Creativity: Digital technology

Digital technology is any devise or software that helps us create something for example using a iMac and final cut. Digital technology helps us be more creative we can become a producer and legitimises are creative voice. I can  edit a video, add sound effects and manipulate the colour off it and include transitions, however ten years ago there wouldn't have been the developed equipment to do this.

My AS preliminary task was to create a college magazine, within the first lessons on doing the course, my experience of digital technology was what I had already used in previous years. For example using my iPhone and camera to take pictures. Therefore when doing the preliminary task I already had experience. When doing research for my preliminary I used the internet and google to see how to layout the magazine but that was it. In production I used a cannon camera and in post production I used the editing software adobe indesign to piece the magazine together. I used minimal skill to create the magazine, as all I did to change the image I had taken was on photoshop where I cut out the background. From general life knowledge I already knew what a typical magazine layout was therefore all I did was copy other layout. Using digital technology however helped me use my now image that I took. This therefore makes it successful as it was recognisable as a magazine and had some originality with the use of my image.

My skills developed from my AS preliminary to my AS music magazine I know this because of my use of more digital technology specifically in post-production. I again used photoshop and indesign, but when editing my image in photoshop I made changes to the colour balance of the image. As well as this I added layers to the image and used techniques like blur and spot tool to give my image a professional look. This development gave me a chance to experiment with the different editing styles I could use that would suit my genre of magazine. I was able to make my image have more low key lighting and adjusted the tone to be more red. This helped the cover be successful as my genre was rock and typically rock magazines have a red, white and black scheme to them and with my photoshop skills I was able to recreate them.

In A2 I was able to move on from editing images to editing videos taken for my horror trailer. From the shots we took using a cannon camera I imported them into Final Cut and was then able to edit them to fit the structure of a trailer that we researched using youtube. For Final Cut I used the blade tool, fades to black as well as adding text for the titles. As a result of more research and planning with the use of youtube for make up tutorials, social media like snap chat to ask people about the trailer, I have a better understanding of what should be seen in a horror trailer, a downside to this is that my trailer despite having a new storyline follows other trailers and lacks creativity and experimentation. However my trailer is still successful as if I were to have done the trailer editing in AS my lack of skill would have meant the end result wouldn't look good and wouldn't be recognisable as a trailer.

Before starting the course I was able to experiment with the digital technology I already had like my phone and laptop, I was able to take pictures and find what lighting looks good. However as I have developed over the course I am able to have a greater understanding of what is needed in order to achieve a good piece of work, like the use of good photoshop skills.

Creativity: Real Media Texts

Conventions have rules and are followed so that the audience can tell what genre there looking at. You can reimage and slightly change conventions in order to give them some originality and make it so that things don't become repetitive. In AS I believe that I didn't properly understand semiotics and why there used however in A2 with further research and knowledge I have a deeper understanding of semiotics and how we use denotation and connotation to create meaning.

In AS I had to make a music magazine cover, contents page and double page spread, I picked the rock genre. In order to create a successful rock music magazine I had to follow the specific codes and conventions that are found in other magazines. A specific semiotic and convention that I found in rock music magazines was the use of the colour red. For example Q magazine has red, white and black as it's house style. The use of red and black gives connotations of violence and anger, which correlates to the rock genre as it's stereotypically a aggressive. Another convention of rock magazines is the poses and costumes used. In the music magazines Q and UNCUT they have stern looks on the musicians in the dominant image and it's usually a mid shot or a close up. I used conventions in the following ways, the person in my image is in a mid- close up shot with a straight face, the background of the image is a urban brick wall with some low key lighting she is also wearing dark denim. This was in order to convey the rock genre. This therefore makes my magazine successful as I've followed the codes and conventions that mean the audience can recognise it.

In my year 13 horror film trailer, I made a trailer and to do this I had to identify a number of key conventions like structure, lighting and pace. Some conventions of the horror genre slasher which is what me and my group chose is, the antagonist being in a mask, a dumb blonde character, jock character and a final girl who survives until the end. In my trialer we are using costume and makeup to connote the character and charater types, but also the use of special effects make up like latex and fake blood. I used Scream as a reference for the gore, as the film shows a good amount of gore but also how the protagonists and victims get up and close with the antagonist and the phallic weapon used to hurt them. I used the Conjuring 2 to help with structure, shot duration, use of title slates. We took these types of details in order to make are trailer successful and to make it look professional. I have planned the shot list to where we need to have a montage section at the end of the trailer to show how it's gained pace. However unlike films like Halloween and Cabin in the Woods we are not having a 'final girl' but a 'final guy'. We have decided to change this as a final girl is a typical convention of slashers but changing it to a male isn't so much of a drastic change that it's unrecognisable.

In AS I didn't have much understanding of reasoning behind codes and conventions like the use of the colour red, but I also didn't't do as much research into a wide range of real media texts. Whereas in A2 I have looked at over 30 horror trailers ranging in all the sub genres, meaning I have a clear distinction between the different semiotics used. Being limited to one genre of horror has limited my creativity in being able to try new things and break conventions because despite wanting to do something original in order for this trailer to be successful I have to have the typical conventions that audiences will be expecting. The conventions I have used have come directly from my audience research from people outside of my media class, therefore they will be expecting them. Because of more research and knowledge about meaning and denotation and connotation I believe my media A2 trailer will be more successful then my AS as I'm able to have deeper knowledge of reasoning behind specific things that should be done and because of this I am able to slightly change things about my horror trailer but while still keeping to conventions.
Conventions limit how much you can change about a genre in order to make it recognisable. However expanding knowledge about real media texts means I can communicate meaning in a deeper way.

