Ed.Moore

'My A level media blog'

[edwardmooremedia]

Links to my Blog

Here are the prescribed links to my work which involve the Research, Planning, Production and Evaluation of my work, please click on the desired link to view my blog.

A2 : https://edwardmooremedia.tumblr.com/tagged/A2

Research : https://edwardmooremedia.tumblr.com/tagged/research

Planning : https://edwardmooremedia.tumblr.com/tagged/Planning

Production : https://edwardmooremedia.tumblr.com/tagged/Production

Evaluation : https://edwardmooremedia.tumblr.com/tagged/Evaluation

[edwardmooremedia]

Summary of the Evaluation

Here is the summary of the evaluation questions and how I feel that they have went, in particular the struggles and positives I found with the different formats I used. For the first question I focused on the Prezi. The Prezi was always going to be simple format as I used it last year with the evaluation questions and found that it was successful and positive on the basis and foundation I used. This question was one of the harder ones and the longer ones and this is why Prezi was a decent one to use, as it allowed me to delve into my own work and create a successful piece.

The second question involved a simple write up, however this was due to problems with premiere pro, where the format wasn’t working whatsoever and I was forced to go to a write up, however I am content with the script that I have produced and could later create a film for the script however for the time being, I am remaining in the side of keeping the write up for the evaluation question. The write up however spanned off of a large amount of time, and took me third solid days to create to a standard suitable, however I figured that this would be a good twist on the original write ups that would be created. Overall, this question was harder than the rest due to the complexity of the question, but I feel I answered them well, despite the overlapping of the questions, involving all kinds of brand, identity and genre related questions.

The third question involves a write up, however is simply an evaluation of the focus group created for this question which involves me and Joe asking questions which involves positives, negatives, and how they feel like they would improve their own work as we used media students in the focus group. The questions turned out successful as we tried to create a more embracive and open focus group compared to more static and boring ones, attempting to make the focus groupers feel more comfortable. This question uses a good variety of formats including a film and a write up, which I feel fits this question well, and I am happy with the final production created.

Finally, the fourth question involves the use of a PowerPoint and involves the media technology used this year. This was most likely the easiest one to use as it allows easy access and I have used this format for years, before year 10 media studies. The format allows me to delve into all kinds of different uses, compared to write ups, similar to Prezi. The question I feel was done to a good standard and I am happy with the work produces overall for these questions, with the questions being easier than last year, and also put down from 7 questions last year, to 4.

[edwardmooremedia]

Question 2 evaluation

Here is a word document on the second evaluation point which focuses on the brand and identity of my media products, as well as how I have shown the genre.

Here is the second question to the evaluation questions present in the A2 media production. This question focuses on the brand and identity of the work I have produced as well as the genre being shown within my work. This question will look at the work I have done, and how  I have manipulated my work to the fitting of the band and to what is needed by the genre. 

I have set this as a script to an interview, rather than a standard write up. I attempted to create an interview however the function of premiere pro couldn't work and i had to set up the write up as a script to the interview, rather than film. Please click on the link and view the answer to the second evaluation question. 

[edwardmooremedia]

Here is the focus group for the evaluation for the third question of the evaluation, what have you learned from your audience feedback. Click on the link below to view the focus group. The work below shows the written up answer to the question which involves an evaluation of the focus group 2.0.

The focus group allowed us to ask questions on how to improve our work for the future and also gave us an insight on some of the other students work, and how they perceived this year's work, to last years. We used the DLSR camera to capture the students and their answers. This links to our evaluation question three write up.

[edwardmooremedia]

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Here is the third question from the evaluation points for our media production. This question will allow me to look into the three questions on our own media, as well as other people’s media. Our media production involved us looking at the negatives and positives of our media production, as well as what other media students found about their own media production and how they’ve improved and done their editing and other formats differently.

