Pursuit - Opening Sequence - AS Media

Hello examiner and welcome to my media blog. The clip posted above is my final piece or what is commonly known as the main task. throughout this blog you will also see the evaluation questions and some blogs which regard planning for the main task and researching various media techniques and how to put them into practice. Hope you enjoy the blog.

AS Media Evaluation Questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 6

As Media Coursework Evaluation Questions 1-7

These are all my media evaluation question except for question 5 and 7. the questions 5 and 7 are on different posts as they were made on different formats.

 

AS Media Evaluation Question 7

This is my Evaluation Question 7 were we were asked to look back at our preliminary task and make comparisons as to how we have learned new techniques and skills and how this has lead to the progression of our skills in our main task.

AS Media Evaluation Question 5

This poster is my answer to the media evaluation question 5. Posters are a very common way of attracting the audiences and can sometimes be cheap if they are produced on smaller pieces of paper such as A4 or A3. There are other forms of advertising which can be done including trailers and billboards but as our production was low budget, this would have been very difficult to do so we decided to go with the cheaper option.

Music Industry - YouTube Artists

Picture of Tyler and Alex in 2013

A few weeks back, we were given a handout by our media techer which regarded YouTube music artists and how they are becoming increasingly popular and our gaining more subscribers than musicians such as One Direction, Katy Perry and Beyonce. I decided to look into this as like many others, I have a taste preference with music and I have been listening to some of the YouTube artists for quite a while now. Two examples of artists I have been following are Tyler Ward and Alex G. I first found out about these two when I watched a collaboration of a song that Tyler wrote back in 2012. Tyler was already a popular YouTube singer at the time with around 700,000 subscribers but Alex was relatively new to the whole music scene after being helped and mentored by Tyler. As a result of her inexperience, she only had around 15,000 subscribers.

Since then, both of their channels have grown rapidly and this has been shown through Tyler hitting 1,500,000 Subscribers and Alex has amounted to 1,100,000 Subscribers. The pair have continued to produce music together and have had big success with covers of songs such as Can't Hold Us by Macklemore and Timber by Pitbull ft Kesha. Tyler has recently signed a contract with Sony Germany as that is were the biggest part of his fanbase is situated whereas Alex has been focusing on releasing her debut album which should be out in the next month or two. Tyler has also recently been helping other YouTubers with their careers and has signed them to his own personal record label. Artists include Two Worlds, Black Prez and Eppic.

Below is a clip of one of their most successful cover duets and their individual websites.

Tyler's Website - http://tylerwardmusic.com/

Alex's Website - http://www.alexgofficial.com

Casting Choices

Casting Choices:

With our main task, we were unsure as to who would be good for casting, especially for the antagonist role. For our protagonist we had a clear idea frrom the start who we wanted it to be. We brainstormed ideas on a powerpoint through looking at similar films to ours and the actors that had been used in these films. We then compared the similarities and differences of these characters to find out what qualities we wanted our actors to have. In the end we chose to base our characters on the following two:

Protagonist - Natalie Portman:

We originally didn't find many films similar to ours which had Natalie Portman included in it but we then had a look at the film Black Swan. The film was not similar in terms of plot but it was very similar with genre. Also, Natlie Portman played a very similar role to what we wanted our protagonist to play which meant that we were able to identify what qualities here role included and how well she played them. Overall we thought basing our protagonist on Natalie Portman was the best idea as it was easily comparable to our protagonist which meant we don't have to implement anything.

Antagonist - Sir Anthony Hopkins:

Our choice for our antagonist was a lot harder as there are many different ways this role could be played which meant there was a lot of variety in terms of actors. We looked at some of the more well known horror/thriller films to see what types of chracteristics the antagonist has (age, height, facial features etc.) We ended up deciding we wanted our antagonist to be like Anthony Hopkins. We decided this through looking at the film hannibal and thought someone of his stature and age would work perfectly.

Investigation into Soul Jazz Records

For part of our music industry side of the course, we have to look into an independent music label. Therefore I decided to use Soul Jazz records as a research tool and found the answers to some questions asked by our teacher.

 

What kinds of music do Soul Jazz Records produce?

