Mixtape - Themed Summer 2012

Song Choices;

1. Rizzle Kicks - Get Down With The Trumpets

2. Rihanna - Where Have You Been

3. Calvin Harris Ft. Ne-Yo - Let's Go

4. Maroon 5 Ft. Wiz Khalifa - Payphone

5. One Direction - That's What Makes You Beautiful

6. Friendly Fires - Jump In The Pool

7. Hot Chip - Over and Over

8. Two Door Cinema Club - Sun

Justification;

1. Summer car song

2. Rihanna's annual summer song

3. Motivation song when running

4. First song on in car when I passed driving test

5. Overplayed on the radio throughout summer

6. Summer gig I went too

7. Sing along song with sister whilst getting ready on holiday

8. Reading 2012

http://www.mediafire.com/?u25n89937l7ylaj,44e7qnheqkmr9pa,ow28qtjhdoao87v,35wtum3aehyvs3o,ij98wde44g0fuc2,afx48ygkw8450cv,r3pck1t6bb8amhz,26omggdma5kvdg1

The Mighty Boosh - POMO TV

The Mighty Boosh is so surreal when you first watch it.  The main characters consist of two zookeepers- Howard Moon and Vince Noir, the zoo owner – Bob Fossil, one shaman and then potentially the scariest is a gorrilla. There are many other minor characters who are played by Noel Fielding and Julian Barrett, which actually could be considered as postmodern, as a form of bricolage, but also because some of the characters played are a direct reference to other people, both fictional and real.  For example, the Spirit of the Jazz could be seen as a representation of Slash from Guns and Roses and also Papa Lazarou from The League of Gentlemen.  This is not only intertextual, but it also draws attention to the fact that we live in a culture which is obsessed with celebrities (Slash from Guns and Roses).

At the beginning of the first series Vince and Howard begin the show by giving a direct address to the audience about what is to come in the show.  This is self-reflexive as it draws attention to the fact that the programme is merely a construction for the public’s entertainment.  This also goes against ‘The breakdown of the distinction between culture and society’ (one of Strinati’s five ways to define postmodernism).  This point from Strinati says that ‘art once attempted to reflect reality.  Postmodern reality now incorporates art in the form of media texts and today we make sense of reality with reference to media texts.’  These references also show what is considered to be ‘high art’, the theatre, with the curtains behind them.

The use of bricolage throughout allows the show to refernce many different genres.  These vary from music videos (the tundra rap),

to fantasy (‘welcome to  mirror world’) and romantic comedy.  Cartoons were also used in later series.  This mixing of genres is generally postmodern, however, it is not bricolage as other texts do it, as all of the footage is newly shot. In fact, The Mighty Boosh does tend to blur the boundaries between different genres rather than use bricolage in the traditional sense.  The Mighty Boosh can be classed as a comedy, musical, fantasy, science fiction and many more.

This show also parodies and satirises many other shows, as well as genres in general. The episode ‘Mutants’ is a parody of the horror/sci-fi genre, and a more precise parody is my personal favourite episode, ‘The Nightmare of Milky Joe’, which is a parody of the film ‘Castaway’, starring Tom Hanks. Obvious parallels can be drawn between the two texts, with Tom Hanks’ character creating an imaginary friend out of a football, and in The Mighty Boosh, Howard creates Milky Joe from a coconut. However, the Mighty Boosh takes the idea one step further into the surreal, with the coconut people coming alive to capture Howard and Vince.

POMO TV

The Simpsons - intertexuality - in paraody (takes the mick), Itchy + Scratchy (cartoon within a cartoon), texts within texts, muscial elements

The Office - mockumentary - set up to look real, awkward comedy, mock documentary

Scrubs - hyperreal, lots of pop culture references

Other examples: Family guy, Scrubs, South Park, Peep show and The Mighty Boosh.

