1b) Representation

Definition: Re – presentation
The presentation of a form of reality in a media text.
—Representation is always a re-presentation, in which elements of reality are selected, organized and narrated.
—By nature, media ‘mediates’ reality – it selects it and shows us only what the producer wants.

Media producers have no choice but to be selective in their choice of material, however naturalistic their approach
so….
texts will always represent individuals, groups and issues, whatever the intentions of the producer.

What is being represented in a music video?
-A form of reality?
-The lyrics of the song?
-The music?
-The artist?
-A theme within the narrative?
-A movement – feminism?

Stereotypes - why have they proved popular with:
—With audiences?
—With institutions (marketing and creative)?

How could stereotypical representations be seen as:
—Lazy?
—Dangerous?
—Offensive?
—Misleading?

David Gauntlett - constructing identity : Audiences and representation
Gauntlett says that we reconfirm or challenge our identity through watching media texts.
—We use texts as toolbox to check own identity

Gauntless described the Social construction of identity: how can you work out who you are through what you see in a media text? Your identity is not fixed: you will be shaped by what you watch.
--Identity as project – audience chooses the tools
-Conflicting media messages about identity
So.. When we watch a text we compare ourselves to the stereotypes presented within it.
Look at the use of stereotypes in your music video. How far could you say your music video encourages audiences to reconfirm or challenge who they are when watching your video?

Laura Mulvey - the male gaze
One theory in media studies is the idea of the ‘male gaze’. This explores the idea that the camera ‘sees’ images through male eyes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViwtNLUqkMY
“The message though was always the same: buy the product, get the girl; or buy the product to get to be like the girl so you can get your man” in other words, “‘Buy’ the image, ‘get’ the woman”
—What could this mean?
—Why might it be the case?
—How might this be evident in your music video?

Judith Butler - gender performance
—Butler argues that gender is a performance.
—It is what you do at particular times, rather than about who you are.
Apply this to your work….
Do the male characters behave typically masculine?
Do the female characters behave typically feminine?

Feminism / Post feminism
—Feminism = a movement (c. 1960s) promoting the rights of women to be equal to men and arguing that women should no longer dress and behave as men wish them to.

—Post-feminism = movement arguing that women have now achieved equality and should be free to dress and behave as they wish without doing so for the benefit of men.
Example: Girls Aloud.
Post-feminist icons?
Objects of male gaze?
Exploited or powerful?
Role models for women?

Verismilitude = the imitation of reality (techniques)
—Representation is always a re-presentation, in which elements of reality are selected, organized and narrated.
—By nature, media ‘mediates’ reality – it selects it and shows us only what the producer wants.

The media makes use of various ‘scripts’ – like stereotypes for events rather than people
e.g. news programmes expect certain images and events to occur in coverage of protests, war, natural disaster, murder inquiries.
Fictional narratives use certain representations of issues and events
Eg relationships and break-ups, car chases, trials, police investigations, holidays.

Consider in your work how far you have created verismilitude using:
(a) Mise-en-scene
Classic Realism? (as if the camera is not there)
(b) Editing
Are we overly conscious of the editing? Does it seem fluent – continuity editing?
or
Does the editing form part of the narrative? Is it dramatic? Does it create pace and excitement?
(c) Narrative
Does the narrative flow as a chronological sequence of events? Does it present all aspects of the action to the audience? Are events constructed from one viewpoint – is this realistic? Do we move from equilibrium to disequilibrium and back? Is this realistic?

Stuart Hall - encoding and decoding texts
—Particular representations become established through repetition in the media e.g. villain characters / antagonists
-they develop a ‘common sense’ status through their ‘per formative nature’
-Hall focuses on issues of race and culture but his theory can be applied to any representation

How to construct your answer:

Introduction: Definition. Which product will you use to discuss? What is being represented within your music video? A form of reality? The lyrics of the song? The music? The artist? A theme within the narrative? A movement – feminism?
Paragraph 1: Stereotypes
What stereotypes have you represented? How have you done this (tie in with media language) What are the risks/benefits for audiences/institutions? Are there any stereotypes that are under represented/ misrepresented?
Gauntlett’s theory of reconfirming or challenging our identity through watching media texts. Using texts as toolbox. How does this relate your own work?
Paragraph 2: The attempt to create Verisimilitude
How far have you represented reality within your text? Why did you decide to do this? Explain how media selects and mediates reality. Consider how you made use of a narrative that ‘scripts’ reality. How did you create this reality / non reality through editing, mise-en-scene and narrative?
Paragraph 3: Stuart Hall - Preferred Readings and encoding/decoding texts
How might different audience ‘readings’ of texts affect how the representation of the text is formed. Stuart Hall’s theory of representations becoming established through ‘repetition’ and a ‘common sense status’ through the ‘performative nature’ of texts (we know what a car chase feels like because we have seen in within a media text).
Paragraph 4: Gender representation
Judith Butler Gender as a performance – masculine or feminine?
Laura Mulvey The Male Gaze
Conclusion
How have you made use of the issue of representation in your text? What are the advantages of representation within a media text for audiences? What limitations are there?

1 (b) Genre

Genre Definition: A way of categorising compositions/texts (film/TV/music/literature etc) based on a certain criteria – a check-list of expectations and conventions.

Steve Neal: Genre is…
“repetition with an underlying pattern of variations”

How is genre important?
It is a way of organising the huge of amounts of texts that are available.It can act as a set of audience of expectations.It creates a relationship between audiences and producers which minimises the risk of financial failure – consider the money put into production and marketing…It reinforces our ideas and valuesIt makes clear what ‘works’ artistically allowing for repetition.It acts as short-hand communication for audiences.It creates a structural framework that can be adhered to or played with.

How to identify genre. Janet Staiger
Film theorist Janet Staiger asserts that genre can be identified using the following methods
Idealist: Judging texts by a predetermined standard.
Empirical: Comparing texts to texts that are already assumed to be part of a certain genre. (This is what you have mainly done during your planning stage - comparing the Codes and Conventions of similar texts).
Social Conventions: Using an accepted cultural consensus. (Perhaps this is relevant if you did audience/market research).
A priori: Using common generic elements that are identified in advance.

Limitations of Genre
Genre is always subjective (one man’s comedy could be another man’s horror.)
Texts are often so sophisticated that it is hard to fit them into one category.
It should only be seen as a tool rather than an absolute.
Categories are constantly evolving and changing so there is no such thing as ‘typical’.

How Genre’s are created
Jane Feuer in her article ‘Genre Study and Television’ states that ‘genres are not organic in their conception - they are synthetic: artificial creations by intellectuals.’Genre can be seen as a retrospective way of categorising texts by identifying trends and patterns in media. These trends and patterns could be established by creators repeating what works and is successful or by the expression of shared experiences (social factors).For instance the ‘Saw’ films were successful, films that focused on the gratuitous torturing and suffering of entrapped people. Consequently a series of other films that shared the same delight in displaying human suffering followed such Hostel, Devil’s Rejects, Wolf Creek, Captivity and I Know Who Killed Me.This type of film became known as ‘Torture Porn’ after film critic David Edelstein first used the term when describing Hostel.‘Torture Porn is a term often used described these type of films, but they could easily be called ‘Splatter Films’ or ‘Horror’.

How Genres Evolve
Producers of mainstream texts have to ensure that they give the audience ‘what they want’ and so use what has been effective and successful before. However they have to keep things fresh to make sure that audiences are not continually being part of the same experience.This brings in the idea of ‘repetition and variation’ - repeating what is successful but adding enough variation to prevent it from seeming stale.Another way is creating hybrid genres – taking several elements from two or more genres to create a new experience. e.g. Westworld (Western/Sci-fi), Blade Runner (Film Noir/Sci-fi), Shaun of the Dead (Rom-Zom-Com).

