Conventions Essay
“Sometimes, working within constraints produces the most interesting work” (Branston and Strafford), How have you used real media conventions to produce interesting or effective coursework productions ?
"Sometimes, working within constraints produces the most interesting work", I feel this means that by working within limits e.g. not enough technology ,money and convention means that you have to think alot more about ideas and try to make the work as successful as possible within these limits which can produce the most interesting work. In this essay I will discuss this idea and how I have used real media conventions to produce interesting and effective coursework productions.
A lot of the conventions of a thriller we followed quite strictly these were using dark, shadowy atmosphere , flashbacks , creating suspense and filming within a everyday setting to create the sense of something abnormal happening in a normal environment. Whereas in my music video we followed less conventions more strictly these were matching lyrics to visuals and by matching visuals to music, we did follow others but mainly adapted them aswell. In my thriller film we created these conventions by using filming mostly in the dark and in enclosed spaces to create a negative, dark shadowy atmosphere. We used flashbacks editing them in black and white to connotate the difference from the usual film and we creating a morally ambiguous character of whom you never saw their face but came to understand -film noir(se7en) and we used realistic settings by filming it in a town and work environment to create a sense of the 'unusual' occurring within a normal setting .In my music video we followed the conventions by feature of lyrics and visuals being related to illustrate amplify the lyrics , we did this by putting the lyrics on icing in the cake in the moment in the music and by using a repetitive motif of a poster being held up to the length of the word everytime it came up.
We used music and visuals being related to illustrate and amplify the lyrics we did this by telling a story on what the lyrics are basically are about and focused are whole music video on this , we used this specifically with 'theirs a spanner in the works you know you gotta step up your game to make it the top you know you know , gotta lot of competition now you gona find it hard to cope with living on your own you know you know' and we represented this by showing this action with a guy who's the spanner and the competition taking the girl and showing the guy on his own representing the lyrics in a story. We used two conventions of Pete Fraser aswell the first being the tempo/pace of track being matched to the editing by cutting to the beat changing the speed of the film clip to the tempo of the music.
We also used many images of guitars, drummer and the singer and his mouth to emphasise certain parts of the instrumental playing as well.
By following the conventions less closely to A2 it shows that I have progressed in my thriller film
we were not as confident with the knowledge and the consequences behind taking risks, so we followed them a lot more closely, In my music video although we followed all the conventions we also adapted them a lot more as well which allowed more room for individuality and less generic and unoriginal material. It is a lot easier to create a product in which you know the conventions will be more effective as has been previously targeted to the audience than by adapting conventions and trying to make them your own . By researching into the conventions i think it has made our product more interesting as we have been able to think of ideas from conventions that we may not have thought of before.
However we did adapt some conventions in our thriller film such as the eery music of a thriller film, but adapted many more in our music video such as the idea of voyeurism and examples of intertexuality. We adapted the convention in our thriller film as our music was not the usual eery on-edge music but a more upbeat track with a fast beat , I thought this would emphasise the normality of the everyday setting in which you see the film to make the sense of abnormal even more surprising. For the Genre of our music video we had to look at a more specific set of conventions to go with our music genre alternative/rock , the genre is quite different and some conventions such as voyeurism and focus on main artist are not used as strongly. They feature alot more on concept base using their own music video style and iconography and some performance based but mainly on instrumentation and band and venue compared to the selling of just one solo singer. We challenged the conventions of our music video by cutting some parts not to the beat of the music to create a syncopated effect, we also used the idea of intertexuality but not obviously by using a set example , just some of the original ideas we got were not from music videos. We also used the voyeurism to sell the character and star image motif rather than the actual artist. Compared to our foundation portfolio by challenging the conventions we have progressed alot because the product became to alot more of our own ideas and creation using a wider range of media knowledge. Although our music video was not a hybrid and was not completely new and different from previous media examples it has new and different elements, as most music videos do. The conventions for a thriller film our a lot more specific but there our alot more, however the genre for a thriller is a lot more broad than a specific genre for a music video so the conventions can be followed while still creating a different product , so can be debated that more thriller convention would be used but simply because there are more of them , whereas a music video has less in general so has more to adapt and less to follow,
Monday 7 March 2011
Wednesday 23 February 2011
Real media conventions in the music video and thriller
Music Video
Andrew Goodwin
I used his feature of lyrics and visuals being related to illustrate amplify the lyrics , we did this by putting the lyrics on icing in the cake in the moment in the music and by using a repetitive motif of a poster being held up to the length of the word everytime it came up.