Theorists

1. Julian McDougall (2009) L3 - (difficult to define not impossible, has specific audiences and can still be clear groups such as 'chavs' and 'emos')
2. McQuail (1992) L2 - (changing niche, own specific niche)
3. Ien Ang (1991) L4 - (more sub categories)
4. John Hartley (1987) L3 - (understanding your audience)
5. Hypodermic theory L2/3 - (inject ideas into audiences heads)
6. Pluralist (active) theory L2/3 - (own interpretation)

7. Users & gratifications theory L2 - (escapsim, relationship and surveillance)

• Diversion - escape from everyday problems and routine.
• Personal Relationships - using the media for emotional and other interaction, eg) substituting soap operas for family life
• Personal Identity - finding yourself reflected in texts, learning behaviour and values from texts
• Surveillance - Information which could be useful for living eg) weather reports, financial news, holiday bargains

Question 1a (25 marks)

10 marks - explanation/analysis/argument
                  (answering the questions and showing how you've progressed)
10 marks - examples
                  (from research and own texts AS and A2)
5 marks - terminology
                (media terms)

David Bowie - Post Modernism

David Bowie.docx by

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

During the beggining of contructing my AS coursework I didn't have much if anything no clue as to having an understanding or the knowledge of different media conventions. Furthmore we carried out preliminary ancilliary tasks for both AS and A2 coursework which when using media conventions in these was new to most of us students.

Our AS coursework consisted of creating a music magazine that had to include a front cover, contents page and a double page spread featuring out artist article. Once convention that I incorporated was the rule of thirds. This helped assist me with the direction and placement of the cover image and double page spread by dividing it up into 3 sections that the magazine reader and audience would be drawn to.

From looking at current music magazines such as NME and daze that have the same genre to what I wanted to create helped and inspired me, looking at websites such as 'dazeddigital' and reading creative photography books. This allowed me to gain a better understanding of what conventions I should consider to include in order for my final product to be successful. My front cover used the basic magazine conventions such as, coverlines, capturing interesting image, masthead, captions and a barcode. I then continued and passed on with these real conventions in my contents page and the double page spread article that included a large image stretched across one whole side of the double page spread, a masthead inspired, a kicker and collumned text boxes which held the article content and information about my artist. I feel that I implemented a bricolage idea in my music magazine as I was inspried and took some ideas from a variety of different sources and was then able to apply these similar features within my individual work. 

As for my contents page, this had a patiche which has the meaning of a direct copy and mine contents was the same as one of NME's contents page, with the same colour scheme, the idea of 'band index' going down the side and band images place in similar places. The contents page is more than likely to be the first thing the target audeince will turn to when they open the magazine therefore this meant that I wanted it to be colourful, realistic, professional and easily readable for the audience. I was able to achieve this by using the conventions taught to me through the different examples that I was able to see. I attempted to use the conventions I learn't as effectively as I could. There was also an element of intertexuality as the reader will be familiar with the conventions I let inspire me from current music magazines. 

From having the ability and knowledge to understand different conventions needed for a successful music magazine I could develop them with my creative ideas to make it more interesting and eye capturing. I also thought about certain conventions I used during AS and applied it to my A2 ancillary texts. By looking at album artworks from a variety of different music genres, interesting wesbites such as dazeddigitial and also looking at exisiting music videos on YouTube when planning my video, I was able to gathered information of what conventions I had to use for my digipak, advert and music video.

In mine and Sammy's music video we used variety of colour, lipsyncing, jumpcutting and interesting styling with the costumes. These particular conventions were easier to interpret due to already having the knowledge about conventions for a music magazine. When it came to planning our music video we wanted to make something creative and that wasn’t too similar to any other videos however by interpurting current videos this would reinforce that since it was already used in exisiting videos by us copying it would allow our video to be good as a similar videos that already exsists. However we did use intertexual references such as some of theshots we used were originally used in the video 'Alfie’ by Lily Allen. Another convention that we challenged in the music video was the empy white background mise-en-scene. Orignally we wanted a kitchen location video, with simple shots. But in the end the video consisted of using a white background studo with simple props to help make it more intersting and make up for having no background.

Using Conventions From Real Media

Task 1: Each of my media production tasks had a specific set of conventions - whether it was the music magazine, the music video or the ancillary tasks. in each case I researched real media to establish conventions and guidelines to aid me in the production of my own work.

Below I am making note of all the conventions of music magazines, music videos and the print work I created for the ancillary element of the A2 work.

