Year 12 - Glossary of Sound Terms

Here is the glossary for sound...

Glossary Of Sound Terms For Tv Drama

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Year 12 - Glossary of Editing Terms

I have uploaded a glossary to explain all the editing terms you might need for the TV Drama Exam.

Glossary Of Editing Terms For Television Drama

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Year 12 Check out the new E4 Continuity ad

Here's what happens when the editing goes wrong:

Year 13 - Three very good film poster/trailer sites

You have probably already found the Apple film trailer site. This shows all the latest upcoming films for release, providing posters, trailers and links to the film websites themselves. Every genre is here and the websites for the films can give a variety of trailers for each film. Also, try Movie Poster.com.

The Film Distributors' Association site is a wealth of information about film releases in the UK as well as a host of issues to do with the distribution side of the industry. A must if you are doing the Film Industry in the retake in January.

Year 12 - Were there any 'units of drama' in the Trial extract - controversy!

I have been asked about the lack of units of drama in the trial extract. This is a really good question. I have coined the term 'units of drama' for this kind of analysis but it's not really a Media Studies term - it comes from Theatre Studies. In Media, we would use the word 'sequence' but this tends to mean a sequence of action then a cut to another sequence of action in a different location. Units of Drama refers to a term used by Russian theatre director called Stanislavski for a 'unit of meaning or action'. Theatre scenes don't tend to cut as often as film so the units of drama might change when a new character enters or a power shift or status change takes place. If we think about the Trial extract likes this, then we get a new unit of drama when people move (or are transformed!) or power shifts etc.

Year 12 - Don't forget Jude's basic editing terms!

I am now part way through marking your Trial exams and, although we are beginning to see really accurate use of more sophisticated editing terms like montage and crosscutting, many of you are forgetting the bread-and-butter terms like 'eyeline match' (where a character looks towards something and we cut to a shot of what it is) or the continuity editing term 'match on action' where an action cuts to a shot of the next logical action (something is thrown, we see where it lands; characters go upstairs, they are in an upstairs room; a character touches the door handle, the door opens viewed from the other side etc, etc)

Year 12 - Slowing the pace of the editing

Learn how to use the word 'take' in your writing about editing. A 'take' is the length of time between edits (cuts, crossfades, dissolves etc).

Long takes slow the pace, giving a long time between cuts, short takes increase the pace of the action. A great example of the long take slowing everything down is at the end of the 1967 film The Graduate where Dustin Hoffman's character, Ben, has driven across California to stop his sweetheart's wedding: his car runs out of petrol half a mile from the church and he finishes the journey on foot.

For a programme maker, short takes are useful because if the actor goes wrong, not very much needs to be done again in 'take 2'. If working in long takes, for example, a character walks into a pub, the camera pans around the room, zooms in on a conversation, and the character we see joins the shot there are more opportunities for the actor to make a mistake. If the mistake comes at the end, it all has to be shot again.

Year 12 - Sound Terminology this week

This week we have focussed on these terms related to sound:

Soundbridge - this is where the (usually) non-diegetic sound continues from one sequence to another. It is often used to link the sequences together with one similar meaning. A good example in The Street was where the three sequences of 'getting in the van', 'at the building site' and 'getting ready for a beer' all had the same piece of music underscoring them showing they were all part of the day's work and all were heightened emotionally by the strong bluesy mood of the music. A different example was in Criminal Justice where the sound of the telephone ringing bridged the cross cuts from the lawyer's sequences to the wife's sequences.

Ambient sound - this is a sound belonging to the diegesis (what we can see in the frame) but not necessarily coming from a person or object in the frame. Juke box music coming from another room or the sound of passing traffic or the muted conversations of a crowd in the background are all examples of ambient sound.

Year 12 - Editing terminology this week

This week we have focused on these editing terms:

Montage - a succession of shots, varied distance and take length, that condense a period of time into a short and watchable package. They often show background information (as in The Street or Criminal Justice) or character development that would take too long to show in real time. They are often accompanied by music to heighten their significance. They often finish when the music fades or stops.

