Media Mock Exam Geeta Gohil

Question 1A – Digital Technology

Digital Technology has contributed to my media production effectively in terms of skills. With both

foundation and advanced portfolio’s having media production that has been made through the use

of digital technology. The proliferation of digital technology has increased in order for media

productions to be more successful, not only that but it has significantly has developed my kills in

editing, photoshoots, equipment and software usage through creating a music magazine in my

foundation portfolio and a music video in my advanced portfolio.

In my foundation portfolio, one aspect of digital technology which immensely developed my skills is

in camera. In AS the camera I used was a Cannon Camera, 550D DSLR with focus lens for the outdoor

shoot. The camera was set in automatic, alongside; the synchronisation of the studio flash lights

ensures the shutter speed was set right so the image was not over exposed. With using a digital

camera, I can take clear images for my product, but not only that, I can also instantly view an image

after it has been taken, this was a great way for me to view whether images are taken well and

determine whether I need to take more pictures. A 16BG SD card was also used which enabled me

to store 800 images. Looking through the images ensured that my creativity of types of images I

needed to include in my magazine for audience appeal.

Furthermore, comparing my camera skills to my advanced portfolio portrays the significant skills of

using a camera to a new level. In A2, rather than using the camera for taking still images, it was

about using a camera to work with moving image. This itself created a challenge as it tested my

ability of taking footage correctly with right settings. The camera I used this time was a Cannon 600D

SLR, alongside a 16GB SD card to ensure I have I have plenty of space to store all my footage taken.

As I was focusing more on black dropouts and performance silhouettes, I had to change settings on

the camera so that there wasn’t as much over-exposure of studio lights, for instance; the ISO setting

was changed to ISO 500 – 600. Furthermore, a prime aperture lens of 1.8mm was used as it was

suitable for locations with lower light. When I was shooting the ballet performance, even though

there were 4 studio lights used, using the lens was helpful to achieve more of a silhouette. The

camera was used in many ways to ensure the moving images taken were correct, making instant

decisions of types of shot or whether the footage turned out very well was part of my creative

decision; however the most helpful part of the camera was the reviewing of the footage , as then I

could go and re-shoot at the same place and same time instantly.

Going back to my Foundation portfolio, another great digital technology was the use of software. On

my AS, I used software which was new to me: Adobe InDesign CS6. InDesign ensured that music

magazine was at a clean and neat standard alongside making the product look professional. As in

GCSE, I created a film magazine on Adobe Photoshop, I found it hard due to technical ability to

understand however InDesign was completely different, it was more easier to set out and add

features such as text and images. The text flow tool and paragraphing helped me into simply adding

text quicker without any text being cut out. This method helped the process of editing/drafting very

quick. The red plus button underneath the text book, click and then click to a blank space, the extra

text which ‘disappeared’ was inserted there. This tool helped me in making a decision of where I

could put my texts. As I knew the text flow wouldn’t affect the whole ‘text’ itself, I could’ve place it

anywhere.

Media Mock Exam Geeta Gohil

Compared to my Advanced portfolio, using software’s was taken to another level. Even though

InDesign is a popular software to create documents, another software I used for my Advanced

portfolio was Adobe Premier, which is used commonly in the industry. With this software, I had to

work with moving image on a continuous timeline. I imported all footage I took for my music video

and then created layers for each take as there were many different shots in each footage clip – e.g

One footage was a high angle, another was a steadicam shot. Then with the process of cutting parts

and deleting some parts, the clips are merged together in one layer in order for a consistent viewing.

Furthermore, effects used in Premier included the three-way colour corrector where I added a slight

sepia tone to the whole clip, and it was used on the timeline through ‘adjustment layer’. Another

great effect was the brightness and contrast effect, this helped me to specifically adjust the

brightness of a clip if it was too dark in a studio shoot. The warp stabiliser was another effect used

however only a certain clips. The warp stabiliser ensured that clips which have slight shakiness can

be adjusted with warp stabiliser added onto an adjustment layer.

As you can see, digital technology was a great contribution to produce 2 successful media prodcts

which had a range of skills required. Skills in camera and software have developed overtime from

watching tutorials of how to use Adobe Premier to being a confident individual who can successfully

create a smooth, consistent music video.

Question 1B – Media Language

Media language is the method of communication, whether it’s through structural, ideologically or

visually. Media langue attempts to give a clear message to the audience. Media Language has been

used consistently in my music video from my advanced portfolio, through micro-features such as

camera, editing, mise-en-scene and representation.

Levi Straus is one theorist in which helps me evidently showcased the use of media language in my

music video through the use of binary opposites. The binary opposite in the music is ‘weak vs

strong’, it portrays the main protagonist and the ballerina as weak in the beginning through the use

of body language, slow and small ballet steps and technical skills such as time remapping and slow

motion and through lyrical meaning, however as the music video progresses alongside the song, the

main protagonists body language while singing is more open and confident, portraying even though

she was weak and hurt and portrayed emotional, she is being strong and showcasing signs of moving

on. Furthermore, the ballet performance gets bolder and more complicated dance steps are

introduce, depicting this strength of woman power.

