Explain the most significant ways in which your media productions were informed by your understanding of the conventions of real media texts. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to demonstrate how this understanding developed over time (25 marks)
My productions were informed by my understanding of the conventions of real media texts as when i made my G322 film opening called 'Impact' in year 12 of media i incorporated genre conventions of a teen drama. My film opening revolved around a girl suffering from mental illness and depression with little support at home and at school, it was of the genre a 'teen drama' so i did a small amount of research into this genre to understand the conventions. For example, my production group and i looked into existing drama films for inspiration. Such as when watching 'Girl, Interrupted' we understood the theme of mental illness and bullying so included this as the main theme in our film opening 'Impact'. We also used a voice over towards the end of the film opening, as this is a convention in teen dramas as it shows emotion. 'The Notebook' inspired us to put a voice over in our opening as there is one in that film. Whereas in year 13 when i produced my G325 cross media promotional package, consisting of a music video and two ancillary tasks; digipak and website. My production group and i made a music video called 'Hypnotic' centred round a psychotic girl going insane, the two ancillary tasks were used as advertisements for our artist 'Stellato'. In the music video the conventions of a dance/club genre were understood and challenged to show our creativity. For example when researching a lot more than we did in year 12 we found that the typical location for a club/dance genre music video would be a club. We decided to subvert this stereotype and set the music video in a mirror maze (Ripley's museum in London), however we did acknowledge and reference to the club genre by using glow sticks to create bright colours which is also usual of dance/club music videos. When researching we also found that dance/club music videos tend to sexualise the artist possibly conforming to Laura Mulveys Male Gaze theory. We chose to challenge this by not sexualising our artist.
In year 12, my production groups film opening 'Impact' we chose to use normally clothes as our characters costumes so that the audiences could relate well, especially to the protagonist especially. This is also a typical convention of teen drama's as they tend to be aiming to portray a serious message to the audience. For example, 'Sophia' the main character wore jeans and a t-shirt throughout the production. In comparison, in year 13 we manipulated the typical costumes of an artist performing in a dance/club music video. As 'Stellato' wore dark plan outfits, for example at the beginning she wore a black dress with tights. We did this to bring more attention to the location and who our artist was, rather than what she wears. In year 12 my production group and i didn't consider lighting when filming in much depth, where as in year 13 it was imperative that we thought about the effects of different lighting. The music video included a range of different lights - red was a colour theme that was prominent in the video, especially in the mirror maze. This shows development of my understanding of conventions of a dance/club genre music video which are known to focus heavily on lighting. Also because lighting was considered a lot more in year 13 than year 12, as the lighting that is in our film opening is by chance.
In my film opening i incorporated forms and conventions of a teen drama such as an establishing shot at the beginning using a tripod. This is a typical convention of a teen drama which shows the audience the location at which the film opening will be taking place. Whereas in year 13 my production group and i were more creative as we knew all about the genre dance/club so could challenge the conventions whilst conforming to them in different aspects of the video. So towards the end of the music video, we used a hand held camera to pan around the artist to create a psychotic atmosphere - clearly in year 13 we couldn't the effects of our decisions. But in year 12 we just conformed to the basic forms and conventions of a teen drama. Also in the film opening we filmed a close up of 'Sophia' crying to show the emotion to the audience, as emotion plays a crucial role in drama films. But when we did this, we didn't think of the effects, so it wasn't an intentional decision. In comparison to year 13 when we consider the decision we made by thinking about the consequences, as we aimed to include forms and conventions that the audience would easily recognise, but would find intriguing. Hence why we subverted many stereotypes of a dance/club music video. In year 13 we also had a close up of our artist 'Stellato's' face to create confusion for the audience, as we switched from long shots to close ups.
In year 12 the film opening consisted of a small number of long shots which matched the majority of teen dramas. This is known as continuity editing, when my production group edited the film opening we simply put the shots together. Whereas for the music video, due to our increased understanding of conventions because of in depth research. 'Hypnotic' was heavily edited, having over 200 shots which meant we ended up having a fragmented narrative. We took inspiration from existing media products when editing, we found that the music video 'Beautiful Now' was also heavily edited and this is very typically of a club music video. Also the quality of my G322 production in year 12 was reduced due to my production group and i paying little attention to the lighting in the film opening and considering whether we should edit using brightness and contrast as well as colour correction. But in year 13 due to our increased and developed understanding of forms and conventions by researching into existing media texts. Our music video was of better quality as we knew it was essential for us to spend some time colour correcting our shots and using brightness and contrast to link the shots better together.
Monday, 5 June 2017
Monday, 29 May 2017
Research and planning essay practice
In year one of my media A-level i created a film opening which followed the teen drama genre. My film opening focuses on a mentally ill teenager struggling to cope with her every day life. There is conflict shown with her peers and teachers whilst at school. In year two of my A-level, i created a cross-media promotional package which included making a music video for the club song 'Hypnotic'. A website and digi-pak for our artist 'Stellato'. The artist for the video portrayed a psychotic nature, therefore we made our camera work and editing highlight this.
Research and planning were key elements over the two years of my media a-level, they helped me to create professional productions that were well thought out. In year one i researched into genre, i learnt about the key conventions of a teen drama for my film opening. My production group and i were inspired by the film 'Kidulthood' when it came to locations and costumes. In my film opening 'Impact' i used the setting of a school as one of my locations and casual clothes for the characters costumes which is very similar to the locations and costumes used in 'Kidulthood'. I also researched into titles using the 'Art of titles' website, i took inspiration from the titles in 'The last of us' and incorporated the order of the titles in that film opening into my film opening 'Impact'. I researched further when looking at existing products such as 'Girl,interuptted' and 'It's kind of a funny story' to learn more about teen dramas.
My research skills improved immensely when it came to year two of my media a-level when i had to create a cross-media promotional package as i researched into the club genre of a music video in my depth. I did this by looking at conventions of a music video and by learning about what happens in a music video of the genre 'rap' for example. I researched into different types of music videos, these are concept for example 'Running' by Beyonce, narrative for example 'Shake it off' by Taylor Swift, and performance such as 'Mockingbird' by Eminem. I took inspiration from these videos and many more when creating my music video, i had to ensure that i had incorporated the conventions of a club genre as this was much more important in year two. 'Somebody that i used to know' by Gotye was heavily influential for my music video 'Hypnotic'. My research skills developed as i didn't copy from what i had found, i challenged my findings to create a unique, original music video. It was important for there to be synergy across all three of my productions in year two, so i also researched into the ancillary tasks such as the website and digi-pak in greater depth. So, it is clear that in year one i copied conventions and and ideas from my research, but in year two i challenged my findings and was more creative as i had researched in further depth allowing me to understand better.
