- The document discusses the student's research and production process for their media studies coursework. They analyzed horror film openings, conducted audience research through interviews and questionnaires, and produced a logo and film opening using software like Photoshop and iMovie. - For their advanced portfolio, the student applied what they learned previously and improved aspects like using higher quality recording equipment and more detailed audience research. They produced another logo and worked on a music video. - The student found YouTube, Google Images, and various software programs useful for conducting research and producing their work. They were able to apply their skills and knowledge gained from the foundation course to strengthen their advanced portfolio.

1. A2 MEDIA STUDIES
- EVALUATION
POST 4
By Damian
Zlotorzynski

2. During my pre production stages of the foundation media studies course, I have
conducted a lot of research into different Horror film openings. I have achieved this
by watching multiple Horror film openings on the YouTube platform and by doing a
timeline opening of the horror film ‘Evil Dead (2013)’, the frame by frame timeline
analysis allowed me to understand the generic conventions of an Horror film
opening along with the appearance of texts and choice of music through the
different opening stages of the film. I used websites such as ‘Art of the title’ to carry
this kind of research and to develop my understanding of the structure of the
opening of a Horror film.
PRE-PRODCUTION- RESEARCH TASK

3. The YouTube platform was notably very resourceful and useful for both the
foundation and advanced portfolio during my research tasks. The site provided
many Horror film openings and worked as a video database during my pre
production stages. In order to carry out the research I’ve used various
devices, I had access to desktop computers, Chrome books and iMacs at the
school facility. This meant I was able to carry out research both at home and at
school. The research carried out in my foundation media studies course
seemed very successful and effective which meant I used similar concepts for
the advanced portfolio, for which I had to carry out research into the Hip Hop
music genre.

4. For the advanced portfolio I had to focus on research of
the Hip Hop music genre after selecting Hip Hop for the
genre that our group will be developing a media product
for. I used similar research and methodology techniques
that I previously used in my foundation portfolio.
However I used the google image search engine in
order to develop my understanding of existing real
media products of digipaks and magazine posters for
the ancillary tasks, using google images allowed me to
look into successful media products. An example that I
looked into with a lot of detail was 50 Cent’s digipak and
magazine poster for the album ‘get rich or die tryin’.

5. In regards to my audience research task, I figured that the best way of carrying out the
research was by creating a VOX POP. I had to use recording equipment in order to
capture the footage, this included a video camera and a tripod to make sure the
footage recorded was stable and of a high quality. I carried out an interview to capture
the people's thoughts, once this was carried out I was able to merge the clips together
on a video based editing software ‘iMovie’. From there I was able to add in some
effects in order to bring the sound volume up and stabilize the footage for it to come
across as professional and of a good standard. Furthermore, I have implemented the
use of VOX POP in my Advanced portfolio after a successful experience of using it
with my foundation coursework. I used the same format of asking open questions in
order to make sure its not biased and I also recorded it with the same equipment
previously used.

6. Alternatively In my advanced portfolio I decided to introduce another form of
audience research due to the fact of believing my audience research was to
basic and didn't really give me any data or patterns to analyse in my foundation
portfolio. This meant I had improved my audience research task by carrying out a
questionnaire in order to obtain quantitative data, this allowed me to use graphs
and provide stats from the data that I collected. I used a sample size of 50
members of the public which gave me enough data to work with in order to
analyse and visually represent the data. The data that I obtained from my
questionnaire was inputted into a table on Microsoft excel, from there I was able
to collect all the results and tally them. Microsoft Excel has allowed me to create
graphs and charts that I was able to analyse, this allowed me to comment on the
trend of the data and any patterns that I was able to notice. Furthermore I was
able to present the data on a PowerPoint presentation where it proved to be very
successfully as I was able to offer a much more detailed analysis of the audience
research task through a representation of graphs and bar charts. This
information I was then able to analyse and use as very useful audience research
in preparation for the music video.

