Brainstorm ideas/mood boards: with using these, simple ideas can be built upon to create a strong good-structured idea. The mood boards would also bring all the ideas together as well as creating an ideology and working out popular camera angles and other popular features.
Analysis existing videos and trailers/ gain ideas about key features/annotate still clips/ look at typical conventions of music videos/ film trailers: when annotating still clips the things to analyse would be :-
Colour
Lighting
Costume
Editing techniques
Cuts
Camera angles
Sounds
Looking at all of the above will give us a clearer idea to what makes a good quality music video or trailer.
Market research/ questionnaire/ target audience/ favourite music genre or film:
What we need to find out from market research:
Interest of audience/consumer
What attracts them to watch it?
Why they are attracted to it?
Which genre the enjoy watching? (music or film)
Which type of music/film they prefer?
Audience gender and age
Tuesday, 29 June 2010
What would the outcome of an effective research plan be?
In order to have a clear understanding of what to include when producing the final products of our A2 media coursework, an effective research plan would need to be carried out prior to the actual making of any of the products. Things that an effective research plan would include are both primary and secondary research that gives both qualitative and quantitative data e.g. statistics and reviews etc. The plan would also include looking at existing products that are relevant to our chosen target market and genre. Research such as mood boards would also be effective in order to give a clear view of the initial key ideas. These are just a variety of things that would be included in an effective research plan.
The main type of primary research that would be carried out would be in the form of questionnaire. By conducting a questionnaire it would enable us to gain a real understanding of the target audience, in the sense of what they would like to see included within the finished products. By knowing key information such as this it means that the products can be produced to suit the chosen audience, therefore making the outcome more effective.
The main type of primary research that would be carried out would be in the form of questionnaire. By conducting a questionnaire it would enable us to gain a real understanding of the target audience, in the sense of what they would like to see included within the finished products. By knowing key information such as this it means that the products can be produced to suit the chosen audience, therefore making the outcome more effective.
Monday, 28 June 2010
Emily's Section 1a Practise Answer
“Digital technology turns media consumers into media producers". In your own experience, how has your creativity developed through using digital technology to complete your coursework productions?
At the beginning of my AS media course i was seen very much as a media consumer. However as I have progressed through the media course I believe I have now turned into a media producer. I feel that two key factors in turning me into a media producer are digital technology and my creativity skills. From my own experience, i can use examples of my planning, designing and creating of both my school and music magazine.
One main improvement with my creativity and my use of digital technology was the software I chose to use to create my magazines. For my school magazine I chose to use Microsoft Word; this was because at this stage of the course i felt a lot less confident using any other software. However throughout making my school magazine and at the beginning of my music magazine I decided to try different types of software and therefore changed my software usage to Microsoft Publisher. I changed what software I used as I found that this had more tools that I could use and I felt that i could use them well enough to create a decent music magazine.
When taking photographs, although the digital technology aspect didn't change as I stuck with a digital camera as I thought it would be the most easy and convenient; as well as being the most up-to-date technology. On the other hand my creativity when taking pictures changed dramatically! With my music magazine I attempted to use a wider range of costumes, change the mise-en-scene as well as changing the range of camera angles and positions. I chose to widen my horizons as I wanted to show off what I could do with this piece of technology as well as how my creativity has developed.
The Internet was used when creating both my school and music magazine, although the variation in when and how I used it differed from each magazine. When completing my research I used the Internet for both of the magazines; with larger proportions of my music magazine research. However I did use the Internet to create the name for my school magazine (Cautioned). I chose to use the Internet as I knew it would increase the creativity of my ideas due to the range of websites that are available.
Another development in my creativity is the use of thought shower sessions and making my moodboards and mindmaps. The key advantage to these techniques is that it allows all my ideas to be put onto paper instead of being in my head. These creative methods also allow me to build up on my original ideas as I can link them all together.
A second type of software development was the software used to create the masthead of both my magazines. For my school magazine I simply used WordArt which is a function on Microsoft Word, however as my creativity developed so did my knowledge of different software's and what they could do. This led me to using Fireworks to make my masthead head stand out from the rest of the page. This is because I found more advanced tools to use in which I could use to change the font and colour as well as adding a wide range of special effects such as glitter, changing the colour of individual letters and adding multi-coloured boarders to the letters.