General Conventions of a Magazine include:
- Album reviews
- Tour dates
- Questions
- Whats in the next follow on issue
- Upcoming tours
- Reviews of live gigs
- Music reviews
- Interviews with artists
- Adverts
- Competitions
Front Cover Conventions include:
- Masthead
- Coverlines
- Pictures with captions
- Rule of third
- Pull quotes
- Fonts
- Most black and white with fonts
- Cover stories
- Route of the eye
Contents Page Conventions include:
- Title
- Eye catching colours
- Pictures and captions
- Index of pages
- Rule of third
- Route of the eye
Double Page Spread includes:
- Headline
- Large image
- Big letter at start of article
- Route of the eye
- Rule of thirds
- Captions
- Important question

Conventions of Music Videos include:
- Performance
- Narrative
- Animation
- Crane shots
- Pans and tilts
- Close ups
- Jump cuts
- Split screens
- Props
- Costume
- Location relevant
- Lip syncing
- Male gaze

Conventions of Ancillary Products (Digipak) includes:
- Name of artist
- Name of album
- Track list
- Price
- Bonus products
- Website
- Credits
- Recording info
- Writer of songs
- Pictures of artist
- Logo
- Barcode
- DVD logo
- CD logo
- Website banner
- Colour to fit
- Artists genre
- Unfolds
- Cardboard sleeve
- Ads
- Booklet
- Casing

Conventions of Ancillary Products (Magazine Ad) includes:
- Name of artist
- Name of album
- Webiste
- Reviews
- Picture of artist
- Logo
- Release date

Inception - Post Modernism

In What Ways Can Inglorious Basterds Be Considered Postmodern?

Inglorious Basterds is a war film made and written by Quentin Tarantino in 2009. The film differs in a variety of different ways to what you would consider normal in a standard war film and can therefore be considered as postmodern. The genre of the film includes many different categories despite the fact that the film's actual setting is throughout the period of World War II. These different categories of genre could be, thriller, action/adventure, drama and war. This is due to Quentin Tarantino removing certain parts of a traditional war film for example fear and replacing it with other feelings such as comedy humour and applying intertextual elements such as the shot framing, revealing the set, music and having onscreen text.

Firstly, one way in which Inglorious Basterds can be considered a postmodern film is the choice of music by Tarrantino. There are many examples of postmodern choices of music used ranging from Spaghetti Western music to a David Bowie song, which was produced long after the film was set. Tarrantino used Spaghetti Western music produced by Ennio Marricone on many occasions during Inglorious Basterds; it is unusual for this genre of music to be used in a war film, as the music tends to be much classical and slow traditionally relating back to World War II. Tarrantino used this music and I think that it worked well and effectively, particularly during the infamous ‘Bear Jew’ scene which is also framed in an exceptionally similar way to that of a Spaghetti Western shootout scene. Tarrantino used mainly close up shots, which emphasised each characters facial expression whilst waiting for the emergence of the ‘Bear Jew’. Another example of the music Tarrantino chose for Inglorious Basterds is a David Bowie song; this again is an unusual choice as the song is completely out of the time period in which the film was set. Despite this Tarrantino again manages to use this type of music in an effective way.

Furthermore, the choice of music used in Inglorious Basterds adds a postmodern element to the film, as it is an unusual choice and not many other directors would have chosen such music as Tarrantino has done. Tarrantino uses the music in specific scenes and parts of which suits the genre of the music and explains his decision for using such a random selection of music. The music used also adds an element of intertextuality to the film. The Spaghetti Western music was produced by Ennio Morricone and is reminiscent to the music used in ‘The Good the Bad and the Ugly”. Although the music lightly touched on intertextuality there are many other examples of intertextuality included within Inglorious Basterds and this is both postmodernism and  representing typical Tarrantino. As I have previously mentioned Inglorious Basterds includes intertextual references from 'The Good the Bad and the Ugly' from the Spaghetti Western genre. Despite this there are many other intertextual references in Inglorious Basterds, which give the film a postmodern feeling. Another example of intertextuality is the link to the Sound of Music, during the scene in which Shoshanna escapes capture from Hans Landa the surrounding scenery of the countryside is almost identical to that of the scenery displayed in 'the Sound of Music'. As well as the visual link there is another intertextual link between Inglorious Basterds and 'the Sound of Music, this link is much more subtle and is displayed at the very beginning of the film. Like the 'Sound of Music' Inglorious Basterds is physically split into chapters using on screen text, the chapters also display a fairy-tale like link, with the onscreen text reading “Chapter 1: Once upon a time in Nazis occupied France…” This is unusual for a post modern film to be set up in this fairy-tale like way, particularly as postmodern films do not generally end happily ever after. This is yet another example of Tarrantino using Intertextual links in Inglorious Basterds can be seen around opening scene involving Hans Landa looking for hidden Jews. The intertexual link comes as Landa is leaving the cabin, in which Tarrantino incorporates as shot, which is almost identical to a shot, used in the film The Searchers. The shot shows Landa standing in the doorway facing out into the open. These intertexual links are only an example and Tarrantino uses a huge amount of intertextual links throughout the entire film, the sheer amount of intertextual links incorporated into Inglorious Basterds certainly adds a postmodern element to the film.

