Creativity Essay

Outline the Extent to Which You Were Creative in Your As and A2 Coursework Tasks.

Creativity is a very wide area and there are many ways to be creative within work. One of these is originality; creating something new and individual.  At AS I think that my music magazine was different to most because it had clear focus on the females within the rock genre without the male gaze used as an element too much. This also meant that it had more of a focus on a female audience too. I think that this was an original idea because I hadn't seen it done before and though there a lot of great female artists within the rock genre I feel that they aren't as widely known as others. Also, female fronted rock bands are mainly what I listen to so I had quite a wide knowledge of it before I started. 

                Another part of creativity is the imagination you put into a project or product and the vision that you have for it initially.  The imaginative part of the project came when I was planning the music magazine. I had to choose a colour scheme, fonts and an aesthetic theme that fit the genre and that I was happy with. Though a lot of this was inspired by other rock music magazines and existing products I definitely had my own ideas and the ideas brought up from audience feedback. At A2 the idea for the music video came to me very quickly and the vision that I had for it was very similar to the end product. There were a lot of creative elements to think about such as costume, location, shots and props. I was really happy with the aesthetics of the end product and this had all come down to the initial planning and vision.

Inspiration was a huge part of being creative, especially as at AS I hadn’t done anything like this before and it was important to get an idea of how products were created and how they looked before I began creating my own. As I said I was inspired by other rock music magazines, the main one being 'Kerrang!'. I was inspired a lot by this for the layout of my magazine and it was very helpful to have an existing product to refer back too. I think the inspiration helped me to be creative and in the end helped me to create a good product. At A2 the inspiration we had was from videos of female fronted rock and rock/pop bands and this had a huge influence on our video. It made it a lot easier to envision our own video and made the planning process quicker. It was also nice to have an existing product to refer back to, meaning that our product became more professional looking. For the ancillary products the inspiration came from quite conventional rock themes and dark imagery such as skulls. 

Another part of being creative is being resourceful and working around the boundaries and limitations we had with ingenuity. Because of the limited time we had to create the products it was a challenge but I made sure to plan well in advance and I tried to be as organised as possible. Because of timing I didn't get to take all the pictures I would have like too, meaning that some of the images I used were actually just from concerts I had been too, but worked well as thumbnails for 'posters'. Again, at A2, time was an issue, especially when shooting for the video. We had to work around our own schedules as well as weather and daylight. We usually shot the outside shots while it was still light and when it began to get darker we'd do any inside performance shots which evened it out and meant that we weren't wasting time.

Compared to my preliminary music magazine my work had improved greatly. Throughout the course I learnt about conventions that would help my product to look more professional. I also felt more confident using programmes such as Photoshop meaning that my editing was much better than when I first started.

Creativity Tasks

What is Creativity?

The thesaurus definition of creativity is:

Originality, imagination, inspiration, ingenuity, inventiveness, resourcefulness, vision and innovation.

Taking each of the words in turn, apply them to the pieces of coursework you have created at AS and A2. Create a list for each of your coursework pieces, justifying how you have demonstrated any of them.

AS:

• Originality - My music magazine was different to most because it focused on the females within the rock genre and had more of a focus on a female audience. I wanted to create this because I hadn't seen it done before and though there a lot of great female artists within the rock genre I feel that they aren't as widely known as others. Also, female fronted rock bands are mainly what I listen to so I had quite a wide knowledge of it before I started. 
• Imagination/Vision - The imaginative part came when planning the music magazine. I had to choose a colour scheme, fonts and an aesthetic theme. Though a lot of this was inspired by other rock music magazines and existing products I definitely used my imagination to create my final product. 
• Inspiration - As I said I was inspired by other rock music magazines, the main one being 'Kerrang!'. I was inspired a lot by this for the layout of my magazine and it was very helpful to have an existing product to refer back too. I think the inspiration helped me to be creative and in the end helped me to create a good product. 
• Ingenuity/Resourcefulness - Because of the limited time we had to create the products it was a challenge but I made sure to plan well in advance and I tried to be as organised as possible. Because of timing I didn't get to take all the pictures I would have like too, meaning that some of the images I used were actually just from concerts I had been too, but worked well as thumbnails for 'posters'. 
• Innovation - Compared to my preliminary music magazine my work had improved greatly. Throughout the course I learnt about conventions that would help my product to look more professional. I also felt more confident using programmes such as Photoshop meaning that my editing was much better than when I first started. 

