Scream trailer (Ford).

Convention essay plan (Hammond).

How has your understanding of real media conventions developed over the past two years?

Instruction- task completed over the past 2 years

Essay plan:

For my first year the task that i had to complete first was to make a school magazine. This was to help me get used to the use of photoshop and also to get used to the type of things i would be doing. This then lead me on to make my music magazine. With this i had to create a front cover, a contents page, and also a double page spread. We also had to learn how to make a music video and so made one with the teacher to make sure we got used to how to do things. I then went on to my second year and within this then came to main music video in which we had to make up and do all in our own time by ourselves. Then to go with this were the ancillary texts in which we had to create a magazine advert and also a digipack to be able to put our CD into.

Instruction- discuss first big project of music magazine (fc,c,dps) by using conventions

Essay plan:

• first big project was the music magazine
• FC- used layout, photo, from real media products
• FC- challenged colours, and font of real media products
• C- Used layout, and pages from real media products
• C- challenged photos, fonts, colours of real media products
• DPS- used use of questions and layout from real media products
• DPS- challenged photo, colours, and main font of real media products

Instruction- understanding and knowledge of conventions for decision making

Essay plan:

• Knowing the conventions helped because it meant i was able to use them quickly and relate it to my work
• Help with my decision making as i could clearly see how to either use or challenge the conventions of the real media products.

Instruction- discuss A2 coursework

Essay plan:

• I established the conventions by looking at other music videos of the same genre and having them show what type of things look good in music videos and also to help spring off ideas.
• Used them to help with ideas and also to look at what has been done so i don't copy what is already out there.
• i used conventions for my digipack and advert too as i struggled with things to fit in with my type of layout and genre.
• Comparing this to my AS i found it much easier to get hold of the conventions and also i was able to use them better as i knew what i was capable of.

Instruction- Conventions challenged? conventions followed? why?

Essay plan:

• I challenged mostly the music video as i wanted to make something different but also i wanted to connect to the storyline. This is why we picked a song that had no video with it so that we could completely think of something to go with it by ourselves.

Instruction- conclusion

Essay plan:

• Conventions were useful as they allowed me to look a different media texts and relate it to my own work.
• I understand conventions better now that i have used it on my own work and have gotten used to how to work with it

Essay

How has your understanding of real media conventions developed over the last two years?

For my first year the task that i had to complete first was to make a school magazine. This was to help me get used to the use of photo shop and also to get used to the type of things i would be doing. This then lead me on to making my music magazine. With this i had to create a front cover, a contents page, and also a double page spread. We also had to learn how to make a music video and so made one with the teacher to make sure we got used to how to do things. I then went on to my second year and within this then came to main music video in which we had to make up and do all in our own time by ourselves. Then to go with this were the ancillary texts in which we had to create a magazine advert and also a digipack to be able to put our CD into.

In the first year my main big project was the music magazine and in this is had to create three different pages and these were a front cover, a contents, and a double page spread. It all had to be on one artist and my choice of genre. For my front cover i used real media convention for my main photo. this is because it original came from a real photo of john mayor and i wanted to base my artist and genre of music on that. I also used the layout from conventions of real media products as they looked the most professional and so decided it would be best to base the layout of my front cover the same way. I looked at magazine such as 'Mojo' and 'NME' as this were the ones that best fit to my style and genre. things that i challenged on my front cover were the colours that i used. This is because i didnt follow the norm of have black, white and red. But instead i went for black, yellow and red. Therefore i challenged real media conventions. this was also the same for my contents as i used real media ocnventions for the look and style of it and only really changed things so that they best suited to my magazine. As for my double page spread i both used and challenged my use of questions to my artist as i wanted it to look real but also connect to what my target audeince would want to know. Whereas for this i challenged the use of my picture as i did a long shot which was not the norm for real media conventions.

Knowing how to use and look for real media conventions helped with this as i was able to look for what i wanted and convert it to my work quick and easy and so it saved me a lot of time whihc was good as i had many problems with the technology when i was creating my music magazine. Doing this also helped me to make my decision on how to design my final music magazine as i could see what i was going to use and see what i was going to challenge with the conventions of real media products.

