Conventions – 1a – Skills

This is a little harder to talk about in terms of progression throughout the two years as conventions vary from product to product.

We suggest, therefore, that you pair up suitable products where the conventions linked to their production can be seen to be developed as you move on from one product to the next. We have paired them up for you but clearly you can make your own mind up and choose others.

Conventions questions often have reference to Real Media Texts (RMT) so you should always have some examples to hand to mention; films, magazines, TV shows, extracts, sequences, websites etc.

Similarly to RP and DT you should complete the story template WHICH is on classroom for easy reference and marking. The template should be turned in before the end of term.

Skills 1a recap

Fully Complete your Skills template in classroom. Many of the CCR4 skills stories can be used in the right hand column – you just need to add in starting points for the stories.

Always remember the skill needs a starting point and a finishing point. This can be anywhere in the course but each skill story needs to show progression.

The most important aspect is that you evidence how the skill impacted specifically on the product i.e. not just that it made it nicer, more professional. What do you mean by that? How did the colour filter directly impact on the anarchic, grungy star image? How did the transition develop the narrative disruption for the story?

Remember to use the name of the tools, techniques.

Write like a media student: use terms from across your media learning.

Read the exemplars and examiner’s reports below.

You will complete a Skills Essay in class in timed conditions.

This is the question:

“Explain how your skills in the use of creative digital technology developed over time. Refer to a range of examples from your media productions in your answer. (25 marks)”

You can use your notes and a copy of the essay template will be on the board.

Creative Critical Reflection 2

How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?

Task:

Video directors commentary on all three products with particular reference to star image & brand values.

You are working in your production group to prepare the video for this but you must contribute equally to the voice over and introduce yourself when speaking. You make some bullet point prompts together, but you must be able to verbalise and explain these concepts & how they apply yourself!

Preparing the video for the commentary.

Create a new Premiere project and import the .mp4 file you exported as your final draft for your music video.
Drop the video into ‘sequence one’ timeline, ‘Unlink’ the sound (A1) from the video (V1)
1. You will either delete the sound channel completely or…
2. …fade the music in and out over the commentary.
Record a commentary explaining the brand image you have communicated in your video, digipack and website.
1. The emphasis in this voiceover should be how the three products are…visually, thematically, aesthetically, generically, institutionally & ideologically linked into your BRAND or STAR IMAGE!
You must use media terminology to describe production techniques and you used and should also use some terms relevant theory / concepts that you have learnt during the course; e.g:
- Theory of the Active Audience: preferred / negotiated / oppositional reading (Hall)
- Stars Image, Ideology & the Metanarrative (Dyer)
- Semiotics & Structuralism (Barthes)
- Narrative: Structure, themes, chronology, positioning: (Propp / Todorov, Strauss)
- Genre: conventions (blueprint), predictable pleasure (contract) & marketing (label) (Altman)
Drop in a jpeg of each pane of your digipack and screen grabs from your web site in place of, (or over) the existing footage.
1. This means you might have a full screen image or you might layer up the images over the video in V2. This is will be where you are discussing those the specific links between the products and what you were trying to achieve.

Guidance

Please answer the following questions in your voice-over:

How do the products reflect the star image & ideology of the artist?
- Theorist – Dyer
- Terms: Star image, Brand, Meta-narrative.
How are the products designed to create a coherent brand identity?
- Theorist – Blumler & Katz
  - Terms: Social Interaction, Information, Personal Identity & Entertainment
- Theorist – Hall
  - Terms: Active audience, preferred reading, ideology
How does design of the digipack and website fit with the video?
- Theorist Barthes
  - Terms: Signifies, encode, decode, cultural, symbolic, semic…code
What are the institutional/business purposes behind the 3 products?
- Theorist – Altman
  - Terms: Predictable pleasure, contract. Similar different. Marketing. Fans. Call to Action.

You may, of course, discuss other links and relationships; you should however try to show how there is a symbiotic (mutually beneficial) relationship between the three products and how this is achieved.

Whilst your DP and Advert will not be directly linked to the actual song in the music video, you must focus on the links between them regarding visual style, genre, star image, representation, ideology and brand packaging of the performer, which will be the same.

