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.