Performance Shot List

Instead of a written list of shots we want you to create a visual shotlist of the kind of shots you want to include in your performance shoot.  Now that you have filmed a very short performance sequence, you know how many shots you need just to get coverage.

However, certain genres rely specifically on certain shots as part of the repertoire of elements.  For example heavy rock might be canted, hand held camera shots with whip pans a plenty. Indie acoustic might be much smoother, longer, pull focus shots.

You should study other bands of a similar genre and collate @ 10 screen shots of conventional shots, frames, angles they use in their performances. You should look at at least 3 – 4 other music videos and use shots from these. You will then title the shots with an explanation of the shot i.e. close up of guitarist’s instrumental mastery; whip pans between band members looking at each other; master long shot of band performing as a unit; mid shot pan of band members; extreme close up of lead singer’s expressive face and vocals etc. 

Clearly a lot of the energy and dynamics will come from the edit in post-production but you will need a variety of shots of the performer from different angles with different movement to give yourself adequate footage.

Remember:  take at least 2 cameras for your performance shoot and get the band to sing the song several times through and take complete footage of the song being performed from different angles, distances and with different movement.

Also think about shots where movement happens through the frame…i.e. feet or people walking across the screen? What about POVs, hand held, canted, whip pans, pulling focus?

Take a printed version of the screen shots out with you to remind you of what you need to shoot in order to create the right vibe, look and energy. Also take a list of specific shots you need to help create energy and star image.

1st week back – IMPORTANT AND ALL NEEDS COMPLETING. NEW START, NEW BEGINNING, NEW FOCUS

Before we start to focus on Postmodernism for the rest of the term, we need to focus on some admin bits and pieces and ensure the mock essays were a useful exercise.    Let’s clear the decks and get on with Postmodernism with an open and hungry mind.

This week you will need to:

INDIVIDUALLY

  • Ensure your problem areas on the blog are sorted i.e. a few of the attachments don’t open etc. See Mrs Cobb to check.
  • Check your slideshares fit on the scrolls!
  • Check that all attached PDFS made on google or any GOOGLE DOCS embedded are SHARED TO THE WORLD.
  • Check jpegs have pdfs attached so that the examiner can see them clearly.
  • Brand the blog – if not already done so.
  • Sort your folder so that you can make room for all the new stuff on Postmodernism and start to collate your worksheets/essays on Skills and Concepts.
  • Read the blog post on POMO over the weekend.

AS A GROUP

  • Then as a group divide the following tasks up for THE GREGSONS so that they can all be completed. Instructions on the blog for the P Drive folder filing.

DA DA BLOG AND COURSEWORK DONE!  WAVE IT GOODBYE!

We will kick off Postmodernism at the end of this week, so make sure you read the introductory post over the weekend. Get your theoretical and critical perspective juices flowing. Turn over a new leaf and now focus on making the most of the remaining few weeks to make sure you get the grade you deserve and want.

It will be fun – promise!

Evaluation Question 3 – feedback – a group response

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Task: A VoiceThread on the audience feedback you have received during production and your response(s) to that feedback.  The specific feedback and the specific impact it had on your products.

You are working in your production group for this and will submit the same product (all must contribute equally to the power point & discussion). You must introduce yourself when speaking and say what you have been considering and looking at.

Guidance

You may need to register a new account with VoiceThread.

Then you should create a Slideshow presentation, which refers to each set of feedback you have received and uses screenshots to link the feedback to the details of the production work under discussion. You should have received the following feedback:

  • Pitch Feedback (Video)
  • Specsavers (interview)
  • Video Draft 1 (Self Assessment)
  • Video Draft 2 (screen castify teacher)
  • Video Draft 3 (youtube peer comments
  • Video Draft 4 (filmed feedback of peers, plus teacher youtube comment)
  • Digi Pack Photo Mock up (Feedback from peers – did they get the genre, star image)
  • Digipack Draft 1 (screen castify from teacher)
  • Digipack Draft 2 (paper feedback from peers)
  • Advert (paper feedback from peers)
  • Other feedback you may have received on final products – FINAL GOOGLE FORMS SURVEY RESULTS

The PowerPoint should include:

  • A general sense of the feedback; includes likes, dislikes and suggested alternatives
  • Quotes from your teacher, your class mates, other media students and people you have shared your work with.
  • Feedback you’ve had on Facebook, Youtube or on other social media.
  • Statistics from Questionnaires or YouTube metrics
  • Screenshots from drafts of your video, digipack and advert to illustrate the features under discussion and the differences/impacts the FB had on your products i.e. before and after.
  • Images of feedback documents / pitch presentation

Use this document to help you prepare your PowerPoint and discussion

You should then save your PowerPoint as a pdf document and upload it to VoiceThread.