Ellipsis - where time is left out and we have moved forward several hours, days, months or years. There is an ellipsis cut in the bedroom scene in The Street signified by the change in ambient sound from the faint juke box to near silence broken by a single distant car.

Parallel editing or parallel action - where two stories are happening at the same time but in different places. This was seen in Criminal Justice and there was a very good example in the whole structure of this week's new BBC drama Paradox.

Crosscutting - is the type of cut that moves the action from one parallel action sequence to the other - and back again.

Year 12 - Guide To Note Taking The TV Drama Extract

This is the sheet we have used in class. You can download or print it from here.

Guide To Note Taking The Tv Drama Extract

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Year 11 - Exam Question 4

I have asked you to look at question 4 for homework. Here are some suggestions of ways that advertising is used to promote live coverage of sport. Web sites are a good example click here here or here

Also try finding magazine ads, tv ads, billboards and hoardings, web pop-ups or promotions that are linked to sponsorship deals - packaging on products like Guinness that advertises live coverage on Sky Sports or web pages that do the same (here).

This kind of advertising is very similar to what you studied for film promotion.

Year 12 Questions on TV/Film terminology

If you have a question about any of the terms on the sheet I have given you for revising ready for your trial exam (12D - Tuesday 1st December pd 1&2; 12E - Wednesday 2nd December pd 1&2) please add them as comments here and I will answer via another comment.

You can also find a very good advanced guide to the terminology or grammar of Film/TV here

The 180 degree Rule

Here is an excellent diagram to illustrate the 180 degree rule. All of your different camera angles must remain on the same side of the 180 degree line.


If you watch the edit pattern we have discussed in class for when the gymnast makes her jump, you will notice how all the cameras are placed on the side of the run up nearest the centre of the stadium. This is a good example because the 180 degree line is down the middle of the run up to the vault. If we saw the action from a camera set on the other side of the track, it would appear to the viewer that the gymnast was running in the opposite direction - which would be very confusing.

Year 11 - Create a Mood Board

This week, try to create a mood board for your folder. A mood board is a collection of images that all share the mood and genre features of your film poster. They are intended to give a rough idea of the style in which you will be designing your work (or reflect the style you were intending to achieve). They can be arranged how you like - collage, 9 image grid etc. They are simple to do. Take a blank page in Word, turn the page to landscape then google for posters of films in a similar genre to your film poster. Print the result and bring it in for your poster. If you want to get really advanced, upload it to your blog!

A good example of a horror mood board by one of our Y13 students can be found here

Here is a mood board for a 'Teen High' genre film. It is the work of a student called Yasmin from Long Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge:

Year 11 - Are any of these missing from your folder?

These Are the Features That Appear Across All the Folders

YEAR 11A Media Pre-Production Coursework Folders

Your coursework folders have been checked by myself and Mr. Page. Some have been finished off very well - but not all of them. We have also been able to see what all four Media groups have included in their folders and I will post a list of possible additional contents for you on this site (see below).

We will now keep your actual folder in school and you will receive an A4 comment sheet later this week that will detail what has been included in the folder.

You still have time to improve on what you have now handed in. Although we will not let you take your large folder home now, you may add any of the missing features or add anything from the list of ideas that other groups have included between now and the February half term. The more you include and the better the presentation, the higher your final grade is likely to be.

If you want to improve on the way your work is presented within the actual folder, you will need to do that after school. There is usually a teacher in the Media dept between 3.00pm and 4.00pm most days and Monday is always our 'Media Extra' slot at this time.

Y11 Blogs now on site

Scroll down on the right hand side...

Year 13 - Remember Remember the Criteria

Reminder to all Y 13 that the coursework criteria for your films/videos is posted on posters at the back of my classroom and on the Media Department blog. you must check your plans against this criteria to check you are including everything!