Coursework film

The coursework idea that I am going to be filming an my group of three is a zombie film that takes inspiration from films such as "Dawn of the Dead" and...  The first shot of the film is an extreme close up of the main character's (Jack Hanson) eye as he tries to barricade himself from the zombies, which leads to a flashback of before the attack.

Swede Task

For this task we had to create a "swede" of a film, of our choice. Our group used "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" which is one of my favourite films. We had to take the aspects of the film and change it so it would be humorous. Therefore, using bananas as guns, and silly costumes was the way forward! We then added the films soundtrack and added a few sound effects to make it all fit together and look better.

A swede is picking a film and recreating it on a zero budget. Therefore there is no need for high budget actors or special effects, its just a small budget and a camcorder, and you are set!. Jack Black created the "swede" in the film Be Kind Rewind (Michael Gondry, 2008), this introduced sweding to the public and made it popular.

PRELIM: sweded film

Task: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.


Match on action: A technique used in film editing, is a cut that connects two different views of the same action at the same moment in the movement.


180 degree rule- Within a scene, two subjects should always have the same left/ right relationship, e.g. person A on the left and person B on the right. However if the camera passes over the imaginary axis, it is called crossing the line.


Shot/ reverse shot- a film technique where one character is shown looking at another character (often off-screen), and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other.


The coursework is worth 50% of the AS (same at A2) and the marking (detailed later) is divided into 3 sections:

RESEARCH AND PLANNING: 20%

PRODUCTION: 60%

EVALUATION: 20%

Pitch -  promotion by means of a persuasive argument and demonstration.


'Sweding'- the term for recreating (typically in a humorous way) movies in a low-tech, zero-budget fashion

My Pitch- my "swede" idea was the film "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Mike Newell, 2005)" as I thought since we could film in the lessons that we could use the school environment, which would be appropriate to the film, also the actual film uses (as it is set in a school) tennage actors, which is appropriate if we are acting in the "swede". For the low budget/ comedy factor of the film I thought props such as sticks for wands and exaggerated costume and make-up (such as Harry's scar) could be used to help portray the genre of the film.

Mise-en-scene task

The mise-en scene task involved making sure exposition had to be primarily provided through mise-en-scene + shot selection; only 17 words of dialogue were permitted. A challenging task with tight deadlines.

After creating my idea for the task, I presented a 30 second pitch to the rest of the class, and my film idea was chosen as one of the few to be shot. I decided to film at an abandoned house near where I live, as I thought it would fit the brief of using primarily mise-en-scene to convey the story well.

Lesson from my Micro-Drama

While filming with my group for the Micro-Drama I have learned through the experience a few things that I should bear in mind for future filming.

 Such as lots of shot coverage to ensure that when editing there is plenty of footage, so different shots can be played around with and edited to find the best fit for the film. I also realised the huge importance of a good and detailed call sheet, as it helps the filming to go swiftly without the need for working out what shot is needed, angle etc...

MicroDrama Task

Our first use of cameras and editing software. The task incorporates application of various narrative theories, but is just as importantly all about experimenting with the cameras and iMovie. A time-limited task, with no access to separate sound-recording equipment at this stage.

Top 5 Favourite Films

1: The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont, 1994)

Budget - $25,000,000
Gross - $30,000,000 (UK+USA)

The Shawshank Redemption is my faviourite film because it gives an interesting point of view of prison life from the inside, and the effects it can have. Also I think that the ending of the film is amazing and very inspirational.

The Trailer:



2: Fight Club (David Fincher, 1999)

Budget- $63,000,000
Box Office UK- $5,400,000    US-$37,000,000

The reason Fight Club is my second favourite film is that I think the themes and ideas behind the film are really clever, and I love the twist at the end.

The Trailer:


3: Gladiator (Ridley Scott, 2000)

Budget: $103,000,000
Box Office UK- $30,700,000
                 USA- $187,700,000

The reason Gladiator is my third favourite film is I think everything about the film is epic, especially the battle scenes, and I think the ending is amazing. Also I think the sountrack by Hans Zimmer is brilliant and fits the film perfectly.

The Trailer:

4: The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)

Budget- $22,000,000

Box Office USA (opening weekend)- $600,000



The reason The Shining is in my top films is because I like the build up of tension right up until the great ending. Also I haven't got bored of it despite having seen it many times.

The Trailer:

5: The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (Peter Jackson, 2001)

Budget- $93,000,000

Box Office UK- $65,300,000

                   USA- $314,800,000

The reason this film is in my top 5 is that I think the whole film is epic, and like with Gladiatior I like the battle scenes. And again like Gladiator I think Howard Shore did an amazing job with the soudtrack that helps make the film so epic.

The Trailer:

My Coursework

THE BRIEF

Your mission is to carry out the following brief:

Preliminary exercise: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.
Main task: the titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes.
All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source.

The coursework is worth 50% of the AS (same at A2) and the marking (detailed later) is divided into 3 sections:

RESEARCH AND PLANNING: 20%

PRODUCTION: 60%

EVALUATION: 20%

• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? 

• How does your media product represent particular social groups?

• What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? 

• Who would be the audience for your media product? 

• How did you attract/address your audience? 

• What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? 

• Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

 G321 - Simplified Marking Criteria as 1 Sheet