Using Conventions Essay

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

At the start of the AS coursework i didn't have much of an understanding of media conventions. Even though we carried out preliminary tasks for both the AS and A2 work using conventions was new to most people.

The AS coursework involved creating a music magazine that had to include a front cover, contents page and double page spread. I used the convention of 'the rule of thirds' which helped with the placement of the double page spread and cover image by dividing it into three sections that the reader would be drawn to.

 By looking at existing music magazines with a similar genre to what i wanted to create, looking at websites such as 'cover junkie' and reading creative photography books i was able to gain a better understanding of what conventions i had to include in order for my end product to be successful. My front cover used conventions such as, Masthead, coverlines, image, captions and a barcode. I then followed through with these real conventions in my contents page a double page spread that included a large image stretched across the whole a3 page, a masthead inspired by 'Dazed and confused',  a kicker and columned text boxes. Some might claim that i used a bricolage style in my music magazine, as i took ideas/inspiration from a number of sources and used them in my own work. A pastiche style is also applicable as i took the 'check it out' slogan from a magazine i had looked at.

 My contents page had  a pastiche (direct copy) of NME's contents page, with the black text boxes. The contents page is likely to be the first thing a reader will look at when they open the magazine therefore i wanted it to be colourful, look realistic, and easily direct people to what they wanted to read inside. I achieved this by using the conventions taught to me through the different mediums. I tried to use the conventions as effectively as i could, however i did challenge the convention of a strap line on my front cover. I did not want to overcrowd the cover, as it would not match my minimalistic approach, therefore i chose not include this convention. Even though i deducted a convention i followed the convention of a continuous colour scheme, which added to an identifying house style. There was also an element of intertexuality as the reader will be familiar with the convention i borrowed/used from existing music magazines.

After i fully understood the conventions needed for a successful music magazine i could develop them with my creative ideas. I also thought about certain conventions i used during AS and applied it to my A2 ancillary texts. I gained information of what conventions i had to use for my digipak and advert by looking at album artwork from a variety of music genres, arty websites such as 'FFFOUND' and i also looked at existing videos on YouTube when planning the music video.

I used jumpcuts, accurate framing (rule of thirds), use of colour, lipsyncing and good styling in my music video. These conventions were easier to interpret due to already learning about conventions for a music magazine. When it came to planning and researching the music video we wanted to make something creative and something that wasn’t a direct pastiche. However we did use intertexual references such as some of the shots we used were originally used in the film ‘Project x’.   In some ways our whole music video was a parody as we did not use an original song, and we purposely used classic conventions for a dance song. Another convention that we challenged in the music video was the party mise-en-scene. Originally we wanted a crowded video, with lots going on. However what we ended up with was just two people up against the projector screen. This simplistic style of a dance genre song could be considered postmodern.

The importance of conventions links back to creativity. Without some ‘rules’ and constraints the two tasks would be completely random and not even recognised as that media product. Therefore conventions helped to create real looking media products that have meaning. Through using conventions throughout both of my tasks I have a better understanding of how and where to use them.

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Drive - ending explained by Director (Nicholas Winding Refn)

“Well all my films always have open endings. All of them. Because I believe art is always best when…you talk about it and think about it, so forth. Maybe once in awhile I’ve gone too far, but I always believe in finding the right balance. And in ‘Drive’ he lives on for more and new adventures.”

Digital technology

What did photoshop allow you to manipulate?

 Photoshop allowed me to manipulate my image for the music magazine e.g colour enhancements. I was  able to edit the title by using the magic wand to crop the masthead which made the general appearence neater. I also used the red-eye corrector on one memeber of the band.

Which tools did you use to match your fonts to act as part of the MODE OF ADRESS?

I used Da Font to try and find a font that would represent and appeal to my target audience of 16-25 year olds. I wanted the font to be fairly simplistic to match my theme. It also has to be easy to read from a distance, making it easily recognisable. Not only did i look at Da Font but i also looked at exsisting magazines such as 'DAZED and confused' and use their style of font for the masthead.

How did you use photoshop to aid your HOUSE STYLE?

My music magazine had a unique house style with the creation of the square boxes that backed the text. This style was inspired by music magazines i had previously looked at. Although i did change the convention slightly and made the text boxes bigger to highlight each number and what was inside the magazine.I also had a continuing theme of rectangles which can also been seen in the background of the contents page.  The colour scheme of pastel, green pink and black also continue throughout the magazine. Giving it a running theme.

