A2 Exam

Time to start thinking about the A2 exam:

(From the Spec)
Section B: Contemporary Media Issues
One question to be answered from a choice of six topic areas offered by OCR. There will be two questions from each topic area.
The topic areas require understanding of contemporary media texts, industries, audiences and debates.
Candidates must choose one of the following topic areas, in advance of the examination and, through specific case studies, texts, debates and research of the candidates’ choice, prepare to demonstrate understanding of the contemporary issue. This understanding must combine knowledge of at least two media and a range of texts, industries, audiences and debates, but these are to be selected by the centre / candidate. The assessment of the response will be generic, allowing for the broadest possible range of responses within the topic area chosen. Each topic is accompanied by four prompt questions, and candidates must be prepared to answer an exam question that relates to one or more of these four prompts. There should be emphasis on the historical, the contemporary and the future in relation to the chosen topic, with most attention on the present. Centres are thus advised to ensure that study materials for this unit are up to date and relevant. Candidates may choose to focus on one of the following contemporary media issues:

- Contemporary Media Regulation
- Global Media
- Media and Collective Identity
- Media in the Online Age
- Post-modern Media
- ‘We Media’ and Democracy

I will be going through a range of case studies including analysis of things like wikileaks, youtube, Banksy's Exit Throught The Gift Shop, relating all case studies to all of the contempory media issues. We will then focus on one or two issues to research in depth for the exam.

Evaluation - Finally!

These are the four questions which you need to address for the last 20 marks of the project, for evaluation. As with the film opening earlier in the year, these questions will each be accompanied by a task, which you must carry out and then post the outcome to your blog. All four should be completed by the end of Friday 19th March and must sit at the top of your blog in the order here. Some parts of the task will be done individually and some may be done with your group partners. If you are doing some individual work at home on the task, you may complete it over the weekend, but everything MUST be on all blogs by Sunday 21 March at 9 pm.



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 new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

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


For this task, you will do something very similar to the film opening; take nine frames from your video and put them into a grid. The nine frames need to represent the following features of your music video:

1. a shot that shows a link between lyrics and/or music and visuals
2. a shot that typifies the way a record company would want their artist to be represented
3. a shot that illustrates how your video uses music genre
4. a shot that shows an intertextual reference
5. a shot that demonstrates your use of camera
6. a shot that demonstrates your use of lighting
7. a shot that demonstrates your use of mise-en-scene
8/9. Two shots which you feel demonstrate something which shows you have watched other music videos

here is how Alex approached it:


For each of these nine shots, write a couple of sentences explaining how they fit the brief here.

You then need to take screengrabs from other (real) music videos and construct a second nine frame grid which you will use in parallel to your one on your blog. There must be at least THREE music videos which you have grabbed from.

Again for each of the nine frames, write a couple of sentences about how they meet the brief. Here is alex’s version:

This task is to be completed on Tuesday ready for feedback in Wednesday's lesson.

We also want you to take the panes of your digipack and set them alongside images from other album covers to show similarities and to take your advert and set it alongside an advert to show how you have used conventions. In each case, you will need to annotate your work.

This task is to be done individually.

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

For this, we want you to take your finished video and grab some stills from it and put them on a document alongside grabs from your digipack and advert and to annotate the document to show how they all go together. This should be done in lesson time on Thursday and may be done as a group.

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

For this task, we want you to consider four stages of feedback

1. class and teacher feedback on your initial treatment
2. rough cut- class feedback and teacher feedback
3. class feedback on your digipack roughs
4. final version of everything- class feedback and feedback from anyone else

For 1. You need to have a paragraph which notes what people said at that stage and illustrates changes you made

for 2. You need a paragraph about what the class said and what you changed as a consequence- with screengrabs to illustrate

for 3. you need a paragraph on what was said and grabs of your sketches/ early drafts (even if already on the blog, link to them)

for 4. again note down any responses you get.

This task may be done as a group in Thursday's session.

4.How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

For this final task, you are to do the same as for the film opening: have a photo of each person with the technology used and a screengrab of each website/program used as part of the project: facebook, Myspace, blogger, youtube, Final cut, etc

Put it together and annotate it in photoshop then upload to your blog. example here

This task may be done individually or as a group.

Please note that for any group task, you will be credited for your contribution to it.

If you are feeling really adventurous, construct a prezi like this one, and put all your four tasks into it. A good prezi has a strong chance of top marks.