A2:

• Imagination/Vision - The idea for the music video came to me very quickly and the vision that I had for it was very similar to the end product. There were a lot of creative elements to think about; costume, location, shots, props etc. 
• Inspiration - The inspiration we had was from videos of female fronted rock and rock/pop bands and this had a huge influence on our video. It made it a lot easier to envision our own video and made the planning process quicker. It was also nice to have an existing product to refer back to, meaning that our product became more professional looking. For the ancillary products the inspiration came from quite conventional rock themes and dark imagery such as skulls. 
•  Ingenuity/Resourcefulness - Again, time was an issue, especially when shooting for the video. We had to work around our own schedules as well as weather and daylight. We usually shot the outside shots while it was still light and when it began to get darker we'd do any inside performance shots which evened it out and meant that we weren't wasting time. 

How creative do you think you've been and what prevented you from being more creative?

Though there were constraints such as limited time, money and equipment I think I was creative in terms of vision. I always had a clear idea of how I wanted my product and I was happy with what I had created at the end of it all. Seeing as this was the first time I'd done this a lot of it was based on influences and existing products but I would like to think that if I did it again I would try to move away from that and let my creativity be more independent and less influenced. 

Has a set menu of tasks made it easier to be creative or would you have preferred a free choice on what you could make? Were you pinned down too much by the task or did it free you up to be creative within the boundaries of the task?

I don't think that the boundaries were a particularly bad thing and I was still able to be creative within that. I think it also helped  that I enjoyed the task we were given as it was tied to music. I think that if we had more time then there would have been no problem with letting us have more free choice but as it was I think the boundaries made it easier in the long run.

"A process needed for problem solving... not a special gift enjoyed by a few but a common ability possessed by most people." (Jones 1993)
Everyone has an integral way to problem solve, though they may not all be the same, we all have it within us.

"The making of the new and the rearranging of the old." (Bentley 1997)
The way in which things are created. We can either create something completely new or we can reuse and modify old ideas.

"Creativity results from the interaction of a system composed of three elements: a culture that contains symbolic rules, a person who brings novelty into the symbolic domain, and a field of experts who recognise and validate the innovation." (Csikszentmihalyi 1996)
Creativity is shaped by culture (surroundings and the society), a person with an idea and somebody to recognise that idea as something special.
- Agree: Within our work our surroundings were our boundaries (budget, being students, time etc.), the person with the idea was us, the student, and the person to recognise that idea was the teacher. 

"There is absolutely no judgement [on creativity]. All judgements are comparisons of one thing with another." (Donald Larning)
If we judge something we are simply comparing it to something else.
- Disagree: I think that there definitely is judgement, and even if it is a comparison you still have an opinion on a certain thing. It's not, however, always a negative, because the feedback we got in our work helped us to develop. 

"Technology has taken all the creativity out of media."
New advancements have made it easier to create things but we now lack the capability to be creative and use our imaginations.

"A project that is too well planned lacks opportunities for spontaneity and creativity."

If you plan every single part of a project too well you will never break the boundaries, therefore never exploring something new and possibly better.

"Media producers can learn nothing from studying the conventions of old texts."
You won't learn anything new from looking at generic conventions of something already created.
- Disagree: Though I agree with this to a certain extent, especially if you are already well developed within media production, I think for our work it was always helpful to look back at conventions of already existing texts because it helped to make ours more believable. 

The creation of bringing something new into existence - "This particular understanding of creativity involves the physical making of something, leading to some form of communication, expression or revelation." (David Gauntlett)
There is always a reason behind creating something.

"If creativity is not inherent in human mental power and is, in fact, social and situational, then technological developments may well be linked to advances in the creativity of individual users." (Banaji, Burn and Buckingham 2006)
If creativity is to to with the individual situation of a person then the use of technology is still creative because how it is used is down to the person who uses it. 

- Agree: Though the whole class used Photoshop for their coursework the end results were all very different and some people's were definitely more creative than ours. It still depended on the skills of the individual person.

Rube Goldberg

How do Rube Goldberg's ideas fit in with what you have learnt about creativity? To what extent are they demonstrating creativity?
I think the creativity from Goldberg is different to the conventional way of thinking about creativity. It seems to be a lot more technical, and more for the reason that it looks good, rather than it really meaning anything.

