Plan

Plan for example question to online age.
- What impact has the internet had on media production, distribution and exhibition?

Intro = Write briefly about the past and explain how the internet wasn't as easily accessible as it is now.

Contemporary = Present day information. Which media's we are using, TV and Film.

Media production definition, examples (snakes on a plane), theorists (Jeff Howe - crowd sourcing - people's opinions are taken into account AND Henry Jenkins - participatory culture we all produce media) and analysis (what this impacts on the audience etc.) on the impact to modern day life.

Media distribution definition, examples (misfits and little miss sunshine), theorists (globalisation definition- how it relates through distributing worldwide) and analysis (good and bad ways of how internet impacts these things. Good- advertising and more profit making it more popular and Bad- illegal downloads relating to exhibition) Furthermore..

Media exhibition definition, examples (films and tv programmes are available to download illegally spoiling the concept of the cinema and new films - vimeo spoils the profits that could be made because you watch for free however its convenient to viewers) theorists (Chris Anderson - long tail theory) Analysis (the impact the internet has on modern media)

Conclusion = Make a predication for the future impact of the internet on modern day. e.g. all Tv programmes and film will be made quicker and illegal downloads figures will be increased. 

Post Production

 Analysing Group P105

1) Which Post Production decisions can you tell the group here made?
- Transitions (Split screens)
- Titles (touch me touching you)
- Slow motion
- Lyrics and Visuals

2) What impact did these have on the product?
Slow motion impacts the product by giving the feel that the music video is finishing. The lyrics and visuals makes it easier to foolow the video and makes the audience feel more interacted with the video. The transitions made the video flow and look more appealing. The titles made the video more vibrant and interesting to see.

3) Which post production skills do the group still need to develop?
We think the editing needs to be better. Tighter cuts in between shots as in some shots you can see the actors just before they start performing and it can be very disillusioning. We thought the titles they used worked well because it worked well with the genre, but the stylistic floruishes were limited and scattershot. To improve their video they could have made their footage more constant so it all  flowed through instead of cutting between shots and re filming in different areas.

4) What did you think they have done more successfully than you did in your work?
They had more of a variety of locations then us as they filmed in different areas of college and we only used 3 types of locations.

5) Look at their ancillary tasks. What should they add or improve?
To improve both their magazine advert and DVD cover they could have enlarged their images so it stands out more and attracts the audiences eyes. We thought both their products looked professional mainly because of the colours , they all worked well with each other and they had all the information but presented it in a simple manner.

Creativity

How has your creativity developed over time?

How has your creativity developed in your children's film?

In our childrens film we were fairly new to the software and the cameras therefore we were unsure on which ideas will look best for our opening sequence of our film.  We did not have many skills on how to use garageband, final cut and photoshop and it was all basic. We were showed certain films were we had to take our inspirations from so we were not given much freedom to choose our own inspirations. However the childrens film was from our own ideas and was unique for us. We followed the conventions of a typical childrens film by having  a moral to the story , having binary opposites of our characters, we had two heroes and our villain, and introducing the characters at the begining therefore the narrative was not creative as our childrens film was typical. However we tried to make our opening creative by creating and making our own constumes and masks. We were restricted with our location as we had to be in the college, this was not creative as we couldnt choose different locations. For our editing on Final cut we used basic fades as we were not confident on how to use the software, but as this was our first year we thought we were being creative at that point.

How has your creativity developed in your Thriller film?

In our Thriller we were more confident on how to use the different softwares and we had more time to plan and research our ideas this enabled us to be more creative. We chose specific thriller films that had the same genre as us which was Crime Thriller, we looked at several different films on youtube and was inspired from this. This helped our film to be creative as we looked at successfull thriller films and developed on their ideas but also created some more ideas which made it creative. Whilst filming we were given more freedom and were allowed to leave the college to film , however we chose to stay in college and spent a lot of time looking for a convinient location, we found the basement of the college and thought our location was creative as no students have been their to film before. In final cut we used more transitions and effects we thought this would make our film unique and help engage our audiences more. We were more confident on how to use Garage band as our skills had developed , we were given the freedo to create our soundtrack how ever we wanted and we thought this enabled our opening to be creative . However after watching other thrillers we felt that most of them had the same sort of sound track, this did not make our thriller unique and was similar to all others. To make our thriller creative we created a production logo, we used Photoshop to do this , this helped our skills to develop and our thriller looked more individual.

How has your creativity developed in your Lip Sync Task?
For our lip sync task, we had to make a short film for a very well known song to ease us into the idea of a music video. Aside from the song, we had no further instructions so we were able to look at and develop ideas we may use later on. The lip sync was also useful as it gave us confidense in the concept of lip syncing so when we did the music video, we could focus on ideas instead of if the lip sync was right.

How has your creativity developed in your music video?
For our music video, we learned to be more responsive to the music, in terms of cuts, visuals and style. Looking at several music videos on youtube inspired us to do many different things, we felt more confident that we could achieve these ideas because many ideas had already been tested in the lip sync task. We also had more time to explore and experiment with the image in terms of colour schemes and shot types. As each choice of song was different, the range of music videos was vast and diverse. To make the music video creative we reached the limits of how far we could plan, shoot and edit our videos, and while the work was ardious, the final product pays off. The almost total lack of instructions for the music video enabled us to be so creative in the music video and with the advertisement later on. Our editing had developed a lot in this video we were more confident on Final cut as we used several jump cuts,wipes, coloured filters, reverse footage all of this made our video more creative as these were our own ideas. We followed all of the Goodwins points which were, Voyeurism, Intertexuality, matching visuals and lyrics, matching music and visuals, selling the artist and genre characteristics. We used all of this and this helped our creativity as we found unique ways of reaching these points for example for our music and visuals, for the line 'get a table sitting side by side' we inserted an image of the table the two protagonists would be sitting at the very end of the music video. We were given more time to research and plan in this project this helped us with our creativity because it enabled us to explore more , find suitable locations, try out different ideas and see which one looks well.