In year one i briefly researched into my film opening audience of teenagers, whereas in year two my productions were based upon the target audience teenagers and young adults.In year two the audience were considered much more than in year one, as when making decisions about the music video, the website and digi[ak, my production group thought about whether this would appeal to the audience. But in year one when making a film opening, we simply just made the film opening with no thought process into whether it would appeal to the target audience.
Planning was another key element which made a tremendous difference to the outcome of my products over the two years. My production group made a story board to plan for all shots in the film opening in year one, which was about 25 shots. A storyboard was also made in year two for the music video which consisted of around 100 shots, this shows the complexity of the music video in comparison to the film opening. This also highlights how much more my production group planned in year two.
My production group also planned by making a shot list and shooting schedule. These were design briefly in year one as i didn't know how to plan very well. But in year two the shot list and shooting schedule were planned in greater detail as my planning skills had developed. For example, in year two i researched into unique locations such as the mirror maze at Ripley's 'Believe it or not' Museum in London and planned for the complexities of this location.
In year two my production group also made a stealomatic - which is a collection of music videos put together in an order showing how we want our music video to be like. This widened my creativity when it came to producing the music video, i didn't have this level of creativity in year one when planning for my film opening.
My production group also received a lot more feedback in year two which influenced us to remove footage from Hyde Park in London as feedback suggested that this didn't match the song 'Hypnotic'. In year two i created questionnaires and surveys to get feedback, but in year one i didn't pay as much attention to the feedback process.
I planned using presentational tools such as emaze and slideshare in year one. In year two i advanced by researching different presentational tools to be more creative when planning for the productions and posting it on my blog. For example when researching i came across Canva.
To conclude it is clear that my research and planning skills have developed and improved over the two years and were much better in year two than in year one. Due to research and planning being approached to in greater depth.
Research and planning were key elements over the two years of my media a-level, they helped me to create professional productions that were well thought out. In year one i researched into genre, i learnt about the key conventions of a teen drama for my film opening. My production group and i were inspired by the film 'Kidulthood' when it came to locations and costumes. In my film opening 'Impact' i used the setting of a school as one of my locations and casual clothes for the characters costumes which is very similar to the locations and costumes used in 'Kidulthood'. I also researched into titles using the 'Art of titles' website, i took inspiration from the titles in 'The last of us' and incorporated the order of the titles in that film opening into my film opening 'Impact'. I researched further when looking at existing products such as 'Girl,interuptted' and 'It's kind of a funny story' to learn more about teen dramas.
My research skills improved immensely when it came to year two of my media a-level when i had to create a cross-media promotional package as i researched into the club genre of a music video in my depth. I did this by looking at conventions of a music video and by learning about what happens in a music video of the genre 'rap' for example. I researched into different types of music videos, these are concept for example 'Running' by Beyonce, narrative for example 'Shake it off' by Taylor Swift, and performance such as 'Mockingbird' by Eminem. I took inspiration from these videos and many more when creating my music video, i had to ensure that i had incorporated the conventions of a club genre as this was much more important in year two. 'Somebody that i used to know' by Gotye was heavily influential for my music video 'Hypnotic'. My research skills developed as i didn't copy from what i had found, i challenged my findings to create a unique, original music video. It was important for there to be synergy across all three of my productions in year two, so i also researched into the ancillary tasks such as the website and digi-pak in greater depth. So, it is clear that in year one i copied conventions and and ideas from my research, but in year two i challenged my findings and was more creative as i had researched in further depth allowing me to understand better.
In year one i briefly researched into my film opening audience of teenagers, whereas in year two my productions were based upon the target audience teenagers and young adults.In year two the audience were considered much more than in year one, as when making decisions about the music video, the website and digi[ak, my production group thought about whether this would appeal to the audience. But in year one when making a film opening, we simply just made the film opening with no thought process into whether it would appeal to the target audience.
Planning was another key element which made a tremendous difference to the outcome of my products over the two years. My production group made a story board to plan for all shots in the film opening in year one, which was about 25 shots. A storyboard was also made in year two for the music video which consisted of around 100 shots, this shows the complexity of the music video in comparison to the film opening. This also highlights how much more my production group planned in year two.
My production group also planned by making a shot list and shooting schedule. These were design briefly in year one as i didn't know how to plan very well. But in year two the shot list and shooting schedule were planned in greater detail as my planning skills had developed. For example, in year two i researched into unique locations such as the mirror maze at Ripley's 'Believe it or not' Museum in London and planned for the complexities of this location.
In year two my production group also made a stealomatic - which is a collection of music videos put together in an order showing how we want our music video to be like. This widened my creativity when it came to producing the music video, i didn't have this level of creativity in year one when planning for my film opening.
My production group also received a lot more feedback in year two which influenced us to remove footage from Hyde Park in London as feedback suggested that this didn't match the song 'Hypnotic'. In year two i created questionnaires and surveys to get feedback, but in year one i didn't pay as much attention to the feedback process.
I planned using presentational tools such as emaze and slideshare in year one. In year two i advanced by researching different presentational tools to be more creative when planning for the productions and posting it on my blog. For example when researching i came across Canva.
To conclude it is clear that my research and planning skills have developed and improved over the two years and were much better in year two than in year one. Due to research and planning being approached to in greater depth.
Sunday, 28 May 2017
Digital technology essay practice
In year one of my media A-level i created a film opening which followed the teen drama genre. My film opening focuses on a mentally ill teenager struggling to cope with her every day life. There is conflict shown with her peers and teachers whilst at school. In year two of my A-level, i created a cross-media promotional package which included making a music video for the club song 'Hypnotic'. A website and digi-pak for our artist 'Stellato'. The artist for the video portrayed a psychotic nature therefore we made our camera work and editing highlight this.