Which theories could be applied to Goldberg's ideas? Explain why.
"Creativity results from the interaction of a system composed of three elements: a culture that contains symbolic rules, a person who brings novelty into the symbolic domain, and a field of experts who recognise and validate the innovation." - This kind of creativity has evolved from different aspects of our society within art and media, the person is obviously Goldberg and the recognition comes from the audience's reaction.

Which theories conflict with his ideas? Explain why.
"A project that is too well planned lacks opportunities for spontaneity and creativity." - This conflicts completely because the video wouldn't have worked at all if it wasn't planned out to the last detail.
"This particular understanding of creativity involves the physical making of something, leading to some form of communication, expression or revelation." - Though it looks good and something big was definitely created I don't think there was any deeper meaning behind it.

Creativity Grid by

Conventions Essay

How has your understanding of real media conventions developed over the past two years?

At AS we completed a front cover, a double page spread and a contents page for a music magazine with a genre of our choice. We used Photoshop to create these products. At A2 we created a music video for a song of our choice (I used 'Save Me' by Automatic Loveletter) and the ancillary tasks: a digipak and a magazine advert for the album.

First of all, for the research and planning, I looked at music magazines as a whole. There are some common conventions within nearly all music magazines. These include using a large and striking main image on the front cover, usually of the band or artist that the main story is focused around. Another prominent feature is cover lines. These give more information about the story or artist, making the reader want to know more. On the contents page there are often page previews using thumbnail images of certain pages within the magazine also to grab the reader's attention. The use of layering is important for the aesthetic of the magazine. It is the technique of overlaying images and text in order to prevent there being a lot of blank space on a page. There are some other obvious features such as the barcode, page numbers and page titles that you would see in any genre magazine that it was important not to miss.

The genre of the magazine, however, did influence some of the conventions I chose to use. This was an important element to look at because some features are used differently within different genres and I wanted my magazine to be a coherent rock genre magazine. The first thing was the colour scheme; it was usually a lot darker and simpler for rock genre magazines, usually using black or grey. My own colour scheme was black, white and red which was very conventional. Often the style of the font and images used within rock genre music magazines were very fitting, connoting themes that linked with the music such as anger or sadness. The language of the actual articles seemed to be very colloquial and conversational predominantly. While this could be true for many genres it seemed to be a feature more so of rock genre music magazines, and there was usually a fair amount of 'taboo' language within the writing too.

Being able to compare my own work to an existing product throughout the creative stages and using the conventions made the piece as a while more believable and professional-looking. This meant that understanding the conventions enough to manipulate them to fit my own product was important. It influenced the decision making process because I had to choose which conventions to use and which I could challenge or adapt without my product losing a sense of genre or how believable it was as a piece.

Understanding the conventions for a music video was a lot simpler because we see them on a daily basis and it becomes very recognisable. This meant that ideas I had for the music video formed almost straight away after choosing a song. I feel that I did use conventions for the music video, mainly in terms of styling. The mise en scene was very simple for the most part because a lot of it was shot outdoors. For these scenes I wanted it to seem lonely and isolated to fit with the song as well as the conventions of a lot of rock genre music videos. The costume and the make up were heavily based upon the look of a lot of female fronted rock bands such as Evanescence and female artists such as Christina Perri and were therefore quite conventional.

For the digipak and advert the imagery I used of skulls and skeletons fits with the conventional view of the 'darkness' of the rock genre. I also used a very basic colour scheme similar to the one I used within my music magazine. Compared to my AS work I think my understanding of conventions has developed and is now more of a second nature when creating something. I think my knowledge of conventions with the rock genre is very strong but maybe that I need to branch out into other genres too.

For the AS work I mainly used conventions because it was the first time I had created anything like that and I was very aware  of trying to make my piece as believable as possible. At A2 I was able to take more risks because I was more confident of my abilities. Therefore I challenged the convention of using a lot of band shots within the video. In a lot of cases a rock bands will be made up of at least four members (My Chemical Romance, Halestorm, Evanescence, Linkin Park, Escape the Fate etc.)and in the video there will be a lot of dramatic performance shots. In my video, however, the performance shots were a lot more laid back and limited - partly because there were only three members to the band I created (similar to Paramore's new line up).