For my A2 work i needed to make a music video of my own and also create ancillary texts to go with it. I established the conventions of real media texts by looking at other msuic videos of the same genre. By doing this i could then see the type of things that looked good and went with that genre so that i could make sure i got the look right to go with my genre. This also helped me to spring off different ideas. Althought i was looking at music videos that had been done before with my genre i was also making sure that i didnt copy any of the conventions exactly as i want to make sure i came up with some of my won ideas. As for my ancillary texts of the digipack and the music advert i found it difficult too find things that fit with y genre as most of the things that had shown up were more to go with hip hop and the modern look. By comparing this with my AS work i found it much easier to look for the type of media conventions that i wanted and so it was better for me to come up with more ideas as i had more of a variety of things to look at.

I challenged mostly the music video as i wanted to make something different but also i wanted to connect to the storyline. This is why we picked a song that had no video with it so that we could completely think of something to go with it by ourselves. Also the song choice and choice of band was not popular and so we knew that it would completely be us thinking it through and that we will not have copied a real media product. I wanted to change certain aspects of my work as i wanted it to be my ideas and to just copy something then it would not be my ideas and it will just be a copied piece of work with minor changes. Howver some bits i did follow, for exaply the costume as i thought it looked more profissional.

The conventions of real media products were very helpful towards my work as they gave me inspiration but also helped me to make my work look professional. Now that i have been looking and useing and challenging conventions i now undersand them alot better as i have gotten used to how to work with it.

Conventions of real media texts (Hammond)

Task one:

All of the conventions used for AS/A2;

Music magazine

Inside and general

• Album reviews
• Live gig reviews
• Up coming album reviews
• Interview with new band
• Competitions to whin prizes
• Tour dates
• tours that are coming up

Front Cover

• Front page
• masthead
• Cover-stories
• pictures
• captions
• Quotes
• Stand out colours and fonts

Contents

• Title
• Eyecatching colours and fonts
• Pictures
• page numbers
• information of what on the pages

Double page spread

• Headline
• Picture of new artist covers one page
• Article staring with big first letter
• Pulled out quotes
• Interesting questions
• INterview with new artist

Music Video

• Narrite
• story line
• Good performance
• range of shots
• Animation to give off effect e.g. slow motion
• Lip syncing
• Cuts
• female singer with male band
• Props e.g. guitar, piano
• Costume e.g. black dress, yellow boots
• Location relevant to storyline and lyrics in the song

Ancillary texts- Digipack, Magazine advert

Digipack

• Name of Album
• Name of band
• Pictures of band
• Track listing
• Credits
• recoding information e.g. Producer, where it was recorded
• Logo
• Bar code
• CD Logo
• Colours
• style to fit
• Unfolds
• sleave

Magazne advert

• Name of the band
• Picture of the band
• Name of the album
• Band website
• Logo
• Song scanner

Task two:

Applying theories to your work in AS/A2

Music magazine

• Logo
• Photo ideas
• Costumes ideas for genre
• colour scheme

Music video

• Costume ideas
• location ideas
• Use of colour in animation
• Use of shots

Ancillary texts

• Logo
• Brand
• Photos
• Layout
• Colours

Task three:

Conventions of real media texts for AS/A2:

Music magazine

Convention 1:

Challenged use of colours as the normal was to go with Black Red and White. I change this to a Maroon Red, Mustard Yellow and Black. This is challenging real media products as not many wuold have a colour scheme like that but i chose it as i thought that it fit in with my genre the most and also the look i was going for.

Convention 2:

I used many conventons from real media products as i was more unsure of the type of things that i needed to do and so by using things from real media products it helped me to make my own product.

Convention 3:

I used the conventions of real media products by using a quesiton for my artist and i used some of the questions avalible so that i could make my questions realistic.

Music video

Convention 1:

I challenged form and convention from real media products by coming up with a different kind of band and story line for the genre of the music that we changed.

Convention 2:

I used convention from real media rpoducts for the style of costume for my band as the genre that we chose. The costume fitted well and also fitted with what we wanted to get across.

Convention 3:

I challenged convention from real media products as i used a storyline to go with the song and challenged the way of how songs are set to a story.

Ancillary texts

Convention 1:

I used convention from real media texts as i was struggling to layout how my advert would look and so looked at layout of real media products and went from there.

