Post modern presentation

Digital technology

What did the image manipulation program allow you to manipulate?

When creating my music magazine Photoshop allowed me to successfully edit my images, cut them out, creating a plain background, insert text, created a masthead by cropping out the letters and inserting them, and inserted a magazine interview that I wrote.

What crop tools did you use?

Image editor (contrast, brightness), red eye tool, lasso tool to crop out the artist and then feathered the edges so the image cutting didn’t appear too harsh.

What tools did you use to match your fonts to act as part of the mode of address?                           

I chose the fonts because I felt they were quirky and different but also simple so it address’s the audience directly, I wanted the masthead to be bold and fun to appeal to the ‘poppy’ genre.

How did you use Photoshop to aid your house style?

I used Photoshop to create my style of the magazine, for the cover i used short quotes of texts and placed them bunched together, Photoshop helped me alter the size of the text and rotate areas of the text around. I repeated the masthead throughout the pages to make them all link together, I carried the black and white simple approach through all them but then added elements of orange.

How did you manipulate photographs?

I editing the photographs I have taken by altering the brightness and contrast to create a clearer and sharper picture which would stand out more.

Explain how using layers helped organise your work and construct your cover?

Using layers helped to keep everything in an order, on the front cover it meant that things were easier to change, alter and edit because layers could be taken out and put in.

Explain how you created your dps?

For the right hand side of my double page spread I wanted to include an image of my artist so that came before the text, I used a bold eye-catching image of my artist to compliment the orange colour them I have running through. For the left hand side I found a font I thought would look realistic for the logo for my artist, I then inserted this in the format of a masthead for the page, I wrote the article/interview on word to check spelling and then inserted it in in columns, I changed the questions to orange to keep the them and make it more fun and poppy, I then took a pull quote from the interview to add a bit of my artists personality to the page.

using conventions essay

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

For our AS media studies coursework we were asked to produce our own music magazine, for the magazine we were asked to create a cover a contents page and a double page spread with an article/ interview that we have written ourselves. I chose to aim my magazine at the age group 15-25 and used the pop genre to them my magazine. For our a2 coursework we were asked to create a music video in a pair, group or on our own. We were also asked to produce on our own a digipak and magazine advert for and promoting the artist or bands album to collaborate and create a brand for our band. We created a band called intoxicated with the music being dance genre we chose to aim it approximately at ages 16-25.

During my AS project I followed typical conventions that I researched from magazines, some of the conventions included a Masthead on the cover- I have used a bold masthead on the cover of my magazine to grab attention and create a brand, I also repeated this through the pages. I also used Photographs- I have created and used images of my artist on the cover and throughout the contents and double page spread; this gives her a believable identity. Ive included Pull quotes- I have used a pull quotes of my double page spread page this gives the artist a personality straight away and the reader an idea before they’ve read, I used ‘Quirky is my middle name’.

We were asked to create a music video in a pair, group or on our own. We were also asked to produce on our own a digipak and magazine advert for and promoting the artist or bands album, we researched videos for similar genres and looked at what we think works well, conventions we followed for the music video were Lip syncing- we showed several shots of the female artist lip syncing on different backgrounds using different style shots eg. Close up. Props- we included props such as the dj deck for our male member of the band, this creates a more realistic view. We used a Location- coloured backgrounds on a screen this is appropriate to the genre and style of music.

I used conventions in the ancillary texts such as including the Website- on both my digipak and advert I included the website name for the band and their twitter feed, this makes it more personal and believable. Compared to AS level work I have developed my understanding of what conventions are and have learnt how to apply conventions to make my work appear professional.

For the music magazine I challenged conventions such as the way my artist was positioned, I wanted her to look current and cool so wanted to include a unique pose to pop on the front cover. However I chose to follow typical conventions such as including the masthead at the top of the page and text around my image. For the music video we chose to challenge a lot of conventions, we chose to keep one location but change the colour, this was risky because it might mean you lose interest half way through but I think it works really well, we followed typical conventions by including shots of one band member lip syncing towards the camera, this is seen a lot in music videos.