‘Audiences want to have some idea what they are watching. They want to go into the theatre and know what kind of a film they are about to experience. It influences their expectations. But the dynamic quality of genre is also necessary to keep genres fresh. There are times when audiences’ expectations need to be altered. In short, filmmakers working within a genre need to walk a line: expand, develop, elaborate on the genre, but keep it under the overall structure of the specific genre umbrella.

’Charley McLean paraphrasing Thomas Schatz (Film Genre and Genre Film)

Genre conventions for Thriller opening:

•A build up to the action
•Creation of fear / apprehension / anticipation / unsettling feeling / confusion / doubt over a character
•Dark, shadowy atmosphere (use of light and dark images)
•Establishing mood and atmosphere throughout the film
•Delay in showing the face of a significant character, or the action of an important event by first showing the hand of the character for instance or a reaction of someone watching the event
•Creation of suspense using soundtrack music –eerie innocent music?
•Morally ambiguous central character – film noir (Seven)
•Murder encouraging a suspecting audience
•Realistic settings to create a sense of ‘the unusual’ occurring within a normal setting
•Flashbacks
•Hero(ine) in situation of threat or struggle
•Red Herrings (Hitchcock movies)
•Twists and unexpected turns (The Usual Suspects)
•Making and keeping the audience tense and on the edge of our seats.

Practice Exam question
1(b) “Genres are evolving.” Discuss your production in respect of the concept of genre.

1 (b) Narrative

Narrative = the way these events are put together
(Story = a sequence of events known as the plot)

This could include:
—who is telling the story and how reliable they are
—in what form the story is told e.g. video diary, flashback, series of images, voiceover.
—how events are selected and/or missed out to create a particular story
—how and in what order the events are imparted to the audience
—with which character (if any) the audience is encouraged to identify
—how much knowledge the audience is allowed to have in relation to the characters

—Media texts use codes and conventions to indicate a story – we might consider these as media ‘shorthand’.
How could you signal:
—Someone has a secret?
—Someone is being followed?
—Something bad is going to happen?

Narrative shapes material in terms of space and time - it defines where things take place, when they take place, how quickly they take place.
Narrative, especially that of film and TV, has an immense ability to manipulate our awareness of time and place e.g. flashbacks, replays of action, slow motion, speeding up, jumping between places and times.

NARRATIVE MODES There are two main modes of narrative which need to be structured.
1 . The narrative of events e.g. - A hero shoots an enemy agent, dives into a
lake, triggers a remote control device which will destroy the enemy submarine.
2. The narrative of drama e.g. - The heroine has a tense argument with the
Hero and decides he was never her type and she is going to leave. Nothing has really happened in terms of events but a lot has happened dramatically.

Texts often need to signal changes in chronology.
How could you signal:
—A few months has gone by?
—A flashback?
—An historical event?
—The next day?
—A memory?
—Night falling?

Audiences need to be able to work out where or in what sort of place an event takes place.
How could you signal:
—An urban location?
—An environment unfamiliar to the character?
—The next scene takes place in a different city?
—A journey?

—Open Narratives – a text which is open to a number of possible interpretations and stories, so the audience tends to create their own narratives around the text.
—Closed (or fixed) Narratives – a text which provides its audience with only one possible story.

Music video and narrative
What problems for narrative are presented by the form of the music video? Consider:
Characters repetition setting chorus dialogue pace chronology
So - can we read a music video as a straightforward narrative?
Should we not expect to?
Or should we expect to have to work harder to create a story for ourselves?

Todorov's theory of equlilibium
—Todorov proposed a basic structure for all narratives. He stated that films and programmes begin with an equilibrium, a calm period.
—Then agents of disruption cause disequilibrium, a period of unsettlement and disquiet.
—This is then followed by a renewed state of peace and harmony for the protagonists and a new equilibrium brings the chaos to an end.
—The simplest form of narrative (sometimes referred to as ‘Classic’ or ‘Hollywood’ narrative).

BARTHES’ ENIGMA CODE
An enigma = a mystery to draw the audience in and encourage questions.
Eg. the slow revealing of a character through delaying a shot of their face.
eg. a series of reaction shots before showing the audience the cause of the reaction
eg. the quick succession of image motifs to raise questions about the characteristics of a relationship
— The narrative will establish enigmas or mysteries as it goes along.
— Essentially, the narrative functions to establish and then solve these mysteries.

PROPP’S THEORY ON CHARACTER AND ACTION
Vladimir Propp’s theory was formed in the early twentieth Century.
He studied Russian fairytales and discovered that within a narrative there were always 8 types of characters evident.
These are: the hero, the villain, the donor, the dispatcher, the false hero, the helper, the princess and her father.
He did not state these characters were all separate people e.g. the provider could also be the helper.
There are only 8 different character types and only 31 things they ever do. Once you have identified the character type (e.g., the hero) it’s easy to guess what they will do (save the maiden, defeat the villain, marry the maiden or whatever) because each character has a SPHERE OF ACTION.
Propp provided a model of narrative where characters and events can be seen as constructs, which exist in order to ‘move along’ and drive a narrative momentum. Using fairy tales as his basis, Propp identified a set of interchangeable character types that have clear functions in order to fuel a narrative.
— · The hero, focused on a quest.
— · The villain hindering the hero on his/her quest
— · The donor, who gives the hero some magical key or information.
— · The helper, who assists the hero on his / her quest.
— · The heroine, who is used by the villain and is a reward for the hero.
In this model, the audience will identify with the hero and root for the successful completion of the quest, and therefore be apposed to the villain as hindering narrative closure and, thus, satisfaction.

LEVI-STRAUSS AND BINARY OPPOSITIONS
Claude Levi-Strauss identified a narrative system of ‘binary opposites’ in which symbols and ideas exist in relation to their opposites, with which they are in conflict. The theory is that a simplified set of meanings is drawn from a text, where an idea is considered only in relation to its opposite, pandering to a viewer’s need to side with a character which is ‘good’ against that which is ‘evil’. Binary oppositions can be seen in the following:
GOOD + EVIL
MALE + FEMALE
US + THEM
Following this model we can consider the way in which many narratives are told from the point of view of the main protagonist, and consider what they ‘are’ in relation to what they ‘are not’. For example many Hollywood narratives are told from the point of view of a white, male figure, the hero of the narrative. This necessarily puts him in a privileged position inside the fold of the narrative, therefore, using Levi-Strauss’ model, we can identify what he exists in opposition to.
The theory is interesting in that it draws attention to the fact that the world of a text is a constructed fiction, where simplified moral systems can operate (the grey area being removed).
Levi-Strauss looked at narrative structure in terms of binary oppositions. Binary oppositions are sets of opposite values which reveal the structure of media texts. An example would be GOOD and EVIL – we understand the concept of GOOD as being the opposite of EVIL.
Levi –Strauss was not so interested in looking at the order in which events were arranged in the plot. He looked instead for deeper arrangements of themes. For example, if we look at Science Fiction films we can identify a series of binary oppositions which are created by the narrative:
Earth Space
Good Evil
Humans Aliens
Past Present
Normal Strange
Known Unknown

Practice exam Question:
“Storytelling- narrative- is central to how people communicate their understanding of the world” (Kevin Williams). Explain the role of narrative in one of your productions.

