24 April 2016

Dear Moderator,

Here are the links to our year 13 students' blogs. They have all worked on their individual projects. All have produced a promotional package for the release of a new album, including a music video, a promotional poster for the album, and the digipak.

Nesreen Bin Ishaq - Candidate No 1038: Nesreen's blog
Simran Deol - Candidate No 1053 : Simran's blog 
Amira Johnson - Candidate No 1094 : Amira's blog
Trisha Vekaria - Candidate No: 1263: Trisha's Wix site

15 February 2016

Evaluation - 20 marks (as much as Research and Planning)

Can I remind you  that the 4 evaluation questions are:
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?


Assessment: to achieve Level 4 in Evaluation, you are expected to demonstrate excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:
- understanding of the forms and conventions used in the productions.
- understanding of the role and use of new media in various stages of the production.
- understanding of the combination of main product and ancillary texts.
- understanding of the significance of audience feedback.
- choice of form in which to present the evaluation.
- ability to communicate.
- use of digital technology or ICT in the evaluation.

Here is a example of a level 4 blog (a bit weaker on the Evaluation, particularly question 4, where the focus should really be on Creativity):
http://musicvideocm3christina.blogspot.com/

The following booklet is for guidance. You might have better ideas and be keen to do vlogs instead. That would be fine. AVOID PREZI IF YOU'RE JUST GOING TO STICK TEXT IN IT. THE MODERATORS GOT FED UP WITH THAT LAST YEAR.
OR in this format: UPDATED Music Video Evaluation Tasks



Lisha's fantastic evaluation on Wix:

http://lishagorasia.wix.com/a2mediastudies#!evaluation-/cok4


GREAT EXAMPLES OF QUESTIONS 1 AND 2 FROM OTHER CENTRES: Check out the competition for a top level 4!!!

Question 1:

Question 2:

7 January 2016

URGENT - POSTED ON 7TH JANUARY 2016

Dear all,

Our troubles continue with the media drive so we need to be flexible.

I am concerned that nothing has happened on the blogs over Christmas, particularly those students who were behind.

BLOG WORK MUST BE UP TO DATE BY NEXT THURSDAY. I will be contacting parents from next week otherwise, and 'inviting' you to stay behind on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays until your work can be awarded a Band 4.


I know the production work has stalled but not everyone has a mock up of their ancillary tasks! You should also have sought feedback and written a paragraph reflecting on it to show to what extent the feedback will inform your further planning, keeping in mind what you are trying to achieve with the Star text and representation issues, music gender and target audience.

You need to keep posts on your blog tracking the development of your production work.
THERE SHOULD BE NO GAP OF MORE THAN TWO WEEKS.


FINALLY, FOR NEXT THURSDAY, YOU NEED TO HAVE WATCHED AND MADE NOTES ON SOME VIDEOS DEALING WITH AUDIENCE THEORY.
GO OVER TO THE CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES BLOG - IT IS YOUR EXAM BLOG FROM NOW ON.




12 November 2015

More ideas for your ancillary tasks

From LutteworthMedia:

Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/LuttMedia
Blog: http://mrsmitha2musicvideo.blogspot.co.uk





Remember to seek feedback at every stage of production from your peers / target audience, and outside your target audience too!

See below:




9 November 2015

Organising your shoot

You should have one post of a series of short posts showing that you have planned ahead and that you are as ready for your shoot as possible.

SHOW YOUR PLANNING FOR THE DAY - AND BRING IT WITH YOU!

Shooting schedule (what will you shot, in which order, at what time?), including where, when, what time do people meet, what does each person bring, what NOT to forget, what documents to bring (preferably in a folder), how to get there, weather forecast (particularly if shooting outside), who brings make up, costumes props, who dresses the set, who applies make up and where + will they have guidance? Have a got a plan B? A list to make sure that everything is returned at the end of the day?