Convention 2:

I challenged real media products by have just the lead songer of the band on the front of my digipack where as real media products would have the whole band on the front. However i did this for the advert.

Convention 3:

I used conventions from real media products as i added in important information of who produced the CD and i used this from other digipacks that we have in the class.

Inglourious Basterds essay (ford).

In what ways can Inglorious basterds be considered post modern?

 At the start of the film the credits shows that the film is going to be post modern and it also shows that the style of Tarantino will be throughout just from the opening of the film. We can tell it is going to be a Tarantino film because of the use of yellow in his credits as this is used throughout many of his other films. Also the music used at the beginning which was 'the green leaves of summer' is a spaghetti western style music. This piece of music was released much later than when the time of the movie is based up on and this shows how Tarantino used bricolage in his film. This brickolage style is used also at the opening scene in that it days 'Once upon a time' and this links to old fairy tales in that they are fiction. This is what tarantino likes to do as he likes to make sure people know its not real and that it is a film. However the style of music used helps to set up the type of film it is going to be and that there will be anger and arguments in it.

Chapter one is also set as brickolage as it has chapters as though it is a book then linking to the fairy tale feeling again. Again in this chapter we see that there is yellow text used again and shows that it will be used throughout the film. Another thing that shows that Inglorious basterds is a post modern film is that the camera shows that the house is a set for the film and not actually real. It does this by scanning down the building and we can see all of the levels. This is also a style used by Tarantino because he likes to keep his films fiction. Although we as the audience know that it is a film and is not real we cannot help but feel alert about what is going to happen now we know that there are people hiding underneath the floor boards. Therefore this shows that although we know that it is not a real house but set for the film we still have tension building up.

As we can clearly see that Inglorious Basterds is a war film, However it is not a normal or recognisable like other typical war films. this is because in Typical war films the actors will be messy and will be scruffy with blood and dirt on them for example  in the film 'Saving private Ryan'. In this film all the actors are in a Grey dull place and their uniforms are all messed up. However in Tarantinos film Inglorious Basterds all the men in the war have pristine uniforms and their hair is always shiny and not messy. This creates a false look to the film in that Tarantino likes to get across. Another part of chapter one that shows it is a post moidern film and is done by Tarantino is that large focus on the glass of milk which really is irrelevant the the scene. The start of the chapter was very long and it took a long time for there to be any action which you would expect right at the start of a war film. Like we have IN 'Saving private Ryan' we have action from the start and get what we would expect from a war film. However with Tarantinos Inglourious basterds we do not get this and so it is a not a typical war film.

These unrealistic features of the film also follow into the way the characters are viewed and also how they act. One example of this would be the main German officer Hans Landa. This is because he over reacts with his motions and the way that Tarantino focuses on things such as the milk. This actor then exaggerates the way in which he drinks the milk which shows how he is going to over exaggerate throughout the film. So because of his weird actions it creates tension with the audience in that we know he is going to be a main and bad character through out the film. Also near to this shot of when shoshana escapes is another post modern feature. As we can see when she escapes the shot is framed by the door and we see that Hans Landa is standing there and the door frame is used to outline the shot. This is used in many Taratino films and also is a post modern feature.

After chapter one we again have to story book feeling as chapter two comes on and it is just a black screen with white text showing it is chapter two. Tarantino did this so that we know it still is just a film and a fairly tale and it is not real. Again in this chapter a character called Lieutenant Aldo Raine who's American accent is overly exaggerated. This fits in with the film in that the acting is over the top and that this characters accent sounds fake. He is the leader of the basterds as this is shown as soon as we meet him and we can see that his character is going to have a main part in the film. This also links ot that Inglourious basterds is not a typical war film as in typical war films we learn more about the characters and the backgrounds of them. However in Tarantinos film we can see that we do not know much about the background of any of the characters but more of what and who they are now. Therefore because of this we then go back to understanding that it is just a film and that these people are not actually real.

