Production Plan

Monday 1st October.

12:40 - Iona, Shannon, Sophie and Jasmine meet to start filming in a near by park.

Wednesday 3rd October.

10:20 - Iona, Shannon, Jasmine, Sophie and Rhona meet to finish the filming.

Friday 5th October.

1:40 - All meet to start editing.

Props:
White dress is needed for Iona to wear for when we shoot the video.

Deconstruction and Reconstruction of a Media Text

One minute of Storyboard.
Chosen Song. Lana Del Ray - Summertime Sadness.

Skills Development - Essay.

AS Media - Skills Development:

When I first started Media at Wyke College I didn’t really have an understanding of what the course was about. I had no previous experience taking fantastic photos which I would use in my work and also I had never used Photoshop.

When I first started the induction task (perfume advertisement) I didn’t realise how high the expectations was and I didn’t think I would be able to reach the high expectations. When we were told to take images I didn’t understand what type of images I was supposed to take. When I had taken my images I knew there wasn’t going to be the high expectations but I used them anyway. The first time I tried to edit a photo in Photoshop I used the basic tools such as crop and drag and I just had a plain, dull black background. I got a grade E for my perfume advert.

The college magazine was a little bit better than my perfume advertisement. I took better images which I took on a camera I borrowed from college instead of my own camera. I got various different images and then decided which one would go with my college magazine better. I used more various tools because I had to crop images and also manipulate them to where I wanted them on the page. I didn’t have a background colour I just had the image which took up the whole page. I had different various texts which was in different colours which stand out against the background, I did this by using the text tool, highlighting the text and selecting the colour I wanted. I also had to copy a barcode into the document but I had to crop it in a separate Photoshop document.

When it came to doing the music magazine I had more understanding about the course and also had more of an understanding on how to use Photoshop effectively. I created my blog and I was posting on the blog every time I did something new. The music magazine was more successful than the college magazine and also the perfume advertisement. I took the images for my magazine front cover by using a photography camera which meant that the images came out clearer and also was better quality. I also started to experiment more with Photoshop which enabled my magazine to come out better than the first two attempts of creating something using Photoshop did. I started to use the burn tool and also the spot-healing tool to make my model look more like she belongs on the front cover of a magazine. I used the burn tool to make my model look more like she belonged in that genre of music. I used it to brighten her hair so it was a really bright colour. I used the text tool the most because there was quite a lot of text on my front cover I also moved it to position it well.

Digital Technology: The digital technology I used ranged from the laptop to the camera I used to capture my images. The camera I used was a photography camera and it made me produce more professional looking images. I had to manipulate the photographs in Photoshop so they looked how I wanted them too. I used a laptop and Photoshop on a daily basis and my Photoshop skills went from poor to quite good. I now know how to manipulate an image successfully and also edit them so they look outstanding for my front cover or whatever task I am working on.

Creativity: I thought I was quite creative throughout the making of my music magazine. This is because I wanted to create a magazine that was completely unique. When I was taking my photographs I went to a factory where there was graffiti all over the walls and shot my shoot in front of that wall. I did this because I wanted the background to be graffiti because it represents the genre of music because rock/hardcore can be seen as rebellious music which may encourage the audience to be rebellious. All of my images were taken at the factory, even the photos for my contents page and also for my double-page spread. This is because I wanted to keep the same theme throughout my magazine so it showed consistency.

Research and Planning: For the research I closely looked at Kerrang magazine. This is because Kerrang specialises in the music genre that my magazine was covering. It showed me all the different codes and conventions that I needed to include in my magazine and also how to set it out. Kerrang gave me a substantial amount of ideas which I could also include in my magazine which was helpful because I wasn’t sure what I should include in my magazine. I also looked at different bands which would fit into my music genre for my music magazine and how the portrayed the genre which their band belonged to. I found out that a lot of female singers within the rock genre have bright coloured hair and wear clothing which stands out. For the planning I looked at my friends closely and decided which one would best fit in my magazine well. I also researched different music genres which I could include in my magazine. I had several different images and I had to decide where the best place would be to take the images for my magazine. I had to plan how to set my magazine out and also how to show that my magazine belonged to that genre of music. I chose a background which stood out from the rest of the magazine because I used a graffiti background because it represents rebellious behaviour which can be associated with that genre of music.

Post-Production: During the post-production process I learnt a lot of skills that helped me through the process. The most important one was how to use Photoshop. When I started I had no previous experience using Photoshop and I was at a disadvantage. We had a lesson on Photoshop and that taught me how to use the basics on Photoshop such as; inserting text, cropping images and also moving images. For our induction task we only needed to use the basic concepts of Photoshop so it wasn’t that difficult to pick up. When I started progressing in my media course (college magazine and music magazine) I started to select different tools and learn how to use them on my own accord. When I started my music magazine I used the spot healing brush to correct blemishes on the models face. I also used the burn tool which gave me the opportunity to make the models hair brighter because singers within that genre, especially the female singers have bright coloured hair.

Using Conventions from real media texts: When I started planning my music magazine I look through the Kerrang magazine to see what conventions they had used throughout that specific magazine. I realised that all of the titles were bold and bright so that they caught the reader’s attention so that is something that I aimed to put in my magazine. I also looked at how many images was on the double-page spread and also the contents page so I knew how many I had to aim for. The contents page had conventions on which I knew I had to put in my magazine. I had to make sure that I put an editor’s letter and also include a photo of the editor. I also put a competition on the contents page.

A2 Media - Skills Development:

When I started my second year doing Media Studies I had more understanding of what was offered throughout the course and also what was expected of me and all of the equipment that we had to use throughout the year. There was several different aspects of the course which started at planning and also making the music video.