How did you manipulate photographs?

i manipulated photographs using photoshop. There wasn't a lot of manipulation required as i wanted to photo's to look real and not over edited. The only editing tools i used were, brightness, contrast, and a fade tool to reduce the really bright colours.  

Explain how using layers helped to organise your work and construct your front cover?

Layers helped organise my work and keep things neat when constructing the double page spread, cover and contents page on photoshop. I was able to duplicate layers so when it came to sizing all the text boxes, i was able to do this quickly and they were all the same size. Layers also helped with the placement of images and getting them perfectly in-line.

Desktop publishing.

DPS - The creation of my DPS involved, placing the article into text collums that matched fairly standard conventions. I also placed the Title and subtitle in at the top of the page where the reader would most notice it and be incised into reading. I also added green text boxes to the header. i used the convention of anchorage, and made the text collums slightly transparent so the image could be seen underneath.  I only used one large image of the band that covered the entire A3 page, therefore the texts had to be placed equally on each side of A4 for it to look professional and authentic.

Print Convention + juxtaposing of Elements

I stuck to only two fonts in my magazine which made it look more proffessional and didn't distract the reader from one font to another. It is evident that i juxtaposed some element of the magazine, such as putting a black and white photo inbetween two coloured images. I also used jutaposing fonts (pink and blue) on the cover of the magazine. This was a conscious decision that i made and thought it would help the magazine appeal to both sexes.


Interactive web technology 

Blogger is a very interactive way of working and enables me to share my ideas and gain feedback on my work from a range of people at any given time. This software means 'two way communication' and collaborative working. When it came to 'planning materials' i used prezi, scribd, animoto and flikr as well as blogger.

What cameras did you use to complete your preliminary task?

I used a sony HD digital camera to take photo's for my preliminary task. I then uploaded the images onto a mac using a USB cable. After that i could start editing. During editing i learn't composition and framing skills that helped me to create a professional looking music magazine.

Software and Hardware - A2

When editing our music video we used final cut pro (software). This technology was good quality and mean't we had to create the video on a timeline. This was easier as we could just drop in the clips where we wanted them. However the timing was sometimes hard to match with the audio.

Due to the dance genre of the music, we decided to do a lot of fast cuts/ jumpcuts to match the nature of the music. We also repeated some shots, fast forward/ rewound them which gave the video a quirky edge, which is what we wanted. This also tested our creativity on the software and we learn't some important continuity skills such as the girl had her hair up in one shot but down in the other.

Skills in using digital technology

During the A2 coursework the extent of how much we had to blog became apparent. In result of constantly blogging and sharing ideas my skills have become a lot more advanced and quicker.

Technologies used in my AS year:
Animoto
Prezi
Blogger
photo-shop
...

Technologies during my A2 coursework have become advance. I used sodtware that was completely new to me such as, iMovie and final cut pro for the music video. I learn't a lot of skills using the software and hardware during AS and with the knowledge i already had from preliminart tasks and previous coursework i was able to advance myself and challenge myself on new softwares.

Creativity

What made a good essay:

• Applying theories to your work confidently
• Constantly linking to the question
• A good understanding of how your skills have progressed from AS to A2
• Using the 5 key words (Pete Fraser) as a starting point

Creativity Theories

'A project that is too well planned lacks opportunities for spontaneity and creativity.' - agree to some extent with this view. I carried out a lot of research and planning, although after the feedback from my first draft i changed a lot of things without planning them and in result, had some very creative ideas. Such as in the music video.

Pulp fiction

In what ways can Inglorious Basterds be considered postmodern?

When watching a Tarentino film, such as Inglorious Basterds, it's important to remember the fictional representation he is displaying in his war films. The films opening credits make us aware that the film will run in chapters and it begins with 'Once upon a time'. Suggesting a fictional fairytale genre that will  clearly play around with the conventions due to 'Inglorious Basterds' being a parody war film. There are also fairytale references to Cinderella, when Col. Hans Landa discovers a shoe in the bar scene and then matches it to Bridget Von Hammersmark and fits it to her foot. These references are subtle and probably only really recognised by a literate audience.

