The document provides examples of excellent coursework from candidates evaluating their final products for a media studies course. It notes that the examples demonstrate key moments from their own work and others' to support their arguments. They also show excellent use of specialist terminology and references to academic theory. Each presentation was produced with care and genuine critical reflection.

1. G324 – A2 GROUP COURSEWORK-
EXAMPLES OF GOOD WORK
The following slides are excellent examples of candidate’s evaluating
their final product. Each provides key moments taken from their own
text and that of others to support their claim.
Excellent use of specialist media terminology and appropriate
references to academic theory. Each presentation is produced with
care and genuine critical reflection

2. Name of the band. We
followed the basic
convention of
displaying the band’s
name as the band
cannot sell records or
become a household
name, without having
a name.
Followed the convention of placing the
record label logo below the release date.
We followed the basic
convention of
displaying the release
of the album so that
out target audience
know when to buy the
album.
We also linked
followed typical
convention by linking
in a colour theme with
all the other media
products. For our
media production, we
used the colour blue to
link our products
together as it
represents hope and a
fresh start.
Unfortunately, I was
unable to find an indie
magazine advert that
displayed a star rating
however Hannah
managed to find one
therefore we included
it for our audience to
judge whether the
band are credible or
not.

3. As you can see, all of the above magazine adverts contain the release date, record
label logo, name of the band and album. However, my group went against
convention displaying our band members on the magazine advertisement. From my
research I only found one band (Razorlight) who were on their magazine
advertisement. My group and I felt it was important to put our band members on the
advertisement to establish them as being a credible indie band. Also, the fact they
are first time artists it is even more important for them to be featured so that they
can establish a direct connection with their target audience.

4. In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?
Arfa Shah 4739

5. GoodwinGoodwin’’s theorys theory
In my music video, my group and I constructed a performance element and
narrative element that would demonstrate the main characteristics of music
videos as identified by Goodwin.
His theory states that all music videos:
1.Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics
2.There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals
3.There is a relationship between music and visuals
4.Close ups of the artist
5.Notion of looking
6.Intertextual reference

6. GENRE CHARACTERISTICSGENRE CHARACTERISTICS
The main genre characteristic of an indie music
video is the inclusion of a performance element.
The main point of a performance in an indie music
video is to display the band’s authentic image and
to further emphasise the indie “Do It Yourself”
ethos.
Another genre characteristic of an indie band is
that they are very image orientated because they
are seen as fashion idols to their fans. In the
“You’re All I Have” music video, the band
members are wearing casual, laid back clothing
which stresses the indie look. Similarly, for our
media production we did the same and made the
band members where casual clothing. Also, we
also made each band member wear some sort of
blue clothing whether it be blue jeans or a blue
top.
We used the performance and image convention
because we know that performance and image is
what makes up the band and makes them known
to their target audience.
Snow Patrol “You’ve All I
have” performance element
A2 Media Production
performance element

7. NARRATIVE ELEMENTNARRATIVE ELEMENT
The inclusion of a narrative element is very
sparse in indie music videos therefore we went
against indie convention. Whilst conducting my
research, I found that all of my music videos
were based on performances. However, my
group and I came to the conclusion that we
should include a narrative element in order for
our target audience to understand the band
and their music. We wanted the target
audience to know that our band can touch
upon sensitive issues and still perform at the
same time. Including a linear narrative element
is mainstream however by creating a
fragmented narrative in our music video, we
went against indie convention. Also, my group
and I made use of Barthe’s enigma code at the
end of the music video to leave the audience
thinking who handed the female the blue scarf.
By doing this I believe we peaked the interest
of our target audience and left them with
something to think about.
The performance element
fragmented the narrative by
switching between the band
and story.
Use of Barthe’s enigma code.

8. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LYRICS ANDRELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LYRICS AND
VISUALSVISUALS
In my research, I found that some indie music videos tend to have a
relationship between lyrics and visuals. In “You’re All I Have” by Snow
Patrol illustrative lyrics are used, when the lead singer sings “electric
shock on aching bones”, the audience can see an electric shock on the
microphone.
In my music video, there is an illustrative between the lyrics and visuals.
Only some videos contain a direction relationship between lyrics and
visuals therefore we went against typical indie convention.
Illustrative:
The song is about hope and strength therefore we used a colour motif of
blue to symbolise this as blue represents hope and a fresh start. We used a
blue scarf (above), blue door and the band members each wore a piece of
blue clothing.

9. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUSIC ANDRELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUSIC AND
VISUALSVISUALS
From my research I found that indie music
videos contained a very strong relationship
between music and visuals. For example in
Interpol’s “Obstacle 1” music video, when the
lead singer is singing his actions are shown;
when the drummer is drumming the audience
can see this and also when the guitar
instrumentals are introduced, it is displayed
on screen.
In my music video, when the lead singer is
singing, he’s shown with the use of a close
up. Furthermore, when the guitar is
prominent, there is a close up of one member
playing the guitar. Also, towards the end of
the song, the drumming in the music is very
prominent and therefore we chose to do a
medium shot of James playing the drum to
demonstrate this.
We used the indie convention of illustrating
the relationship between music and visuals in
order to make our music video as authentic
as possible. However the relationship is only
illustrative to an extent, the narrative
element fragments the performance element
which makes the music video more diverse.

10. Close up of the artistClose up of the artist
Goodwin’s theory states that a close
up of the artist is needed to meet
the demands of the record label. I
found that in all indie music videos,
a heavy emphasis is placed on the
lead singer. Many close ups of the
lead singer as well as the band
members are used to establish the
band as a whole. We followed this
convention and used many close
ups, medium close ups and long shot
to establish each individual member
and the band as a whole. In my
music video, my group and I also
used close ups of the lead singer,
guitarists and the drummer as well
as shots of the group as a whole.

11. Notion of lookingNotion of looking
Goodwin’s theory states that is a notion of
looking and voyeuristic treatment of the female
body present in the music video. However, in
indie music videos there is very little notion of
looking or voyeuristic treatment of the female
body. It was mainly in “Obstace 1” by Interpol
where there was a notion of looking toward the
female however no voyeuristic treatment.
In our music video, there was a moment where
the female looked at her phone and stroked the
picture of her and her boyfriend during happier
times. We decided to include this in order to
make clear to the audience that the two leads
had a romantic relationship. In a sense we went
against indie convention because only very few
indie music videos (from my research) displayed
a notion of looking.
High angle shot of female
dancing in “Obstable 1”
by Interpol.
Close up of female
looking at her phone in
our A2 media production

12. Intertextual referenceIntertextual reference
Intertextual references to other media
products were not common in media
music videos. However, we went against
this convention and made subtle
intertextual references to various media
products. We took inspiration from many
non-indie media products and tried our
best to turn them into indie products.
For example the idea of domestic abuse
came to us after much brainstorming
and I showed my group a domestic
abuse campaign advert in which Keira
Knightley starred in- from there we got
the idea for a violent relationship
however we played this down in our
music video by not showing actual
violence, but only implying it (e.g. when
the male lead knocks down the camera,
he is actually knocking down the
female).
Keira Knightley domestic
abuse advert (above) with
the abuse scenes in our
music video (below)
Male lead hits camera,
we implied that he hit
The female.
Male aggressively
picking up the female.
Keira Knightley Domestic Campaign Link

13. Intertextual referenceIntertextual reference
We also looked at “Love The Way You
Lie” by Eminem feat. Rihanna as it was
another music video based on
relationship abuse. We were inspired by
Megan Fox’s eye contact with the
camera in the music video therefore the
female lead in our music video, Veena,
looked straight at the camera in order to
establish an emotional connection with
the audience. We chose to go against
convention because my group and I
wanted to include more than just a
performance element in our music video.
We wanted to include a narrative that
made subtle references to other media
products in order to make our music
video more captivating, memorable and
emotional.
“Love The Way You Lie”
music video
Veena looking straight at the camera
in our A2 media production in
reference to Megan Fox’s character
in “Love The Way You Lie” music
video by Eminem feat. Rihanna

14. How did you use media
technologies in the construction
and research, planning and
evaluation stages?
Arfa Shah 4739

15. I used Youtube in order to analyse 5 music videos for my
research. YouTube allowed me to play, replay, pause and
screen grab various moments of music videos so that I
could highlight various codes and conventions and
analyse the affect of the codes and conventions, the
relationship between lyrics and visuals and the genre
characteristics.
Also, through YouTube, Hannah uploaded the first cut
and final cut of our music video.
And Research
Screen grab of the upload tool
on YouTube.

16. By using YouTube's embed option for each music video, I was able
to embed my work to Facebook which made it easier for people on
my Facebook to view and comment on my final music video. Also,
I was able to embed our final music video onto my
planning/construction blog which made it easier for me to access
my work anytime through Blogger.
and Planning and
Construction
Screen grab of YouTube’s embed option .