Create a new VoiceThread and in the recording you should explain/develop the feedback featured in the Slideshow and also go into detail about how you responded to the feedback you received:

  • What meaning did you want to encode in the video / digipack / advert? – mention genre, star image, narrative etc
  • Did the audience have a preferred reading and if so what features did they pick up on? – Mention Hall (he is the main audience theorist)
  • If the audience had a negotiated or oppositional reading, why do you think this was?
  • Did you set yourself targets for the next draft?
  • How did the production change in subsequent drafts?
  • Did it change audiences’ reading?

You can use the highlighter tool in VoiceThread to draw attention to specific details in the pdf document that you are referring to.

A link to Adam Le Gallez’ VoiceThread:

A link to another version, not done on Voicethread but the contents is good.

Here is just some of the terminology you should aim to include as they are all linked to what you considered in the construction of your product and how it would have been received by your audience:

  • feedback, advice, comments, critique, opinions, suggestions, evaluations, reviews, input, targets, aims, desires, responses, anecdotal (not official) verbal feedback, written feedback, statistical evidence, survey, questionnaire, recording, filmed feedback  (all enabled me to):
  • tweak, amend, improve, change, alter, adjust, recreate, modify, refine, revise, transform, extend, cut, delete, edit, colour correct, refilm (the following..(aspects to address like editing, composition, colour correction, narrative structure etc in order to address/include/apply/improve/change/refine/):
  • preferred reading, negotiated reading, oppositional reading, narrative structure, character types, symbolic codes, semic codes, enigma, action, cultural competence and cultural codes, star image, metanarrative, ordinary, extraordinary, present, absent, binary oppositions, conflicts, demographics, psychographics, target audience, conventions, genre, repertoire of elements, contract, blueprint, label,  predictable pleasure, pitch.

Advice

This is an examiner’s report on how to address this question – reflect, context, impact, limitations.

The most successful answers to Q3 explored the entire process of production, with candidates
reflecting clearly on how they had used feedback during as well as after completion of their work,
with links made both to research/ planning and outcomes in the products.

Evaluation Question 2 – How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Task: A directors’ commentary which discusses the relationship(s) across your media products.

You are working in your production group for this and will submit the same product (all must contribute equally to the voiceover and you will be assessed on the contributions you make in the voiceover).

  1. Create a new Premiere project and import the .mp4 file you exported as your final draft.
  2. Drop the video into ‘sequence one’ timeline, unlink the sound / video and delete the sound channel. Add a recorded voiceover explaining the themes / ideas you are trying to communicate.
    1. The emphasis in this voiceover should be how the three products are visually, thematically, generically, institutionally & ideologically linked.
  3. You must use media terminology to describe the production techniques that you used and should also use some 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: themes & conflict, chronology, audience positioning: (Propp / Todorov, Strauss)
    • Genre: blueprint, contract, label & structure (Altman)
  4. Drop in a jpeg of each pane of your digipack and advert in place of (or over) the existing footage. 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 voiceover:

  • How do the products reflect the ideology (values, attitudes and beliefs) of the artist or band?
    • Dyer – star image – metanarrative
  • How are the products designed to create a particular (preferred) reading?
    • Hall – theory of the active audience
  • How do the designs of the digipack and the advert fit in with the visuals &/or themes in the video?
    • Barthes – semiotics, Todorov – narrative, Strauss – binary oppositions
  • What are the institutional/business purposes behind the 3 products?
    • Altman – label, predictable pleasure & similarity / difference

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

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.

Example:

 

Examiners hints from the last few years:

Audience Feedback on final products – preparation for Ev Q 3

‘What have you learned from your audience feedback?’

In order to prepare for Evaluation Question 3, you will need to do a final evaluation of your products based on some summative feedback from an audience.

You will need to focus on the following areas:

  • The degree to which you communicated a specific genre of music?
  • The values, attitudes and belief (ideology) of your band/star.
  • What is the audiences’ reading of your texts and do they match your preferred reading?
  • What is the meaning/sense in the narrative?

Linked / embedded into the questionnaire will be the products for the audience to consume and respond to.