The first question looks at the positives about our media production and music video. They found that the music video was clean and had a very technical look at what was needed for a music video, as we fit to the conventions of the music video which was what we were aiming to produce. Another positive were the level of pull focuses which of course was another convention of music videos, however our maturity within our work was shown as we used the pull focus more prominently and to greater effect. With other positives praising the lip syncing as well as the guitar playing, which were the harder things to lay down on the actor, however the focus group displayed this as a positive which is good to hear. These positive comments will take ourselves into the future with producing more mature and clean pieces of work, as well as really focusing on the conventions of the genre, and being able to find which tram lines to push and what to conform to, however these positives have certainly been taken well and will be with me for my next media production.

The negative comments received were took on board well and have molded my thinking for my next media production as well. The negative comments reviewed from the focus group and from induvial explained that the editing was to a good standard however wasn’t exciting enough and the editing needed to be flashier. This means that we should’ve created something abit more exciting, yet pushing the convention of the genre to new boundaries, giving it an exciting twist. Other points which were made were of the lip syncing, some saying that it was good, others saying it was poor. We found problems with a few points in the lip syncing however found it was an okay standard, but most said that Ben needed to be more expressive and obvious when he did lip syncing. This is something that will go into our next work, making sure that we look at the actor involved and whether he/she fits the criteria that we are looking for. Other things we will take into account will be the ability of making the piece of work watchable for a larger audience, rather than those watching due to uses and gratifications e.g. interest.

  We then asked the question of what other people have learned about their experience, as well as our own. They explained that they found the music video much harder with the editing side compared to the opening to the film, despite the lack of editing with the audio, however they still were more comfortable and found they were more mature with the shots they chose for their work. These link to my work slightly, however I found that the editing was much easier this year, as the razor tool was the most significant tool out of everything, compared to last year, where the editing took us a couple weeks, where the editing for our music video took no more than a week to look like the polished and finished piece we had created. The knowledge took from this will help me for my future work into media, spreading to university and then possibly into work.

[edwardmooremedia]

Question 4

Here is the fourth question for the evaluation for my production of the music video. Please click on the link for my detailed answer to the fourth question of the A2 music video.

Here is the fourth question to the evaluation of our A2 music video, with the question ‘How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?’ I have answered this question using the format of PowerPoint, with Prezi being done for the first evaluation question. 

This question was very detailed in what it required me to answer and needed me to break apart the formats I had used for the evaluation, research and planning of my A2 media piece. I will be looking at formats such as Google and Premiere Pro, with steps of how i created certain Photoshop pieces such as the magazine advert and the Digipak. Please click on the link to view the answer to question 2, evaluation.   

[edwardmooremedia]

Here is the Directors Commentary for the music video for Ben Howard Small Things, produced by me and Joe. We have established this by simply talking over the video and discussing why we chose some shots and our favorite shots etc. Please click on the link to view the embedded video which can also be viewed on the YouTube channel 'Chew Valley Media'.

This directors commentary was created by the original film and then recording our selves talking over the YouTube video. We struggled to include the original soundtrack but with the volume down, so we had to settle for just us talking over the clip, however we are still content with the commentary we have created. Joe will be speaking in the left ear and myself in the right ear, with this video being most effective with headphones in, as we used a microphone which is situated with headphones/earphones.

[edwardmooremedia]

In what way does your media product use, develop and challenge conventions?

This evaluation point will be presented on Prezi and has been constructed and created by me, to allow the evaluation of the conventions of the media products I have created, such as the music video, magazine advert and the digipak. The link above will take you straight to the Prezi presentation for this evaluation question.  

This question was one of the hardest to produce however I feel that the question was answered to a good standard and I am happy with the created product, with Prezi being one of the easiest formats to use as it allows no slide share or other media sites or formats involved, with Prezi being able to simply share the work on the blog. For further help and easiness to view, click on the screen to zoom into the text if its hard to see. Enjoy the presentation. 

[edwardmooremedia]

As well as Hozier, I have looked at Ed Sheeran and the song ‘A team’. The song features aspects and conventions which we look to apply in our music video. For example, the black and white filter used by the director can be a part of what we wish to use, enthralling a blunt and emotional piece, due to the lack of saturation in the color. It’s also the same genre of music we are looking at doing.

