2. In what ways does your media product use/develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
As a group we were influenced by Ed Sheeran’s music video “A Team”
We particularly liked:
The genre and the narrative
The use of simple shots, real locations and natural lighting
The mise en scene - simple but powerful and effective
The use of black and white imagery throughout the video
We used Sheeran’s conventions and developed them further to make the
video more unique and in our own style
3. The Conventions of Our Video
Camera Shots/Movements
Long shots – visual description of location
Tracking shots – movement of the characters
Panning shots – combining visual description o location and movement of characters
Mid shots - to provide additional detail and enhancement of story line
Close up shots – to show facial expressions, thoughts and emotions of the characters
Simplistic but expressive filming
Use of RAW
Hand held technique – to make it more realistic
Use of Nikon DSLR D3100
Use of 18mm – 55mm Nikon Lense
Use of unfocussed shots
Combination of short and long depth of fields
4. Narrative Theory
Narrative represents lyrical content in song and reflects a
sense of story
Narrative follows two main characters
Use of multiple shots to show simple narrative
Characters acting/echoing the narrative
Audience being told what is happening through the lyrics as
well as the series of visual events
Always a structure in the narrative – start, middle, end
Restrictive narrative range
Not all the narrative information is revealed to the
audience
Audience gets impression of characters’ social classes
Limited information as to why the character is in that
particular situation
Limited use of miming the lyrics as wished the story to
be as realistic as possible and as similar to Sheeran’s
video as possible
5. Genre
Social realism
Realistic settings, events and situations
Hard luck
Working class heroes
Life struggles
Experiences of real Britons
Conventions
6. Characters
Working class heroes overcoming their situations, dealing with their issues, not
doing what s expected of them
Portrayed as every day people – mainly from working class backgrounds and
deprived areas
Influences by characters from Sheeran’s “A Team” and the character Mia from
“Fishtank”
7. Themes/Plot
Desiring a better way of life and trying to achieve it
Bettering themselves
Focusses on young people and their futures
Following an ordinary day to day life
Camera/Filming
RAW filming
POV and tracking shots
Close ups to portray emotions and feelings
Narrow depth of field
8. Post Production
Cross cutting to link different characters’ story lines
Slow pace to reflect real life
Simple cuts to add realism/no effects
Fish Tank
Fish Tank is a social realism film which has influenced us significantly
9. Mise en Scene
Mise en scene – location built up estate, urban and working class
area
Cheap casual clothing worn by characters – track suits, hoodies
Use of dim, natural lighting
Audience has prior knowledge of the characters’ social class
because of the mise en scene and series of events
Colour – black and white to emphasise the mood of the
song/creating an emotive atmosphere
Sound -
10. How effective is the combination of your main
media product and ancilliary texts?
Our album cover
11. Album cover shot in Cambridge using various locations - logistical
research undertaken. Wanted to use busy locations which reflect real
aspects of life
Wanted the images to be in a social documentary style
Images are in black and white – they mirror the black and white of the
video
Link to main video using black and white and social documentary style
Strong link to genre of video – urban location, busy city centre
Images edited to be gritty which reflects the whole atmosphere and
feel of the video
‘My Life’ image – clear link between the images and a shot in the
video, as the male character in the video is shown in this position. The
use of colour in the image states that when everything is grey and
gloomy there are brighter spells of colour and happiness.
Use of splashes of colour linked to positivity and the characters’
abilities to turn their lives around
Simple shots which link to the simplicity of the video
Simple post production
12. Poster
As well as creating a album cover we were given the brief to
create a poster adverting in the release date of the album
13. Influenced by an image we found on line of Ed Sheeran in a music studio
Wanted simplicity to focus on the artist as the artist hasn’t been featured
in the music video
Use of studio highlights the singer’s role and emphasises the creativity
involved in producing a track and reflects the life of the artist. There is a
contrast as the main product and the album cover focused on the lives of
the characters.
Links to video by the use of black and white
Simple shot
Use of black and white with splashes of colour links strongly to the main
image on the album cover
Simplicity and use of black and white links the main product and anciliary
texts together
14. Here is the image that we were influenced by for our poster
15. How did you use media technologies in the construction and
research, planning and evaluation stages?
