Final Blog Checks...

OK everyone, we are VERY nearly there

Moderation is taking place on Monday 9th May, so your blogs MUST be closed by 3pm on Monday 9th

Over the weekend please do the following:
- proof read your blogs for spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors
- check your labels are clear
- move your music video, digi pak, advert, evaluation Qs 1-4 to the top of your blog (in this order!)

Answer the past exam Q - bring to Wednesday's lesson to be marked

Come and find me if you have any questions or probs
See you soon...

The Last Push

Hi all,

Hope you had a fab Easter. Time is now running out fast - your music vids and blogs will be moderated on Monday 9th May, so you need to prepare by Wednesday 4th May...

Your last posts on your blog need to consist of the following, so when the examiner opens your page to mark your work he sees:

• Your final music video


• Your final digi pak


• Your final magazine advert


• Your evaluation

Make sure you've answered all questions for the evaluation (see posts below for details). If you have any questions find me I'll be in O8 on Tuesday morning p1&2

Good luck!

See you soon

A quick hello and...

...well done to those of you who are keeping on top of your blogs over the Easter hols

Special 'shaout aout' goes to Emily Bullen and Molly who've been updating their blogs recently this week. EmmaK, I like the way you've displayed your audience feedback and used lots of photographs and images in your blog to enhance the text catch the examiner's eye.

I'm sure the rest of you are busy beavering away writing and filming your evaluations so I'm not tooooo concerned. Yet. BUT, those of you who've not updated your blog for a while need to need to get some posts up - especially if you haven't added anything since early March!!

I know I'm nagging but those A grades and university places are within reach now...don't let it slip!

If you're not sure what you have to do....see posts below

EASTER REVISION

Hi all,

I am SO PROUD of all of you. Your final music videos are outSTANDing and you thoroughly deserve the rapturous praise received from the audience yesterday afternoon. We've never had such a successful event, so well done to all of you!

Now for the Easter tasks. Simples but VERY importants that you do them

1. Answer the evaluation questions. WORTH 20 MARKS OF YOUR FINAL GRADE

(See post below for list of Qs if needed). Look online at other students' evaluations for inspiration (eg fahminaali.blogspot.com)

2. Upload audience feedback --> eg in a wordle (http://www.wordle.net/) or prezi

3. Revise / complete essays

4. Proof read blog posts for spelling / punctuation errors

THE DEADLINE FOR YOUR EVALUATION IS WEDNESDAY 4TH MAY. YOU MUST ATTEND THIS LESSON, AS ALL BLOGS MUST BE CLOSED ON FRIDAY 6TH MAY AND I NEED TO RUN THROUGH SOME LAST REQUIREMENTS FROM OCR EXAM BOARD WITH YOU

ps Oh, and you must also find time to RELAX and UNWIND to RECHARGE your batteries as well as complete the above!!

See you on the other side of the hols,

Miss P

Well Done You

Girls! Just seen your latest edited videos on your blogs - they look fanTAStic!! Well done you. Keep up the editing-hard-work and upload your vid onto your blog if you haven't already. We're on the last push now: only one week to go... Catch up on Friday

Evaluation of your Music Videos

KEY DATES FOR YOUR DIARIES -->
DEADLINE FOR EVALUATION: WEDNESDAY 4TH MAY
DEADLINE FOR BLOGS CLOSED: FRIDAY 6TH MAY


TASK: You need to evaluate and reflect on the creative process and their experience of it. The questions that must be addressed in the evaluation are:

1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products
2) How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?
3) What have you learned from your audience feedback?
4) How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

WHICH MEDIUM WILL YOU CHOOSE TO EVALUATE YOUR PRODUCTION? Choose a combination of the following:

- PowerPoint presentation
- Short film, uploaded to YouTube
- Essay style, blogging
- Images and annotations on blog

The choice is yours but the more creative the better!

