‘Sometimes, working within constraints produces the most interesting work’ (Branston and Stafford)
How have you used real media conventions to produce interesting or effective coursework productions?A thriller is a film which is created to keep the viewer on edge with suspense, in order to be successful in this, I used the thriller conventions.
A music video is the same, but they are created to keep the viewer engaged and entertained throughout.

To establish the mood of the film, I created a dark atmosphere with flashing images, this creates fear and it is unsettling keeping the audience in suspense. I also delayed on showing the face of the main character in who was the villain of our film, we had footage of just his hands developing disturbing images, and his feet walking around his house. This gave off the effect of the audience watching in to the event, with the feeling of secrecy and something evil happening, this also made the audience suspect murder and getting into the mysterious story line.
One of the most effective conventions to a thriller film was the creation  of suspense using soundtrack music, our music was very eerie and when our music video showed more disturbing footage, the music we used dropped its beat and became faster and loader making more tension. As well as the music, we had digetic sounds of load footsteps on a wooden floor conveying the thought of what was the villain going to do now? We had the banging noises in slow motion of a battern hitting each step as it was thrown downstairs (again, on wooden steps to emphasis the noise), these gave a spine shivering effect and was successful in a thriller convention.

On the other hand, conventions in a music video are very different. I looked at a theory that Andrew Goodwin came up with for all music videos in how to be successful.
Goodwin’s theory inspired me to have the successful video he suggested you would have when you stuck to his conventions. His theory helped me structure my music video, in which then expanded to make it unique yet still successful.
He suggested that lyrics to visuals keeps the audience engaged and is visually attractive to watch. I decided to use this throughout the entire music video as much as a could, when the song says ‘red hands’ or ‘red handed’ an image I created of a red hand print used with acrylic paint on a piece of paper would flash upon the screen.
Goodwin also suggested that the genre of the music should also relate to our visuals. The music we chose has a variety of genre so we decided to do ours concept based, picking up on more abstract images, this way the visuals will match the music and be attractive to watch as the music will fit in perfectly. I have footage of people telling the story mixed with something more different; a lamp travelling around the house, this is supportive to our concept base and our niche being lights. This is also successful in a music video, to have a certain niche, so the audience can recognise your brand when ever a new music video comes out or even a photo of an artist, it also creates something new, that no one else has done before. I used car headlights, candles, a lamp, fairy lights and natural lighting.
But some of the theory’s from Goodwin I decided to challenge as I didn’t agree with some, for example the notion of looking. Goodwin suggested that you should have eye contact with the artist or characters in your music video, I disagreed as to our story line was about cheating in the lyrics, so instead of having eye contact, we did the opposite in order to crate the feel of secrecy and guilt. I thought that was really successful and acted as if the audience was looking into something that they shouldn’t.
I challenged it also by using stop frame, in order to use lights we needed a decent quality camera to not have the grainy effect we suffered from in the thriller film. The images were the best quality we could have, and fitted perfectly to the beat of the music, as the were jolty where to purposely moved the camera when focusing on one image.

These examples show that I have progressed as for the thriller conventions I stuck to them as much as I could, rather than the music video I challenged Goodwin’s theory and abided by some.  This shows how I have developed my confidence in the material I have produced in media.

Exam Question

‘The post-production process can be the most important part of the  filming process’

How important has the post-production stage been in your foundation and advanced portfolios and how have your skills developed over these two years?Post-production was the most important role in my foundation portfolio. When we filmed our footage, the clips were very dark, so we were able on Imovie to adjust the brightness to make it more successful. We chose a piece of music to go alongside our thriller video which started off slow and mysterious, that then went  on to drop the beat and have a really fast jumpy beat. In order for our footage to match the music to be more effective, we edited the clips, by speeding some parts up and slowing some parts down. We also edited some footage so they would play in reverse. For example we have a scene where a base ball bat was thrown down the stars, we slowed it down so when the bat hit each step it also matched the beat of the music, we then repeated the clip and made it in reverse, so then it looked as if the bat had picked itself up and travelled back up the stairs, but at its normal fast speed, this was really effective as it created a mysterious feel to the video. We included transitions to make our thriller film more exciting for the audience’s eye and included text in our video that read the title and producers that hit a thriller convention.Watching the film 'seven' we took ideas as we were inspired by the directors outcome, in order to be successful and meet the thriller conventions we developed the ideas we took from this film to make our outcome more dynamic and to ensure it was as successful as the film but with some personal touches and differences. The hand held camera scene, we used intertexuality with the film 'Blair Witch' Using these ideas; we really needed the editing tools to make it different and effective. The mixture of hand held footages in the dark woods and the use of camera angles in the house where the murderer lived worked really well together. We edited the footages to create a mixture of the film at different times, keeping the audience on their feet and engaged as to understand what is going on.
I feel the most successful part of our thriller was the use of the slow motion tool and speeding some clips up, this has the effect of keeping the audience engaged, and looking at disturbing images flashed in your face at two different speeds. On the other hand, our advanced portfolio was a lot different to how we produced the thriller film. After many hours of footage and editing, we decided not to use the video camera, and instead use still images throughout the majority of the music video, keeping some short video footage that we liked.  Because we used still images, we did not use any transitions, as the still images almost jolted throughout created a nice effect as our music was very fast and had a strong beat, so this worked well. Instead of using transitions, to make out music video as successful as it could be and keep the audience engaged, we used colourisation. We used black and white for a part of the video of the lamp, to keep the audience engaged, and it looked effective. We used it also on a piece where we recorded in a car and on the motor way bridge looking down and recording the cars. We put these clips into reverse as they looked much more effective and convey that these images are from the past and not present. They matched the music perfectly as we speeded them up. Another reason why we did this was because our music video had the niche of lights, and in order to exaggerate the lights coming from the cars, the black and white colourisation worked perfectly as the lights really stood out.