17. By using YouTube's embed option for each video, I was able to
embed my video response to a question onto YouTube and then
embed it into blogger. I also used YouTube to upload my audio
response to the audience feedback question. YouTube allowed me
to upload my video and audio response with ease and the
embedding option made it easier for me to access my video
through my blog rather than following various link to other sites.
and Evaluation
Screen grab of my video response
from YouTube.
Screen grab of my audio response
from YouTube.

18. I used Slideshare to upload my PowerPoint presentations and Microsoft
World documents. By uploading my work onto Slideshare I found it easier to
transfer my work onto my research, planning/construction and evaluation
blogs because I only had to copy and paste in the embed code. Slideshare
made it easier for me to transfer my work and make my work look more
visually appealing. For example in my planning blog I created my group’s
timetable of frees using PowerPoint and then I uploaded it onto Slideshare
and then copied and pasted the embed code onto Blogger; this saved a lot of
time and allowed me to concentrate on more lengthy tasks.

19. Blogger allowed me to create posts that
detailed my findings for my research,
planning/construction and
evaluation blogs and it also allowed me
to post my film schedules, pictures and
final products etc. By allowing me to
create posts, I found it easier to cross-
reference my work and go from post to
post without any difficulty. Using
Blogger, I embedded pictures, videos and
various documents and this made it
easier for me because I could access all of
my work through one location rather
than going through various files on my
computer to find them thus saving time.

20. I used PowerPoint as a means to convey my analysis on my research,
planning/construction and evaluation blogs. I used PowerPoint
to lay out my research of music videos, codes and conventions,
magazine research, album research, timetable of frees etc.
PowerPoint allowed me to create a clear layout of my work by
allowing me to insert pictures, texts and arrows to make my work
appear more clear. PowerPoint is also an example of how I used
different technologies to convey my work. Rather than always posting
my work, I used PowerPoint to add variety to my research and to
make my blog look more attractive.

21. Once I took photos for our digipak and
magazine advertisement, Leon and I set
about editing the digipak pictures on Adobe
Photoshop whilst Hannah edited 2 photos for
our magazine advertisement. Using Adobe,
we began to construct our digipak and Leon
and I edited 4 photos using various tools.
Leon edited the back cover of the digipak
and I edited the front cover. Once we
completed both of the outside covers, me,
Leon and Hannah met up after school and
finished the inside left and began work on
the inside right. Adobe Photoshop allowed
me to change the size, colour, saturation and
brightness of the image. It also allowed me to
add texts such as the copyright notice and
introduction of the band along with the
band’s signature using the “hand of sean”
font I downloaded from dafont.com.
Motion blur tool used for
inside right of digipak.
Image size tool used to
change dimensions of all
templates.

22. I used dafont to find the right font for
the band’s digipak cover and
magazine advertisement. As I was
researching the font, I kept on
showing them to my group and
eventually we narrowed it down to 4
fonts and ended up choosing “planet
estyle” as our font. Dafont allowed me
to research a wide range of fonts to
make our ancillary tasks look more
appealing rather than choosing the
basic fonts on Adobe. By choosing the
“planet estyle” and “hand of sean”
fonts, our products are different,
dynamic and more attractive.

23. Through Facebook, I was able to
access my target audience directly and
ask them for their opinions. On
Facebook I posted my group’s first edit
and final edit of our music video, the
magazine advertisement and digipak
and asked for feedback. From the
feedback on Facebook, we made many
improvements to all of our products.
For example, for the first edit of our
music video many people commented
on the stability of the camera, Hannah
took that on board and tried her best
to stabilise the camera on iMovie for
our final edit of the music video.

24. We used a Samsung digital camera throughout
the whole process of making our music video and
ancilliary tasks in order to display pictures of us
planning and constructing all 3 products. For
example there are pictures of me doing the
storyboard, finding the font, measuring the drum
kit and door and taking the photos for our digipak
and magazine advertisement. Leon took all of the
above pictures as he was the group’s
photographer.
For the digipak and magazine advertisement, I
used a professional Canon camera. This was the
first time I ever used a professional camera and I
only had an hour to practise with it before the
actual shooting because the camera was borrowed
from my media teacher and we only had access to
it on the actual day of the shooting. The camera
was key in producing visually appealing pictures
for our digipak and magazine advertisement and
after editing the pictures I uploaded them onto
my planning blog with feedback from Facebook.

25. We used a professional HD video camera to
film both performance and narrative elements
of our music video. The professional HD
camera helped us produce a music video that
was of a higher quality and by using it we
learned more about different camera forms and
different functions of a HD camera. The
professional HD camera helped in constructing
our music video and by actually creating a
music video, we were able to edit and upload
the contents on to YouTube, Facebook and
Blogger.