Skills Development Essay - Updated

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 for my ancillary text and then I also used photoshop to manipulate the images and also put them onto the template for m digipak. These wasn’t really new skills because I knew how to use my camera and also how to use photoshop but I experimented with different tools that I hadn’t used before.

 

Creativity: I wasn’t that creative throughout my music video because I didn’t really know what was creative about the genre of music that I specifically chose and I didn’t know what would work well alongside the genre of music in the sense of creativity. However, I was quite creative throughout the process of making my ancillary texts. This is because I wanted something different that wasn’t associated with the music video, yet it still give the sense of the genre within the poster and also the digipak. The image on my poster was taken at a different location completely and I think it still worked well because you can see the water which goes with the band name which was ‘Abandon Ship’. The way the image was framed was so that the model I photographed looked like he had been abandoned in the water and I achieved my aim in this. The images for my digipak was took at the same location that my music video was shot at; I did this so that there was a sense of continuity throughout the products.

One of the main skills I learnt was how to put the music together on the editing suite. This took time for me to get my head around because I had never used any software like this in the past. When we first started A2 Media we did a preliminary task in groups to reconstruct a music video (30 seconds) and put it back together. When we were editing it, I had lessons when the other girls in my group had free periods so I didn’t have a head start on the suite as they did. I eventually got my head around it from help from my peers and also my teachers and once I knew how to do it, I didn’t struggle and it seemed easier than you thought it was.

Overall, the skills I have learnt have helped my throughout my Media course and what I have learnt has also helped my throughout other subjects. The skills I learnt in my first year of media helped my again in my second year especially when I was constructing my ancillary text. Everything I learnt in my first year  for the production side of my media course, helped me in my second year in different ways. If I hadn’t have learnt the skills last year I would have struggled more this year.

Evaluation - Question Four

Question Four: How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation?

I used various different technologies throughout the planning, research, construction and evaluation stages. I used photoshop, non-linear editing, blogger, prezi and goanimate. I had used the majority of these technologies before I started making my music video. The only ones I hadn’t used were non-linear editing and goanimate.

The hardest one which I struggled with at first until I got the necessary help was the non-linear editing on the editing suite. I wasn’t sure how to work it but once I got my head around it, I could do it. Once I had got all my clips on there and my song it was easy and I could do it. To get us used to it we did a preliminary task which was recreating 30 seconds of a music video and we used Lana Del Ray’s Summertime Sadness. I didn’t really do a lot of editing because I was the director and I didn’t have my free lessons with the other girls so I was still quite new to the editing suite when it was time to construct my music video.

Even though I didn't specifically do the editing of this preliminary task it helped me realise how much work had to go into the whole music video construction.

The first thing I had to do when I decided what song I was reconstructing I had to research different music videos that had been in that genre of music and I concentrated on what other music videos Demoraliser had done. Demoraliser's videos are just them performing so I wanted something a bit different. When I had decided I was doing a narrative for the music video alongside the narrative I had to decide what I wanted to happen and also associate it with the lyrics. When I had decided what I was going to do I made an animation of all my storyboards on windows movie maker and put them all together.



 My storyboard showed what I wanted to achieve over the course and also how long each slide would last etc. It took me quite a while to get used to using windows movie maker because I had never used it before but when I got my head around it I had my animatic finished quite quickly.

The next step after this was starting to film my music video. I used one of college's digital cameras and got on with filming. I carried my storyboards around with me to make sure I knew exactly what I was doing. I filmed almost most of it in my media lessons when we had time dedicated in our timetable lessons for our media coursework. I also borrowed a camera for a weekend so I could take it to Ringside so I could film. The reason I filmed at Ringside is because the Demoraliser (band who sing the song I did) was doing a live performance. This did not really work because the lightning was really dark. I contacted the band to see if they was coming to Hull again but unfortunately they wasn't. I also got permission off the band to film. When all the filming was done I put all my files onto the editing suite and started putting them in order and placing them. Once my music video was done I had to put my name, candidate number etc at the front of the video.

Once my music video I was complete I started to move onto my ancillary text which I used photo shop for. I got my digipack template off moodle and copied it onto photo shop. I opened up the files with my original ancillary text photographs and started to edit them. I decided to do them in black and white because I personally believed that they looked better than colour images. Once they was edited I saved them all as jpeg files and started to move them on to my template. I decided to make a sequence at the top of the digipak and the front cover and front cover had minimal text on them.

I also made a prezi earlier on the year in my research stages. I have done prezi's on my music genre which I have chosen and also the codes and conventions of the Hardcore genre. I made a prezi last year so it wasn't something I had to learn new this year.