However this film does have a small humor to it in the way that some of the characters and how different scenes are done. This is done through the character Hitler. This is because we can see that  Tarantino has sterotypically dressed him and he is seen in a humerous way rather than a serious way because of the over top acting he does. This then shows that the film is again not link to normal ar films that we would think of as all the characters are seen as important and are not there to be laughed at. This also links to a another way of why Inglourious Basterds is a post modern film. This is because it shows how the genres are different in that some parts of it are old but it is then mixed with modern genre ith things such as costumes and the soundtrack. Another way this is done is through the use of violence and gun fire. In typical war film we hear lots of gun shooting going on all the time and see certain graphics but the graphics of the violence does not go into too much detail. Whereas in Tarantinos film Inglourious Baterds he uses more gun shots and more graphics violence int hat we see more of what is being done to the people. This then creates more excitement towards the film for the audience and makes it more interesting to watch because ofthe graphics and use of shooting. An example of this wold be that the basterds put the nazi sign into the nazi's heads and this shows of graphics. But also it does not give off lots of emotion which then goes back tot hat it is just a film and that the characters are not real and so the audience will not feel too heavy of emotion.

In chapter three again we see the use ofnd post modern features as this is when Shashona goes to meet Fredrick who is now a new character to the story. When we meet him we can see that he is a German solider and that we can feel the tense atmosphere because we now know this. A big part of this scene is that we can see hat fredrick has a huge interest in Shoshona and that the audience views that he likes her. There are also two other people there that are there for Hitler and so we Know that this is a weird situation and that Tarantiono has wanted to show this so the the audience could understand what sides people were on and so that we could understand the situation of the story at the point. This scene then come to a stop when we are introduced to the new character called Josef Goebbels. Throughout this conversation in this scene the yellow subtitles are shows to link back to reminding the audience that this is still a film. A post modern showing of this scene is when Josefs interpreter woman shows a flash back of them having sex but i comes across in a humerus way.This is postmodern of tarantino because of how he focuses on that rather than the flash back of shoshano wich is more important. with this scene it then follows to Shoshona and her parter discussing how they are going to blow up the cinema with the old video material as it is highly flammable.

Then as we go on to chapter four we are introduced to the British character which again are shown to be completely over the top. In the scene everything is very stereotypical of British people in that we live in large posh houses and talk with a posh voice. They speak fast and politely like you would expect of a British person stereotypically. This then links with Tarantinos directer way of being stereotypical and being over the top. this then leads on to the tavern pub scene in which we are then introduced to the character Bridget von Hammersmark in which you would not normally expect in a traditional war film. This is because she doesn't really have much to do with the fighting in that we just firstly see her as a actress. We then see a soldier who is not represented in a good way but shown as though he messed up in the war and was not a hero and so when we listen to him we get idea of the type of character he is. this scene then dramatically  changes when the British officers come in and a big shooting goes off and we see lots of gore which a again is a post modern trait of Tarantinos.

In chapter five we can see again how Tarantino brings in his own thing of the foot fetish he has into his film. This is both done when hans landa asks for the actresses foot and also when he is strangling her. We do not see her actually being strangled but we see her feet. This brings in the bricolage of Tarantino in that he wants to bring his self into the film by doing this. The use of Tarantinos foot fetish is that it is used throughout his films and so it is something that the audeince can recognise.

Over all Inglourous Basterds feature a large amount of post modern features exspecially with the use of the music and the actual theme of it being a war film.

Research and planning (Hammond)

A2 coursework

All of my research and planning was completed and i also did a bit extra to make sure i had a clear picture of the type of thing i was going to create.
Primary research
Below is a list of the primary research that i did to help with my music video and ancillary texts.

• feedback
• self assessing
• text analysis through student exemplars
• TV
• blog comments

Secondary research

• websites- you tube, google, band sites, NME website
• blogs- I looked at other peers blogs to get ideas of what type of research they were doing and also what type of things they were researching so it could maybe inspire me.
• class notes- looking through what was said in earlier lessons and going back a reviewing what needed doing.

