notes for exam questions

1a. 

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

 

digital technologies that have helped:

• Apple Mac
• Internet
• Still Camera

The internet is vital because it makes everthing we have done so much faster and easier. research was easy because when looking for similar projects to ours for inspiration we could find just what we want within minutes. for our music video we wanted to look at similar songs, using the internet this was easy and we have a wide variety of songs to choose from. when actually planning this we also needed the internet to find things such as location. for the location tho we also used the still camera because once we had found the spots we wanted we could take test shots to see how it would look and also refer back to them later.

without these things, everything would be a lot more difficult and complicated. If we didn't have these resources then without a doubt we would not have done as well as we have. For me personally i think i have benefited from digital technology because i find it easier to learn if i have a visual aid rather than just words on a page.

1b. 

ii. What decisions did you make during the creation of representation in your production work?

 

Gender representation for us was fairly simple and we went for the more conventional look. we realised our song was a love song and so the best thing to go with this is a love story. we didn't want to change the stereotypes or challenge them in any way because it might take too much away from the song and this could turn viewers away from our production. 

Emile Cole - Practice Questions for Section A: Theoretical Evaluation of Production

1a. 

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

ii. Has using conventions from real media texts in your work enhanced or impeded your ability to be creative?

i. Over two years and numerous practical projects of our Media A-level, the use of digital technologies have been very important. The most obvious example would be internet websites such as 'youtube.com', which enabled us to see real-world examples of any media type we wanted to see.

When making our thriller opening, we looked at real world examples such as Alfred Hitchcock's 'Vertigo', comparing it with other real-world thrillers such as D.J. Caruso's 'Taking Lives'. The juxtaposition between the two showed us that different thriller openings employ vastly different editing, cinematic and audio techniques. "Vertigo's" opening was almost entirely animated, and the only live-action was extreme close-ups of different parts of the female protagonist's face. The animation was in the form of a spiral, which had obvious connotations of hypnotism. This technique, although one we didn't utilise for our final thriller piece,  This tool allowed

For example, 

Post Production (Editing)

continuity editing?
montage?
filters?
speed?
transition?
sound levels?
additional sound effects?
credits? titles?
lip syncing?

Thriller: so in our thriller it was a mixture of continuity editing and some montage mix in to create disorientation for the audience. with filters in the thriller most people when for black and white but we decided to desaturate out some of the colours to give the effect of old gloomy film.

post production (editing)

List all of the types of decisions you need to make during the editing process. For each state what the benefits of this can be.

Editing:
Final cut express
Cut down or add new clips
Lip synced music video
Simple juxtaposition
Made the music sync with the video
Feedback from people made us change pieces of the video

Post Production (editing)

The sequence structure -
What footage goes where. This benefits the continuity of the footage and make the production look more effective.
Continuity. -
This is so the footage links together and links to sequence structure.
Sound -
diegetic and non-diegetic. To add more effect to the production. Linking the sound with the Media  conventions such as explositions for action films.
Photoshop- Editing and creating digipaks and also an advertisment and also the production label on the Thriller opening
Final Cut Express - The program used for the editing of the footage.
Effect used -
Transitions, blends, desolved etc. to make the sequence and the footage flow and make it seem more effective.


The Music Video project we had to make many decisions on the post-production. We thought alot about the Media conventions typical of a music video but also took into account the genre of the music video which was R+B so we wanted to make sure we attracted the targeted audience. So we thought alot about the effects that we were going to use, as the effects made the footage more noticable by the audience as some of the effects we used brighten specific things within the footage adding the bling effect to the production linking this to the media conventions and stereotypical conventions. We also had to decide on the sequence structure, we wanted to link with the footage with the sound, so we had to decide and plan where each piece of footage went so that the footage went with the sound. We also used Photoshop with this project which we used to create the digipak and also the advertisment, so we had to consider the colour and layout of both of these products to make sure it links in with the music video so the audience can link both the music video and the other two products together.

The Thriller project we had to make decision as we wanted to create a dream type feel so we had to make sure that this was understandable through out the opening. So in this case we didnt really think about the continuity of piece so much because we wanted to create the feeling for the audience that it was a dream so we used jump cuts which had footage flickering inbetween footage, but on the other hand we had to think about the sequence of the footage as we wanted to make sure the opening closed with the girl waking up from the dream, which left the audience with questions and make them want to watch more to find out the answers.

The skills I have gained is to think about the audience when set a project such as the Thriller and Music Video and take into account the stereotypical conventions. I have gained skills in the post production such as being able to use different and varied cuts such as jump cuts, rather than just sticking with simple cuts. Also gained skills in the sound editing and creating certain atmospheres within the pieces by using diegetic and non diegetic sound, such as the gasp at the end of the Thriller opening and also the use of the heart beat sound by using this added effect to the typical conventions of the Thriller opening to create a distorted atmosphere and unfamiliarity. I have also gained skills in a range of programmes such as final cut express and also photoshop and expanded my knowledge on both of these by varying the different effects I was using.

Post-Production

LIST:

Whether to use effects / what effects?

How fast / slow the editing is, in general

Discussions about what shots work and which should be dropped

Deciding what to cut to make sure the video lasted no more than 2 minutes was the hardest thing to do, as there were shots that, say, I was attached to whilst there were shots that others preferred and would prefer to keep.

2. The two main pieces of work we have edited ('The Mind Plays Tricks' and 'Turn to Gold') both had a long editing process 

post-production (editing)

1) List all of the types of decision you need to make during the editing process. For each state what the benefits of this can be.
- How we are are going to cut scenes together
  Benefits the style trying to be captured if the scenes are cut correctly.

- If any effects are going to be put on to the film
 This can used to help give visual cues for a narrative 

- Is the film colors going to be enhanced (color satiation ect )
 This can help make an atmosphere

- Font and color of and titles that might apear on screen
  This will help show the genre of the film

- what shots will be used in the final edit

2) For 2 of your projects make notes on what editing decisions you made and why?
For my thriller a number of editing choices where made to help make it feel more atmospheric and build up the tension. One choice I made was to make the chase scenes that cut into the main sequence black and white to make the stand out and to make them feel darker in contrast to the peaceful nature of the main section.