My progress from Year 12 into Year 13 in Media

My approach to A2 has been very positive and enthusiastic, committing myself to this subject to try and achieve the best possible grade that I can. Like in Year 12, I thoroughly planned my video through a story board, to help invisualise what I wanted to create. By drawing and noting down what shot types that we were going to use, this helped me and my group become more organised when it came to actually filming our video. Here is our storyboard from Year 12 when we planned our idea's for our thriller opening sequence.

However, last year I think that I underestimated how much patience and committment that would have to be given, as when you're planning and preparing to film a music video/movie it doesn't always go to plan and can become at times extremely frustrating. Although once you have finished and everything in your video has come together it is very rewarding.

Here is a video for my thriller opening sequence and some comments that we had recieved.

Then for A2 we were given a task to create a video where we would practise our lip syncing to develop our confidence infront of others and in front of the camera. Me and my group, which consisted of Jade and Charlotte decided to have some fun when we were filming our video and went away individually to rehearse and learn our lyrics in our free times. This has shown our development through year 12 through to year 13 as we regulary stayed behind after school to edit our video, specifically arranging times where we all could attend.
Here is the final outcome of our 'In the Sun' Lip Sync task, and the comments that we recieved from it.

 

This lip syncing task most definately help me with my confidence in front of the camera, as beforehand I was pretty self conscious and aware of everyone around me and watching. However, observing everybody else in their groups and seeing how helpful and kind everyone was to eachother really made it easier for me to get fully involved and enjoy my time in front of the camera. If I am to be honest I think that that has been my greatest improvement from Year 12-13 as by working hard and getting good grades it has built my confidence and pushed me to try even harder.

I think that because we were given plenty of opportunities to watch other schools music video's (the good and the bad) the comparisions allowed us to understand fully what works well in a music video and what doesn't.One very important thing that I learnt about when researching different area's of music video's were that you must create various shots in different locations so your audience doesn't get viewer fatigue. If you were to have the same framed shots or simialr locations used then the viewer could quite easily get bored and stop watching. Here are the two examples that I used to compare with one another so I could fully understand what makes a successful video.

What I really enjoyed about 'The Fix-Just Got Paid' music video was that through their video us as an audience were able to identify how much time and effort that they had invested, as their lip syncing was perfect throughout their performance from every member of their group. Even though their locations didn't vary as much as their shots did, by using different angles and lighting they allowed their music video to be cliche but still very entertaining. What I also admired about this video was that they didn't try and be really fancy or to dramatic with their idea's but instead developing their idea's to expand their knowledge on the key factors of a boybands music video.
I think that that has personally given me an insight as to what I specifically need to do when I'm organising and preparing for my music video as I need to really relate to my target audience.That is another area where I feel as though I've progressed, as I've learnt that what I want in a music video/trailer may not always necessarily be what my target audience wants.
What was also successful in their music video was their shooting material that they used when filming, using strobe lights to highlight their faces and dances moves which was very appropriate to the concept of their video. They also made quite a few of their close up shots over the top and cheesy, as they knew that their targeted audience would be teenage girls who'd be swooning over them. Overall I think that their music video is definately a level 4, and I think that the only thing that they'd need to improve on would be to use other images rather than just them.