Diary entry 7/3/14

Over all I am very pleased with the products that I have created.

I feel that the research and planning tasks I carried out before creating my actual products helped me a lot in figuring out the codes and conventions of a music video and also allowed me to be more creative in creating it too. Over the past few months I have changed my ideas a lot of times which I felt has had a positive impact in my final creations. In scraping my first ideas and changing my song completely I was able to more imaginative about the narrative of my music video, creating a narrative that was original and that I could say I came up with it. Also the fact that I was doing a music video to a song of my favourite genre i.e. Drum and Bass I was more motivated to complete the task. Also as I had watched plenty of drum and bass and also dance music videos I understood what made them successful and then applied it to my own creation.

In terms of the software's that I have used throughout the creation of products I felt that the one that taught me new skills was Premiere. I had never used Premiere before and found it really hard to get to grips with. However, as time went on I started to understand how to use it, and in persevering I feel that I have gained a new skill in a great software that is used throughout the media today.

In making a music video, magazine advert and digipak I have also developed a better understanding in the theory behind it all. Blumler and Katz Uses and Gratifications theory has propped up throughout my products and in having to discuss them consistently I have realised that the we do use the media for a range of different things, whether it be just for entertainment or even for identity. Moreover, I have also got to grips with the Reception theory and how it different from Effect Theories, i.e. the reception theory proposes the audience are active in what they take from a media product whereas an effect theory such as the Hypodermic Needle Model suggest that the audience is passive and allows the media to be 'done to them'.

I am very happy with the way my coursework has turned out and am pleased that I have gained some new skills that I can take away from this process. I felt that creating a music video was one of the hardest things I have done but I am glad that I preserved as the final outcome has been pleasing. I also feel that my knowledge about the media has expanded through the application of theories and also through the research and planning tasks.