Christmas Break Up

Scriptwriting

• I have completed all the tasks, including a presentation on the role of the writer:

• I have completed a book on research for my adaptations.
• I have done a script treatment,
• a pitch
• and I have written two of scripts (the adaptation and the original).

Documentary

• We completed all research on our documentary and published it to Youtube today:

• We had to split it in two part as it was too long to fit on Youtube in one.

Web Design

• I am currently working on my website, and have designed the pages.
  
• I have added a navigation bar and all of the buttons that I designed on Photoshop.
• I have started to add my Youtube videos to my showreel pages and have written short blurbs about my work to each page.

Idents

• I have completed all of the research tasks and I have started to research the brief which has inspired me when I am designing my idents.
• I have completed a presentation on explaining idents:
  
  
• We have been given the brief to design a series of 5 idents which we have to make one of.
• I am currently in the process of thinking of different ideas and brainstorming.
  

October Update

1. Documentary

• In documentary, we have researched the documentary formats, and we had to put them in a formal presentation:
• We then had to put the issues with documentary into a presentation and add our own ideas to it.

2. Scriptwriting

• In scriptwriting, we have started tasks, and I have completed research on film noirs to put into a scrapbook.
• I have also made a powerpoint presentation on the writer's role in the commissioning process.
  

Start of Year 2

As we have all completed the projects from last year, we are starting completely new ones.



Documentary

• So far in documentary, we have studied the codes and conventions of what makes a documentary, and I am currently working on a presentation for this at home.


• We have watched two documentarys so far, incuding "Supersize Me" and "Bowling for Columbine".


• We are working on our own ideas for a documentary, and so far I am working in a group in which we are focusing on alcohol and why it is legal.

Idents

• We have looked at many different idents, including ones for BBC and ITV.


• We are currently researching how idents have changed over time.


• We will be creating our own ident for our production company that we will be developing over the course of this assignment.

Scriptwriting

• In scriptwriting, we have looked at a number of scripts and we are evaluating them, and assessing how they would work as screen plays. I am currently looking at the short story called "The Method", and how it could adapt to be a film.


• We have also looked at how people speak, and the differences in their pronounciations etc.

Web Design

• We have started the basics of web design, and have learned how to set up a webpage in Dreamweaver.
• We will be creating at least two sites, one as a portfolio and one to tie in with the idents assignment - a website for our "production company".

End of Year One

Multi Camera Project (Unit 22)

• In my group, we made the promotional video for the Festival of Colours (Catwalk designers) and edited it/uploaded it to Youtube. We filmed it at Southampton Solent University using the green screen, and then edited at college. Here is the final product.

• We then filmed and edited the live event, and I was the team leader in my group. I mostly used the industry standard cameras, filming the event from the floor and from the seating area, which I found really fun. We used walkie - talkies to communicate. We then edited the show in group. I worked in a group of three.

Special Effects

• As we finished Critical Approaches, we started another small project - cloning. I worked with Jasmine on two different cloning videos, presented here.

We are happier with the second one, as there was not a lot of movement in the first.

Totton College Awards

• At the end of term, we had to create a nominee video for the "Toscars". I was assigned to create one for "Best Director". I used clips from the nominees, and I also filmed extra footage for the introduction of the video.

48 Hour Film Challenge

• Finally, at the end of the year, we were set a 48 hour film challenge to do. This meant that we were given a genre and title for a film, and we had 2 days to completely film and edit it. I worked with Jasmine, and we were given Hammer Horror, with the title "Terror of the Deep".
• We decided to film the intro in a science lab, where we were "creating" the monster. We then used my brother as the creature, and filmed by a river.
• We managed to complete the project on time and submitted.

Updates on Several Units

Animation

• I have now finished my 3D and 2D animations, and I uploaded my 3D onto Youtube. 
• I now just need to write up an analysis of the two projects and I will have finished. 

