September 29th - Propp

Functions

After the initial situation is depicted, the tale takes the following sequence of 31 functions:^[3]

1. A member of a family leaves home (the hero is introduced);
2. An interdiction is addressed to the hero ('don't go there', 'go to this place');
3. The interdiction is violated (villain enters the tale);
4. The villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance (either villain tries to find the children/jewels etc; or intended victim questions the villain);
5. The villain gains information about the victim;
6. The villain attempts to deceive the victim to take possession of victim or victim's belongings (trickery; villain disguised, tries to win confidence of victim);
7. Victim taken in by deception, unwittingly helping the enemy;
8. Villain causes harm/injury to family member (by abduction, theft of magical agent, spoiling crops, plunders in other forms, causes a disappearance, expels someone, casts spell on someone, substitutes child etc, comits murder, imprisons/detains someone, threatens forced marriage, provides nightly torments); Alternatively, a member of family lacks something or desires something (magical potion etc);
9. Misfortune or lack is made known, (hero is dispatched, hears call for help etc/ alternative is that victimised hero is sent away, freed from imprisonment);
10. Seeker agrees to, or decides upon counter-action;
11. Hero leaves home;
12. Hero is tested, interrogated, attacked etc, preparing the way for his/her receiving magical agent or helper (donor);
13. Hero reacts to actions of future donor (withstands/fails the test, frees captive, reconciles disputants, performs service, uses adversary's powers against him);
14. Hero acquires use of a magical agent (directly transferred, located, purchased, prepared, spontaneously appears, eaten/drunk, help offered by other characters);
15. Hero is transferred, delivered or led to whereabouts of an object of the search;
16. Hero and villain join in direct combat;
17. Hero is branded (wounded/marked, receives ring or scarf);
18. Villain is defeated (killed in combat, defeated in contest, killed while asleep, banished);
19. Initial misfortune or lack is resolved (object of search distributed, spell broken, slain person revivied, captive freed);
20. Hero returns;
21. Hero is pursued (pursuer tries to kill, eat, undermine the hero);
22. Hero is rescued from pursuit (obstacles delay pursuer, hero hides or is hidden, hero transforms unrecognisably, hero saved from attempt on his/her life);
23. Hero unrecognised, arrives home or in another country;
24. False hero presents unfounded claims;
25. Difficult task proposed to the hero (trial by ordeal, riddles, test of strength/endurance, other tasks);
26. Task is resolved;
27. Hero is recognised (by mark, brand, or thing given to him/her);
28. False hero or villain is exposed;
29. Hero is given a new appearance (is made whole, handsome, new garments etc);
30. Villain is punished;
31. Hero marries and ascends the throne (is rewarded/promoted).

Occasionally, some of these functions are inverted, as when the hero receives something while still at home, the function of a donor occurring early. More often, a function is negated twiced, so that it must be repeated three times.

 

Characters

He also concluded that all the characters could be resolved into only 8 broad character types in the 100 tales he analysed:

1. The villain — struggles against the hero.

2. The donor — prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.

3. The (magical) helper — helps the hero in the quest.

4. The princess — marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative.

5. Her father — Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father can not be clearly distinguished.

6. The dispatcher — character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.

7. The hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the donor, weds the princess.

8. False hero/anti-hero/usurper — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.^[5]

 

Sometimes, it is easier to see the characters in 7 roles, they still correspond to Propp’s theory:

1. The Hero - who is seeking something

2. The Villan - who tries to stop the hero from achieving his goal

3. The Donor - who gives the Hero an item of power

4. The Helper - Who aids the Hero

5. The Princess - This could be a person or thing, which acts as an award for the hero. The Dispatcher - Who sends the hero on his Journey

6. The Father - Who rewards the Hero

 

Sometimes, some of the characters do not fit into certain films, which is one of the theory's main downfalls.

I will use Star Wars as an example.