We used music and visuals being related to illustrate and amplify the lyrics we did this by telling a story on what the lyrics are basically are about and focused are whole music video on this , we used this specifically with 'theirs a spanner in the works you know you gotta step up your game to make it the top you know you know , gotta lot of competition now you gona find it hard to cope with living on your own you know you know' and we represented this by showing this action with a guy who's the spanner and the competition taking the girl and showing the guy on his own representing the lyrics in a story.
Pete Fraser
We used two conventions of Pete Fraser aswell the first being the tempo/pace of track being matched to the editing by cutting to the beat changing the speed of the film clip to the tempo of the music.
We also used many images of guitars, drummer and the singer and his mouth to emphasise certain parts of the instrumental playing aswell.
Thriller Film
The conventions of a thriller we used were dark,shadowy atmosphere by using filming mostly in the dark and in enclosed spaces to create a negative atmosphere. We used flashbacks editing them in black and white to connotate the difference.We creating a morally ambiguous character of whom you never saw their face but came to understand -film noir(se7en) and we used realistic settings by filming it in a town and work environment to create a sense of the 'unusual' occuring within a normal setting .
Andrew Goodwin
I used his feature of lyrics and visuals being related to illustrate amplify the lyrics , we did this by putting the lyrics on icing in the cake in the moment in the music and by using a repetitive motif of a poster being held up to the length of the word everytime it came up.
We used music and visuals being related to illustrate and amplify the lyrics we did this by telling a story on what the lyrics are basically are about and focused are whole music video on this , we used this specifically with 'theirs a spanner in the works you know you gotta step up your game to make it the top you know you know , gotta lot of competition now you gona find it hard to cope with living on your own you know you know' and we represented this by showing this action with a guy who's the spanner and the competition taking the girl and showing the guy on his own representing the lyrics in a story.
Pete Fraser
We used two conventions of Pete Fraser aswell the first being the tempo/pace of track being matched to the editing by cutting to the beat changing the speed of the film clip to the tempo of the music.
We also used many images of guitars, drummer and the singer and his mouth to emphasise certain parts of the instrumental playing aswell.
Thriller Film
The conventions of a thriller we used were dark,shadowy atmosphere by using filming mostly in the dark and in enclosed spaces to create a negative atmosphere. We used flashbacks editing them in black and white to connotate the difference.We creating a morally ambiguous character of whom you never saw their face but came to understand -film noir(se7en) and we used realistic settings by filming it in a town and work environment to create a sense of the 'unusual' occuring within a normal setting .
draft response to conventions
"Sometimes, working within constraints produces the most interesting work", i feel this means that by working within limits e.g not enough technology ,money and convention means that you have to think alot more ideas and try to make the work as successful as possible within these limits which can produce the most interesting work. In this essay i will discuss this idea and how i have used real media conventions to produce interesting and effective coursework productions.
The conventions of a thriller we used were dark,shadowy atmosphere by using filming mostly in the dark and in enclosed spaces to create a negative atmosphere. We used flashbacks editing them in black and white to connotate the difference.We creating a morally ambiguous character of whom you never saw their face but came to understand -film noir(se7en) and we used realistic settings by filming it in a town and work environment to create a sense of the 'unusual' occuring within a normal setting .
By having to work within these conventions , it is alot easier to create a product in which you know will be more effective as has been previously targeted to the audience and are some of the attractions and wants from the audience. By researching into the conventions i think it has made our product more interesting as we have been able to think of ideas from conventions that we may not have thought of before.
In my music video the conventions i used were feature of lyrics and visuals being related to illustrate amplify the lyrics , we did this by putting the lyrics on icing in the cake in the moment in the music and by using a repetitive motif of a poster being held up to the length of the word everytime it came up.
