Responding to 1a

1a. Explain how far your understanding of the conventions of existing media influenced the way you created your own media products. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how this understanding developed over time.


The key words in the question are….

I have to…

I am going to use the following evidence…

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My knowledge and understanding of existing media texts has had a significant impact on the way I created my own media products. In particular at AS, as my theoretical knowledge was developing I was more reliant on existing media to help formulate ideas. However, the impact of existing media decreased at A2 as I began to formulate more original ideas, due to a better understanding of how ‘the Media’ works, particularly in terms of representation and audience theories.

Beginning the AS course, I found it challenging to produce a media text that demonstrated originality. This was because my knowledge of the Media was limited. It became evident that I would have to rely on existing media, to draw influence from. One text that I analysed in detail was Se7en. The film opens with an engaging yet conventional thriller opening in which the genre and antagonist are introduced to the audience. This model had a more than significant impact on my work; both semantically and syntactically. For example, I chose to animate the font in my opening title sequence – this decision was directly taken from Se7en. I wanted to re-create the eerie shuddering effect that I had observed. I felt that it would help me to set an appropriate tone for the opening of my film. Moreover, I also decided to use intercutting in a similar way to Se7en. This allowed me to develop the visual iconography through font and colour while also establishing a narrative sequence involving the antagonist. In retrospect, while my work was deemed to be successful, I feel that this direct lifting of existent material limited the scope of my ideas. On the other hand it could be argued that my opening works in pastiche of an existent genre. I believe this is a fallacy however, as the process is one of creativity and here I was not particularly creative.

As I began researching my A2 media production, I decided that I needed to take a more informed approach to my work. Having completed the AS course I was more widely versed in media theory including ideas surrounding representation, audience and postmodernism. I aimed to produce a more original response by using my wider knowledge to influence my work – and to be less reliant on existent media…