Candidate Information

Candidate Name:

Sarah Biswell

Candidate Number:

 5016

Centre Name:

Wilmington Grammar School for Girls

Centre Number:

61119

Link to AS blog:
http://sarahbiswellasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/

Evaluation 4

How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?

Evaluation 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?
To find out how our music video was received by the audience, we displayed it in a few different places, so a large group of people could view it. Firstly, I posted it publicy on Facebook where loads of people can view it and give their comments. We thought a social network would be good to share the film as some people will have knowledge of media while some won't and the majority of our friends are older teenagers and therefore meet the target market so their feedback will be relevant and reflect a wider groups opinion. Secondly, our media class gave us feedback which was highly useful as they have knowledge on media conventions and the qualities our coursework should have which helped us to develop and improve it. Lastly, we chose a small group of friends to give more in depth feedback on the three products. By using friends we knew they would be honest and not feel they have to compliment the video, while also knowing they all watch music videos and buy albums so can relate our products easily to real ones. This therefore gained both positive feedback and constructive criticism for a fair overview of each of the products.

To enlarge please click the icon in the top right hand corner; you can scroll down the comment in the bottom left corner using the bar on the right hand side of the paragraph which appears when hovered over.

Evaluation 2

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Evaluation 1

In what ways does your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

 Taking the above presentation into consideration, the music video I have helped create does follow many conventions of real music videos, which feedback has shown creates a professional and realistic final product. However, we have also clearly included our own conventions which do not necessarily follow those of real products but once again these were successful with the audience feedback showing the stroy was interesting and easy to follow. 

To enlarge please click the icon in the top right hand corner; you can scroll down the comment I have written in the top right hand corner using the bar on the right hand side of the paragraph.

The above poster shows how we have met and challenged different conventions of real media products, giving a realistic final product which features many of our own, carefully thought out ideas.

Props

As well as the necessary equipment for filming, we had to ensure we had the probs for each filming session as many of these were recurring and therefore needed every time.

1. Vodka Bottle
In several shots, Ellie is shown with a vodka bottle. To ensure consistancy we therefore had to use the same brand of bottle and judge the amount of liquid in the bottle on how much she has drunk through the video, for example, following the drinking/ smoking scenes there had to be less in the bottle.

2. The lighter
We used the lighter in a few scenes and had to buy it especially for the video as none of us owned one. It was therefore important to remember as we did not have a back up lighter and needed the same one for consistancy.

3. iPhone
The phone was used twice and therefore we had to use the same one as the colour, case and background etc had to be the same for consistancy.

In our rough cut we had also used the iPhone in an earlier scene but have replaced this now, however, this was another situation when we needed an identical iPhone.

4. Picture
The image of Ellie and Harry was seen twice, once on her wall and then again when she burns it. We had to print of several copies of the picture in order to ensure the size was the same and also as back-ups incase the burning did not go as planned (it took 3 attempts to burn it as we planned, with Harry's face going first).

CLOTHING
3. The coat
The coat was Sarah Brushett's and therefore only available when Sarah was involved in the filming. She was mostly always there but we had to arrange to get it if not (as I explained in one post about filming) as the coat is one of the most obvious features of the main characters outfit.

6. Doc Marten boots
These belonged to our friend Emily who was not involved in our music video and therefore one of our group members would text her the day before filming to ask if she could bring them in. Emily was happy to lend them but if she could not bring them into school one of us would pick them up from her house, which is 2 minutes from our school.

Equipment for Filming

Each time we have filmed for the music video, we have used the same range of equipment:

• Video Camera

 The video camera we used throughout the shooting of our music video was a hand held Canon video camera which we borrowed from the school. Each time we filmed we ensured it was fully charged so we would not waste time charging it during the filming session. We found this camera very useful as it was easy to transport to the different locations and meant we could easily film at a range of angles without problems holding/ moving it.

• Tripod

The use of a tripod meant we could get more professional looking shots, keeping the camera still when necessary and also allowing smoother camera movements when we panned up/down the actors. The height can be altered, meaning we could easily film at a range of angles.

• Lights

The 2 lights were useful at ensuring the lighting was ideal in each shot. We positioned them on two sides of the actress so as to prevent shadows across her and used translucent covers across the lamp shades so the bright light did not hurt her eyes.

• Sheet

We used a plain white sheet a couple of times during filming to ensure lighting was ideal; this involved covering windows with the sheet (out of the shot) to reduce the brightness/ rays of sunshine in the shot. We also used this sheet during photoshoots as a background. This made editing easier as we did not have to remove unecessary features behind the model, while also making the photo's look more professional.