15 October 2015

ANCILLARY TASKS: IDEAS FOR YOUR RESEARCH



Analysis of Magazine Posters and Digipaks from jkfernandes17

More examples…




ALSO HAVE A LOOK AT THESE RESOURCES:

Click to see a good example of the research and planning that should go into your ancilliary tasks: the digipak and magazine advert

Last album digipak: FINALLY, HERE IS A PAGE WITH EXAMPLES OF CD COVERS AND MAGAZINE ADVERTS.

And here is the template for your digipak. You can find it on the Media drive in the Digipak folder. You'll need to import it into Photoshop.

Obviously this only has four panels; you should be aiming for six:


Have a look at this group's work on ancillary tasks. They achieved level 4.

The magazine advert:

Here is their 6-frame digipack:
Do check out these obscure and brilliant album covers: 
http://a2musicvid.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/great-album-covers-have-look.html

AND OF COURSE, CHECK OUT LEON'S, ROMINA'S AND LISHA'S WORK FROM LAST YEAR! THEY GOT FULL MARKS. There are a few more past students' efforts below:










29 September 2015

Planning

What you should have when it's completed:


- Brief details about your band/artist, including which record label they're signed to, what their ideology is and who their target audience is (audience profile)

- Moodboard

- Synopsis of the video, including details of performance and/or narrative elements, location shots, costume/props images

- Shot list for each sequence

- Storyboard

- Aim for an animatic

- Explanation of how you have used Goodwin's elements within the video OR how they are subverted. Explanation of how you have used Vernallis' points.

- Explanation of WHY you have decided on this concept and HOW it will appeal to the target audience and 'fit' into the music industry.

– discussion of any influences you have had.

- Keep asking for class and teacher feedback as well as target audience feedback. This must go your blog and you must adapt your ideas accordingly. Use questionnaire or/and focus groups. Use social media / online survey.

- Your audience research should include a consumption profile of your target audience. It should also refer to Uses and Gratifications Theory.

- Actors / Casting / possibly auditions

- You should conduct a recce.

- Schedule.

Ask for hep at any point and remember to support each other. Below is a little more help to help you define your research.

1. Gathering more information on your target audience. Here is a link to the media pack published by a magazine:
http://www.mhpromo.co.uk/MP_11.pdf

Look through the pack to see how the target audience is described in detail.

Also look through last year's blogs to see examples of Audience Profiles and Audience Consumption Profiles.

2. Example of an ANIMATIC




3. Example of storyboarding:

Audience research 1: Initial questions and theory

Uses and Gratifications



UK Tribes (Channel 4): Essential booklet




24 September 2015

Research and early planning - Up-to-date blogs BY MONDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER

WHAT YOU SHOULD ALL HAVE BY NOW:

- One post looking at Goodwin's concept of illustration, amplification, disjuncture


- Three detailed analyses of music videos using Goodwin's points

 
- At least two detailed analyses of music videos using Vernallis' points - see reference sheet I gave you all. There are spares by my computer.
 
These posts should be labelled RESEARCH and ANALYSIS

- At least one post looking at a variety of music videos that inspire you - could be the camerawork, set, costumes and make up, lighting, use of close ups, dance sequences, performance etc. 
Make sure you have screenshots and explain in a few words what it is that you find interesting.

This post should be labelled RESEARCH.

- One post featuring the songs you may want to use and why they are good choices. 

- One post on your selected song and why you settled on it. The post should feature the song itself, the lyrics, preferably annotated with early ideas, and a couple of similar artists and the kind of videos they use to promote their songs, and a paragraph about the music genre and its conventions.


This post should be labelled EARLY PLANNING.

- Some of you have already started looking at lighting in specific music videos - You should look at the range of music videos with a focus on lighting.


- One post looking at the audience profile of your 'similar artists' (use uktribes.co.uk) and early market research (which platforms, channels, music mags feature similar artists)


These posts should be labelled RESEARCH and AUDIENCE RESEARCH 

- Start creating your artist (name, profile, potential actors etc - start recruiting/ auditioning very soon!) 