Understanding the conventions used in texts made it more successful to apply them correctly so they work, my knowledge on typical conventions used helped with decision making because it meant I knew more about what decisions I needed to make. My understanding of conventions has been advanced since AS level, I have learnt more conventions and how to apply them effectively in my work. For our A2 work on the digipak and advert I had more of an idea on what the typical conventions were which meant I was able to create more of a convincing piece of work.

Conventions are vital in tasks such as these, without conventions there would be no way to recognise what works well on texts and what to include, being able to follow, understand and develop conventions using my own ideas means my projects are produced to the best of my ability.

Conventions essay plan

conventions essay plan by

Conventions Task 1,2 & 3

using conventions from real media texts by

Post modernist exam question

In what ways can Inglourious Basterds be considered postmodern? (2000 words)

Postmodern elements can be identified in the film right from the begining, the film is labelled a war film set during world war 2, the film doesn't portray typical conventions you would expect to be posed in a war film, all of the extra features Tarantino works into his film could be considered 'post modern' to add humor and his own personal stamp.

Tarantino opens the film with ‘once upon a time’ he then uses chapters throughout the film ‘chapter 1’ these are both Fairy-tale elements which constructs hypertextuality in the film, although the film has a setting and date being set around World War Two, Tarantino straight away introduces fiction into the film from the opening scene reminding the audience that the film isnt real.

In chapter 1 Tarrentino creates the illusion of the house but shows the audience clear signs that it isn’t real, this is hyperalility, it shows a shot of Hans Landa scanning the floor boards showing no ceiling but once the camera changes to exposing the ceiling, it creates a clear statement by taking the realism out of the film as the audience are starting to be drawn into the film, a post modern technique.


Ingloriuos basterds is represented as a war film although Quentin Tarantino doesn’t follow the typical conventions, he uses an intense amount of dialogue in the film and most of the dialogue isn’t relevant to the war, this doesn’t paint the picture or create a realistic representation of war. Compared to films such as ‘Saving Private Ryan’ which doesn’t include half the dialogue and contains a lifelike representation of war by including convincing sounds effects of battle and convincing and chaotic setting.
Tarantino throws in amusing and gruesome scenes where he feels like it creating an interesting viewing experience for audiences. Another post modern element i recognize in the dialogue is the use of languages, a mixture of languages are used in the vast amounts of dialogue English  French and German this prolongs the breaks between the graphic violence creating more suspense.
Yellow subtitles and yellow text introducing characters are seen in the film are something typical to Tarantino’s style in his films; this is something distinctive to him and allows people to recognise that his work. The subtitles also create a reference back to his other which is a way of him promoting and referring back to the audience. 

Intertexual references can be recognized throughout the film, Features in Inglourious basterds can be compared to old spaghetti western films, He links to this genre in the way he frames the shots to produce and builds tension between characters in scenes, before he includes the action. This ‘standoff’ type technique can be seen in films such as ‘the good the bad and the ugly’ There is also another reference to spaghetti western films in the soundtrack used in the bar scene. There is a reference to Cinderella, when Col. Hans Landa discovers a shoe and then matches it to Bridget Von Hammersmark's foot. These postmodern references probably are only really recognised by a literate audience.

Interesting music has been used through the film creating references to other media texts, the music. There are many examples of postmodern choices of music one being David Bowie song which was released long after the film was set in world war two, this would be considered post modern.
Tarantino always uses an interesting mix of actors in his films creating enthusiastic performances The characters are played in an over the top manor using exaggerated speech and accents, for example Brad Pitt who plays in the film holds an exaggerated Tennessee accent throughout the majority of the film to create humour. The character Hitler is played very over the top and conforms to stereotypical characterization adding to the comedy. Samuel L Jackson also features in the film during a voice over.

Tarantino normally credits himself a cameo in his films, in Inglourious basterds he only features in the scene where it is his hands that are filmed strangling; this could be considered a post modern trait. Something else Individual to Tarantino is how he somehow includes his foot fetish in majority of his films, this adds his personality into his work.

research and planning exam question

Detail how your understanding of the importance of good research and planning skills developed throughout the pre-production of your AS and A2 coursework.

