Explain how your research and planning skills developed over time and how these decisions contributed for our media productions outcomes. Refer to a range of examples in your answers.

Research and planning is a way of aiding towards the final production. During my time from the start of AS media till now I have developed a wide range of skills towards carrying out extensive research and planning. The difference between my AS media and my A2 media show the how I have developed in carrying out research and planning.

For my AS task as a group we had to create film openings, before we started producing our film opening it was important that we carried out planning and research. I started by reviewing different film openings and reviewing the different titles and when they appeared in contrast with the scene cuts and changes of sound. Our genre for our film opening was thriller/horror so it was very important that the film openings I viewed were relevant to this genre. Reviewing different film openings such as “The Pact” and pulling them apart title by title was very important for what the titles actually included e.g. Costume Designer. My A2 task was to produce a cross promotional media package for an upcoming artist known as “C.DOT”, this would include mainly the music video, a digipak and a website. To find out our target audience which we would market C.DOT towards we carried out primary research which mainly included online surveys using software which was called “Survey Monkey”. We were able to email this to large numbers of people simultaneously and then produce the feedback into different formats such as graphs to assess the data.

Secondary research was much more in depth compared to the primary research that was taken especially for my AS film opening. My research skills were at an average level before starting AS, one of the tasks for example at AS was to watch unseen films and identify the genre just from watching the film opening as it was important for us to replicate this in clearly representing our film genre being horror/thriller in our film opening. To make sure I could be consistent with this I would research different thriller drama films, however when searching for the films to research from due to my inexperienced research skills I tended to just go for the films that I preferred not the ones which would aid my knowledge. This was a big change from this to carrying out my A2 research for especially my website. I wouldn’t just go for my preferred artist I would look into the different characteristics which C.DOT would produce on camera especially with fashion and match this to an artist best suited to him. This would allow me to get a high understanding of the genre of Hip-Hop/Rap which C.DOT was involved in and the different sub-genre that are involved.

Different music videos and editing techniques which we could implement in our video was vital in when researching and planning, as if this was carried out correctly we would be able to produce a high level video.  

Discuss how you used genre in one of your coursework productions to create meaning from your audience.

For my A2 production we created a hip-hop music video for an upcoming artist called C.DOT. We also created a cross media package including a website, digipak and the final music video. Hip-hop is a very wide genre with many artists producing from many different backgrounds so this genre gave us many possibilities to venture into.

The first theorist I have used to compare our music video to is Steve Neale theory, he states that the genre in videos is created through repetition, this theory provides the audience with an understanding of the genre from their previous experiences. For our music video the main task from our point of view is to make sure that the viewer is constantly interacted with the music video their main attention should be on C.DOT, to do this we decided to subvert to normal hip-hop conventions and use editing techniques and camera shots that are not usually used in this genre to keep the audience entertained throughout the video. We filmed our music video in many different sub urban locations across London such as The 02, Shoreditch, The Barbican, we took inspiration from popular grime artists such as Skepta where his video “Shutdown” is filmed at the Barbican. As C.DOT is the main artist in our video it was vital that he was centred in the middle of the frame throughout the video to establish his importance. Even when there are shots with him and others they are all placed around him C.DOT is always placed in the centre of the frame. This is also seen in many other rap videos which we mainly gained inspiration from A$AP Rocky’s “Peso” video where he is surrounded by others but he is always centred to establish he is the main figure.

Editing and camera was a major factor to create and establish the meaning of our music video towards the audience. By using Andrew Goodwin’s theory that the start person being C.DOT is the most important and our editing techniques established that by using many close ups and slowing down solo shots of C.DOT on his own. As this is our artists first music video and potential audiences will be very un-familiar of him we needed to ensure that he was centre of the frame throughout the majority of the video to establish him as a very important character. Our editing techniques very much went against current genre conventions as we really wanted to stand out from the very popular genre that is becoming more and more popular so we wanted to use certain techniques to push our product to the audience. As an example from viewing Justin Biebers “Where are U now” video which is in the complete opposite genre we used editing techniques from his video to put to effect in ours. With camera work in contrast we went very much with current media genres using a variety of popular shots which are very much used in our genre such as many low angle shots with C.DOT talking directly to the camera and making many gestures towards it. With the music already establishing the genre and the camera shots throughout the video we hope that our out of genre editing techniques really pushed our music video towards the potential audience.

