Summer 2018 task + getting started

TBC Your summer task is simply this:

REQUIRED:  Blog; intro posts; initial general examples analysis + summary

1. Set up coursework blog with options/settings including template as set out in the guide post
2. Publish initial posts: My hopes!, The Brief and Markscheme, My Fave Film
3. Publish posts on at least 5 film openings + a summary as video, or as post with assets (video clips, screenshots, script) saved and ready to edit

OPTIONAL EXTRAS: Pitch/idea research/preparation

1. Begin some preparation for your film opening pitch: (genre research including history, conventions [characters, narrative, opening, history,  box office/distribution, age rating etc]; location scouting; audience research; casting; costume; script/themes; sample rough footage ...).
2. You could also read + blog what you've learnt from the regular box office columns (UK; Charles Gant (rule); US/global)  in The Film Guardian, or any other source (eg my Cinema blog) which is expanding your knowledge of the film industry and audiences.

THE CIA JOURNEY
At its simplest, your coursework can be boiled down to this:

C - research into conventions
I - research into industry
A - research into audience

Your film opening needs to reflect the knowledge + understanding from this (apply research)

JOURNEY - you need to evidence your journey through pre-production/research, production, post-production and critical evaluation. What you don't explicitly evidence on your blog doesn't exist marks wise: the examiner will only see your blog.

You can find guidance on how to blog on film openings here + here [DB: replace posts], and you can see examples of what student blogs look like by browsing past student blogs! There is a lot more you can find out by browsing my blog specifically on the AS coursework, and of course my Cinema blog, which by now has a massive archive of posts on the film industry (use the tag cloud, search or just browse by clicking on the arrow beside each year/month).

Note that you analyse film openings in 2 steps: general (look at a mix of genres) and then genre (what are the more specific conventions for your chosen genre?).

You should analyse at least 1 film opening in high detail, but you can approach this by mainly blogging on THEMES/ASPECTS and so discussing several films in each theme post. This approach makes doing a summary much quicker. You're building towards a summary of general film opening conventions, and should have 3+ specific examples (films) to illustrate each point. It also helps to note features of some unusual (unconventional) aspects. You will later need to justify your film choices by referring to the conventions your research uncovered.

Here's an example of a fairly detailed post I did on an old (80s) film opening; you should notice how film language has changed for more recent films. There are many ways to approach the blogging; here's another example, on The Boat That Rocked (a Richard Curtis/WT rom-com), and one more focused on industry and audience/representations: Submarine v Wild Child.