Unit 26

Edexcel BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma in Creative Media Production Assignment Brief Television & Film | |Unit 26: Film Studies |Title: Analytical Approaches and Relationships between Films and | | |their Production Context | | |Year: 2013 |Group: Year 12 | |Assignment Handout: |Assignment Deadline: |Assessor: | | / /2013 |Draft Submission: / /2013 |G. Rushworth | | |Final Submission: / /2013 | | |This brief has been approved by: |Date: | |J. MacKay |Jan 13 | Context | | | |This unit aims to develop learners’ understanding of how films are created for specific audiences and how they make meaning for those | |audiences through an exploration of industry practices and the application of a range of theoretical approaches. The insights that | |learners develop will inform their future production work. | |Learning Outcomes: |Unit: | |Be able to apply different analytical approaches to films |26. 1 | |Understand the relationship between films and their production contexts |26. 2 | Useful Resources: | |www. imdb. com | |Film website with range of industry and film information | |www. empireonline. co. uk | |Possibly word’s biggest and best film magaizine with huge back catalouge of reviews/features | | | |There is a very large selection of DVDs available in Media Studies.
Just ask a Media teacher to take a look. | +-+ |Task 1: Analytical Approaches | |PASS |Using the analytical approaches of genre analysis, content analysis and auteur theory, create a |? |P1 | | |detailed discussion of the gangster genre. | | | | | | | | | |You will look at the film Goodfellas, and extracts from The Godfather, Scarface, American Gangster| | | | |and Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. | | | | |? | | | |Your discussion of the genre may be done as a 1400 word report, or as a fifteen minute Power Point| | | | |presentation with accompanying notes. | | | | | | | | | |In your analysis of the gangster genre you should also consider the following: | | | | | |? | | |Codes and Conventions | | | | |Iconography | | | | |Findings from both your content and textual analysis | | | | |Narrative structure | | | | |Audience Readings |? | |MERIT |In addition: | |M1 | | |Relevant examples that draw upon elements or details of the films studied will be given to support| | | | |what is said, but you will not describe these examples to show how they illustrate the point they |? | | | |support. In discussing codes and conventions in a genre analysis you might note: | | | | | | | | | |‘The knife is part of the iconography of the horror movie and is often the means by which the | | | | |victim is killed.
In 12 of the 15 movies I studied for my content analysis a knife was used for at| | | | |least one of the murders and in five it was used for all of them. The other two common means of | | | | |killing were strangulation with a rope and with the bare hands. Knives have connotations of | | | | |slashing movements and gushing blood. The most famous example of this must be the shower scene in | | | | |Hitchcock’s Psycho. Being knifed to death is particularly frightening because you can see the | | | | |person killing you.

It’s not like shooting, which is done at a distance and is a much more | | | | |cold-blooded way of killing. This is why the gun is the conventional weapon in gangster movies | | | | |like Scarface. ’ | | | |DISTINCTION |Ideas will be developed and points supported with arguments and well focused examples which are | |D1 | | |elucidated in such a way as to draw out of the example precisely what it is about it that |? | | | |exemplifies the point it illustrates. | | | | |Examples will refer to precisely defined elements or details of the films studied.
In discussing | | | | |codes and conventions in a genre analysis you might note: | | | | | | | | | |‘The knife is part of the iconography of the horror movie and is often the means by which the | | | | |victim is killed. In 12 of the 15 movies I studied for my content analysis a knife was used for at| | | | |least one of the murders and in five it was used for all of them. The other two common means of | | | | |killing were strangulation with a rope and with the bare hands.
What | | | | |these methods all have in common is that they involve close bodily contact between the victim and | | | | |the killer, | | | | |which makes the murder more frightening, unlike shooting which is done at a distance and is a much| | | | |more | | | | |cold-blooded way of killing. This is why the gun is the conventional weapon in gangster movies | | | | |like Scarface | | | | |or war movies like Platoon, where the killing of Elias by Barnes shows how far apart they are | | | | |morally as well | | | | |as physically and Barnes’s act seems even more calculating because it is so careful and | | | | |deliberate. Knives have | | | |developed connotations through intertextuality that are specific to horror movies, such as | | | | |slashing movements | | | | |and gushing blood. In the most famous example of this – the shower scene in Hitchcock’s Psycho – | | | | |we never actually see the murderer, but we do see the movement of the knife repeated over and over| | | | |again, and the blood swirling down the shower outlet as though it is just water. ’ | | | Task 2 Relationship Between Films And Their Production Contexts | |PASS |Empire, an established film magazine, wants you to write an illustrative article (800 words) about| |P2 | | |Hollywood’s Goodfellas (1990) and Britain’s Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). |? | | | |You can use your notes from task 1 to help you. Your article will look at the relationship each | | | | |film has with the production company and the factors that influence that relationship. | | | | | | | | |Your article should discuss the following: | | | | |Stars | | | | |Social issues | | | | |Regulatory bodies | | | | |Financial determinants | | | | |Distribution and Exhibition | | | | |Vertical and horizontal ntegration | | | | |Synergies between different films |? | | | | | | | | |You will ensure your article looks professional. You should add stills from both films, and use | | | | |appropriate font and layout. | | | |MERIT |You will talk about the relationships between production contexts and films, in such a way as to | |M2 | | |show why they are the way they are, or the effects they have on the films that are produced. |? | | | | | | | |Relevant examples that draw upon elements or details of the films studied will be given to support| | | | |what is said. | | | | | | | | | |Relevant factual information about production contexts will be offered although it will not be | | | | |used to support developed argument. | | |DISTINCTION |You will talk critically about the relationships between production contexts and films, justifying| |D2 | | |points |? | | | |made with supporting arguments or evidence. | | | | | | | | | |You will draw out of an example precisely what it is about | | | | |it that exemplifies the point it illustrates.
Material about production contexts will be well | | | | |researched and will refer to precisely focused elements or details of the film/films studied. | | | | | | | | | |You will provide full and extensive explanations and consistently provide arguments to support | | | | |points made. Relevant examples that draw upon elements or details of the films studied will be | | | | |given to support what is said. | | | |Guidance for this Assignment |Task |? |To achieve a PASS grade, the evidence must show that you are able to: | |P1 |Apply approaches to analysing films with some appropriate use of subject terminology |1 | | |P2 |Describe the relationship between films and their production contexts with some appropriate use of subject |2 | | | |terminology | | | |To achieve a MERIT grade, the evidence must show that you are able to: | |M1 |Apply approaches to analysing films coherently with reference to detailed illustrative examples and generally|1 | | | |correct use of subject terminology | | | |M2 |Explain the relationship between films and their production contexts with reference to detailed illustrative |2 | | | |examples and generally correct use of subject terminology | | | |To achieve a DISTINCTION grade, the evidence must show that you are able to: | |D1 |Apply approaches to analysing films critically, supporting points with arguments and elucidated examples and |1 | | | |consistently using subject terminology correctly | | | |D2 |Comprehensively explain the relationship between films and their production contexts with elucidated examples|2 | | | |and consistently using subject terminology correctly | | | Tutor’s Feedback | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Referral – What the learner should do: | | | |Tutor’s Signature/Date |IV Signature/Date | | | | |Learner’s Feedback | | | | | | | | | | | |Learner’s Signature/Date | | | ———————– Grading Criteria: Text taken directly from criteria in BTEC guidelines