Both productions were improved by the use of digital technology. In terms of camera, in year one for the film opening, my production group used a hand held school camera and learnt the fundamentals. Whereas in year two we used a Nikon D3300- DSLR and explored more into the different functions of this camera to make our camera work more interesting. Also, in the first year we made use of a tripod to get long, steady shots but in the second year we advanced to using the camera in a variety of ways to create a psychotic atmosphere for the music video. It is clear that in year two of my media a-level i was more creative and advanced when it came to filming due to trying other techniques, not just using a tripod.
My digital technology skills were better in year two as well. For both years my production group used the software Adobe Premiere Pro to edit our productions. In year one i learnt the basics of how to crop a shot and incorporate shots into the software, also how to use a small about of editing effects. Whereas in year two i learnt how to use many more effects such a blur, black and white. Also in year two my production group used around 100 shots so the music video was highly edited, but in year one we had about 15 long shots with hardly any editing done to them. My digital technology skills also developed when producing other editing tasks throughout the two years, but the tasks in year two required advanced knowledge as to how to use the software Adobe Premiere Pro. For example at the beginning of year one i was set a task of creating a video that was an exact replica of the Juno music video. Which simply required copying the video with the resources i had. But throughout year two of media i was given more independence as to how i wanted to use digital technology to produce my products. For example, my production group created a Stealo-matic which is a combination of videos all put together, which is like a frame work as to how we wanted our music video to be like. My production group had more creativity in the Stealo-matic than in the Juno, as we were not copying something else we were developing the ideas on our own through the use of other music videos.
Photoshop was another form of digital technology which i used to create my productions over the two years. In year one Photoshop was only used to make a basic film poster, similar to many others we had seen. In comparison in year two, Photoshop was used numerous times to edit photos for the website and also edit images on the digi-pak. For example my production group managed to create an overlaying shot using the editing techniques on Photoshop, we also managed to create multi images within one image which expressed the psychotic nature of the music video. Therefore creating synergy between all three products; the music video, the website, and the digi-pak as they all used the same image and colour schemes i.e. red.
My production group used the software Wix to create the website in year two. In year one of my media a-level i had no idea what Wix was, so i developed in terms of knowledge and understood the software to a good level in year two. This shows that my digital technology skills improved as i was able to use more complicated software's to create the website, to which these skills i didn't have in year one.
Blogger is an online technology which enabled me to publish all my research and product onto one place. In year one, i learnt the fundamentals such as how to post on blogger and create labels with help of my teachers and other peers. Whereas in year two i was much more experiences and learnt how to do functions on blogger by myself. In year two i also had double the posts than i had in year one.
Another online technology i used in year one was Slide share, this enabled me to embed productions onto blogger. In year two i learnt how to use other presentational tools like slideshare in more depth.Such as Powtoon and Canva which helped me to be more creative in year two and develop my digital technology skills.
Digital technology was helpful as it ensured i could create products to a great, professional standard, although each digital technology did take time to learn how to use. My digital technology skills developed over the two years due to the effort i put in to find new interesting technologies and understand the softwares. Digital technology had a major influence on my final productions.
Both productions were improved by the use of digital technology. In terms of camera, in year one for the film opening, my production group used a hand held school camera and learnt the fundamentals. Whereas in year two we used a Nikon D3300- DSLR and explored more into the different functions of this camera to make our camera work more interesting. Also, in the first year we made use of a tripod to get long, steady shots but in the second year we advanced to using the camera in a variety of ways to create a psychotic atmosphere for the music video. It is clear that in year two of my media a-level i was more creative and advanced when it came to filming due to trying other techniques, not just using a tripod.
My digital technology skills were better in year two as well. For both years my production group used the software Adobe Premiere Pro to edit our productions. In year one i learnt the basics of how to crop a shot and incorporate shots into the software, also how to use a small about of editing effects. Whereas in year two i learnt how to use many more effects such a blur, black and white. Also in year two my production group used around 100 shots so the music video was highly edited, but in year one we had about 15 long shots with hardly any editing done to them. My digital technology skills also developed when producing other editing tasks throughout the two years, but the tasks in year two required advanced knowledge as to how to use the software Adobe Premiere Pro. For example at the beginning of year one i was set a task of creating a video that was an exact replica of the Juno music video. Which simply required copying the video with the resources i had. But throughout year two of media i was given more independence as to how i wanted to use digital technology to produce my products. For example, my production group created a Stealo-matic which is a combination of videos all put together, which is like a frame work as to how we wanted our music video to be like. My production group had more creativity in the Stealo-matic than in the Juno, as we were not copying something else we were developing the ideas on our own through the use of other music videos.
Photoshop was another form of digital technology which i used to create my productions over the two years. In year one Photoshop was only used to make a basic film poster, similar to many others we had seen. In comparison in year two, Photoshop was used numerous times to edit photos for the website and also edit images on the digi-pak. For example my production group managed to create an overlaying shot using the editing techniques on Photoshop, we also managed to create multi images within one image which expressed the psychotic nature of the music video. Therefore creating synergy between all three products; the music video, the website, and the digi-pak as they all used the same image and colour schemes i.e. red.
My production group used the software Wix to create the website in year two. In year one of my media a-level i had no idea what Wix was, so i developed in terms of knowledge and understood the software to a good level in year two. This shows that my digital technology skills improved as i was able to use more complicated software's to create the website, to which these skills i didn't have in year one.
Blogger is an online technology which enabled me to publish all my research and product onto one place. In year one, i learnt the fundamentals such as how to post on blogger and create labels with help of my teachers and other peers. Whereas in year two i was much more experiences and learnt how to do functions on blogger by myself. In year two i also had double the posts than i had in year one.
Another online technology i used in year one was Slide share, this enabled me to embed productions onto blogger. In year two i learnt how to use other presentational tools like slideshare in more depth.Such as Powtoon and Canva which helped me to be more creative in year two and develop my digital technology skills.
Digital technology was helpful as it ensured i could create products to a great, professional standard, although each digital technology did take time to learn how to use. My digital technology skills developed over the two years due to the effort i put in to find new interesting technologies and understand the softwares. Digital technology had a major influence on my final productions.