• The Hero - Luke Skywalker
• The Villan - Darth Vader
• The Donor - Obi Wan
• The Helper - Obi Wan
• The Princess - Leia
• The Dispatcher - Obi Wan
• The Father - Leia

29th September: An introduction to narrative theory

http://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0ASNHmU2kVu3zZGc0bnBkZ2tfMGRyeGNnc2dx&hl=en

24th September: Genre homework

For homework I would like you to pick a particular genre of film that you are interested in (it can be a hybrid) and research the codes and conventions of that genre. It must be submitted on your blog as well as on paper to me by next lesson. It may be in any form you wish, graph, bullet points, essay etc.

24th September - Evaluation

The skill of evaluating your work is extrememly important at AS/A level. The examiners want to know that you are able to be critical of yourself and see where you are able to improve. With this in mind, today's lesson will be spent evaluating the work you did creating a piece of genre specific music.

You must evaluate your performance at each different stage of the process: research, using garageband, working individually/as a team. You must also comment on which skills you have developed/improved this week and what this might lead to.

22nd September - An introduction to genre

Today I will:

• Learn the terms genre, hybrid genre, codes and conventions
• Learn how to use garageband

By the end of the lesson I will have:

• researched the music from a particular film genre
• recorded a 30 second piece of music for a certain film genre
• evaulated your piece of music
• recorded on your blog the skills you have learnt today.

15th September An introduction to representation

Representation refers to the construction in any medium (especially the mass media) of aspects of ‘reality’ such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities and other abstract concepts. Such representations may be in speech or writing as well as still or moving pictures.

The term refers to the processes involved as well as to its products. For instance, in relation to the key markers of identity - Class, Age, Gender and Ethnicity (the 'cage' of identity) - representation involves not only how identities are represented (or rather constructed) within the text but also how they are constructed in the processes of production and reception by people whose identities are also differentially marked in relation to such demographic factors. How do men look at images of women, women at men, men at men and women at women?

Key Questions about Specific Representations

What is being represented?
How is it represented? Using what codes? Within what genre?
How is the representation made to seem 'true', 'commonsense' or 'natural'?
What is foregrounded and what is backgrounded? Are there any notable absences?
Whose representation is it? Whose interests does it reflect? How do you know?
At whom is this representation targeted? How do you know?
What does the representation mean to you? What does the representation mean to others? How do you account for the differences?
How do people make sense of it? According to what codes?
With what alternative representations could it be compared? How does it differ?

Task

Spend 5 mins on the internet looking for a picture which contains an image of a man and a woman, you might want to look for a still image from a film/TV drama. Copy this into a word document and print it off, allowing for space to annotate. In pairs, work through the questions above. Finally write a brief paragraph explaining how each gender is represented in your image.

Photography - key terms

Frame - a border for enclosing a picture (edges can count, so can images within the photograph)

Subject - an object, scene, incident, etc., chosen by an artist for representation, or as represented in art

Background - the ground or parts, as of a scene, situated in the rear

Foreground - the ground or parts situated, or represented as situated, in the front; the portion of a scene nearest to the viewer

Diagonal - an imagined slanting line

Backlighting - Backlighting is just as it sounds: light that comes from behind your subject. This can make a beautiful photo, or turn a beautiful photo into a disaster. Backlighting is what turns a palm tree into a silhouette against the sunset. In this case, that is a good thing that adds to the photograph. But, the same thing can happen if you want to take a photograph of a person who has a strong backlight behind them, such as the sun, sky, or bright lights. The camera reads the brightness behind the main subject and sets its internal meter to expose properly for the extra light. This underexposes your subject and will usually turn them into a silhouette. You can avoid this by using a fill-flash. A fill-flash will “fill” in the needed light, chasing away the shadows from your subject caused from the bright light behind.

Side lighting - Side lighting can have a very drastic effect on your photos, also. But, unlike backlighting, its brightness comes from the right or left of your subject. This tends to cast one side in total darkness, while putting the other in the spot light. This is a wonderful way to get a mysterious, dramatic portrait photo. Pose your subject in front of a window, with one of their shoulders close to the window. Your camera will expose properly for the bright side and will usually cast the other side of the face in complete darkness. If, on the other hand, you want a natural portrait you can use something to reflect light onto the darkened side of the face. A white poster board or other light reflecting surface can bounce enough light back onto your subject to soften the effect of side lighting.

