AS to A2 - How far have we come?

As we are now fully underway with the creative and developmental processes this year, we can take some time to reflect on how much we have learnt in the year since we were starting the AS course. Certain aspects of the way we think about and understand the concept of Media Studies will have changed substantially, but also the way in which we complete tasks, both creative and analytical.

Looking at the blog from last year, we can easily make comparisons between the processes we went through last year to the ones we are going through now. For a start, there is a lot less in the way of prose on this year's blog - we now present information in a very concise manner, giving the necessary details about any research and/or developments in our thoughts in bulletpoint form.

Extract from AS blog:
[...my findings in relation to thriller movies were:

• Similar to teen movies, and because of the wide range of subgenres, there is no set pretext for thriller movie openings. However, the majority will start with an action scene in order to get people into the mood of the movie. This will invariably have a tensional soundtrack, punctuated by sharp diegetic sound inputs. (N.B. Psychological thrillers will have a far less defined opening sequence, and dependent on how mainstream the film is [i.e. what sort of audience is being catered to], may make use of a simplistic shot of an item of high importance within the movie [case in point; Memento, where a polaroid picture is the main focus of the first minute of the film]).]

Extract from A2 blog
[...Some of the ideas that we have come up with include:

• The use of bright colours - primary, very high contrast.
• The interchanging and intercutting of two narratives that are related to each other/parrallell universe style idea
• The use of Maidstone/North Tonbridge as a location
• An object falling in slow motion throughout the video with a climactic smash or break at the end - which would emulate a climax in the narrative.
• Use of narrative fuzz to varying degrees
• Vintage/retro feel, brown filter, high white balance etc
• Mix of slow and fast shots.
• 80's feel ]

Our use of available software and internet-based utilities has also improved considerably, with all of us now being proficient in the use of resources like Prezi, Photoshop, Blogger and Surveymonkey, with the obvious improvement in our use of Adobe Premiere Elements.

Another comparison we can make between this and last year is the successes/failings of our preliminary tasks. We made two preliminary videos at AS level, one as a test of the cameras in school and the other to act as a prequel to our main task, filmed in Wilderness Woods.

This year, we have only produced one video so far in terms of a preliminary task, which was our collaborative class music video for Outkast's 'Hey Ya'. This shows the extent to which our filming and editing skills have improved, even if the video was completed on the fly. The camera angles are far more considered, there is more movement, and the video as a whole seems more believable.

[Insert finished music video here]

Overall, we are pleased with the course our research and creativity is taking at the moment, and we look forward to beginning the storyboarding and filming aspects of our work.