To complete this, you must work with your group to set up a questionnaire of 10 questions in Google Forms.

Each class will then send it to your allocated media students (see this list for who to send it to) in other classes, so that you will get at least 10 responses. However, you should also circulate the questionnaire to some target audience members too, in order to get 10 responses.

This means that you will all have to spend regular time checking your gmail and helping your peers out by filling in their submissions.

The results can then be collated and summarised in your response.

Task 1:

Brainstorm 10 suitable questions with your group. You will need to get a variety of question types and in particular, include some that will encourage the audience to describe their responses and reactions using adjectives (perhaps give them a choice of adjectives including ones that encompass a negotiated or oppositional reading).

Task 2:

Set up Google forms.

Distribute to your allocated recipients plus others you can think of.

Task 3:

After 1 week, collate the responses.

Task 4: 

Use the results, along with your ongoing feedback to respond to Evaluation Question 3, details of which to come later.

This is a link to a questionnaire from last year – not necessarily brilliant but an idea of how you should structure it.

These are some possible questions:

  • What genre do you think is communicated by the front cover of the DP – pop, rock, reggae, ska
  • What aspects of the narrative make you want to watch the video again?
  • What 3 adjectives describe the star image of the lead singer? (give a choice perhaps using a semantic differential scale)
  • What themes are included in the narrative? (give a choice of binary oppositions – conflict pairs)
  • Do you understand the narrative? (Short response)
  • How conventional is the performance section – MES, location, performance style, editing, filters etc?

This must be done ASAP so that you have time to get responses – WHICH IS WHY YOU NEED YOUR FINAL PRODUCTS.

Evaluation Question 1 – Conventions

‘In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?’

This evaluation question must be done individually!

Task

  1. A collage of nine images from three professional music videos of the same genre (to include your own performer if possible) + brief explanation of how that example is conventional compared with nine images from your own video:  comparing it with the conventional features identified from the professional texts.
    1. Images should illustrate the convention of the genre and the form (technical conventions) i.e. urban feel, breaking the 4th wall, close up on performance, generically typical themes, expressionist visual style…
  2. A comparative collage of print materials (DP and Advert); using call outs (text boxes & arrows) identifying  conventional design and generic features and including an explanation on how these features were used (or not) in your own texts.
Help

Video Collages

In your collage of conventions and forms from music videos. You could consider some of the following conventional features to use in your analysis of the professional texts and then your own:
  • images that shows a link between themes in the music and how they are amplified / illustrated in the visuals
  • images that represent a generically (un)conventional star image
    • images that represent your artist as ordinary / extraordinary
  • images that demonstrates conventional use of camera
  • images that demonstrates conventional use of lighting / colour
  • images that demonstrates generic 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
  • (words in bold italics could form some of your sub headings for analysis and comments)
  • FORMS – those technical conventions of lip syncing, editing to the beat, repeatability, narrative/performance ratio/ type of narrative

Number the images in the collage and then beneath or between write a brief (1-2 sentences) comment explaining what the conventional features are:

You should use at least three professional videos to draw examples from:

This is one layout with a separate commentary but is more complicated to navigate.

Ev q 1 video ev q 1 x 2

This layout is easier for the examiner to read.

adam ev q 1

This is an alternative version done in slides:

Digi-Pack:

Refer to your analysis of the conventions of a digipak and advert as research for this section.

In your collage of the digipack and poster you should consider the following generic & design conventions for the FRONT and BACK covers:

  • how do the images scheme reflect the genre of music?
    • rules of 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
    • designed elements
    • type size
    • spacing
    • relationship between image and copy
    • Forms: those general technical conventions i.e. tracks, publisher, copywrite, album name, performer name, image, advert image from DP.
You should use a digipack and poster from the same album and same performer or similar one of the same genre, and draw out the relationships between the two products:

ev q 1

adam dp

Top Tips & More Help

Here is a link to a document on conventions broadly and some conventional features of some genres.

Aim to include as much terminology as possible and some theorists, where applicable.

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 have…

apply, develop, challenge or synonyms such as extend, subvert, amplify, exaggerate, increase, improve, extend, copy, contrast, contradict…

Revisit your concepts and theorists (particularly ‘Altman’  but also ‘Hall’ , ‘Barthes’ and ‘Dyer’ for more buzz words and read their handouts for ideas.

Remember to answer the question on every example. So, how was this an example of the convention? A development of convention? A deliberate subversion / rejection of the convention?

