Transferable Skills - Witness Statement

Evaluation

Before I started Unit 2, I had completed a GCSE course in media. Because of this I had some experience with programmes such as Photoshop, Garageband and Final Cut. Over the duration of Unit 2, my confidence in using these programmes increased. I now think that I can create more complex designs and ones of better quality. As evidence of this, I created a magazine front cover at GCSE and I have also designed one for this unit. I feel that for this one, I have put more thought into the design and layout. I also designed a CD package and had to present my ideas to a feedback group. Again, I felt my confidence in this has improved.

I felt that I worked well as part of a group. For our film trailer, I contributed ideas and tried to make sure that all of the group members were working well. I like to have at least some control when working as part of a group so that I can be sure that my ideas and contributions are taken on board. However I am also comfortable with being a team player and letting other people take control if I feel that their skill set would be better for a certain situation. I am happy to let other group members put their ideas forward and I like to feel that each member is working equally.  I feel that by doing this the product will be a high quality as it has been worked on by many people who can all add to it. I also work well totally independently as I do enjoy being in full control of the work and knowing exactly what I want to do. I am able to come up with good ideas and make good quality products or designs. However I do enjoy seeing what other people are working on because this can help me to learn new skills on Photoshop, Final Cut, Garageband etc. I also like to show my work to my friends so that they can give me their opinions and give me new ideas. This is useful as sometimes it is good to have different viewpoints when working on a product.

I think that my media skills have improved over the course of Unit 2 however I feel that they could be improved further. I could improve them by doing work experience with someone who regularly uses media skills or by spending more time on my work and learning more about the programmes that I am using (Photoshop, Final Cut etc.)

A0B1: Sound Effects

Examples of other sleeve/packaging design

CD mock-Up seperate

CD Mock-Up Full View

Research Report for Music Video

Music Video Research Report

I was given the job of creating a music video for Drunk by Ed Sheeran. In order to know what my music video should look like and what kind of content it should have in it, I looked at music videos for artists similar to Ed Sheeran and later I looked at artists from the same genre. I also looked at previous Ed Sheeran videos to see if there was any things that he had done in his previous videos that I could do in my video. I felt that this would create continuity between his videos. This gave me an insight into how I should go about creating my music video. I then went on to research the conventions of music videos, for example if music videos for a certain genre had similar characteristics. I saw that lots of videos have either a relationship between the lyrics and visuals or the music and visuals. Some music videos have lots of close-ups of the artist and some artists have motifs that they will use across all of their videos. An example of this is Travie McCoy who often appears with a toothbrush. Another recurring element in music videos in general is the notion of looking and the voyeuristic treatment of women and their bodies. There are often intertextual references to films, tv programmes or other music videos. In Fall Out Boy's video for Dance Dance, there is an American school dance similar to ones seen in films. There is also a part of the video where a group of people use dance moves from Michael Jackson's Thriller video. This would have been done deliberately because Thriller is an iconic song and video. I also looked online for tips for shooting a music video, these helped me a lot when it came to coming up with ideas for my video. I carefully looked through the lyrics of the song to see if I could create any links between the lyrics and visuals because I knew that this was a common occurrence in music videos. I also tried to think of what kind of imagery I could use in the video in order to relate it to the lyrics. I put all of the images and colours that I thought would be good for my video on a moodboard so that I could look back at them while I was filming the music video. The final piece of resarch that I did was present my moodboard, treament and general ideas that I had to a focus group to see what members of the public would think of my music video. This was very useful because it allowed me to see if my music video would appeal to people and therefore if the music video would help to sell the song. When I looked at Ed Sheeran's previous videos, I saw that many of them were mainly narrative-based. I decided to keep to this convention, however I thought that there should be a few shots of Ed performing like there have been in some of his other videos. Also, Ed is known for wearing a hoodie and jeans so I decided that he should wear this when he appears in the video. Something that changed because of my research is that I included shots of Ed in the video in order to keep to the convention of his previous videos. The feedback that I received from the focus group was mainly positive and there were no suggestions on how to improve the video so I kept it how it was because it had appealed to members of the public.

Focus Group Feedback

Research Report for CD Packaging

Analysis 3 - Professor Green

Analysis 2 - JLS

Analysis 1 - Gym Class Heroes

Types of Music Videos

Questionnaire Summary

Focus Group Feedback

Focus Group Feedback

I was given the task of coming up with a treatment for Ed Sheeran’s new music video ‘Drunk’. I then presented my idea to a focus group and they gave me some feedback.

Words that came to mind

The focus group was asked to write down three words that they thought of when they listened to my treatment. The words that they came up with were:

Happy

Leaving

Relationships

Drinking

Solemn

Alcohol

Sad

Friendship

Depressing

Emotional

Drunk

Sorrow

The majority of these words are representative of the mood I intended to create with the video. However some of them, such as ‘happy’, I would not associate with the video or the lyrics of the track. The only explanation I can think of for them choosing ‘happy’ is the frame of mind that being drunk gives somebody.

Would the proposed idea be interesting for the target audience?

When asked about my ideas 100% of my focus group said that the ideas would be interesting for my target audience. Most of them also said that they went well with the genre, with one person adding that they thought the video would be emotional for the audience, which they said would be good.

Best part of the idea

They were also asked what they thought the best part of the idea was. Two of the people who were asked answered that the best part was the mixture of live performance clips of Ed and a good narrative, with another person stating that they liked the switch between happy and sad within the video.

Does the idea work?

Everyone in my focus group said that the idea works well. One of them commented that there was a good link between the lyrics of the song and the visuals and another said that it was a professional idea and similar to an actual video.

Problems

Only one of the focus group mentioned a problem with my ideas. They thought that there was a lot going on and that it might be too much to control. However I do not believe that this will pose a problem for me.

Comments on presentation of treatment

Most of the focus group stated that the treatment was well laid out and a lot of thought had been put into it. However some of them pointed out that I faced the computer for the majority of the presentation and they said that this let me down.

Questionnaire Closed Questions

Words That Come To Mind

Questionnaire

Treatment

CD Feedback

Positive:
Simplicity
Keeps in line with genre


Negative:
Empty space on front cover
Needs more colour
Lack of logo from previous albums
Alignment on track listing

Example Pros and Cons

Professor Green Pros and Cons

CD Proposal

Full CD Mock-Up

CD Mock-Up Image of Artist

CD Mock-Up Artist Info

CD Mock-Up CD Holder

CD Mock-Up Track Listing

My CD Cover

My Track Listing

Coverting Music Files To WAV

Secondary Research

Mood Board

CD Influence Sheet

CD Cover Ideas

CD Conventions

Film Synopsis

Setting: A small college in Wem, Shropshire, A graveyard, The Recreation ground in Wem 

Two boys go back to college and meet an unknown creature. The creature chases the boys and they have to find a way to stop it. Throughout the film the boys contact a friend who is a big fan of horror and the supernatural. The boys also find themselves at a graveyard and a deserted field. 

Print Skills