What equipment I used..

These are images I used when producing and evaluating my music video and ancillary tasks.

A camera.


A macbook.




A video camera and tripod.




I have developed my skills a lot throughout this project using these types of equipment. I am now able to use more technical aspects of the Macbook for example more transitions to fit in with what the video is trying to say/ get across to the audience and also how to change the speed and colours.
I feel I have learned so much when producing this video and I feel I will be able to use this later in life to make any video more interesting to watch.



I have also put these images and a more detailed explanation of what skills i have learned on my evaluation on Prezi.com.

Ancillary Tasks

As part of our media assignment we are required to complete two extra tasks as well as our main task. The two extra tasks vary depending on what you choose to do for your final assignment. We chose to create a music video, therefore we had to choose two tasks from the following:
- A website homepage for the band
- A cover for its release as part of a digipak
- A magazine advertisement for the digipak

I have decided that I am going to create a CD cover and also a magazine advertisement. I used Photoshop to make my product more creative. I used an image of the girl seen in our music video (Ceri Shiels) for my CD cover as she is the artist in the music video.

Below are some of the images that I edited in order to create my CD cover and magazine advertisment.
This is the photo I took of Ceri, who was the main performer in our 'Beautiful' video. I wanted her by a brick wall because it had little detail which i could add writing or images to and it will still be clear.


















This was a flower i got from the Internet which i used on both my CD cover and poster. I didn't originally think of using this but as you can see in the picture above the way ceri is sitting her skirt has fallen, therefore i thought too much leg was on show for my target audience. I thought the flower was a good idea because of the target market for our video- young females like pink and flowers, and will therefore get attracted by it.



















To create my CD cover and my poster I used the programme 'Photoshop'. Within this programme I used tools such as the text tool, lasso tool, colour changer, ruler etc. This helped me create my CD cover which I initially designed.
Here is my CD front cover.


















I added text onto the wall with negative words to fit with our video of people putting others down. I then added the 'strike through' to portray that Ceri (the singer) doesn't care about what people say. I also added her name as this is vital in any CD cover as this is how the artist is recognised.

I then created the back cover for my CD. I didn't want to use a brick wall background again so I decided to take a picture of a patch of grass as this is another well known image found outside like the brick wall. I then carried on using the flowers so that all of the CD linked together.
Here is the back cover for the CD.



















I then added made up song names to make it like a real CD album cover.
The second ancillary task which needed to be completed was to create a magazine advertisement, advertising the new album which included our video's song. I created this by adding the CD cover I created previously, then added the release date and reviews from magazines which the 'Pop' genre of music target market reads or radio stations they may listen to, making the advertisement look more realistic. I made the advertisment have a plain background so the consumer focus's on the CD cover. However I did add a flower like on the CD so all of my tasks linked together in some way.
Here is my final advertisement:
















Overall I am rather pleased with my ancillary tasks as they capture the market well and are clear and readable for the consumer. I also made sure the main artist was the main focus on the CD as this could be classed as the most important part.

Completed Production

After completing our video. We decided to use new technology in order to gain audience feedback, therefore we uploaded it onto two websites.
Firstly, we uploaded the video on to http://www.youtube.com/ this website allows users all around the world to share videos and comment and rate them.
Secondly, we uploaded it to Facebok- a social networking website http://www.facebook.com/, this also allows people all around the world to view and comment our video. Using both of these websites will hopefully give us a good idea about whether we created and edited our video well and if there are any improvements we could make.
On Youtube we have already had many veiws, and on Facebook we have been given feedback as people who have watched it have commented.

Monday 22nd March- 1st April

During this week we focused on how we were going to present our evaluations. One way was by using Microsoft Powerpoint which we have used previously, but the second option was using a newer website called 'Prezi'. We signed up for a Prezi account on www.prezi.com. After having a look at the videos which explain how to use Prezi i think this is an effective and professional way to present my evaluation. Therefore I will try my hardest to create an attractive evaluation on Prezi.

During our production lessons on Thursday we watched all of our videos we created as everyone had finished and met the deadline. We had to rate the videos on their overall performance by using levels. Level 2 was basic, Level 3 was proficient and Level 4 was excellent.
After seeing all of the videos made at A2 and comparing them all together I was very proud of my groups video and was praised on it by Mrs Rogers and other class members on it.

