Noah Carolan A2 Media

We created a research video in which we asked 5 different people from different background about various aspects of film posters/music videos.

TIME FOR AN ANCILLARY TAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASK So, an ancillary product; what is it? It's essentially a product of something that isn't the main product in itself. Like, an ancillary product for a film would be it's poster or soundtrack. And coincidentally, this practice task is about a film poster. Who would've guessed. So, Wendy and I were given a poster for a film, and we were told to recreate that poster. It was for the film "her", directed by Spike Jonze. This poster. (The trailer makes the film seem super weird. Like, he falls in love with Siri, but she sounds like Scarlett Johansson?) So, there were a few rules and regulations for this task. We were NOT allowed to be in the photo It had to be done within the 2 hour double lesson Try to be as accurate as possible So off we went. Going to find a person seemed easy at first. Just go out to the common room, find a person we knew, take a picture, done. But there were a lot of new Year 12s, who w...

So, the idea so far! One thing I've noticed with previous pieces of work in A2, it's all very... edgy. By this, I mean they're Dark Moody Depressing Morbid And making stuff like that really isn't my preferred style. I prefer making things that are fun, that people can get a good laugh out of! That was partially the thought process for the AS project, but this time I want to make the project more than just fun; I want it to be FUNNY. Why? Because I feel like that's a staple of the things I make independently. My previous media coursework revolved around a ridiculous concept with language that was so outdated that it was ironically entertaining. My first piece of art multimedia coursework was based around an anthropomorphic soft drink can. My YouTube animations revolve around parodying movies, TV shows and music by poking fun at them. Fun is one of the few things that I think I can capture fairly well. So why not hone it by using it in a medium I've ...

The big ol' choice time. Time for a choosin'. I reckon. It's a difficult call between the two, honestly.  Each medium has it's positives and negatives.  Music Videos can be a lot more expressive, and would probably be a lot more engaging as a 3-5 minute video. However, there are more potential variables that go into music video creation than short film creation, such as syncing the video to the song and it's lyrics, theme matching the song, etc. Short films can be more creative, on the other hand. You can go deeper into a storyline, and explore more ideas within a 15 minute short than a ~4 minute music video. But on the other hand, it can go horribly wrong regarding timings. An idea might only be good for a 5 minute short film, but elongating it to meet a ~15 minute requirement can sour the content, and make it poorer and poorer as it goes on. So, which one do I want to do? Music Video. That's been my ideal choice for a long time, but I think...

Ta-dah! The final cut! Filmed by myself, Megan and Emily, and edited by Megan! :D ~ Noah :D

[UPDATE] He's alive and well! He's beaten his cancer into remission! :D Today's task was to take a story from the news, be it from social media, the newspaper or from news websites, make a storyboard around it, and choose a piece of music to go with it. Wendy and I browsed the BBC News front page looking for a story, and then we found a story so heartbreaking, so depressing, so tragic, that we couldn't not use it... The actor of Robbie Rotten is going to die any day now. For context, the character became a popular internet trend, or meme, in late 2016, which was all in aid of paying for his cancer treatment. Despite signs of getting through his illness, it was announced about a week ago that his cancer was terminal. Here's an example of one of the memes created of his character. We made some storyboards for how a music video would work; we decided that making it more of a tribute video which also doubles up as a music video. The storyboa...

So... there's nothing here yet. Because the video edit isn't done yet. Bear with me and this will be updated ASAP :D

Potential Settings:  Kett's Park This is where we decided to film our preliminary task. Towards the back of the field, there is a large area of forest. This is where our characters meet, and fall in love. We chose this area as it is quite picturesque, and logically, makes sense for the story (they meet whilst walking their dog, and this is a popular dog walking area). Later on in the video, we are planning on showing them at home, perhaps arguing. For the house, we will use Megan's living room. We will focus more on the relationship, and the action, so the room will just be generic. The forest will be bright and beautiful, which will become a stark juxtaposition compared to the house. This will further portray the breakdown of their relationship, and how happy they were together, which will evoke sadness. Potential Costumes and Props: As our preliminary is set in modern day, and is realistic, we have decided to use ordinary clothes. There may be a costume change ...

<update soon>

(This is Wendy's post now :D ) " Pre-Existing A-Level Music Videos To extend my research on music videos for my preliminary task, I will analyse previous media studies students' work. This will help me with my coursework because it helps me to see the kind of things the exam board specifically want as opposed to the professional music industry. Furthermore, it provides inspiration for my own coursework. 'Stuck' - Canopy Climbers (Henry Nathan) Editing The editing of this video is quite generic. They tend to opt for shorter takes to suit the pace of the song, as long takes wouldn't suit the bounciness and repetition. A technique they don't use is cutting-to-the-beat. This choice was effective because the song doesn't really have a defined beat, meaning that cutting to it would be pointless because the purpose of cutting-to-the-beat is to emphasize the beat.  The student also chose to use cross-cutting between different scenes. This is used ...