I think that, especially when initially creating something, conventions are very important to use as guidelines. They help to steer you in the right direction and they give shape to your product. Once you have your initial idea you can then move away from the conventions and challenge existing ideas to make the product really your own. I understand now, that conventions are not always as strict as I previously thought and that you can allow yourself to break the rules every so often in order to be creative.

Using Conventions from Real Media Texts Essay Question and Plan

How has your understanding of real media conventions developed over the past two years?

How has your understanding of real media conventions developed over the past two years? by

Task Three: Examples of Conventions

Conventions I used by

Task Two: How Did You Pastiche or Parody Any Other Media Texts?

Music Magazine:
I used bricolage when creating my music magazine because I copied a lot of ideas from 'Kerrang!' magazine. I adopted a lot of the conventions because it was the same genre as I was trying to create. I analysed the features and then tried to recreate them on my own work. I think in the end this paid off.

Music Video:
I also used bricolage in my music video because I took a lot of the ideas from existing rock/pop genre music videos. The ideas of mise en scene, colour and narrative were based on existing ideas so I think it made my video more believable.

Ancillary Tasks:
I also used bricolage for both of my ancilalry tasks because I again analysed the conventions of existing products of the same genre to mine and recreated them. The dark colour scheme and the images I used are very reminiscent of the rock genre.

Task One: Conventions

Conventions by

Postmodernism theories and texts

Postmodernism theories and texts from raybloggs

Being John Malkovich Presentation

In What Ways Can ‘Inglourious Basterds’ Be Considered Post-Modern?

The opening credits of the film play alongside ‘The Green Leaves of Summer’, music originally from the spaghetti western ’The Alamo', released in the 1960’s. This initially could lead you to believe that what you are about to witness is a gunfight or some sort of conflict. Instead the opening scene is that of a man and a woman out in the fields outside a small country house. However, the music isn't entirely misleading as spon after this the German's arrive and tension builds. Another key point within the opening credits is the yellow text that is used, a feature of a lot of Tarantino films. This establishes his style from the beginning. The 'once upon a time' shown before the opening scene shows that the film is self aware and is likely to be unrealistic as these words are well known for opening fairytales. As well as this the scenes are introduced in chapters, an unusual feature, especially within a war film, which this predominantly is.    

Again, within the opening scene, yellow text is used for subtitles, rather than the usual white. One thing within this scene that shows that it is post modern is that the scenery is shown as not real. The camera pans below the floorboards, showing the edge of the set, reminding the viewer that it isn't real. Tarantino uses this technique in many of his films and uses it again later in 'Inglourious Basterds'. Though the first scene is full of tension there isn't the non-stop action that you would usually associate with the war genre of films. It is mainly focused on the dialogue instead.

A post-modern element explored within this film is the hyper reality which is shown by exaggeration of the characters. The character of Hans Lander within the first scene is portrayed as unrealistic and stereotypical. His behaviour is over the top and his accent is thick. The demeanour of the character gives the scene a sense of unease that is present both with the audience and between the characters. When the Basterd's are introduced in chapter two, again there is hyper reality explored through characterisation. Brad Pitt's character, Aldo Raine, has a thick southern accent that is over done throughout the whole film. The characterisation of Hitler is also is also very stereotypical, making the character seem humourous rather than intimidating. Because of the way the characters played along with there not being much background knowledge about the Basterd's a lot of the emotion is stripped away. This makes the film a lot more comical and again, very unusual for a war film. This blending of genres is another element that makes 'Inglourious Basterds' post-modern.

At the end of the scene when Shosanna is seen running from the house intertexuality is used. The shot from the doorframe looking outside is reminiscent of 'The Searchers' a 1950's western. Within chapter two we are introduced to the character of the bear jew, using seemingly out of place editing to make it look like a newspaper, more suited to a comedy action film. When Hugo Siglitz is introduced his name comes up on the screen in the yellow font used before, reminding the audience that they are watching a film and that it is not real. Also, as this is happening on screen there plays a song in the background called 'Slaughter', which is an example of Blaxpolitation music used in this film. This is music usually associated with the ethnic subgenre of exploitation film in the United States in the 1970s. 'Inglourious Basterds' is set during the Second world War so this music seems to be completely unrelated, especially because of the instruments used within the music. This music is used to emphasise this scene, showing the characters as important. In usual war films, such as Saving Private Ryan there would be more sound effects (gun shots, bombs, etc) but the sound and music of 'Inglourious Basterds' sets it apart.