Moday 15th- 18th March

After presenting the presentations we ctreated in groups last week, and making notes about how people are influenced to join groups, where others have no control over what they say. We then focused on how we will present our evaluations for the final productions.
We were given certain questions which we should answer in our evaluations, and obviously add more to make it more in depth. We also looked on the chief examiners blog -> petes100blog.blogspot.com
This helped me get an insight into other students blogs about Media. Some of these examples helped me gain ideas baout how I shall present my evaluation.

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We focused on trying to finish editing our productions during these double lessons. As the dealine is getting closer we are hoping to get the editing completed by the end of next week so we can then focus on trying to complete our subsidary tasks. I think it is very possible we will get our editing completed by next week as we only have the ending of the song left.

Monday 8th- 11th March

During Monday's lesson we carried on focusing on 'moral panics' i know understand fully what a moral panic is and how the media plays a big role when exaggerating the problem. Collective identity and stereotypes also play a role in this too, these groups of people become a 'base' of moral panics, which could be seen as threatening by society.
The first 'moral panic' within society was the Waltz dance. This was because it was the first dance in which males and females had to touch eachother. This illustrates that most/some moral panics either just pass or deteriorate. However if some moral panics are 'dangerous' enough this could create new laws/ change legal policies.

During Tuesday and Wednesdays hours of media we got into groups and were set a task to complete. My group had to create a FACEBOOK group about Media A Level Student help, add friends, and then create a presentation on how we will protect the page from any rude/ un-needed comments. We will present this presenation sometime next week.
Here is the link to our group we created..
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=364133583480&ref=mf

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Our production lesson this week was a very important one in which we had to work well toegther in order to get it done quicker. We carried on with our editing of our film and so far we have the first verse and courus completed. I and other members of my group will try to use all free periods so that the video is completed and of a high standard. I am now quite confident we will finish this video on time.

Homework- Summary on hompages and the construction of identities on the web.

Personal home pages are constructed to reflect the makers’ identity, it gives the opportunity to present ones self to the ‘virtual world’. Home pages are not really created/ used to give information but are used to construct a certain identity. The virtual environment offers the user a context which can be used to experiment and shape a personal identity.

Home pages can be used to ‘promote’ a person in a way they want to be known as, however comparisons of home pages with face-to-face interaction can be different and often misleading. Some users do not show information that may make consumers not want to know more about them, they would rather feel accepted in the online world. As home pages just show texts, images and graphics and in person, body language, facial expressions and gestures are shown, this can portray a different sort of person than which is online. Users make sure they keep some information ‘a secret’ to consumers as the internet/ World Wide Web has mass consumers as well as mass producers. I think that the way in which you can tell a persons personality just by looking at their home page is by looking at the language they use.

The way in which individual users differentiate themselves online involves bricolage (a term referring to the construction or creation of work from a range of things which happen to be available) in this case it is the use of graphics, sounds, text etc. Confusing layout and mulitimedia is a way in which people can make themselves different to others in a way to make a ‘personal statement’. An online commentator stated that “Most people do not get the chance to write a book or get published anywhere. The net gives everyone a chance to say something before they die.” This is one of the main positive points for producers online as they are able to express their thoughts and feelings to other users at their own leisure.

Another positive aspect of having a home page is that it is easier to ‘reveal yourself’ or parts of your personality to people. An example of this is shown in the report by Daniel Chandler. It shows that James, a gay British internet user, said it was easier for him to ‘come out’ on his homepage compared to real life and when people asked he was able to say ‘Oh didn’t you know?’. This is a good example of showing how the construction and information on a web page/ home page makes it easier to show ones identity as they do not need to face any consequences or embarrassment face to face.

With advantages of having homepages and identities on the web, come some disadvantages. One disadvantage is that some fear that young people will be dependent on using the virtual world to retreat from everyday life, as these are the digital natives (people growing up knowing about the web). This means that young people’s identities are being shown on the web without knowing the receiver. This proves that ‘virtual homes provide no shelter for anyone’, and therefore we should make sure that some of our important information on our constructed homepage is kept to ourselves.