Rachel Leveney A2 Media Studies Portfolio

We have used Final Cut to make our story board into an animatic. This will really help us when editing the video as we will know what the timings are supposed to be, how long each shot should be for and where it should start/end. We added the song we are using, which will be really helpful as it will show us which part of the song each shot should fall on.

We have drawn out our storyboard for our video, showing exactly what is going to be happening when in the video. We have also written the shot type we would like to use and which lyrics the shot would be on. This later helped us in writing our shot by shot list. We also numbered the shots and this will be really helpful when it comes to editing as we won't necessarily film the shots in the right order so it will help us know where in the video the shots go when we are editing.

I have used the Web 2.0 tool Piktochart to present my amended treatment, which I have written up using the feedback from my teachers and target audience. This helped me to fine-tune my idea and it will make it much easier to draw the storyboard and write a shot by shot list as we will know exactly what the narrative is going to be.

I collected feedback from our teacher and members of our target audience on our treatment. I did this by asking people to read our treatment and recorded them answering some questions, which I then edited together using Final Cut. This was extremely helpful as we were able to adapt our idea based on what our intended audience would be looking for and therefore make our final product more attractive to our target audience.

I have used the Web 2.0 tool Powtoon to present my groups initial treatment for our video. This includes a run-through of our narrative and our ideas for costumes, props, editing etc. This was extremely helpful as creating the treatment made sure we thought about all the little details which will make the video most effective, that may otherwise have been forgotten. I have also made a mood board using photoshop, to reflect the atmosphere I visualise our video having. The mood board presents how we envision our video to look through the use of pictures. This was helpful because it made me think about the type of mood and atmosphere we wanted to created within our video.

I have created a mind map of my initial ideas for our music video which I made into a video using the Web 2.0 tool StopMotion. I think imported it to final cut and added music. This task enabled all the members of my group to brainstorm our ideas for the video which we then brought together to come up with our final idea.

I used the Web 2.0 tool Canva to present my research into the record label that produced the song I am using for my music video. This research was important as we needed to know about the different types of music and artists produced by the record label, and this information helped us when making our music video as it told us about the kinds of genres, moods and atmospheres associated with the record label.

I have done some research into the artist I will be using for my music video. I have presented this using the Web 2.0 tool Prezi. This research will help me when making my music video because it gives me a feel of the style and image the artist has created for herself and this will help especially when creating my album advert and digipak because my final products are representing her as an artist, and I can use this research to get an idea of the kind of image I need to portray.        

I have made a timeline of planning, mapping out when we will have certain elements finished by, in order to make sure everything gets done on time. This will help me because when completing all the planning tasks, if I stick to this timeline I can make sure I manage my time well to ensure all the planning gets done properly and in detail.

I made a Powerpoint presentation which I uploaded using the Web 2.0 tool Slideshare to present my research on the artist I am putting forward to my group. I chose to do my research on American singer/actress Selena Gomez because I am a fan of her music and I love her style and the way she presents herself to society. She is also very open about her personal struggles which meant I could talk about more than just her career, and I learnt a lot of new things while carrying out my research. I also put together the collage on the first slide using Photoshop. This task will help me when it comes to filming my video because if my group choose to use a song by Selena Gomez, all the research I have done will help us to get a feel for the style of the artist and the image she has created for herself.

I have created a wordle using time-lapse, which I then imported into Final Cut, edited and added music. The wordle shows different artists and genres that are competitors for the song we have chosen for our music video. This research will help when it comes to producing our video because it gives me more of a feel of the genre and an overview of who the competitors are. All the artists are different but I can use this research to identify what they all have in common that makes them all part of the same sub-genre.

I have made a mood board on photoshop featuring pictures that relate to the genre of Pop, which is the genre my group have decided to go with for our final music video. I have included pictures of pop artists, and other photos that give a general feel of the genre and the kind of style and image pop artists might have. This task will help me because the visual representation will help me get an idea of colours and style and the identity of the genre and the artists within it. Also, this task allowed me to practise using Photoshop, which will help me when I come to create my album advert and digipak as I will be using Photoshop to do this.

I have created time-lapses showing the conventional layouts of an album advert and digipak. This will help immensely when producing my own advert and digipak as I will have a strong idea of how I am supposed to lay them out and this will make structuring them a lot easier. Drawing my own layout helped me to make sure all the conventions are included and where they should be placed for maximum effect.

For this task, I have used Final Cut to edit together sections of different music videos that I found effective and explain why I chose them. This will help me when I come to make my own video as I will have some ideas of what to include, and how I can use pre-existing videos as inspiration to make my own video effective. I also used the task as an opportunity to practise my skills using Final Cut.