EXAMPLE 1a Responses

1a) Explain how far your understanding of the conventions of existing media influenced the way you created your own media products. 

Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how this understanding developed over time. 

Plan -> 

Also meant to say music was much improved in A2 as I looked at music specifically in Teen Comedies and replicated the music myself in Garage Band. Creating a much more accurate and specific, original sound than if I’d looked through the web. 

In AS media I made a preliminary task and an opening sequence of a fictional film entitled ‘Hunting Innocence’. Whilst in A2 media I created a Teaser Trailer for my fictional film ‘Spinning Time’ and an accompanying poster and magazine cover to promote the same film. 

Entering onto the course I wasn’t used to the idea of using conventions from media texts. As such getting to grips with this in my AS year was definitely a challenge. As a regular consumer of media texts including television, radio and magazine I knew what I expected from the mediums so that did help when putting myself in the position of producer. 

Towards the creation of my opening sequence I worked with a partner to create a thriller film. Together we knew the conventions of a thriller in terms of ‘mise en scene, soundtrack and camerawork so we didn’t look that extensively into already existing media texts, which is probably why there is a vast improvement in the quality of my A2 production. We did however site the thriller ‘Brick’ as an influence as we wanted to try and recreate the dull muted colour scheme of that in our own film. We achieved this by filming in dystopic urban landscapes of South East London. 

We also knew the convention of thrillers was to follow Sergeis theory of using silence. As such we did use it towards the end of the opening sequence to create a tense atmosphere when Abby finally reaches home, before the non-diegetic sound of Abby’s heartbeat begins to build representing her anticipation and fear. Aside from that we used the thriller convention of having quiet acoustic music which we downloaded from a copyright free music website. The rest of the sequence consisted of ambient and diegetic sounds captured when filming. 

However, in my A2 project as I was working on my own I was able to consider everything in my own time to different levels of depth. Pauling and Czimentiniyli’s theory is that the best ideas spring from the group work as you need to have loads of ideas before you can have one really good idea. However, I found this not to be the case. In AS my partner and I had to compromise on a lot of decision to please us both, whereas working alone in the second year I only had to please myself. Subsequently I was able to produce something I was more interested in, in terms of genre, which ultimately, I think, led to a more successful outcome. 

Towards the creation process of ‘Spinning Time’ I did extensive research into already existing trailers. I browsed teaser trailers on YouTube and IMDB from a variety of different genres before analysing exactly what I wanted in my trailer in terms of genre, structure and mise en scene. This was far more developed than my research in  AS which consisted of watching the opening sequences of just ‘Office Space’ and ‘Brick.’ 

I decided I wanted to create a voice over for my teaser trailer, complying with conventions of Teen Comedy and specifically ‘Chick Flick’ trailers like ‘Picture This’, ‘Mean Girls’ and ‘Not Another Teen Movie’. I wanted the voice over to have the same happy tone but take on the structure of the ‘Buried’ Teaser trailer voice over, in which the setting, situation and dilemma of the film are presented to the audience, leaving them in anticipation of what happens. I followed through with this convention, filming the voice over on a video camera and extracting the sound in iMovie, before inserting it into the trailer. With my experience of digital technology increased I was able to do this, but I never would’ve had the confidence to do this in AS Media. 

In A2 media the mise en scene of my trailer was considered in more detail than in the AS. In ‘Hunting Innocence’ we dressed Abby using only Barthes’ theory of connotations and denotations as a guide. Her red coat was to suggest danger, whilst the rucksack and art portfolios were to suggest her academia. Whereas in ‘Spinning Time’ I focussed much more on dressing protagonist Myles in accordance to pre-established conventions. I drew influence from ‘Mean Girls’ in which the girls dressed fashionably and predominantly in pink. I used this convention by dressing Myles fashionably, but also challenged the stereotype by not having her in pink and revealing attire as this would present her to be like the ‘plastics’ of ‘Mean Girls’ which her character is not intended to be. 