Notes for Directors Commentary

Structure of the commentary: Timeline Map

Essential theories – recap:

You will need to plan some bullet points for a script of this voiceover, but you must not read it out word for word! It feel like a well informed discussion between you and your partner/s. Plan the script first and then divide it up between the group – ensuring you have covered the main theorists and links to be discussed (see above). Once you have the script, you can think about the visuals that you need.

Examples:

Examiners hints from the last few years:

Creative Critical Reflection 3 – The Vlog

How do your products engage with the audience and how would they be distributed as real media products?

After you have completed your reading and research and compiled some good ideas about audience engagement and distribution, respond directly to the following questions in your vlog:

Part 1 – Target Audience

Who are your target audience?
- What are their ideologies? (demographics, psychographics, audience segmentation eg tribe wired etc)
What is your brand identity / missions statement? (genre, star image)
How does the design / content of your three products fulfil your audience’s uses and gratification (Blumler and Katz but you don’t need to reference them directly – just use the terms)?
How do the products speak to the audience and try to create a relationship with them? (AIDA, B + K, genre, star image, Hall)

Theory / terminology:

Hall (audience – encode, decode, ideology, demographics, psychographics, preferred reading, negotiated reading, oppositional reading)
Dyer (star image – metanarrative, ordinary, paradox of the star, extraordinary, present, absent)
Blumler + Katz (personal identity, social interaction, information, entertainment)
Lacey (predictable pleasure, repertoire of elements, contract, blueprint, label, conventions)

Distribution and Marketing

Which record label would suit your star / brand?
What marketing strategies would you use to create buzz around your album launch?
How would you reach your target audience?
How are you likely to make your star / album profitable?

Theory / terminology:

target audience, budget, distribution, marketing, social media, download, streaming, guerilla marketing, personal appearances, live performance, festivals, press releases, advertising, online, viral marketing, profile, independent, major record label. Read the blog posts to get some ideas.

USE THE FOLLOWING CLIPS TO INTRODUCE YOUR VLOG and EDIT ON WEVIDEO

APPRENTICE INTRO AT THE START AND CUT TO YOUR VLOG.
APPRENTICE OUTRO AT THE END OF YOUR VLOG.

Creative Critical Reflection 1

How do your products use or challenge conventions and how do they represent social groups or issues?

Task: Prezi (Individual Task)

You should describe and analyse your three products with reference to specific examples and use terminology to describe how those conventional features have been used, developed, challenged (designed) by you to construct/represent a specific set of ideas, which is: your brand or mission statement!

You must then go on to say how your representation (ideology) of your star and issues raised in video were shaped by you.

The conventional design features in your video, include examples such as lighting, framing & composition, camera movement mise-en-scene, editing styles, filters, effects and rhythmic editing…
Conventional print design in your digipack: images, filters, adjustments, graphics, colour palette, typeface, stroke, fill, gradients, arrangement (Bring Forward, Back)…
Conventional web design: call to action, hero shot, social media tours, interactivity, merch links…

Example Prezi

Select images from professional examples and your own texts. Remember you should be able to compare or contrast the examples.

There should be five examples from your music video and three each for digipack and website.

In the video you should consider…

images that shows a link between themes in the music and how they are amplified / illustrated in the narrative
generically (un)conventional star image
images that demonstrates conventional use of camera
images that demonstrates conventional use of lighting / colour
images that demonstrates (un)conventional mise-en-scene
images that show an (un)conventional use of narrative
images that show you’ve drawn inspiration from other music videos & media texts
FORMS (technical conventions) of lip syncing, editing to the beat, repeatability, narrative/performance ratio/ type of narrative

In the digipack you should consider…

how do the images scheme reflect the genre of music?
- conventions of photo composition
- filters / images adjustment
- colour scheme
- design of mise-en-scene / art work
how is the layout / DTP conventional for digipacks and adverts?
- typeface selection & size
- graphics
- typeface size and selection
- spacing
- relationship between image and copy
- FORMS (technical conventions) i.e. tracks, publisher, copy, album name, performer name, image, advert image from DP.