Examples we looked at in lesson are:

From OCR: http://musicvideoalexanderwhitcombe.blogspot.com/
From YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_udTjIydLE
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=a2+media+evaluation+questions&aq=f
http://a2mediaparkesm.blogspot.com/2011/03/in-what-ways-does-your-media-product.html


The marking grid is below:

Moderation Marking Criteria for your Evaluation

Level 4 16–20 marks

There is excellent understanding of the forms and conventions used in the productions
There is excellent understanding of the role and use of new media in various stages of the production.
There is excellent understanding of the combination of main product and ancillary texts.
There is excellent understanding of the significance of audience feedback.
There is excellent skill in choice of form in which to present the evaluation.
There is excellent ability to communicate.
There is excellent use of digital technology or ICT in the evaluation.


Eight key concepts of media literacy you can refer to in your evaluations

1. All media is constructed The media do not present simple reflections of external reality. Rather, they present carefully crafted constructions that reflect many decisions and result from many determining factors. Media Literacy works towards deconstructing these constructions, taking them apart to show how they are made.
2. The media construct reality The media are responsible for the majority of the observations and experiences from which we build up our personal understandings of the world and how it works. Much of our view of reality is based on media messages that have been pre-constructed and have attitudes, interpretations and conclusions already built in. The media, to a great extent, give us our sense of reality.
3. Audiences negotiate meaning in the media The media provide us with much of the material upon which we build our picture of reality, and we all "negotiate" meaning according to individual factors: personal needs and anxieties, the pleasures or troubles of the day, racial and sexual attitudes, family and cultural background, and so forth.
4. Media have commercial implications Media Literacy aims to encourage an awareness of how the media are influenced by commercial considerations, and how these affect content, technique and distribution. Most media production is a business, and must therefore make a profit. Questions of ownership and control are central: a relatively small number of individuals control what we watch, read and hear in the media.
5. Media contain ideological and value messages All media products are advertising, in some sense, in that they proclaim values and ways of life. Explicitly or implicitly, the mainstream media convey ideological messages about such issues as the nature of the good life, the virtue of consumerism, the role of women, the acceptance of authority, and unquestioning patriotism.
6. Media have social and political implications The media have great influence on politics and on forming social change. Television can greatly influence the election of a national leader on the basis of image. The media involve us in concerns such as civil rights issues, famines in Africa, and the AIDS epidemic. They give us an intimate sense of national issues and global concerns, so that we become citizens of Marshall McLuhan's "Global Village."
7. Form and content are closely related in the media As Marshall McLuhan noted, each medium has its own grammar and codifies reality in its own particular way. Different media will report the same event, but create different impressions and messages.
8. Each medium has a unique aesthetic form Just as we notice the pleasing rhythms of certain pieces of poetry or prose, so we ought to be able to enjoy the pleasing forms and effects of the different media.

KEY DATES

KEY DATES FOR YOUR DIARY


FINAL DESIGN FOR YOUR MAGAZINE ADVERT UPLOADED AND ANALYSED BY Wednesday 16th March

ALL EDITING FINISHED BY Wednesday 6th April

BLOGS CLOSED BY Friday 6th May


Homework due in for next week: Wednesday 9th March.

Bring in your essay on a memory stick so we can improve it in the lesson

"Describe and evaluate your creativity skills development from AS to A2"

Ancilliary Task Two: Magazine Advert

HOMEWORK TO COMPLETE FOR FRIDAY'S LESSON

TASKS ONE: Blog the conventions of a music advertisement

Artist name and album title
Release date
Web address / myspace
Product content – extra DVD footage, bonus tracks
Magazine reviews/endorsements – NME, Q, Atmosphere, Smash Hits, Kerrang, The Guardian Music Monthly Review STARS
Name of record label
Tour dates
Images – photographs/graphics/combination
Outlets in which available – eg HMV, Amazon
Slogan / tagline“Freedom to be who you want to be”
Limited edition. Digipak/standard
“out now” / “debut album”
offers – free download if you sign up to XYZ website


TASK TWO

TASK: Upload one full page magazine advert to analyse. Address each area below in your analysis. Each group will report and compare findings with the class as a discussion

MESSAGES
What kinds of messages do we receive from the advert?
How do these messages effect our buying choices?
How do these messages effect our perception of the world around us?
What product is the ad trying to sell? (Other than the product itself, what idea or message is the ad trying to sell? What is the subtext? Are there any stereotypical ideas and/or subliminal messages that can you identify?