The lack of realism may make the gore easier to stomach. Though there isn't as much action with scenes of mass murder such as in Saving Private Ryan, for instance, it is still a war film and there are deaths that occur. The special effects for these parts aren't particularly unrealistic, which you might expect given the rest of the film but it still doesn't seem real given the lack of emotion and detachment of the characters. Within any other film this may simply say something about the characters themselves but within a post modern setting it alters the tone of the film.

Another post modern feature occurs in chapter three when Shoshanna and Marcel talk about burning down the cinema. A clip in the style of a public information film that would have been seen at the time is shown, talking about the flammability of nitrate films. The voiceover for this part is done by Samuel L Jackson, someone not normally associated with these types of film but a favourite of Tarantino.

In chapter four when the British characters are first introduction and talking to each other the characterisation is again stereotypical and over the top. They are set in a very grand a large looking room, though there aren't many props, making the room look empty. The characters have very stereotypical English accents; posh and over the top. They speak very politely to each other and are very charming though there is probably no need to be because they seem to know each other quite well. Rod Taylor plays the character of Winston Churchill, though he doesn't speak for most of the scene and instead can be seen sitting and drinking in a corner of the room. Tarantino is a fan of Rod Taylor and wanted him specifically for this role though he was in retirement at the time. 

The tavern scene is very important to the film and it introduces the character of Bridget von Hammersmark. There are references to popular culture such as King Kong within the game they are playing. Most of the scene is made up of dialogue between the soldeirs rather than a lot action, which you might expect from a straight war film. However, the dynamic of the tavern scene is strange and is used to build tension to the end of the film where the action does then occur. This sense of tension is created through how the characters speak to each, at one point one of the characters is asked about his accent and from here pressure builds because they have been found out. The dynamic of the characters does not seem realistic but does fit with the rest of the film. There is also a comical feel toward the end of the scene because the guns are pointed to the men's testicles. There is another intertextual reference within this scene when the barman recahes for his shotgun that is behind counter, a feature of many western films.

Detail Your Understanding of the Importance of Good Research and Planning Skills Developed Throughout the Pre-production of Your AS and A2 Coursework.

Mock up versions and drafts were always an important stage of the course because it meant you could get your initial ideas down so that both you and the teachers could see which direction you were going in. After this you could build on what you already had with new ideas inspired from existing products or influential images or videos. These new ideas would come from the research and planning stages, meaning the more you did the more ideas you came up with and the better they were. In AS as well as the mock ups and self-evaluation I also created a questionnaire including questions about colour scheme and font types etc. This helped to guide my ideas down a particular route and tailor them to my target audience. For A2 I mainly looked at conventions of existing products as influence and I went into a lot of detail when analysing these products to make sure that my digipak, advert and music video all including the details to make them look more professional.

Part of the research and planning was making sure that the sources were reliable and accurate. A lot of the research I did was online, making it very easy to get hold off. However, this meant that sometimes you would come across unreliable sources such as student made magazines, which weren’t a good source to base my own product from. To overcome this I stuck to using well-known names such as Kerrang! and NME. I tried to make sure that any facts and figures I used as feedback I had collected myself (the questionnaire for example) rather than relying on somebody else’s data.

Good organisation of the data I collected was key to making sure I didn’t lose anything and that I could find everything I was looking for. Labelling posts on the blog and making sure everything was dated and in chronological order made the process a lot easier.  My organisation skills definitely developed from AS to A2.

I always made sure to complete my work on time and meet the deadlines. I also created deadlines for myself within the course to keep up to date and organised. Having to organise other people was hard to do because of the other priorities that they had and finding time where we could all meet up. Thankfully, we minimised this issue by casting me to be in the video, meaning I was always available and willing to put the hours in. I learnt very quickly that within the production schedule there wasn't a lot of room for movement because it would cause a domino effect and everything would build up. I think I worked well, my strengths being communication and inputting ideas but I could have spent more time on the blog posts and put more detail into the evaluation process.

