Choosing the Brief

The first thing that surprised me this year was the freedom of choice we have been given. There are many tasks which specialise on different focus areas from film, radio, print and television, offering students the chance to personalise their course with an area of interest. My main reason for selecting Media Studies as an A-level came from my love for film and television, so my decision will definitely be informed by that enthusiasm.

A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or animated or a combination of both, together with two of the following three options:

• A poster for the film
• A radio trailer for the film
• A film magazine review page featuring the film

Without doubt, this is the ideal brief for me. When I looked at the others, I found myself liking either the main task or the ancillary tasks, but not both. This option leapt off the page because it is perfectly engineered for me to put my creativity to the test.

A short film shall provide me with the means to build on areas of the film industry I would love to work in. For example, storytelling, screenwriting, cinematography, acting and editing. All of these are essential to determine how effective any film, short film or TV show is, and by choosing this brief I will get the opportunity to try out all of the above.

Not only this, but the secondary tasks engage some of my other hobbies. I love to read film magazines like Empire or Total Film for their reviews and updates in the film industry, so the last bullet point sounds incredibly engaging. Being critical of films is something that could be associated with journalism and the larger industry of print, so writing from a critical perspective will allow me to indulge my enjoyment of analysing cinematic products.

I wouldn't choose a radio trailer, because for starters I don't believe that it is an appropriate way to promote a visual product. Furthermore I do not want to be confined to the limits of the audio platform, since I feel that in the film industry promotional strategies like posters, TV spots and trailers are far more successful. The reason being that when promoting a visual product, the audience need to be able to see it in order to obtain a general understanding of what they will be watching.

Which brings me to my final choice. I will definitely be opting to make a poster for my film because this shall require me to put into practise what I have learnt from Photoshop over the last year but also allow me to apply that knowledge to a different form of promotion. Unlike making a magazine cover, this should enable me to create an intense, exciting and ambiguous poster to hook an audience without exposing too much information. So essentially I shall be using the same tools for a different purpose.

Having decided on my coursework brief for this year, my next post will set out a general plan for the coming months and how I intend to organise the tasks.