In the website you should consider…

Pages
Content (videos, music, album art, merchandise…)
Social media links
Design & brand
Fonts & colours
Backgrounds
Images

Examples from previous students:

SASHA BELFORD

HOLLY BROWN

TERMS

Some of the concept / micro terms you should include…remember to use the terms related to Genre:

…conventional, generic, typical, usual, frequent, unusual, subvert, unconventional, challenged, used, applied, developed, manipulated, exaggerated, amplified, increased, augmented, + repertoire of elements, genre, blueprint, contract, ingredients, star image, audience expectations, paradox of the star, ordinary, extraordinary, semic codes, cultural codes, symbolic codes, mise-en-scene, camera, lighting, font, integration of copy and images, shot distances, composition, editing, camera movement, narrative structure, disjunctive/amplified narratives, character types…

You should also regularly use ‘analysis words’ such as: represents, implies, suggests, connotes, reflects, signifies, emphasises, highlights, underlines, illustrates, shows, contributes to.

And always explain how your have…applied, developed, challenged convention. Also synonyms such as extend, subvert, amplify, exaggerate, increase, improve, extend, copy, contrast, contradict are useful alternatives. MAKE SURE YOU HIGHLIGHT THESE KEY TERMS/WORDS AND THEN YOU KNOW YOU HAVE ADDRESSED THE QUESTION.

Skills – The story so far

This was you before you started Media Studies….

This is you now…

How did you achieve such skills?

OK SO RECAP…FLASHBACK to S1E1…

A long time ago Mrs Cobb and Mr Gregson asked some students to keep a diary of reflections…

You know, those random reflection posts that your past selves wrote as you made your preliminary tasks, your music magazines, your music videos, your digipacks and your websites…

Also, just as important are your Creative Critical Reflection questions.

You have been reflecting, logging and recording your skills development from the beginning of the course and ALL THE ANSWERS TO THIS ARE IN YOUR BLOG!

So…you need to go back through time, back through your blog & maybe ours, to find the answers to these questions:

How did you get so creative?
To what extent did the development of your research and planning lead to more creative
media products?
In what ways did you engage with the conventions of real media texts in your own productions?
Assess the importance of digital technology skills in your production work.

Spot the fake previous exam question above…however,

CREATIVITY really is at the heart of it all!

Media Studies is, after all, a creative art.

It fact, I would argue that Media is The Creative Art that is shaping the images, the sounds, the links, the narratives, the genres, the representations and ultimately the ideas that shape society’s values, attitudes and beliefs…

YEAH BABY! IDEOLOGY!

That word, ‘Ideology’ is key to understanding Media Studies as a subject!

So go on…explain…what I mean…if you can…

CCR4 – How did you integrate technologies, software, hardware and online in this product?

For this CCR, you will need to revisit your technology journey through Component 3 which comprises of your Music Video, Digipak and Website products.

Task 1

Create a series of 3 fun physical theatre representations of the 3 technologies you pick out of the hat with your group and show to the class to see if they can recognise and recall the particular technology you are representing.

Task 2

Revolve around the tables and note down as many examples of technology as possible that have been part of Component 3.

Task 3

Understand how this question, done properly, will really help prepare you for Section 1a of the exam – Skills, which is all about how you have used skills in your A Level Media Studies and how they have creatively impacted on your products. In fact, it will be half of your notes, examples and evidence you need for this question if you do it properly.

Task 4

Review the exemplar INFOGRAPHIC that has been creatied in piktochart.com. You will need to sign in with google and then on the home page scroll down to the FREE TEMPLATES.

The package is really easy to use – Mrs C designed from scratch this one in 2 lessons so you only need to use it as a template, choose your own design and then complete it with your own examples.

Task 5

Using the exemplar as a template, design your own infographic. You should include:

Chronology – timelines
Products
Stages of production (research and planning, production, post production and CCR)
Colour coded examples of technology (software, hardware, online)
Pictorial examples – preferably from your blog of the technology being used.
Written evidence on how that technology was used – example.
Written evidence on how that technology had a specific creative impact on the product – analysis, significance.
The template is a guide – feel free to add other examples in.