7. In my production stages of my foundation portfolio as a group we had to come up with a
logo for the institution, I took this task on as I had the most experience with photo editing
software's. I used Adobe Photoshop on the Apple (iMac) platform in order to develop
and design the logo. The institution name ‘Untold Productions’ was created in a creative
format coming across professional with the use of different blood effects and a clever
swap of letter for images in the logos writing. I have also included a hand that appeared
to be coming out of the ground which made it easily identifiable that the institution was of
an Horror origin. I have generated this image by simply using a template found on the
internet, I was able to copy and paste it into a separate layer on to Photoshop to be able
to work on it and add design implements to make it appear the way I want. During the
creation of the logo I experienced no difficulties on the iMac platform, it was very quick
and responsive making it very easy to operate around.
PRODUCTION – INSTITUTION LOGO AND INCILLARY TASK

8. Adobe Photoshop offered a great range of tools and different effects, this gave me loads
of freedom and capability to play around with the features trying out different concepts in
order to develop the perfect logo. Furthermore, due to the success and development of
my skills with Adobe Photoshop from the foundation portfolio to the advanced portfolio. I
decided to stick to it for the production of my ancillary tasks in the advanced portfolio,
there was no point me using any alternative graphic based application as I believe
Photoshop worked very well and allowed me to utilize my skills and developed
understanding of the software in the advanced portfolio. The same procedure was also
used in order to develop the production logo for the advanced portfolio, I was able to use
Photoshop in order to design a logo for our institution ‘UVR’ (Universal Vibe Records).

9. PRODUCTION - FILM OPENING AND MUSIC VIDEO
In relevance to my film opening for my foundation portfolio I
used a standard Samsung recording camera provided by the
school. I used this camera to record my footage for the film
opening. It was a standard camera and at the time appeared
to be perfect offering everything we needed it to do. The vast
majority of our footage was captured in darker environments
meaning we had to use artificial lighting to get a better shot
and adjust some of the camera settings such the brightness
and contrasts levels for the shots to gain more visibility. The
quality of the camera was high-definition (1920 x 1080 pixel
resolution), this at first appeared to be enough but after
rendering the finished product we realised some of the footage
appeared blurred and out of focus. This was due to the lower
quality of the camera and the fact that it was being recorded at
30FPS (Frames per second) this meant some of the frames
where dropping making it appear to become blurry.

10. This is something that we’ve taken into consideration with the advanced portfolio,
learning from our mistakes made in the foundation portfolio. We used an android
operating smartphone which provided an ultra-high-definition (3840 x 2160 pixel
resolution) that recorded at a constant 60FPS meaning the footage was very smooth
and vibrant in colours. We considered using a digital camera that one of our
members in the group owned, but after comparing it to the smartphone device it did
not offer a higher standard level of professionalism. The smartphone device also
offered more capability to adjustments, allowing me to change different brightness
levels and other multiples such as the exposure level to fit the environment of shot.
This allowed us to optimize the settings increasing the clarity of the footage making it
clear and visible. In regards to the advanced portfolio the music video was not going
to be recorded in poor lighting conditions or during the night meaning lightning would
not be a problem.

11. The use of the preliminary task which was recorded
in the foundation portfolio developed my
understanding of the different camera shots and
angles that can be implemented into my foundation
film opening. I used this knowledge by implementing
the shots in the production of my advanced
portfolio, I used the match on action shot and the
shot reverse shot as seen in the finished product.
The implication of technology was clearly developed
over the duration of my media course, whilst my
understanding and development of technology used
has widely advanced over the duration of the course.
I was able to use and apply the experience and
understanding from my foundation portfolio to the
advanced portfolio, preventing me from making the
same mistakes.

12. POST-PRODUCTION - FILM OPENING AND MUSIC VIDEO
Throughout the post production stages of my foundation portfolio I had to
edit the footage putting a horror film opening together. In order to edit and
achieve this I used iMac’s ‘iMovie’ editing software. This editing software
offered a high standard of professionalism along with a range of different
tools and effects allowing me to take full advantage of it helping me produce
the highest standard of a film opening. The software worked really well with
the resolution we recorded in (1920 x 1080 pixel resolution). I was already
quite familiar with the editing software having previously used it within the
preliminary task, which meant I knew how to operate the program and do
some complex effects such as overlap footage and do all the necessary colour
corrections in order for the footage to appear more lively and vibrant. The
editing software was a great choice for the foundation task as it offered a
large selection of different non diegetic sounds that can be used throughout
the different stages of the film opening. The large selection of copyright free
samples was really helpful as it saved me time by not having to look online for
free to use samples that fit into my film opening. I was able find a good choice
of sound effects that fit the Horror convention, this helped the music video
come across as ‘spooky’ and created the right tension for a Horror film
opening. This helped the film opening be recognisable as a horror.