The genre of music which Soul Jazz Records produce is predominately black music such as reggae, soul, dubstep, funk/soul, jazz and hip hop. It is clear that the music that they do produce is niche rather than mainstream chart/pop, and may only appeal to certain audiences.

What strategies do Soul Jazz Records use to promote and distribute their music?

The main strategy that Soul Jazz Records use to promote and distribute their music is through their website, which is used as an online store for each artist that is on the label. The website allows them to promote music by giving updates through the news section about up and coming tracks from previous artists, or new artists breaking through. They can also offer previews of the tracks before a customer purchases the music. Also by offering different ways of purchasing the music through different formats, as they have CD's, Vinyl, LP's, and MP3 it targets a wider range of audience to suit their demands. The website also uses multimedia platforms, as it advertises 'coming soon' DVDs with tracks on it from artists on their label.

Who is the audience for Soul Jazz Records?

There isn't one particular audience for Soul Jazz Records as it offers a wide range of genres which essentially targets a wider range of audience. As everyone listens to different types of music there are going to be different niche audiences for the different genres that Soul Jazz Records have to offer. Soul Jazz Records also have sister labels on their website, such as Universal Sound, which once again offers an even further range of genre again reaching a wider audience.

What is the relationship between Soul Jazz Records and the mainstream music industry

There is no obvious relationship between Soul Jazz Records and the mainstream music industry, as Soul Jazz Records target their distribution at niche audiences rather than the mainstream itself. Their website allows you to sample the music before you actually purchase it, whereas a 'Big 4' label such as Universal wouldn't. An example of Soul Jazz Records not targeting the mainstream would be their decision not to use social networking sites, but instead having their own blog through the website. This may be a disadvantage as they aren't reaching mass audiences when they have the ability to do so. However, one similarity between the mainstream and Soul Jazz Records is that they are keeping up with technology and allowing MP3 format files of their music to be purchased, which is just basically keeping up with modern trends.

Silent Hill Review

Recently I have purchased the DVDs Silent Hill and Silent Hill Revelations. I have watched both of these films on previous occasions and I have enjoyed both of them probably because they are both in my favourite genre category of horror and things that happen in horror films really interest me to find out things about them, especially if they are based on true stories (Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a prime example of this). Silent Hill is a supernatural horror film where it is quite easy to tell that it is not based on a true story in any way. The film is about religious events that have taken place in order to "purify a demon child" which have taken a turn for the worse as the child survives the sacrificial service performed on her to come back and haunt those responsible for it by trapping them in an alternative dimension to the real world. The child (Alessa) is then greeted by some form of demon which splits Alessa into a good side and a bad side. The good side then gets adopted by a family in the real world but is forced to return to Silent Hill to help Alessa complete her revenge with the aid of her adopted mother and a female police officer.

The film is full of CGI and lots of editing and Silent Hill Revelations has even more of these. With the film being very far fetched and supernatural events occurring very frequently, it is very hard to film without using these techniques, especially as the alternate dimension has a constant soft shower of ash from the coal fire that sent silent hill residents fleeing and unable to return. The costume designs are also very detailed and some of the characters are cleverly edited in from external filming. An example of this is shown in the scene with the nurses which is shown to the right.

The locations used, especially in the second part of the film will have had to be put in through the use of CGI. This is because it would be highly difficult to find such locations with the right credentials to represent the film's storyline.

Main Task Filming Review 3

After a discussion with our media teacher, we decided that our piece was very restricted in terms of how much we had filmed and how many locations we had used. Therefore we decided to go out and look for some new locations to film that would give more of a suitable and relevant look to the genre our main task is going to be placed under. We searched areas near to where we had originally filmed as it would allow us to use some previous scenes and therefore we would not have to waste time re-filming the entire piece. Eventually we found a narrow, dark area where we felt the final scenes of the main task could be filmed. We then spoke to our two actors to agree on a date in which we could film these shots.Our female actor was able to do the date we had planned but our male actor was unable due to other commitments so I therefore decided to step in and be the main male actor in the piece. We manage to film everything in such a way that we did not ruin any continuity and we also managed to get all the relevant filming done in the time we had available. This then allowed us to upload all of the filming onto the computer and begin to edit.