Brainstorming Task

What is conventional about your music video as a form of media? And what isn’t? What did you ‘use, develop, challenge?’ 

What is conventional about your genre of music video? And what isn’t? What did you ‘use, develop, challenge?’

Evaluation Question 4 – Media Technologies – individual question

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning, production and post production and evaluation stages?

Task 1

  • First of all, brainstorm as many media technologies as you can in small groups, that you have used throughout your A2 coursework.

Task 2

  • An online collage of your use of media technology @ 25 images/examples.

To complete this you should use Pinterest or another up to date, innovative picture pinning and commentary app that can be embedded and accessed on your blog.  See separate post for suggestions on alternative moodboards.

In your online collage / collection you need to include actual images of and/or links to the technology which you have used and comments that say what use you put them to. Your own photos/screenshots would be best and in particular you using the technology.

You have used technology in every stage of production and this should be evident in your collage so HIGHLIGHT IN BOLD what stages of construction they relate to.

  • Research
  • Planning
  • Production
  • Post-production
  • Feedback & evaluation

EXEMPLAR – great images but some of the analysis and reflection is not specific enough.

List of possible Media Technologies

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)
  • YouTube
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pintrest
  • VoiceThread
  • Flikr
  • 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

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. 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

Q4 was often successfully covered, with some excellent responses exploring both the technologies used and the processes candidates had gone through to use them. Such answers linked clearly to research, planning and production, with detailed reflection and consideration. The weakest responses were, once again simply lists of technologies used with little or no analysis or discussion; sometimes weak responses only discussed the technologies used for construction rather than all aspects of candidates’ work. Q4 is an ideal opportunity to consider issues of convergence, but such debates were rarely seen – 2017

Question 4 was sometimes more successfully covered this session, with some very detailed responses which covered not only the technologies used but the processes candidates had gone through to use them. The best answers linked clearly to research, planning and production, with detailed reflection and consideration. The weakest responses were, once again simply lists of technologies used with little or no analysis or discussion. – 2016

Question 4 was again often the least detailed answer, with a number candidates simply presenting a list of technologies used, with little commentary or reflection. The best answers linked clearly to research, planning and production, with detailed reflection and consideration. – 2015

Question 4 was often the weakest answer, with candidates simply presenting a list of technologies used with little commentary or reflection. The best question 4 answers linked clearly to candidates’ research, planning and production, with detailed reflection and consideration. An effective model seen was a centre whose candidates had packaged this question in the style of a DVD-extra, following a “making of” model; this allowed candidates to consider their use of technology in context as well as in an entertaining and engaging manner.

WARNING: THE BETTER YOU DO THIS, THE EASIER YOUR DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY QUESTION FOR THE SKILLS SECTION 1A WILL BE SOOOOO MUUUCCCCHHHH EASSIIIEERRRR! because you can choose just 4 DT skills stories to focus on in your essay response.

MOODBOARDS – alternatives to Pinterest

IT IS IMPORTANT THAT THE EXAMINER CAN SEE THE COMMENTS WITHOUT HAVING TO CLICK AND HOVER TOO MUCH. MAKE IT EASY ON THEM SO IF YOU CAN GET THE COMMENTS ON PINTEREST THEN USE  THIS, BUT SOME OF YOU HAVE AN ISSUE WITH THIS SO FIND AN ALTERNATIVE MOODBOARD APP.

Canva.com – good one

  • https://www.canva.com/create/mood-boards/

Upload the Dragdis.com (good one) app to Chrome and then you can easily drag and drop images to the board and add commentaries.  Tell the examiner to click on the text icon in the top right hand corner to see the notes you have written.

Or this one? Niice.com

  • https://niice.co/m/2a781002fbe643428e5f5b1d047616d6

Or befunky.com collages.

  • https://drive.google.com/open?id=1T3yCqvmbxcTtdvOyEaF1xLXOvYVqyp_X

Goboard.com – be careful though as you have to save the URL as you are editing it so that you can revisit it and edit it again.

Gomoodboard.com – as above.

THE FINAL WEEK – WHAT YOU NEED TO DO

WELL DONE!  You are nearly there and you have all been working incredibly hard. The videos and drafts of the Digipaks/Adverts are looking good.  Mr Gregson and I know that it is a stressful time of year and a lot is being asked of you.  If we have been nagging and chasing you, it is only that we want you to complete your products in good time so that further stress is not stockpiled for later in the year.  It may be that you will need to be spending lunchtimes and after school this week just making sure it is all done and dusted – you all deserve a good break.