Another way in which Tarrantino adds a postmodern aspect to Inglorious Basterds in the way in which he uses on screen text. Tarrantino often uses onscreen texts in his films and perhaps the best example of this is Kill Bill. During Inglorious Basterds there are many occasions in which text appears on screen and in true Tarrantino style he uses his favourite font and yellow colour. The onscreen text is not overly used and is mainly used to introduce characters such as Hugo Stiglitz. one of the most obvious example of on screen text comes during the scene in which Shoshanna cinema is filling up with the important Nazis leaders. During this scene arrows are drawn on screen pointing to specific characters, the arrows are then followed by the names of the characters appearing revealing that they are infamous Nazis leaders. This can be a solid example of postmodern techniques as the text is unusual and is rarely seen in war films. As well as being postmodern the text does serve a purpose which is to introduce specific characters and is also used to split the film into sections with the use of chapters.

Levis-Strauss developed the concept of Bricolage. They’re many examples of this in Inglorious Basterds as Tarrantino is known for including high levels of intertextuality and using bits of clips and taking ideas from other films. Examples of this in Inglorious Basterds include; the modern music used, small films within a film, comedy, on screen text, chapters and Tarrantino’s infamous foot fetish, which he manages to include in all his films. Tarrantino uses addition by adding public information films into Inglorious Basterds, however the most prominent example of addition is the way in which Tarratino adds humour into the film, this is unusual particularly for a war film, which often focus on other emotions such as being sad and upset. There are many examples of deletion throughout Inglorious Basterds, however I believe the most significant of these in the way in which Tarrantino deletes fear from the film. This is extremely significant especially considering the genre of the film, however Tarrantio counter balances this deletion with the addition of humour into the films. This makes the film postmodern as it has completely transformed the typical war film into something completely different.

Considering all these different ways I believe that Inglorious Basterds can be considered as a postmodern film. Tarrantino includes a variety of different techniques which make Inglorious Basterds almost unrecognisable to the traditional war film. These techniques also add a postmodern aspect to the film as techniques such as revealing the set and using deliberately music which is from a completely time period all create a feeling of postmodernism around Inlgorious Basterds. 

Research and Planning

During the research and planning stages we were given a specific schedule list. It was important to make sure we were up to date with the list before we moved on to the next deadline to ensure that we were moving swiftly. We managed to complete every task set onto the schedule and this meant we did not fall behind on any work.

Primary research

- Analysing existing music videos

- Making a twitter feed for our artist to making realistic approach

- Pitching our ideas to the group and teachers to gain feedback

Secondary research:

- Watching existing videos on YouTube that inspired us

- Viewing past students work, seeing what conventions they used through blogger

- 'Dafont' website to gain font ideas for digipaks and advert

- Looking at album covers from artists that used interesting layouts 

Primary research was essential when putting ideas together. Looking at existing music videos helped us to gain ideas and be inspried but it was also slightly unrealistic because we didn't have a large budget and prop list to work with. Pitching our ideas to the class and teachers also made a lot of difference as we received constructive criticism and were able to improve our work. Gaining ideas form old or new album covers

Considering Key Words Into My Coursework

AS Coursework:

Brief
- Brief was given which was to design a cover page, contents page and double page spread.
- Not able to produce any additonal features or pieces of work.

Genre
- Applied my magazine to a young adult/teenager audience, this is a common convention on the market.
- My magazine was the same to original size convention of A4 to make the magazine appear conventional next to other ones on display.
Original - Created own magazine logo and title.
- Produced my own photography, person and shot props.
- Work independtly to produce my own work which is a convention.
- Was able to produce my own article and text alongside the magazine.

Purpose/Accident
- Followed through my colour pallete, typography etc house style as a prupose feature to make the front cover, contents and double page spread to match up in uniform.

Challenging
- Coventions of a music genre.
- Minimal theme throughout the music video.
- Software on the computers.


A2 Coursework:

Brief
- To create a music video that features your chosen artist.
- Also to create 2 ancillary texts which were a digipak and album advert, that would support the chosen artist.

Genre
- Stuck to a young female audience that would like my chosen female artist.
- Digipak had to fit into the certain template to fit in the market.
- Album Advert had to be the size of A4 resulting in me not being able to create an unusual shape to grab the markets attention.
- Produced an arist that there is many of in todays market to offer.