The establishing shot of 'Inglorious Basterds' show self-reflectiveness and is attached to a western genre. Tarentino even uses the same framing of certain shots, such as the doorway of the farm house being completely blacked. This shot in the farmhouse and of Shoshanna running away is displaying hypertexuality and referencing a 1950's film called 'The Searchers', where the same shot is used whilst John Wayne's character slowly makes his way out of the door which is juxtaposes Taratino's creation of the escape.. By having intertexual references at the beginning of the film we are introduced to his postmodern style. Tarantino has also used this shot in his most recent film,  'Django Unchained' 

The spaghetti western theme has also influenced the soundtrack for the film. One of the songs featured in the movie is the track 'Slaughter' by Billy Preston. It is played when the audience are being introduced to the infamous nazi, Hugo Stiglitz and as well as incorporating the spaghetti western genre, Taratino also has also included a  David Bowie song from the 1982 film 'Cat People'. Even though the song is much older than the film it seems to fit in with the action of Shosanna applying her make-up. Therefore Tarantino is being postmodern with his music choice, taking something from the past and making it modern and relevant again. During this scene Tarratino uses another one of his trade mark filming styles by breaking down the fourth wall. We see part of the set as Shosanna leaves for the cinema and this could be considered as postmodern because we're directly notified that we're watching a fictional film.

During the film we are introduced to characters with a bold, yellow comic text and throughout the film we see Tarantino's signature yellow subtitles that are used in most of his films. This could be seen as postmodern because he uses his own consistent and unconventional style, making his films easily recognizable to a large audience.

Inglorious Basterds has elements of the hyperrealism. Characters strive to maintain false pretenses by using dramatically over the top accents such as the character Aldo Raine, played by Brad Pitt, the character maintains a strong, Tenesee accent and perfectly quaffed hair and uniform. For example, when Aldo Raine is wearing a white suit at the cinema it remains in perfect condition even after his ordeal with Hans Landa. His appearance as well as characteristics represent a postmodern character that is reflective of Van Johnson, a wholesome American actor who  played a military officer in one of his final feature films, in 1992.
Another postmodern element to the film is the dialogue between characters. Tarantino's characters 'never shut up' and the extensive amount of dialogue, including German, Italian, French and English languages makes the film more complex, emphasising and framing the gaps between the violence, which in result, creates a suspense for the violent outbursts. This is not typical of war film, a film such as 'Saving private Ryan' creates a close enough true reflection of war with a lack of dialogue due to the intense battles. Therefore Taratino plays with the genre of a war film by creating a hyperrealism. 
During the build up to these violent scenes the camera work Tarantino uses is similar to that of the film 'The Good The Bad And The Ugly'. Where there is a Mexican stand off between three characters. The pace of the scene in 'Inglorious Basterds' is very slow with consciously long close-up shots of the characters eyes or their hands reaching for a gun. This type of filming does prolong the suspense for the action and again, is recognisable from a spaghetti western genre. The gruesome 'scalping' of Nazi soldiers shows the camera focusing on three dead nazi's and the third is in fact Tarentino being scalped. Tarratino usually gives himself a cameo in his movies, which could be considered a postmodern choice. However Woody Allen also does this in most of his films. 

There is almost a parody being played out by the fact that Tarantino includes Nazi's being burned alive in his film, like so many Jews were in real life. There is also the character Aldo Raines who poses as a Nazi in order to kill nazi's. And finally, the use of branding the Nazi's with a swastika. All these elements of the film highlight the postmodern approach that could be applied to the film, as well as Taratino using these real events to piece together his fictitious film.

Thench and American by American and having the completely separate cast come together for the film. They are all dramatically over the top with their accents and this could be Tarantino's method of postmodern representation and stereotyping. However all the characters bring their own linguistic styles to the movie.
The paraody of Hitler creates a comical element to the film as it is so stereotypical.

Detail how your understanding of the importance of good research and planning skills developed throughout the pre-production of your AS and A2 coursework.


The importance of research and planning became evident throughout the AS and A2 coursework. I carried out two different types of research, primary research and secondary research. Primary research involved my own thoughts and research sources. Whereas secondary research involved looking at existing media products.

During the AS coursework the primary research stage involved me pitching my ideas to the class and gaining vital feedback. I also constructed a questionnaire that enabled me to understand how much people would spend on a music magazine and what particular genre's were popular. Other primary researched included taking test shots of the band, and coming up with the band name.

All these factors helped me to piece together my original ideas for the music magazine.Primary research was gathered by myself, or the people I was working with. Meaning that this type of research is purely based on people’s opinion (e.g pitch feedback and questionaire) so it can sometimes be subjective and bias. However I did gain certain knowledge of what i wanted to achieve. By just having your ideas at this early stage of the production you might not be completely accurate with the conventions needed to make a successful product. That is why the secondary research was so important. By this stage we knew exactly what we were looking for in the existing texts.