All of this process from the research to the final edit has been posted on to my blog. I used blogger in media last year so I knew how to use it even though I am still learning certain aspects of blogger. I learnt how to put a link to some sort of media whether it was a video or an image. The link goes over some text, I have used it in some of my questions. Overall, I have learnt alot of things from how to edit to how to film a music video and manipulate it all together. Its been a long, tiring and stressfull period but the outcome was worth it.

Evaluation - Question Three

Question Three: What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

For my audience feedback I  have learnt that my music video works well with my song. The first question I asked was do you think that the narrative to my music video works well with the song? From the audience feedback I received the comments said that the music video works well with the song because 'it portrays anger and worry' and the other feedback I was given with an explanation said that it works well 'because you can tell he is ashamed of something'. The feedback was good because I aimed to make it look like the male actor was ashamed and also angry at what he had done.

For my second question I asked do you think that the shots in black and white would look better in colour? All three replies said no and they all give a reason. The first reason was that it gives it a different meaning in black and white. One of my other feedbacks said that it gives a feeling of sadness and the other one said it looks better than the shots in colour. My aim in making some of the shots in black and white was to create a sense of sadness so I have managed to create a sense of sadness throughout the video if people are realising.

My third question I asked was taking the genre of music into consideration, do you think I chose the best actors? All three of the feedback forms said that I had the right actors to the music genre. All three of the replies had a positive comment on the genre and how the actors fitted into it. The replies said 'all fits well' and 'that the like the genre' and 'that they look the part'. I am happy that the feedback I got was positive and that they thought that the actors belonged in the video and also the genre of music in which the song is from.

My fourth question that I asked on my feedback form was do you think that the music video looks like it belongs in the genre of music it is associated too? All three of the feedback forms said that my music video belongs in the genre of music. One of the comments I had was saying that the band performing fits in well and the other reply I had was saying that the actors looked the part to be in the music video. This was another positive comment about my music video because I had managed to make the video look like one that would be associated with that genre of music.

The last question I asked on my audience feedback was what improvements could I have made to make the music video better? I had mixed responses for this question and all three gave possible improvements. One of the responses was make it a bit lighter. This is an improvement which could be made and I am aware of that. The reason why it was so dark is because it was filmed at Ringside when Demoraliser were playing. One of the other responses was to make the full video into black and white. I didn’t want to make the full video into black and white. I did not want to make my full video into black and white because it wouldn’t have the same effect. The last improvement which could be made is making the shots match the song lyrics. I should have put lip syncing into the music video but I wanted to do a narrative and I didn’t want to put any more in due to me having the live performance in my video.

The next set of questions I asked were about my ancillary text:

The first question I asked about my ancillary text was do you think my ancillary text works well with my music video? All three responses said yes and I got two comments on why it works well with my music video. One of the responses was because the images are taken from the narrative. The images I took were taken in the same place and he also had the same clothing on but the images were taken on another day after the filming. The other comment was that they worked well together because the images are taken at the same location as the music video was filmed.

The next question I asked was do you think my ancillary text would look better in more detail? All three of the answers came back as no. This is because no more detail is needed on either of the ancillary texts and also that too much would ruin it. The next question run alongside this one and it was do you think my ancillary text could be improved? One of the answers was no and no comment was left but the other two answers both said yes. And the reason for improving my ancillary would just be changing the font.

The second to last question was do you think my ancillary text looks good in black and white alongside my music video? All three of the answers were yes again. The comments ranged from it works well to the continuity is good.

The last question I asked was overall, what is your opinion on my music video and ancillary texts? I got two responses for this question and the responses said that the music video would look better if it was black and white and that the ancillary text works well alongside the music video and that the other participant of my audience feedback said she liked it and it looked good.

 

Overall, even though I know there is a lot of improving I could do to my music video to make it better there has been a lot of positive feedback from the people who participated in watching my video and replying through the audience feedback form. I am happy with the feedback I have received and that also the music video represents the genre of music which the song belongs to because that was the one thing I was worried about throughout the making of my music video.

Audience Feedback by Fitzy! on GoAnimate

Animation Software - Powered by GoAnimate.

Evaluation - Question Two

Question Two: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

My music video can be seen as quite effective because of the way some shots are in colour and and also that some are in black and white. I did this to create an effect towards the audience that are watching it. With some shots been in colour whilst others are in black and white it creates a sense of the unknown because people do not know whether the shot is going to be in colour or not. My ancillary text is all in black and white. I made all of my ancillary text into black and white because I wanted it to be different to a lot of bands which have theirs in colour. Even though CD covers stand out in colour I wanted it to be different and to also stand out from others because of it been different.

My ancillary text does not have any colour in it and it is all in black and white. My text which is used for "Abandon Ship" and "Set Sail" was off dafont. I get my font off here instead of using one which was on photoshop because it looked better on my ancillary text and it went with the theme better than the other ones. The song that I used for my music video is by Demoraliser and their first album release "A Living Nightmare" digipak is in colour and I wanted to challenge that. The album cover does not have any images of the band on it, it only has the logo on the front cover and and a few hands which are reaching up from the bottom. I think that even though Demoraliser's "A Living Nightmare" album digipak is effective I also believe that my album front cover is effective.