Original
- Used a distorted double image look onto my album cover which I havn't seen done before.
- Found locations for the filming of my music video which are not available for anyone else.
- Created an original design for both my digipak and album advert that has not been produced the same anywhere else.

Purpose/Accident
- Double image effect on digipak and album poster was accidental as I was messing around on my camera and came accross this photography effect.
- Purposely used props and angles throughout my music video to present my artist in a specific way.
- My colour palettes and typography etc was consistent for both my digipak/album advert which was a purpose feature to make them al link in with each other.

Challenging
- Using the MacBook for putting music video together and organising the clips correctly.
- Challenged when it came to finding the perfect location of where to film our music video.

An Introduction To 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."

Five Summarised Statments Of The Chief Examiner (Last 2 Paragraphs)
1. Creativity can be put into action effecively when set to a ceratin brief rather than just being allowed to do whatever you want and having 'freedom'.
2. Creativity can be specfic to fit certain rules or genres.
3. Creativity may result in an end product from anybody.
4. Creativity can come from anything that is done either on purpose or by 'accident'.
5. Orignial and talented/skilled are the most popular.

Five Summarised Key Words From Statements

• Brief 
• Genre 
• Original
• Purpose/Accident
• Challenging

Exam: Section A: A2 and AS Work: 5 Key Aspects

Bricolage

In the visual arts bricolage is the construction or creation of a work from a diverse range of things that happen to be available, or a work created by such a process.  In art, bricolage is a technique where works are constructed from various materials available or on hand, and is seen as a characteristic of postmodern works. These materials may be mass-produced or "junk". 

An example of Bricolage - 

Postmodernism

- 'Takes things from other things to make new things'
- Recycling something old into something new
- Already exists and is being reformed
- A late 20th-century style and concept in the arts, architecture, and criticism, which represents a departure from modernism and is characterized by the self-conscious use of earlier styles and conventions, a mixing of different artistic styles and media, and a general distrust of theories.

Modernism

New all the time

Up to date

Constant innovation

Beliefs linked to utopian (perfect)

Idea of society (politics, religion, law etc)

A lot of modernist art concerned itself with the grand narrative (love, death, war religion etc)

Postmodernism

Rejects these narratives e.g Andy Warhols soup can painting

Post modern texts deliberately play with meaning

They can mean lots of different things at the same time

Designed to be read by a literate audience and will exhibit many traits of intertextuality.

Many texts openly acknowledge that they can have no preferred reading and present a whole range of oppositional readings simultaneously.

Definitions

Self reflexivity: this involves the seemingly paradoxical combination of self-consciousness and some sort of historical grounding

Irony: Post modernism uses irony as a primary mode of expression, but it also abuses, installs, and subverts conventions and usually negotiates contradictions through irony

Boundaries: Post modernism challenges the boundaries between genres, art forms, theory and art, high art and the mass media

Constructs: Post modernism is actively involved in examining the constructs society creates including, but not exclusively, the following:

Nation: Post modernism examines the construction of nations/nationality and questions such constructions

Gender: Post modernism reassesses gender, the construction of gender, and the role of gender in cultural formations

Race: Post modernism questions and reassesses constructs of race

Sexuality: Post modernism questions and reassesses constructs of sexuality

Key Terms

These terms can form the basis of analysis when looking at a text from a postmodern perspective:

• Intertextuality – one media text referring to another

• Parody – mocking something in an original way

• Pastiche – a stylistic mask, a form of self-conscious imitation

• Homage – imitation from a respectful standpoint

• Bricolage – mixing up and using different genres and styles

• Simulacra – simulations or copies that are replacing ‘real’ artefacts

• Hyperreality – a situation where images cease to be rooted in reality

• Fragmentation – used frequently to describe most aspects of society, often in relation to identity 

20 Songs On Shuffle

1. Lady Luck - Jamie Woon
2. Underground Stream - Araabmuzik
3. Spanish Sahara - Foals
4. Homecoming - Kanye West ft. Chris Martin
5. Shine A Light - McFly
6. Giving Up The Gun - Vampire Weekend
7. Strange News From Another Star - Blur
8. Kaleidoscope - Blink 182
9. Born To Die - Lana Del Rey
10. Nowhere Left To Run - McFly
11. Who Run The World - Beyonce
12. Between Love And Hate - The Strokes
13. Pass Out - Tinie Tempah
14. I Would - One Direction
15. Horchata - Vampire Weekend
16. Charmer - Kings Of Leon
17. Brick By Brick - Arctic Monkeys
18. Winner - Justin Timberlake ft. Jamie Foxx
19. Wrong In The Head - Example
20. Poprocks And Coke - Greenday

Paradox

“Paradox can prove to be very revealing about human nature and the way that we speak. If someone says to you "I'm a compulsive liar," do you believe them or not? That statement in itself is a paradox, because it is self contradictory, which is precisely what a paradox is.