Which one of your projects is the most creative and why?

We think that our music video is the most creative because we were more comfortable wth the different softwares, Final cut, Garage band and photoshop. We were given more time to plan and research , this helped us to find the best ideas.  Our skills had developed a lot from our first task  and we were given more freedom to choose our own ideas. We found the music video more interesting to create and more relatable to us, therefore our creativity developed to enable us to produce an advanced professional work.

exam questions

To what extent have digital technologies helped develop your research and planning skills during your Media 'A' Level?

digital technologies
.  three products - childrens film, thriller and music video.
- the digitial technologie we used are - blogger, youtube, final cut, garage band, photoshop, cameras, google, safari, IMDB, apple mac.
They developed over the 3 products as our confidence in using the technology grew. We wanted to explore more and found it easier.
For each product we used more digital technologies and our knowledge and use of them advanced greatly
research and planning
.  For the research of our first product we only used google and the basic softwares. For our thriller we experimented more and researched other films on IMDB and looked at past students work, For our music video we took a lot of time in researching other music videos of the same genre on Youtube, we looked at Butch Walker's facebook fan page and his other videos. We looked at past students work and several Alternative Rock music videos.


Planning-
- For our childrens film we planned a limited schedule and improvised most of it,
For our thriller our planning developed and we used story boards and timne lines to make our video more continuous. And for our music video we used a shot list, storyboards, timelines and planning sheets. We were also more articulate in planning each shot with a keen attention to detail.

video version of script with postit notes

Digital technology

how has your use of digital technology developed over the last two year and affected the outcome of your products?

we used a variety of digital technologies in our 3 products on apple computers
childrens film
thriller
and music video

in our childrens film
we researched our ideas using safari on google
 we filmed our product with HD cameras
edited on final cut using basic editing skills, eg fades
added music and non diegetic sounds on garage band
and uploaded the results on blogger
we did all this on a very basic level as we were unfamiliar with the softwares.

when we filmed our thriller we were more open to experimentation
we researched more thoroughly on sites other than wikipedia such as Imdb
we used the Hd camera to capture the footage but also used a camera to take stills
we learnt to take screen grabs
in final cut we learnt to modify the speed in the film and add transitions
in garage band we learnt to synch up sounds with imagery
we explored on photoshop and added out title cards and filters
we added all this onto blogger with more detailed accounts

our final product was a music video
we captured the footage on HD video camera and took stills using the camera
we researched a lot of artist of the same genre from youtube
we got in contact with artist on facebook telling him about our ideas
we were more confident to explore the possibilities of final cut, examples being selecting key colours to remain in a black and white picture, using reverse footage, stylish transitions ,multiple screens and to edit our commentary
we didnt use garage band at all as we had the song from before
we used photoshop to create our magazine advert and the interior and exterior of the DVD cover
we uploaded all this information along with videos, pictures links onto blogger.

Overall our music video was the most successful product as we were more confident with how to use the different digital technologies.

Analysing music video

The Music Video

our music video met all of Goodwin's points

Voyeurism

. artist performing with band members

Intertextuality

.reverse shot fro RHCP

. text cards from subterrain homesick blues by bob dylan

. paulo nutini - new shoes. concept of artist getting out of bed

. sweve cut between shots from Spaced (directed by Edgar Wright)

Lyrics/visuals

. fiona wears ski cap and vest

. artist presents shoe with line

. when Briarly holds cards up to match lyrics

. LA LA LA signs

. text appears with lyrics and multiple screens

Music/visuals

. Do Do Dos, matches signs with performance

. beat of the chorus. everytime there is a different chorus/verse the beat changes

Selling the Artist

. Max/main singer always main focus

. narrative bout him

. always in shot

. close ups of me face

. in the band, he's in the centre

. wear red which contrasts with other members which stands out

Genre

.Alternative Rock

. conventions of alternative rock is usually to have a band performing, different locations 

(minimum of 2), normal places

. clothing is casual

. abstract lyrics

. experimental

. surreal

. put effort into looking effortless

. referencing to illegality

. met all of these conventions

Todorov said about narrative structure, beginning middle and end with all loose ends tied up, which is true in the case of our music video as at the end the main character meets up with the lead singer tying the loose end of why the man got out of bed and went into town.

Robert Stam said that genres could be defined through the performer and through viewing the artist the audience know what to expect. This works with our music video as Max (main artist) meets all the conventions of an Alternative Rock genre therefore by viewing his performance the audience knows what to expect. 

Throughout the two years our skills have developed a lot. From our children's film to thriller and the music video, especially our editing skills. We have learnt how to match the visuals with music as in the children's film, all the footage was shot and then we just added whatever music we could find and hoped it would work. However when creating our music video we planned exactly what would work well and experimented different ways to see what worked the best. 

Also our planning has improved from our children's film as we weren't well prepared therefore the film wasn't continuous and looked less professional as our music video, which went exactly how we planned it to be. 

For our intertextuality our skills have developed as in our children's film we did not research as much as our music video.