Summary of Initial Research

Over the month we have looked at several key areas for the research stage of the coursework. The terminology we use is ideal to describe our work and using media terminology allows the work to be analysed in detail. For example using the correct terminology to annotate and analyse the posters it allows me to think about how I could create my own poster for my film trailer by following conventions of movie posters and genres. We also looked at some theories by Todorov and Propp as well as genre theories which helped us think of some brief narrative ideas following the theories of disequilibrium, stock characters and ideas about genres. Mise en scene was a important thing to look at as it links into narrative, it helps tie together a story in a trailer depending on what is included within the frame for each individual shot such as lighting and cinematography, props and costume, camera works, actors movement and setting. Creating a production company of our own meant that we could create our products at an almost professional level alongside making our trailers look more professional, it also helped us understand what we need to be able to do behind the scenes working as independent production companies like directing, editing and planning. Prior to doing all the research we did a skill audit where we looked at our individual strengths in producing different media texts with different types of desktop publishing software, this helped us find our weaknesses and allowed us to create clear targets so we can strengthen our skills in these areas.