Saturday, 27 May 2017
Forms and conventions essay - practice
Explain the most significant ways in which your media productions were informed by your understanding of the conventions of real media texts. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to demonstrate how this understanding developed over time (25 marks)
In year one of my media A-level i created a film opening which followed the teen drama genre. My film opening focuses on a mentally ill teenager struggling to cope with her every day life. There is conflict shown with her peers and teachers whilst at school. In year two of my A-level, i created a cross-media promotional package which included making a music video for the club song 'Hypnotic'. The artist for the video portrayed a psychotic nature therefore we made our camera work and editing highlight this.
For my first year it was very important for me to understand the forms and conventions of my genre drama, when creating a teen drama film opening. The genre needed to be easily recognised, my production group used many real life media texts as inspiration when making our film opening. Typical conventions of a drama film are that they exhibit real-life situations, filled with climaxes to engage the audience. We took inspiration from the film 'The notebook' which has an emotional voice over. We incorporated a voice over into our film opening to portray the emotion of mental illness. In this first year we stuck to all the conventions where as in the second year my group challenged some conventions to make our productions more interesting, but ensured that some were included so the genre was easily recognised.
Whereas in my second year my production group researched further into the conventions of music videos, websites and digi-paks. We looked at real life examples of websites, for example Ariana Grande's website - from this we found that websites tend to have various different pages. These pages were a home page, a gallery, a tour dates page, a news page and a page were customers can buy products from the website. When designing our website for our artist 'Stellato' we incorporated these conventions by using the same page titles. My production group also researched into music videos, we found that there are three different types of music videos. One being narrative - for example 'Shake it off' by Taylor Swift, another being performance based - for example 'Beautiful now' by Zedd. We took alot of inspiration from the music video 'Beautiful now' as it followed face pace editing which is what we wanted to happen in our video. In our video we had around 100 shots which were heavily edited - this was typical of club music videos.
My understanding of conventions developed over the two years due to the amount of more research i did in my second year. This meant that i understood more about conventions and what was needed of my production group for the conventions to make the genre clear. So i could then subvert some of the stereotypes of a typical dance/club music video, to make it more interesting. For example my production group used a location of a mirror maze, at Ripley's 'Believe it or not' museum, but typically these kind of videos are set in a club environment. In year one my production group only used two locations such as a bedroom and a school. The location of a school is classic for a teen drama, as we found from researching locations and watching 'Kidulthood'. Where as in year two we researched into quirky, unique locations and ended up filming in 8 locations. We derived footage from these locations and created a unique dance/club music video, very different from many other real media texts.
My research skills developed as i put more time and effort into researching what needed to be incorporated into the music video, but in year one i just copied the typical conventions with a different story line. This shows that i have become independent and creative in my media productions over the two years.
My media productions were informed by my production groups understanding of the conventions of real media texts due to research into real-life texts and research into conventions. One significant way in which they were informed was when my production group took inspiration from 'It's kind of a funny story' in year one. My production group used simple costumes and natural make up just like the actors did in 'It's kind of a funny story', this helped to portray the idea that mental illness is normal. Drama films aim to enable the audience to relate with the characters and be able to identify with their struggles. So using normal clothing and make-up creates a sense of normality within what is happening in the characters life.
In comparison, for my music video my production group subverted many stereotypes, for example in terms of costumes. In dance/club music videos the typical outfit of a performer would be bright costumes, where as the artist 'Stellato' who performed in my music video wore dark clothing - a black dress. My production group did this to make our music video original and challenge the stereotypes.
In conclusion it is clear that real media texts and conventions were a huge part of my understanding over the two years. Also its clear that in year one i conformed to the stereotypes of conventions and took a lot of inspiration from real media texts. But in year two i subverted many stereotypes of conventions this shows i have developed in my understanding of conventions and am creative enough to create media texts that are original and not conforming.
Sunday, 2 April 2017
Research and planning essay - improved
Explain how your research and planning skills developed over time and how these decisions contributed to your media productions outcomes. Refer to a range of examples in your answer. (25 marks)
We also researched into audience in both years. My production group briefly researched audience at AS level - looking at what our target audience would be and why. Audience was researched in more depth at A2 level than at AS level , to ensure that our music video would be popular and relevant. Research was vital for the other productions such as the website and digipak for our artist 'Stellato'.
Planning played a huge role at AS level in my production groups film opening 'Impact'. We made a storyboard which we stuck to as we needed guidance and structure as we were inexperienced in creating media productions. But at A2 level the storyboard we made was more in depth due to the complexity of a music video and shots/cuts were in need in comparison to a film opening. We had about 100 shots in our music video, and about 25 in our film opening. We followed the storyboard loosely at A2 level as we were advanced enough to be able to improvise and adapt to changes. This freed us up to be more creative and imaginative.
My AS media production group produced a film sequence to a drama film, this was called 'Impact', it focused on a teenage girl suffering from depression and struggling to get through her life. Whereas our A2 media production was a cross-media package; music video, website and digipak for our artist 'Stellato'. We used the song 'Hypnotic' originally composed by Zella Day to create a music video from. In both years research and planning were key elements in the process of learning new skills and creating our media productions.
At AS level i had little knowledge of film genres so before creating a film opening, i did a bit of research into what made a film fit the category of a specific genre for example horror. My production group briefly researched into different genres of film such as thriller, sci-fis, comedies and drama's. We chose to create a film opening for a teen drama genre due to this we looked into the conventions of a drama film. We found that drama films have the following; a clever complicated script that can relate to the audience, a heightened level of tension going through highs and lows with good editing, well structured involving a climax to keep the audience interested. Also drama films must be realistic , showing a journey of the character throughout and a form of realisation at the end. We looked at existing media products when getting inspiration and they showed us the conventions of a drama film these were 'Girl, Interrupted', 'It's kind of a funny story' and 'Kidulthood'. 'Kidulthood' inspired me when it came to locations and costumes for a typical drama film. For example in 'Kidhulthood' they wore casual clothes to relate to their audience, they also used the location of a school - which we did to. As well as researching into the conventions we looked at how the order of titles appeared in a drama film through use of the Art of the Title. For example i looked at the film opening called 'The Last of Us' to help my group work out which order they should come in. .
