G325

G325 - Critical Perspectives in Media is a synoptic written exam, which we will sit next summer. Section A of G325 is related to my AS and A2 production work.

1) Describe briefly the research tasks you carried out, including audience research/research into similar media texts.

• Looked at similar media films, such as the Bourne Identity etc.
• Interviewed students on what they thought made a good film opening
• Created a moodboard, with images relating to the piece i wanted to create
• Wrote a short pitch describing about our film openings.
• Analysed the specification for the course.
• Brainstorming activity on all of my ideas.
• Reviewed example films from the OCR website.
• Marking similar film openings from previous years, to get an idea about what the examiners wanted from our practical work.

Overall i think that the research i carried about before filming, helped me understand what audiences want from film openings and how to improve them.

2. Describe planning activities undertaken - including scripting/storyboarding/actors' notes.

• I created a series of storyboards, breaking down each individual shot in detail, including lighting, camera angles and what type of shot i wanted to produce.
• I investigated possible filming locations before filming started, which helped in the planning process, and made filming easier and quicker.

3. Challenges which arose during post-production - including editing/layout design.

• Some of the footage had lighting issues which i had to change during the editing process.
• I had some editing issues, whilst trying to create titles for my opening, which i managed to resolve towards the end of the editing process.
• I had a small problem with rendering my videos because of the file format.
• Due to copyrighting issues, i couldn't use the music which i had chosen in the planning stage. This meant i used lots of valuable time trying to find suitable music, instead of editing the actual piece.

Extended question

1) Assess the impact of the activities/tasks/challenges you have outlined above on the success (or otherwise) of your finished foundation portfolio.

I think that the audience research phase was very important to the success of my film opening. By understanding what the audience wanted from a film opening, i was able to create an opening which would be popular with the audience. However i think that the planning activities were the key to the success of my project overall. Without careful and detailed planning, my project would have been disorganized. Without visiting possible filming locations first, the filming would have been more difficult and would have taken much longer than it did. I think that breaking down each individual shot and creating a storyboard was very helpful when creating the final project. By doing this i was able to have an idea of what i wanted from my project, and what it would look like when complete. I also refered to my storyboard during filming, which helped me create a good project.

Improving at A2

To improve my A2 work this year, there are a number of differant things i would do differantly.

• Improve my audience research. During the research stage of my A2 Project, I am going to ask a larger range of people rather than just students from our school. By asking a range of differant ages, i think my audience research will be more proffesional and relevant.
• Improve my planning. For my A2 project i want to improve my planning and plan in more detail. Although my planning was very helpful during AS, i think that my planning needs to be more detailed and i need to spend more time on this stage.