Critical Approaches

• I have filmed and edited our project for critical approaches, and I have uploaded it on Youtube.
• I downloaded the clips from Youtube that I needed to put into the video, and I also downloaded sound effects.
• I recorded a voice over for the start. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_qBJMdHit4

• I also uploaded some work that I did a while ago for C.A., about the representation of certain media texts and how they target their audience. I chose to do The X Factor as it has a wide audience, andGirls Aloud's video, as it has a specific audience. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4g8nuqA9-U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb5-DTLRFcI

May Work

Multi Camera Project

• From the end of the April holidays until the end of term, I will be partaking in a multi camera project. We will be filming the Festival of Colour for the Hair & Beauty department at Totton College. 
• For the festival, we have to create a video in groups to show at the event. I am acting as team leader to my group, who are creating the introduction for Level 3 "Catwalk Designers".
• On Monday, we will be going to Southampton Solent Uni for a "masterclass" in production, and this is where we will be creating our videos. We are hoping to use a professional lighting rig and green screen.
• Our video idea will be Cassie and Katie on a "runway", walking up and down crosscutting with each other. We will have a lot of flashing lights which will make our video more interesting.
• We have to create the introduction to our video, which we are hoping to do on After Effects.
• Our video will then be shown as an intermission video at the event.

Animation

• I have finished and uploaded my 2D animation here:
• I am now working on my 3D animation. I am going to do a time lapse animation, filmed in Salisbury. I am hoping to film for either 30 or 60 minutes. I will be using a digital camera and a tripod, and I will take photos every 2/3 seconds. 
• I will also be doing another 3D animation, of which I have not decided yet. 

Critical Approaches

• For Critical Approaches, we have filmed our video, and all I need to do now is edit it. I need to download the clips which will be inserted into the video, and I am going to record a voiceover for it. I will be editing this weekend and during my break on Tuesday.
  

Legalities in the Media

• I have now finished and uploaded most of my work to my blog (http://amysmediablog00.blogspot.com/) and last week we filmed and I edited our mock interview, which I have also uploaded.
• We have filmed the group discussion, and I just need to capture and edit it. I will then have completed this unit.
  

Easter Holidays

Update on work from the end of last term.

1. Music Video Production

• In my group (Me, Jasmine, Keiran and Liam), we planned, did pre-production, filmed and edited our music video. We chose to do the video to Vanilla Twilight by Owl City. We tried to do something different with our video; we wanted to create a story (narrative video) and add a ghost effect onto certain parts of our video. We filmed over three days, once at night, once during the day, and once a few days later to get a few shots that we were missing.
• Our music video is about a guy who lost his girlfriend some time ago, and whenever he thinks about her, he imagines he is with her (hence the ghost effect). She is dead, so at the end he places flowers on a grave for her.
• We had a problem on the first day of filming because we finished college late, so we didn't have much natural light to film in, so we couldn't get many shots that we wanted filmed.
• After we had filmed, that same week we started editing. We were met with a problem that meant we could not use the ghost effect how we wanted to. We had to try to figure out a way to change the opacity on one person in the shot but not the other. We had filmed 4 takes of the same shot, just incase we were met with this problem, so we would be prepared and had a back up. Unfortunately we could not only change the opacity on one person, so we had to change our meaning behind the song a little bit, to make it fit.
• After editing version one, I was advised to get more shots for the video and to shorten the time the current shots were on screen for. I did this, and added in more lip synching parts.
• I finished my final version right on time.

2. Animation

• I have now finished my 2D animation work. It took a long time to make, because there were quite a few scenes that I had to draw out, and we only had 2 hours a week to work on the project.
• I encountered a few problems, including the fact that my file's were too big, and it took a long time to save, so I had to start a brand new project for each scene.
• It also took me quite a while to figure out how to properly work flash. There were certain things that I couldn't do and needed help on as I could not fix the problem myself.
• All I have to do now is to join each part together, export and upload to youtube.