Key points to remember in your response:
· Remember that you can choose any production you have created over the AS and A2 courses – main task or preliminary/ancillary.

· Aim to include some relevant application of narrative theory (e.g. Propp/Barthes) to explain what you did.

· Evaluate your work, don’t just describe it – how well did your narrative techniques work? How similar or different is your finished product from other media texts you know, or from your initial ideas and expectations?

· Relate your work to your understanding of institutions – your decisions were at least partly based on what you know about promotion, distribution etc. as well as creativity.

1 (b) Media Language

Key concepts: Media Language

You may be asked to write about one of your production pieces in relation to the concept of Media Language. This could be seen as the trickiest concept to define as it is not immediately obvious from the name what you are being asked to discuss – you therefore need to be careful when reading the question to make sure you know what is expected of you. However it can also be seen as a broader category than the others, giving you the opportunity to write about a number of different elements and to discuss any of the other key concepts.

Media Language means the way that meaning is made, using the conventions of the particular medium and type of media product. It is about considering how media texts communicate. One way to look at it is in relation to written language: if writing uses words, nouns, adjectives, sentences, paragraphs, rhymes, rhythms and chapters to convey meaning, how does a media text do it? If a written text uses short sentences, adverbs and similes to convey a sense of danger, a film title sequence might use fast editing, signs such as shadows falling across a wall, carefully composed mise en scene to suggest imprisonment and a specific choice of font and transition for the titles to convey a sense of unease.

You could write about elements of semiotics, genre, narrative, design, structure, codes and conventions, time and space, aesthetics, spoken, written and visual language to name just a few examples.

Louis Saussure’s Semiotics:
žSignifier = the form in which the sign takes
žSignified = the concept it represents
Louis Saussure was interested in the relationship between the signifier and the signified and this is referred to as 'signification.’

žiconic sign = a mode in which the signifier resembles or imitates the signified (recognizably looking, sounding, feeling, tasting or smelling like it) - being similar in possessing some of its qualities: e.g. a portrait, a cartoon, a scale-model, onomatopoeia, metaphors, 'realistic' sounds in 'programme music', sound effects in radio drama, a dubbed film soundtrack, imitative gestures;

žindexical sign = the signifier is directly connected in some way to the signified - this link can be observed or inferred:
e.g. 'natural signs' (smoke, thunder, footprints, echoes, non-synthetic odours and flavours), medical symptoms (pain, a rash, pulse-rate), measuring instruments (weathercock, thermometer, clock, spirit-level), 'signals' (a knock on a door, a phone ringing), pointers (a pointing 'index' finger, a directional signpost), recordings (a photograph, a film, video or television shot, an audio-recorded voice), personal 'trademarks' (handwriting, catchphrase)
Revise the following terms by writing one example of each from your production:
signifier
signified
detonated meaning
connoted meaning
iconic sign
indexical sign



Media Language Practice exam question 1b

“Media texts can communicate to their audiences in various ways.” Discuss the ways in which Media Language has been used within one of your productions.
Cover in your answer:
ž Louis Saussure’s Semiotics – indexical and iconic signs
ž Genre
ž Narrative
ž Design
ž Structure
ž codes and conventions
ž time and space
ž Aesthetics
ž Visual language

Practise taking a semiotic approach by evaluating one of your productions.
Focus on: Signs and their intended meaning
How they interact with each other – would a sign (e.g. the police hat) be read differently if placed in a different context? So how are elements affected by one another?
Anchorage text – how does the font/size/position convey meaning?
Drawing conclusions – what is the overall effect?

Example: Katy Perry's 'One of the Boys' album:
What does the darkening sky signify? How does it affect our reading of the rest of the image?
Pink is used a great deal in the composition – overwhelmingly seen as a feminine colour and on first viewing it could seem that the artist is to be seen as traditional (note the 1950s clothes and pose), selling a nostalgic image to women and men. However, the anchorage text suggests…

A white picket fence is symbolic of a perfect home life in American culture– why is it used here? How do the other elements of the image affect our reading of it?
How are we invited to view this as an image of femininity? Consider all the elements of the image together and come to a conclusion. Nostalgic? Objectified? Empowered? Ironic?
Pink flamingos? How do they interact with the other pink elements? How do they affect the reading of the rest of the image?

1 (b) Audience

In your introduction:
Who is the audience? How did you choose them?
What expectations might they have of your text?
How have you tried to meet these expectations?
What is their motivation for accessing texts like yours?

Linear models:
Sender Message Receiver
For example
(a) ‘Two Step Flow’ theory
Ideas travel from mass media – to opinion leaders – to passive individuals in society
(b) Hypodermic Syringe Theory
Audiences accept the messages that are ‘injected’ into them by the media they consume
Eg. Your thriller opening might suggest that psychotic murderers are bad people
This theory seem ‘outdated nowadays as audience are no longer passive. They are active audiences who enjoy being challenged by the media they consume and will not accept dominant readings neccessarily. They can give oppositional readings.

These theories were popular when mass media was developing. They are they now outdated

Task: 1(b) asks you to apply theory/media concepts to your coursework. But you may also suggest that some theories/media concepts DO NOT fit with your production work.
—How might these ‘linear models’ (two step flow and hypodermic syringe) be too limiting when evaluating the audience of your music video or your thriller?

Uses and Gratifications theory
- Described a number of uses an audience might make of a media text.
- Explained that media texts fulfil audiences’ needs in a number of ways. ee worksheet for details.
Why do you think some media theorists consider this model to be outdated?

Stuart Hall's Preferred Reading theory:
(also links with theory on Media Language)
Stuart Hall argues that media texts are constructed so that they have an intended or preferred reading, which will come from the producers’ own ideas and values. He suggests audiences decode texts in one of 4 ways:
Dominant – Negotiated – Oppositional - Aberrant

Gauntlett on Men's Magazines:
‘In post-traditional cultures, where identities are not ‘given’ but need to be constructed and negotiated, and where an individual has to establish their personal ethics and mode of living, the magazines offer some reassurance to men who are wondering “Is this right?” and “Am I doing this OK?”, enabling a more confident management of the narrative of the self.’
Example of audience negotiations with texts

Modern theory: Cultural Positioning
Another key debate in media is whether an audience can be forced to decode a text in a specific way, or whether an individual’s cultural positioning (could include gender, social group or individual experiences) determines the reading.
So who controls the reading?
Are media representations no longer fixed?
Can media construct audience’s identity?
Consider how the media helps us to create identities for ourselves:
— As individuals
— As a society
— As members of specific groups

Can we really separate people into specific groups or is this an artificial division?
Were these ‘differences’ between people originally there, or are they constructed by the media?

—Remind yourself: Who is the audience? How did you choose them?
—Might your target audience decode your text in different ways?
—How might your text and others like it play a part in shaping identities of individuals and groups?


Task:
2. Evaluating your own work with audiences
Choose one of your productions (main or ancillary, AS or A2) and explain how you selected and targeted a specific audience.
You could consider:
· How you chose a target audience in relation to the genre and form you selected.
· Whether you targeted an existing audience which already enjoys specific existing products like yours.
· How you made creative choices to appeal to this target audience.
· How you think your target audience will use your text (consider uses and gratifications here)
· How your media text could be marketed to the target audience (e.g. making use of social networking and other interactive technology).

1.Who is your target audience? How did you choose this audience?
2.(a) What expectations (uses/gratifications) might they have of your text?
(b) How have you tried to meet these expectations?
(c) What is their motivation for accessing texts like yours?
3. Under Stuart Hall’s theory of ‘Preferred Readings’ what type of ‘reading’ might this target audience give to your text?
Audiences

1 (a) Post Production

Post Production means: the editing stage, where material is manipulated using software and transformed into a finished media product.