We used music and visuals being related to illustrate and amplify the lyrics we did this by telling a story on what the lyrics are basically are about and focused are whole music video on this , we used this specifically with 'theirs a spanner in the works you know you gotta step up your game to make it the top you know you know , gotta lot of competition now you gona find it hard to cope with living on your own you know you know' and we represented this by showing this action with a guy who's the spanner and the competition taking the girl and showing the guy on his own representing the lyrics in a story.
We used two conventions of Pete Fraser aswell the first being the tempo/pace of track being matched to the editing by cutting to the beat changing the speed of the film clip to the tempo of the music.
We also used many images of guitars, drummer and the singer and his mouth to emphasise certain parts of the instrumental playing as well.
For the Genre of our music video we had to look at a more specific set of conventions to go with our music genre alternative/rock , the genre is quite different and some conventions such as voyeurism and focus on main artist are not used as strongly. They feature alot more on concept base using their own music video style and iconography and some performance based but mainly on instrumentation and band and venue compared to the selling of just one solo singer.By using these conventions it helped us to create a realistic product of this type of media we mainly followed the conventions but challenged a few by cutting some parts not to the beat of the music to create a syncopated effect, we also didn't follow all of the conventions of a music video otherwise this would be to generic and unoriginal. Compared to our foundation portfolio by challenging the conventions we have progressed alot because the product became to alot more of our own ideas and creation using a wider range of media knowledge.
The conventions of a thriller we used were dark,shadowy atmosphere by using filming mostly in the dark and in enclosed spaces to create a negative atmosphere. We used flashbacks editing them in black and white to connotate the difference.We creating a morally ambiguous character of whom you never saw their face but came to understand -film noir(se7en) and we used realistic settings by filming it in a town and work environment to create a sense of the 'unusual' occuring within a normal setting .
By having to work within these conventions , it is alot easier to create a product in which you know will be more effective as has been previously targeted to the audience and are some of the attractions and wants from the audience. By researching into the conventions i think it has made our product more interesting as we have been able to think of ideas from conventions that we may not have thought of before.
In my music video the conventions i used were feature of lyrics and visuals being related to illustrate amplify the lyrics , we did this by putting the lyrics on icing in the cake in the moment in the music and by using a repetitive motif of a poster being held up to the length of the word everytime it came up.
We used music and visuals being related to illustrate and amplify the lyrics we did this by telling a story on what the lyrics are basically are about and focused are whole music video on this , we used this specifically with 'theirs a spanner in the works you know you gotta step up your game to make it the top you know you know , gotta lot of competition now you gona find it hard to cope with living on your own you know you know' and we represented this by showing this action with a guy who's the spanner and the competition taking the girl and showing the guy on his own representing the lyrics in a story.
We used two conventions of Pete Fraser aswell the first being the tempo/pace of track being matched to the editing by cutting to the beat changing the speed of the film clip to the tempo of the music.
We also used many images of guitars, drummer and the singer and his mouth to emphasise certain parts of the instrumental playing as well.
For the Genre of our music video we had to look at a more specific set of conventions to go with our music genre alternative/rock , the genre is quite different and some conventions such as voyeurism and focus on main artist are not used as strongly. They feature alot more on concept base using their own music video style and iconography and some performance based but mainly on instrumentation and band and venue compared to the selling of just one solo singer.By using these conventions it helped us to create a realistic product of this type of media we mainly followed the conventions but challenged a few by cutting some parts not to the beat of the music to create a syncopated effect, we also didn't follow all of the conventions of a music video otherwise this would be to generic and unoriginal. Compared to our foundation portfolio by challenging the conventions we have progressed alot because the product became to alot more of our own ideas and creation using a wider range of media knowledge.
Monday 14 February 2011
Post-production
How important has the post-production stage been in your foundation and advanced portfolios and how have your skills developed over these two years?
Post-production is a key skill to develop across all types of media , The knowledge of technology certainly helps to develop your skills further and you gain further ideas of what is possible to create. ‘What a computer is to me is the most remarkable tool that we have ever come up with. It’s the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds. (Steve Jobbs). In this essay I will discuss my development using these ideas and how post-production is key to develop and experience across all types of media.
In my thriller opening I used a slow motion shot to add effect and dramatisation to the characters action and make it key to the film. I did this using the options available on I movie and slowed the speed down to what I thought was suitable. I also used colourisation which helped to connotate the flashbacks with black and white as the flashback and colour as the norm . Flashbacks are a key feature to thriller films and by using imovie I was able to find the different colour schemes you could pick or the colour wheel where you could edit the colour of the shot manually.
