Jan 2010 G325 Question a student exemplar answers

Candidate A 1(a) For my Foundation Portfolio coursework, I originally found research and planning skills difficult as I unaware as to how much I required these skills. Intially, I felt for my coursework in Foundation Portfolio which was producing a Music Magazine that I would be better off producing the product straight away. However, after setting about planning to do this, I realised that I struggled meeting the specifications of the coursework and that my initial product was not of the quality that I and my Media Studies tutor hoped it would be. Which is why, he told me to redo my product but now paying more attention to the planing and research stage of the production. Doing this enabled me to, too see a number of factors in regards to my production that I had not seen before. For instance, I was enlightened to find my production would be more effective with the use of new media technology such as the internet, and a website called www.blogger.com which enables users to set up a blog online. I used this, to set up my own blog regarding my production. This would be helpful, in outlining my plans and progress with my production and the fact that Im sharing this with the rest of the world enables me to receive feedback from other users which can be implemented on to improve the quality of my product as well as building my creativity. This can be attributed to David Gauntletts theory that the introduction of new interactive media (such as online blogs) in the form of web 2.0 can help media users and consumers become more creative. This in turn, helped my creative decision making as I was able to make more informed creative decisions based on the feedback I received from other users such as mu Media Studies who felt that my front cover lacked enough of the conventional features which you might see on a music magazine such as the strap-lines and a barcode. Moreover both my productions gave me the understanding that overall that as a publication software, Adobe Photoshop was much better than Microsoft Publisher. This was a creative decision. I had made after using both pieces of software for both my productions. Prior to my productions, I had only previously used Microsoft Published, but after using Adobe Photoshop and learning about the features and about how to use the product effectively, I was able to add functions such as extensive image manipulation and the use of the transform tools and implement these skills to take and more creative decisions which I otherwise would not have been able to had I not used this program instead of Publisher, or had not developed the skills or understanding of Photoshop to the extent where I could implement when making creative decisions about my product. For instance, my original image on my front cover for my Foundation Portfolio, had a window frame to the side of the models head but I was able to through Photoshop remove this through the use of the colouring tools.

Candidate B 1(a) Throughout my foundation and advanced portfolio I have developed my skills of research and planning. Before starting AS Media Studies I had only done Basic research. For my foundation portfolio I chose to do DTP. This was to create a music magazine. I did textual analysis of similar music magazines and music magazines with different genres to compare typical conventions. These included magazines such as: Empire (Film), Kerrang (Rock), GQ (Mens) etc. I then evaluated my work to conclude the typical conventions used to attract the reader. These included themes and conventions such as: Main Photograph, Headline, pull Quotes, pugs etc. I used these to apply in my own production for my music magazine. I also carried out Qualitative and quantitative research. This helped me find my Genre to fit my aimed target audience of teenagers. I carried out Questionnaires with open, specific questions to my aimed audience. These included Questions such as favourite hobby, What you get up to at weekends etc. I created pie charts for the results of some of my questions of multiple choice. I could not carry this out for my open questions as there may be lots of answers. I carried out 20 questionnaires to a number of different people. The answers made me choose my Genre (RnB) because of the popularity and gave me a wider understanding of the interests to include in my double page spread. I then carried out some research & consumed Media texts around the Genre of RnB & their artists. I took Chris Brown and watched an Interview with him for a music channel. I picked out some of the language and slang they used to fit into my text for my double page spread and Quotes for my Chosen Artist. In my foundation practical, all of these techniques and skills of Research and planning effected my creative decision making. I needed to create a professional magazine that would be able to fit into the market. This is why I chose RnB because I discovered there arent hardly any RnB magazines, and the ones that are mostly sold in the US! There was definitely a niche in the market for my magazine. In my advanced portfolio I am In the middle of carrying out my research and planning. This is for creating a neo-noir film teaser trailer. I have carried out textual analysis of different film Websites as I am going to create my own. I have textually analiyesed different noir and neo-noir films to compare their conventions. However, I am going to go deeper into analysing nero-noir films & trailers aimed at my target audience. This Is because I found myself in my foundation portfolio being to general around genres and types of magazine. This made me carry over conventions and styles different to my genre. I am also carrying out 50 questionairres rather than 20 because it is simply not enough and some of the results could be biased. I am also going to give each questionnaire to my specific target audience. My evaluated are: Brick, Double indemnity and Blade runner to compare contemporary neo noir and classic. These will help and create my typical conventions and themes to my trailer.

