Difference to last years project.

The two major difference between AS media and A2 media are that I have talked about the comparisons from GCSE media and A-level very briefly throughout my posts and have gone on to explain although the experience at GCSE helped a lot, it is a lot different at A-level. But, AS media and A2 media are also very different and here are my thoughts on the two. The two major differences between AS media and A2 media are that in it is a completely different topic in A2 from AS and also you working independently when working on your A2 project.

The first major difference for me which I struggled to the get the grips off first is working independently. I believe when working in a group you can produce on overall better product then you would if you were to work by yourself. This is because there is more than one brain behind the project, so this means everybody can put their input into project, everybody can do their little bit and I believe this is what it takes to make a successful project at AS. With working in a group another greatly positive was motivation. I was lucky when I worked on my AS project because in my group, everybody wanted to succeed, and everybody wanted to get it done before the deadline. So there was no need for the teacher to be telling us to hurry and get on with the work due to the fact we already knew that this was important and it needed be done within the deadline. And I think that is why I prefer working in a group. I find it very hard to give myself motivation. I believe working in a group helps encourage everyone around you, when working on your own; you only really have yourself to motivate. It then gets to a point when the teacher starts to nag at you to do your work, and I believe this is what students need when taking their A2 project. Motivation from the start.

The other difference is that the topic completely changes. For our AS project, we worked on a "Horror film opening" which was a massive positive because in GCSE we made a "Horror trailer" so this allowed us to incorporate ideas which was not possible from our GCSE project to our AS project which was a great positive for everybody. I also believe this allowed us to learn from our mistakes doing another Horror based project; this is because we learned from our mistakes from GCSE. We knew what was cheesy and what was not. We knew what was scary and what did not work. So I believe this helped us more than we thought. But then the topic changed. From working on a horror based project from two years which we grew to enjoy and start to get the hang of; to changing it to a music video. When we first knew this, we all thought this was never going to work due to the fact we knew nothing about performing, directing and editing music videos, and after a few months it was starting to look that way. When taking part in the AS project, you had your team around you, so you knew who was going to be in your film, you knew who was going to be editing; so this was a massive positive. So when it came to filming and directing our A2 project, it was all down to you and nobody else. You had to arrange your actors, you had to arrange when you were going to film, you have to edit your project, you have to write your blog, it is all down to one person, yourself. But I also believe this helps more than people seem to believe, due to the fact it gives you a sense of responsibility. It helps you; some may say "grow up". It’s your word against nobody else's. You can arrange your video however you please due it being your project and nobody else's.