3. Critical Approaches

• In Critical Approaches, we have been set a task to create an insert in the style of Charlie Brooker's Newswipe.
• My group (Me, Jasmine, Carrie and Matt) have finished the pre-production, planning and are now ready to film.
• We are doing an insert on how reality TV is not a reality. We are basing our video on Wife Swap and The Hills.
• We will be discussing how mediation controls the meaning of these programmes, and how the editing does not show the whole story.
• When we get back to college, we will be filming.

4. Research/Legalities

• I have completed task one, which was to write an article on a company in the media. I did ITV, as this is what I am interested in. I researched, highlighted and made notes on the important facts and then I wrote up my article in 1400 words.
• I completed task two, which was to research job sites, find a CV relating to work in the media industry, research a figure in the industry and research and know about different job roles in the industry.
• In my group (Me, Jasmine, Callum and Liam), we have started to plan our "discussion", and we are currently writing a script. We will film this discussion when we are back at college.
• I am currently finishing Task 4, and have nearly completed the CV. I will film the intervew with a partner when we are back at college.

This is a link to my blog where everything is uploaded:http://amysmediablog00.blogspot.com/

Lip Synching in Media

This week in media we continued our Music Video Production, by learning how to analyse lyrics to songs and music videos. In a group, we chose two songs, (Fireflies by Owl City and Imagine by John Lennon) and we had to analyse the lyrics in depth, relating to the audience and media terminology. We had to make a presentation, including our interpretations of the song, and then for the second part, we had to analyse the music video that went with it. We analysed the special effects, editing, mise-en-scene and shot composition. We did a powerpoint presentation and wrote a script to accompany it.

We started to study lip synching and we were given Christina Aquilera'd Beautiful to synch to. We were put into groups and we played the music while the others synched to it. We then edited the video with all the other groups and put them into one. I then uploaded it to youtube.

Update on Work

Last week we continued on the music video production (Unit 28), and we leart about censorship and controversy, and we learnt about the changing target audience of the Beastie Boys.

Over the weekend, I completed all of Andrew's coursework, including

• A case study on the Beastie Boys
• A written test on the purpose and importance of music videos.
• A mindmap on censored music videos
• A timeline of the history of music videos.

In Sociology, I had to complete an essay plan for the factors affecting achievement in school for boys and girls, for homework.

We watched a video in tutor, called Sophie's Consent. It was dealing with the issue of consent for rape. I think that she did give consent because she was not protesting and they were both drunk and they did not realise what they were doing.

Media Work for Snow Day

Today I finished the media work that Reno set. I did a PowerPoint presentation on the television show "Glee". I had to analyse certain aspects of it, such as the target audience and the issues that it covers.

I took some screen caps of it:




and the entire presentation is uploaded here: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TNKPOHRF

It took me quite a while to do, as I was collecting images from the internet to add, and analysing the show in depth.

Today I also finished the final touches to my storyboards for Animation. I will do the character creation over the weekend.

Snow Days

Today is Friday, and for the past 3 days we have had snow days. This means we have not been able to attend college and missed many lessons.

On Wednesday, I finished the unit records that I needed to complete. I hadn't done the editing record, so I filled that one in.

On Monday, we started the Music Video unit with Andrew. We spent the lesson researching Music Videos, and the types and styles of what they were. For example, The White Stripes video is "original" and the Blur Coffee and TV video is "narrative". We started to plan our own music video and make up our own band in groups.

Because we have just started the unit, there was no work set to do at home.

Yesterday, Reno set us a task for our critical approaches work. We have to analyse a certain TV show, and record who and why we think the audience is, and also discuss the social issues explored in the show. I will be doing "Glee", because it is the perfect example to use, as the whole show is based around morals and the issues of modern high school in the US. It is also one of my all time favourite shows.

I will be working on my presentation today, and I will also have to research what a "mail merge" is, because I need to learn it for my Key Skills test next week, and because of the snow, we haven't been taught it.

First Week Back

Over the last week of the term, I managed to complete my horror movie. I added in extra audio and added the final touches to it.


Today is the first day back and I am feeling quite positive in tutor, and I am ready to start the next project.

I thought I had finished the unit records over the holidays, but I then realized that I to fill out an extra page.