LESSON 4: UNDERSTANDING MEDIA: AESTHETICS OF
FILM AND TV
The audiovisual medium is a combination of different kinds of
media delivered in one package. Take the audio aspect of radio
and oral traditions and combine it with the visual aspect of
photography and you get film and television.
Film and television make it easier for us to imagine the concept
being sent to us as messages. We don’t have to think hard for
what the material is saying because we can hear it and see it at
the same time.
The Film Form
Looking closely at the traditional way movies are made, a typical
celluloid film strip actually has separate frames. Each frame
may appear like they have the same image. This is why film was
earlier called “moving pictures” since its precursor, photography
carried with it still (non-moving) pictures. Later, this was
shortened into movies. Cinema refers to specific bodies of work
in film that carry specific thematic topics.
When it comes to the length, film usually comes in two formats:
the short film and the feature-length or full-length film. A short
film is a film whose total running time will not exceed one hour.
If it exceeds one hour and lasts up to two or three hours, then
that is already considered as a full-length film.
Modes of Film Production
a. Preproduction – This is where all the planning stages of a film
are made before actually making the film. This involves
developing the concept of the film until it becomes a full-blown
film script or screenplay. It includes the stages of production
design (props, costumes, characters’ styling, etc.), shooting
details (plotting out lighting plans, planning the camera angles),
and editing concerns.
b. Production stage- This is the actual shooting of the film
sometimes called the “principal photography phase” (referring to
the origins of film in photography). Actors and the crew
members will arrive at their scheduled shooting days to perform
their duties on or off the screen.
c. Postproduction stage – This is where everything will be put
together; the images shot will be edited together; the music will
be composed, recorded and laid out with the edited images, and
the special effects or other graphics requirements will be put in
the film.
Film Formats
a. Narrative
A narrative film is fictional in nature, meaning the
characteristics and situations were made up by the film’s
scriptwriter.
b. Documentary
The opposite the narrative fiction film is the documentary
film which presents nonfictional or factual characters and
situations in the film. While the documentary also has a story to
present, its difference lies mainly in the way it presents facts
and shows real lives of people as the story unfolds.
c. Animation
Animation encompasses the frame-by-frame shooting
and projection of fictional films using puppets, clay figures,
drawings or sketches, shadows, and now computer-generated
images or characters.
d. Experimental
The experimental film tries to play around with the
physicality of the film form, the shooting styles, the production
process, and the concept. It is similar to seeing an abstract or
expressionist painting wherein the meanings associated with the
images are open to interpretation.
Film Image Composition
Film communicates its messages by using similar clues and
signposts like language. Visual symbolisms and cues are still
the most effective way of delivering the message to the
audience. All the elements in a given film frame work
harmoniously together in order to deliver a concrete message.
These elements are the following:
 The relationship of objects and people (with each other or
amongst themselves)
 The play of light and dark (how the bright parts interact
with the dim parts)
 The colors and their patterns
 The position of the camera and the angles used to frame
the subjects.
Motion Framing Concepts
things. In Philippine television, this format is evident in the
noontime shows aired every day.
TV Show Anatomy and Advertising
A one-hour type of drama series should be broken down into at
least four segments, leaving gaps, or breaks in between
segments. this is done to give way to advertisements that
sponsored the show, giving us the terms “commercial gap” or
“commercial break” when referring to these portions in a typical
TV show broadcast.

The movement could be done by two things: the camera itself
(producing a moving shot) or the character/s in the frame (the
subjects moving).
The following are some of the camera movements:
zoom pan dolly
focus tilt pedestal
truck
The TV Broadcast
Television or TV is somewhat similar to the aesthetics of the film
form. TV production processes also use the same technology,
especially in today’s digital shooting style.
Kinds of TV Shows
1. Informative Programming
To fulfill its role of delivering information, news programs were
created to deliver current events relevant to the viewing public.
Typically, a news program runs for 30 minutes to one hour.
2. Entertainment Programming
The variety show is a popular format wherein a variety of things
happen in a given episode: a singing contest, a dance contest, a
comedy sketch, a kind of pageant, some games, and other
LESSON 5: MEDIA, FREEDOMS, AND THE LAW
As media consumers, we are entitled to certain freedoms to
exercise our basic rights in society. Media producers are also
entitled to certain forms of legal protection when it comes to
protecting their creations and content.
A simplified version of Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UDHR) enumerates these rights covered by the 30 articles as
well as the points everyone should uphold, as follows:
1. We are all born free and equal.
2. Don’t discriminate.
3. The right to life.
4. No slavery.
5. No torture.
6. You have rights no matter where you go.
7. We’re all equal before the law.
8. Your human rights are protected by law.
9. No unfair detainment.
10. The right to trial.
11. We’re always innocent till proven guilty.
12. The right to privacy.
13. Freedom to move.
14. The right to seek a safe place to live.
15. Right to a nationality.
16. Marriage and family
17. The right to your own things
18. Freedom of thought.
19. Freedom of expression.
20. The right to public assembly.
21. The right to democracy.
22. Social security.
23. Workers’ rights.
24. The right to play.
25. Food and shelter for all.
26. The right to education.
27. Copyright
28. A fair and free world.
29. Responsibility
30. No one can take away your human rights

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is the general term used to refer to negative

behavior commonly done online by people. To remind you, a
bully is defined by the dictionary as “a blustering, quarrelsome,
overbearing person who habitually badgers and intimidates
smaller or weaker people”. Thus, to cyberbully is “to bully online
by sending or posting mean messages, usually anonymously”.