TARGET AUDIENCE
Who is the target audience? Explain using specific demographics and psychographics.
Can you identify any emotional appeals in the ad? (sex, romance, humour, guilt, patriotism, sympathy, anxiety, anger, envy, loneliness, desire to escape etc.)
In what ways does this advert effect our ideas, attitudes or beliefs? (Example: alcohol = fun / thin = beautiful)
Are these attitudes created by advert or are they existing attitudes reinforced or made acceptable by the advert?
How does the advert catch your eye? Why did you choose this advert? What caught your attention long enough to stop and look at it?
How would you rate the overall effectiveness of the advert for its target audience? Explain your rating

Mock Exam Date and Half Term Homework

MOCK EXAM DATE: WEDNESDAY 16TH FEB in O8 p5-8

ELEANOR, EMMAK, NEELAM, MICHAELA --> MOCK EXAM DATE: MONDAY 14TH FEB in O8 p5-8


Followed by...a relaxing half term!

--> finish any outstanding work so that
you can recharge your batteries
Half term homework

ALL
• Buy a selection of music magazines
• Upload pictures of promotional adverts for album releases of your genre
• Blog what the conventions are for a promo advert for an album release
• Get audience feedback on your digipak/music vid so far: facebook, twitter, youtube, blog
• Continue editing!!

SOME
• Finish digipak and do above

Q1a Using Conventions from Real Media Texts

What could you discuss in an essay on Using Conventions from Real Media Texts?

Have a look on Pete Fraser's Blog for Inspiration, Production and Revision Tips
petesmediablog.blogspot.com

REMEMBER --> for Q1a You MUST mention AS and A2 production. Therefore, throughout your essay you’re writing about what did you do at AS and how you’ve developed into a more proficient Media student at A2

What ARE Codes and Conventions in Media?

• The media construct reality.
• The media have their own forms, codes and conventions.
• The media present ideologies and value messages.
• The media are business that have commercial interests.
• Audiences negotiate meaning in media.

Media mediate reality via the use of recognized codes and conventions, and the credibility or realism of a media text may be judged by the degree to which the audience identifies with what is being portrayed.

Media students identify three main categories of codes that may be used to convey meanings in media messages:
technical codes, which include camera techniques, framing, depth of field, lighting and exposure and juxtaposition
symbolic codes, which refer to objects, setting, body language, clothing and colour
written codes in the form of headlines, captions, speech bubbles and language style.

• the media produces meaning by using conventions
• audiences produce meaning from the interaction of the conventional material in the text, and their understanding of conventions
• the conventions that the media uses have a history - they come from somewhere and
they are responsive to historical forces
• conventions are not natural but are cultural - they have cultural specificities - they are now somewhat universal - here we can probably think of advertising...

By the term 'code' we mean a communication system which contains elements which have an agreed meaning and which can be combined according to agreed rules. This could be the English language, Morse Code, a traffic policeman's hand signals, film etc.

It is a fundamental premise of Communication Studies that all communication takes place via codes:

A code is a rule-governed system of signs, whose rules and conventions are shared amongst members of a culture, and which is used to generate and circulate meanings in and for that culture.
Fiske (1987)

A code must consist of:
• a set of signs which carry meaning
• a set of agreed rules for combining those signs together

Since it is the case that the codes we use are the result of conventions arrived at by the users of those codes, then it is reasonable to suppose that the values of the users will in some way be incorporated into those codes. They will, for example, have developed signs for those things they agree to be important, they will probably have developed a whole array of signs to draw the distinctions between those things which are of particular significance in their culture. In other words, you might reasonably expect that the ideologies prevalent in those cultures will have been incorporated into the codes used:

...'reality' is always encoded, or rather the only way we can perceive and make sense of reality is by the codes of our culture. There may be an objective, empiricist reality out there, but there is no universal, objective way of perceiving and making sense of it. What passes for reality in any culture is the product of the culture's codes, so 'reality' is always already encoded, it is never 'raw'.
(Fiske 1987)

HOW TO PLAN YOUR REVISION NOTES FOR THIS EXAM ESSAY
1) AS level --> List how you used conventions from real horror films in your film opening

FOR EXAMPLE...
- The opening credits / film title
- Setting/location
- Costumes and props
- Camerawork and editing
- Title font and style
- Story and how the opening sets it up
- Genre and how the opening suggests it
- How characters are introduced
- Special effects

2) A2 --> List how you used conventions from real music videos in your own music vid

3) Consider how you adhered to or challenged conventions from these real media texts

MAC Editing Priority Timetable

Exam Prep Q1a --> Creativity

YOUR MOCK MOCK QUESTION IS DUE IN ON WEDNESDAY 9TH FEB:

EXAM Q1a) Describe and evaluate your creative skills development from AS foundation
portfolio to A2 Advanced portfolio

Spend 45 mins (25marks)


What could you discuss in an essay on creativity?

Creativity
- What was the intended outcome of your productions? (preferred readings, promotional purposes etc)
- How were these outcomes achieved in terms of camera shot choices/diegetic or non-diegetic music etc.?
- How did you present your ideas on the blog?
- Work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding
- How did you make creative decisions about your set design, props, location etc
- What stylistic choices were made in order to appeal to your target audience?

You MUST mention AS and A2 production. Therefore, throughout your essay you’re writing about what did you do at AS and how you’ve developed into a more proficient Media student at A2

Class Discussion Ideas
- Better framing&composition – give examples
- Lighting – filmed in dark in AS. Now know to film outside for best quality – therefore, filmed by open window midday
- Filmed on flip in A2 – made montage - skills improved because added music – so edited on beat, practising skills
- AS – used torch – A2 used natural light
- Considered colours, contrasts, costumes to fit w genre
- More confident w flips therefore > experimental when filming on location
- Grown in confidence w software – imovie
- AS filmed at night w torch/phones, A2 used car to create dolly shot – full beam headlights, to create shadows: 306 degree pan to film long shot
- Using saturated colour in imovie – therefore, end product less grainy
- AS – didn’t’ consider mise-en-scene, sacrificed lighting for framing
- AS used lots of slow paced editing – this year using faster shutter speed

Exam Prep Q1a

EXAM PREP

Question 1a is entirely concerned about skills development FROM AS TO A2, but the area that comes up will be quite specific:

* Creativity
* Research and Planning
* Digital Technology
* Post-production
* Using Conventions from Real Media Texts

See below for ideas about what you could discuss in an essay on Research and Planning...

* What primary and secondary research did you undertake?
(how did you research into similar products; determining your potential target audience)
* BE SPECIFIC which music videos did you watch and what did you learn in watching them?
* Questionnaires: open&closed questions: what was your quantitative and qualitative analysis of your results and how did this inform your planning?
* How did you organise actors, locations, costumes or props?
* Did you make a shooting schedule? (YES!!)
* Time management skills: how did you organise meetings? Did someone chair at each one while others took notes? (YES!!)
* Did you make a meeting log? (YES!!)
* Did you have a prop list? (YES!!)
* How effectively were storyboards and time management decisions followed?
* Communication skills; with team members, actors, outside agencies...