At the most basic level, a paradox is a statement that is self contradictory because it often contains two statements that are both true, but in general, cannot both be true at the same time. In the aforementioned example, can someone be both a compulsive liar yet telling the truth at the same time?”

Examples of Paradox

* Be cruel to be kind

* The beginning of the end

* A rich man is no richer than a poor man

* You can save money by spending it

Hyperreality

• Means to characterise the way consciousness define what is actually "real".
• Exaggerated in comparison to reality.
• Used in semiotics and postmodern philosophy to describe a hypothetical inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from fantasy, especially in technological advanced postmodern cultures.

Example of Hyperreality -

Section A Task

Write down a brief description of my AS and A2 production pieces of work.

- What I was asked to produce
- The target audience
- How I evaluated my product

AS Coursework

For my AS coursework I was asked to produce a new music magazine aimed at a particular audience and that appealed to my targeted genre. The specification was to produce a cover page for the magazine aswell as a contents page and double page spread that included a relevant article for the music genre. My magazine focused on indie pop inspiration and this resulted in my primary audience was females aged 16-25 years.

I evaluated my finished product by answering seven evaluation questions to assess how my product was successful and had to present these answers in different forms of media such as Slideshare, Prezi and Microsoft Word. This included looking at to what extent my product adhered to conventions of real media products, whilst also looking at which conventions I didn't adhere to or conventions I had developed to make them innovative. I also evaluated how my product represented a particular social group, focusing on my target audience of young female adults, and how this was portrayed in the design of my music magazine. Also, I evaluated whether my product would be suitable for todays market, and which media conglomerate would be interested in the my magazine. My product was also evaluated in terms of how I purposely attempted to attract my audience on all pages, and how I used particular ideas and various techniques to catch my audience's eye. To help evaluate my coursework I compared my final product with my preliminary design to assess and evaluate how my skills have improved over time to create a more professional and realistic magazine.

A2 Coursework

For A2 I was required to create three products, a music video with two ancillary texts which consisted of a digipak(CD cover design) and an album advert that would be combined to create promote my new artist. My primary audience focused the same as AS work which was females aged 16-24 years, which was important as it suited the mainstream music market. I evaluated my product by self assessment through four vital evaluation questions. Again I looked at the conventions that my media product used and whether I chose to develop, challenge or be inspried to use these conventions. I also evaluated how whenever reciveing audience feedback this influenced me and translated into progress through my product and how this improved my product from my draft to final piece of coursework. This was an important part of evaluating my product as it gave me a range of different feedback to think about and take into consideration. I also evaluated the technologies that I used through my research, planning, construction and evaluation stages. I looked at how effective the combination of my music video and the digipak and album cover were combined to create a successful finished product.

Section A: Skills Evaluation of Production: Question 1a

Describe (which is to give an account in words) and evaluate (way up good/bad) my skills that I have developed (improved or gained during media practicals and theories) over the course of all the work I have completed in media during the past 2 years.

- (AS) School Magazine Preliminary
- (AS) Music Magazine Final
- (A2) Busted Preliminary Video
- (A2) Digipak Preliminary
- (A2) Music Poster Premiliniary
- (A2) Digipak Final
- (A2) Music Poster Final
- (A2) Music Video Drafts
- (A2) Music Video Final

Digital Techonology
- Camera                    - Computers
- MacBook                 - iMovie
- Photoshop                - Video Camera
- Final Cut Pro           - Internet

Creativity
trying to try something different and creating something that is orignial and new.

Research and Planning
Research - Looking at examples to be influenced and inspried and finding the information.
Planning - Story boarding, mock ups, coming up with ideas, brainstorming, discussions and decisions on what is going to be done.  

Post-production
Once taken photos and have been uploaded on the computer it is then post production. This is editing, cuting of clips, faded clips, added techniques such as music and graphics.  Magazine: Cut out central image, manipulated appearance of typography by adding shadows, outer glows and fill colours, increasing the brightness/contrast and saturation to make artist look more appealing.