The planning process was very different at A2 than at AS because I was working in a pair with Mae. The planning took longer but it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. A lot of the time when working independently I would have to change or edit my planning or refer back to the plan a lot because I didn't perhaps think of everything. Because I was working in a pair the planning stage was a lot more detailed because Mae could pick out things I didn't think of. This meant that once the planning was done, it was pretty final and there wasn’t any need to go back and change anything.

I think that the planning stage at A2 was a lot more detailed and took longer. We created a storyboard which was vitally important throughout the whole of the production and post-production stages. It was first used to put our ideas into motion and start to order everything. Then once we had completed it we took it with us to the filming sessions, because we didn't film everything in order we could put to one side the shots we had filmed so we knew what we had left. We then used it again after all the filming had been done to help edit the video. All the shots were numbered so it made it a lot easier to put the video together. I also created progression posts on my blog, mainly for me than for the teachers. It was always good to write down what had been done and what needed to be done so that I could work out what time we had left. It helped keep me organised and kept stress levels down.

Presentation of Research and Planning

How did you present your primary and secondary research on your blog?
For both AS and A2 I set the primary research out on my blog as a write up about what I had learnt from the feedback and what I could now change. For the secondary research I made posts including a lot of images that influenced me and that I could use as inspiration.

Did your presentation of audience feedback for example become more creative through your increased use of digital technology available for embedding on the blogs?
I mainly used blog posts but when I did the evaluation questions I used a lot of different formats for my answers. My audience feedback evaluation question was done on Scribd.

How your research and planning has informed your practical production:
For the music video I remember that we looked at other videos and counted the number of shots used so that we knew what to aim for. This meant that our video wasn't too slow or too fast. Looking at the conventions of the genre helped to guide us in terms of costume, make up and location. Without the initial research filming would have taken a lot longer and the outcome wouldn't have been as good.
Also, for the ancillary products how the different details of the products such as the record company logo and barcode may have been forgotten if we didn't have something to base the product upon. The layout of the digipak and advert were heavily based on existing products too.

How did your research into genre contribute to your production work?
A lot of the pop/rock genre music videos we looked at used both narrative and performance in their music video which is what we did. The costume and make up was always a big part of the video so we spent a lot of time working out what was going to be worn.
For the ancillary products a lot of the rock genre CD covers and adverts that I looked at were quite simple, usually using dark colours and bold fonts. The adverts usually used the front cover image of the CD with text added.

How did your research into audience contribute to your production  work?
The feedback I got made me re-evaluate my initial ideas such as font choice. After talking to Mr Ford I changed the font on my ancillary products. He also suggested some ideas for layout because initially my images and text were too spread out, leaving too many gaps.
For the music video we were told that the running shot should be taken out, which it was. We also had issues with the lighting in the draft stage which was picked up on in audience feedback.

What pre-production planning techniques did you employ (scripting, storyboarding, shot listing)  and how effective was your planning? How did it help in the production phase?
Storyboarding was a vital part of the pre-production phase and was very helpful as planning. We were able to use the storyboard in many ways too; we used it to build the narrative in the planning stage, then for filming shots and finally for editing. We did also create a shot list which we did use for filming but not as much as the storyboard.

How did you use audience feedback to influence your production work while it was in progress?
After filing the draft video Mr Ford told us that the close up shots worked really well to add emotion and that we should use more. So when we filmed for the second time we made sure to add more close ups in.

Organisation of Planning Materials

How did you organise your planning materials?
On my blog I made sure to label all of my research and planning posts so that they would be easy to find. Apart from that I kept all my written work in folders, seperated according to teacher and part of the course. My organisation definitely developed from AS to A2.

Did you utilise the blog more at A2 than AS?
I think I used it about the same amount but at A2 I used it in the right way.

How did you follow your flat plans and storyboards?
The storyboard was very useful, we used it through the whole production of music video. It was first used to put our ideas into motion and start to order everything. Then once we had completed it we took it with us to the filming sessions, because we didn't film everything in order we could put to one side the shots we had filmed so we knew what we had left. We then used it again after all the filming had been done to help edit the video. All the shots were numbered so it made it a lot easier to put the video together.

Did all members have copies of the production schedule and storyboard?
Because we did our storybaord on post it notes (so it was easy to move anything around) it would have been difficult to duplicate it. However, we did take pictures of each part for reference. We did both have a production schedule though, and even if it wasn't formally written we had talked about our plans.