Guidance

Hardware & Software technology could include:

Cameras (stills and video)
Lighting Equipment
Premiere
After Effects
Photoshop
Publisher / Illustrator

Websites & online technology could include:

Edublogs (WordPress)
Wix
YouTube
Twitter/Facebook/WhatsApp
Pintrest/Gomoodboard/Canva
VoiceThread/Screen Castify
Flikr/Prezi
Google Forms
Online Tutorials / Adobe TV

You should be specific about how you employed the technology. Be specific in terms of what you were able to achieve creatively & organisationally with these various technologies, such as…

Researching conventions in professional media texts
Gathering inspiration & sharing ideas
Production planning / inspiration
Production organisation & group communication / collaboration
Production techniques (Framing, camera movement, backdrops, lighting…)
Cropping / timeline editing
Using filters & image control
Using brushes and filters
Transitions / Colour Correction
Using key frames
Layering images / using opacity / blending
Stop motion
Converting / compressing files for different use (DVD, Online, Print)
Uploading and embedding media
Audience feedback
Tracking & recording progress

Please click on the image to see the full image in detail

Here are some resources that might help:

List of media technologies used and useful buzz words to include in your analysis

Think about how you are going to get screenshots / images which illustrate how you have done these things at the various stages of production. Please do not simply use logos / generic images, rather use images of you actively using the technology from your coursework blog (look at your CCR section).

Also your comments must be specific in terms of what you were able to achieve by using the technology – highlight the effect, moment, event that was possible due to the technology – how did the technology specifically impact on star image, genre, narrative, audience and representation (concepts!). Please avoid: made it more appealing/eye catching/interesting!

Buzz words: copy and paste and then delete as you use them.

Use: implemented, applied, engaged, used, tested, signed up, explored, investigated, analysed, planned, gauge, delegated,
Progression: improve, extend, develop, enhanced, exentuate, analyse
Create/creativity: develop, design, map out, collate, draft, experiment, aesthetics, design, layout, conventional, adapt, tweak, alter, amend
Achieve: succeed, result, deliver, appropriate, win

EXAMINER’S COMMENTS

Your Media Exams

Your Exams

Component 2 – Key Media Concepts (Exam)

Textual analysis of an unseen TV Drama Sequence (50%)
Essay on the Music Industry (50%)

Component 4 – Critical Perspectives in Media (Exam)

Evaluate your media production skills development
Analyse your own media products using key concepts.
Explore postmodern media.

“Hang on we haven’t finished, or indeed started, the evaluation questions yet! Just forget the exam for now Mr G & Mrs C,” I hear you implore!

“Ah ha!” we reply. “We had a plan all along!”

We have chosen all the briefs you have done this year to focus you on the music industry. Which is the topic in the second half of question 2 in Component 2 (Key Media Concepts).

Furthermore, we have already taught you everything you need to know to complete the first half of the final media exam, also known as Component 4 (Critical Perspectives).

So, when you are doing the Critical Creative Reflections you are also preparing for your exam! To prepare you for all this, throughout Year 12 & 13, we made you complete blog posts on:

Media Language
Representation / Star Image
Genre
Audience
Narrative

…because, these concepts all appear in the exams!

We have made you do a range of tasks geared to help you understand and learn about media skills:

use of digital technology
• creativity
• research and planning
• using conventions from real media texts.

All of these are skills that will come up in the exam

50% of Component 4 is about your ability to tell stories about your skill development and analyse your own production work as if it were a professional text!

‘Wax on, Wax off. Daniel-son’

…and when Mr Miaki says, “Look eye! Always look I.” He means, “IDEOLOGY” – YEAH BABY!

Coz that’s what Media Studies is about!

Go on, explain if you can…

Narrative (Media Concepts)

TASK 1

Using Lego characters and props, craft and film a stop motion story using no more than 100 frames.
Share the movie with your teacher.
Using the sheet Lego Legend, outline in your group the key moments, characters, themes in the movie.
Then share the video and narrate it to the class – pointing out key moments etc.

TASK 2

Using the sheet The Music Video, analyse your music video narrative and start to deconstruct, analyse the text from a critical perspective. All the notes you make on this sheet will help you with your essay – in fact it is your essay.
See Classroom post for resources – exemplars, theory booklet, essay template.
Submit for 1 week’s time so that we have time to mark it and get it back to you.

Narrative Theory

Narrative definition: The contents (events, action) and the way these are structured together form the basis of any narrative. A story can be relayed using any combination of communication i.e. visuals, words, drama etc.

Narrative is the ‘study of stories’. It includes the following:

The order in which the story is told (structure)
How the audience is positioned in relation to the narrative.
The character’s journey. What epiphany do they have?
The conflict & themes explored and how they are resolved.
The codes in the text which help the audience understand the story and its messages.