In my thriller opening we used music to back up the film but the cutting to the beat was a lot more basic than that of our music video. When it came to matching music with visuals and getting the film to act out the music, we found that we had gained a better ear for where the music should be cut on the beat. A key feature to Music videos is keeping the audience interested with lots more fast cuts and transitions. We had to sync the movement of the mouth to the write lyrics in the song and the playing of the guitar to the sound of the instrument playing in the music which required much more precision in editing and practice than that of our thriller opening.
We also used slow motion in our music video, but with learning more a bout the advantages of I movie we were able to use the speed control to speed up shots aswell , we used the slow motion to focus on the action of the character but also to go with the change of the beat in the music when the verse comes in. We used to speed to fasten a shot we had already used in the music video which was the dangling smiley face and fastened it to make it look happier as that part of our music video had come around.
In my music video we had developed our skills on ways that we could use basic processes from the I movie to create many different effects with the filming such as the jump cut we used when the main girl is walking and we cut it as she walks towards the camera to make her look like she has jumped from place to place going to the beat of the music. To do this we just cut out parts of the footage and split the clip to the right timing. Another way was using stop motion where we just took a very basic shot, stopped filming, took it again with something else different and then stopped like a flip book with filming which creates a moving effect with effectively still images.
Basic transitions we used in the thriller opening were fade in, fade to black which made the cut seem less jumpy and was used quite effectively at the end when the titles came up, but in the music video we had a lot knowledge o f the different transitions and were able to plan more carefully which ones we would used. We used a cube effect to distinguish between two very similar scenes which was effective as it made the shot look as if it was moving. We also tried using two doors opening to go with the band theme, but this didn’t work as well and cut up the scene in the wrong places.
Post-production is a key skill to develop across all types of media , The knowledge of technology certainly helps to develop your skills further and you gain further ideas of what is possible to create. ‘What a computer is to me is the most remarkable tool that we have ever come up with. It’s the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds. (Steve Jobbs). In this essay I will discuss my development using these ideas and how post-production is key to develop and experience across all types of media.
In my thriller opening I used a slow motion shot to add effect and dramatisation to the characters action and make it key to the film. I did this using the options available on I movie and slowed the speed down to what I thought was suitable. I also used colourisation which helped to connotate the flashbacks with black and white as the flashback and colour as the norm . Flashbacks are a key feature to thriller films and by using imovie I was able to find the different colour schemes you could pick or the colour wheel where you could edit the colour of the shot manually.
In my thriller opening we used music to back up the film but the cutting to the beat was a lot more basic than that of our music video. When it came to matching music with visuals and getting the film to act out the music, we found that we had gained a better ear for where the music should be cut on the beat. A key feature to Music videos is keeping the audience interested with lots more fast cuts and transitions. We had to sync the movement of the mouth to the write lyrics in the song and the playing of the guitar to the sound of the instrument playing in the music which required much more precision in editing and practice than that of our thriller opening.
We also used slow motion in our music video, but with learning more a bout the advantages of I movie we were able to use the speed control to speed up shots aswell , we used the slow motion to focus on the action of the character but also to go with the change of the beat in the music when the verse comes in. We used to speed to fasten a shot we had already used in the music video which was the dangling smiley face and fastened it to make it look happier as that part of our music video had come around.
In my music video we had developed our skills on ways that we could use basic processes from the I movie to create many different effects with the filming such as the jump cut we used when the main girl is walking and we cut it as she walks towards the camera to make her look like she has jumped from place to place going to the beat of the music. To do this we just cut out parts of the footage and split the clip to the right timing. Another way was using stop motion where we just took a very basic shot, stopped filming, took it again with something else different and then stopped like a flip book with filming which creates a moving effect with effectively still images.
Basic transitions we used in the thriller opening were fade in, fade to black which made the cut seem less jumpy and was used quite effectively at the end when the titles came up, but in the music video we had a lot knowledge o f the different transitions and were able to plan more carefully which ones we would used. We used a cube effect to distinguish between two very similar scenes which was effective as it made the shot look as if it was moving. We also tried using two doors opening to go with the band theme, but this didn’t work as well and cut up the scene in the wrong places.
