media

1. Q1(a) essay title:
Explain the most significant ways in which your media productions were informed by the
understanding of the conventions of real media texts. Refer to a range of examples in your
answer to demonstrate how this understanding developed over time.
Through both the year from AS to A2 media conventions were key to the way that I went about
my media work. In the AS year I covered conventions of sound that were used in my opening
sequence, finding out how to use sound appropriately in order to highlight critical moments in
the opening sequence. In the second year of my media studies during the time when I was doing
the A2 course my skills had developed and I become more aware of different conventions in real
media texts. In the A2 year I had to complete three different media products a teaser trailer,
magazine front cover and poster. For the teaser trailer I learnt the conventions of time, for the
magazine front cover I learnt about the conventions of design as well as looking at the design of
the poster.
My experience at the start of the course was limited due to the fact that I had never undertaken
media studies before and my skills were limited with using macs and apple software.
sound research task. Format conventions are convention that are found in the opening movie
sequences, the opening sequence was the main project that I had to complete during my AS year.
The sound research allowed me to look through various examples by going on websites such as
freesound and youtube looking and searching for various examples gave me a strong idea on
what would be suitable for my opening sequence. Foley sound was an example of sound that I
looked into.
Arlington road task. In the Arlington road title sequence we had to create a similar sequence to
the original Arlington road sequence. Arlington road was a thriller, this meant that throughout
this task in order to ensure that the task was carried out correctly the appropriate research into
genre conventions had to be carried out. Thriller's have genres conventions such as scary, dark
and bleak settings this meant that we had to implement these conventions into are attempt of
creating the arlington road opening sequence to ensure that it was done correctly.
opening sequence. the opening sequence was a critical piece of work during the AS year. To
ensure that it was done to the best of my ability and to a good standard a lot of research had gone
in to this particular task. In the opening sequence I focused on format conventions as well as
genre conventions. For the format conventions research went into areas such as company ident's
that would be the first element that you would expect to see in an opening sequence, after the
company ident the production company would appear, then the name of the actors would appear
which would then be followed by the title of the film. Then you would be informed by
information such as who the casting director is and who the costume designer and at the end the
director would appear last. Getting this order is crucial otherwise it will seem odd and
unprofessional making it standout in a negative way. Educating myself on formating conventions
allowed me to get the correct order and ensure that I did everything correctly. Genre conventions
were also significant to the opening sequence. For the opening sequenence we decided to do a
thriller it meant that finding the correct theme's was essential in ensuring that we stuck to the

2. correct genre. Making sure that we developed the right characters that would suit the genre and
creating a storyline and narrative that matched the thriller genre. This research was done through
looking at previous thriller opening sequences such as seven that we looked into which was a
similar opening sequence to the opening sequence that we created.
Textual analysis. The textual analysis research helped me to identify similar movies to the one
that we are aiming to create. Going into depth and analysing prisoners gave me a strong idea on
how we should create are teaser trailer. I analysed different conventions that are represented in
prisoner such as genre picking out the effects that the camera work had on the different clips
within the teaser trailer what effect and impact this created and what feeling this left with the
audience. I also analysed sound, editing and mise en scene. Along with the analysis of the teaser
trailer I also provided in depth analysis of the prisoners poster. As I analysed the poster I was
able to go through the format conventions that the poster had conventions such as the image of
the main character which dominated most of the poster along with bold tile and masthead and
coverlines that are all used to make the poster standout and aim to capture the audiences
attention.
Establishing brand identity. Establishing brand identity is vital in order for any campaign to be
succesfull. I did a in depth analysis of how the conventional features of the poster of shutter
island has the ability to create brand idenitiy. Where I gained valuable knowledge to use for my
own poster. I learnt how to use conventions such as subheadings that can be used to put across
meanings that can help the film to gain popularity and to further attract your target audience.
Genre research. The genre research task was extremely helpful as it allowed me to develop the
understanding of genre and get a fuller understanding of the thriller genre. I learnt about various
conventions that the thriller genre has such as the frightening elements that the genre contains,
how the low-key lighting can cause different effects and to the way that sound and music is used
to develop tension. The knowledge I gained meant that I could then implement this into the final
three products that I would later gone onto develop.
Magazine and poster research. Both the magazine and the poster research was significant for my
development and massively benefitted me when it came down to developing my own poster and
magazine. Learning about conventions that film magazines had such as tagline's, masthead's,
main images and coverline's allowed me to later implement this into my own poster and create a
more apealling and succesful plan. I took the same approach when doing reasearch for my poster
I learnt about the coneventions and layouts that film posters have and chose to create my own
poster that I know would go on to become better than it would have if I hadn't done the research.
Sound research. Sound research was another crucial process that helped me throughout the
development of the course. The knowledge that I had gained from the research heavilly
contributed onto my final version of the teaser trailer through the research carried out I become
more educated about diegetic sound and non-diegetic sound and how it can be used effectivley.
Also about the ability to play different sound tracks at different speeds can help create tension
and build up intensity which was extremely relevant to me as I was crearting a thriller teaser
trailer.

3. My progression from AS to A2 has been drastic I have become more aware of media and the
impact it has and have become more compitent when using the technology that is needed to
create and produce media porducts.
My overall confidence has grown and my skills in using certain applications has increased.
When it comes to using editing software either photoshop or illustrator I fill more capable of
using it and know that I can complete I higher standard of work than I could have during the year
when I was doing the AS.