The piece begins with diegetic sounds of birds chirping, suggesting simplicity and some silence, however only a woman in the frame of a mid shot can be seen grieving. This sets up a piece that will most likely be periliative and tell a story to the reader. There is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals however it’s brief. The lyrics feature powerful lexical fields which is similar to the shots used in the music video. A low angle allows the woman feature large in the frame, giving her a large status. This matches the lexical field within the lyrics sang be Ed Sheeran, as he uses words such as ‘Class, A team and Dream’. This matches Goodwin’s theory of the lyrics and visuals being intertwined within each other. The genre of music of is similar to that of the other video I analyzed, Hozier ‘From Eden’. The video matches the same conventions with a perilitive story being told as well as some innocence and sympathy being shown by the director and actor. This innocence can also be used as one of Levi Strauss’s binary opposites, with the innocence of the woman being opposite to the man’s harshness and lack of innocence. The male can almost be compared to the devil and the woman an angel. With the connotations and mise en scene used by the director allowing this opposite to occur.

A close up on the woman indicates the emotion and fits to typical conventions of an acoustic music video, and relates to Andrew Goodwin’s theory of the record label and artist requesting lots of close ups in their shots which allow some emotion and a feeling to the actor, in this case, the female who fills the frame well. The camera movement is jittery and is rarely fixated. This indicates some irregularity in the perilitave story, however there are still some shots which allow a relationship between the music and visual. The woman’s lethargic movement matched with the still camera match the slow paced yet early morning connotations. This matches Goodwin’s theory of a relationship between music and visual. The video does this well. The special effects used as well shot transitions are similar throughout the video. A black and white filter is used to allow some emotion and desaturation, allowing a gritty and serious piece, while the shot transitions feature frequent establishing shots and close ups on important pieces within the video. Steve Archers thought beats can be applied. The ‘Syapthesia’ creates an image of sadness yet hope within the viewer, almost matching the sad nature of the music video, with the lyrics adding to the feel, as a lexical field of hope allows all kinds of images. 

The references to drugs and cocaine are also shown by Ed, as he uses certain snippets to allow images in our head. This matches the visuals and lyrics together, but also fixates certain images and ideas into our head. Ed Sheeran’s grain of voice (Barthes Theory) is scuttle and strong, yet soft enough to match the sadness and hope within the music video, making him the best singer to be for this song. His voice is unique which makes him stand out from the others, and this song accelerates this, with the songs connotations matching the lyrics, as well as his voice, with his voice allowing a story to be told, as well as a place and time to be portrayed, in particular the time pf the early morning and event of a grieving woman. The song has its own purpose and fee to Ed Sheeran, as he expresses his own ideas and ideology, while the song and lyrics matches his cultural and communal voice. In conclusion, the music’s instrumentation allows a mix and effect to work with the lyrics. The slow tempo and effect of his voice allows a strong idea of the sad yet hopeful situation inside the audience’s head.

The mise en scene is very derelict and busy, with the setting taking place in a crowded and busy area, which allows it to be more involved and relatable to the audience. Her attire is slightly rugged and not very wealthy, showing that she is homeless, shown as well as by the sleeping bag she takes with her. This allows more sympathy from the audience due to the connotations surrounding her. The trains and buses passing by accelerates the business and hecticness of the area. The voyeurism of women is a feature of Goodwin’s theory, however the music video plays with these as he views the voyeurism and the way women are presented as a bad thing, as the women is shown in a perverse way by a scale up on the woman’s legs, revealing herself and showing voyeurism, however the extreme close ups on the woman, present her as reluctant further giving us sympathy on the woman, playing with Goodwin’s theory, and even repelling it, by putting an emotional state into it. 

Very little intertextual references are made, except for the play on ‘A team’ which allows a new spin on what the A team can be seen as. The original stereotype is of course Mr. T, however this song plays with the intertextuality and insist on a new stereotype and almost ignore the last stereotype, and even broadening on it, not just referencing the old A team movies. Laura Mulvey’s theory looks at the way women and men interact within the video, and this video expresses that certain male dominance is shown over the woman, as well as the woman being expressed as vulnerable. This however doesn’t match the male gaze as it expresses the displeasure of the woman’s upbringing and life, however from a male perspective, it’s the male getting his end away and allowing him to feel dominate over the female, however this video sees life from her perspective and allows some sympathy and some behind the scenes which the male doesn’t see. Instead of dominance and male stereotype, we see the woman’s side allowing emotion and sympathy rather than simply cheering for the male. 

