Media Studies Past Papers

If you need a copy of a past exam paper for Media Studies, you can download a PDF of recent papers from the WJEC website. Follow this link and it will take you right to them. If you need help with the downloads or need a bigger range of papers, come and see me or one of your teachers.

Film Studies Past Papers

If you need a copy of a past exam paper for Film Studies, you can download a PDF of recent papers from the WJEC website. Follow this link and it will take you right to them. If you need help with the downloads or need a bigger range of papers, come and see me or one of your teachers.

Previous Students' Blogs

Here is a list of examples of good blogs. It can be useful to see what has been included on these blogs so you can get an idea of what information and detail needs to be on your own. All these blogs are by students who were in year 13 during 2010/11.

http://trinmedia206.blogspot.com

http://trinmedia207.blogspot.com

http://10media12.blogspot.com

http://trinmedia202.blogspot.com

http://trinmedia203.blogspot.com

Downloading New Fonts

If you have a particular style of font that you want to use but can't find one that looks right in iMovie, it is possible to download one. Go to www.dafont.com or search for font websites on Google. Once you have found the right font and downloaded it, it should instal to the computer automatically. But you will need to restart iMovie before the new font is loaded into iMovie. This means you just have to save your work, quit iMovie and then open your project again. Once you have done this the new font should be installed in iMovie.

Non Copyright Music Websites

Here are 2 websites I've found that you can download non copyright music from. I've used the first website myself and the second one is vary similar. Look through the sites, listen to the tracks and download whatever songs you want to use in your videos. Remember to write down the name of the track, who wrote it and the website you got it from. And make sure you credit any and every song you use in your video.

The websites:
www.incompetech.com

www.danosongs.com

Using music in AS and A2 projects

AS
As you all know by now, you're not allowed to use copyrighted music in your opening sequence. This, unfortunately, is most music, especially music released by record companies.

There are people who make non copyrighted music, usually specifically for people to use in films. They are then uploaded to a website that you can download the track from. Sometimes the composer asks for a donation to be paid but mostly they just want to be credited. So, when you find a track you want to use in your film make sure you wright down the name of the track, the person who wrote it and the website you found it on. Then make sure you include all these details in the credits of your film.

Another way to have non copyrighted music in your film is to use Garageband. This is a program used to record and edit music, so basically the music version of iMovie. Go to the 'How To' page to find out how to use Garageband. Using this program you can either create your own track using the loops or use the loops to edit an existing song to make it sound slightly different.

Or you could write your own song. If you or a friend can write and play music you could compose your own song, record it (which you can do using Garageband) and use that. Make sure you credit it though so everyone knows it's your own song!


A2
Because you're making a music video, you are allowed to use copyrighted music. But you need to have a copy of an email on your blog that you sent to the owner of the song asking permission to use it. It doesn't matter if they have replied or not, as long as you have proof that you have asked. Check the track information to see who owns the rights to the song. It's usually the record company but sometimes it's owned by the artist, or both so it's best to check.

When you're ready to upload your music video, you might find that because of the copyright on the music uploading it to YouTube doesn't work. Sometimes they will remove the music, so you will be left with a silent video, or sometimes they remove the video entirely. This isn't very good when you're making a music video. Unfortunately there isn't a way around this on YouTube, but what you can do is upload your video to Vimeo instead. Vimeo is a similar website to YouTube but they're not as strict on music licensing so you'll get to keep your video intact. Go to the 'How To' page to find out how to upload your video to Vimeo.

How To: Upload a video to Vimeo and Blogger

After you have logged into Vimeo click on the blue button on the right that says Upload a video. Click the blue Choose file to upload button at the top of the page. Choose your video and click open. While the video is uploading you can fill in all the details and settings you want for it. So, fill in the title and if you want add a description and tags. Next click on the privacy tab on the left of the page and choose the privacy settings you want for your video; I recommend you leave your video to be viewable by anyone and that you un-tick the “what people can do with your video” options. You won’t need to worry about the other tabs on the left unless you specifically want to add them in. Once your video has uploaded and you have filled in all the information you want/ need, click Save all changes.

To put your uploaded video onto your blog, go to the videos page and hover your curser over the video. You will see three or four boxes appear on the right of the video window. Click on the box that says Embed that has the </> symbol on it. Another box will pop up with the embed code and a preview of the embedded video. Highlight all of the code and copy it by using right click and copy or the shortcut cmd & C. Now go to the post on your blog that you want to put the video on to and paste the code into the Edit HTML tab. Then click on the Compose tab where you can add text around the video. Remember you won’t be able to see the video in either of these tabs, but you will be able to see the video’s outline in the Compose tab. Once you have completed your post click PUBLISH POST or click SAVE NOW to save it so you can go back and edit it later.