Thursday 27 January 2011
Digital Technology
A “Digital technology turns media consumers into producers". In your own experience, how was your creativity developed through using digital technology to complete your coursework productions.
'What a computer is to me is the most remarkable tool that we have ever come up with. It's the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds " Steve Jobs , I agree with this statement although not entirely ,technology allows to enhance and project our ideas, it gives us options that we may not have originally thought of but it does not choose the decisions of making what to create and how to feature a product. The use of technology has helped to improve my media production as i knew more about the technology it gave me more ideas and has help to widely improve my creativity and professionalism from the preliminary task in as to my music video at A2.
In the thriller opening we used Imovie, YouTube and audacity. We used Imovie to edit the film which was good as we learnt basic editing skills and developed skills such as colourisation. We used YouTube and social networking sites to browse artists for a suitable track to put along side our thriller opening after researching many thriller films such as se7en and Layer Cake. We also researched into the director Alfred Hitchcock in as he is key to the thriller genre. This helped us gain suitable music, ideas and conventions. Once we had found a suitable track we then used iTunes to download this track when we then used audacity to manipulate the track and this enabled us to cut the music to the right length and repeat and edit parts of the song we wanted to use more.
From the Thriller opening to the music video we now have learnt to incorporate a lot more digital technology and have used it for research and as a tool going from three types of technology to 12.
Research into music videos allowed me to develop my work much further because it was more specific to the genre than in my AS work. The target audience for the thriller Genre was a lot broader than the target audience for the music genre which allowed us to make a more specific project to the audience and develop our work and ideas further.
We used many more active features of the blog this year aswell. Using it in the thriller opening we used it to document our research such as Alfred Hitchcock but it was mainly writing an not as ict efficient. After experience of using Digital technology we now have used allot more digital packages within the blog such as wordle,slideshare,flickr,image shack and youtube . All used to embed stage of our process. The blog also seemed a lot more of an online diary of every part of the process to make it easy to relate to and go back to pick parts to edit and go back to .
The editing was also a lot more advanced although we used music in our thriller openings the music and edit cuts may not have been as synched with beats but from experience of doing this it was easier to have an ear for the musical timing which was key for the music video as the video represent the music is many aspects. We also learn to synchronise visuals with the music such as lip synching or instrumental playing. We looked to using new technologies for split screen but were restricted as we had limited finds and could not find any free processes that allowed us to do this.
In our ancillary tasks we had to keep continuity over the three products which was a new skill we had to adapt research into products such as cd covers and websites allowed us to pick 2 appropriate media form out of the three which was most suitable for our target audience , in which we had learnt to research via internet using a website called bandzoogle which allowed us to gain the importance of features in a webpage such as the ‘header’ and ‘social networking links’.
The filming has also come along way we were able to film a lot more in our music video than our thriller film due to more effective time management and planning on the blog which meant that we went from filming about 15 mins worth in the thriller opening for a 2 minutes film we filmed an hour of constant filming which allowed us to have a lot more to choose from and have a more professional cut to what was included and not.
“The proper artistic response to digital technology is to embrace it as anew window on everything that’s eternally human, and to use it with passion, wisdom, fearlessness and joy”. (Ralph Lombreglia). I think Digital technology and learning more about concepts about how to use it and watching other example can help to improve media in general and has especially helped me to improve from As to A2.
'What a computer is to me is the most remarkable tool that we have ever come up with. It's the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds " Steve Jobs , I agree with this statement although not entirely ,technology allows to enhance and project our ideas, it gives us options that we may not have originally thought of but it does not choose the decisions of making what to create and how to feature a product. The use of technology has helped to improve my media production as i knew more about the technology it gave me more ideas and has help to widely improve my creativity and professionalism from the preliminary task in as to my music video at A2.
In the thriller opening we used Imovie, YouTube and audacity. We used Imovie to edit the film which was good as we learnt basic editing skills and developed skills such as colourisation. We used YouTube and social networking sites to browse artists for a suitable track to put along side our thriller opening after researching many thriller films such as se7en and Layer Cake. We also researched into the director Alfred Hitchcock in as he is key to the thriller genre. This helped us gain suitable music, ideas and conventions. Once we had found a suitable track we then used iTunes to download this track when we then used audacity to manipulate the track and this enabled us to cut the music to the right length and repeat and edit parts of the song we wanted to use more.