The final shot is simply a final ending to the music video and acts as the peace maker to allow the woman to be in the sky and now watching over showing peaceful connotations and a slightly mellower tone to the song, almost as if it gone in a circle expressing the journey of the woman. The shot consists of her being blended into the establishing area shot of the sun, representing the ideology of her not being forgotten and staying with the world. The world moving is shown by the time lapse and is a very enthralling and moving shot.  

[edwardmooremedia]

Here is the final magazine advert for my A2 media studies. I have changed the filter as well as creating a 3D effect with the title and making more space between the information as well as including some reviews of the album to add more life to the advert, as well as including the starry night in the background to make slight changes to filling the room withtin the advert. These changes were done esaily by creating more space as it allows it to look like its feeling the screen and also allow it to be more for the viewer. The 3D effect also was done by creating duplicates of the title and making the color black to make it bold and stand out. The starry night was applied to the background and changing around the opacity by making it more transparent, as well as the filter being applied. This is my most updated version and I hope to keep this as the final piece.

[edwardmooremedia]

I have decided to analyse the music video for James Arthur's music video 'Say you wont let go' as it links to the work of our music video, by its use of the black and white filter and genre of music. It also features similar performance aspects, such as the guitar and James being on his own when performing.

The black and white filter links hugely to our own music video, as well as the variety of shots and the performance element where Ben uses the guitar and begins to play in the music video. To start the analysis of James Arthur, the first thing which catches the eye is the shaky camera movement by the director as well as the black and white filter. The connotations used are very bleak and simple, focusing solely on the person in the music video, very similar to ours. The simple filter links to Goodwin’s theory where the visuals and music should link, shown by the relationship between the guitar and James playing the guitar in the music video. Goodwin’s notion of looking shows the conventions of the music video genre, where the close-ups and quick cuts of the artist therefore give the image of the artist to the viewer. 

This links to Goodwin who says that the institutions will use the artist to gain popularity and views by selling them to the viewer, by frequent close up shots of James etc. The close up of James as a younger person and his lover, shows very infatuated connotations, giving the reception by the audience that love is a beautiful and great thing, compared to its binary opposite of love being a horrible thing. The focus on both of them in the shot shows a togetherness within them, showing love as a good and powerful, allowing the ideology of the music video to be that love is a strong and happy thing, even from a younger age. His theory was presented by Stuart Hall who associated this as the preferred reading, so for example, in this shot it allows the representation of love being great and nice, being shown to the viewer and allowing them to be influenced by the shot and changing their perception.

As the shot comes out of focus, it perhaps shows the love coming out of focus, showing Levi Strauss’s binary opposite theory, as the love is presented as in focus and easily seen and that anyone can have it, however perhaps foreshadow events in the music and video and love itself. As the love is focused, it becomes out of focus and hard to see. The use of lip syncing is conventional of the music video, as it becomes apparent to the link and relationship of the music, and the visuals. The frequent over the shoulder shots of the couple being in shot constantly shows the ideology of love being a bold and beautiful thing, however this is a positive message making it approved by the government and to the viewers. The low angle shot of the male and the baby being together is a nice shot as the depth of field is relatively strong, with the mise en scene being very basic and bleak, allowing the male and the baby in the centre of the frame, to be the main source of the shot. This could link to some sort of escapism for the viewer, linking to Blumler and Katz which show the uses and gratifications of people using this video to escape to a happy and fulfilled life of love. A further link to the music video is shown by the lyrics “Say you won’t let go” which links to the extreme close up of the child holding onto the man’s plumbs which connotes to innocence and love, similar to the connotations of the song. Further links show the small girl looking over her shoulder which further links to the lyrics used.