Using mise en scene which is a very important topic in our genre as fashion and accessories is a big part of making it in the industry we had to establish C.DOT’s different clothing and accessories integrating with camera work. There props include the stereo typical accessories such as gold teeth, a gold chain and also many different types of unique and vibrant clothing which the audience will look to inspire to what C.DOT is wearing. This is staying with our genre convention as going against it wouldn’t really work due to the strong criticism in fashion in our genre. With expensive fashion and accessories being very popular in our industry it has much changed from the old conventions of filming in a poor area with poor clothes with lyrics of the past. It is now about who has the most money and the nicest clothes so portraying this through C.DOT towards our audience is vital. 

Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to audience.

Audience

Who is your target audience?

How did you attract them?

Feedback?

Intro

Cross promotional package – Digipak, video, website

Describe what we had to make audience.

Main Body

Advertising Campaign – Clear audience – Gender, age, hobbies and interests (ABC1C2DE)

Camera, editing, mise en scene all relating to audience

Visuals, shots and locations

Audience Feedback – uses of gratification, PIES. Personal Identification, Information, Entertainment, Social Interaction

Conclusion

How important is it to consider your audience in depth and how it has changed your production overall

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?

In year 12 we produced a film opening “Gone”, then in year 13 we then produced a promotional package for a new and upcoming artist named “C.DOT”. As a digital native I have always been a media consumer my A level media studies course gave me the skills that I needed to become a media producer. My creativity developed through digital technology in software, hardware and online and presentational skills.

Before I started A level media I was very unfamiliar with the software relating to media, I had a good IT background but was very unfamiliar with software such as Adobe Premiere, Photoshop, PowerPoint and especially after affects. As I started the first year our first task in media was to create a dancing bear’s video using Adobe Premiere. This was a very simple task just cutting the different the different shots and placing them together to create a video sequence with ensuring there were no gaps in the video. This gave me a good experience in how to import videos into premier with also with adding separate sound clips. Cutting the video and putting it a suitable sequence was also very challenging but is now a very easy task to me now. Although this sounds very simple it was not simple at the time when I was very new to the software. My last stage of using Premier was editing the final music video for our A2 task, this involved using very complex effects using After Effects I was able to make a very complex video using effects such as a parallax, when comparing this to my first stages on premiere I feel I have progressed extremely throughout being a media student.

Before I became a media student I was very un-aware of the different online tools that can be used in media, being a student I was already very familiar with social media but I did not know the possibilities with creating a page for a proposed celebrity. Part of our media package was creating a website for C.DOT using the online software known as “Wix” this was a great simple way to design a technical website with already made widgets and gadgets, it allowed me to be very creative and make a website just how I wanted which I thought It would best appeal and advertise to the audience. Another piece of presentation software that I used was “Prezi” this is a very complex piece of software which allows so much diversity with transitions and the non-linear slides of a presentation keeping the viewer constantly interested

Research & Planning

Research

·         Primary Research –

Target Audience

Institution/Distribution

·         Secondary Research -

Real Media Products = Genre, Semiotics, Theory, Conventions

Ancillary Texts = Website, Digipak – Conventions, Content, Photos, Layout, Font Style

·         Skills Research

Premiere

After Effects

Trial & Error

Planning

·         Storyboards

·         Location Research

·         Shooting Schedules

·         Props

·         Costumes

Digital Technology – Essay Structure

Introduction - Summary of different subjects.

Essay Structure

·         Software

Premier, After Effects, PowerPoint, Photoshop.

·         Online Skills

Wix, Prezi, Slide share, Powtoon, Emaze

Social Media, Blogs, YouTube

·         Hardware

Camera – Techniques,

Lighting, Green screen,  

Conclusion – Final summary of essay

What did you do?

How did you do it?

How did your skills develop?

Examples