The combination of the two is quite effective because only half of the music video is in black and white whereas the other half is in colour. With my digipak been in colour its not as in your face as other album covers yet it is still effective. My front cover does not have a lot of detail to it, it just has a main image, band name and the name of the CD. The imagery works well because it is just a photograph which is simple but yet it works effectively. I decided to put the picture of the Gallion on the front cover because of the name of the band I chose and also the name of the CD. The image on the front cover is not of a Gallion in water, I took the image of the male actor intentially so I got the water within the image. These images were taken at Wyke College in the Rose Garden.

The images within my digipak work well with my music video because the narrative side of my music video was filmed in the same location as the photographs for my ancillary text were taken. The only difference is the clothes the male actor is wearing (even though it is still the same style) and the fact that the location has a large puddle due to a lot of rain in the previous days to the photoshoot. The images were taken with the intention of the water been in the background of the image and that is why the male actor (Rob Maciver) was framed and positioned in the particular way. To take these images I used my Nikon D80 DSLR camera. I think that these images which are used for my ancillary text are more effective than my music video. This is because they go with the name of the band better and they generally just look better than some of the shots in my video because of the way the actor is positioned, the clothes he is wearing and also the way he is framed within the image. The images were manipulated using photoshop and I changed the levels to make the actor and his clothing look darker than they was. I wanted to do this because the mood of the narrative is like he is a bad person and he is ashamed of what he has done. All of these images are in a row in my digipak to create a sense of that he is moving. This is shown by the way he is looking down it shows that he is thinking about something and also that he has turned his back away from the problem.

With my music video been shot in the same area as the images for my ancillary text were taken it is quite effective because I have stayed in the same location. I wanted to do this to show continuity throughout my advanced portfolio. The images for my ancillary text were taken at a different part in the rose garden so I could get the water in. My music video was shot further into the rose garden so there was more places for the actors to walk etc. This image shows that my music video was filmed in the same location as the ancillary text. This is shown by the fencing which is towards the back on both my music video and also my ancillary text and also the stones that are scattered all over.

The majority of my music video is in black and white which is why I made my ancillary text black and white. There are only a few selected shots which are still in colour (Demoraliser's live performance at Ringside). Further on in my music video the sequence at the begining of my music video is repeated and that is in colour.

In my music video there is a shot of the male actor looking down which again is in black and white and I think that it is effective because the front cover of my digipak is in black and white and it is also an image which shows Rob looking down at the floor just like the front cover of my digipak is doing. The only differences between this shot and the front cover in my digipak is that Rob is wearing different clothes and that the levels was manipulated in photoshop for the ancillary text.




Overall, I think that if my music video was in full colour and the ancillary text was in black and white I don't think they would work effectively with each other. But, because I have done the majority of my narrative in black and white I think that they both work well together. Also, if I had the music video and the ancillary text the same tone of black and white I do not think it would have looked as effective because the lighter tone throughout my video works well as when the ancillary text was a lighter tone it did not look as well, it looked better manipulated.

Evaluation - Question One

Question One: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Hardcore music is a sub-genre that has a combination of several different genres. Punk, rap and metal are infused into one genre to make the sound of hardcore. There are several different codes and conventions within the genre which makes the music what it is. The hardcore music genre is an upcoming genre and it is getting more popular.

The sub-genre of hardcore has its own branches of sub-genres, such as; pop punk, post hardcore and metal core. Hardcore music has been taken on by many local bands such as; Demoraliser, Odessa, Martyr Defiled and The Departed. The majority of hardcore bands now have started out in smaller venues such as the Lamp and Ringside and have worked their way up from the bottom to achieve a higher status.

The dominance throughout the smaller shows is easily visible because of the appearance of the band members. The band members are usually stereotyped to have tattoo's (Frankie Palmeri from Emmure) and also have a certain stage presence of themselves. The essence of the band members when on stage performing is arrogant and cocky which is like the genre of rap. 

Hardcore isn't only from England some of the bands are from North America, South America, Australia and even Asian countries and these bands are starting to show a promising upcoming. Deez Nuts are one of the Australian hardcore bands and like most bands they have their own distinctive sound. The front man JJ Peters was previously in a band called ‘I Killed A Prom Queen’ then left to form his own band with his distinctive assets like rap style vocals and low bass solos.