Laura Mulvey argues that the viewpoint of a male gaze is created through the whole ‘Madonna vs

Whore’ theory and that females are gazed upon the male audience through the enticing close-ups

and very stereotypical female traits. In my music video, there is a whole representation of the

‘whore’ persona as there is a portrayal of my main protagonist being clueless, however it’s also the

representation that has been created through the mise-en-scene and stereotypical female traits of

red lipstick, eye make-up, clothing that reveals some skin. In addition the use of close-ups and slow

motion movement supports the whole ‘whore’ persona however it can also be challenged against

the ‘Madonna’ persona, where the main protagonist is thinking about the past and future, and the

lyrical meaning is very emotional and about love and heartbreak. Towards the bridge of the song,

the lyrics ‘forgive me now’ displays the pleading and innocent personality, which completely

challenges the whole Laura Mulvey theory of the male gaze.

Media Mock Exam Geeta Gohil

Media language is constructed through the use of many meaningful moments int eh music video.

The slow speed ballet performance in the beginning creates this whole ideas of ‘weakness’, however

in contrast throughout the music video, there are constant close-ups of the performers with direct

address which supports the ‘whore’ persona of being a non-innocent girl, however the

representational is stereotypical for instance the red lipstick .

Question 2 – Postmodernity

Postmodern media is where media such as television sitcoms, film, magazines, comics, games and

music videos are influenced by the nature of other influences surrounding them. Postmodern is in

many ways the after phase of modernity. Postmodern media has been created through influence of

original work into other works and so and so forth. It basically means there is no originality to what’s

been created, however the approach has been taken in a different kind of way.

In one of my case studies, was based on a film which is strongly influenced under postmodernity.

The movie I chose to look at was ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’, it was released in August 2014. The

movie itself is so called postmodern due to the concept of it coming from a very postmodern

background. The TMNT movie is also named after a franchise which this movie help re -boot again.

Furthermore, it rehashed the pop culture where the teenage mutant ninja turtles was originally a

comic book franchise and extremely popular in the 80’s and 90’s generation. The movie was

direction was Jonathon Liebsman who is also known for direction Battle: Los Angles and Wrath of

the titans.

The ‘teenage mutant ninja turtles’ movie has got many postmodern features which strongly makes it

postmodern; there is the use of pastiche where there are similar contextual links. Such as the plot of

where the journalist April O’Neil discovering those turtles. This strongly depicts that pastiche is used

through the original comic book plots. Another feature of postmodern movie features is hyper

reality. In both the comics and the movie, the turtles are living in a big city – New York, however in

the sewer while eating pizza and being raised by a rat who is an sensei. It’s too fake for the real

world. A huge hyper reality is created as it over exaggerated the ‘realness’ of the situation. The idea

of postmodern comes from postmodern literature as the theme of transformation is created

alongside the separation of the population in this franchise which are; the mutagens, the evil

mutagens, the scientists, the animals and the humans.

The franchise had many re-boots in order for a successful franchise, however it didn’t seem to work

out, however which this recent TMNT movie, the audience would feel more interacted as it’s not an

animation, it’s a fully 3D, CGI effect/animation movie to emphasise the detail look of the turtles, in

order for the audience to believe the turtles do exists in New York city, this is hyper reality itself.

Reffeirng to another case study is music video. The music video I cbhose was ‘Ariana Grande – Break

free’ as there are very obvious postmodern features which are very easy to spot.

First of all, the whole music video is based on parody and consumerism. The singer, who is also the

main protagonist in this video is portrayed to be a superhero of space, this can be seen evidently

though many action sequences, one example is where the main protagonist to fighting ‘evil aliens’

with a laser gun, this is reference to the Star wars franchise.

Media Mock Exam Geeta Gohil

In the beginning, the clip starts with a dramatic epilogue which is very similar to the infamous Star

Wars crawl at the beginning; the use of intertextuality can be portrayed here as the audience would

immediately know what theme the music video is trying to be created.

Furthermore, her look is similar to ‘barbella’ which was a famous sci -fi fiction movie about a female

superhero and her saving the world. Ariana Grande simply follows that look of a metallic outfit in a

particular scene where she is floating in the air and another outf it which is similar to barbella; this is

once again hyper reality.

Another aspect, part of postmodern that is included in the music video is consumerism. Towards the

end of the music video, the singer is advertising a lip gloss brand, and a close up shot of her applying

the product shown. In addition, while in this ‘star trek’ inspired spaceship driven by Zedd – playing

music makes it drive is another form of intertextuality, Ariana Grande and Zedd are seen wearing

‘Beats’ headphones to advertise the product. As well as Beats Pill that shows the song being played

on a smartphone towards the end. Consumerism is a big part of postmodern as it shows the whole

idea of everything being included in a new way.

The future of theory will be completely different, theories will change as ideas that are contributed

for postmodern would have changed due to the perspective of upcoming generations. However

supporting theories will demonstrate more of the analytic approach to the media texts rather than

the entertainment towards it.