On the other hand, I feel more creativity went into the naming of my masthead for my school magazine as I choice to be more inventive as I made an anagram of the word "education" and came up with the word "cautioned". I chose this also the name of the dance group at the school is called caution and thought it linked in well with school.
Meanwhile, for my music magazine I simply chose to use words that link to the term "music". With this I then came up with a lot of words! After my questionnaire research I found that the most popular word was "lyric".
In conclusion I feel as throughout the AS media course my creativity and use of digital technology has improved dramatically! This can be seen in the development from my school magazine into my music magazine. Not only with the final piece of work, but also with my development of the software I chose to use as well as. I feel that the creativity side of my work has increased greatly with my variation of research techniques and camera angles used when taking pictures. Digital technology has also converted me from a media consumer to a media producer, by being able to use PCs, laptops, digital cameras, pen drives, email address and finally the software.
At the beginning of my AS media course i was seen very much as a media consumer. However as I have progressed through the media course I believe I have now turned into a media producer. I feel that two key factors in turning me into a media producer are digital technology and my creativity skills. From my own experience, i can use examples of my planning, designing and creating of both my school and music magazine.
One main improvement with my creativity and my use of digital technology was the software I chose to use to create my magazines. For my school magazine I chose to use Microsoft Word; this was because at this stage of the course i felt a lot less confident using any other software. However throughout making my school magazine and at the beginning of my music magazine I decided to try different types of software and therefore changed my software usage to Microsoft Publisher. I changed what software I used as I found that this had more tools that I could use and I felt that i could use them well enough to create a decent music magazine.
When taking photographs, although the digital technology aspect didn't change as I stuck with a digital camera as I thought it would be the most easy and convenient; as well as being the most up-to-date technology. On the other hand my creativity when taking pictures changed dramatically! With my music magazine I attempted to use a wider range of costumes, change the mise-en-scene as well as changing the range of camera angles and positions. I chose to widen my horizons as I wanted to show off what I could do with this piece of technology as well as how my creativity has developed.
The Internet was used when creating both my school and music magazine, although the variation in when and how I used it differed from each magazine. When completing my research I used the Internet for both of the magazines; with larger proportions of my music magazine research. However I did use the Internet to create the name for my school magazine (Cautioned). I chose to use the Internet as I knew it would increase the creativity of my ideas due to the range of websites that are available.
Another development in my creativity is the use of thought shower sessions and making my moodboards and mindmaps. The key advantage to these techniques is that it allows all my ideas to be put onto paper instead of being in my head. These creative methods also allow me to build up on my original ideas as I can link them all together.
A second type of software development was the software used to create the masthead of both my magazines. For my school magazine I simply used WordArt which is a function on Microsoft Word, however as my creativity developed so did my knowledge of different software's and what they could do. This led me to using Fireworks to make my masthead head stand out from the rest of the page. This is because I found more advanced tools to use in which I could use to change the font and colour as well as adding a wide range of special effects such as glitter, changing the colour of individual letters and adding multi-coloured boarders to the letters.
On the other hand, I feel more creativity went into the naming of my masthead for my school magazine as I choice to be more inventive as I made an anagram of the word "education" and came up with the word "cautioned". I chose this also the name of the dance group at the school is called caution and thought it linked in well with school.
Meanwhile, for my music magazine I simply chose to use words that link to the term "music". With this I then came up with a lot of words! After my questionnaire research I found that the most popular word was "lyric".
In conclusion I feel as throughout the AS media course my creativity and use of digital technology has improved dramatically! This can be seen in the development from my school magazine into my music magazine. Not only with the final piece of work, but also with my development of the software I chose to use as well as. I feel that the creativity side of my work has increased greatly with my variation of research techniques and camera angles used when taking pictures. Digital technology has also converted me from a media consumer to a media producer, by being able to use PCs, laptops, digital cameras, pen drives, email address and finally the software.