Throughout AS and A2 I have been able to appreciate and understand how important primary and secondary research is and has been to the pre-production stages of my work.

Primary research was important in my coursework because it provides vital and detailed research for pre-production stages of our coursework, the research is personal to the project. Primary research we carried out at AS- Pitching the idea to the class and gaining feedback, we created questionnaires for friends and family to fill out and input their ideas this was extremely useful because the friends I had filling it out were around my target age for the magazine which meant their opinion was particularly relevant, I also Analyzed in detail existing magazines this helped me to understand the conventions used to display the magazine, we also used test shots and draft magazines to test ideas, we then gained feedback from our draft which meant we could gain the teachers perspective on what works and areas to improve upon.

In our AS and A2 research and planning steps we presented a pitch and received audience feedback from other students and teachers, our pitch was designed for our coursework so we could gain specific feedback that would only be relevant to our work, helping us put our own ideas together. We annotated different dance videos such as Rita Oras- How we do by annotating details from the video this meant we were able to apply these features into our research, we also created a twitter feed to create a brand a possible way to gain feedback.

Secondary research is also very important it’s the research that will help to craft the idea and put it together, it is also less time consuming because the texts are already there to take inspiration from. Secondary research carried out at AS- Looking at past students blogs, this was very helpful because we were able to look at what direction past students chose to go in, and could gain inspiration how they set out their research and planning. I looked at websites such as dafont, cover junkie- the internet was the most influential out of all of the types of secondary research because it meant we gather ideas from existing products such as looking at different covers, contents pages and articles.

In our A2 coursework we looked at similar Youtube videos to the genre we selected this helped us because we were able to look at existing products to gain inspiration and learn the conventions of music videos, I also looked at past students work and how they approached it which helped me understand how I could attempt the planning stages of the music video. I looked on website such as Dafont.com looking for fonts for my digipak and advert this helped a lot because once I had looked at different fonts it helped me in the planning processes of other areas such as the layout and colour scheme. I also looked at different album covers on the internet which meant I could research into which layouts I think would work for my artist and genre and what style I could use.

The cons of primary research are that it takes time, and the research is time consuming to carry out, but it does produce the better results for research. The cons for secondary research are that what we looked at was official (eg. Album covers and music videos) which meant they were unrealistic to look at because we didn’t have the budget or time to achieve this.

A lot more research needed to be completed at as we carried out different varieties of research in 3 areas music video digipaks/ album covers and magazine adverts which meant this also involved a lot of planning, I’d say at AS we needed to do a lot of research because we didn’t have any experience of conforming to typical conventions and genre types so this meant we were advantaged at A2 because wed learnt a lot at AS that we could apply. How I research and plan has improved significantly from AS and I have learnt how to apply the research and feedback into my work to get the best results.

Throughout the course my skills have improved, for example at AS I had little experience with websites and technology such as animoto and now I know how to use it and have used it throughout my coursework to demonstrate my ideas and skill, and I would say good and appropriate research is very important and relevant research is extremely useful and helps place the different concepts and ideas together.

A2 & AS research and planning

 Looking back at past posts for research and planning and the schedule we both completed all areas of research and planning that needed to be completed.

A2 coursework

Primary research carried out

·         We annotated different dance videos such as Rita oras- How we do

·         We created a pitch that we shared with the class, and we gained feedback to help with our research and planning.

·         We created a twitter feed to create a brand a possible way to gain feedback

Secondary research carried out

·         Youtube videos similar to our genre

·         Looking at past students work and how they approached it

·         Dafont.com looking for fonts for our digipak and advert

·         We looked at different album covers on the internet

Pro’s and cons of primary research

·         Pro’s- the research is personal to the project, for example our pitch was designed for our coursework so we could gain specific feedback that would only be relevant to our work, helping us put our own ideas together.

·         Cons- it takes time, the research is time consuming to carry out.

Pro’s and cons of secondary research

·         Pro’s- each of the texts are already there to look at, less time consuming, for example the album covers i looked at have already been created so they were already there for me to take inspiration from.

