Reviewing my AS coursework piece

WHAT WENT WRONG? 

During the creation of our opening sequences, we encountered several problems.

- We didn't leave enough time for reshoots. Whilst editing, we thought of new shots that would look really good in the sequence and really pull it together, but unfortunately we were too close to the deadline and couldn't reshoot.

- We didn't storyboard in enough detail. This meant we spent more time shooting than we needed to, as when we were ready to shoot we weren't entirely sure what angles or shots we needed.

- It was hard to coordinate schedules as we left it too late. As we filmed during our January exams, we all had various revision sessions and extra lessons blocking up our individual timetables. As we only organised when to shoot very close to the actual date, it meant that we could all not be there at the same time, and we all missed out on various bits.

- We didn't book equipment far enough ahead. This was a problem as it meant we had to change cameras halfway through our filming, meaning we had to learn how to use an entire new piece of equipment, and slowing us down even further.

WHAT WORKED?
- Our group. The four of us were all on good terms during our coursework, and had a healthy balance of chat to make the filming fun, and focus so that we weren't distracted.

- Our problem solving. Although we encountered all the problems listed above, we managed to work through them. This puts us in good stead for A2 should we encounter similar problems.

- Our film!

WHAT YOU PLAN TO DO NEXT TIME:- Utilize spare time better.

By ensuring that we all have a job to do at any given time, hopefully we won't fall behind.

- Plan ahead. Increase the detail of storyboarding, and coordinate schedules as soon as possible. Once we know when we're shooting, we also want to book equipment immediately.

Reviewing previous A2 coursework pieces

Above is a playlist of the A2 coursework from my school last year. With a group and then in a class discussion, we analysed and deconstructed these music videos so we could know what worked well, and what improvements we would make, which would therefore help us out on our own video.

The first thing we noticed watching the music videos was the importance of the song. 13B6, the top rated music video, had a fast paced and energetic song (Ike and Tina - Jamie T), leading to a lively and thoroughly entertaining video. This song had allowed them to use a wider range of editing techniques and let them create their video in a way that was unique and imaginative. This, however, was not the case with all the videos. Several of the groups chose a song that was slow, obviously focusing on the storyline rather than the beat, and this meant that the videos not only lacked the editing displayed in 13B6's video, but tended to be dull and tedious to watch. They didn't grab the audience's attention in the same way, and it led to us deciding that the story of a music video should be equally balanced with a performance to grab the viewer's attention.

It seemed to be common in the videos that whilst many techniques that a media student should have a firm grasp of were used, the performance in the videos were sub par. Obviously, as media students we may not possess the correct drama skills, but it seems that the videos that were the most entertaining to watch had an excellent lip sync-er who was charismatic and believable as the character they were playing on screen. The videos where the performer was out of sync (either not singing in time with the music or with bad editing) proved to be annoying to watch despite the otherwise good quality of the video. In a group discussion, we decided that it would be best if we asked a drama student at our school to be in our music video, as the performance would be a crucial element in all of our music videos.

Another problem we found in the music videos was the issue of copyright. In 13E9's video (Today I Cried - Professor Green), they decided to put in a storyline element by using clips from the film The Truman Show. Although the clips did make some sort of sense with the lyrics of the song, the energy of the film and the music did not match and it was unclear to us as an audience the thinking behind it without having it explained to us in written work. Aside from this, making a music video like this would also be a major problem as it is unlikely that these students will have received permission from Paramount Pictures to use their film in their video.

However, there were also many elements of this past coursework that were very well done. Most of the videos used a variety of shots and angles, using jump cuts to paste them together, which was important as music videos tend to have more edits in them to bring across a certain energy. Most of them also had a good balance of interior and exterior locations, which was important for keeping the video interesting. One group, 13E11 (Prisoner - Jeffree Star) did not do this, and it was an almost unanimous feeling in our class that this led to a bland video.

In 13B2's production we saw something that is common in music videos, but surprisingly not in the A2 coursework pieces: an instrument. We felt this really tied together the music video, and made it different to the other groups', which had obviously not managed to arrange someone to star in their videos and play an instrument simultaneously.

Introduction

Welcome to my A2 Media Studies blog, where I will be detailing the process I undertake to create my A2 product, from studying music videos to creating one of my own.