Typical 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?


Introduction: Do you agree with the quote? Do you feel you progressed in this area?
Foundation Portfolio:
•What did the post-production process involve? (Give specific detailed examples)
•Why you used these effects/transitions/editing to create meaning
•How successful/important was it? What didn’t work?

Advanced:
• Did you do anything differently because of how the foundation task went?
•What did the post-production process involve this time? (Give specific detailed examples)
•Why you used effects/transitions/editing to create meaning
•How successful/important was this? How does it show progression?

Terminology:
•Overlap
•Fade / Wipe / Wash in/out/ Cross dissolve
•Fast / Slow motion effects
•Superimpose
•Fast cut montage effects
•Split Screen
•Colourisation – be specific


To achieve Level 3 or above you must comment and reflect on ‘media concepts’.
•Eisenstein believed that editing was: ‘the foundation of film art’
•For Eisenstein, meaning in cinema lay not in the individual shot but only in the relationships among shots established by editing.
•He created an editing style that he called "dialectical montage" that was abrupt and jagged and did not aim for smooth continuity.
•The jaggedness of Eisenstein's editing can create a sense of emotional and physical violence , but he also aimed to use editing to suggest ideas, a style he termed "intellectual montage."
•One of his films concludes with three shots of statues of stone lions edited to look like a single lion rising up and roaring, embodying the idea of the wrath of the people and the voice of the revolution.

Task:

Write 4 paragraphs explaining how you used imovie at the post-production stage
Task 2: Write 4 paragraphs explaining how you used iMovie to edit your film and create meaning?
Think about: Did you use a transition to suggest a character’s emotion? What connotations did your colourisation suggest?
•I used a fade to white to suggest that my central character was in a state of dream / a trance..
•I used the image motif of ‘feet’ as a repeated visual metaphor for the idea of the journey that the couple in my music video were going on and enhanced the colour of the trainers using a red filter effect to….
•I used the image motif of a pink balloon to suggest the connotation of… so it was important to slow the motion of this shot in the video to enable the viewer to consider this / to dramatise this / to emphasise this.

Essay structure:
•POINT – What editing tool / technique did you use? What did it suggest / connote / represent?
•EVIDENCE – Specific evidence from your film (AS? A2?)
•EXPLAIN – Have you progressed from AS to A2? How does this example show this progression? What did you experiment with? Take risks with? Were you more confident? Were you more adventurous?

1 (a) Planning and Research

Planning and research

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1(a) Planning and Research

You should focus on the following in your answer:
- organisation of time an equipment
- choice and organisation of actors, props and locations
- scripting and storyboarding
- target audience research and audience feedback (showcasing of work / video pitch / questionnaires)
- research into similar existing media products
- research into marketing music (finding a niche / online revolution etc)


Do not simply describe what you did. You cannot get above a D grade if you do this

Explain what each stage of the planning and research led to and what it helped you to understand when you came to make your final product.

Primary / Secondary research?
Qualitative / Quantitative data?

Wider Reading List

Select one production. Evaluate it in relation to a media concept.



Audience

· Two Step Flow linear theory

· McQuail, Blumler and Brown: Uses and Gratifications theory vc Hypodermic Syringe

· Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

· Louis Althusser ‘interpellation’



Language

· Stuart Hall – Encoders and decoders- Preferred readings: dominant/oppositional/negotiated / aberrant readings

· Ferdinand de Saussure – Semiotics (signifier and signified)Representation

· ‘The Male Gaze’ and ‘Voyeurism (notion of looking)

· John Fiske ‘open and closed texts’

· Verisimilitude: the representation of reality (techniques)



Genre

· A set of relationships between institution , text and audience· Ed Buscombe – Iconography

· Hybrids ‘structuring patterns’

· Tom Ryall

· Stephen Neale





Narrative

· Vladimir Propp (Russian folktales)

· Roland Bathes – 5 narrative codes

· Todorov

· Goodwin



REMEMBER: YOU ARE ABLE TO DESCRIBE HOW YOUR PRODUCTION DOES NOT RELATE TO THE CONCEPT AS WELL AS EXPLAIN HOW IT DOES

Question 1b

Question 1(b)
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:
• Audience
• Genre
• Narrative
• Representation
• Media language

TYPICAL EXAM QUESTION

1 (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]

essay

“Sometimes, working within constraints produces the most interesting work” (Branston and Strafford)
How have you used real media conventions to produce interesting or effective coursework productions?

The quote suggests that during the foundation portfolio and advanced portfolio units my work was able to be more interesting due to the constraints I was given such as the real media conventions for Thriller Openings and Music Videos.
Some examples of conventions for the foundation project were; extraordinary events within ordinary locations, hidden identity, the villain is often a powerful man, and typically being centred on a crime. Examples of 4 conventions for the advanced portfolio project were; fast cut montage, lyrics matching visuals, voyeurism and bright/colourful elements.

It is clear in the foundation project that ‘working within constrainsts produces the most interesting work’, as I chose to adhere to many of the conventions, such as extraordinary events within ordinary locations; this was because it was easier for us to access ordinary locations, and we were able to convey extraordinary events through the editing stages. We also chose to follow the convention of hidden identities; the villains face in our thriller opening is obscured. We thought hiding the identity would cause enigma for audiences, fulfilling another thriller convention. Our thriller opening vaguley followed the convention of being centred on a crime, as our thriller was centred on the abduction of a child, however, we focused more on the psychological side as we were attempting to follow the sub-genre conventions of a psychological dramatic thriller. The thriller convention we chose to challenge was the role of the villain being a powerful man; our thriller opening portrayed the villain to be a powerful woman, signified by her black clothing and red hair.

In the advanced portfolio project I would also agree that ‘real media conventions’ of pop music videos enabled me to ‘produce interesting or effective’ work, as again, I chose to adhere to most of the conventions. A convention I followed was using fast cut montage, as it fit our genre, electro-pop, very well, and suited the fast paced beat of the song we had chosen. We also conformed to the convention of lyrics matching visuals; this is present in many music videos of our genre, and we felt it fit the song and lyrics well. We also adhered to the convention of using voyeurism in both senses of the word; the artist is seen to look into the camera lens, through a camera and look in various mirrors, and the artist was also dressed provocatively with heavy makeup and close ups of legs/lips/eyes. We felt this was important as many female pop artists adhere to this particular convention. We also adhered to the convention of using bright/colourful elements through use of costume, props, setting and lyrics on the screen because we felt it suited the upbeat feel of our song and fit our genre well.


For my foundation production I believe adhering to the most of the ‘constraints’ made my thriller opening more convincing and effective; without typical thriller conventions in the opening, audiences wouldn’t be aware the film was a thriller. However, I think by slightly challenging the power roles, it made our thriller opening more interesting as it would stand out more compared to typical villain characters; so ‘constraints’ will not always necessarily produce ‘the most interesting work’ in this case. However, for my advanced production I think adhering to all the conventions of pop music video did aid us to produce more ‘interesting work’, as our ideas and inspiration were directed by the constraints we were given, allowing us to be more creative. Especially as our song was within the pop genre, we felt it was important to conform to the conventions as it would be more believable and we felt the video would have a better outcome by following the conventions. I still believe this shows improvement though because we were able to assess our objective and apply the necessary conventions, whereas the year before we perhaps didn’t do this so much.

