CD case design

Each panel should be 12cm by 12cm.

It is very important to make your CD case as professional as possible. Study real CD designs carefully and ensure the fonts you choose look authentic. Also, remember key features such as the bar code, logos and smallprint on the back cover of the case.

Here is a good example from last year to show you the sort of standard to achieve grade A:

Evaluation

Now that you are moving towards completing your video, you need to start thinking about the evaluation. There are 4 evaluation questions which are set by the exam board and you have to answer each one in detail. You should be writing at least 500 words for each, plus including features such as director's commentary on your video (for question 4) and interviews with people who have watched your video (for question 3).

The 4 evaluation questions are:

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

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts (the magazine advert and CD digipak)?

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

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

Ask your teacher for help with this. Remember the blog makes up 40% of your marks for the project and the evaluation is the most important part of the blog.

Blog homework- analyse your music video

Andrew Goodwin (1992) identified 6 key characteristics of the music video:

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in rock video, dance routine)
2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals
3. There is a relationship between music and visuals
4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).
5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
6. There is often intertextual reference (to films TV programmes, other music videos)

Analyse your video in terms of Goodwin’s ideas. How many of the key characteristics of a music video does your piece display?

IMPORTANT- revised deadline for music video

My mistake- the deadline for the music video is Friday 25th November. It is essential that all work on the video is finished by this date.

You then have until Friday 9th December to finish the blog and the print-based work.

Deadline for completed music video

The deadline for the completed music video is Friday 2nd December. It is essential that videos are fully completed by this date as they will be marked early the following week.

blog homework- comparing AS and A2 production work

This week's blog homework is about comparing the challenges of AS and A2 production work. What have been the major differences and similarities between the productions? Compare the filiming process- what differences have you noticed in filming techniques, equipment used and amount of filming you have had to do? Compare the editing process- in terms of style of editing and complexity and compare the time management issues in both productions? How easy has it been to juggle the video work, print-based work and blog in A2?

More blog homework for over half term

Use of technology in filming

Write a blog post specifically about how you have used technology in the filming of your video. You will have used at least a digital camera and a tripod, but some of you will have used a lot more equipment- particularly if you have used the studio. In the studio you will have used the studio lights and may well have used green screen. You will have used the vision mixing desk to edit 'live' cutting between cameras. Consider how all these features (and more) have helped your production. Include photographs if necessary.

If you have not used the studio, consider the advantages and disadvantages of using the digital cameras with memory cards- they have the option for instant playback to check your shots. Evaluate the quality of the footage you have filmed and any limitations (they are not expensive cameras). Also, you may have used other equipment, such as the fig-rigs for tracking shots, or decided to film parts hand- held for certain effects.

So, put a post together reviewing all the technology you have used in filming

Homework for 31st October

The creative process

Hopefully now you are well underway with your filming. If not you really should be. This week's blog homework is to write a post about the creative process- how you got your original ideas and developed new ideas in your video. Consider where your inspirations came from- for narrative and performance aspects of your video, themes and ideas, costumes, props and locations. Probably you were inspired by a range of different videos/ artists or maybe even films and TV shows. Give specific examples of what you are doing and where the ideas came from. Also consider how the group came by its creative decisions- who contributed at what points to the creative process and how did the group build on the ideas of individual members. Additionally, explain if you changed your ideas whilst you were filming or whether you stuck to your original plans- i.e. did your creativity all come in the planning stage or did you arrive at creative decisions whilst you were filming?

Examples of album adverts

If you search for 'album advert images' on google you get loads of good examples that you can analyse. I've put some on this post. The top one is actually some student work from last year that got a high A. Note how professional it looks and how it mirrors some of the features of the professional album adverts.

Homework for 17th October

CD case and Magazine advert design

You need to design a CD case (4 panels) and a magazine advert to accompany your music video. Your homework this week is to do a detailed analysis of a real CD case design and a real advert for an album. Above are examples of a CD case and magazine advert. Note the small details such as the barcode and smallprint on the back of the CD case and the company logos at the bottom of the poster.

For your analysis, you need to gather some examples of CD case designs and magazine adverts. You could take pictures of CD cases (you need to study the front cover, back cover, inside front cover and inside back cover) and you can get hold of adverts by doing a google search.

Most importantly, you need to analyse them in detail- note down all the features and say why they are important. Try to analyse the images used- why have they been chosen? What do they tell us about the artist and the album/ track?

Homework for 10th October

Complete all the tasks outlined in the bullet points in the post below titled 'READ THIS'. These tasks needs dividing between the members of your group, but it is essential that they are completed before filming.

A very good blog from last year...

I've already posted this one but it is worth looking at again. It is very detailed and of good quality. The chief examiner said you need around 50 posts on the blog, this one had 49, so it is clearly of the right length:

http://loretomedia-e1-10-group3.blogspot.com/

READ THIS! Important information on the blogs

We had a visit from the chief examiner for Media Studies last week and whilst he was very impressed with the quality of music video work from last year, he said the blogs were too lightweight and below standard. They did not have enough posts on them. In your groups, over the course of the term, you need to be putting around 50 posts on the blog. In the planning stage, before you go out filming, you need to include:

• 3 detailed analyses of different music videos, at least one in the specific genre that you have chosen for your video.
• your notes on your initial planning meeting.
• a detailed treatment of the music video you are going to make.
• a storyboard of a specific scene from your music video.
• detailed shot lists of specific scenes from your music video.
• Research into costumes for your music video, including photographs and analysis of why they are appropriate for your video.
• Research into filming locations including photographs and details of why they are appropriate locations.

If you do the above tasks, you should have at least 10 posts on your blog before you go out filming. Keep checking this blog regularly for information on further posts that you will need to put on your blog.

Another very good blog from last year

This blog is very good and also contains an excellent music video:

http://loretomedia-e1-10-group4.blogspot.com/

Excellent blog from last year

This is an excellent blog from last year. The quality of this blog turned a B standard music video into an A standard project overall. Have a look through the whole thing- it is extremely long and detailed with some excellent images and video features:

http://loretomedia-e1-10-group3.blogspot.com/

Good print work from last year

This is A standard print work from last year. It is well photographed, looks professional and includes fine details such as barcode and company logos. The rule with print work is that if it looks professional, then it will get a high mark. Remember, you need to do four panels from a CD case (pictured) and a magazine advert.

A good rap music video from last year

Rap and RnB videos are difficult to pull off convincingly. You need a good performance and interesting use of the camera to do it effectively. This blog contains a good example from last year, with convincing performance and narrative aspects to the video:

http://loretomedia-e1-09-group1.blogspot.com/