Creativity: Research and Planning

Before starting the media course I had already started doing research and planning and using digital technology. This was by taking pictures like selfies, this has led me to have an understanding of what angles and lighting to use. The way research and planning is used is by looking at other celebrities and how they took pictures and applying to my own. Over the two years I have been able to gain a understanding of how important research and planning is, to create a product that is targeted to the audience and so that it fits in with other conventions of the genre and is recognisable.

For the first task we got given which was the preliminary task we had to make a magazine for the college. For this task I did no planning and didn’t draft what I was going to do beforehand. I also didn’t do any research of previous college magazines. This means I had no understanding of conventions or what rules there are to what it should look like. This therefore means as a magazine it’s unsuccessful as the lack of codes and conventions means it wasn’t recognisable. What I did use to make the magazine was any previous knowledge of what I have seen in magazines before. However I had no skills to imitate them completely and I had things like a basic rectangle box of where the text was and all one block colours.

My music magazine in AS I was able to understand a bit more how and why research and planning can help develop skills and make the magazine look better, specifically with the progression of all the different drafts from drawn to digital. For my music magazine I picked the Rock genre, I looked at magazines like UNCUT and Q to show me how the magazine should look and what conventions should be used. I found that typically the rock genre uses the colours red, white and black. I looked at between 15-20 magazines to see how they all use the conventions. I understood the use of a dominant image and a main cover line as conventions, to show quickly to the audience the genre of the magazine. However I did not fully understand the use of colour for rock, I know now it’s because stereotypically rock can be quite aggressive and the colour red is used to signify anger and evil. Knowing about the conventions limited my creativity as I had to stick to certain conventions in order to suit the genre.

While research and planning for my A2 film trailer I feel as though I had a deeper knowledge of the reasoning to why it was important in developing creatively and knowing more about how to create a successful trailer. I have looked at over 20 horror trailers from all different types of genres. Me and my group then picked the slasher genre and then watched more specific slasher horror trailers. We found the different conventions used to show the characters and how the meaning behind them effects the type of character. For example a convention of a dumb blonde is blonde hair and she will be wearing pink as she would be Girley and weak. I looked at trailers from the 1960’s to trailers now and saw how the character types evolved. The research showed that if we want the trailer to be successful it needs to be recognisable to the target audience as a slasher trailer.

AS music magazine to A2 music video planning has developed a lot. For the music magazine I did a few drawn drafts then did different drafts of a digital version. However for the video, I have done a detailed story board and shot list to show what I will be filming then went out and did practice texture shots and then we will film the real one. Research helped with understanding of how to plan what we needed to film by doing audience research and asking over 20 people different questions about trailers, like what they find most noticeable or scary. 

Summery of the definitions of creativity in a post-modern age

Technology is very important in media and what we create. Before making are trailer as a final product and before doing media as a course we were using are phones to take videos and pictures and we are very dependent on it. Without digital we wouldn’t be able to make a trailer, do wide research for it, shoot it, and edit it. Before technology came what people could do creatively can be seen as limited compared to now.

Intertextuality in media is, taking things and ideas from one thing or text and putting them in another text. It is taking influence. For example in my media trailer will have a mask and knife and a lot of blood. It is mostly taking inspiration from the film Friday the 13^th. However we will be taking the mask and making it slightly different with are own version, by cutting it in half and having a wound on the other side of the antagonist face. Bently has a quote that says “the making of the new and rearranging of the old”. I take this to suggest that creativity can be in different forms and that rearranging something that’s already been made and used can still represent being creative.

No originality in relation to creativity suggest that everything has been made before or that a new ideas are based of already made ones. An example of this for me is when I was making my music magazine for the double page spread I copied the layout from an article in Q magazine. I did this to make my magazine look professional and to hopefully look like a real music magazine. However in my opinion despite being copied from an existing magazine, what I have made is still original as the images used were ones I took and so was the article that I had written.  Therefore, meaning that even though you can have no originality if you change some of the context it’s still creative as you are making it into something new.

The act of production itself is creative because it is bringing something new into existence. Post modernism is about how all media is different and can be judged differently buy different people depending on who is the audience. The use of culture and social status can show the difference in creativity and how different people view and respond to it. As I live in London I have access to a lot more places than someone who lives in Wales and is surrounded by fields. Therefore, when making a horror trailer I have the ability to go to a lot more abandoned buildings, and decaying areas which are typical in horror films. Therefore, there can’t be the same judgment as the other person who also only has access to what surrounds them. Despite them both being differently creative.

Before starting media I was an audience to media texts, however I have become a producer. This is because of my summer media trailer that was uploaded to YouTube meaning it can be seen by anyone. I have developed with the use of technology and research. When I first started media I had made a simple college magazine where I hadn’t layered anything and had used simple rectangle blocks around the title. Whereas with my music magazine I was able to use photoshop and was able to adjust the colours and textures and add other filters over the top.