A2 Media Studies 6/9/12

This year I am continuing with my Media Studies A-Level after achieving a successful result at AS level. I was very happy with the result that I achieved, though I only decided a week ago that I was going to continue with the course. At first, I was planning on widening my options and studying another subject for my second year, but after seeing the result that I achieved, I think it would be unfortunate if I didn't go ahead to recieve my full A-Level.

In my first year of A-Level Media Studies, we had to produce a 2 minute opening of a film, which I went down the route of thriller/horror and produced the opening of 'Necrophobia'. I think last year's planning and research was something that I thrived on, as I spent most of my time and hard-work doing that. However, there is always room for improvement and some things I am going to work on much stricter this year are:
More complex questionnaires - even though I think the questionnaires I produced last year really helped my research, there were some questions that I thought of afterwards that I could have included to make it even better. This year, I am going to draft my copy with a few candidates, and then with the results from them see if there is anything else I might need to add before I ask more people.
Be experimental - when it came to the editing stage last year, I think we played it quite safe with the editing of the film opening, but this year I am hoping to use some more effects, transititons and ways of making my music video unique. I also think this could apply to my camera usage (angles and shots) and I could make them more creative and specific to the genre and the message I am trying to produce.
Actors - in my film opening I think the actors could have been chosen better and designed more specifically to how I wanted them represented. E.g. the victim's clothing wasn't appropriate as some of it was dark (initiating a symbol of strength and darkness, whereas I wanted them in white to represent weakness and innocence). Similarly, the script that they were given could have been improved to make them seem more vulnerable.

It is my last year of the Media Studies course so I am going to make sure everything I could have improved on from last year is completed this year, and I am going to go all out in making sure I produce a successful music video, poster and album digipak.


I am looking forward to the year ahead and can't wait to get started!

Why have I done this?
It was important for me to draw up on aspects of improvement from last year so I can make this year just as good, or even better. I think I came up with some interesting targets for me to work on and I don't think any of them are hard for me to achieve.