If you missed today's lesson - like most of you did, READ THIS!
Absolutely essential:
The good thing about this exercise is that you can be very well prepared for it simply by having a sample essay ready for each of the five sections.
These five section are:
Digital Technology
Creativity
Research and planning
Post-production
Using conventions from real media texts
But you already knew that! The important factor when it comes to preparation is that you should have a VERY GOOD IDEA of what you are going to write for each of these sections, depending on what should come up. If you have a rough example essay in your head for each of them, then you can’t go wrong.
Some important points:
*Whilst this should be based on your real work for the purposes of honesty and realism, remember that the examiner will not have your work in front of them. Therefore, if you are looking at your A2 portfolio thinking, ‘I wish I had done this…’ for the purposes of this exam, you DID do it! I am certainly not asking, or even allowing you, to make up things which are unlikely and difficult to believe. However, you are demonstrating your knowledge of good practice in media production, and you should be making every effort to show that.
*It is essential that you go into a LOT of detail in your pargraphs. Give ACTUAL EXAMPLES. Don’t judt mention ‘a picture’, tell the examiner what the picture was of, what it needed doing to it, how you did it, and what the overall effect was afterwards. You MUST give finite examples, or your mark will be very low.
*There is no problem if you have some cross-over in your essay plans. For example, Digital Technology and Post-Production will share many of the same features.
*There is no problem comparing a STILL project (AS) to a MOVING project (A2).
Planning and Research:
1. Introduction. – Outline the tasks that you have had to complete. Go into lots of detail about what exactly you had to produce and who you had to produce it for.
2. Research into similar products? Talk firstly about how you researched the school magazine. I imagine it was very limited. Only limited access to limited productions. Talk about how this improved with the AS, and then A2 projects. Use of Google etc. Even talk about the trip to see harry potter/ tour of Imax etc. Say that this helped inform you about trailers, how they are cut for different audiences etc.
3. Talk about planning of texts – How did you mock up the school project? How did that improve over time? Talk about how much more complex your shot lists and storyboards were compared to the simplistic and basic ‘box mock ups’ of your AS project. Which technologies did you use? Did the technology become more appropriate over time? Paint/Photoshop/Publisher
4. Talk about organisation of actors – Did you organise the shoot for college magazine at all? If so how? What about for AS? What sort of shots lists did you use? How did this improve over time?
5. Timelines?
6. Safety/Risk assessment? Talk about the importance of risk assessment and how it can ensure that a shoot goes more smoothly. How did this improve over time?
7. Mise-en-scene. – What did you do and how did this improve over time?
8. Research into target audience? – Talk about the progression from basic ‘mood boards’ to online questionnaires. Which technology did you use and how did it benefit your research?
9. Overall how did your product benefit from this improved research and planning?
Digital Technology:
1. Introduction. – Outline the tasks that you have had to complete. Go into lots of detail about what exactly you had to produce and who you had to produce it for.
2. Digital technology used. Go into a lot of detail about which aspects of digital technology you used. Remember that this can refer to hardware AND software. Outline what you used in your AS portfolio and what you used it for. Then go on to outline what you used in your A2 portfolio and what you used that for also.
3. Go into more detail about what hardware you used in your AS. Talk about what you used, and what you used it for, but begin to talk about the shortcomings which you realised at this point. For example, it may be that in your earlier project you used your phone camera – and you now realise that it did not have the colour definition or focus to complete the project adequately. Make sure you cover everything!
4. Go into more detail about the hardware used in your A2! Talk about what you used and how you used it. For example, it may be that you decided you had to use school cameras, which have a much higher Megapixel resolution. Even if you are comparing still and video, this is still possible.
For example,
Whereas in my AS portfolio, I had used a much more basic camera facility, I have since learned that the ‘tools’ which I use to create media products are of paramount importance. Where I used an old/basic camera for my AS portfolio, I loaned one of the school’s video cameras in order to complete my A2. This was far superior as the cameras have a lot of features which you would not find on a more basic camera. The autofocus, for example, on a school camera works in a far superior manner to an amateur camera, meaning that shots remain constant even through zoom. This also helps to maintain professionalism and constancy throughout the shoot. Likewise, the school video cameras also feature motion stabilizer technology. This was absolutely essential, as many of my shots included movement, such as one shot where…..I have since learned that a more amateurish camera would not have been as effective in creating a cinematic effect for my product.
5. Go into more detail about the software which you have been using in your AS. Talk about what you used it for, and possibly talk about any shortcomings which you may have realised since in your own method. For example, did you use publisher or photoshop for your double page spread? What is the problem with this?
6. Go into more detail about the software which you used for your A2 portfolio. How was this usage superior to what you did in your A2. Go into specific details. For example:
Whereas in my AS portfolio, I used a more limited array of tools, I now realise that it is essential to spend more time and use the correct tool for any given purpose. For example, in my AS portfolio, I had a cover image where my model was sitting on a field. There were weeds around her in the grass which I wanted to remove for the effect of the shot. To do this, I used the ‘Spot Healing Tool’, which instantly removes blemishes and heals them automatically. However, whilst this is OK for a rush-job, it leaves the image with an unnatural effect. What I now realise is a better tool is the ‘Healing Brush’ which allows you to choose an area of the image which you would like to mimic, and uses that as a base to replace the blemish. In my A2 portfolio, I used this tool instead to remove spots from the face of my model. The overall effect was much more natural.
7. Things you would do differently even now?
8. Overall how did your product benefit from this improved useage of Digital Technology?
1. Introduction. – Outline the tasks that you have had to complete. Go into lots of detail about what exactly you had to produce and who you had to produce it for.
2. Talk about what you see as being ‘creative’ and outline a few areas where you believe you allowed this to show. For example, selection of Mis-En-Scene, selection of shot types, ways in which you have adapted to current trends, challenges to the usual conventions of text type, unusual or inventive layout etc.
3. Talk in detail about your AS portfolio. Talk about some of its strengths, but also point out some of the ways in which you believe you could have been more creative in terms of selection of mis-en-scene (for example). Refer to specific examples.
4. Talk in detail about your A2 portfolio. Talk about how and why it is more creative than your other portfolio in terms of the mis-en-scene. Give specific example and comment on why you did this/the effect it has. It is OK to say that the format of video gave you much more opportunity to be creative.
5/6. Do the same as above but for shot types.
7/8. Do the same as above but for current trends. And so on…
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