Although we didn’t challenge any conventions in the second year but did in the first, we still greatly progressed as our knowledge increased allowing us to understand and use more of the conventions than we could have before; some of the typical conventions of thrillers we didn’t chose to challenge, we simply didn’t understand them or know how to apply such an effect. For example, we didn’t follow the convention of a ‘dark, shadowy atmosphere’ as we didn’t know how to darken the scene without impairing the quality of the footage; we didn’t know that the raw footage could be changed during the editing stages to darken a particular scene. We also didn’t follow the convention that ‘female characters in thrillers are often objectified through a series of gazes’ as we didn’t understand what this meant. However, in the advanced portfolio production, our knowledge and understanding of both terminology and the iMac computers had improved, so our developed skills allowed us to be able to follow more conventions. The difference between the first and second year was that in the second year we knew how to challenge the conventions but chose not to as this didn’t fit our genre, whereas in the first year our work was limited to challenging or adhering to conventions due to our little knowledge and understanding of the conventions or how to create them.

It can be said that we thought more carefully during the second year about which conventions to follow and which to ignore as we followed specific conventions for our genre; electro-pop. We chose to ignore more general conventions such as having a ‘performance based music video’ or ‘close ups of instruments’ as we were aware these were conventions not suited to our genre. Instead of researching general conventions, we only followed conventions suited to our specific genre, which enabled our music video to be more realistic. This was not particularly the case when creating the foundation production, as although we were aware there were different sub-genres within thrillers, we were unsure of how to research the individual conventions and which sub-genre we should follow. We attempted to create a psychological thriller opening in which the conflict between characters is mental and emotional rather than physical, shown through our use of flashbacks, however, I feel had we researched and followed more conventions of this sub-genre we could have had a better outcome. This indicates had we worked ‘within constraints’ of ‘real media conventions’, we may have been able to produce more ‘effective’ work.

By following genre specific conventions for my advanced portfolio this made my music video more effective as it made it clear to audiences which genre my artist was; if I had followed different conventions this would have been confusing as the song I chose is very clearly an electro-pop song, and challenging conventions of this genre would be unusual as it is a mainstream genre. This is why we chose not to challenge conventions in our advanced production; it would have made for an unconvincing music video which was not our aim- we wanted a music video that was effective and looked realistic. Had we chosen a song from another genre, such as ‘indie’ for example, we could have been more experimental and taken more risks with challenging conventions as this is more of a niche sub-genre, and is typical for this genre not to conform; however we wanted a song that we could enjoy and feel able to follow genre conventions accordingly to create the best most effective possible outcome. The statement therefore proves correct for our second year, that ‘working within constraints produces the most interesting work’.

Homework: to answer the following questions (from the lesson) on your blog for Monday

Homework: to answer the following questions (from the lesson) on your blog for Monday

The Conventions of Real Media: MEDIA CONCEPTS

“the conventions of each genre shift, new genres and sub-genres emerge and others are 'discontinued' (Chandler)

a) Have you stuck closely to genre conventions in your production work?

Yes. In my Thriller opening production I followed many conventions such as building up to the action, creating fear by using a dark, shadowy atmosphere, apprehension, anticipation, an unsettling feeling given by the eerie innocent music, confusion and doubt over a character; the main villains face wasn’t shown nor was the child in the flashbacks face shown to make the central character morally ambiguous. We also used a park and a house as the main settings to follow the convention that realistic settings should create a sense of the unusual occurring within a normal setting; our hero was also suggested to be in a situation of threat and struggle. We didn’t use murder although it was implied with the graveyard scene and the child saying ‘it hurt me a bit’.

In my music video we followed all main conventions as we didn’t feel it was typical of our genre to challenge, however we didn’t use images of instruments as we felt it was unnecessary for our song choice. We used a lot of close ups of our artist and also voyeurism as she is dressed sexily with heavy make-up and high heels, but she also looks through a camera and mirrors. We used a lot of intertextuality such as the tea party scene inspired from the book ‘Alice In Wonderland’ and also many references were made to the ‘Barbie Girl’ music video by aqua as our song was also about a ‘doll’. We followed genre conventions such as bright colours, dancing, close ups, voyeurism etc.

b) Have you created a hybrid piece?

Don’t even know what that is..
c) Have you used intertextual references?
In the thriller we referenced a book which related to our storyline; ‘a mouse took a stroll in the deep dark wood, a fox saw the mouse and the mouse looked good’.

Apart from Alice In Wonderland and Barbie Girl, we also used many similar shots and props as other music videos such as ‘The Boy Who Murdered Love’ and ‘Number One Enemy’, which both gave good ideas for props, and ‘Kiss The Girl’ which gave good ideas for high angle shots to emphasise the eyes.

'one could... argue that no set of necessary and sufficient conditions can mark off genres from other sorts of groupings in ways that all experts or ordinary film-goers would find acceptable' (Bordwell 1989, 147).

a) Do you think it is hard to agree on a set of ‘rules’ to follow when making a product?

I think a certain amount of rules apply especially to mainstream artists’ music videos as audiences are looking for something they are familiar with and conforms to the ‘norm’, but more niche artists can have more freedom as their audiences are fitted specifically to what that band is about rather than what society expects.

With thrillers, the convention to shock/disturb audiences is followed in practically all thrillers, it’s just the different components which usually challenge most set ‘rules’ as this is most likely to have the biggest impact on the audience.

b) How far have you followed any set of ‘rules’?

we mainly followed all the conventions.

c) To what extent did you break ‘rules’?

By making the villain in the thriller a female and the person in danger a male.

But in the music video we didn’t break any as it was unesscery

.
d) Did you make any rules of your own?

Didn’t even think about rules just wanted to make two really good pieces of work that had the right amount of both conforming and challenging of conventions, to interest the audience and to use our own ideas.

Conventions give the producers a framework to work with- a set of guidelines (McQuail)

a) Was it helpful to work within a set of guidelines?

Especially on the thriller production piece as we were both more knowledgeable about music videos but I don’t watch thrillers so it was useful to know what they contain to make ours as realistic as possible. The music video list was useful to remind us of what we were aiming for and not get too carried away.

b) Did you feel more secure knowing what the guidelines were?

YES
c) Were you happier breaking the conventions once you knew what they were?

If i didn’t know what they were I wouldn’t know I’d be breaking them but it felt better knowing you were allowed to challenege some as some didn’t fit our genre, especially for the thriller piece as ours was more a psychological thriller rather than horrific thriller.

“Sometimes, working within constraints produces the most interesting work” (Branston and Strafford)

a) Do you think you produced better work because you stuck to the conventions of the genre?

Well I did so no i did as good as i could and worked as hard as i could.
b) Would you have produced more creative work if you had not known what the guidelines were?

For the music video, yes, as we wanted to put in a lot more but didn’t want our video to be too alternative especially given the mainstream genre of our song; it should follow most conventions. For the thriller I probably wouldn’t have known where to begin but it probably would’ve been less creative and more typical what comes to mind when you think of thriller rather than what gave us inspiration by anaylsing which conventions we wanted to challenge and conform to.

HW: Conventions

Homework
1.Complete planning sheets to show how you subverted/followed conventions with 7 points for AS and 7 for A2.
2.Complete the arrow in the middle: 3 points to explain how this shows progression.
3.Answer the question on your blog using examples from your planning sheets:

Conventions- should you always adhere to them or do they restrict creativity?