Later on in the editing process we found out that our piece was bordering on being too short. Therefore we decided to add in a few extra scenes that did not require any actors so that it would be easy and convenient for all involved in the making of the main task. This added on a few vital second to our piece which meant it was able to meet the time length criteria. This then left us with editing the piece, adding titles and finding a suitable and non copyright soundtrack to go along with the main task. We managed to get all these done so the group are able to focus on evaluating this piece and answering the evaluation questions to a suitable and high standard.

Quadrophenia Review

Quadrophenia Review

Whilst we were in London on our BFI trip, we watched two different clips from the film Quadrophenia. This film was released in 1979 and was about two different groups of individuals who embraced different media cultures. These cultures were known as the mods and the rockers. The film illustrates how the different media cultures conflicted with one another in the late 1970s. It also shows how there is a form of similarity between the two as the main character Jimmy (played by Phil Daniels) is a member of the mod culture and one of his best friends, Kevin (played by Ray Winstone) has adopted the style of a rocker. There is a seperation between the two cultures due to how the media at that time had certain diversity and that if you liked one type of media, you would be classed as a mod and vice versa.

The main clip we looked at was the scene were the mods ambush the rockers by the seaside in a small cafe type of shop. The scene is full of quick, different camera shots all from a relatively level angle to those who are in the fight. This gives the audience the feeling of actually being in the fight and this therefore makes them interested as to what is happening in this scene. Also when the police are trying to push the mods back, there is a slight tilt to make the mods look higher up in the form of a low angle shot. This contrasts with the stereotype that the police are always in control as it makes the mods seem as though they have more power and authority over them. This is then reversed when the police bring in more reinforcements such as horses and vehicles as the mods and rockers soon begin to part and run off before the police can actually catch them. This gives the audience a sense of variety within the film and this makes the film more unpredictable and interesting to watch.

Main Task Filming Review 2

The next time we met up to film was a few weeks after the first date. In the time between we looked at the shots we had filmed on the first filming day and uploaded them onto a computer. We did this to allow some editing experience to be gained and so we could look through the editing programme and expand our ideas on how to produce our final piece. In particular we looked at the titles and the transitions to get a better understanding of how they worked and whether or not certain ideas we had were going to be used in our final production. This was beneficial to our production as it allowed us to become familiar with the editing programme and software so that when we come round to actually editing everything, we will know what we are doing and therefore we can start editing quicker and hopefully get everything done so we have a sufficient amount of time left to plan and do our evaluation.

When we actually went out to do some filming, we ensured that the setting and props used were as similar as possible to our first filming session so that we did not break any continuity. We did have a bit of a timing issues as our main actor (Hollie) was only available for a certain amount of time so we tried to ensure we got as many shots as possible done but due to quite bad weather conditions and temperature in particular, we got very little shots filmed that we could actually use in the production so we decided we would go out and film on another day we were all free.

Trip to the BFI Summary

Media Trip to the BFI

On wednesday the 5th of February, our media class went on a trip to the BFI on the South Bank in London. While at the BFI we listened to a two part lecture about youth culture and how media has affected youth culture over the past century. This included analysis and viewing different clips from films such as Kidulthood and Quadrophenia. The lecturer (Matthew Hall) allowed people from the audience to respond with their input of ideas and comments.

After this the audience were invited to watch a low budget, British film called "My Brother, The Devil." The film was based on the lives of two brothers whose parents moved to Hackney in London from Egypt. The older brother, Rashiid, is a member of a gang and is trying to get his family on the right tracks and keep his brother, Mo, from doing the same as he did. Rashiid however takes a different route after an unfortunate turn of events which leads him into "acting weird" according to Mo and his fellow gang members. Mo also changes path from a school kid with a bright future to a member of Rashiid's gang. Rashiid then has to sort everything out in terms of changes to MO, his gang and his own complex lifestyle.

After we had watched the movie, we got to have a question and answer session with one of the producers of the film, Julia Godzinskaya. Julia told us a bit about her background in media and how certain aspects of the film were made. She also spoke about the reaction of people who watched it and how due to the society of Hackney and other London areas, the production team had to tone down the homosexual side of the film as some people found it extremely uncomfortable. The way in which homosexuality is dealt with in the film supports this.

