26th september preliminary exercise

Much like the television show waterloo road, our preliminary exercise  is based around the lives of a family and the relationship between a father and his son. For example when tom finds out the josh has been doing drugs, he gets VERY angry. There is the same kind of theme in our scene because the father is very annoyed at his son because he has been doing very badly at school. the possible only difference between our scene and a waterloo road episode is the fact that the father in our scene has more of a higher paying job than being a teacher.

24th September

Mine, Rory and savs presentation

The roles of each of the people in our group are as follows.... Rory will be the cameraman so he will deliver the different shots however we will all be discussing what shots to use.
Sav and myself will be the actors in the scene, Sav will be playing a school boy who is in trouble for being bad. I will play the school boys father and the scene will start with a car being parked outside, I will walk into the house and tell Sav off.

23rd September

After our Waterloo road presentation, the rest of the class gave us feedback on it...
-more capital letters
-could have more detail
-bit text heavy
-a little dull

Having read the feedback that was given, the next time I make a presentation for something I will think more about how I can improve it and what will make it more interesting to read so that people will enjoy looking at my work

18th september 2012, waterloo road presentation

Todorov's Theory Of Narrative Structure

1. Equiilibrium -
There is not a fully balanced state of affairs at the end because it is a series and story lines need to continue on to the next episode,

2. Disruptions -
Although there are lots of disruptions to the story lines eg

• The head teachers dad getting involved even though he hasn't seen his son in so long.
• Sally embarrasses her daughter Imogen throughout the episode.
• The escalating tension between alcoholic teacher Christine and her son Connor resulting in him setting the boiler room on fire.
• The head - teacher also has problems when outraged parents begin to remove their children from the school.

3.Recognition Of The Disruption-

• The head-teacher has to overcome the problems from the media in order to save the school, because as the media reports more and more bad thangs about him then parents start to take their children out of school

4.Attempts To Repair The Disruption-

• the head teachers assisstant goes to find the head teachers dad, this is because she thinks that his father can help to clear the head teachers name.

5.A New State Of Equilibrium

• at the end of the episode, some equilibrium is back to balanced but some also isnt. the balanced equilibrium is that the head teachers name gets cleared but the ongoing story of imogen and connors mothers carries on as they still dislike each other.

Syd Field's 3 Act Structure

First Act:

• in the first act, the idea is to keep the audience watching and to keep them entertained. We are introduced to new temporary characters to add to the problems aswell as havung the usual characters present. The first act gives us an idea of the episodes story line.

Second Act

• The second act is where the main characters in this episode face their problems. For example Imogen being embarrassed by her mum and Connor having problems with his alcoholic mum. The head teacher also faces problems with the media and his dad. This keeps the audience entaertained.

Third Act - Resolution

• Most of the problems are still ongoing as it is a drama and needs to carry on to the next episode. However, the problems between the head teacher and the media seem to be resolved for now.

Levi Strauss' Binary Opposition Theory


Hero V Villain

• the hero in this episode is the head teacher mainly because he saved the school and himself. He saves the school because the parents stop taking their children out of school which also links to him saving himself and his job because he clears his name in the media.
• The villian is the man with the injury because he attempts to put the head teacher in prison by turning the media against him which in turn would make more parents take their children out of the school

Does good triumph over evil?

• In this episode good does triumph over evil as the head teacher clears his bad name in the media and the parents stop taking their children out of school. This saves his school and his job.

 

Propp's Character Type Theory

Hero: the head teacher because he saves the school

Villain: injured man because he tries to destroy the school and the head teachers reputation through the use of media

Donor: the head teachers assisstant brings the head teachers dad into it and he helps to clear his sons name

Dispatcher: none

False Hero: connor, because when the head teacher has to deal with the media, connor tries to burn the school down

Helper; head teachers dad, because he helps to clear his sons name

princess: the school, because it needs to be saved by the head teacher.

Representations Of The Characters

At the beginning of the program, the head teacher appears to be weak as he is being controlled by the media, he is also being controlled by his assisstant who is a woman, this is unusual because it is a subversion of the usual dominant male stereotype.

the media also plays an important part in the storyline because it is realistic and shows how it can make people believe whatever they say, because there was no solid evidence of the headteacher being violent towards the injured man but the public still believe that it happened so they start to take their children out of school.