However, you must get all your products completed by Friday.  That means ON YOUR HOME PAGE there will be:

  • FINAL MUSIC VIDEO
  • FINAL X 4 PANES + SPINE OF DIGIPAK COVER
  • FINAL A4 ADVERT

On the final two days of term, you can make sure you  have documents, screen shots etc loaded onto your drive so that you can catch up on blogging over Xmas.  We will not be setting you an essay, but expect the blog to be more or less up to date before the start of next term.

NEXT TERM

We will be working on the 4 Evaluation questions, that are detailed and involved so there will be no time to return to blogging in class. It is in your own best interests to get as much of it up to date before then.

The other issue you must be aware of, is that after January we will be moving to Room 73 as the desktops are to be used by other students, so there really will be no more opportunity to use the Adobe creative suite.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

 

Peer assessment sheets for feedback on video and DP/Advert

These are to help you get feedback on your media products. You should seek out 3-5 people with some media knowledge (students in other classes are fine). Make sure they record the feedback in the YouTube for the video. For the digipack a few comments on the areas in the list.

These will be useful for Draft 4 of the Music Video and for your Draft 1 DP/Advert.

Remember, to be reflective, evaluate your progress, include terms and refer to theories as and when appropriate.

Digipak templates + PMA (Production Meeting Agenda) + Risk Assessment

This week you should be planning, executing and producing your Digipak.  Make sure your planning is precise and comprehensive. All planning documents should be uploaded to the blog. You will have to organise your group, models and performers. Remember you have fewer lessons this week so you need to work in a focused manner.

Attached to this post are links to shot lists, agendas and digipak templates.

You should also use Adobe Indesign to create your templates. You can choose one from the list.

Use Photoshop to amend, edit and manipulate your photos and Indesign to construct the actual Digipak.

You must also include your contact sheets in the blog and give an overview of which shots you finally choose and why. Make copies of the PMA and RA sheets.

Production Meetings Agenda

Risk Assessment

4 Pane

4 Pane

Front Cover

Back Cover + Folds

Inlay Behind CD

Inlay Front

These links may be helpful in setting up the templates so that your work is the correct size in photoshop.

https://support.discmakers.com/hc/en-us/articles/209098677–Using-our-Templates-with-Adobe-Photoshop

http://www.discmakers.com/templates/digipaks.asp

Digital Mock up + Feedback from target audience

You need to create a digital ‘PHOTO MOCK UP‘.

For this exercise you can borrow images.

It is this version that will need feedback.

Exemplars here and here.

  • Place the BORROWED photos in a clear CD cover and take photos of how it looks. You will need to collect filmed feedback on it from your class.  Remember, you are asking them for their preferred reading, do they recognise the genre, what is the star image of the performer, what is encoded in the design?  You could ask a focus group to decide which adjectives best describe the performer, band in terms of the star image communicated by the DP? Ask them to choose a genre that it conveys and give them a list of possibilities.

We will be moving on to Production Meeting Agendas, Risk Assessment and first shoots very shortly so make sure you have caught up on all your Music Video posts.

Digipack Hand drawn Mockup

Please use the next lesson(s) to produce a hand drawn mock up of the digipack you are going to make in the next 2 weeks.  Collate the best ideas from your moodboards.

You should:

  • Drawn, mock-up design of digipak – 4 panes on A3 paper.
  • Annotated with conventional and technical features.

dp mock updp mock up 2

Annotate the designs with the conventional technical elements (barcode, song titles, publisher etc) but also label the designs with how the Media Language of print will help encode the star image and metanarrative of the performer – font, colours, design, graphics, illustration, framing etc. What are the conventional design features for your genre that you will be including? What are you using to encode meaning – what media language will you be employing – font, text, colour, images etc?

In your introduction remember to use the terms for genre, star image, encoding, decoding, preferred readings etc. The more you use the terms now, the easier it will be in the exam to talk about the DP in the Concepts section 1b.

PDF the design into your blog.

Digipak – Previous Students’ Work – Print Assessment Criteria

Choose a DP cover from the display on the wall.  Mrs Cobb will point out the ones that achieved Level 4 as clearly it is this level that you will be aspiring to achieve.

Then search for that blog so that you can use the images in your post.