Here are a series of media technologies that as a group we used for our
production
YouTube- to do research into real
conventions of media as well as
researching into several of Ed
Sheeran’s music videos. We also
used YouTube to listen to the track
that we are using for the song.
Twitter- We used twitter
to tweet the artist that
made the track to ask
permission if we could
use it as part of our
production.
ITunes- we used
iTunes to listen to
the work of Ed
Sheeran.
16. Picasa 3- We used Picasa to edit the poster. For example we added
text to the image and arranged it in the order and place that we
wanted it. The software is on my own personally computer at home ,
know how to work it as I have used it many times. Easy and reliable
software to edit on.
Photoshop- Used Photoshop to edit the
image that we have used for the poster. I
adjusting the levels to make the colours
much darker and standout and to create
more of a gritty and urban feel. I also
edited the image in black and white used
Photoshop several times before as part of
my photography so was no problem's
editing the images.
Google- Google was the biggest source that we
used for our research and planning. We
researched several things such as, narrative
theory , genre, camera shots and the director
that directed the A Team video “ Ruskin Kyle”.
17. Pixlr – an online editing software for images. It was
on this software I edited the album cover images. I
adjusted the colours and cropped the images as well
as adding effects such as blur. I have used this
editing software many times before due to my
photography so I had an idea of what would look
effective and knew what types of effects there were.
https://pixlr.com/express/
IPhone- We used our Iphones to take the images that
are part of the album cover. We also used our iphones
to communicate within the group as well as using
them to communicate with the characters as well as
the people helping us record the track. We used them
to send emails to one another as well as emails to our
teachers about the production.
Nikon DSLR D3100- used the
Nikon for the filming. As it was
my own camera felt confident
and knew what I was doing.
18. Canon 600D- we used the canon for
taking the poster image as I forgot to
bring my Nikon so we used a fellow
students camera instead .I had never
used this camera but found it easy to
use and really liked it
Movie plus x6- we used this software for all of our
production editing. I am familiar with this software as
I used it last year for the editing of my as production.
However, I found this year I have learnt more about
the software. On the software I edited the clips
together as well as adding effects such as black and
white and motion blur. I changed the speeds of the
clips as well as the lighting , contrast and exposure. I
also muted the clips so the only sound is the sound of
the track and the artist.
19. PowerPoint- I used PowerPoint to
create my slideshows. This
software is something I haven't
used much before but found I
easy and really effective to use.
All of these media technologies that I have listed
were all a major part in the research and planning of
our video . The products and programme's were all
in vital in the creative and the overall making of the
production task.
20. What have you learnt from audience feedback?
The music video was shown to a number of different aged indiduvals.
The feedback that was given is summarised below.
Realistic/topical
use of realistic situations
Poverty, homelessness ,deprived urban areas
Stereotypical of urban youths
Realistic portrayed of different areas of society.
Dramatic
sense of anticipation/mystery anxiousness
What is going to happen? Sinister feel
Drama increases as the video continues there's a constant sense of anticipation and
edginess .
Atmospheric
dark
Gloomy
Depressing
Edgy
Intense
The black and white heightens the atmosphere
21. Beginning
sense of anticipation anxiousness- what is going to happen? Very dark
atmosphere almost frightening increase throughout the video.
Emotive
sad, feel for the characters, want to help them
Simplistic filming like the use of black and white as it intensifies the
drama.
Good representation of society
Lyrics powerful clearly link to the scenes/ actions in the video
Modern
use of young people
Rap, rap associated with urban youths
Modern clothing
Very realistic – working class people , character believable
22. Clever use of image , locations , lighting – simple but
powerful
Lack of props makes viewer focus on the characters-
there are no distractions or no bright colours.
The black and white links to the greyness of the
situation in the video. Black and white represents the
depression and the deprived areas.
Left open , no final happy ending. Thought provoking
, what happens next?
23. What I personally have learnt from the audience feedback
Good idea to brainstorm ideas
Learnt how to create something realistic that gives off a powerful message
Learnt that powerful messages and emotions can be delivered through
filming an lyrics of a song
How to take a concept , what I want to get out of it and how to develop it
To take an idea and something that inspires you , and create something
original and unique
Learnt how to link different media’s together to produce a consistent
theme / style of work
How to take a genre and create work based on/around that particular
genre
That I can create something similar to “ A Team”
24. Overall I have really enjoyed the
process of the production and am
extremely happy with the outcome