Digital Technology: This year we had to use more technical technology. When we first started the course we did a preliminary task which enabled us to learn how to use the camera before we started to shoot our own music video. The preliminary task also gave us a head start on using the editing suite within the college to put our reconstruction together. When I started to film my own music video I borrowed a digital recording camera from college which was also given with a memory card. You could take pictures and also film your video on this camera but I mainly used it for filming and only a few images. When we had filmed our shots we had to use the editing suite to put it all together. At first I struggled with it, but in the end I knew how to do it and I managed to complete my music video. We also had to import the song onto the editing suite. We had to get the song from our own source, but luckily I had my song on CD. I also used my digital slr camera to take images 

 

Music Video 3: Bring Me The Horizon - Anthem

Music Video 2: Parkway Drive - Karma

This is a video of Parkway Drive, Karma. This video is not like the ADTR video because it is not a live performance in-front of an audience. This video is filmed on the Australian coastline so it makes it completely different to the other videos because it's in another country and it also has a different video behind it. This song is quite a heavy song so the props like the drums and guitars are to be expected. There is several close up's throughout this video because it shows the facial expressions of the lead singer when he is singing. 

Music Video 1: Architects - Heartburn

This is the official video of UK's new-coming band, Architects. The band specialize in the hardcore/heavy genre of music which A Day To Remember also fall into. The reason why I have posted this video on my blog is because it is a completely different style of music for this one song and also the video is completely different to A Day To Remembers. The song is a lot slower and doesn't have the heavy music behind it, it is a lot calmer than the other three video's on my blog. This video is also a narrative because it has a story behind it. 

Music Video Conventions

The song I am focusing on is The Downfall of us All. The video is based on a live performance by the band with the audience full of the fans that are drawn in by the music that A Day To Remember create. The first frame of the music video is the audience screaming whilst they wait for A Day To Remember to come on. It takes ten seconds for the drums and the rest of the instruments to be played by the band members. The first instrument you hear is the drums which has a fast beat which goes well when Jeremy (frontman) shouts 'Lets Go'.

My Chosen Song.

The song I have chosen is a song by five piece American band, A Day To Remember. The song is called The Downfall of us All. A Day To Remember are a band which is associated with the post-hardcore sub-genre of music. They are also described as emo, metalcore and punk rock. A Day To Remember are signed by Victory Records. Victory Records is a Chicago based record label and it is a privately held corporation. All bands which are signed by Victory Records, there music is available on itunes and amazon.

A Day To Remember are a five piece band which originated from Ocala, Florida, USA. A Day To Remember have been a band since 2003 and are currently still writing music and also touring. They also progress more with every record they release. A Day To Remember have released four studio albums, nine singles and eight music videos. They are mainly known for their unusual amalgmation of metalcore and pop punk as a music type.


The Downfall of us All, Lyrics.

Da da da de da da da
Da da da de da da da
Let's go

It's not easy making a name for yourself
Where do you draw the line?
I never thought I'd be in this far
Let's have some fun and never change that for anyone
Try not to miss me when I'm gone

Woooh, wooooh

I sold my soul to the open road
I'll live my life alone
You won't find me in the same spot believe me
I could never stop, my life's turned upside down

Meet me out past the train tracks I'm leavin' and not coming back

You're right and I was wrong
This town will be the downfall of us all.

I'm gonna need you to try to follow along.
I did the best that I could to try to write you songs.
Now go tell them we sold out, like we're the ones who changed.
I write what I feel, I say what I mean
You can't buy sincerity

Woooh, wooooh
I sold my soul to the open road
You won't find me in the same spot believe me
I could never stop, my life's turned upside down

Meet me out past the train tracks I'm leavin' and not coming back

You're right and I was wrong
This town will be the downfall of us all.

Don't forget yourselves we made up our minds
We signed 3, 4, 5 on that dotted line X2 

You won't find me in the same spot believe me
I could never stop, my life's turned upside down
Meet me out past the train tracks I'm leavin' and not coming back
You're right and I was wrong

You won't find me in the same spot believe me
I could never stop, my life's turned upside down

Meet me out past the train tracks I'm leavin' and not coming back

You're right and I was wrong
This town will be the downfall of us all, this town will be the downfall of us all.

DOWNFALL OF US ALL X4

Audience Key Terms.

*Qualitative Data - Qualitative methods are ways in which we can collect data which are concerned with describing meaning rather than drawing statistical inferences. This method provides a more in depth and rich description.

*Quantitive Data - Quantitive data is data than can be quantified and verified and is also amendable to statistical manipulation. 

*Demographic Data - Demographic data are characteristics of a group per area. This information can be complied according to the characteristics needed for a particular research study.

*Psychographic Data - This is used to collect data about an audience's personality, values, attitudes, interests and lifestyles.

The Brief.

A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the three following options:

*A website homepage for the band.

*A cover for its release as part of a digipack (CD/DVD package).

*A magazine advertisement for the digipack (CD/DVD package).

Summer Work - Summary.

Over the summer I chose my song I was going to focus my music video on. The song I chose for my music video is A Downfall Of Us All by american band A Day To Remember. The reason I have chosen this band is because they have two different styles of creating music. They can have really melodic songs and then the next song the produce can be a lot heavier. In some songs they even mix the melodic music and the heavier music together like they have in the song I have chosen.

After I chose the song I researched the band more and also other bands that they are associated with and have toured with in the past and seeing how the bands are similar. One of the bands I compared them to is Architects. This is because they also have a melodic style of music and also have the heavier music.

After I had compared the two bands I selected the video which has inspired my ideas. The video which has inspired me is a video by the band who created my song (A Day To Remember). I like the video because it is creative and it isn't just set in a couple of places. The video has various people in from different bands which are also in the same music genre as A Day To Remember.

I have now also started thinking of ideas for my CD cover and also my advertisement.