Music Industry

Jay Z's album released in 2013

In one half of our Media Studies course we have finished looking at TV drama and have now moved on to the topic of the Music Industry. We will be looking at the history of music and how it has developed with time as well as the record labels including the three big name ones (Sony, Univesal and Warner) as well as independent record labels by artists who are considered to be more niche.

The three main record labels have the majority of mainstream artists signed to them i.e. Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and One Direction. These three record labels will also own other independent record labels or will have a large share in some of them such as Jay Z's record label and P Diddy's. this generates a high level of revenue for them which is why they are able to grow as businesses and continue to purchase the recording rights of big name artists and future artists who have a lot of potential in them.

Tyler Ward's album released in late 2013

There are other record labels that tend to not gain huge finances like the main record labels as they do not have the public's awareness that they and their artists are around. Examples of this would be Youtube artists who are maybe signed up to one of the bigger recording companies but have their own personal independent record label where they are able to help other artists gain the recognition they need in order to gain success in their careers. Someone such as Tyler Ward does this as he is signed with Sony but he has a small record label where he helps other artists who he has worked with before and/or has seen them perform generally through social media websites. As far as I know he has a few artists signed to him with the main success being Alex G who is beginning to gain recognition by climbing higher in the American music charts and having a tour and original album coming out in 2014. There are other artists on Youtube who are like Tyler Ward and will continue to help those who need it.

Dialogue and Narration

Recently I watched the film Watchmen and I looked closely at the dialogue used in the specific scene above. In this scene, a former member of "The Watchmen" has been brutally murdered in his apartment and another member of the group has heard of this news and is trying to figure out who has done it and why. The dialogue that is used in this clip is not spoken directly from the character but is played over the actions he is taking in the scene.

The dialogue is more mysterious than original dialogue as it gives us more of an insight into the character and the story behind him. It also gives us an insight into how he sees the situation that he has been placed in. The dialogue is very opinionated and the main character speaks in such a way that his opinion is the only one which counts which makes us as an audience learn more about him.

The narration in this scene does not really reflect the situation he is in as it is more focused on the background story of the film as a whole. The narrative talks about the downfall of the Watchmen and how they had been looked over by people who did not know what difficulties they had been facing and how they had to deal with them. This gives the audience inside knowledge as to how the situation has come about and how the decline of the Watchmen has reflected the behaviour of the main character and his former compatriots.

Main Task Filming Review 1

Our first attempt at filming for the main task began with our group going out and practising some of the shots and angles that we were going to use. By doing this we were able to gain a good understanding of how the shots and angles would look in our final production and we were also able to look at where we would be filming from and what kinds of obstacles and props we could use to get certain shots such as a tree for high angle shots. We felt this would help our production as the familiarity with the shots and angles would make the filming process quicker and therefore we would be able to get more done in the time frame we had available.

After we did this, we felt it would be best to do a run through with the actors we had in mind for the role (Hollie and Marc) so that they could get some practise and familiarise themselves with the roles that they would be playing. This would allow less mistakes being made and therefore we would have to take less shots as the original shots would be correct. In total we spent about an hour trying to film different shots for the actual piece

Mise-en-scene



This is a scene from the movie The Avengers

Mise-en-scene is known as the arrangement of all scenery and stage properties within a scene. Its compiled of six different elements which can also be known as CLAMPS. This stands for Costumes, Lighting, Actors, Movement, Props and Setting.

From the photograph above we can see each element of Clamps in detail:

Costumes - In the picture we can see that both the characters are in costumes which are brightly coloured. This gives them the element of standing out from the rest of the picture which has a lot more darker colours within it apart from the destroyed yellow car to the left hand side.

Lighting - We as an audience can tell that the lighting is set in day time as the blue sky above Iron Man suggests but because of all the destruction surrounding the two characters, there is a more gloomy lighting than it first seems.

Actors - We can clearly see the two actors within the picture and they are dressed up in costumes. We can tell that they are both superheros but there may be an element of differences between them as they are moving in a way that they are battling one another.

Movement - As covered in the previous paragraph, the characters are portrayed as fighting one another by their stances and the fact the lighting from Iron Man's hands suggests he is attacking Captain America, who is in the defensive position.

Props - The only real props that can be considered in the scene are the costumes they are wearing and the shield Captain America is holding.