A2 Media Coursework.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

nicolewamzie.blogspot.com

This is the poster that I created for the magazine.

POSTER.

My Website on Firefox.

WEBSITE

WEBSITE

• Given the options on what project to work on, I decided to work on a Documentary as I saw it as a challenge and decided to challenge myself. I started off my researching on different documentaries and saw that a majority of them were on nature, war or historical cultures.

MY PRODUCT

After researching on what a documentary entails and what it gives to the audience which is information, I started looking out for topics that would interest an audience and would go hand in hand with the conventions of a documentary. I started off with Interior design. I wanted to do something unique and out of the ordinary for a documentary. My list of possible topics included:• Interior design• Food art• Makeup • Eating habits• Fashion

I decided to work on makeup as it has a lot of controversial myths and misconceptions and stereotypes and has a lot of topics that can branch out.

HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT USE OR CHALLENGE CONVENTIONS AND HOW DOES IT REPRESENT SOCIAL

GROUPS OR ISSUES

Developing.

• My final decision for the documentary was on makeup. I chose this as it has become a very popular thing around the world. My first reason for this is that I am in a school that has a large number of teenage girls who love makeup and who use makeup for a number of reasons.

• I want to give out real information on makeup and get to the bottom of the use of makeup. I plan on conducting interviews with professional makeup artists and students from my school ( Nairobi International School). The importance of this is that I get opinions from both sides that will be useful in the documentary.

• My subject is good enough to attract the intended audience.• After researching on the internet, I found a small number of videos that are similar to

the topic that I wanted to pursue.• This videos were found on YouTube and are listed in my blog under research.• This gave me an idea of how I wanted my documentary to be different.

HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT USE OR CHALLENGE CONVENTIONS AND HOW DOES IT REPRESENT SOCIAL

GROUPS OR ISSUES

• When it came to using documentary conventions, I opted to challenge some of them. A documentary is used to give out information and to start a discussion about the topic at hand. I believe that I achieved this convention as it gives out information from makeup artists and what the general public thinks.

• A convention that I challenged was the use of a narrator. A majority of documentaries have verbal narrating but I chose to do written narration. This was to make the audience understand what was being said instead of just hearing. With words, they can look into the deeper meaning of the words.

• Another convention that I challenged was the type of mood that I set with my documentary. A large number of documentaries are either war based or nature based and they are very serious. With my documentary, I chose to set a more relaxed yet enlightening mood and tone with the type of music I used.

• I challenged the convention of ‘Real footage events’. Documentaries are essentially seen as non-fiction. This convention has been challenged as I used real life events and not re-created images and videos.

HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT USE OR CHALLENGE CONVENTIONS AND HOW DOES IT REPRESENT SOCIAL GROUPS

OR ISSUES

Conventions that I used that are familiar with all documentaries include:• Use of experts for interviews: This is used to authenticate views expressed.• Use of text and titles: this is used to help the viewers believe what they are seeing and

is a way to convey information for the viewers.• Social issues that I tackled in this documentary was the assumption that makeup is

necessary to make people beautiful. I addressed the issue that society portrays women who use makeup as desperate.

• In the documentary, the professionals talk about inner beauty and how it is the most important aspect before makeup. I used this as one of the conventions is the use of experts on the topic at hand.

• I tackled this social issue that girls use makeup to create a new sense of identity while the real reason is used is to enhance natural beauty

HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT USE OR CHALLENGE CONVENTIONS AND HOW DOES IT REPRESENT SOCIAL

GROUPS OR ISSUES

• Audiences is a big part of a production as they are who the product is for and they determine the success of the film as well as what they like.

• Including the intended audience in a production is a useful aspect as they will give honest opinions and critic your work on every aspect of it.

• I asked members of my target audience to view my documentary and to give back feedback on what they think about it. These were their views:

• “It gives out a different perception on what makeup is and why it is used”- this was said by a person who uses makeup. Gave her more information on makeup and how society views

it. • “enlightens on the better aspect of makeup and clarifies the myths that makeup is bad for

a person”.. This was said by a teenage girl who does not use makeup but is considering using it.