Friday, 25 June 2010
Toms A2 Exam (part 1a) Practice Answer
‘Digital technology turns media consumers into media producers’. In your own experience, how has your creativity developed through using digital technology to complete your coursework productions?
At the start of my AS media course there was not a lot about media products that I had any real understanding off. I obviously always saw real media products but only as a consumer. When undertaking the AS work this soon changed as I now have a good level of knowledge about a range of things such as typical conventions, software, production issues and much more.
The first production task that I had to carry out was to make a magazine front cover and contents page for use within a school magazine. As this was the preliminary task I found this quite difficult at first as I had not done this before. Not only this, there was much more to it than just making the products. For example I had to carry out my own initial research such as creating and conducting a questionnaire to give out to my target audience as well as learning all about typical conventions of a magazine, in order for me to produce an effective product. The research part of the production was very time consuming. However when completing the preliminary task I then had to put everything that I had learnt from it into real use as I had to start my proper media coursework which was again making a magazine, only this time it was a music magazine, that not only had to include both a front cover and contents page but also a double page spread. This therefore meant that some extra research had to be carried out into looking at existing products (double page spreads). However because the preliminary task had helped my knowledge and understanding to develop I found that my skills had improved as I knew exactly what I was looking for and therefore the process was quicker than during the initial task. This was also the case with most of the aspects which contributed to the production of my music magazine.
For example after completing the preliminary task, although it was of a good standard I knew that it could have been greatly improved. This was clearly the case as my music magazine was of a much higher standard, due to my better understanding of media products. By this I mean that I had obviously being doing media for a longer time and so had learnt more over this period. For example I understood more about typical conventions of a magazine such as house style, rule of thirds, layout etc which all helped to contribute to a better second attempt at making a magazine.
As well as knowing more about media products and the terminology etc I found it easier to make the music magazine as I was able to learn from mistakes that I made when carrying out the preliminary task. For example when producing my school magazine I began to create it using Microsoft Word. However after a few problems arising such as positioning of images and editing issues I soon discovered that it would be much better to use a different type of software to produce my magazine. Obviously this slowed the production of my magazine down, but it was a good learning curve as I did not make the same mistake again when making my music magazine as I knew to just use the same software that I had changed to, which was Microsoft Publisher. This was much more effective as it is a publishing programme and so it therefore has many more features than Microsoft Word did as it was better suited to what I was using it for. Some other examples of issues that I learnt from was to save all images as Jpegs as they have a smaller file size and also to have my work backed up elsewhere. Although these were all production issues it was good that I came across them as it enabled me to develop when making my music magazine.
In conclusion my creativity developed greatly from the production of my school magazine and the production of my music magazine. There were many factors that contributed to this as already explained; however I feel that the main reason was due to an increased understanding of real media products. By having a better understanding obviously development is going to be shown as by having this it enabled me to have more ideas, not only about the product itself but also how to carry out more effective research etc. By having a stronger base to start from enables a stronger product to be made. For example at the start of the preliminary task I had very little understanding of typical conventions of a magazine or the process involved in making one whereas at the start of the music magazine my understanding of these things was a lot better. This alone shows a level of development.
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Toms School Magazine Evaluation
Evaluating My School Magazine
Purpose and Audience
When creating the school magazine cover there were many things that had to be thought about. One of the main things was audience and purpose. The purpose is particularly important as this is what draws the potential readers to the magazine. The main purpose of the magazine is to inform the reader. If the purpose of the cover is in correct then the viewer will not have a full idea of what the magazine is actually about. In order to achieve the right audience and purpose I had to use relevant images of pupils etc as these are then aimed at the right audience (the pupils) and fulfilled the purpose of the magazine at the same time. The use of starbursts and tasters also helped towards this. However it was important when using images on the cover that they were positive in order to give a positive and up beat approach to the school life. In my magazine cover I think that I managed to create the correct audience and purpose as if someone was to look at the cover they would know what the magazine was about as well as knowing who the magazine is aimed at.