We also to the end of my music video, have an image of the male character in blue and female in pink, the stereo typical colours for a male and female, suggesting the two different types of people and because our music video is suggestive to cheating, the colours make it obvious that the two characters have a link to each other.

To conclude, I feel the post-production stage been in your foundation and advanced portfolios have really made my videos as successful as they are, without any editing tool, each video would not reach any of the conventions, or be successful.
The editing of a product means you can put in your own person touches and ideas, and take it up to another level.
I feel I have progressed in the last two years with my products, as this year for my music video I thought much more about what will be successful rather than thinking ‘oh that will do’ with some of the dark grainy clips. I have become more confident using the editing tools meaning I could experiment much more with the music video, creating something much more successful that my last production.

Novel [new] associations which are useful” (Isaksen and Treffinger, 1993)


‘the ability to bring something new into existence’(Anthony Storr)
The idea of having still images throughout our video mixed with video footage with a new, original idea of having the niche of lights has brought something new into excistance.



A process needed for problem solving…not a special gift enjoyed by a few but a common ability possessed by most people” (Jones, 1993)


Rule breaking/boundary testingIve tested the boundary rules, Goodwin created a theory for successful music video outcomes. He suggested that the notion of looking was a very important point, giving the audience eye contact would draw them in to the video, we decided to go against this and not use any eye contact, we decided this for both Thriller film and Music video products as we wanted the audeience to look into the story lines, asif they shouldnt be watched it really from the events happening for example the music video, they witness cheating and in our thriller film they witness a muder. The thought of them seeing something they shouldnt make them keep watching from the tension and excitment.


“The making of the new and the rearranging of the old” (Bentley, 1997)After watching the film 'seven' we took ideas as we were being inspired b the directors outcome, in order to be successful and meet the thriller conventions we developed the ideas we took from this film to make our outcome more dnamic and to ensure it was as succeful as the film but with some personal touches and differences. The hand held camera scene, we used intertexuality with the film 'Blair Wicth'

5 (a) - (e)

(A)
In the fondation Portfolio task, I orginised my time by creating a story board and film plan. This enabled me to be orginsed, to know when I have to film and what I can film. The equipment I used for this task was the schools, I used the video camera and tripod, because the rest of the media students were using them, I booked the cameras out 3-4 times when they was one available and managed to film my portfolio quite quickly.This planning was very effective, being orginised and knowing what your doing really speeds things up and keeps you  on track at all times.
The only problems we had was lighting and limited locations! We used almost like a cellar in school, because it was below the ground, we did not have much light! But we overcame this by editing the video footage on the apple macs to make it lighter.
In the Advanced Portfolio , I was alot more prompt in orginising and getting together a film plan so me and my partner could both film on the days we knew we could, and created a story board. We ended up creating a three as we changed our ideas quite a few times throughout!
I feel this shows prgression, because our ideas changed alot, we still bothered to go to stage one and plan our way through our filming in order to be well orginised and making sure our video was all filmed by the deadline and not rushed last minuete.

(B) In the Foundation Portfolio we had to make particular choice in orginising our actors, props and location. In order for them to be successful, I had a look at the conventions of thriller films, to make sure I hit the appearance of the film spot on! We used my partner in some hand held footage, and my boyfriend Laurence as the 'villian'. This was conveniant for me as we were all willing to be orginised with the filming and get it done quickly as possiable to give us more time editing the footage! We filmed in the woods which wasnt far from school and a fiffteen minuete drive from my house. The only props we needed was a metal pole and the camera plus tripod.
Our aspect of planning was really successful ! The only problems we faced was the footage being grainey, we overcame this by again, editing.
In the Advanced Portfolio task, we decided seeing as our Foundation Portfolio was successful, was to use my partner again, and people very close to us that were free to be filmed at an time possible. The setting was easy, seeing asour niche was lights we had such a wide variety, when i went to New York whatever i could see that i knew would look good i took a photo, so sometimes it was more spontaneous, the main footage was done in Alanahs house as we could control the lighting.
The progression is shown from the quality of the film.