• “the whole video captures the topic with the use of the interviews of both sides (makeup artists and the general public)”-this was said by an adult who has a daughter who uses

makeup.• “the music is catchy and unusual for a documentary but it makes the video more

interesting and appealing. The camera angles show the right kind of images that need to be seen in order to get the hidden meaning and story” This was said by a fellow media

student.

HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT ENGAGE WITH AUDIENCES AND HOW WOULD IT BE DISTRIBUTED AS A REAL MEDIA TEXT?

• By asking the audience to share their views and opinions, I engaged with them. • Digital technology is improving day by day and it is for the better for everyone. • Distribution of a film is important as it is what gets the product into the world for

audiences to view. I would partner up with a cosmetics company in order to advertise the film to the masses of people in the world.

• Distribution includes the internet, movie theaters, television channels and film festivals.

• When it comes to distributing my documentary, I would use Fashion Channels which are very famous for their programs which means that they have a large viewer percentage. Film festivals which would be ideal to distribute the documentary as it has a large turn out audience and will create a buzz within the film industry. I would also distribute this in makeup stores.

• The internet would be the second largest place to distribute the documentary. With New technology, the internet has become a big platform to get out independent films such as my documentary.

• When it comes marketing, Social Media would be the most appropriate platform to advertise. This will be done using Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT ENGAGE WITH AUDIENCES AND HOW WOULD IT BE DISTRIBUTED AS A REAL MEDIA TEXT?

• Having a successful brand is about promoting a products strength. This includes design skills, excellent customer service and being innovative.

• I asked my intended audience on what they would like to see in the documentary and what they want to learn about the topic. This helped in developing the brand.

• Key points when creating a successful brand is that have a style that goes with the product. In this case, my style is achieved in the colors that I have used. The color scheme is blue, pink, black and purple. This is consistent with the website, poster and parts of the documentary. The information that I put in all the three aspects of the project have a similar manner in the wording that I used

• The Coursework project included making a website and a poster for the documentary. • The website includes information on more of the documentary, giving out reviews

from people who have watched it and the background behind the whole idea of the documentary.

• The layout of the website is more relaxed and appealing in color. The colors used are similar to the colors that are in the documentary.

• Adding the poster on the website also creates a sense of branding.

HOW DO THE ELEMENTS OF YOUR PRODUCTION WORK TOGETHER TO CREATE A SENSE OF BRANDING?

• When it came to using software and technology, I had a number of products that I used.

• I had my laptop which is HP650 which was installed with various software's.• I used a Sony camera for the photographs and videos. Learnt how to put the correct

settings for good quality pictures as well as the videos.• For my photographs, I edited them using Adobe Photoshop CS6. This enabled me to

edit the pictures to my liking.• For the video editing, I used two different software's. The first one was Adobe After

Effects for the credits. I used tutorials on YouTube to help me create the roll of the credits.

• The second software that I used the most was Adobe Premiere Pro CS6. This is where I edited a majority of my video. I learnt how to transition videos, add background music and add pictures.

• For my website, I used Dreamweaver CS6 for the website. I learnt how to code for everything (the coloring and the layering). Adding pictures as well as the content to make it look like a real website.

HOW DID YOU INTEGRATE TECHNOLOGIES?

• Another software that I used in creating my project was Adobe Photoshop CS6. I used Photoshop in creating my the poster for the website. I used it to sharpen the image, change brightness and increase the contrast.

• As for online integration, I used the internet to research on products that are similar in the world. This gave me an idea on which direction to take on my product.

• I also used the internet to learn how to use the software's that I had.• My blog was on the internet which was used to update my work and talk about all

the progress that I am making.• I also used a tripod when conducting the interviews.

HOW DID YOU INTEGRATE TECHNOLOGIES?