The pros and cons of doing primary and secondary research vary.
feedback- the pros of feedback is that it can be detailed and it is from people that are thinking around the same lines as you as they are experiencing the same. The cons are that people can be bias towards the work as they may not know the full picture and also may be a bit unrealistic.
Self assessing- Pros of self assessing is that i am able to take a step back and look at my work properly and i can decide myself what does and what doesn't look good. The cons of self assessing is that i may be too critical to myself and may end up changing too many things.
Text analysis- Pros of this is that i can get ideas of others work that has been done before and can view what i can be capable of. The cons are that they could give of bad influence and programs may have changed since their work.
TV- pros of this is that i can get a wide range of ideas off the TV and different media texts can inspire me. Cons of this is that there is such a wide variety i could get things mixed up.
Blog comments- this links back into feedback

AS coursework

Below is a list of primary research that i did to help with my music magazine and film opening:
Primary research

• feedback
• self assessing
• blog comments
• text analysis through student exemplars

Secondary research

• websites- google, NME, Mojo, Band sites, Music magazine sites
• Blogs- i looked at blogs from the year before so i could get a rough idea of what i was aiming for.

To compare the extent to the research and planning i carried out for my AS and A2 coursework is very different. Although i did do a lot of research and planning in AS i did not do as much as i did in A2. this is because i wasn't exactly sure what i wanted to look for or where the best places where to look. However in A2 i managed to do much more research and planning as i knew the best ways to do it and i was more confident in what i was looking for. My research and planning skills improve a lot as i became more comfortable with using the technology. Proof of this would be to compare my AS and A2 blogs as you can see that the planning on my A2 blog ties together better and that all my research and planning links in. Whereas in my AS there are some bits of random things that didn't fit in anywhere.

Advantages and disadvantages of sources

Expense/cost- I learnt a lot about this as i had to realise that being a student i do not have the most money ever and so i have to find different ways of making things look good. An advantage of this is that it enabled me to be much more careful in the way i budget money and that there are other things out there to help me that do not cost as much. Disadvantages of this is that i was hard for me to make my coursework always look as good as it could be because i was deprived of better things.
Accessibility- A lot of the research was very easy to find however some sites where blocked from the school which meant it was very hard to research certain things. advantages of this was that it was very quick and easy to get hold of things i wanted and also it gave me lots of new ideas. Disadvantages of this is that it limited me as some images and sites were blocked and so there could have been ideas for me but i was unable to access them.
Time- Research and planning was not time consuming as i managed my own time to do it. Advantages of this is that i was able to look up everything i wanted to and do it quickly because the ideas were already there. Disadvantages of this is that it was limited to time so if i did want to spend a long time on research and planning i wasn't really able to as we had to make our media products soon after we started.
Reliability- This would be when i was to look on google for music magazine and other students work would pop up which would not be reliable. Advantages of this would be that it showed me what i could be capable of and inspire ideas to use before starting my own. Disadvantages of that would be that i only wanted to see the professionals as students work will not be real and so will not be a reliable source for me.
Bias- this is meaning that some of the text that i researched can be bias but i overcame this by doing lots of it so then i had different responses. Advantages of this is that i can see and pick out witch one is subjective and also get a large quantity of sources. Disadvantages of this would be that it will be impossible to take out all of the bias sources because of the limited time and how many of them there could be.
Validity- There was a strong connection between the Mojo music magazine website and my music magazine and also other students exemplars and my ancillary texts. Advantages if this shows that i was able to view something but take it up and do it in my own way but make it look professional. Disadvantages of this is that it means i have stuck to a basic product that i liked and not gone an viewed other things i could have added in.
Usefulness- The research i did was very useful. Advantages of this is that it inspired me and i was able to use the research to help make my products better. Disadvantages would be that i could have been more creative if i did not have any research and planning to go off to help me.

Organisation of research

I learnt a lot about organising and referencing materials and this helped me to be better at my coursework as i had to keep everything organised and make a note of what i was doing. My skills of organisation developed a lot from AS to A2. An example would be with blogger. In AS i had never used it before but because of the organisation and the way the blog was set out it meant that for A2 i was able to do things a lot easier and quicker.

Planning- pre-production and requirements

Drafting- We did drafts for both AS and A2 and by doing a draft it helped me to see how something was going to look and what bits needed changing and improving. For AS We did a draft music magazine but as it was my first ever time of completing something like this doing a draft helped me a lot to see how to use the program and what sort of thins needed to be done. For A2 it allowed me to view what my product was going to look like and helped with what i needed to change with my product and look at the layout and see what other things i could change.
Gaining audience feedback- I made sure i collected this in time for me to make improvements to my work. I went around and asked people to view my products and also got the teachers to look at them so that i was able to get feedback from them too. I have improved with getting audience feedback from AS and A2 as i know more ways of being able to do it and also am more confident to show my products so i can get more feedback and improve them more.