13. In the advanced media portfolio I attempted to use
the same editing software after previously finding
success with it and gaining a lot of experience. This
however proved to be the wrong decision as we
come across a couple problems when trying to
render the footage, due to us using a higher
resolution level (3840 x 2160 pixel resolution) the
iMac could not handle it having crashed on us on
multiple occasions. This was due to a not sufficient
amount of RAM (The iMac computers we were using
were slightly outdated, coming with only 4GB of
RAM) Thus meant we had to switch computer
systems going from the Apple operating system to a
windows computer. This also meant we had to use a
different editing software as iMovie is exclusively
offered for iMac users and not compatible on the
windows operating system.

14. This didn't prove to be a problem as I’ve had previous
experience with Adobe After Effects and I was able to use that
editing program as an alternative. This editing software
offered excellent performance and a variety of different tools
for my music video. However during the exportation process
of the product, I’ve had come across a similar hardware
problem that I encountered previously. I figured that using a
computer system with double the amount of RAM from the
previous system would be enough but this seemed to still be a
insufficient amount of memory RAM. I understood my music
video had a very complex structure due to the very high FPS
as well as the high resolution. This meant that I had to
installed an extra 8GB of RAM in my computer which resulted
in the exportation of my product successfully in the end.

15. POST-PRODUCTION - EVALUATION(S) IN RELATION TO
PRESENTATION
When presenting my work in my foundation portfolio I
decided to use a blogging platform ‘Blogger’, this platform
seemed to be a great choice as blogs tend to provide a very
clear structure. The simplicity of the website made it very
easy to understand after no previous experience with any
type of blogs, It didn't take much time for me to get an
understanding of how to use the site. I was able to edit the
theme and background of my work along with the
presentation methods of each post. The site was accessible
and viewable from a variety of different platforms, I was able
to update my blog and upload new posts while still working
on them, once completed I was able to release it live onto the
blog. I uploaded most of my posts from a computing system
or a Chromebook, blogger saved any draft and unfinished
work which made it very convenient for me as with the
access to internet I was able to work on my blog from
anywhere.

16. The blogging platform ‘Blogger’ offered a variety
of different ways to upload my research and
planning tasks onto the blog, I was able to
embed content into my posts which made them
displayable on the blog. In regards to
embedding my work to the blog, It had to be
displayed in an online platform in order to be
viewable. To achieve this I used a site known as
‘SlideShare’, this site enabled me to convert the
document to a presentable format. Sites such as
SlideShare allow users to upload finished pieces
of their work and make it presentable as an
online document. Furthermore, after uploading
the finished product I was able to simply copy
and paste the HTML code into my blog
converting the post from a written code into a
visual document. Due to success in the
foundation portfolio of blogger and SlideShare,
it's something that I have used and implemented
to my advanced portfolio.

17. In regards to my video based production, I used the
YouTube platform in order to upload my previous
ancillary task along with the finished products of the
film opening and music video. This was a easy choice to
make as YouTube has never disappointed me and been
very easy to use, all the videos were uploaded and
stored on the online internal storage. The videos were
very easily accessible and viewable on the blogging
platform as I was able to embed them onto the blog as
done previously by copying and pasting the HTML code
to make it viewable. I also implemented the use of Prezi
to present my work as an alternative to SlideShare, it
was very effective as it was a good way of presenting a
lot of information and break it down to make it easier to
understand. I was also able to add links and
photographs to the Prezi making it a very interactive
format of presenting my work. I used Prezi for both my
foundation and advanced portfolio tasks.