Go to www.blogs.grammar.sch.gg and search for the site in ‘blogs’.  There are some paper copies around but you will still have to find the images on their blogs to copy and embed.

Using the four general assessment criteria in the slideshow below, explain how the students skills are evident in their digipacks. Be specific with examples from their texts and what they have done.

Ideas – inspiration – photo albums that might spark an idea!

This website has lots of ideas from artists and media makers around the world. It might just offer you some inspiration for your MES – remember simple but meaningful use of MES could make all the difference: some broken plates, antique books, a bright red balloon, tattered armchair, sleek hair do, interesting window frame, bright red lipstick, beaten up car etc.

However, be careful not to over stretch yourself. Look at previous student’s work and see what is likely and possible. You may have to ‘cut your cloth’ (plan one’s aims and activities in line with one’s resources and circumstances) and do something simple and brilliantly as opposed to attempt something spectacular but badly.

Here are some links to some specific pages that could whet your appetite:

Continue reading

Digipak analysis – conventions

We now need to have a look at how digipaks and adverts are designed to work alongside videos to support the promotion of a new album.

Consider digipak covers. What do they have in common? What are the conventions?

Here are our notes on the conventions of a digipak. Read them when you get stuck.

Now you must find a digipak cover from the same genre as your music video and annotate it for the design conventions. This must be uploaded to your blog. Make it detailed and use the terms from the sheets below. If you can find the back of it too, that would be great for some of the technical conventions i.e. barcode, publisher logo etc.


Here is an example analysis

You should focus on: images, graphics, illustrations, font, colour, technical conventions (barcode, parental advisory, album title on spine, tracks on the back), register of copy, mise-en-scene, composition, intertextual references, how does the cover communicate meaning, denotations and connotations, image manipulation, filters, generic conventions, how can it be ‘read/interpreted’ by an audience, star image, metanarrative, representation?

This is a textual analysis – decode it!  Use connectives like connote, infer, imply, represent. This is another way MEDIA LANGUAGE is used to communicate an idea, message, image etc.

In the introduction to the blog post we want you to do a bullet point list of the conventional and technical features that are common to digipaks too – include the spine, inside covers and back cover – what is commonly featured? Bar code?  Parental advisory?  Name of the album and performer on the spine?  Song list on the back? etc

Draft 2 for Friday – last minute advice

Remember, by Friday we would like a draft on your blog that has both narrative and performance in so that we can give you some detailed feedback.

You can carry on filming over half term for any missing shots you know you have but once we are back after half-term, all lessons will be devoted to the Digipak and Advert design. You can keep editing, fine tuning and do any last minute pick-up shots but it will all have to be in your own time.  You also have all day on the Monday 30th October as this is an INSET day and the rooms will be open for you to edit. You may have to negotiate terminals with other groups.

We will also  be doing many of the essays next term so you need to clear the decks. One of the essays is being set this week.

We are harrying you for your own good. The light, the weather and the motivation will quickly disappear next half term. It is in your own interests that you work your socks off this week to break the back of the filming and editing. It will also mean that there is a draft video on your blog that we could enter for moderation if you then broke your arm!

Good luck. We know you can do it.
Mr G and Mrs C

Representation Essay

‘With examples, discuss the central figures in one of your media products and consider how they are represented in the text.’

Use must use the essay template and use the theory booklet.

Remember you are A2 students so need to reflect, analyse and argue, not just regurgitate theories; apply them to specific examples in your media product.

Some help with the theorists for this essay:

Barthes Summary by Mr G
Dyer summary by Mrs C

Click to view

Hall Summary by Mr G

Some More Help

What is representation and what general approach should I take?

Here is some example extracts from previous students’ essays

PERFORMANCE SHOOT – Production Meeting Agenda

It is vital you are prepared, organised and ready to film your performance.

Remember to complete a Production Meeting Agenda and consider the following:

  • Carry out and complete risk assessments and get relevant permissions
  • Do your performer’s know their lines (have you printed them out in large print?)
  • Do you have your planning documents?
  • Do you have cameras, tripods, shoulder mounts, quick release shoes, batteries, SD cards (take at least 2 cameras and check they are charged etc)?
  • Do you have costumes, make up, accessories, shoes?
  • Do you have musical instruments?
  • Do you have microphones?
  • Do you have everyone’s contact numbers?
  • Do you have food and drink?
  • Will you set up in advance of your actors, performers arriving to cut down on hanging around time.