DONE IT ON THE SHEETS

Conventions

Conventions

Thriller Conventions

•A build up to the action
•Creation of fear / apprehension / anticipation / unsettling feeling / confusion / doubt over a character
•Dark, shadowy atmosphere (use of light and dark images)
•Establishing mood and atmosphere throughout the film
•Delay in showing the face of a significant character, or the action of an important event by first showing the hand of the character for instance or a reaction of someone watching the event
•Creation of suspense using soundtrack music –eerie innocent music?
•Morally ambiguous central character – film noir (Seven)
•Murder encouraging a suspecting audience
•Realistic settings to create a sense of ‘the unusual’ occurring within a normal setting
•Flashbacks
•Hero(ine) in situation of threat or struggle
•Red Herrings (Hitchcock movies)
•Twists and unexpected turns (The Usual Suspects)
•Making and keeping the audience tense and on the edge of our seats.

•The thriller relies on an intricate plot in order to create fear and apprehension in the viewer.
•The hero(ine) of the thriller is seen in situations of threat/peril before the film's narrative is resolved.
•The female characters in a thriller are often objectified through a series of gazes.
•The thriller narrative contains a build up of suspense
•The thriller is often located within an ordinary situation where extraordinary things happen.
•The killer ensnares the victim in a set of intricate moves.
•The thriller narrative is usually centred on a crime (usually a murder).
•The hero(ine) of a thriller is fallible.
•The audience are often positioned as voyeurs.
•The thriller often includes themes of identity (mistaken identity / loss).
•There is often a theme of mirroring involved in a thriller.
•Labyrinths and mazes are often motifs; they may be actual or psychological.

Music Video Conventions

. The video will either be one of the following types or will be a hybrid of:
•- performance
•- narrative (lyrics)
•- a concept or idea
2.There will be some reference to the ‘notion of looking.’
3.There will be a relationship between music and visuals.
4.There will be close-ups of the artist and/or star image motifs.
5.There will be intertextual references within the video
6.The video will contain clear genre characteristics.

Homework
1.Complete planning sheets to show how you subverted/followed conventions with 7 points for AS and 7 for A2.
2.Complete the arrow in the middle: 3 points to explain how this shows progression.
3.Answer the question on your blog using examples from your planning sheets:

Conventions- should you always adhere to them or do they restrict creativity?

HW: Post production

Homework - to complete 4 paragraphs using PEE in response to the question below:

“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?

POINT – What editing tool / technique did you use? What did it suggest / connote / represent?

EVIDENCE – Specific evidence from your film (AS? A2?)

EXPLAIN – Have you progressed from AS to A2? How does this example show this progression? What did you experiment with? Take risks with? Were you more confident? Were you more adventurous?

“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?


During the editing stage of both my music video and my thriller opening, I would certainly say this became the most important part of the filming process as I was able to manipulate my raw material using software to transform my film into a finished media product.

Software I used which enabled me to do this was the programme ‘iMovie’ on the Mac Computers. This allowed me to use editing effects to create meaning within my footage. During my advanced portfolio I experimented with the options available, whereas during the post production stages of my advanced portfolio I was already knowledgable of the tools I could use; therefore I would agree that my skills have certainly developed over these two years.

For my thriller opening, despite being new to the post-production software, I was quite adventurous and experimental with my use of editing effects; instead of only using simple cuts I used a variety of transitions and effects which connoted characteristics of the thriller conventions. For example, my thriller opening included ‘flashback’ scenes, in which the female villain looks into her past. I showed this via editing techniques by flashing a clip of her eye opening at the beginning of the flashback, and then closing at the end of the flashback. I used a transition between the ‘flashbacks’ and the ordinary footage called ‘cross zoom’, which created an other worldy effect, making the audience aware this was a flashback. I feel this was successful as the transition is really noticable, which creates a sense of enigma for the audience; an emotion I wanted to capture for my thriller opening. During these ‘flashbacks’, I decided an effect was needed on the footage within the flashback. I chose an effect called ‘Romantic’, which increased the brightness and saturation but also slightly blurred the screen; this not only led the audience to believe the ‘flashbacks’ were in the past, but also caused them to wonder whether the footage within the flashback was a dreamworld, due to the blur effect, which made the audience question whether the clips of footage were flashbacks or indeed the female villains imagination. To really focus viwers’ concentration on my thriller opening, I used an editing effect on the opening and closing eye before the ‘flashbacks’ called ‘vignette’; this created a shaded circle around the eye to make the audience focus on the eye. Other editing effects I used which were an important part of my filming process included overlapping text on the screen for the titles, playing clips of footage in reverse e.g. the eye opens, but had to be reversed so it could close, using clow motion effects to make a short piece of footage longer, and removing sound at dramatic points.


Clearly the post production stage of my thriller opening was invaluable in creating my finished media product, but through this I developed my skills with my knowledge and understanding of the software so that for my advanced portfolio I was able to be even more adventurous and edit my raw material much quicker than before. My music video was full of editing effects, all which linked to my artist. An example of this is the pink colourisation effect I used on the screen at certain points during the music video; this indicated my artists electro-pop genre, but also indicated a little about the artists personality- pink often connoting femininity, fun, and flirtatiousness. I carried this theme throughout my music video; at various points in the video, I inserted text on the screen in a bold, bright, colourful font. My music video was extremely lively and fast paced to match the song I had chosen, and my transitions and effects reflected this such as fast cut montage.

I would therefore say that the post-production process was probably the most important part of the filming process, and was the stage where I developed my skills the most over the two years as I learnt new tools and techniques.

HW: Critical Reflections

Homework: Answer the question below for next lesson using youre own critical reflections across AS and A2.
- Remember to discuss specific editing effects, the connotations of each editing effect and whether each was uuccessful.
- Aim for 6 seperate points in your answer and exaplin whether you were more experimental and adventurous in your editing of the AS production compared to the A2 production.

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?

Useful terminology:
Word bank:
To suggest…
To give the commutation of….
To signify …
To symbolise…
To show…


Overlap
Fade / Wipe / Wash in/out/ Cross dissolve
Fast / Slow motion effects
Superimpose
Fast cut montage effects
Split Screen
Colourisation – be specific

cut A cut is when you go from one shot to another in a video without using any time of transition, such as a fade or wipe.

dissolve A dissolve is when one scene of your video slowly disappears into another scene. Most video editors will allow you to decide how long you want a dissolve to take, allowing you to lengthen or shorten the length of the transition based on how you want your finished video to look.

fade A fade is very similar to a dissolve, but instead of transitioning between two different scenes, a fade transitions between the scene and blank or black screen.

in/out point Every video editing program will ask you to set in and out points on clips you want to use in your final product. The in point is simply where the video will start, and the out point is where it will end.

real time Real time allows you to see effects that you added to your video immediately, without the need to wait to render the video. If a video editor touts that it allows you to do something in real time, it means that you will be able to see the effect immediately.

rendering The process where an effect is applied to video. Think of it like developing a picture from a film camera; rendering is what applies an effect such as a wipe or fade to a piece of video.

time code Time code is the numerical address for a piece of video. Typically listed as hours : minutes : seconds : frames, each frame of your video essentially has its own time code to help you identify it.

transition A transition is what goes between two video clips in order to make moving between the two of them more visually appealing. Common transitions include dissolves and wipes.

wipe A wipe is a type of transition where one scene appears to be pushed of "wiped" off the screen by another.

Post-Production

Post - Production

Definition: ...the editing stage, where material is manipulated using software and transformed into a finished media product.


To achieve Level 3 or above you must comment and reflect on ‘media concepts’.