Research
The research that I carried out before creating my magazine was very useful. The reason for this was because it was able to give me a base to start my magazine on. This meant that even though the first draft was not perfect changes were able to made according to what feedback I received from other pupils of the school. This was good as it enabled me to have a wider range of ideas. Also as part of my research I was able to look at existing magazines which also gave me an idea of how to layout the magazine as well as what techniques I could include and also where to lay things out in order to make it effective. I also created a questionnaire in order to help me carry out the research.
Planning
The planning stage helped me to achieve my final version of the magazine in several ways. One way that it helped me was that it enabled me to gain a better understanding of magazine covers. Also by planning before actually making the cover enabled me to easily make changes as well as enabling me to plan out several different ideas. This meant that I could then choose the one that I thought was best, although I also had to think about the results from my feedback in order to cerate a magazine cover that the majority of the audience would like.
Images
The images that I have used for my magazine cover are both appropriate and of a good quality. They instantly give the reader a good impression of the school as the images that I have used are positive ones in order to draw potential readers towards the magazine. Also the images that I used were suitable for both the audience and purpose as they were pictures of pupils in different lessons within the school. When obtaining the pictures for use within my cover I did not really encounter any problems as the pictures were from the schools own website and so although the pictures are from a secondary source I did not need any permission to use them.
Language and Tone of Address
The language that I have used on my magazine cover is quite effective as it is formal as well as being easy to understand. This means that people wont mind reading it as they will not have to really concentrate and so will be able to relax whilst enjoying the magazine.
Also the tone of address is quite casual/ chatty style as the magazine is aimed at school pupils and so if it was not put across in this tone then pupils may not be encouraged to read the magazine as they will want it in a tone that makes them enjoy the magazine more.
Fonts
There were several things that I had to think about when choosing which font would be best to use. As well as choosing which font to use I also had to consider what size the font was going to be. I needed to choose a font that looked casual but bold in order to catch the attention of the reader, but as well as matching the tone of address. I also had to consider what colours I was going to use in order to make the font tie in with the rest of the magazine but not blend in too much to the background as this would make it harder to read.
Other Presentational Devices
I have used presentational devices quite effectively in my product. I have included several starbursts on my magazine cover, as these help to catch the attention of my audience. Also the images that I have used have been used efficiently as it gives the audience a clear view on life within the school. On top of this, I have included bold text on my front cover in order to also help attract the attention of the audience. Furthermore, within my front cover I have tried to incorporate bright colours to make the magazine look more interesting so that more people will want to read it.
Layout
Throughout making my front cover I considered the rule of thirds. In the hot spot areas I placed my main story and image to show this is the main reason for the magazine. I used the principle of the eye line sight, by placing my magazines name in the primary optical area. I placed a starburst in the bottom left dead zone in order to draw attention to the area as information is often missed by the reader when in this place because of the natural reading direction (top left to bottom right).
Front Cover
The most effective aspect of my front cover is my main image. This is because, it is the biggest feature that is incorporated within my design, and therefore, attention is drawn to this instantly by my target audience. The least effective aspect of my magazine are located in the ‘dead zones’ and are the school logo, this isn’t important as only Eaton bank pupils will be reading the magazine and will therefore not need to know which school it belongs to. If I were to reproduce a new magazine in order to eliminate this problem I would use the dead zones more effectively in order to make use of the space that is available.
Contents Page
The most effective aspects of my contents page is, the layout of my design, as it uses shapes as a format to place the writing, in order to make the contents page look more interesting and to make the continuity of the magazine carry on from the front cover to the contents page. The least effective aspect of my contents page is the contact information as it shows no originality and pupils within the school would not need to know this
information as they have it in their planner. Next time I will not include this information on my contents page or if I did would make it look more exciting.
House Style
The house style of my magazine works effectively as my front cover and contents page work well together. The main reason for this is because the background on both pages is exactly the same which alone shows continuity. Also I have used the same fonts on each of the pages to also add to this effect. The images that I have used are also similar in order to continue the house style. I don’t think that the design of my house style could compliment each other much more as I have used the same things on each page.