At AS level i had little knowledge of film genres so before creating a film opening, i did a bit of research into what made a film fit the category of a specific genre for example horror. My production group briefly researched into different genres of film such as thriller, sci-fis, comedies and drama's. We chose to create a film opening for a teen drama genre due to this we looked into the conventions of a drama film. We found that drama films have the following; a clever complicated script that can relate to the audience, a heightened level of tension going through highs and lows with good editing, well structured involving a climax to keep the audience interested. Also drama films must be realistic , showing a journey of the character throughout and a form of realisation at the end. We looked at existing media products when getting inspiration and they showed us the conventions of a drama film these were 'Girl, Interrupted', 'It's kind of a funny story' and 'Kidulthood'. 'Kidulthood' inspired me when it came to locations and costumes for a typical drama film. For example in 'Kidhulthood' they wore casual clothes to relate to their audience, they also used the location of a school - which we did to. As well as researching into the conventions we looked at how the order of titles appeared in a drama film through use of the Art of the Title. For example i looked at the film opening called 'The Last of Us' to help my group work out which order they should come in. .
Progression is clear when looking at how much more research went into my A2 productions. My production group progressed at A2 level when making our music video 'Hypnotic'. We researched in more depth looking at the conventions of a music video. These are the following; scenery, costumes, some form of movement (choreography), lots of cuts and transitions, repeated locations, lyrics matching visuals, the artist or band lip syncing and mise en scene styled to the genre. We also researched genres of music videos, for example rap,dance/pop and indie. Looking at these different genres helped us to know what we should include in our pop/dance music video 'Hypnotic'. Looking at different types of videos eg concept, narrative, performance, this was also beneficial for our understanding of what to include. For example, 'Runnin' by Naughty Boy featuring Beyonce is a concept video as it is a creative video, focused around an idea - being underwater, rather then the artist. Taylor Swift's 'Shake it off' follows a narrative style as it follows a story that is structured and organised in a way in which the audience would understand. 'Mockingbird' by Eminem is a performance video which is typical of rap videos. It is a performance video because it is based around Eminem's feelings towards his daughters. My production group took inspiration from all the real media texts we watched by incorporating some of the elements and conventions of each video into our music video 'Hypnotic'. Synergy had to occur between all three of the media products ; music video, website and digipak in order for the products to be successful and engage an audience. As you can see, my production groups research was more effective and influential at A2 level in comparison to AS level as i learnt more about the fundamentals of a music video of the drama genre.
We also researched into audience in both years. My production group briefly researched audience at AS level - looking at what our target audience would be and why. Audience was researched in more depth at A2 level than at AS level , to ensure that our music video would be popular and relevant. Research was vital for the other productions such as the website and digipak for our artist 'Stellato'.
Planning played a huge role at AS level in my production groups film opening 'Impact'. We made a storyboard which we stuck to as we needed guidance and structure as we were inexperienced in creating media productions. But at A2 level the storyboard we made was more in depth due to the complexity of a music video and shots/cuts were in need in comparison to a film opening. We had about 100 shots in our music video, and about 25 in our film opening. We followed the storyboard loosely at A2 level as we were advanced enough to be able to improvise and adapt to changes. This freed us up to be more creative and imaginative.
We also planned a shot list and shooting schedule which was really helpful to the making of our media production as it helped us to know what we need to do and stay organised at AS level. We briefly created a risk assessment to minimise the risks of danger when filming. This meant we stayed safe when filming. But at A2, the shot list and shooting schedule were created in more detail/depth as it was helpful for me and my production group to be organised. So we knew when we were going to film, this was vital to drive our music video. The risk assessment was made in more depth as we were aware of more possible risks, as well as us using new and unique locations such Ripley's mirror maze in London. This helped us to remain safe throughout filming.
When planning at A2 level we also did a lip syncing task to work out who would be best to be the performer in the music video, but at AS level we just picked someone with no trial run of who would be best to perform in the film sequence. We planned our music video through making a Stealomatic this was a collation of ideas from other music videos that my production group used to develop ideas for our video. The stealomatic consisted of videos all put together roughly matching how i wanted my music video to be like - taking ideas from each clip. My production group and i did this to research more into our genre and come up with more ideas of what we wanted our video to look like. This was a very useful task to do as it widened our creativity when it came to creating our final production. The further planning at A2 level shows the progression of my research and planning abilities over the two years.
Feedback was very important for both years and very useful in the development of our media productions. We received a lot more feedback at A2 level as the requirements were much greater. We got feedback through our peers from questionnaires and group decisions about productions. We used this feedback to improve both productions more. For example at A2 we filmed in greenery areas such as Tropical wings and Hyde Park in London - responses from our feedback said that they didn't feel that this matched our other darker, unique locations like Ripley's mirror maze in London. So my production group decided to remove footage from these locations in hope the audience will prefer our music video without the greenery side to it.
My production group researched by looking at real media texts such as the music video 'Somebody that i used to know' by Gotye featuring Kimbra. I planned by using various different presentational tools to structure my groups ideas and formulate a plan as to how we are going to create a film opening revolving around teenage depression and a pop music video.
It is clear that at AS level my production groups decisions when researching were heavily impacted by real media texts and made a huge contribution to the creation of our media products. For example we found that teen drama films tend to have the setting of a school and a house/bedroom - so we incorporated these locations into our film sequence. Whereas at A2 level research needed to be done in greater depth, but it was important that there was an element of creativity to our productions. Which wouldn't of been possible if our skills had not developed. My production groups research was good at AS level, however we conformed to the stereotypes of a drama film so there was very little creativity. Where as at A2 we challenged many of the stereotypes of a pop/dance music video to be more creative.
Overall,as my skills in research and planning improved the better my productions were.To conclude my research and planning skills developed over the two years and helped me to create two media productions. The decisions i made when researching and planning contributed to my media production outcomes. For example if we hadn't of researched mirror mazes as an idea we wouldn't of found Ripley's 'Believe it or not' Museum which was the main filming location for our music video 'Hypnotic' our music video would have been completely different. But at AS level we filmed at our school and at my house which were easy locations to find.
It is clear that at AS level my production groups decisions when researching were heavily impacted by real media texts and made a huge contribution to the creation of our media products. For example we found that teen drama films tend to have the setting of a school and a house/bedroom - so we incorporated these locations into our film sequence. Whereas at A2 level research needed to be done in greater depth, but it was important that there was an element of creativity to our productions. Which wouldn't of been possible if our skills had not developed. My production groups research was good at AS level, however we conformed to the stereotypes of a drama film so there was very little creativity. Where as at A2 we challenged many of the stereotypes of a pop/dance music video to be more creative.