Candidate C 1(a) Whilst creating a music magazine I used research and planning to finalise my ideas. I looked into my genre which was alternative rock. I researched what was typical from stereotypes and what was associated with their image. I researched by browsing the internet and looking at forums. Here I saw images of the group associated with this genre and applied it to my music magazine. I used images similar in style to those that I have seen. I also created questionnaires for people regarding my music magazine so they could express their thoughts on what they would like in the magazine. By doing all of this I went straight to my target audience and found exactly what they wanted so I knew the magazine would be accurate and successful. I also researched into similar magazines on the same market as my own. I analysed front covers and looked for typical conventions I found the conventions and then put this into my magazine. Finally for this project I researched other artists and bands from my chosen genre. This meant I could see first hand how to market my magazine sucessfully and appropriately with other magazines. Another project, created was a film poster. For this I researched other posters typical of the type of poster which was a teaser poster. I then applied the conventions I had seen from that. In creating the film poster I had to use a font appropriate. This was difficult and I had many different designs which I eliminated self selectedly until I got my final font text. These skills developed overtime as before in my previous project I chose one font and used this on the magazine but with this it meant I had more than draft so could see different copies and styles. This meant by choosing the one I wanted I had to achieve thoroughly a skill I didnt not do before.

Candidate D 1(a) When I first started my AS project I had little to no skills when it came to research and planning skills, so these for me were built up over time. In my AS we were set an activity ancillary tasks, these were to create a school magazine and record a short scene of a film, my group decided to undertake both these tasks, the reason being we believed that one would have a better outcome that the other would highlight our skills. This was the first stage in our planning. Compared to our A2 this is a very different approach, in A2 we sat down and discussed our strong points and came to a decision based on our skills, this is a much better way to do things as it saved us time so would allow us to focus more on the task at hand,

In out AS we used powerpoint in order to write ideas and keep track of different parts of our project it was like a portfolio that we used for research and we could go back to it when we wanted to use information or add to it. Powerpoint is a much better method than trying to keep track of everything on paper as it keeps it much neater and is more easily acceptable. In our A2 we moved away from powerpoint and started putting all of our research in a blog instead. The blog was a major benefit. The reason the blog was so useful was because it was interactive and we could also access it from home. Being able to access it from home was very useful, it meat we could add to our project whenever we wanted and wherever we wanted, not having to use a specific computer etc. It made working on the project a lot easier. The interactivity side was also very good, it meant people could leave comments and/or feedback on our blogs and we could use this constructively. So using the blog for research and planning was definitely the better thing to do. The main resource we used for researching was the internet. Initially in our AS we used the internet for browsing purposes only, collecting images and information that we could use constructively for research. Once we got to A2 we were more aware of other values of the internet, again the interactivity side of things. We began using sites like youtube because they would let us view videos, leave content and get feedback. This was a much more focused response rather that just looking for information. So this helped this helped with research a lot more. In terms of creative decision making sitting and discussing what our plans were was defiantly a better idea than just trial and error like we tried the first time. It gave us more time to work on what we knew was best. Using the blog instead of Powerpoint was a good decision as It allowed freedom of work and the interactivity was much better. Also deciding to use interactive sites such as youtube was a good idea as it allowed us more focused feedback which is better than just browsing for things.

Candidate E 1(a) I developed my research and planning for media production by looking at and researching into music magazines e.g. kerrang, NME and Q magazine; I looked at the different genres and styles which magazines have to make their magazine unique to others that may be of the same genre, as my genre was rock/metal it was appropriate that I looked into magazines such as kerrang, big cheese and metal hammer but I also looked at NME and Q magazine because they cover rock and indie style music which I first considered as an option but in the end choosing the genre of rock & metal because I knew more about that genre and I subscribe to kerrang so it made sense also it would be easier for me to produce. I used the program microsoft word to produce my music magazine which isnt the best program to choose but it was simple, easy and did everything I wanted it to e.g. add a colour scheme, insert text and images and add borders; I learnt how to give images and more eye catching look by adding crazy borders and colours that stood out on a black background however if I could go back and re-produce my music magazine I would use the program publisher because you do alot more on it than you can on microsoft word.

While looking at different magazines I picked up many skills such as spotting frequently used pictures and text font and styles also how different genre music magazines have different colour schemes e.g. a rock magazine will use colours like black, blood red, navy blue where as a pop music magazine would use colours like baby blue, lime green and orange; when looking at a range of music magazines I found that naming your magazine is very important based on the genre and style as if I called a metal music magazine pop the magic dragon the target audience I was trying to reach wouldnt take a second glance at it or it sounds like a pop or kids magazine therefore I called my magazine CORRUPTION which sounds like a rock/metal music magazine so now my audience would give it a second glance and hopefully buy it. The typical conventions you find on any magazine are things like the barcode, date of issue, issue number, the price of the magazine, familiar fonts and colour schemes and all of these are on my magazine, I picked up on this pattern after looking at and researching magazines also the internet helped show me conventions on different genres of magazines e.g. kerrang magazine used the same big, bold title so it was familiar to their audience also the barcode, date of issue, price and issue number where always in the same place and finally the colour was generally always the same as it worked well with what they where trying to sell. If I want to make another music magazine or any type of magazine I am confident that I know enough about the typical conventions to produce a magazine that would fit nicely into the market in which I am trying to sell it.