A2 Media Studies

After much deliberation, our team has decided to use the music promotional package brief for our A2 coursework. We chose the music video brief for a range of reasons even though there are some disadvantages for completing this brief like there would be for any of the other briefs given to choose from.

There are many advantages to using this brief for our coursework such as that we experience music videos daily as part of our media intake as teenagers. Our knowledge of music videos and our exposure to them regularly will help us know what videos work well (the ones that appeal to audiences) and why they work well (what is so good about them) which we can then incorporate the conventions into our own music video.
Another reason to choosing this particular brief is the simple fact that it is very different to what we did last year for our AS coursework. This difference will enable us to develop our practical skills and become more creative with our work. Also, the knowledge we will have gained by completing this brief will help us to use the skills we have learnt in other situations in the future.

For the music promotional package brief, it also involves using different people in the product in order to make it successful, for example in a music video we will need to work with dancers rather than actors. This is an advantage to us for a variety of reasons as we will have no need to make a script for dialogue and most people will be using actors rather than dancers in their products for A2 media studies which will mean that it will be easier to get some dancers together and work with them.

Dependent on the song we choose to make the music video we may have a client which will enable us to imitate a professional setting. For example, if we choose to make a music video for an unsigned band who are currently looking for a record deal we will be given requirements and have a client which we can check everything. This, however, is dependant on if we use an unsigned acts song or a published song with a music video already. If we chose to use the latter, we may get tempted to copy parts of the original video which would mean the video would be similar to the original. There is also the issue that we might not be able to match the original (which would be shown in comparison) because of funding, editing software competency, etc.

As with all of the briefs there are disadvantages that we have identified and hope to tackle in the production of our music video. We have established that the main disadvantages are the editing for the music video because our skills using the editing software are limited and in this brief we know that we will have to include lip syncing and making sure the changes in camera angles are quick and professional in transition. Also, from analysing other music videos, the editing in this type of product is far more complicated than our previous experience of a thriller film opening. To overcome this we will have to plan anything we want to use in the editing software and then learn and practise how to do it before the final editing. This is time consuming but we feel that if we do this we will be able to produce a better product that looks professional and of a high standard.

Another disadvantage would be that we have never produced a music promotional package before (both the music video and the print texts) which will have to be thoroughly researched and planned out before the production takes place. We will have to use our knowledge of different techniques and also what we have found out in our research in order to make the product successful.

Finding of dancers, actors and band members may be difficult in the process of production and also making sure the video looks realistic and professional by use of extras. We realise that the logistics of putting a whole choreographed dance video together is quite challenging but we are keen to use conventions found in music videos already produced. It may be hard to find sufficient amount of participants in our music video but I am sure that if we use favours from our friends and family we will be able to do it. The arrangement of shooting times will also be difficult because of when people have frees in college and if anybody else we use in the video are from different schools and colleges we will have to arrange filming at a time which will be good for everybody.

In order to make the music video successful despite the disadvantages of the brief that we have chosen we will have to stick to the conventions of music videos and for the particular genre from the start of production using the research and planning that will be done before producing the product. We must decide whether the video will follow a storyline or be all about the performance of the song.

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