Overall,as my skills in research and planning improved the better my productions were.To conclude my research and planning skills developed over the two years and helped me to create two media productions. The decisions i made when researching and planning contributed to my media production outcomes. For example if we hadn't of researched mirror mazes as an idea we wouldn't of found Ripley's 'Believe it or not' Museum which was the main filming location for our music video 'Hypnotic' our music video would have been completely different. But at AS level we filmed at our school and at my house which were easy locations to find.
Forms and conventions essay - improved
Real media texts were an essential influence for both my AS and A2 productions. They enabled me to understand the conventions of genre for example when picking what film genre and music video genre production group would choose. As well as a form of inspiration. My group and i produced a teen drama film sequence called 'Impact' and a cross-media promotional package for an artist. This included a website, digipak and a music video. The genre had to be easily to recognise for our audience.
At AS we researched into existing drama films by watching real life examples. By watching many drama films/film openings we found out the conventions which make a specific genre. Drama films exhibit real life situations with realistic characters, settings and story lines. They portray journeys of character development and add intense social interaction filled with climaxes to keep the audience emotionally attached to the ongoing tension. My production groups film sequence 'Impact' is about a teenager suffering with depression with no support - this is a realistic situation, that happens to many people. There are also climaxes to keep the audiences attention. We looked at Girl,Interrupted and found that drama films can be structured in a specific way to keeping the audiences attention, so they remain emotionally attached. This fits in with the equilibrium theory by Todorov. My film opening followed this theory and drama film conventions by using the same three part structure of a balance equilibrium, disruption then a new restored equilibrium. A emotionally voice over of the main character Sophia is how the film sequence starts this grips in the audience. This has been done in a real media text - The Notebook - a drama film about a mill worker and a rich girl who are desperately in love but her parents don't approve.
At A2 we also researched into existing music videos. We watched music videos of the pop/dance genre on YouTube such as Taylor Swift 'Blank space' and 'Post to be' by Omarion Ft Chris Brown. Watching these videos showed me the different forms of music videos for example 'Mockingbird' by Eminem meets the performance type of a music video. Narrative is another form of a music video, 'Shake it off' by Taylor Swift meets the conventions of a narrative music video by following a story in a structured and organised way. Thus we had to research further into videos of these types as the concept of real media was much less genre defined at A2. My production groups music video was performance based (focusing on our artist).We followed the fast paced editing used in 'Beautiful now' by Zedd in our music video and had around 100 different shots (heavily edited).
My production groups research skills developed enormously as we knew the research had to be reflective on our media products. I progressed a lot over the two years and became able to recognise certain camera shots for example and the effects of these on the audience.
At AS level my production group also researched into costumes as a convention of drama films. We were inspired by the teen drama 'It's kind of a funny story' as it focuses on teenage depression. Which is the main theme of our film sequence 'Impact' about a depressed teenage girl. We noticed that the clothes that they wore in 'It's kind of a funny story' were casual and 'normal'. We noticed as well that none of them wore school uniform therefore we decided to make our characters members of sixth form - who do not have to wear school uniform. We wanted our characters to look as normal as possible so that they could be relatable, so we kept make - up and costume simple eg they wore basic clothes such as jeans and a top. From research i learnt that drama films tend to be realistic, have a happy ending whilst going through a journey, also they have climaxes within the story line. In comparison at A2 level we didn't do as much research into costumes as it wasn't as important in a music video than in a film sequence. My production group decided to be more original and subvert the stereotypes of a music video of the pop/dance genre. As a performer in this type of genre music video would typically wear florescent, bright colours to stand out in the club - which is a typical location of a pop/dance music video. My group also subverted the common location of a music video - as it was filmed in a mirror maze rather than a club. We progressed by being original and subverting the stereotypes to stand out whereas at AS level we stuck to the stereotypes. We found that drama films were typically set inside a school, and at home. My production group decided that we would have our media product set in a school and at home to conform to the typical settings of a teen drama. In 'Kidulthood' we noticed that many of the shots were filmed in a school therefore used this to develop the conventions of a teen drama and represent them in our film opening.
Overall, real media texts and conventions of products became a huge part of our understanding of professional media products. Their use was essential at AS, but became more advanced and widely researched at A2, helping us to produce an incredibly professional product.
At AS we researched into existing drama films by watching real life examples. By watching many drama films/film openings we found out the conventions which make a specific genre. Drama films exhibit real life situations with realistic characters, settings and story lines. They portray journeys of character development and add intense social interaction filled with climaxes to keep the audience emotionally attached to the ongoing tension. My production groups film sequence 'Impact' is about a teenager suffering with depression with no support - this is a realistic situation, that happens to many people. There are also climaxes to keep the audiences attention. We looked at Girl,Interrupted and found that drama films can be structured in a specific way to keeping the audiences attention, so they remain emotionally attached. This fits in with the equilibrium theory by Todorov. My film opening followed this theory and drama film conventions by using the same three part structure of a balance equilibrium, disruption then a new restored equilibrium. A emotionally voice over of the main character Sophia is how the film sequence starts this grips in the audience. This has been done in a real media text - The Notebook - a drama film about a mill worker and a rich girl who are desperately in love but her parents don't approve.
At A2 we also researched into existing music videos. We watched music videos of the pop/dance genre on YouTube such as Taylor Swift 'Blank space' and 'Post to be' by Omarion Ft Chris Brown. Watching these videos showed me the different forms of music videos for example 'Mockingbird' by Eminem meets the performance type of a music video. Narrative is another form of a music video, 'Shake it off' by Taylor Swift meets the conventions of a narrative music video by following a story in a structured and organised way. Thus we had to research further into videos of these types as the concept of real media was much less genre defined at A2. My production groups music video was performance based (focusing on our artist).We followed the fast paced editing used in 'Beautiful now' by Zedd in our music video and had around 100 different shots (heavily edited).
My production groups research skills developed enormously as we knew the research had to be reflective on our media products. I progressed a lot over the two years and became able to recognise certain camera shots for example and the effects of these on the audience.