Did you complete diaries or progression blog posts? Why was this important in terms of planning both pieces of coursework?
I did create progression posts on my blog, mainly for me than for the teachers. It was always good to write down what had been done and what needed to be done so that I could work out what time we had left. It helped keep me organised and kept stress levels down.

Working Individually or as Part of a Group

What did you learn about individual and teamwork?
I was hesitant at first to work in a group because I am usually a very independent worker and I feel that I produce my best work alone. However, at A2 with the music video I am definitely glad that I had a partner to work with. This meant that we could get a lot more done in the time given and we could each use our strengths to help each other out. I liked being able to work on the ancillary texts alone but the music video was made much easier by having someone else there.

What are the pros and cons?
The good things about working independently are that you can get on with the task at hand without having to agree on something with someone else, giving you more time. Usually the idea in your head will be very similar to your final product, so you know that you are happy with it. This isn't always a good thing though, because if you do have someone else working alongside you their input can make you final product a lot better. It's always good to have someone ask you questions about what you are doing in order to create your best work.

What main things have you learnt about group work at AS and A2 in terms of planning your product?
Planning takes longer when you work in a pair but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. A lot of the time when working independently I will have to change or edit my planning or refer back to the plan a lot because I didn't perhaps think of everything. When working in a pair the planning stage is a lot more detailed because the other person can pick out things you didn't think of. This means that once the planning is done, it's pretty final and there will be no need to go back and change anything.

Planning - Pre-Production Requirements

Drafting - What drafts did you produce?
For AS I created a draft magazine cover, contents page and double page spread at the very start of the course. For A2 as a class we created a music video to Busted's 'That's What I Go To School For', then in our pairs we created a draft version of our own music video before our final. I also created a draft for each of the ancillary tasks.

Gaining audience feedback - How did you make sure you collated this - What was the development between AS and A2?
I made sure to take on board any feedback I got, I made a note of it all and made sure to consider it when producing. At AS I produced a questionnaire which I then used to decide the theme and look of my magazine. At A2 most of the feedback I got was just through class evaluation, comments and talking to people. This actually helped a lot more because the conversation could be more in depth and I could come away with several new ideas to think about rather than just one specific thing.

Organisation of time, personnel and equipment: 
I always made sure to complete my work on time and meet the deadlines. I also created deadlines for myself within the course to keep up to date and organised. Having to organise other people was hard to do because of the other priorities that they had and finding time where we could all meet up. Thankfully, we minimised this issue by casting me to be in the video, meaning I was always available and willing to put the hours in. I learnt very quickly that within the production schedule there wasn't a lot of room for movement because it would cause a domino effect and everything would build up. I think I worked well, my strengths being communication and inputting ideas but I could have spent more time on the blog posts and put more detail into the evaluation process.

Organisation of Research

What skills did you learn about organising and referencing materials?
It became clear that labelling the blog posts would be very important. It helped to keep track of all the work we did and keep everything organised. I tried to keep everything in order and made sure to date my work at AS.
How did your skills of organisation develop from AS to A2?
My blog became neater in general, with the help of the labels. I also used a better filing system for my folders for the written work so that I could keep track of it all and I didn't lose anything.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Sources

Accessibility - Was the research easy to find?
For the most part, yes. For AS I already had a collection of magazines I could use for reseaching conventions and anything I didn't have could be found easily online. For A2 again the internet was very useful, I could find all the videos I needed on YouTube and anything else through a simple Google search.

Time - Was it time consuming?
For both AS and A2 once I knew what I needed to research it was pretty simple to find so it never took too long. Also, a lot of what I found I did so by accident. I would often see things that would influence or inspire my ideas and then add them to my blog, rather than spending hours searching for something.

Reliability - Was the research measured to be consistent - did you find a trustworthy source? Was it another student's work?
I remember that when researching for AS as well as finding genuine magazines there were also a lot of student made magazines online. To avoid looking at unhelpful sources I made sure to look for names I recognised such as Kerrang! and NME - this way I knew that it was a trustworthy source. At A2 it was similiar, I found student made videos too but I looked for artists that I recognised such as Evanescence and Christina Perri.

Accuracy - Were the facts and figures correct?
For the AS work I carried out a questionnaire which meant I could control the feedback that I was getting so I knew it was reliable. It also asked specific questions, making it all relevant to my work and I could clearly see in terms of numbers what was preferable for my audience.