The video doesn’t follow any inter textual references which link to film or television, however are contextual of the genre being used. The black and white filter in particular and the innocence of the children are conventional of the guitar song genre. The different shots link to the tone of the song, such as when the mellow guitar begins to play, the shots of the mise en scene featuring the hospital room and the man grieving feature horrible thoughts by the audience, thoughts of death and despair, relating to the changed tone of the song, as well as the lyrics used such as “Death do us part”. In particular, the exteme close up of the older male, showing his reaction to the death and circumstance of his loved one.This notion relates to the sense of escapism but also the sense of real life, and giving people their own real identity and playing out the way it should be. In conclusion, the video fits to Goodwin’s link of the relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, as well as the Stuart Hall theory where the media can change the perspective of the viewer, however this theory is considered relatively outdated, but can sometimes give the viewer to have a positive view on the world and a positive view on love by allowing a real escapism of people having fallen in love and then lost it, however the black and white filter allows connoting to bleak and simple connotations, but then changing to the tone of the song, such as despair and woe.

In the music video, there is rarely any shown example of Laura Mulvey’s male gaze. This is due to the genre of the music and general tone which doesn’t quite fit to the eccentric and typical exploitation of females, and allowing the video to be viewed by the heterosexual male. The video has its typical wide audience, shown by its kind nature and soft lyrics, which links to the lack of female exploitation and its overall focus on the couple as a whole, rather than just the female. If anything this video puts away the male gaze by showing that the male gaze can’t particularly link to everything, showing that the music video can be seen by not a heterosexual male, but anyone wishing to go from their current life. This is shown by Blumler and Katz uses and gratifications, which shows that people use the media in order to give a sense of escapism. This is down to the ideology of the song showing that love is a strong and pleasant thing, however is painful, especially during the end of the love between a couple.

The Binary opposite’s theory works very well within this music video. For example, there is a distinct binary opposite of the couple being shown as a young and brewing example, with the mid shot of the kids playing with each other, showing that a relationship can blossom from a young start. However it then shifts from this to an elderly couple whose love has fallen due to circumstances, showing a binary opposite of the youthful love being shown, by the director using certain shots including an over the shoulder of the children being together, but then contrasted to the isolated wide shot of the male on his own, showing the opposite of the young and the old, as well as the binary opposite of love being forever and powerful, to love being painful and difficult. The mise en scene of love is also shown by the mise en scene which represents the love being shown by the setting, or example the mid shot of the couple outside is then contrasted to the end of the song, where the director uses shots of the older male in the hospital, showing love as being a apart of nature and the outside, and then love leaving as it enters the harsh and sharp inside. Nature also represents love by the close up pull focus of James on the leaves outside, being linked with the lyrics ‘Say you won’t let go’ showing the Goodwin’s theory of there being a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals and the close up for James links to the notion of looking that is used, in order to install the face of the artist into the audiences head, as well as the institution and record label effectively selling their product and allowing a face for the song.

[edwardmooremedia]

My advert is based on the Digipak that I have created for my music video, based on the song ‘Small Things’ by Ben Howard. The advert and the digipak link by the use of color that is used, such as the red contrasting to the desaturated black and white colors used for the image, as well as the lack of identity shown by Ben. Also, I have used the same font as the one in my Digipak, showing a further link. This also links to the music video by the reveal of Ben in the video as the video goes on and ends up reveling the face and identity of the artist. This advert also has certain connotations, such as the reveal and the fade into focus by the fade shown on Ben in the advert. The way it fades in and out can link to the pull focuses in the video which also represent the “I can’t see” meaning that the artist must focus in order to see clearly. The advert however is of a good link to the Digipak and the video, and is of a good standard, using Photoshop well to create a professional advert.

[edwardmooremedia]

Here is the final piece for our music video, ‘Ben Howard’ Small Things. This song originates from the album by Ben Howard called ‘I Forgot Where We Were’. The final piece is something which we are very happy about, particularly compared to last year’s work. This work compared to last year is much more effective, ,mostly to the help of there being no audio sound to edit, despite there being more to film. We also had multiple reshoots and more fillers to make it reach the 3 minute 46 mark. A total of four shoots took place for this, compared to the one shoot we did last year. We had a shoot located in Cabot Circus, as well as a shoot outside across Clutton. A final shoot inside was meant to be the end product however after some critiscm and a lack of content to fill, we had a final reshoot for outside and inside, including Katie in the shots and making it more compelling to the audience and noticeable that she is a major part of the boy’s life.