At AS level my production group also researched into costumes as a convention of drama films. We were inspired by the teen drama 'It's kind of a funny story' as it focuses on teenage depression. Which is the main theme of our film sequence 'Impact' about a depressed teenage girl. We noticed that the clothes that they wore in 'It's kind of a funny story' were casual and 'normal'. We noticed as well that none of them wore school uniform therefore we decided to make our characters members of sixth form - who do not have to wear school uniform. We wanted our characters to look as normal as possible so that they could be relatable, so we kept make - up and costume simple eg they wore basic clothes such as jeans and a top. From research i learnt that drama films tend to be realistic, have a happy ending whilst going through a journey, also they have climaxes within the story line. In comparison at A2 level we didn't do as much research into costumes as it wasn't as important in a music video than in a film sequence. My production group decided to be more original and subvert the stereotypes of a music video of the pop/dance genre. As a performer in this type of genre music video would typically wear florescent, bright colours to stand out in the club - which is a typical location of a pop/dance music video. My group also subverted the common location of a music video - as it was filmed in a mirror maze rather than a club. We progressed by being original and subverting the stereotypes to stand out whereas at AS level we stuck to the stereotypes. We found that drama films were typically set inside a school, and at home. My production group decided that we would have our media product set in a school and at home to conform to the typical settings of a teen drama. In 'Kidulthood' we noticed that many of the shots were filmed in a school therefore used this to develop the conventions of a teen drama and represent them in our film opening.
Overall, real media texts and conventions of products became a huge part of our understanding of professional media products. Their use was essential at AS, but became more advanced and widely researched at A2, helping us to produce an incredibly professional product.
Wednesday, 29 March 2017
Digital technology essay - improved
Explain how your skills in the use of digital technology have developed over time. Refer to a rage of examples from your media productions in your answer (25 marks)
My skills in using digital technology have developed over the last two years when creating two media products - a film sequence in year 12 and a music video, digipak and website in year 13. Also through creating other media products to learn more about digital technology.
The use of the camera Nikon D3300-DSLR was vital over both years, but used much more professionally in year 13. In year 12 the requirements for filming the film sequence were very basic limiting my group to filming still, long shots that fitted with our narrative teen drama. Whereas in year 13 the demands to make an good music video were much greater. The camera was used to create a variety of complex shots, for example moving shots was a new approach we took to filming in year 13 to make our music video more dynamic.The progress of my camera skills from year 12 to year 13 using the Nikon D3300- DSLR improved immensely considering i had little knowledge as to how to use a camera when i first started media in year 12 and now i am able to use a camera to take photo as well as videos. This really impacted my work (productions) as if my camera skills hadn't of improved my production wouldn't be as good.
Another form of digital technology i used was an editing software Adobe Premiere - this enabled me to edit videos by cutting them and adding effects to them. In year 12 we learnt basic editing through the dancing bears practise - this involved multiple different clips of bears dancing or playing basketball for example and then using the various different effects on Adobe Premiere to learn about editing. This enabled me to learn about more effects and incorporate these into my final productions. For example i learnt how to add titles to the video, which was vital for the making of my G321 film sequence when it came to the titles at the beginning and credits at the end. Another example is that i learnt how to apply the black and white effect on Adobe Premiere to the dancing bears clips which i also used in my G321 drama film sequence. In year 12 i also replicated a scene from Juno to enhance my editing skills - this helped me to learn how to film shots using the Nikon D3300- DSLR which i hadn't used before and edit shots to exactly how i want them to be through excellent planning. So when it came to my G321 drama film sequence i had more practice in creating what i wanted to.
Similarly in year 13 i used the banana phone task to enhance my editing skills- this involved a variety of shots of my group with a banana singing to the song banana phone in different backgrounds doing various different activities. This was useful as it gave me the opportunity to experiment in more depth with a number of effects. I also created a Stealomatic this was a collation of ideas from other music videos that my production group used to develop ideas for our video. The stealomatic consisted of videos all put together roughly matching how i wanted my music video to be like - taking ideas from each clip. This was a creative style of editing using the digital technology of adobe premiere. This taught me how technology can be used to create a variety of atmospheres.
I used the technology Photoshop to create a film poster in year 12, at first Photoshop was very difficult to understand but my skills developed through practice and trial and error. Also by the use of YouTube videos which described how to use the software. In year 13 i used Photoshop to edit images of our artist to put on a magazine poster as well as on the digipak. We used more complex effects on Photoshop in year 13 such as ...... , which in turn developed my skills using the software. We used an effect to create multiple images of our artist in one image this involved the effect layering. Overall at the beginning of year 12 i had no idea what Photoshop was but by the end of year 13 i knew how to edit to a relatively complex standard due to the media productions created and practice. The impact of this was that my technological skills developed and i am now able to edit images using Photoshop for future productions.
I also used online technology softwares such as Blogger, my skills developed immensely over the two years of using blogger. In year 12 blogger was a basic template for logging our media work. I learnt the fundamentals to using blogger such as how to change the design and layout of the blog, how to post blogposts, how to post images and how to embed other presentation software such as Emaze presentations. But in year 13 blogger was more about individuality and independence, i learnt how to do more advance things on blogger such as how too embed videos and more complicated presentational softwares. In year 13 double the amount of blogposts were needed in comparison to year 12. In year 13 i also had a much better layout of my blog as i had researched other blogs and worked out what the best way to lay it all out was. I developed my skills i using blogger other the last two years through practice and now i am easily able to use it.
Another presentational tool i used was Slideshare - this was a basic software which i learnt in depth in year 12. I learnt how to embed powerpoints onto blogger using Slideshare. In year 13 i researched more creative presentation softwares and used them when presenting my work - shows creativity. This shows my development over the two years when using digital technology presentation softwares. For example i learnt how to create Emazes and Prezi's in year 13 in more depth, exploring the creative ways in which the software can be used - this improve the quality of my blog as it made it more unique and interesting. Me and my group created a production diary and showed this information on Prezi. During year 13 i found more presentation tools such as Powtoon and Canva. These tools impacted my work as they showed more creativity and how much i had developed over the two years as i became more independent by learning about new presentational tools on my own.
