Evaluation Question Four (Summary)

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

Over the past decade technology both in itself and within the internet had progressed dramatically. Now artists can freely upload their music onto YouTube, connect with their audience through UStream and even crowd source for funding products. When it came to creating a Portfolio for my A2 Media Studies coursework I chose to present it on an online Blogger. By using the internet I have had many more opportunities for presenting my research, planning, construction and evaluation stages. I have been able to create PowerPoint’s and embed them online using SlideShare. This has enabled me to efficiently reveal information to my audience as well as have it clearly laid out in a post on my blog. Years ago to research a band would have been much more difficult. However when it came to finding out what the Pop genre consisted of it was very easy for me to simply look on the internet using sites such as Google. Advertising our group in order to attract fans was also very easy thanks to the increase and development of technology. By using social network sites such as Facebook we were able to quickly get the name of our band out into the public eye for free. This would have been near on impossible years ago as publishers would have to have printed posters ect to advertise a band. Cameras and the equipment included have also dramatically increased. We were able to use a small camera which had a high quality of pixels and the filming we got looked very professional. This equipment is what allows small artists to produce music videos without having to spent lots of money on expensive items. Overall I think that our A2 Media Task would have been extremely difficult if the internet and the technology we used had not been available. I believe I tried to use a variety of technology within my music video, ancillary tasks and blogger in order to make them appear more advanced, professional, and a good quality. By Amelia O’Callaghan

THEORIST: Tvetan Todorov

By Amelia O'Callaghan

THEORIST: Abraham Maslow

By Amelia O'Callaghan

THEORIST: Stuart Hall

Today we learnt about Stuart Hall - a Media Studies Theorist. Stuart Hall came up with the idea of the Encoding and Decoding theory which consisted of three main concepts each looking at what the director wants and whether that is pushed upon the audience and whether it actually effects their feelings..


The Dominant Reading - 
This concept is based on the idea that what the director wants the audience to feel is felt. An example of this would be in the James Bond Films - the director always portrays the antagonist to be evil and usually gives them a feature that is not appealing - therefore the audience feel negative towards the antagonist - a good result for a director aiming for a certain reaction.

The Negotiated Reading - 
Within this section the audience usually understand where the director is going when portraying a character however may develop their own feelings and thought of the character that the director did not intend. For example in James Bond Skyfall the antagonist was badly treated and was left with a disfigerment - therefore although the audience are still repulsed by him and know he is evil - they may still feel slightly sorry for him.

The Oppositional Reading -
Oppositional Reading means that the director has intended the audience to feel one way about a character or situation however they feel completely different. For example if the director is trying to make a character seem sad and the audience to pity him whereas the audience find the scene funny and laugh - that would be oppositional reading as the audience have rejected the directors idea. 




By Amelia O'Callaghan

THEORIST: Andrew Goodwin

By Amelia O'Callaghan

Describe how your skills in pre-production have improved from AS to A2

RESEARCH AND PRE-PRODUCTION

I believe that my team work and time management has improved since starting Media Studies at GCSE level and has improved even more through the tasks completed in the AS Media course. When planning our film opening at AS level, time management was crucial, not only when filming but when we could all meet up to film. Whilst completing the film opening task, working as a team was very important if we wanted to get things done. Therefore we all learnt to make important contributions and listen to each others ideas. I found I also researched in more depth when finding out information for our film opening, for example I had to research lots about the genre of our film opening and how it would relate to our target audience, we did this by looking at other Romantic films and picking out the typical conventions. We also had to research what the time was like when our film was set (1960s), we had to look at the locations, costumes, hairstyles ect. I feel my computer skills also improved greatly. By creating blog to post our research on I was constantly thinking of different ways to present my research in order to make the Blog more interesting. Using progammes such as Voki made the Blog unique and creative. Before going out to film we had to create a detailed storyboard so we were completely sorted when we went out filming. This I believe was more intense that GCSE Level.

PRODUCTION

When actually completing the tasks involved with AS Media Studies I believe I learnt lots. Due to the fact I was the one being filmed I didn't get much chance to work the camera. Nevertheless I did help set up the tripod and learn about the different setting on the camera. As a group we had to think about 'framing' and what was in the background when filming. From the planning we also had to include the correct shot types. We did also make sure that the lighting of where we were filming was appropriate. One clip was unable  to be used due to the position of the sun causing shadows onto the scene. After this we learnt from our mistakes and corrected them. My confidence also improved whilst acting in front of the camera which I feel is an important feature within Media Studies.

POST PRODUCTION

Overall I feel I believe I improved the most on post production. When in year 11 I did do lots of editing but only to a basic level. In the AS task, however, we had to edit our film opening with a lot more skill. I learn how to edit the sound of the clips and change the lighting settings. I discovered how to add 'titles' to the film clip and how to edit the size of the clip itself. After I felt I had improved lots I was able to help others in my group who were still struggling with certain parts of the editing. When we started to edit on the machines, the idea we had didn't work so we had to change how we made the pictures move. After lots of trial and error we finally managed  to find a editing trick that allowed us to capture our original idea. Although it took very long and got tedious we managed it in the end and I felt it looked brilliant.





Amelia O'Callaghan