Re shooting was something which distinguished the work from last year and this year’s work, which is why we are proud of our work as we have really put in the hours into the video. The reshoot however did have some complications, particularly outside as we were against time and needed to beat the sun before it set. The earlier days made shooting hard and a reshoot inevitable, however we filled enough decent content within the time frame we had. The filming inside was easier as we had some artificial light however we aimed to keep the lighting darker and more confined, which made it having the right lighting hard.

In conclusion, we are proud of the work we have produced and could set to be the final film we produce, however there is always the possibility of another reshoot, particularly with some lip syncing shots. However, this depends on the time slot we can fit Ben into, and his dedication to the filming. If we are able to fit him into another shoot then that would be very effective. However the shots we have kept for the lip syncing aren’t incredibly useless, and are still nice shots with the darker lighting we are looking for, however an improved focus as well as some more improved lip syncing could improve the mark of our music video as well as making it look more aesthetic, however this could be and most likely will be the final production of our music video. Please click on the embedded video above to watch, and enjoy!

[edwardmooremedia]

The final Digipak I have produced the same frame as the ones produced before and the ones in the post before, however this piece has a different aura as it has a darker yet lighter tone to it, due to the inclusion of the red protruding within the black and white filter upon the image. The inside cover are of a similar connotations and imagery, as I use Ben in the middle panel to allow him to be the center of attention, as well as this, the colors are darker red. The change of the color was used because it allows the red connotations to be further installed with danger, love and some other troublesome things you’d associate with the person in the music video.

The Digipak images were taken by myself, including the spine, where I visited Liverpool and produced a photoshoot which had images of Ben as well as scenery around such as the Liverpool wheel and urban scenery attempting to emulate the scenes of the location we will be filming, as the middle of town and suburban area is used in the video. The face of the artist isn’t shown within the album and is slowly revealed within the music video, showing a further correlation and also allows a mysterious tone about the artist and adds intrigue.

This Digipak was inspired by the works of Oasis and their album cover ‘What’s The Story Morning Glory’. The front cover of the album features someone walking towards the audience however the person is blurred allowing no focus on the person, making their identity hidden. This is something which I have emulated, however I have allowed myself to use the titles of the song and the name of the artist to be placed upon the billboard making him more interactive and involved within the setting. It also makes the front cover look cleaner and allows the names of the song and the artist to be a part of the setting rather than looking untidy and standing out. In conclusion, I really like this Digipak as it looks professional and clean and also has continuing features within the cover, allowing it to look cleaner and less all over the place, linking to the music video itself.

[edwardmooremedia]

Here are some Digipak templates that I have produced and will most likely go on to use for the design side of the production. The difference in colours is down to the mood of the piece and the reference to the music video which is similar by the black and white filter which we have placed on the music video, however the brighter colours on the left piece is used to allow more joyful and eccentric connotations, however this doesn't match the mood of the music video. The music video most likely fits the right piece due to the darker colours and the black and white filter used for the music video. Therefore it's likely that the black and white work is more likely to match the music video, however both these pieces still allow a sense of mystery by not fully showing the artist within the Digipak and by revealing a setting similar to the music video, and having a similar mise en scene to the music video.

[edwardmooremedia]

Film script

Film script for our music video for Ben Howard's song 'Small things'.

Here is the film script for our music video, 'Small Things' by Ben Howard. This features the shots involved and the lyrics coincideing with the shots. As well as this, the types of shots are presented and shown within the times that they're shown. This shows the whole music video and has taken an extreme amount of time to produce, and will be key to the rest of our filming and will be used to insight the actor within our video. Please click the link above to view the film script.

[edwardmooremedia]

Here is the annotated film script to our music video, where the song we are using is Ben Howard 'Small Things'. The lyrics will coincide with ideas of what shots to use, including settings and connotations that will be added to the video. This helps with Goodwins theory of the link between lyrics and visuals, where we can allow ourself to look into what each lyric means and how to link both the aspects together. This script will be of help to our Music Video production and has helped us in our research.