1A ) – Digital technology and creativity
AS was based on creating a magazine, this involved research and
planning to what created our final product. Similarly in A2 where we are in the
process of creating a magazine based on the research and planning. Therefore
the skills gained from AS have helped me in my product of A2 of making a music
video. Something which has been a main factor of the planning has been
digital technology and creativity, by this digital technology has enabled me to
explore a range of wider ideas and create a professional video through the use
of cameras, lighting and editing.
When starting AS, I was unsure on what to expect from the course,
however, once getting involved on the product I realized how important the
factor of creativity was and the inspiration you can gain from other peoples
work and through exploring your own ideas - I ended up creating a music
magazine based on the genre of indie, my idea came from a day trip out in
Camden where I spotted a underground park which was filled with artwork it gave
me the idea of an urban theme by the use of colors and passers by who walked
through. By this I was hoping to gain knowledge of what this type of audience
liked, therefore, to do this I created an online survey which questions to
the public about this area in Camden, digital technology helped me to gain a
knowledge of my audience which really helped into creating my ideal model for
my magazine as I believed this was an Important factor for a successful
magazine. This was proved in the success of my model Ella and how well
she fitted in to the process of my magazine making, the photo shoot was shot in
school itself, I used a cannon 500 camera and lighting against a white screen
to create my shoot. As much as the quality of images was important, the editing
was also. I asked members of my class to watch in on my photoshtoot to check
that the quality of my images was to a high standard as I respected the
opinions of my fellow class mates as they would of also been respective judges
of character and understand the concept of my audience.
The editing of my images was on Photoshop and Adobe Indesign CS5,
this software allows you to crop pictures change the color gradient and remove
backgrounds that you don't want which allowed me to create a professional
realistic final product. It was important to me that I had a range of colors within my magazine, such as collages of black and white images and gradients of
Valencia
In the process of my A2 work, the use of digital technology was
developed significantly, especially in the functions of the Canon 600D camera,
in contrast to the lower tech camera in AS. Whilst filming in A2 I edited the
settings in order to ensure high quality footage, this meant I could film in
any location without having to worry about blurriness or lighting issues. The
use of lenses played a big role in the success of filming, the use of the prime
lens with an aperture of 1.8 allowed to capture high quality footage in low
lighting areas. Although I am highlighting the work of digital technology this
year to seem favorable, I have experienced technical issues within this
process which has caused me time. For example, my first footage came out blurry
and crackly due to the camera and I also lost a fair amount of my footage due
to storage issues on the computer. However this as a producer showed me the
problems which can occur and highlights how you need to deal with them and
carry on, which something I didn't learn from my AS task.
1B ) Media Language
Media language is the way in which producers communicate with
their audience. All media texts contain meaning, whether this is structural,
symbolic or ideological. This is down to the producer to make sure that they
can construct the media text properly to convey the meaning well so that the
audience reads the text correctly. These codes all obtain a broadly accepted
interpretation, denotation. As well as a socially defined one, connotation.
The signs within my video are through oppositional forces through
camera shots, mise en scene and the joining of the first scene in comparison to
the last, this is explored the ideology of male v female, and the stereotypical
power that men hold over women and their emotions. The audience is exposed to feel a connection
with the female character through the emotion of stages she goes through within
the video, firstly through the evident female traits of applying make up,
brushing her hair, rubbing her face, exemplified by the slow motion pace of the
footage. Similarly to the ending of the scene where the actions and emotions
change due to the heartbreak of her lover who breaks her heart, again,
symbolized through a motion of slow placing shots. Together, these support the
idea of women getting powered by men and the heartbreak which many women go
through in today’s society. The idea of the artist looking directly into the
camera at the beginning of the scene smiling in comparison to the end scene
where she looks directly into the camera with a tear rolling down her face
suggests the idea of it being over. Instantly, this creates upset and emotion
from the reader to the girl through the symbolic meaning of ‘crying’ and the
norms which are expressed with crying.
The second way in which my video explores media language is
through the representation of women. Mulvey demonstrates the concept that
females in the media are reduced to a passive, objectified state and can be
used for the visual appearance, normally expressed for the pleasure of a male
audience. My video supports this idea and the theory of ‘Madonna v whore’
complex and portrays a feminist suggestion of a flip of two different types of
women through video progression. Beginning with the idea of a whore complex that
stereotypically, wears a lot of make up, goes out drinking and has a good time
away from her husband in contrast to a Madonna theory who stays at home crying
over her loved one. This is suggested a norm in today’s society although I
disagree that this should be allowed to describe women. The slow motion shots
of the ‘whore’ getting ready focus on aspects of the females facial features
such as her lips and eyes, while the longer shots are used to expose the female
as a seductive character as interpreted through a ‘male gaze’ and a ‘whore’.
Whilst in the end shots the female presents a very dead pan with an emotionless
face on her own, conveying a suggestion of loneliness and upset, this is
developed through the lack of smiling and enjoyment which is first established
in the beginning scene.
Media language is a tool in which I have used throughout the
making of my video which ideologies the topics of beauty and gender, this is
displayed throughout the use of mise en scene and camera angles to express
emotion and discussion within my video which is down for the audience to
interpret themselves to their own conclusions.
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