From the Thriller opening to the music video we now have learnt to incorporate a lot more digital technology and have used it for research and as a tool going from three types of technology to 12.
Research into music videos allowed me to develop my work much further because it was more specific to the genre than in my AS work. The target audience for the thriller Genre was a lot broader than the target audience for the music genre which allowed us to make a more specific project to the audience and develop our work and ideas further.
We used many more active features of the blog this year aswell. Using it in the thriller opening we used it to document our research such as Alfred Hitchcock but it was mainly writing an not as ict efficient. After experience of using Digital technology we now have used allot more digital packages within the blog such as wordle,slideshare,flickr,image shack and youtube . All used to embed stage of our process. The blog also seemed a lot more of an online diary of every part of the process to make it easy to relate to and go back to pick parts to edit and go back to .
The editing was also a lot more advanced although we used music in our thriller openings the music and edit cuts may not have been as synched with beats but from experience of doing this it was easier to have an ear for the musical timing which was key for the music video as the video represent the music is many aspects. We also learn to synchronise visuals with the music such as lip synching or instrumental playing. We looked to using new technologies for split screen but were restricted as we had limited finds and could not find any free processes that allowed us to do this.
In our ancillary tasks we had to keep continuity over the three products which was a new skill we had to adapt research into products such as cd covers and websites allowed us to pick 2 appropriate media form out of the three which was most suitable for our target audience , in which we had learnt to research via internet using a website called bandzoogle which allowed us to gain the importance of features in a webpage such as the ‘header’ and ‘social networking links’.
The filming has also come along way we were able to film a lot more in our music video than our thriller film due to more effective time management and planning on the blog which meant that we went from filming about 15 mins worth in the thriller opening for a 2 minutes film we filmed an hour of constant filming which allowed us to have a lot more to choose from and have a more professional cut to what was included and not.
“The proper artistic response to digital technology is to embrace it as anew window on everything that’s eternally human, and to use it with passion, wisdom, fearlessness and joy”. (Ralph Lombreglia). I think Digital technology and learning more about concepts about how to use it and watching other example can help to improve media in general and has especially helped me to improve from As to A2.
How can you relate media theory to your question 1(a) answer?
I have decided to relate these three theories
Theory
"A process needed for problem solving .. not a special gift enjoyed by a few but a common ability possessed by most people"(Jones 1993)
How it relates to my production work
Website-Overcome a series of problems that made the original product different from when we first planeed. To make it live we had to use a new program and edit things to make it live by doing this we ended up having a background that was less present but blended into the website more and looked more like a real webpage we managed to add social networkig links and embed our own video.
Theory
"Novel(new)associations which are useful"(Isaksen and Treffinger,1993)
My production Work
We challenged the typical conventions of boy meets girl, we added characters to a usual love story using intertexuality in a new genre.
Theory
"The ability to bring something new into existence"
My Production Work
The idea of new characters to cause significance such as the stig for top gear we have our clown to represent the characters feelings. Most music video use the band as characters for the concpt of the video. However there a re a few which use characters such as the gorillas to bring a new relation into existence in which you can establish with the band.
Theory
"A process needed for problem solving .. not a special gift enjoyed by a few but a common ability possessed by most people"(Jones 1993)
How it relates to my production work
Website-Overcome a series of problems that made the original product different from when we first planeed. To make it live we had to use a new program and edit things to make it live by doing this we ended up having a background that was less present but blended into the website more and looked more like a real webpage we managed to add social networkig links and embed our own video.
Theory
"Novel(new)associations which are useful"(Isaksen and Treffinger,1993)
My production Work
We challenged the typical conventions of boy meets girl, we added characters to a usual love story using intertexuality in a new genre.
Theory
"The ability to bring something new into existence"
My Production Work
The idea of new characters to cause significance such as the stig for top gear we have our clown to represent the characters feelings. Most music video use the band as characters for the concpt of the video. However there a re a few which use characters such as the gorillas to bring a new relation into existence in which you can establish with the band.
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