CLASS DISCUSSION IDEAS
- Storyboarding – and using it on location  more detailed
- What ‘went wrong’ / have you improved on since AS? Filming, better storyboarding
- Trips – AS CLC to learn imovie, to RichMix w Peter Fraser: on history of music vids, met music video director
- Mini music video 15 mins, edited and uploaded to youtube
- Lip synching practice
- Organised clips – deleted unwanted shots, clearly name them, ordered them
- Storyboarding Kesha’s video – as practice
- Edited a montage of behind the scenes
- Evaluated editing mid-production and made changes accordingly
- Costume and makeup planning, more thought went into mise-en-scene
- Visited locations, took photographs, storyboarded in more detail

January To Do List

LOTS-TO-DO-TO-DO-LIST

* REMINDER - get constant audience feedback
You have 20 marks allocated for this in your FINAL GRADE. How creative can you be in getting audience feedback? Which media platforms can you use?

* Finish your Digipak
DEADLINE FOR COMPLETION AND UPLOADED ONTO BLOG: FRIDAY 11TH FEBRUARY

Create a Digipak Label on your Blog

- Size and dimensions of a digipak
- What is it made out of?
- Why have manufacturers moved away from Jewel cases?
- Upload an image of your digipak analysis (use Marilyn Manson sheet as guide)
- Upload 4-5 examples of CD covers from your genre and write short paragraph about why you like them / which conventions you might use in your design

Design your own digipak
* Front cover
* Inside 2 sides
* Back cover

- Upload images of ALL 4 SIDES onto your blog
- Explain your reasoning for your design  artwork or photographs? Which font type used and why? How are you representing your artist and why?

Message for Eleanor, Emily, Akua and Elizabeth

We have managed to start your old MAC!!

I've transferred your 'Dog Days' projects and events over to your new iMAC so you can continue editing with all your footage. Hurrah!

Message for Sophie, Elle, Neelam and Emma

Your footage is being moved onto iMAC5 to ensure that all Year 12 and 13 students have equal access to Final Cut Pro. Please see me in person or contact me on Fronter to obtain the password for your iMAC. Many thanks.

Hi all

As you are aware we are in the process of upgrading the MACs with our new Final Cut Pro software. Please make sure you DO NOT touch any MAC (old or new) that is labelled "DO NOT TOUCH"!!

We're also updating the Year 12 and 13 passwords to eliminate any discrepancies over other people tampering with your work. Come and find me for your new password if you need access to your MAC Weds morning. I'm in O4 p1-4. If not, see you in lesson p5. Thanks!

Video - Adele Rolling in the Deep

Have a look at Adele's latest video Rolling in the Deep: great shot ideas for slow pace editing and pan shots - contrast slow paced with fast paced for greater dramatic effects. Love use of the glasses of water 'jumping' to the beat. Note that the protagonist is stock still, while the actions of the dancer (have they used flour??) and low key lighting of the drummer are great for creative elements to your vids...

Digipak Analysis Initial Research

WELCOME BACK

Hope you all had a relaxing Christmas break and are fully rejuvenated for the Spring term!


THIS WEEK'S TASKS ARE...

1. COMPLETE YOUR FILMING – ALL CAMERA EQUIPMENT DUE IN FOR AUDIT ON FRIDAY 14TH JAN
2. Catch up on any missed tasks from previous weeks in order to be back on track for your target predicted grade
3. Complete a detailed analysis of a digipak from your genre
4. Blog your digipak analysis: create a new blog label called “CD Digipak”
5. Generate a band name / track list. Be creative! Use the random generator game, wordle or look at online name generators

Use the ‘Marilyn Manson’ handout as an springboard for your digipak analysis --> ensure your ideas cover the following:


Introduction
* What is a digipak? When were the first used, what size is a digipak (how many sides/weight of cardboard etc)?
Analysis
* What are the generic conventions of a digipak? Does your example adhere or challenge them?
* Lettering / font styles and sizes: how does the lettering fit with the genre of music or design?
* Image: what picture is on the cover? Is it a design or artwork? Is it a photograph of the artist? Look at the mise-en-scene, consider iconography, symbolism and connotations
* Stars / icons: is this image of the artist one you’d expect to see?
* Representation: look at how your band/artist and the genre are represented and how the audience will react
* Audience: who exactly will buy this CD? Be specific: escapism, anarchism, sense of belonging/cohesion to a social group?