My set design was another heavily considered aspect. It was based on ‘Freaky Friday’ and the design of protagonist Anna’s room. In her room there are pictures on the wall, and CD’s and books on display. As such I made these props visible to suggest aspects of Myle’s character and personality. Comedy ‘Ramona and Beezus’ also influenced set design and lighting as I wanted to replicate the happy atmosphere presented in its cinematic trailer. I did so by filling the room with bright props, dressing myles in bright clothes and scheduling filming for sunny days to achieve high lighting – as I didn’t have the means to create it artificially. 

In AS media we filmed predominantly outside and so could not change the appearance of our locations, as such not using any real media conventions. 

In conclusion in AS media my partner did not use many specific conventions of media products. Rather we worked with the general vague things we knew about the thriller genre from being audiences. Whereas in A2 media I immersed myself in the idea of producing. Extensively researching and analyzing the form of a teaser trailer and drawing influences from a wide range of existing media texts. 

This is a clear level 4, 

excellent response which meets all of the level 4 criteria. 

Progression over time is described and evaluated with specific and well-used examples – of real media conventions and creative decisions made that were informed by understanding of those. Two kinds of theory are deployed – institutional techniques which have become conventional over time, and media theory which accounts for the conventional nature of meaning and its reception.

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1a) Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to the concept of audience. 

‘Spinning Time’ was the teaser trailer I made in A2 media and is what I will eb analysing in terms of genre.

‘Spinning Time’ is a teen comedy about a teenage girl who has a watch that can control time. As such it is aimed at teenage girls who can relate and identify with the protagonist. Subsequently my target audience is girls aged between eleven and nineteen.

I catered for this audience, firstly by presenting a relatable protagonist in Myles Brown. She is a student dedicated to her work, though also a bit lazy as depicted by her hesitance to get out of bed the trailers beginning. The film was intended to be a Disney family film and as such ‘Funmi Buriamoh’ the actress playing Myles Brown is the new up and coming teen start like Selena Gomez in ‘Ramona and Beezus’. As such the casting of Buriamoh would be an aspect to draw in the target audience. 

My target audience are predominantly fans of popular music – energetic, exciting, like stuff from the top 40.
Chick flicks which are the sub genre of films that cater to my audience feature this kind of music throughout teaser trailers and the film. As such I complied with the conventions of Chick Flicks by incorporating this kind of music to entice my target audience.

I was in no way trying to create moral panic with my film. It’s Disney-esque vide was highly considered during its creating, empowering it to be the kind of film the family can see together. 

I think that there are many uses and gratifications to ‘Spinning Time’. The positive portrayal of an Afro-Caribbean teen is not something that is often seen in big-budgeted Hollywood films/ As such it breaks stereotypes and challenges conventions, and subsequently some preconceptions regarding the demographic. Additionally it provides the target audience with a new role model to look up to and possibly use as reinforcement for their personal values and beliefs – as Myles is quite a positive character.

The preferred reading of ‘Spinning Time’ is that audiences will wish they were in Myles position; having a watch that could control time as it would make life more exciting, easy and generally more fun. Having the instant opportunity to rewind time and do things over again (like a test for example) would eliminate the universal fear of making mistakes. I think eroding that fear would generally make people happier and less self conscious.

However, an oppositional reading to the film could be that Myles is too lazy and selfish to be using such an amazing gift for lazy personal gain reasons – like catching a bus. The audience may expect Myles to do something much more meaningful like prevent deaths or wars.

In conclusion I provided for my target audience in a number of ways (including music, casting, mise en scene to give the happy Disney-esque vibe and plot) duting the creation of ‘Spinning Time’. The piece is for entertainment as opposed to creating  moral panic, and hopefully offers audience members the opportunity for self discovery and social integration through discussing what they’d do if they had a time controlling watch.

This is a level 3 response. Some elements are proficient and some are competent. 

Proficient – the ability to select one piece of work and to relate it to theories of audience / effects such as moral panics and preferred readings (though these are not attributed to Cohen or Hall / Morley). 

Competent – the examples are clear and the theoretical analysis is straightforward – in this sense the understanding of audiences’ reading the text is insufficient for the higher mark level.