EISENSTEIN
Eisenstein believed that editing was: ‘the foundation of film art’
For Eisenstein, meaning in cinema lay not in the individual shot but only in the relationships among shots established by editing.
He created an editing style that he called "dialectical montage" that was abrupt and jagged and did not aim for smooth continuity.
The jaggedness of Eisenstein's editing can create a sense of emotional and physical violence , but he also aimed to use editing to suggest ideas, a style he termed "intellectual montage."
One of his films concludes with three shots of statues of stone lions edited to look like a single lion rising up and roaring, embodying the idea of the wrath of the people and the voice of the revolution.

Digital Technology- detailed analysis

Digital Technology - detailed analysis

Digital Technology - Critical Debate

What statement is being made by each critic about the use of digital technology? In your experience from AS – A2, do you agree or disagree with it?

With the most primitive means the artist creates something which the most ingenious and efficient technology will never be able to create. (Kasimir Malevich)

What a computer is to me is the most remarkable tool that we have ever come up with. It's the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds. (Steve Jobs)

The proper artistic response to digital technology is to embrace it as a new window on everything that's eternally human, and to use it with passion, wisdom, fearlessness and joy. (Ralph Lombreglia)

HW: How I used digital technology to be creative

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

I agree with this statement to a certain extent, as without digital technology, we would never have been able to make our music video. However, I don’t think digital technology developed our creativity particularly, as we are always full of ideas, and if anything, sometimes digital technology hindered our creativity; for example, using split screens etc. The digital technology allowed us to carry out our ideas and make them a reality. Video and sound editing played the biggest role in aiding our productions; for the music video, we had filmed 2 hours of footage but had to cut this down to two and a half minutes- impossible without video editing. Sound editing was also useful as we were able to mute the background sound of our raw footage and put the soundtrack over the top. Video editing also helped us create perfect lip syncing, as we were able to place the clip at the exact time needed for those particular lyrics.

Image manipulation was extremely vital for the creation of our ancillary tasks. We used Photoshop, a program neither of us were familiar with, but were able to teach ourselves the basics to achieve a good result. Photoshop allowed us to brighten otherwise dim images, and ‘burn’ certain part of pictures; this drew the redness out, useful for the front cover of our digipack in making the heart and accessories redder. The ‘spot healing brush’ was also useful as it allowed us to make any blemishes on the artists face disappear, and help skin appear smoother. The ‘smart blur’ also assisted us in increasing/ decreasing the radius and threshold of the overall image making it appear clearer and more professional. We were also able to increase or decrease the hue, saturation and lightness of the overall picture. The ‘red eye tool’ was also useful, as was the ‘stamp tool’ was enabled us to use the star image motif of white stars.

There were numerous times where file sharing came in handy; it enabled us to find, play and download the track ‘Dollhouse’, which I was then able to send to my partner. I also could then add the song to my iPod via iTunes, so that we could storyboard at school quietly with headphones.

The screening of our music video was useful as it allowed us to hear other peoples comments about our video and gave us time to make changes if necessary. Despite not making any changes, it was still a worthy exercise as we were able to see the effect our video had on our target audience.

The use of the internet greatly helped our research, but also the completion of our blogs to a good standard. For example, by using ‘Flickr’, I was able to upload images and put them on my blog. This showcased my images to a much better standard than simply uploading them straight from my laptop. ‘Slideshare’ was also as it allowed me to upload my PowerPoint documents and load them onto my blog faster and larger than via my laptop. Both these sites also demonstrated my knowledge and capability of different forms of media. ‘YouTube’ enabled me to upload my video and link it onto my blog to allow the examiner to view it in a better quality and resolution than straight from the disk or on other uploading sites. ‘Da-Font.com’ was useful in the production of our ancillary tasks; it allowed you to search through thousands of fonts and download them; this enabled us to find the perfect, unique font for our artist. All of these sites meant my blog was full of convergence.

Mobile Phones were also useful in contacting the actors and my partner to organise meetings etc.

Digital Technology

What is Digital Technology?

Video and sound editing
Image manipulation and desktop publishing
MP3 and file sharing
Digital film production and screening
Web use, design and streamingConvergence – the merging of more than one function on one device - software found on the internet
Mobile phones

HW: How I used planning and research

Homework
To post your answers in 5 (A) – (E) paragraphs on your blog explaining the planning and research you did and analyse what it enabled you to understand

(A) (A) Planning: The organisation of time and equipment

The first element of organisation of time and equipment during the Foundation Portfolio task was planning the locations of where our Thriller opening would be set. We took photos of these settings, enabling us to plan any props we felt appropriate and see if the lighting was bright enough for the scenes. This was effective as it meant we had planned ahead and knew how to dress each setting accordingly. The next stage of planning involved my partner and I writing down the order of the shots and what each shot would involve, which we then turned into a storyboard; beside each shot we wrote how long the shot should last. This allowed us to plan how long roughly it should take to film the whole thriller opening. A problem that occurred with the time planning was the weather, as it got dark earlier than we had expected and so we didn’t get to shoot as much variety of footage as we would have liked. I think an improvement would have been to plan to film on more than one day so there was more time to finish our work proficiently. Another problem we faced was setting up the camera and the tripod; we hadn’t tried to use them before the day of filming, which was a mistake as it took a long time for us to get to grips with it. I think we could have improved our planning further by using more equipment such as an additional camera, which would have aided us to film two shots at the same time as we had planned.

We organised time and equipment much differently in the Advanced Portfolio task; we were much more thorough with our planning which meant filming was more efficient. Despite changing the song we were going to use for our music video, we managed to plan effectively. We learnt from last time that filming all on one day isn’t enough, so we planned two days on which we would film and had two piles of equipment for each day so as not to carry around any unnecessary extra weight. We also planned to have two cameras and tripods for the filming this time, as last year we realised how useful it would have been.

(B) Planning: The efficient choice and organization of actors, settings and props.

For the Foundation Portfolio task, we chose actors who we thought best fit our Thriller Opening. For example, the female villain had red hair to signify danger, the child had blonde hair to signify vulnerability, and the parents of the child knew each other so we felt they would be a realistic couple. It was easy to organize our actors as we used my mum, dad and younger brother and my partners mum; we just had to find a day they were all available. We chose settings which we felt evoked certain emotions and used props to enhance this. For example, we used the living room of my house and made sure the lighting was warm and that warm coloured props such as the orange pillows were used to evoke a homeliness and comforting feel, with drawn curtains to imply the parents’ protectiveness of their child. These props were already at my house so were easy to organise. The setting where the female villain lived we chose to look bare and empty to reflect her life, but for the flashbacks we chose colourful props such as the pink tablecloth and the decorated Xmas tree to symbolise a happier time. We chose a park for the setting in which the child gets kidnapped as it is an unsuspecting, innocent place; it didn’t need any organising. The alleyway outside the kidnappers’ house was chosen as alleyways often signify danger in thrillers, and we used an air vent in the wall with pieces of fluff blowing away as a prop to symbolise her desire to escape from her house full of sad memories.

The only problems we encountered were some actors arriving late which meant the delay of filming, but other than that the actors, settings and props had no problems.

In the Advanced Portfolio task, planning locations was a little trickier as we planned to film in a numerous amount of settings. Firstly, we planned to shoot some scenes in a nearby maze, but after ringing up and enquiring about permission to shoot there, we discovered the maze hadn’t been open to the public for two years! However, as we rang early enough in the planning process, we were able to adapt the storyboard. We used shotlists to organise each and every shot we were planning on filming and wrote the setting, outfit, props, and actors that would be needed for each shot. This enabled us to be well prepared so we knew exactly what we were going to be doing on the day of shooting so as not to waste any time. We then made notes on the order we would film our music video, so that we could film all the scenes with each outfit if it was featured more than once. We planned shot locations, and circled things in pink if we only needed the female actress for those scenes. This meant we could plan to shoot all the scenes without the male first, then shoot all the scenes with him after. We ticked them off as we went along so we knew what shots there were left to film.

