Exam entry blog

The project I am doing now at A2 level is a music video followed by a magazine advertisement and digipak. All is going well at the moment and I believe that my work links extremely well to the genre which is rock. Firstly, the song I have chosen is already a well-known rock song around the world so from using this song, everyone will assume immediately that my work and music video will be associated with rock. The song “We are the Champions” is quite a cliché and traditional song. To begin with, I started looking at several music videos that were associated with the genre of rock. I came across a particular video that appealed to me which was Electrobank’s video where they portrayed a narrative story in which personally linked with the lyrics where a girl who was a gymnastic sprained her foot while doing a certain move but still was determined to carry out and finish. This story inspired me and as I knew I was going to be creating an innovative video for the song “We are the champions”, I believed that it would be great to create a traditional narrative story line as the song is traditional so therefore by creating a traditional narrative, the music video and the song would link clearly well.

My music video is more like a short-film instead of a performance music video because I wanted to empathise with the audience instead of creating a subverse video. For example, by creating a traditional narrative, my target audience will be drawn to it as everyone likes to see a simple storyline so they are not immediately confused and asking questions. When I was going through the process of thinking what story to perceive, I began writing down a lot of ideas on a piece of A4 paper. At first, I thought of perhaps linking the song with a music video associated with boxing but as it turned out me and my work partner Abbas thought that it would be too difficult to film as there are not many boxing rings around locally. As a result, we decided to go for the concept of running especially after seeing the rocky race scene. We knew that there were many running tracks around locally for the public to use which was to our advantage and we believed that we could portray a traditional narrative with the concept of running as well as personally linking with the lyrics in the song.

The storyline we finally chose was quite traditional. For example, we decided to have two girls who were highly athletic and were preparing to compete against each other in a race. We wanted to portray the message of that if you don’t succeed at first then try again. We gone through the idea of having the underdog loosing the first race, and then gives up but then is determined to try again so therefore she trains hard and frequent and then eventually wins the race at the end of the video. We believed this narrative would link well with our target audience as the storyline is simple and traditional therefore catching the public’s attention into empathising with the characters in the video.

The way how the lighting is used in my music video such as a black and white contrast for the first race scene, this depicts quite a dark atmosphere which immediately links with the rock genre. As I have not yet completed my digipak or magazine advertisement, I am however strongly thinking of using the colours black and red as these two colours signify rock therefore immediately drawing attention to the rock lovers out there. I have looked at many digipak’s online and in store as well as magazine advertisements. Not many magazine advertisements appealed to me but I did however come across a film poster for “Scott Pilgrim VS the world”. This advertisement is extremely effective as firstly, the colours used are black, red and white which are all the colours I am going to use as they immediately associate with the genre of rock. The way how the characters are all shot in split screen at the top is extraordinary and as a result I am choosing to take individual pictures of my band and then creating a split screen to use on my magazine advertisement.

Also on the film advertisement, are the two main characters standing back-to-back. This is also an idea I would like to use because me and my star actor, Bethany Simpson are the two individuals that race against each other in my music video. I am going to take a picture of me and Bethany standing back-to-back so I can effectively create a successful magazine advertisement. I am planning to create the magazine advertisement in the next couple of weeks as I think this will be quite easy to create. However, I honestly have not thought too deeply about the concepts of my digipak yet. I do know that I am going to have a picture of me and Bethany on the front and a group picture of the band on the back but as far as the booklet and inside lay is concerned, I have not finally decided on what I am going to include in there. Again, I am going to use a colour contrast of black, white and red as I believe these are the most popular and admiring colours as well as clearly linking with the genre of rock.

The target audience our music video is generally aimed at is young individuals aged 16-35 and so on. I think that my work clearly links well with my target audience as firstly, the song is aimed at quite a young audience therefore having an impact on the general community as the song is so greatly well-known. The song “We are the champions is such a traditional song so therefore I will be satisfying my target audience as everyone will be up-to-date with the song therefore having a sudden urge to purchase it. Linking with my music video, I didn’t want to create a subverse video because I believed that it wouldn’t meet my target audience’s needs. I strongly gone ahead with using a cliché and traditional story line as everyone likes a traditional story with a happy ending so therefore my target audience will be satisfied.

My music video strongly associates with the structuralist narrative theory in which therefore an individual is let down at first or does not succeed and then in turn gives up in distraught. However, after the distraught of not being successful, an individual deciding to give it another go by training and etc by winning and becoming successful at the end. My video is clearly associated with the structuralist narrative theory as my storyline portrays exactly what this theory believes in. My music video portrays a story line in which links with one of the greatest songs of all times, “We are the champions” by Queen.

The story links well with the lyrics in the song as the music video is going to portray a story in which links with a race in which two characters who don’t particularly like each other both want to win. Within the first race, we have the blonde girl winning the race whereas the underdog looses. However, after the first race is finished the underdog has doubts and thinks of giving up but is then determined to try again so decides to train frequently in preparation for the next race. At the end of our narrative finish, I the underdog finally wins the race and becomes a champion which related to the title of the song “We are the champions”.

Thinking about representation, my music video clearly portrays the messages that “if you do not succeed at first then try again”. This links with my narrative in which a girl looses the race at first but then tries again with hard-working then at the end it all pays off as she wins the second race and becomes victorious.

