Exam Question 1 b

How have you created meaning through the use of editing, mise en scene, sound and cinematography?

Write an analysis of your music video using key media language terms. These will be needed for and question 1b answer, so you need to revise them.

Cinematography

What did you try and signify through your use of the camera?

2 shot- we used this to signify to the audience a sense of closeness to the main character as well as her sister. Also, connoting a sense of being thrust into their lives so as to experience what is happening to the full extent.

Wide shot- to give the audience a wider picture of what is happening to the main character as well as connoting a sense of being lost in a wide-open space, the woods.

Tracking shot- we used this shot to follow the main character and to show the main character running away from the animals, a sense of fear and urgency.

Close up-connotes a sense of intimacy with the main character as the audience are ‘thrust’ into her personal space, even if it’s through the use of a camera.

Over the shoulder shot- used at the end of the music video to convey a sense of loss and grief and also to anchor to the audience that the main character is morning the loss of her sister. This also links to Andrew Goodwin’s theory

Mise-en-scene

What did you try and connote through your use of the setting, lighting, costume and proxemics?

Setting- The setting we chose was to then be able to connote a feeling of being lost in an open space.

Costume- we dressed the ballet dancer in black to connote the theme of death this was used as an anchorage as the death/fight scenes were also in black and white. We used black costumes to anchor to the audience the sense that the characters were evil. The masks were used to represent a feeling of abstractness, distancing the video from the conventional mainstream music video themes. This also links into the narrative theorist Propp who believed that there was a hero and villain in every music video.

Lighting- natural light as we were shooting outside, connoting the feeling of a connection to nature and in doing so connecting our video to the niche theme of nature.

Editing

How did you anchor the meanings of the camera work through your use of editing?

Edits with animals in trees- pond ripple to create a blurry effect to connote the feeling of a dreamlike sequence.

Dissolve edits of main character and her sister- used to connote a sense of being lost and again to reinforced the feeling of a dreamlike video.

Sound

Sound links to the soundtrack- The main character wakes up “don’t wake me, don’t make a sound.” She is falling asleep and waking in a dream. 

Section A Technology Skills

I have become more skilled in the use of technology during the production of both my foundation and advanced portfolios through the use of various technologies. For example in my AS year for the pre-production of my coursework I used various hardware such as scanners and photocopiers. For research we looked at different types of magazines, both student and music magazines. To start with I scanned pages of the different magazines into the computer and then saved it onto my memory stick, by doing this I was then able to look at the picture at any time and use it to upload onto my blog as well as looking at for information about magazines. In my A2 year I have used pictures taken from a Blackberry Curve for our location shots while researching our location to film. Then we took the pictures, uploaded them onto the iMacs we were using for our coursework, then saving them in the correct format of a jpeg for later use in our coursework. This shows a progression in my use of technology as I have developed from using photos taken by other artists for my research to going out and collecting my own, and then developing again on this knowledge to use them in software such as Photoshop and Paint. NET to edit them for use in my digipack and music album advert. 

In my AS year during the production of my products I used the editing software, Gimp to edit the photos I had taken on a college camera. Through using Gimp I was able to edit and resize the photos I had taken effectively. Then I was able to save them in the correct format (jpeg) and upload them onto my blog. In my A2 year I used the Internet software called Prezi to create an audience profile of my target audience. This was my first time using this software but I became quickly confident with it, as I was soon able to upload my own photos, both the ones I edited on Photoshop and those edited on Pant.NET onto the Prezi, creating a vibrant and appealing presentation. This was an advance in my knowledge of software technology, I became more skilled as I was not only able to edit photos effectively but also use them in various different ways, such as the Prezi. Others were incorporating them into a PowerPoint, which I uploaded onto my blog via Internet software called SlideShare or just posting them straight onto my blog. Using Gimp in my AS year I found it to produce images that were of a lesser quality than that of the photos I was able to produce in Photoshop. So I feel that my skills in using technology have progressed effectively so that my products have increased in quality.
 

During my AS year in the postproduction of my products I used Blogger more extensively. Before this I had not used, or even came across Blogger before so using the site was new to me. During the production stage I uploaded photos (as mentioned previously) as well as giving screen shots and even uploading videos from YouTube as a source for my research or influences that I came across while still creating the music magazine. In comparison in my A2 year I was able to upload pictures of a more dramatic and effective nature as I was using software such a Photoshop and Paint.NET. I was able to use tools such as eraser, blur, contrast, black and white, feather and colour saturation. As I was using effects such as this I was able to upload photos and completely change and alter them for my digipack and album advert. This shows a progression of my skills as before in AS I was only able to use Gimp and even this was not to a level of skill I found rewarding.