Book or film opening report

 Below I've detailed first the book report then the film opening alternative. Note my specific instructions on layout and presentation: you should never have long chunks of text - all posts should have some relevant imagery (and/or video), and most should feature hyperlink/s. Note the sub-heading of POSSIBLE INFLUENCES - marks are awarded for clearly APPLYING research, so where you can, once you've drafted a post ask yourself if there anything specific you can highlight as it might influence your own idea/planning.

BOOK REPORT

Your post title: Book Review: Book Title (Year).

IN BRIEF:
You're evidencing research into the industry; your post will have the following sections -

1. [book facts] - follow the layout closely (you can copy/paste and change the text/links!)
2. Is this a good read?
3. 10 things I've learned
4. Has this book inspired any further research?
5. Possible influences [this goes above no.2, but can only be written once the rest is done!]

LAYING OUT THE BOOK FACTS
Follow my example below:

Title [Arial, red, Italics, largest]
Author (year of release) [Arial, large; dark red; centred; hyperlink author name - Wiki, Amazon etc - you decide]
edition if its listed as 2nd (etc) edition [normal, Georgia]
blank line
[links] AmazonUK; Googlebooks [add some relevant others]
[and include a cover image]



Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-drugs-and Rock 'n' Roll Generation Changed Hollywood

Peter Biskind (1999) 

LINKS: AmazonUK; Googlebooks; GoodReads; Roger Ebert interviews Biskind; DVD version (Variety review);


IS THIS A GOOD READ?
Some general thoughts on the book. Is it an enjoyable read? Is the language/are the terms used too complex, or user-friendly for an A-Level student? Is it very formal, or perhaps quite opinionated? Is there an index? Does the chapter structure make sense? Is it easy to find relevant material? Do you think other students would enjoy reading it? Are there some good and some bad things about the book?



10 THINGS I'VE LEARNED FROM THIS BOOK
This is NOT a typing task: DON'T type out 10 long passages from a book.
Do feel free to directly quote - always give the page number/s: 'quote...' (p.5 or pp.5-6).
BUT it is mostly better to paraphrase (put in your own words - you still give page number/s for this), with some quotes.
Stick to one way throughout your blog of highlighting quotes too long to include within a single sentence:

If I'm typing/pasting a quote longer than 2 lines I'll hit return then highlight + format the quote text: font Trebuchet, colour purple + indent using the speech mark icon in blogger. But I'll often 'read a lot and include some shorter quotes' in a sentence without highlighting it. [source or p./pp.]

Check the index if there is one: is there anything about Working Title, Warp (our 2 exam case study production companies), or Meadows (Shane) or Curtis (Richard) - each a very important director for one of these companies? You could look at film names, see if you can spot content on any Warp/WT film you recognise.
Look at chapter titles to see which chapter/s you think will be most useful for you to read.
Add some relevant hyperlinks, images, even embedded or linked video to avoid having unillustrated text.
Each point needn't be long - consider 3 lines of Normal Times New Roman a minimum for each..
Any film titles you mention should be presented like This is England (Meadows, 2006) - title in Italics; director, year in brackets.

HAS THIS BOOK INSPIRED ANY FURTHER RESEARCH?
If not, skip this heading!
You may have read about a movie, director, genre, book which you now want to learn more about/watch.

POSSIBLE INFLUENCES
This applies to any research post: if there's anything specific from the book/DVD (etc) you've been blogging on that might influence your own film idea/planning, then go back to the 1st sub-heading and briefly sum this up (bullet point/s fine). Pick a font/colour and use this every time you use that heading. The exam board want to see you've applied your research.



FILM OPENING REPORT

Your post title: Opening EG2: Film Title (Year).

IN BRIEF:
You're providing some initial wider context, then focusing on some specific aspects of the film opening: titles; the 1st shot and the protagonist; any additional findings. Follow my layout example below (feel free to copy/paste changing words/links).
Film Title [Arial, red, Italics, largest]
Director (year of release) [Arial, large; dark red; centred; hyperlink name - Wiki, IMDB etc - you decide]
...and so on - see my example... Note: (1) you can add other age ratings (2) IMDB often state which companies are finance credits (3) use BoM or TheNumbers to find the number of countries with THEATRICAL distribution - this can be zero for Indies - therefore the same with box office, but check carefully! ... If you can't find the budget, try googling... For links, it can be useful to add reviews, interviews etc you found and used. Look for the opening to embed, just in case!

Tyrannosaur

Paddy Considine (2011)

BBFC 18, MPAA unrated

Running time of the opening sequence: 5:00 mins

Budget: £750k
UK/US/World Box Office: £243k, $22k, £400k.
Theatrical distribution in 8 countries 
 
Production co's:  Warp X, Inflammable Films
Production financing:   Film4;UK Film Council; Screen Yorkshire; EM Media; Optimum Releasing.
UK, US theatrical distributors: StudioCanal, Strand.
 
LINKS: IMDB; RottenTomatoes (Users 83%, Critics 85%); BoxOfficeMojo; The-Numbers; Wiki; Official site/page; Facebook.

TRAILER (please note the 18-rating!!!)




TITLES
Number of people/company names in titles:
Start/end time of main titles: 0:02-1:01
Running time of main titles: 1min
Titles in order using exact text (including case) [see this eg]

TITLES ANALYSIS 1: THE COMPANIES
State how many companies were credited, and use your earlier research to discuss why/what different terms were used for different companies. This is very important detail for creating convincing titles.
Look out for companies/institutions like Film4/BBC (often commission a film to be made), or BFI, National Lottery, UK Film Council, Screen Yorkshire, EM Media (etc) - who more often finance productions.
Try to use terms such as Indie, subsidiary, conglomerate, big six to denote the types of company.

TITLES ANALYSIS 2: ROLES
How many specific roles were given a title? How were actors roles split up? Are you surprised at how many/few there are? You could have a look at IMDB's full credits listing to get a sense of how selective these opening titles are!!!
Which ONE person gets TWO credits for the same role? Detail precisely the order/wording of this.

TITLES ANALYSIS 3: GENRE/NARRATIVE CONNOTATIONS
Denote (describe in detail, illustrating with screenshots) the design of the titles: font (this is a serif font; this is a sans-serif font), colour, case (UPPER, lower, Sentence), size, positioning, any movement/animation, any additional graphical elements.
Discuss the probable preferred reading: what the filmmakers are trying to symbolically communicate to the audience. Do the titles/their design connote/signify the genre and/or anything about the narrative?

FIRST SHOT + THE PROTAGONIST
Screenshot and discuss the opening shot.
What does it signify/connote (communicate to the audience)? Does it immediately show us the protagonist/s or focus on setting? Is there any mise-en-scene which you think is effective? Does it set any particular mood? You might want to refer to any music here.
How does the audience know which character is the central protagonist: do we track one person; cut back to them; hear their voiceover ... ? This is a key part of the media language of openings you need to examine closely to do this yourself.

ADDITIONAL POINTS
Simply note anything else you found interesting or useful. Remember, you're building up evidence of research into the conventions that you will be using.

POSSIBLE INFLUENCES
This applies to any research post: if there's anything specific from the film you've been blogging on that might influence your own film idea/planning, then go back to the 1st sub-heading and briefly sum this up (bullet point/s fine). Pick a font/colour and use this every time you use that heading. The exam board want to see you've applied your research.