Another element of digital technology i used was the software Wix. In year 12 i didn't need to create a website therefore did not know how to use Wix. However in year 13 i created a whole website for my music artist. I did a lot of research into current music artists websites and incorporated the fundamental features of a website eg - about, shop, tour dates, music, news, homepage, photo gallery to make my website to a professional standard. When i first started using Wix i had no idea how to use Wix to all of its benefits and features, but after practise and learning how to use each tool to it's full benefit i managed to create a website of high standard.
In conclusion, a great strength of the use of digital technology is that it allowed me to create many products to a professional standard and it enabled me to create products that were realistic. Although a limitation of using digital technology is that it took time to learn how to use each software and the tools within that software. My digital technology skills have developed over time because of the time and effort i have put in to learning more about digital technology. Also because i knew it was vital for my skills to be good in this area for me to create professional looking productions. Over the past two years digital technology has had a major influence on both media productions from creating a drama film sequence in year 12 and creating a cross-media package (digipak, website, music video) in year 13.
My skills in using digital technology have developed over the last two years when creating two media products - a film sequence in year 12 and a music video, digipak and website in year 13. Also through creating other media products to learn more about digital technology.
The use of the camera Nikon D3300-DSLR was vital over both years, but used much more professionally in year 13. In year 12 the requirements for filming the film sequence were very basic limiting my group to filming still, long shots that fitted with our narrative teen drama. Whereas in year 13 the demands to make an good music video were much greater. The camera was used to create a variety of complex shots, for example moving shots was a new approach we took to filming in year 13 to make our music video more dynamic.The progress of my camera skills from year 12 to year 13 using the Nikon D3300- DSLR improved immensely considering i had little knowledge as to how to use a camera when i first started media in year 12 and now i am able to use a camera to take photo as well as videos. This really impacted my work (productions) as if my camera skills hadn't of improved my production wouldn't be as good.
Another form of digital technology i used was an editing software Adobe Premiere - this enabled me to edit videos by cutting them and adding effects to them. In year 12 we learnt basic editing through the dancing bears practise - this involved multiple different clips of bears dancing or playing basketball for example and then using the various different effects on Adobe Premiere to learn about editing. This enabled me to learn about more effects and incorporate these into my final productions. For example i learnt how to add titles to the video, which was vital for the making of my G321 film sequence when it came to the titles at the beginning and credits at the end. Another example is that i learnt how to apply the black and white effect on Adobe Premiere to the dancing bears clips which i also used in my G321 drama film sequence. In year 12 i also replicated a scene from Juno to enhance my editing skills - this helped me to learn how to film shots using the Nikon D3300- DSLR which i hadn't used before and edit shots to exactly how i want them to be through excellent planning. So when it came to my G321 drama film sequence i had more practice in creating what i wanted to.
Similarly in year 13 i used the banana phone task to enhance my editing skills- this involved a variety of shots of my group with a banana singing to the song banana phone in different backgrounds doing various different activities. This was useful as it gave me the opportunity to experiment in more depth with a number of effects. I also created a Stealomatic this was a collation of ideas from other music videos that my production group used to develop ideas for our video. The stealomatic consisted of videos all put together roughly matching how i wanted my music video to be like - taking ideas from each clip. This was a creative style of editing using the digital technology of adobe premiere. This taught me how technology can be used to create a variety of atmospheres.
I used the technology Photoshop to create a film poster in year 12, at first Photoshop was very difficult to understand but my skills developed through practice and trial and error. Also by the use of YouTube videos which described how to use the software. In year 13 i used Photoshop to edit images of our artist to put on a magazine poster as well as on the digipak. We used more complex effects on Photoshop in year 13 such as ...... , which in turn developed my skills using the software. We used an effect to create multiple images of our artist in one image this involved the effect layering. Overall at the beginning of year 12 i had no idea what Photoshop was but by the end of year 13 i knew how to edit to a relatively complex standard due to the media productions created and practice. The impact of this was that my technological skills developed and i am now able to edit images using Photoshop for future productions.
I also used online technology softwares such as Blogger, my skills developed immensely over the two years of using blogger. In year 12 blogger was a basic template for logging our media work. I learnt the fundamentals to using blogger such as how to change the design and layout of the blog, how to post blogposts, how to post images and how to embed other presentation software such as Emaze presentations. But in year 13 blogger was more about individuality and independence, i learnt how to do more advance things on blogger such as how too embed videos and more complicated presentational softwares. In year 13 double the amount of blogposts were needed in comparison to year 12. In year 13 i also had a much better layout of my blog as i had researched other blogs and worked out what the best way to lay it all out was. I developed my skills i using blogger other the last two years through practice and now i am easily able to use it.
Another presentational tool i used was Slideshare - this was a basic software which i learnt in depth in year 12. I learnt how to embed powerpoints onto blogger using Slideshare. In year 13 i researched more creative presentation softwares and used them when presenting my work - shows creativity. This shows my development over the two years when using digital technology presentation softwares. For example i learnt how to create Emazes and Prezi's in year 13 in more depth, exploring the creative ways in which the software can be used - this improve the quality of my blog as it made it more unique and interesting. Me and my group created a production diary and showed this information on Prezi. During year 13 i found more presentation tools such as Powtoon and Canva. These tools impacted my work as they showed more creativity and how much i had developed over the two years as i became more independent by learning about new presentational tools on my own.
Another element of digital technology i used was the software Wix. In year 12 i didn't need to create a website therefore did not know how to use Wix. However in year 13 i created a whole website for my music artist. I did a lot of research into current music artists websites and incorporated the fundamental features of a website eg - about, shop, tour dates, music, news, homepage, photo gallery to make my website to a professional standard. When i first started using Wix i had no idea how to use Wix to all of its benefits and features, but after practise and learning how to use each tool to it's full benefit i managed to create a website of high standard.
In conclusion, a great strength of the use of digital technology is that it allowed me to create many products to a professional standard and it enabled me to create products that were realistic. Although a limitation of using digital technology is that it took time to learn how to use each software and the tools within that software. My digital technology skills have developed over time because of the time and effort i have put in to learning more about digital technology. Also because i knew it was vital for my skills to be good in this area for me to create professional looking productions. Over the past two years digital technology has had a major influence on both media productions from creating a drama film sequence in year 12 and creating a cross-media package (digipak, website, music video) in year 13.
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