Here is a Slideshow which runs through narrative with specific reference to music videos. You should be able to use some of the ideas in the video below, although you will find that because music videos don’t tend to follow conventional narrative structures and you should take account of that.

The same presentation with professional examples

Theorists – The Formalists (Propp & Todorov)

A lot of the ideas were are going to explore can be described as ‘formalist’. That means they explore the form, shape & order of a story, it’s structure, both Todorov and Propp are formalists. Here is a formalist description of a common narrative ‘The Hero’s Journey’:

Theorists – Cultural Anthropologist (Levi-Strauss)

Levi Strauss is an anthropologist. He is more interested in cultural ideas beneath the story (its themes). He was interested in how a cultures messages and values are communicated in the conflict within a narrative.

You will need to refer to theorists and use their terminology in a narrative essay, please use the concepts booklet:

Propp – Page 8
Todorov – Page 9
Levi-Strauss – Page 10
Barthes – Page 2

Shaping the narrative in your music video.

Even if your video is thematically based you should consider it as a narrative. This means, however abstract and thematic your video might be, you should show narrative development and characters progression.

You will have developed a simple narrative structure to your video in three parts:

The Beginning – How do you establish the story / theme in the video/ characters?
The Middle – What is the development of the story or the conflict within the theme?
The End – How does the theme/story resolve or does it? What end message do you wish to communicate?

Audience Ideologies – who is your target audience?

In order to understand audience you should understand what makes them tick, especially what reasons they have for consuming media at all. A couple of theorists who considered this were Blumler & Katz, who suggested that there were four reasons collectively known as Uses and Gratification. Their theory describes an active audience and suggested four reasons for people to actively seek out and consume media:

USES AND GRATIFICATION

Information	Self education to suit personal needs; advice on practical matters; information on events or issues of personal interest; curiosity or general interest
Personal Identity	Media reinforces personal values; models of behavior; content explored to challenge, adjust or affirm sense of self
Social Interaction	Identify with others to gain a sense of belonging; find basis for real life interactions; substitute for real life relationships
Entertainment	Escape; diversion; emotional release; filling time; aesthetic enjoyment

Here is a powerpoint on Stuart Hall and his ‘Reception Theory’. Consider what he says about audience. He argues that an audience decodes what the producer encodes in a text. However, how they read the text will depend on their demographics and psychographics and general cultural competence. Here is the Theory Booklet with all of Hall’s ideas on Pages 11 and 12.

RECEPTION THEORY

TASK

So…what am i supposed to do with all this theory?

Task – Design your perfect audience member (individual task)

As a pair/group agree the following features of your audience:

Which other bands/artists your audience would be into?
What other media they would consume, fashion tastes, musical genre preferences,
What are their values, attitudes and beliefs they hold about what’s important in their lives and the world around them.
What broad groups your audience fall into (gender, age, education, occupation, marital status, cultural background)?
What ‘communities’ do they belong to?
- Where do they live, work and play?

HELP

Here is a handout we gave you earlier this year which describes different audience groups / communities which is helpful in reaching some conclusions about their values, attitudes and beliefs, and how to describe their communities and social groups.

Use Indesign, or Google slides to design a profile for your target audience which they might upload to a dating site.

Give your ideal audience an image, name, gender, relationship status, groups, status, likes, dislikes…all of this should be through the filter of music and should help describe your audience profile. Make it as detailed as possible – why not consider someone you know (do not actually use them) who likes the music, is a fan of that music/band and use them as inspiration.

Note: Each group member should complete their own ideal fan.

Here are a template that you might want to follow for categories etc:

YOU MUST ALSO USE THIS WEBSITE: yougov.co.uk and mention it in your introduction or even better, take a snipping tool screen shot of the profile target audience for your performer. Scroll down to yougovprofiles when you can put the name of your artist or a similar one to find out lots of data about your target audience. For example this link gives information about fans of Beyonce.

REMEMBER TO USE TERMINOLOGY IN YOUR BLOG POSTS INTRODUCTIONS! – preferred reading, encode, decode, oppositional reading, demographics, psychographics, cultural experience, uses and gratification, target audience, producer, target audience, entertainment, education, social interaction and personal identity etc.