AS Level Media Blog
James Wilson. Year 12 AS Media Studies. The Billericay School. This blog is where I will be documenting all of the ideas, research, planning, production, post-production and evaluation processes during the course. It will show my progress during the creation of my opening sequence.
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What progression is there from your preliminary task to your main one? What have you learnt/improved/developed?
To answer this question I watched both of my films and picked out the key differences and improvements, from both in front and behind the camera. I also took a couple of screenshots from each film to show comparisons.
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What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this project?
To answer this question, I used a green screen. I filled the background with different images and videos to support my answer.
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How did you attract/address your audience?
To answer this question I inserted text onto my opening sequence to highlight the different techniques I used to engage my target audience.
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Who would be the target audience for your media product?
To answer this question I created a character profile of my target audience. I chose a photo of someone who would be out key demographic and then highlighted the reasons why they would be our main target audience.
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What kind of media institution migh distribute your product and why?
To answer this question I wrote paragraphs on different film distributors, focussing on the independent distributors. I gave some examples to back my choice of an independent distributor.
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How does your media product represent particular social groups?
To answer this question, I took a screenshot of one of the characters from my opening sequence and collaborated it with images of similar characters from existing media products. I then wrote a few paragraphs on how I represented my character compared to these mainstream media protagonists.
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In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
For this question I took 9 screenshots of my film that represent 9 different aspects of the film and wrote a paragraph justifying my choice.
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Now that I have finished the post production part of the course, I able to move onto the evaluation process. In this area I will be looking at the different aspects of the production/post production sections, evaluting what I did, why I did it, what I would do differently and how successful I was. I will also be looking at other sections such as distribution and target audiences. These are the questions that I will be answering:
- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
- How does your media product represent particular social groups?
- What kind of media institution might distribute your procuct and why?
- Who would be the target audience for your media product?
- How did you attract/address your audience?
- What have you learnt about the technologies from the process of constructing this media product?
- What progression is there from your preliminary task to your main one? What have you learnt/improved/developed?
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Soft Target - Complete
This is our complete opening sequence, Soft Target. We took on board any criticisms and improved our piece. We added in the non-diegetic music and heightened the synchronicity of the piece in general.
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Soft Target - First Draft
This is the first draft of our opening sequence, Soft Target. We put all of the clips together into the correct order and added in any titles and effects. We wanted to get an idea of where we were heading before we completed the task. We got some useful feedback:
- Switch fades to straight cuts
- Improve synchronicity of CCTV footage
- Add in tense music
- Add in reaction shots as monologue is being told.
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We have now finished filming every shot that we need and can now enter the post production (editing) stage of the process.
For the purpose of editing, we have decided to use Sony Vegas Pro, software that both Tom and myself are familiar with. We feel that we can use this the most efficiently to create a good final piece.
We have also had ideas for editing:
- The titles will be created on Photoshop and imported onto the film project.
- We will be using some of the pre-loaded effects to try and create a CCTV style effect as an overlay on a few of the shots.
- We will be using music from a non-copyright service.
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Mood Board
We were set the task of creating a Mood Board that featured different elements of our film. It could include:
- Factual pictures.
- Logos.
- Relevant colours.
- Similar films.
- Photos relating to our piece.
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Shot List
This is the shot list that I created before I began filming. Shot lists are created in location order, not shot order. Therefore it assists when filming for each location at the same time. The shot list will also help me think about the direction of the filming.
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Storyboard
This is the storyboard I created before I could begin filming. This storyboard will help me to grasp the visual side of filming.
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Telephone Call
(Phone ringing)
HS: Hello?
R: (pause) Please do not worry about the disappearance of your so called leader. He’s in… safe hands, we just need to know why it happened.Interrogation
R: So, Mr Brooks, tell me what happened.
C: I’ve told you before; I don’t know what you’re talking about!
R: Oh really? Because we have reason to believe otherwise and you know full well that we won’t stop until we get the truth. Even if it means going through you, and your family.
C: Okay okay, you want the truth, you can have it. Just leave my family out of this!Monologue of Mission
C: (pause) You remember Operation Horizon. We sent Agent Thompson to work with your guy, Agent Dmitry, I believe. The aim of the operation was to infiltrate the enemy base and collect valuable data. The area was heavily guarded so Thompson and Dmitry decided to enter the building at separate points, taking out the enemy one at a time. For 25 minutes everything was dead. Until it all started going crazy (pause) Thompson had shot and killed Dmitry. From my understanding it was accidental. He mistook him for a guard and instinct took over. That’s all I know
Key
HS: Home Secretary
R: Russian
C: Chief of MI5