Market Research
Before even considering to make my magazine I first had to do some market research in order to get the best result possible. I decided to do this by making a questionnaire to ask potential readers of my magazine. My chosen target market thought that the front cover of my magazine was to a suitable standard and thought that it worked effectively. However some people gave me improvements for my work which included things such as, a more unisex colour scheme, main story title should be shorter and more catchy and the school logo should not have a white background as it looks as though it has been stuck on separately. These suggestions would help me to improve my design when making a future magazine cover and contents page.
Using technology in production
I have used technology to help me research, plan and construct my final design. I researched current school magazine front covers on the internet in order to plan a suitable and appropriate design. When making the final construction of my magazine front cover and contents page I used technology to edit my design to make it the best it could possibly be. The benefits of using technology were that it is quicker and more convenient than doing it by hand. I didn’t encounter many problems; however a problem I did encounter was that there weren’t very many examples of school magazines on the internet this made it harder for me to complete thorough research.
Time management
I used my time wisely as I didn’t spend any extra time that wasn’t needed. However, I didn’t rush my design as it took time to get it how me and my intended target audience want it. The most time consuming aspect was analysing my results from the market research. My personal targets if I were to complete a further magazine would be to spend less time on drafting my magazine by hand as this can be done on the computer and my final design was changed a lot from my initial thoughts.
Lessons to be learnt
My biggest success in my opinion was, the overall presentation of my contents page. The biggest difficulty was that it was more time consuming than first thought. I have learnt to create shorter more catchy titles for stories within my magazine, and to ensure every aspect of my magazine is relevant to the purpose of my magazine. I feel that I am prepared for my main exercise as I have discovered what areas I need to work on and which areas take more time than first thought.
Purpose and Audience
When creating the school magazine cover there were many things that had to be thought about. One of the main things was audience and purpose. The purpose is particularly important as this is what draws the potential readers to the magazine. The main purpose of the magazine is to inform the reader. If the purpose of the cover is in correct then the viewer will not have a full idea of what the magazine is actually about. In order to achieve the right audience and purpose I had to use relevant images of pupils etc as these are then aimed at the right audience (the pupils) and fulfilled the purpose of the magazine at the same time. The use of starbursts and tasters also helped towards this. However it was important when using images on the cover that they were positive in order to give a positive and up beat approach to the school life. In my magazine cover I think that I managed to create the correct audience and purpose as if someone was to look at the cover they would know what the magazine was about as well as knowing who the magazine is aimed at.
Research
The research that I carried out before creating my magazine was very useful. The reason for this was because it was able to give me a base to start my magazine on. This meant that even though the first draft was not perfect changes were able to made according to what feedback I received from other pupils of the school. This was good as it enabled me to have a wider range of ideas. Also as part of my research I was able to look at existing magazines which also gave me an idea of how to layout the magazine as well as what techniques I could include and also where to lay things out in order to make it effective. I also created a questionnaire in order to help me carry out the research.
Planning
The planning stage helped me to achieve my final version of the magazine in several ways. One way that it helped me was that it enabled me to gain a better understanding of magazine covers. Also by planning before actually making the cover enabled me to easily make changes as well as enabling me to plan out several different ideas. This meant that I could then choose the one that I thought was best, although I also had to think about the results from my feedback in order to cerate a magazine cover that the majority of the audience would like.
Images
The images that I have used for my magazine cover are both appropriate and of a good quality. They instantly give the reader a good impression of the school as the images that I have used are positive ones in order to draw potential readers towards the magazine. Also the images that I used were suitable for both the audience and purpose as they were pictures of pupils in different lessons within the school. When obtaining the pictures for use within my cover I did not really encounter any problems as the pictures were from the schools own website and so although the pictures are from a secondary source I did not need any permission to use them.
Language and Tone of Address
The language that I have used on my magazine cover is quite effective as it is formal as well as being easy to understand. This means that people wont mind reading it as they will not have to really concentrate and so will be able to relax whilst enjoying the magazine.
Also the tone of address is quite casual/ chatty style as the magazine is aimed at school pupils and so if it was not put across in this tone then pupils may not be encouraged to read the magazine as they will want it in a tone that makes them enjoy the magazine more.