750 word essay

Detail your understanding of the importance of good research and planning skills developed throughout the pre-production of your AS and A2 coursework.

My understand of the importance of research and planning and risen from AS to A2 and i have also gained more of an understanding to why it is so important and how it helps me. Research and planning skills need to be improved as the better i became at it the research and planning the better me products became.
In AS i knew that it was important to research and plan but i couldn't really understand why there needed to be so much done. This was because i was unsure of what was the best kind of thing to be looking for and how the best way was to go about it. As i did more and more i could see how it was helping me and in the end i stared finding a pattern of things that i wanted and what type of things i wanted to look for. As for planning this was very helpful in my AS as it allowed me to see what needed doing when and i was able to go through it how i wanted and i could tick off what needed doing and so it helped me manage my time with what i did when with my AS coursework. I only really used the Internet for my research in AS as i didn't really know how to link other things in properly as my imagination could not go that far. My planning got a bit messy at times but overall i managed to keep it together. I was able to create a few tings but it seemed that once i had thought of one idea i seemed quite reluctant to changing anything which meant i couldn't plan ahead until i became happy with something.
For my A2 work my skills in research and planning had improved vastly. This is because i was more used to using technology and i had experience of it before. I was able to know the best site to go on for the best things and because i knew about more media sites it meant i didn't waste time looking for other things. I am more skillful with my researching skills as i know more what i need to be looking for and also my knowledge is better and so i found it easier to start with something. Also i was able to look at things other than the Internet for example the TV and shopping sites. Even if i saw a top i liked i was able to pick out the colours or style and then link it back to how i wanted my band members to be. Therefore my skills have improved as i am aware of things all the time that could help with my coursework. As for my planning i was much more organised especially with my music video as in AS we did the busted video and this helped me to know how to structure a plan properly. This then meant in A2 me and Laura were able to produce a plan quickly but with detail so that when i came to doing our video we were well planned out and so this meant it saved time with how we were going to do things. My planning also improved with my timing of when i would do things as well as planning what i was going to do. The way i got better at planning things i was going to do was my creating a mind map of ideas and then looking through them and also setting my work out and looking at it and then re planning in it a few ways so i gave myself some choice of what i was going to do. As for planing the timings of when i was going to do things it harder in A2. This is because we need more people to come together but everyone lived in different places and some people worked and so me and Laura had to plan carefully when we were going to do certain things. Therefore from this my skills have improved a lot as i had to work hard to plan and organise everything for the coursework. I know for sure i would not have been as good at it in AS so that shows i have improved. But because of how i was broken into it steadily it didn't seem too hard and i was able to deal with it easily. I mainly took charge in how we were planning to do things for the music video as i seemed good at it and also also the places we needed to do shots were around were i live and so it was easier for me to do it.
Overall i would say that my research and planning skills have improved over both years and i have just got better with handling how i do things with my work.

Creativity (Hammond).

AS
Originality- I came up with a lot in my AS work as it was all new to me and so the only way i could get things to work was by being more creative with they way i did things.
Imagination- My imagination could have been more creative for AS but as it was all new to me i was unsure of how my i couldlet my imagination go and so did not have to confidence to go far with it.
Inspiration- There were many texts that i got inspired by but it was mainly the internet as i didnt really know how to look at things.
Creativness- I was most creative with the use of text and name of my magazine in AS this is because i wanted to think about the the genre and look at what type of things i could create that could match well with it
Recousfulness- i mainly used the internet and photoshop in AS as that was the most that i new how to use and so i was best with sticking what i knew for my first year.
Ingenuity- I mangaged to invent a lot for my AS and was happy with my results
Vision and innovation- I had a good vision of what i wnated and so i was able to follow it but added in little bits as i wnt along.