LABEL: EARLY PLANNING

NEXT STEP: PREPARING THE TREATMENT AND YOUR PRESENTATION.

Example of a student using Vernallis' theory on their own video

A good example of Vernallis analysis 

A good example from last year of Vernallis analysis

9 September 2015

Getting it all started

Hi everyone and a warm welcome back!

Before I go on, Issa James has posted the great post below with plenty of links to music videos that we want you to look at. It is crucial that you spend time becoming familiar with different genres and that you pick up ideas from a wide range of videos. Of course, there are other sources of inspiration such as films, TV drama and books!

But before I go on further, let's go back to basic information.

1. Once again, the coursework accounts for 50% of your final grade and we usually finish filming and rough editing by Christmas with a little time in January/February to complete the edit and evaluation.

The brief is to create a promotional pack for an upcoming album (you will have to invent an artist/band), including a magazine advert, a music video for the single coming out, and a digipak for the album (6 panels minimum). So, 3 products this time around!

2. You need to understand that there are many genres of music videos, usually dependent on the music genre being promoted. Overall, there are Performance videos, Narrative-led videos, but the majority include a mix of both.
Two key theorists who will help you deconstruct and analyse videos are Goodwin and Vernallis. I will provide templates summing up the main conventions they have come up with to support your analytical work and we will of course go through their key points together.

Starting with Goodwin, here are the key points:

Andrew Goodwin has identified a number of key features which distinguish the music video as a form:
- There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics.
- There is a relationship between the music and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the music.
- Genres are complex and diverse in terms of music video style and iconography
- Record companies will demand a lot of close-ups of the main artist or vocalist. Videos allow artists to present and modify their 'Star Image' to the public.
- Voyeurism is present in many music videos, especially in the treatment of females, but also in terms of systems of looking. Some examples are screens within screens, cameras, mirrors, etc.
- There are likely to be intertextual references, either to other music videos or to films and TV texts; these provide further gratification and pleasure for the viewers/fans.

Please use these to get started with your music video analyses. It goes without saying that you will need plenty of screengrabs!

3. We will be completing some preliminary tasks to teach you a few skills in preparation for shooting and editing your own videos. The lip-synch task will take place Thursday 17th September. You will need to be ready to shoot a lipsynched song of your choice. You can work in pairs.

You must:
- bring the printed lyrics
- have learnt the song lyrics before the lesson
- bring any prop you might want to use
- be able to play the song during the shoot.


Here are examples from previous years:


18 June 2015

Editing Music Videos - Essential Read!

Andrew Goodwin - Music Video Analysis


To be used when analysing music videos as part of your research.

Andrew Goodwin identified a number of key features which distinguish the music video as a form; before you understand his theory you need to understand some key terminology. If you click on the key terms you will be taken to videos which best illustrate these terms.Illustrate: Images used to represent the meanings of the lyrics and genre (this is the most common feature of a music video) this is very often literal.

Disjuncture: When the meaning of the song is completely ignored.

Amplify: Meanings and effects are manipulated and constantly shown throughout the video and shown to the audience (basically repetition).

- There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals
illustrating, amplifying or contrasting the lyrics.

- There is a relationship between the music and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contrasting the music.


- Genres are complex and diverse in terms of music video style and iconography.


- Record companies will demand a lot of close-ups of the main artist or vocalist


- Voyeurism is present in many music videos, especially in the treatment of females, but also in terms of systems of looking. Some examples are screens within screens, cameras, mirrors, etc.

- There are likely to be intertextual references, either to other music videos or to films and TV texts, these provide further gratification and pleasure for the viewers/fans.


TASK
Using your favourite music videos,
TubeChop scenes where ANY of the above features are present. Screengrab and comment.

(With thanks to Lutterworth Media)