The secondary research stage was important during the pre-production of the music magazine. The main way i researched this topic was to buy music magazines and see how they were layed out e.t.c. There was a slight cost of maybe £10 that had to be considered. However the magazines did give me a useful insight into what real music magazines contained/featured. For secondary research, i also used a number of websites such as 'FFFOUND' and 'Cover Junkie'. These websites were easily accessible and allowed me to see real magazine covers and together with the test shots of the band i could imagine what mine might look like.

When looking back at the pre-production secondary research and planning stages there wasn't really that many cons. The only one that might be significant is that by just looking at existing pieces of work there could be a lack of originality. However, that is why primary research was used. Overall, secondary was helpful because i was able to see what real media products looked like and maybe creatively challenge the conventions.

These two different research methods were also useful during the A2 coursework brief of making a music video, digipak and advert. By having three different areas of media in one task it mean't the research had to be a lot more thorough and more was needed.I worked with a partner for the task and we began by pitching our ideas, and making moodbaords to gain feedback. Another factor we considered in the primary research of this task was the deciding of the band name and genre that we wanted to portray.

Secondary research included looking through certain photography book that also features famous album covers. This helped us to understand what was popular. We also looked at the video's, digipaks and adverts that previous students have created. This was useful because they also had a low budget for their project so we could see the standard of work produced when planning our own pieces of work.

Overall, my research and planning skills have definitely improved over the course of the two tasks. Due to the brief at A2 involving the making of a music video, digipak and advert more research and planning was required in order to gain a deep understanding of all three areas. Some might argue that at AS we also had three tasks however they were all in the same area of a music magazine. Meaning we predominantly researched music magazines. As opposed to A2 when we research CD covers, music videos and album adverts that are different media areas. 

My research and planning skills have improved dramatically especially throughout the A2 coursework.  At AS research and planning was new to everyone and I didn’t understand the amount of planning that is needed in order to have a good focus on what I wanted to achieve. My research skills involved buying music magazines, looking at their convention and using them in my own work. At  A2 my research and planning skills improved, I became quicker using the technology and had a better idea of what to research such as, certain websites (FFFOUND) used to gain inspiration. From using the technology of Photoshop in the previous AS task I was more advance when using it at A2.

Research and Planning

AS

Primary research

Pitching the basic idea of my music magazine

Created a questionnaire to get an idea of how much money people spend on a music magazine and how often they are purchased.

Test shots of the band to see what they would look like on the cover

Came up with a band name using 'band name generator'

Secondary Research

Looked at existing magazine that had a style i liked and wanted to use

Tried out different colour schemes that music magazines had

Used cover junkie to research covers

Looked at previous blogs

Pro’s and cons of Primary research

Primary research is research gathered by me or my group. Therefore a con of this type of research would be that it’s purple based on opinion, meaning it can be fairly subjective and bias.

Another con is that it’s only your ideas meaning you might not be accurate with certain conventions needed. (without researching and secondary factors)

A ‘pro’ of primary research is that it allowed individuals to gather their own ideas and get a basic knowledge of what they wanted to achieve. Meaning when it came to secondary research we knew what we were looking for.

Pro’s and cons of secondary research

Con- people might have lacked originality or creativity by just looking at existing work

Pro – We could be influenced by real media products already existing and use their similar conventions

A2

Primary research

gaining audience feedback through pitching and moodboards

decided on genre of band and band name

Secondary Research

looked through books of album covers to gain inspiration

looked at previous students blogs

Research and planning skills

Due to the brief at A2 involving the making of a music video, digipak and advert more research and planning was required in order to gain a deep understanding of all three areas. Some might argue that at AS we also had three tasks however they were all in the same area of a music magazine. Meaning we predominantly researched music magazines. As opposed to A2 when we research CD covers, music videos and album adverts that are different media areas. 

My research and planning skills have improved dramatically especially throughout the A2 coursework. At AS research and planning was new to everyone and I didn’t understand the amount of planning that is needed in order to have a good focus on what I wanted to achieve. My research skills involved buying music magazines, looking at their convention and using them in my own work. At  A2 my research and planning skills improved, I became quicker using the technology and had a better idea of what to research such as, certain websites (FFFOUND) used to gain inspiration. From using the technology of Photoshop in the previous AS task I was more advance when using it at A2.

Expense and costs – At A2 there was no real cost of research and planning, we did use books but they were provided for us. At AS the only really cost was maybe £10 that was used to buy music magazines.

Accessibility and time - Research was easy to come across as we mostly used the internet or existing products.