Did your audience feedback results provide a fair sample of over all opinions? Was it bias?
I think that most of the feedback I got at AS and A2 was fair. A lot of it helped me to progress and think about things that i hadn't thought of before. Sometimes I'd find that because a someone didn't like or know a lot about the genre I was doing they would give slightly bias feedback but I tried to consider everything, even if I didn't use it in the end.

Validity - Was there a link between the particular research and the final product? Was there a strong indication that this research affected the outcome of your work?
For AS I knew what that I wanted to use the rock genre straight away so understandably my research was into the conventions of rock genre magazines. I set out to create that kind of magazine, so I wouldn't say my research completely influenced my work, just that I knew what I was setting out to make. However, it was very useful to have that research there and I did use a lot of the ideas. For A2 I again had a very clear initial idea but this time, for the music video, the reality actually moved away from the initial idea and the research and became something quite different.

Primary and Secondary Research for A2

Primary Research:

• Feedback from class: This was a good way of researching for my work because I could get the opinions from like minded people that were in the same boat. Therefore they knew what was expected but also what was realistic in terms of what we could achieve given the time and budget. It also gave me ideas that I hadn't thought of that I could use entirely or take influence from. on the downside sometimes, because it was purely opinion, the views given were bias, perhaps because someone didn't like or know a lot about that genre. Also, sometimes people would have a completely different thought track, meaning to include their idea I would have had to change a lot. 
• Choosing the location: Being able to choose where filmed meant that we could see for ourselves what it would be like and the areas that we could film in. This made planning shots easier when in the classroom because we both knew what we were talking about and we could go back to the pictures and already imagine what it would look like. It did, however, slightly limit us creatively because it had to be somewhere near and somewhere we didn't have to pay for. If we weren't students then we would have a larger range of choice.
• Comments from teachers: - The feedback we got from teachers was useful because we knew it was from people who know what is expected from the examiners.It also gives a different viewpoint to that of students, meaning we have a wider circle for our feedback to come from. As with class feedback though, there could still be bias views and different thought track if they don't know a lot about genre. 
• Self Evaluation - Looking back at your own work and giving yourself criticism is the easiest way to learn what needs improving and how to improve it. Though it is only part of the feedback you need it is a good initial step.

Secondary Research:

• Looking at conventions: - Conventions are a great way to get to know what is expected from you in your final product. It will also give you an idea of what details you can add and what will make it look professional. The only downside is that by just using the conventions you run the risk of being too safe and predictable.
• Looking at others work: You can be inspired by new ideas that you can use as an influence to your own work and you can also get an idea of what is a high standard piece of work and where you should be aiming. You could be at risk of copying someone else's work though if you aren't careful.  
• Researching album artwork and images and music videos: It can be helpful because you know the source is reliable and it's useful to get influences from genre specific sources. However, these aren't always a realistic representation of what you can achieve.

Research and Planning for AS:

• Fonts: http://laurabarsbycw.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/fonts.html
• Pictures for Front Cover and Contents: http://laurabarsbycw.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/blog-post.html
• Targets from Feedback: http://laurabarsbycw.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/targets-from-feedback.html
• Self Assessment: http://laurabarsbycw.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/self-assessment.html
• Drafts: http://laurabarsbycw.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/contents-double-page-spread-and-front.html
• Test Shots Evaluation: http://laurabarsbycw.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/test-shots-evaluation.html
• Mock Ups: http://laurabarsbycw.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/mock-ups.html
• Questionnaire: http://laurabarsbycw.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/30th-january-2012-questionnaire.html

Research and Planning for A2:

• Feedback: http://barsbymedia1213.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/digipak-and-advert-draft-feedback.html
• Analysis of Advert: http://barsbymedia1213.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/magazine-advert-analysis.html
• Analysis of Website: http://barsbymedia1213.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/band-website-analysis.html
• Analysis of CD: http://barsbymedia1213.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/cd-cover-analysis-prezi.html
• Conventions: http://barsbymedia1213.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/magazine-advert-conventions.html

Comparison:
At A2 I went into a lot more detail with my research, such as what I would use it for and how it has influenced me. I also evaluated a lot more of the feedback that I got. I think I have improved my research skills because I looked in a lot more places for influence for the A2 work.