A2
Originality- I came up with a lot more different ideas for my A2 work and i was able to be more flexible with my ideas.
Imagination- I was able to imagine things a lot easier for my A2 work as i knew i more cabale to use the programs and so i could think of things more outside the box.
Inspiration- I got a lot of my inspration off of music videos that i like as they helped me to see the type of coulrs and layouts used.
Creativness- I was nuch more creative for all of my A2 work i came out of my comofrt zone and tried new things.
Recousfulness- I used many more resouces such as the internet and tv and other digpakcs to look at as this gave me more inspiratins.
Ingenuity- I invented a lot more different things of how to lay parts out and what type of colours i needed to use.
Vision and innovation- i had a better vision of how i wanted my products to look in my A2 as i knew more how to use the prpgrams.

I have been very creative throughtout AS and A2 as i have been able to come up with ideas and have tried them out. I was more creative in A2 but that was because my confidence was higher and i new i could easily change things back if i did not like them.
There were many things that stopped me from being more creative. An example is that the resouces we had were not as good as our school does not have propper shooting equipment or studios and so it is harder to find other things that wokr as well. Other things that restricted me was the time as i did not have lots of time to keep on thinking up new ideas for everything as i was limited. If i did keep on thinking of new ideas and trying them out i would run out of time and my final peice would not be as good.
 I personally liked the idea of having a set of tasks to do as it meant i had something to work on and i was able to make it to the best of my ability. Some things would have been better for me to make my own choice as i could be more creative. I was not pinned down too much by the task as it still allowed me to go out and do my own things and organise myself to the way i wanted to be.

750 word response:

Outline the extent to which you were creative in your AS and A2 coursework tasks.

I was creative in boht my AS and A2 courseworktaks i was just creative in different ways for the tasks.
The technology for my AS did not enhance my creativity at all as i had many probleams with it and so it meant that some of creativiness could not be done because the program would mess up. As for ym A2 coursework the technology was much improved and soi was able to create more things as i went along as i could see what had been done and what i could be capable of if i changed my ideas around a little bit. It gave me more options to do things and also inspired me to try other things. When i didn someting wrong on photoshop sometimes it actually looked good and so inspired me to be more creative with the way i used things.
The two theories that supports my view would be "Media producers can learn nothing from studying the conventions of old texts" and "If creativity is not inherent in human mental powers and is, in fact, social and situational, then technological developments may well be linked to advances in the creativity of individual users". The first comment links to my work because i did not learn anything from the old programsi used and i was more beneficail from the new programs i used as i was able to come up with better ideas. The second quote links with my coursework because i was more advanced in the second year in that the developmetns of the technologies helped me a lot and allowed me to be more creative.
The theories that i could challenge are "A project that is too well planned lacks opportunities for spontaneity andcreativity." and "Technology has taken all the creativity out of media production". I challenge the first quote because i think that if i project is planned well it means that it can be done well and people can never stop being creative and so just because they have a well planned schedule does not mean they are not creative as they have had to create that schedule in the first place. I challenge th second point because i think that technology just allows people to be more creative it does not stop them from being creative. It enhances their chances of thinking of new things as technology allows them to do that.
Research abd planning helped a lot with my creativeness in both AS and A2 as it meant i could veiw things that i would never have thought of before but i could then expand them and change them so that there were able to fit into my coursework tasks. In AS research and planning helped me to start off as everything was new and soi didnt really no where i should start from and so it wasnt until after i stared research and planning that i knew what i wanted and so i was able to go from there. As for my A2 th research and planning stepped up and i knew where to go if i wanted to be inspired and also i had to use the planning better because of the task that we were given. Because i used it more it meant that i had more time for me to be creative and so my work is now much more improved because of this.
Another thing that helped with my creativity was the stylist techniques such as msie en scene and camera angles. In my AS this helped as i was able to look at other students work to see how much stuff i could use and that was avalible to me. The camera angles meant that i could be much mroe creative as i knew how to work a camera and knew about all the different types of angle and so all my images used in mu music magazine were creative as i was able to look at the different igages and see what did and what didnt work. The mise en scene meant that i could create things that i could use to make my coursework look better and show off a better image to meet my genre which was the guitar i used to go with the indie acoustic musici chose. For my A2 that camera andgles were essential for my music video as it meant that the more variety i had to choose from the better my video could look and i could also create new things to have goig on within the shots. The mise en scene was also impartant as i needed my band to be protrayed well and so i had to chose my probs and places well so that it all fitted to the msuic the band and the story that i wanted to get across.