·         Cons- what we looked at were official (eg. Album covers and music videos) unrealistic to look at because we didn’t have the budget to achieve this.

AS coursework

Primary research carried out

·         Pitching the idea to the class and gaining feedback

·         Creating questionnaires for friends and family

·         Analysis of existing magazines

·         Audience feedback from teachers

·         Test shots and draft magazines to test ideas

Secondary research carried out

·         Looking at past students blogs

·         Websites such as dafont, cover junkie

·         Looking at different covers, contents pages and articles

Comparing the extent of research carried out between AS and A2 coursework

……a lot more research needed to be completed at as we carried out different varieties of research in 3 areas music video digipaks/ album covers and magazine adverts which meant this also involved a lot of planning, I’d say at AS we needed to do a lot of research because we didn’t have any experience of conforming to typical conventions and genre types so this meant we were advantaged at A2 because wed learnt a lot at AS that we could apply. How I research and plan has improved significantly from AS and I have learnt how to apply the research and feedback into my work to get the best results. Throughout the course my skills have improved, for example at AS I had little experience with websites and technology such as animoto and now I know how to use it and have used it throughout my coursework to demonstrate my ideas and skill.

creativity essay

Write up A 750 word response outlining the extent to which you were creative in your AS and A2 coursework tasks.

“Technology has taken all the creativity out of media production” This is a quote taken from a well-known theorist, I completely disagree I think through all of the stages of both of the coursework tasks technology enhanced my creativity; it meant that I was able to generate and better my ideas.

In the Research stages of both my AS and A2 coursework tasks, we were given constraints on what our coursework had to be and involve but we were given the freedom to pick how we create what we wanted from the brief, for example we were able to choose the genre of music for the magazine and for our A2 coursework we were also able to pick the genre, this meant we were able to research into the particular music genres and look at other texts that are similar, for example we decided our music video was a dance genre so we researched into different dance videos on the internet for inspiration which allowed us to be creative, in our A2 coursework we chose the music ourselves this meant we were able to decide the creative direction we wanted to head in and theme our idea around it, for example this determined how original we wanted to be.

In the Planning stages we had complete control over how we structured our ideas to prepare for the making, in my AS coursework I produced a schedule which meant I was able to monitor whether I was ahead or behind, for our A2 coursework we used several planning techniques one being a story board that then we used the technology available to create a clip where the storyboard images are edited so they fit the music which meant filming the video became a lot more structured, We also created a mood board showing the genre and colours we wanted to use this meant we were able to see what we could include.

When creating the magazine the course placed certain restrictions on my making stages such as timing, we had to keep to a deadline which meant decisions had to be made fast and out of school  time was needed so we could produce the coursework at the level we wanted to. Another constraint was being a student this meant low budget, we had to create the best we could with the small budget and limited access of different technologies that were available.

For both our coursework tasks we were the head of styling we made all of the styling decisions from the artist down to the layout, we were able to freely create in areas such as we chose the genre names the layout, the colours and all fonts. This meant we were able to make it personal and add our own creative touch.

For our A2 coursework although we looked at several music videos in the genre of dance music we wanted to challenge conventions of the typical video with similar songs, we decided we wanted to construct a current and different video, we wanted the video to still in keep with the fast pace but we chose to use just one location and keep changing the colour so we could gain are fast pace from the changing colour rather than the typical videos used for dance music showing people dancing in a club/ party etc.

“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 is a quote from a well-known theorist, In my opinion this theory can be applied to our coursework. The culture containing symbolic rules would represent the task we had and our brief that contained different constraints, a person who brings novelty would represent the student who brings individual ideas and the field of experts would represent the teachers who provide guidance.

In future projects I will take all of the skills I have learnt and developed and apply them to better the project, my creativity has grown throughout the course, I only had limited Photoshop and editing skills and now I have improved my knowledge and gained a lot of creative skills which will help me in a lot of areas and I will take everything I have learnt about creating a music video and magazine and media technologies and use it to advantage me in the future.

Creativity grid

creativity grid by