual, verbal, or both?
•Who do you think is the intended audience for the poster?

Given that all movie posters have the same purpose - to get audiences to go see a movie -


•What persuasive techniques are used by the poster?
•Which genre conventions are referred to?
•Is a star used as a USP (Unique Selling Point)?
•Are "expert witnesses" (i.e. critics) quoted?
•What pleasures (gratifications) are promised by the poster?
•How is attention gained (humour, shock, surprise familiar face of a star)?
•How does the tagline work? (humour, pun, alliteration etc?)
•Who are the institutions involved in production?
The poster can also give you important information about the production context of the movie:
•How much does the poster tell you about the institutional context of the movie's production?
•How important is this information on the poster (think about information hierarchies)?
•How important a part of the whole marketing campaign is the poster? Where is the poster placed?
•How expensive was this poster to produce?

Critical Evaluation

Finally, you have to pass judgement on the poster:
•Is it a good poster?
•Does it communicate effectively with the audience?
•Are there any alternative readings which might harm the message of the marketing campaign?
•Is the poster offensive in any way? e.g. representation of people or places

Essay criteria

Here is the criteria for a top mark essay. In your conclusion, you need to make sure that you have referred to some of these things in your essay.

Tomorrowland clips

Consider how the director ensures Casey is represented in an appealing way to the audience in these action and narrative sequences from the film. How do they meet the conventions of action adventure and show the film to be a hybrid crossover with the sci-fi genre?
Choose your own clip to include in your film analysis section in your essay. Remember to make notes before you write up your ideas under the headings:

• Camera movements
• Sound
• Editing
• Mise-en-scene

Preparing for the essay - Tomorrowland

Explore the film ready for writing your essay.

How are you going to show detailed and thorough knowledge of the texts studied?

Action Adventure Genre:
You need to make notes on why Tomorrowland meets the conventions of the action adventure genre. To do this consider the narrative sequences in the film alongside the main action sequences.

Narrative sequences

• Casey's background and belief in Space travel and innovation. Her link to this through her father and her rebellious streak.
• The adventure or quest to find out the truth about the pin.
• Relationships with the other two main characters
• Comedy tone

Action sequences

• The pin revealing the futuristic city
• The shop explosion
• Frank's house

Social and Cultural Message:
What could you consider about the social and cultural message behind the film? Why are Casey amd Frank supposed to be special?

Institution:
This is film is produced by Disney and is linked commercially to the Disney theme park. How does the film link with the ethos of the Disney company?

Representation:
The main protagonist is a female teenager with a sibling. Does this mean the film is only designed for a younger target audience? Her relationship with her father would appeal to teenagers as they can relate to to her life and relationships. What other rlements makes the film appeal to a broader target audience when compared with The Maze Runner?

Film analysis:
How are you going to use film terminology to explain how the film achieves all you have commented on above. You need to use the film as evidence to support your points, Use your film analysis skills to discuss the evidence confidently and in a sophisticated style,

Year 10 Film Pitch

Film Idea

Task: Create your idea for your potential, original film. It needs to be an Action Adventure film that will appeal to a teenage target audience (male or female). You need to pitch your film idea thinking about the following ideas:

• Title
• Main Characters and why they would appeal
• Outline of the plot
• Unique Selling Point - what makes your idea stand out?

Add your idea to your images from last lesson and try to present it as a real pitch. Here are some examples...

Questions you should ask yourself:

• Is there a clear sense of narrative structure about your plot (beginning, middle and end)?
• Have you included detailed ideas about the main character(s)?
• Are there suggestions as to who could play the main characters?
• Is the film's genre clear - does it follow the conventions of Action Adventure?
• Are there references to other films?
• Is the overall concept clear?

Year 10 Film Analysis: Spiderman High School Fight Clip

How are teenagers represented in a different way in this high school fight scene?

Task: 
1. Watch the clip and make notes on how the scene is edited together.
2. Answer the question, using your notes to support your ideas. Write it up as an essay (Word document) and save it in your media folder.

Think about Audience Appeal when considering the question. How does this film appeal to the Target Audience?

How has Peter Parker changed from the first time he appears in his school setting? What similarities are there between the first scene where he stands up to Flash the bully? Why would the audience enjoy seeing him as the action hero? Was does it suggest about what teenagers can do and why would this engage the target audience?

Task: Add these ideas to your answer.

High School Spiderman

How is Peter Parker being Represented as a typical teenager in this clip? Focus on the elements of Mise en Scene such as:

• Costume
• Sound
• Lighting
• Editing
• Props

Peter Parker: Representation of Teenagers in The Amazing Spiderman

Look at the image and think about how the two main characters are being Represented as teenagers here. Look at costume, setting, facial expressions and body language as well as the props they are holding or are surrounded by. What do these things tell you about the characters? Are they teenage stereotypes?

Task: Write about this image and other still images shots from the scenes in the film where Peter Parker is introduced as a teenager at high school. Include the shots you have chosen.

Representation of Characters

You need to compare how the two characters from the films The Hunger Games and The Amazing Spiderman are represented.

Use the images below to look at how the two characters are presented to the audience. Think about their clothes, hairstyle, attitude and body language to give you a good idea of what the audience are supposed to learn about the characters. When the characters are first introduced, what kind of setting are they in? Look at the things in the scene around them?

To complete this task, you need to focus on Mise-en-scene:

• Costume
• Pose and facial expressions
• Props
• Lighting
• Colour 

Creativity: CD Cover Activity 2

The task: Make a CD Cover with no restrictions.

Choose your own image, title and artist.
OR
Make a cover for either an existing artist or a made up one.
OR
Make a CD cover for an existing CD-give it your own version.

Remember to use Photoshop and find a high-quality image to make your product look as good as possible. Think back to the CD Cover Evaluation you have written in your books. What did you learn from that first activity that you can use here?