Fonts
There were several things that I had to think about when choosing which font would be best to use. As well as choosing which font to use I also had to consider what size the font was going to be. I needed to choose a font that looked casual but bold in order to catch the attention of the reader, but as well as matching the tone of address. I also had to consider what colours I was going to use in order to make the font tie in with the rest of the magazine but not blend in too much to the background as this would make it harder to read.
Other Presentational Devices
I have used presentational devices quite effectively in my product. I have included several starbursts on my magazine cover, as these help to catch the attention of my audience. Also the images that I have used have been used efficiently as it gives the audience a clear view on life within the school. On top of this, I have included bold text on my front cover in order to also help attract the attention of the audience. Furthermore, within my front cover I have tried to incorporate bright colours to make the magazine look more interesting so that more people will want to read it.
Layout
Throughout making my front cover I considered the rule of thirds. In the hot spot areas I placed my main story and image to show this is the main reason for the magazine. I used the principle of the eye line sight, by placing my magazines name in the primary optical area. I placed a starburst in the bottom left dead zone in order to draw attention to the area as information is often missed by the reader when in this place because of the natural reading direction (top left to bottom right).
Front Cover
The most effective aspect of my front cover is my main image. This is because, it is the biggest feature that is incorporated within my design, and therefore, attention is drawn to this instantly by my target audience. The least effective aspect of my magazine are located in the ‘dead zones’ and are the school logo, this isn’t important as only Eaton bank pupils will be reading the magazine and will therefore not need to know which school it belongs to. If I were to reproduce a new magazine in order to eliminate this problem I would use the dead zones more effectively in order to make use of the space that is available.
Contents Page
The most effective aspects of my contents page is, the layout of my design, as it uses shapes as a format to place the writing, in order to make the contents page look more interesting and to make the continuity of the magazine carry on from the front cover to the contents page. The least effective aspect of my contents page is the contact information as it shows no originality and pupils within the school would not need to know this
information as they have it in their planner. Next time I will not include this information on my contents page or if I did would make it look more exciting.
House Style
The house style of my magazine works effectively as my front cover and contents page work well together. The main reason for this is because the background on both pages is exactly the same which alone shows continuity. Also I have used the same fonts on each of the pages to also add to this effect. The images that I have used are also similar in order to continue the house style. I don’t think that the design of my house style could compliment each other much more as I have used the same things on each page.
Market Research
Before even considering to make my magazine I first had to do some market research in order to get the best result possible. I decided to do this by making a questionnaire to ask potential readers of my magazine. My chosen target market thought that the front cover of my magazine was to a suitable standard and thought that it worked effectively. However some people gave me improvements for my work which included things such as, a more unisex colour scheme, main story title should be shorter and more catchy and the school logo should not have a white background as it looks as though it has been stuck on separately. These suggestions would help me to improve my design when making a future magazine cover and contents page.
Using technology in production
I have used technology to help me research, plan and construct my final design. I researched current school magazine front covers on the internet in order to plan a suitable and appropriate design. When making the final construction of my magazine front cover and contents page I used technology to edit my design to make it the best it could possibly be. The benefits of using technology were that it is quicker and more convenient than doing it by hand. I didn’t encounter many problems; however a problem I did encounter was that there weren’t very many examples of school magazines on the internet this made it harder for me to complete thorough research.
Time management
I used my time wisely as I didn’t spend any extra time that wasn’t needed. However, I didn’t rush my design as it took time to get it how me and my intended target audience want it. The most time consuming aspect was analysing my results from the market research. My personal targets if I were to complete a further magazine would be to spend less time on drafting my magazine by hand as this can be done on the computer and my final design was changed a lot from my initial thoughts.
Lessons to be learnt
My biggest success in my opinion was, the overall presentation of my contents page. The biggest difficulty was that it was more time consuming than first thought. I have learnt to create shorter more catchy titles for stories within my magazine, and to ensure every aspect of my magazine is relevant to the purpose of my magazine. I feel that I am prepared for my main exercise as I have discovered what areas I need to work on and which areas take more time than first thought.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)