(C) The storyboaring of my Foundation Task was done by photographs and drawings, having a mixture was alot more easier, as drawing all the scenes would have taken years, so even acting some of it out like a practice and taking photos put us on the right track.
We had three different drafts, simply because our ideas kept changing all the time.
The planning was very effective, but whilst filming we went off track from our storyboards, but i felt we made the right changes.

The storyboards for our Advanced Portfolio was alot more usefull and effective. Because of the use of so many still images, we used the images as our storyboard and annotated them. We did not encounter any problems, just we felt we had so many stil images in our storyboard, yet we had no other choice! I think this shows alot of progression as we had a storyboard that fitted exacly to our film, we did not have to make 3 drafts, or change anthing to it.

(D) We researched our target audience in the Foundation Portfolio task, by doing a questionaire to our audience after the watched our film, but this was to make sure we had made the right decision. We didnt know weather to have it 15 or 18, this being quite a big difference we were quite worried. We thought that the film we were inspired by (seven) was a an 18, yet that film would show alot more gore ect, but seeing as that is a horror film and ours is a thriller film, we thought that if the opening was ever made into a film, it wouldnt be too gorey as it has to have the conventions of a thriller, so our overall choice was a 15.
The reasearch from our audience was really successful because they were our target audince and agreeed with out thoughts.
Finding our target audience for the Advanced Portfolio was done b disgusssing it with the actual artist ourselves meaning we couldnt go wrong. We also listened to music of the same genre and looked at their target audience, we then overall sent out a questionaire to see if people agreed, this worked really well.
Prgression is shown by having more ways of discovering the target audience.

(E)By researching existing media products in the Fondation Portfolio, such as Thriller films, CD covers, websites, adverts and Goodwins theory, this really helped in hitting the conventions of my overall products. Progression was shown simply from researcihing more exciting media products than in my thriller research.

Novel [new] associations which are useful” (Isaksen and Treffinger, 1993)

‘the ability to bring something new into existence’(Anthony Storr)

A process needed for problem solving…not a special gift enjoyed by a few but a common ability possessed by most people” (Jones, 1993)

Rule breaking/boundary testing

“The making of the new and the rearranging of the old” (Bentley, 1997)

Explanation/ analysis/argument (9-10 marks)
There is a clear sense of progression established by the answer, and a range of articulate reflections on the production process are offered.

Use of examples (9-10 marks)
Candidates offer a broad range of specific, relevant and clear examples in relation to creative skills development.

Use of terminology (5 marks)
The use of both production terms and conceptual media terminology applied throughout is excellent.

G325 Exam Overview

 

The purpose of this exam is to assess your knowledge and understanding of media concepts, contexts and critical debates, through your understanding of one contemporary media issue and your ability to evaluate your own practical work in reflective and theoretical ways.
The examination:
• two hours
• two compulsory questions
• Total marks available: 100 (two questions on production work marked out of 25 each, and the media theory question marked out of 50.)

There are two sections to this paper:

Section A: Theoretical Evaluation of Production (50 marks)
Section B: Contemporary Media Issues (50 marks)

Section A: Theoretical Evaluation of Production
2 compulsory questions.

Question 1(a) describe and evaluate your skills development over the course of your production work, from Thriller Opening (AS) to Music Video (A2). The focus of this evaluation must be on skills development, and the question will require you to adapt this to one or two specific production practices. The list of practices to which questions will relate is as follows:

• Digital Technology
• Creativity
• Research and planning
• Post-production
• Using conventions from real media texts

Question 1(b) requires you to select one production and evaluate it in relation to a media concept. The list of concepts to which questions will relate is as follows:
• Genre
• Narrative
• Representation
• Audience
• Media language







EXAMPLE QUESTION
Section A: Theoretical Evaluation of Production
You must answer both 1(a) and 1(b).
In this section you need to write about your work for the Foundation Portfolio and Advanced Portfolio units. You must answer both 1(a) and 1(b).

1 (a) “Digital technology turns media consumers into media producers”. In your own experience, how has your creativity developed through using digital technology to complete your coursework productions? [25]

(b) “Media texts rely on cultural experiences in order for audiences to easily make sense of narratives”. Explain how you used conventional and / or experimental narrative approaches in one of your production pieces. [25]