Diffused Lighting - Sometimes lighting from any direction is just too harsh. This is when you want to soften the incoming light, to take away some of the contrast for a more pleasing photograph. Bright sunlight at midday is the worst kind of light for photography. The light colors are washed out and the contrasting shadows are too dark. To avoid this, wait for the sun to go behind a cloud or if your subject is moveable, put them in the shade of a tree or building and take the photo there. The light will be much more natural here and will result in a better photo. If it is not possible to move your subject, and there is not a cloud in sight, you can sometimes make your own shade with an umbrella or some similar object. Or, come back in the morning or evening when the sun is lower the sky.


Artificial Lighting - Artificial lighting comes in all shapes and sizes. From a built in flash on your camera to expensive lights in the studio, they all have their strengths and weaknesses.
On camera flashes are simple and easy to use, but sometimes cause the awful red eye so common in snapshots. The farther the flash is away from the lens, the less likely this is to happen. Another problem with on camera flash is the harsh light they cast onto the subject. If you have an off camera flash, you can bounce the light for a softer effect. One last thing to remember about artificial light, unless you are using black and white film, regular indoor lights will give your photos a yellow cast. These lights are not the equivalent of flash bulb lights, and therefore will not give you the same results.

Diagonal - Leading lines can be any element in a composition which directs the viewers attention to the subject, and work best when cut diagonally through the frame...

The Rule of Thirds is a compositional technique whereby you draw an imaginary grid over the frame, like a tic tac toe game, and place key elements or subjects at the points where the lines intersect.

Balance means exactly what it implies, if you have a key compositional element in the left, you should look for something to include on the right. If you have a subject in the background, it should be complimented by something in the foreground.

10th September Photography Skills

LO: to understand some basic photography skills

Basic photography skills are essential to master before you start planning your movie. Getting the framing and camera angle right is a fundamental way of engaging the audience and creating meaning. There are certain terms that you need to be familiar when discussing phoographs, these are on a seperate post entitled "Photography - key terms." It is your responsibility to learn these and be able to ues them fluently.

An introduction to composition

Watch the link below and make notes:

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Homework:

Take two photographs, one of a person or other moving subject, and one of a landscape. Try to make these images as interesting as possible by following the rules in the video. Upload these photographs to your blog (entitled photography homework) with a paragraph explaining the techniques you used and what effect you have achieved.
DUE: 15th September 2009

8th September 2009

Welcome Year 12

Today you will learn:

1. the structure of the unit
2. the expectations of the unit
3. how to create a blog
4. the names of different camera shots

Unit G321 is the Foundation Portfolio. This is a coursework unit where you will create the opening of a new movie with titles. There are five phases to this coursework; understanding and manipulating the digital technology available; planning and research; prelominary shooting tasks; filming and editing; evalution. All of these phases will be uploaded onto your blog which will be used by the moderator and examiner to assess your work.

From this you will be assessed on the following criteria:
AO2 Apply knowledge and understanding to show how meanings are created when analysing media products and evaluating your own practical work.

AO3 Demonstrate the ability to plan and construct media products using appropriate technical and creative skills.

AO4 Demonstrate the ability to undertake and apply appropriate research.

Expectations

We expect you to:

1. Attend all lessons
2. Turn up to lessons promptly
3. Bring the appropriate material
4. Complete homeworks within the allocated time
5. Complete 3 hours work outside of this classroom a week (homework, reading, planning, research etc)

TASK 1

Create own blog - http://www.blogger.com/ Please use a sensible name which will help me to identify you.

Enter your first blog- title: Why I chose Media Studies

Please comment on your previous experience of the subject and of using digital technology.

Task 2

Using the guide sheet, take replicas of 15 different framing choices and techniques. These must be uploaded to your blog, labelled and a brief explanation of when/where a director might use them/what effect they might create for homework.