Media Convergence

Media convergence is not just a technological shift or a technological process, it also includes shifts within the industrial, cultural, and social paradigms that encourage the consumer to seek out new information. Convergence, simply put, is how individual consumers interact with others on a social level and use various media platforms to create new experiences, new forms of media and content that connect us socially, and not just to other consumers, but to the corporate producers of media in ways that have not been as readily accessible in the past.

Glossary of key terms

This is a glossary of the key terms that you will need to know for all Media work, but is of particular importance with your exam questions.


CAMERA SHOTS
Aerial Shot – A camera shot taken from an overhead position. Often used as an establishing shot.
Close Up – A head and shoulders shot often used to show expressions/emotions of a character. Also can be a shot of an object, filmed from close to the object or zoomed in to it, that reveals detail.
Extreme Close Up – A shot where a part of a face or body of a character fills the whole frame/dominates the frame. Also can be a shot of an object where only a small part of it dominates the frame.
Establishing Shot – A shot that establishes a scene, often giving ther viewer information about where the scene is set. Can be a close up shot (of a sign etc) but is often a wide/long shot and usually appears at the beginning of a scene.
Medium Shot – the framing of a subject from waist up.
Two Shot – A shot of two characters, possible engaging in conversation. Usually to signify/establish some sort of relationship
Point-Of-View Shot (POV) – Shows a view from the subject’s perspective. This shot is usually edited so that the viewer is aware who’s point of view it is.
Over the Shoulder Shot – looking from behind a character’s shoulder, at a subject. The character facing the subject usually occupies 1/3 of the frame but it depends on what meaning the director wants to create (for example, if the subject is an inferior character, the character facing them may take up more of the frame to emphaise this)
Overhead Shot – a type of camera shot in which the camera is positioned above the character, action or object being filmed.
Reaction Shot – a shot that shows the reaction of a character either to another character or an event within the sequence.

CAMERA ANGLES
Camera Angle – the position of the camera in relation to the subject of a shot. The camera might be at a high angle, a low angle or at eye level with what is being filmed.
High Angle – A camera angle that looks down upon a subject or object. Often used to make the subject or object appear small or vulnerable.
Low Angle – A camera angle that looks up at a subject or object. Often used to make the subject/object appear powerful/dominant.
Canted framing (or oblique) – camera angle that makes what is shot appear to be skewed or tilted.

CAMERA MOVEMENT
Pan – Where the camera pivots horizontally, either from right to left or left to right to reveal a set or setting. This can be used to give the viewer a panoramic view. Sometimes used to establish a scene.
Track - a shot whjere the camera follows a subject/object. The tracking shot can include smooth movements forward, backward, along the side of the subject, or on a curve but cannot include complex movement around a subject. ‘Track’ refers to rails in which a wheeled platform (which has the camera on it) sits on in order to carry out smooth movement.
Crane – A crane shot is sometimes used to signify the end of a scene/ programme /film. The effect is achieved by the camera being put onto a crane that can move upward.
Stedicam - A steadicam is a stabilising mount for a camera which mechanically isolates the operator's movement from the camera, allowing a very smooth shot even when the operator is moving quickly over an uneven surface. Informally, the word may also be used to refer to the combination of the mount and camera.
Tilt - where a camera scans a set or setting vertically (otherwise similar to a pan).
Zoom – Using a zoom lens to appear to be moving closer to (zoom in) or further away from (zoom out) a subject/object when in fact the camera may not move (so, strictly not camera movement). Can be used for dramatic effect.