An introduction to creativity. Task 5 (Hammond).

This is what Pete Fraser, the chief examiner for OCR Media Studies, has to say about creativity:

"One of the possible areas you could be asked about in the exam is creativity. The projects you have undertaken will hopefully have felt like an opportunity to display your creativity, but you will need the chance to discuss what you understand by creativity and what it might mean to be creative.

The assignment options at AS and A2 all offer constraints for your work, whether it be making pages for a music magazine, the opening of a film or the packaging for an album; one of the reasons why you aren't offered total free choice is because people often find that working within constraints gives them something to exercise their creativity, whereas total freedom can sometimes make it really difficult to know where to start. It's why genre can be interesting- how has something been created which fits with certain structures and rules but plays around with them to give us something a little bit different?

 

The word 'creative' has many meanings- the most democratic meaning would really suggest that any act of making something (even making an idea) might be seen as a creative act. In more elitist versions of the term, it is reserved for those who are seen as highly skilled or original (famous artists, musicians, film-makers etc). An interesting third alternative is to think about how creativity can be an unconscious, random or collaborative act that becomes more than the sum of its parts."

Last two paragraphs in 5 statements:

• No free choice as if we are wroking with constraints, we will be more creative.
• Genre helps you to be creative as different sturcures show us different things in that we can play around with.
• Creative has a meaning of making an idea into something real.
• Creativity can be a random/collaborative act.
• Elitist version is for those who are highly skilled for example musicians.

5 key words:

• Constraints
• Genre
• Ideas
• Something real
• Elitist version that are highly skilled

In relation to my coursework:

Constraints- harder to get a good room or place to take our shots and also time and money as we are only students at the end of the day.
Genre- The genre of the songs we picked helped us to decide what was going to be shown in our music video
Ideas- Our ideas bounced off each other and new ideas came along as we were creating our music video
Something real- How we made our video and ancillary texts seem real by making them be similar to the professional ones
Elitist version that are highly skilled- By looking at real media products and having them help to give ideas that would help make my media products look as good as they could do.

Cd cover task

The level of creativity of this is not too high as i was given pieces to work with however i did have to pick the fonts and also the layout of the CD cover. Therefore i would say it is creative in a kind of was as i had to make random words and a picture fit together. I went with stencil type of writing because I thought that it matched well with the name of the band with the armed forces. Also the colour of the text go well with the picture as it keeps it cold but still looks good. Comparing this to my AS work it that i can be creative much easier as i know what tools i can work with and i can be more adventurous as i am much more confident with how i use my skills. However for my A2 work i would say i have improved from that massively here just that i am on the same level and that i know how get things to work together better.

Task question

How creative have you been in your AS and A2 productions?

I have been creative in both my AS and A2 production i have just used the creativity in a different way for each year. In my first year of AS i was creative but i did not dare to do some of my ideas because of how new everything was to me and i wasn't quite sure what was wrong or right. Therefore i dd not use my creativity to my best ability. However when i started getting into the task of making a music magazine and i step out of my comfort zone a bit more and thought of new and better things i could add.  An example of this is when i made the first magazine which was a school magazine. The colours in this were very limited and the use of font and layout was very boring and did not go together at all. Then when i got onto my music magazine i could understand more how colours and layouts worked better and i was able to create something much better.
As for my A2 year this then again happened with my draft of my music advert and my digipack. The initial draft ideas were plain and simple and the layout was not great it was like a good AS piece. Therefore when i did my final music advert and digipack designs i used much more creativity with the way i used things. An example of this would be that i painted my own picture to put on the back and in the middle of my digipack. I thought of the way i wanted it to look and this showed how much more it was in creativity terms. I also was much more confident with the programs and so decided to step out of my comfort zone by clicking new things as i knew i could change then back easily as my skills had improved massively. As for my music video, I cam up with the basic story line and so then me and Laura worked around it my adding in bits that would fit better. The whole of our video is full of creativity as this goes for the costume, the mise en scene, and the theme of our video. Our teacher said that it was cleverly done and that it was cery creative in that way in which we used the spaces thatw ere avalible to us.