Music videos contain different camera shots which are the conventions throughout a music video. Music videos tend to include many long shots, close ups and also mid shots. These shots are used to create emphasis on the artist, location and emotions. Also, the close ups are used not only to show emotions but they also reflect the words of the song with the movement of the lips of the artist which is also known as lip syncing. Throughout my music video I used various shots such as long shots, close ups and also mid shots. I did this to have a range of different of effects which the shots would have given me. I also started to challenge the camera shot conventions for a music video. The convention which I challenged was the artist was lip syncing. This is because I didn’t want my music video to use the usual conventions because I wanted my music video to be different to the usual music videos throughout the genre of music I chose. The long shots were generally used in my music video when either of the actors was walking away. This is because it would have created a sense of betrayal because it usually included one of the actors walking away from the other actor. There was one shot which was the male actor walking away and it was a long shot. I did this so it looked like the actor was smaller than he was because of the lyrics “well I should have treated you as a fucking cockroach”. The reason why I chose to do a long shot is because I wanted to relate the music video to the lyrics as much as I could and I thought that the long shot worked well against the lyrics.

Throughout music videos the movement of the camera is used to follow and trace the artist or the band. The camera movements include tilts, pans, tracking and crane shots. Throughout my music video I challenged the camera movement conventions. This is because the genre of music the band Demoraliser belongs to is to be known as heavy and always fast paced. One of my shots in my music video is of the camera following the male actor whilst he was walking. When I filmed this shot I decided not to use a tracking device or a tripod because I liked the effect it created when I walked with the camera behind him.  This effect made it look unstable which can be related to my chosen song because some people feel unstable after they have been two stepping, in mosh pits or been at a local gig in general.

The mise-en-scene of music videos refers to the arrangement of performers and the props on stage or in a scene for a production of a music video. The mise-en-scene puts importance on the representation of something. The mise-en-scene throughout my music video portrays the genre of music and also how the band members dress. The image shows the way that someone who listens to the hardcore genre looks. The clothing usually consists of wearing band merchandise (for example, t-shirts). They usually wear skinny jeans/three quarter jeans with trainers such as Vans, New Balance and Nike Airs. In my music video the male actor wore a Dead Harts t-shirt, a denim jacket, a burgundy beanie hat, black skinny jeans and some Nike trainers.  


The editing techniques throughout music videos vary from video to video. Jump cuts are the predominant editing technique used in music videos. This is because this allows a sudden change from one scene to another. Similarly, transitions such as fade and dissolve are very common in music videos as they create a different effect to cuts. Throughout my music video I used several different editing techniques in my music video. I used fading so it flowed to the next shot fluently. I also used jump cuts quite a lot throughout my music video. This is because I wanted my music video to look like it belonged to the genre of music. The jump cuts enabled me to create a look which made it like other videos which are in the genre of music because of the type of music. 

Some music videos are black and white which helps emphasize a particular mood and some videos have artificial lightning which put the artist in an enhanced look. In my music video I didn't use any artificial lighting, all of it was natural lightning. This is because I filmed my music video outside during the day so all of the lightning was natural. I have also got some shots throughout my music video which are black and white. I did this so it mixed the video up a bit and so it also looked quite jumpy. 

Sound in a music video is mainly the vocals or the song but in some cases such as Michael Jackson - Thriller, the producers can make the music video into a short film. In my music video I only have the song. I think this was enough and didn't need any other sound throughout my video because of the heaviness of the song I chose, other noises would sound like they do not belong there. I also could not think of any other noises/sounds I could have put with my music video. 

Props are vital in aiding to add to the scene and also they create significance on particular objects or people. In my video with it been filmed out I did not really need any props. The only props that I used was tobacco and the mobile phone. The male actor used the tobacco throughout the making of the music video because the story line of the video made him feel upset because of how he treated the girl so he used to smoke to calm himself down. The mobile phone was used for the girl. The mobile phone was only in one shot of the music video and that was when she got a text message saying "I'm always watching you". I may not have used a lot of props but I like the way my video has worked.

Codes and Conventions of a Music Video

Camera Shots:
Music videos tend to include many long shots, close ups and mid shots. This is to create emphasis on the artist, location and emotions. Also, close ups are used not only to show emotions but to reflect the words of the song with the movement of the lips of the artist.

Camera Movement:
The movement of the camera is used to follow and trace the artist or band. Camera movements include tilts, pans, tracking and crane shots.

Mise-en-scene:
This refers to the arrangement of performers and props on stage or in a scene for a production of a music video or any other media text. Mise-en-scene puts importance on the representation of something.

Editing:
Jump cuts is the predominant editing technique used in music videos. This is because this allows a sudden change from one scene to another. Similarly, transitions such as fade and dissolve are very common in music videos as they create a different effect to cuts.

Lighting:
Some music videos are black and white which help emphasise a particular mood and some videos have artificial lighting which put the artist in an enhanced look.

Sound:
Sound is mainly the vocals or the song but in some cases such as Michael Jackson - Thriller, the producers can make the music video into a short film.

Props:
These are vital in aiding to add to the scene and create significance on particular objects or people.

Ancillary Text - Final