EDITING
Editing – the stage in the film-making process in which sound and images are organised into an overall narrative.
Continuity Editing – the most common type of editing, which aims to create a sense of reality and time moving forward. Also nick named invisible editing referring to how the technique does not draw attention to the editing process.
Jump Cut – An abrupt, disorientating transitional device in the middle of a continuos shot in which the action is noticeably advanced in time and/or cut between two similar shots, usually done to create discontinuity for artistic effect.
Credits – the information at the beginning and end of a film, which gives details of cast and crew etc.
Cross Cutting – the editing technique of alternating, interweaving, or interspersing one narrative action (scene, sequence or event) with another – usually in different locations or places, thus combining the two: this editing technique usually suggests Parallel action (that takes place simultaneously). Often used to dramatically build tension and/or suspense in chase scenes or to compare two different scenes. Also known as inter-cutting or parallel editing
Cutaways – A brief shot that momentarily interrupts continuous action by briefly inserting another related action. Object, or person (sometimes not part of the principle scene or main action), followed by a cutback to the original shot.
Freeze Frame – the effect of seemingly stopping a film in order to focus in on one event or element.
Eye-line Match – a type of edit which cuts from one character to what that character has been looking at.
Flashback – a scene or moment in a film in which the audience is shown an event that happened earlier in the film’s narrative.
Graphic Match – an edit effect in which two different objects of the same shape are dissolved from one into the other.
Juxtaposition – the placement of two (often opposed) images on either side of an edit to create an effect.
Linear Narrative – a style of storytelling in which events happen chronologically.
Montage Editing – the juxtaposition of seemingly unconnected images in order to create meaning.
Parallel Editing – a type of editing in which events in two locations are cut together, in order to imply a connection between the two sets of events.
Visual Effects - visual effects are usually used to alter previously-filmed elements by adding, removing or enhancing objects within the scene.
Match on Action - A shot that emphasises continuity of space and time by matching the action of the preceding shot with the continuation of the action. (For example a shot of a door opening after a shot of a close up of a character’s hand turning a door handle)

SOUND
Diegetic Sound – sound that can be heard by the characters within a scene/ sound part of the imaginary world.
Non-diegetic Sound – sound that the characters cannot hear and is not part of the imaginary world of the story. This includes a musical soundtrack or a voiceover (however this excludes a narration by a character within the story – referred to as an internal monologue and is diegetic).
Score – The musical component of a programme’s soundtrack, usually composed specifically for the scene.
Sound Effects – sounds that are added to a film during the post-production stage.

OTHER KEY TERMS
Artificial Light – A source of light created by lighting equipment, rather than from natural sources.
Convention – a frequently used element which becomes standard.
Disequilibrium – the period of instability and insecurity in a film’s narrative.
Enigma – the question or mystery that is posed within a film’s narrative.
Equilibrium – a state of peace and calm, which often exists at the beginning of a film’s narrative.
Framing – the selection of elements such as characters, setting and iconography that appear within a shot.
Genre – a system of film identification, in which films that have the same elements are grouped together.
Iconography – the objects within a film that are used to evoke particular meanings
Intertextuality – reference within a film to another film, media product, work of literature or piece of artwork.
Mise en scene – a French term, which literally means ‘put into the frame’. When analysing a sequence the term refers to everything you see in the frame (props, costume, lighting, colour, makeup etc.)
Narrative – a story that is created in a constructed format (eg. A programme) that describes a series of fictional or non-fictional events.   (Edited from a blog by Long Road Media)

Examples of blogs

Here is the link to the collection of blogs I have shown you: http://www.cmdiploma.com/ There's loads of blogs on there, probably best to check out the Music Video link. I showed you Yasmin's so check it out.

Mood Boards

I thought it might be beneficial to go through some details about mood boards with you, so that you can start to gather images and objects that may inspire you with this project.

A mood board is a collage of your ideas and inspiration for any media work, whether it be web, film or print, in the form of visual representations. It’s like brainstorming, but purely for the development of a design aesthetic and feel, rather than its content.

Mood boards are not just visual representations, they represent the emotion you wish to portray across your work – because it is emotion that creates the look and feel of a design of any kind. So your collage should represent the feelings and emotions you are trying to portray within your music video. Think about connotation and denotation here. Is the actual meaning of your image different to the literal meaning?

Some examples of mood boards:

Your mood board could be made using 'old fashioned' cutting and sticking, like a scrap book, or you could use technology to merge digital images together (it could even be a combination of both, by taking a photo of a real cut-out board and mixig it with digital images).

Your mood board could contain all sorts of things from materials, colours combinations, lighting effects, locations, stills from existing videos, characters, shot types and a whole host of other things.

Final thought...Why stop at images, why not make a multimedia mood board, containing film, photography, music or narration? Only a thought!

Deadlines

We need to finish this Unit by Christmas, including the 2 Ancillary tasks, so here is a rough breakdown of deadlines:

23rd October - Pre-production finished (excluding animatic)
Monday of half term - media studio open to complete animatic & other Pre-production work
1st November - Pre-production complete (ready to shoot next half term)

13th November - Production complete (2 weeks to film)
                         - 1st ancillary draft

26th November - Draft edits completed
                         - 2nd ancillary draft

10h December - Finished video

17th Decmber -  Evaluation complete

No pressure then!!!