I think this shows progression as we were more organized; we knew the order we wanted to film and had the storyboard to refer to, we planned to film with the female for the first half of the day and scenes including the male for the second half of the day. We planned another day of filming for settings further away, such as the ‘tea party’ scene. We knew which outfit and props were needed for each scene. We even met up the day before shooting to write a final list of things to remember whilst filming. I think we did this more effectively than in the Foundation Portfolio task.

(C) (C) Planning: Scripting and/ or storyboarding

Despite needing scenes of family interaction, we didn’t use any scripts for the actors, just told them where they should be and what they should be doing, and showed them the storyboard if they were unclear. Luckily as they were a family already they acted like a family naturally. The only planned scripting we used for the thriller opening was the scenes involving the child and the kidnapper. We didn’t need to do drafts as one of the scripts involved the kidnapper reading the child a story which we felt was symbolic to our story, and the child didn’t have many lines; he had to count from 1 to 10 and say ‘it hurt me a bit’, both of which were fine. Our storyboard came from a list of camera shots which we adapted into a storyboard, including settings and the time it should take to last. We didn’t encounter any problems with the scripting because there wasn’t enough for problems to arise. We didn’t particularly face problems with the storyboard, but we did make quite a lot of changes in the editing stages, so I think it would have been useful if we had shot more raw footage to play around with.

Again, we didn’t script much during the filming of the Advanced Portfolio as there weren’t many scenes for which this was appropriate. We gave the female actress the lyrics to the song prior to filming and the song file so that she could learn the words and tune to the song so the timing was in sync with the song when we came to edit. Because the shotlists and storyboards were so thorough and precise, we were able to film all the scenes with the female first, then all the shots including the male after. Due to the amount of outfit changes and locations, we had written the order to film which would enable the least amount of outfit changes and moving about from one location to the next.

This shows progression as previously we hadn’t planned as much which meant we were less prepared and unsure on the day compared to the Advanced Portfolio where we were confident in what we were doing, which meant filming was much quicker and more time efficient.

(D) (D) Research: Initial target audience research

We researched our target audience in out Foundation Portfolio task by firstly researching what a thriller was, and which category of thrillers our thriller opening fit into. It turned out our genre of thriller was a psychological dramatic thriller, so we researched this and discovered typical conventions used by this genre that the target audience would enjoy, and tried to encompass it in our own Thriller Opening. We then researched the target audience in more depth for our genre, which turned out was women aged around 30+ and also between the age brackets of 16-25; 35% of the thriller viewers sample were students. We researched the topic of child abduction and the mentally ill on the internet, and found various questionnaires that indicated this is a particularly intriguing topic for our age brackets. This was useful research as we were able to include elements of psychological dramatic thrillers in our thriller opening to fit our target audiences’ needs, such as using a female protagonist as in ‘Sleeping with the Enemy’ starring Julia Roberts. The only problems we encountered were that it was difficult doing primary research for our target audience; finding enough 30+ females to interview and give questionnaires was difficult as we could mainly only access the 16-25 age group as this is ours also.

For the Advanced Portfolio task it was easier to research our target audience of 14-25 yr olds, as we discovered from researching our Foundation Portfolio task that it is much easier to get primary research when using your own age bracket. We not only handed out questionnaires in class, but researched online to discover the elements of music video our target audience enjoyed. After noting our target audience was female, this also helped drive the plot of the music video, focusing on a story many females could relate to and encompassing fashionable clothes and accessories and feminine colours such as pink. We discovered more females like electropop (our music genre) compared to males after a survey we handed out to 20 males and 20 females established this fact. Another survey we carried out focused on the age of females who enjoyed elctropop, with a noticeable majority of 14-20 yr olds and an equally noticeable minority for 30+ year olds. We were able to establish what these females enjoyed in electropop music videos by researching and analysing music videos of this genre and taking elements out of them for our own.

This shows progression as we did more primary research which is more reliable compared to secondary research, and given the fact that we were creating a product for our own age bracket gave us an insight into what elements we would enjoy.

(E) (E) Existing media practice/ products

In the Foundation Portfolio task we researched what a thriller encompasses, and the conventions of thrillers. From this, we could derive whether we wanted to challenge or conform to these conventions. Similarly, we researched how to make a thriller opening like Alfred Hitchcock, a famous filmmaker of thrillers, and used his methods for inspiration such as his advice that ‘Suspense is information’ and to use ‘surprise and twist’. This was useful because we knew his advice was clearly worthy as he is so successful. We also watched and analysed many thriller openings and noted down methods they had used. A few films I analysed included ‘Sleeping with the Enemy’, ‘Strangers on a Train’, ‘Se7en’, ‘Hostage’ and ‘The Usual Suspects’. This was useful as I adapted many ideas from each film, especially those with occurring themes that must be common in thrillers such as keeping the main character unidentified to maintain enigma. Watching ‘Sleeping with the Enemy’ was useful as it was as the same sub-genre as my thriller- dramatic psychological. I used ideas from this movie such as high angle and low angle shots to depict the power of the character on screen, using some shaky camera movements to demonstrate the characters instability, and using small, skinny white font for our titles to suggest the fragility and innocence of the child in our thriller. ‘Strangers on a Train’ was also a psychological thriller, and we used some elements of the films opening such as blurring the identity of the villain and fastening the pace of cuts as the opening draws to an end. ‘Hostage’ was also about a kidnapping, and we found ourselves using similar colours to evoke danger; black, white and red. I chose to analyse ‘The usual suspects’ as I knew this film included flashbacks, which helped me decide how I wanted to make mine; it should show, not tell and have a clear, smooth transition. We made sure the audience knew when the flashback began and ended by using an eye opening and then closing as if we were looking back in her memory.

The research of existing media products for our advanced portfolio task was quite similar as we researched music videos within our genre, but in a lot more depth and detail than in our thriller; we also analysed a lot more to give us a range of ideas. We especially took lots of ideas about props, clothing, accessories and lighting from artists like Katy Perry and Lily Allen as they are also female electropop artists. However, to establish our artist, we also researched music videos that our target audience also enjoy, researching elements such as editing, camera work, sound, and mise-en-scene. We also noted down any other ideas and inspiration we took from watching these videos. A few examples of ideas we got include the high angle shot in Ashley Tisdale’s video ‘Kiss the girl’ which emphasised her eyes; an important detail for female artists. We also included scenes similar to that in ‘Barbie Girl’ by Aqua as our star image motif was Barbie and we thought it would be good to have some subtle links such as including a split screen of a female and male on the phone to capture both their reactions, including the male in the background but ensuring the female artist is closest to the camera to engage with the audience, and the scene with the bird in the tree with a blurred image of Barbie behind we particularly enjoyed and incorporated into our own video. Other music videos we researched and analysed included Lady Gaga’s ‘Telephone’, ‘Take on Me’ by Aha, ‘We both reached for the gun’ in the film Chicago, ‘Love Drunk’ by Loick Essien, ‘Number One Enemy’ by Daisy Dares You, ‘The boy who murdered love’ by Diana Vickers, ‘Booty Call’ by the Midnight Beast, ‘Monster’ by Professor Green and ‘Hole in my heart’ by Alphabeat.

This extensive and detailed research provided us with the knowledge, ideas and inspiration for our music video and shows great progression compared with the 5 thriller openings we analysed for our Foundation Portfolio.