Imogen and Connor break usual stereotypes as they are trying to look after their parents instead of their parents loooking after them whilst also dealing with their feelings for one another.

17th September 2012

Notes on Waterloo road episode:

Starts off: exciting music loud (dub step) someone running- enigma, training
Lots of enigmas
Headmaster controlled by woman- unusual
Teacher- bit of a bitch- boys mum- jealous
Other mum is flirt- slag
Imogen- hearing aids
A lot going on- school
Boys being boys '£10 says I smash her'
Head teacher busy- newspaper- students leaving (hillsborough)
Head teachers dad comes into it (HT left him to die)
Stranger burning part of school- close shots no see his face till he leaves- bitchs son
HT dad helping him
Fire bell- serious
Tom puts out fire
Language young- 'this is whack FAM'
Mother/ daughter rivalry (Imogen and slag)
Bitch needs vodka, son took it
Imogen and Connor going to drink vodka, Imogen runs off (has a secret)
Cheerleaders helping rowers- completed challenge for tariq- 80 miles but HT and assistant (fit) say the money has to go towards boiler
HT dad proves that injured man isn't injured
Boy wants slag, gets her 'text me your number'
Conner is late to lesson- pissed, drank the vodka
Injured man outside school talking to parents
HT meets dad- music, 'realisation' moment dad says he deserved it defending son, dad admits he was a wife beater
HT walks off dad says 'who's the bigger man now'
Imogen and slag still arguing, mum tries to be nice but Imogen not listening
Mum phones someone 'still fancy the drink?'
Conners mum (teacher) called in about pissed Connor, mum tries to cover up but then blames him 'he won't listen, he's such a big lad...'
'does he hit you?'
'no but he scares me'
Connor comes into office
'how long you been drinking?'
'bought it for a party'
Connor gets grounded, no party
'bought it from off licence'
Nasty assistant becomes nice, buys more kayaks (she drives a Ferrari... How?) (antagonist-patagonist)
Party- grantleys house
Imogen's mum having drink with boy talking bout Imogen
Boy kissing her ass
Imogen and connor getting together
Imogen was going to tell Connor something- cake interrupts
Mum turns up just as C and I about to kiss
Mum has bottle of wine- Imogen not happy
Connor asks I's mum to leave
Boy on date with mum gets 'shirty'
Mum kisses boy
Boy asks where mates room is
Grantley has to make mum leave haha
Boy and mum find room
Another story- Nigerian and boy talking (under the radar) Nigerian wants boy to teach her about England
I thinks mum has left
C and I have 'moment'
I shows C she has hearing aids
Close up on lips then kiss (bit gross)
Close up on lips smiling
Random girl peeks into room where boy and mum are
I and C dancing- cheesy
C gets told to go home (mum rings house)
Random girl tells I
I goes into room 'SUCH A SLAG'
Mum slaps I, everyone goes quiet
(cuts back to HT dad)
HT assistant come to apologise
HT dad gets really ill- coughing
I mum apologising to I
I had meningitis and mum missed signs
I- 'you want my life'
I and mum alone
I dad left 4 years ago
Mum doesn't want I to be treated badly because she's deaf
I tells mum to leave
(cuts to HT in pub with hot assistant and injured man)
HT wants to be friends, injured man leaves
(Connor gets home)
He threatens to tell teachers about mums drinking habits
Mum calls his bluff
She's drunk
(cuts to next time)
Overall:
Levi-Strauss' binary opposition theory-
Does good triumph over evil?
Yes and no, Imogen and her mum work out a few things, Connor and his mum carry on their dislike for one another (series long storyline) and the head teacher proves his critics wrong and becomes clean

Propp's character types theory-
Hero- head teacher
Villain- injured man, press
Donor- head teachers dad
Dispatcher- none
False hero- Connor (tries to burn school down)
Helper- assistant who goes to see head teachers dad
Princess- the school

Todorov's theory of narrative equilibrium:
There is not a fully balanced state of affairs at the end because it is a series and story lines need to continue. Although there are lots of disruptions to the story lines eg the head teachers dad getting involved even though he hasn't seen his son in so long.

Syd field's three act structure
The first act- set up- the beginning of the show, new storylines are brought up eg the injured man and it helps us to get to know any new temporary characters

Second act- confrontation- we see the head teacher being challenged and children leaving the school, also we see Imogen and Connor facing challenges in their mothers and the bad relationships that they have.