Looking at media language, the choices of shots, sounds, mise-en-scene and in which the editing process is going, everything has being chosen carefully to link with the narrative and genre which is rock. As we have filmed two running scenes, the mise-en-scene was chosen carefully as I wanted to make the race look professional so therefore using a clean and respectable running track. When looking around to see which running track to use, I found a perfect one at maiden castle which is located in County Durham. This track was open to the public and by asking the manager, he gave us full permission to use the track to film our media. When we were filming the other part of our footage which had to be inside, we used a bedroom in which shown effectively me coming in after my race in distraught and then looking determined to try again by walking out the house. We deliberately chose to create this as we wanted to video to personally link with the characters so therefore by filming at home, it will personally create an effect for the audience.

When thinking about camera shots, I strongly pointed out to Abbas about the importance of continuity. We decided to take many shots from different angles as this would make the editing process easier which it has. However, the editing of the video is not finished yet but it is going well. Final adjustments just have to be made in order to effectively create a successful and efficient music video. The way in which our video and everything looks at the end will hopefully be successful. The video is nearly finished and looks good so far so therefore the choices I have made have really paid off in helping to create a flourishing music video.

Looking back at the beginning of my AS year, my skills have developed dramatically compared to my previous work. Firstly, my research techniques have improved. For example, at the beginning of my year 12, when beginning my first project which was the exercise project, me and three fellow friends did not do really much planning or research. However, the task didn’t require much research as we were given a script by our teacher to try and memorise. As digital technology and shooting was concerned, I wasn’t very confident at first with how to use the functions on the digital camcorder. It took me a little while to figure out all the functions and how to playback all the footage. When we about to shoot our exercise project, I was one of the actors within the scene and we decided to shoot the scene in the hall on the stage. When we looked back at the footage, we realised the lighting was not very good. As I just started my first project, I didn’t know much about the effects of lighting or where the best place was to shoot. However, the task did help me develop minor skills especially learning the basics of the digital camcorder which was a result.

The next project that I was set in year 12 was a continuity project in which I and one of my friends Bethany decided to work together. We had the choice of what we wanted to do and we chose on a “Chick-flick” short film. As I had already learnt the basics of the digital camcorder it was easier and quicker to film. As I was acting in our continuity project, I was able to use my acting skills which I personally think is one of my talents as I enjoy thoroughly getting into character and playing different roles. All the filming and shooting went really well and I advised Beth who was filming to take many shots and close-ups as well as shot/reverse shots which were mainly focused on when she was filming the scene in which I was getting told off by a teacher from my bad behaviour of fighting with another student in the corridor.

The main struggle for me after filming the continuity project was the editing process which I found extremely difficult as I was a beginner. In the process of editing the continuity project, I needed a lot of assistant from my media teacher and even after the project’s editing was finished, I still didn’t feel highly confident with the functions and how to use the editing software effectively. However, as I did gain a little bit of knowledge about the editing software, it made it slightly easier when filming my final AS project which was to create a short-film. Again, I worked with my friend Bethany Stone and we both chose to film a short horror film in which I become stalked and chased and eventually tied up in a cellar. As I had completed both the exercise and continuity project before, my skills had improved rapidly so therefore my focus was to do several planning and bits of research to help us prepare for filming.

I looked at several text books and researched on the internet and found out lots of information about how horror films should be shot and which draws in the audience. The information I found was extremely useful and by the end of year 12 I knew the full importance of planning and research because I understood without any planning or research, then the overall project could fail and not benefit as much as without any planning, then everything could go behind schedule and not as much understanding would go into the project. As digital technology was concerned both I and Bethany were well equipped with the understanding of the functions of the camcorder so this made everything much easier. I also knew the importance of location scouting when filming and how important the lighting was.

As we were filming a chase scene as part of our final AS project, I begun looking at some local forests around to see which one would look most efficient in our video. However, we did have a lot of time free in lessons at school so I decided to film at school near the track as it was most convenient and looked really efficient when filming there. There are many things that need to be taken into consideration when thinking of where to shoot, and how many shots to take and also the mise-en-scene and what to wear and etc. As I had already had a year experience of thinking about the whole process of preparing for filming, over the year from previous projects I think I have made a huge improvement in all editing and acting skills especially as well as becoming highly confident with finding places to shoots and how to use digital technology to its full use.

My planning and organisation skills have also rapidly improved as now I fully understand the importance of planning and organisation that needs to be put into a project. My final as project achieved an overall B grade which I was highly please with as I put a lot of work into the project. I now have a copy of the film on disk so I can watch it whenever I want and see in what I have improved in.

Referring to my current final A2 piece now, I can see by looking back at my previous projects that my skills and techniques have rapidly improved. For example, my planning/organisation, research, digital technology and shooting have improved. As I was so pleased with my final project at AS level, I felt highly confident from the start of year 13 that I would be able to again create a work of art that will hopefully gain a grade B again with all the hard work I have put in so far. Working on my current project this year at A2 level, I have alternatively, even though my skills have improved, experienced a few interferences with shooting. For example, the weather was a main concern as all throughout the middle to the end of December and beginning of January, the weather was treacherous as the North-East had heaps of snow in which was 6ft deep so therefore our filming could not take place as most of our filming was to be shot outside.

However, the problem has just been recently resolved as the snow had stopped so my filming took place last week. Apart from that, my experiences this year filming has been adventurous and extremely exciting. I was able to choose who to work with this year and I chose to work with one of my good friends, Abbas. We both were interested in the same song and same concept of genre which is rock. When planning what to do for the video and which storyline to take on we both had similar ideas so we were able to work extremely well. As of now, my current project is still being completed with a little more of the editing process to be completed as well as extra footage if needed too. However, so far the whole project is looking really efficient and I am pleased with all the hard work I have put into this project because I strongly feel that this piece of work is up to a good standard in which I’m hoping by the end of it to achieve a well rewarded grade.