Third act- resolution- some resolution in that the head teacher has a clean slate however problems are still there between Imogen, Connor and their mothers

17th september 2012

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01mmm83/Waterloo_Road_Series_8_Episode_4/
the above is what beth and i will be studying to review based on narrative structure, the roles of the characters and he representations of the characters.
we will present our learnings in our blogs so we can look at them when we want......

13th september 2012

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw68eolT39A

More of a remembrance lesson, we watched a Hillsborough disaster with all the controversy surrounding it, pretty shocking how people could blame innocent people and how the head of police could have lived with it on his conscience for the rest of his life.

Before we watched the documentary we had a look at all the other people's blogs, and some people put loads of effort into their blogs I was surprised.

12th September 2012

Today we learned about different camera angles eg high angles and low angles
High angle- above eye level to make the person look small and intimidated
Low angle- below the eye level of the person to make them seem bigger and more intimidating and also more important
We also viewed a new film clip from the TV show primevil which had very bad animations in it. After watching the clip a number of times we discussed the subversion of masculinity and femininity in the clip and how the female is shown doing the usual masculine things for example using machinery, she also has to save the man from a tiger which is a subversion from a stereotypical fairytale.
We also looked at different camera angles and shots and how they can effect a situation, for example when the woman is driving the digger and the tiger appears, there are quick camera shots between her and the tiger which gives the impression that the situation is frantic. Also when the people are stood in a circle talking, the camera cuts to different people to emphasise the dilemma that they are facing. And finally in the barn scene at the end, it starts with slow camera angles to show the relaxed atmosphere but when the man pulls out a gun the camera shots get faster between the characters to show the intensity, and after the situation cools, the camera shots slow down and become more relaxed.
We also looked at instruments and how music can affect the situation. The woman driving the digger has a leitmotif which includes drums to increase the intensity which gives her the connotation of masculinity and dominance over her male partner. Another example of a leitmotif is Indiana jones, he has his trademark theme tune. We studied the difference between diagetic sound and non-diagetic sound.
Diagetic sound- people talking&natural sounds
Non-diagetic sound- background music & sound effects
Different instruments create different moods for example
Piano- love, sadness
Fast drums- intensity, drama
Harp- surreal, dream land
Bells- celebration
Lone trumpet- sadness, remembrance
Trumpets- heroic, triumph

11th September 2012

Today we worked through different stereotypes in society for example working class, middle class and upper class. We looked at their stereotypical behaviours also....
Working class
Roles- cleaner, unemployed, dinnerladies
Behaviours- rough, aggressive, scratty, common, shaved head, council house

Middle class
Roles- assistants, teachers, secretary
Behaviours- average, small family, friendly, 'better' than working class

Upper class
Roles- banker, lawyer, accountant
Behaviours- rich, stuck up, mansion

10th September 2012 hotel Babylon scene

Why were the police represented in this way?
Shown as the bad guys- antagonist (villain)
Shown as intimidating and to emphasise the immigrants are the 'good guys'
Brutality if reality

Why represent the immigrants in this way?
Creates sympathy for them and make then seen innocent and helpless 'good guys'
Identifies with them to experience emotions

What stereotypes are adhered to or subverted to in the clip?
SUBVERTED- police are just doing their job and the immigrants are breaking the law
It shows the immigrants as intelligent
ADHERED- immigrants are packed and crowded, they are mostly black and seem unclean
The police seem nonchalant and emotionless as they are just doing their jobs.

Purpose behind the mediation of the text
It is for entertainment and to inform about reality
People's preconceptions are challenged in the clip

First lesson- 5th September 2012

In my first media lesson of sixth form, I learnt more about how I can learn in a group and how it benefits me personally. For example the group discussion at the start made me alert to any questions that I may have been asked, I also discovered that the teacher I have depends on my work ethic eg if I have a teacher that is easy to communicate with and that I like then I find that I concentrate more and try harder. The discussion at the start also helped me learn about the type of teaching that will happen this year, Mr. Croft wants the class to learn and apply their learning rather than just being spoonfed which I think is good because although I will have to work harder this year, it will benefit me in the long run against a different student who has just been spoonfed.

    This is also my first blog so I apologise if I did anything wrong sir! 

    Adam Roebuck