2. Production Diary
Structure:
Keeping a structure to your blog entries will help you make sure you cover
everything you need to in each post.
What work you have completed this week?
Are you on target with your timescales?
How did the work go?
Were you able to complete all you wanted to? If not, why not?
Did you get ahead of time? If so, how did you achieve this? How will you use
the extra time?
What have you learnt? Will this change your project?
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3. Production Diary
Checking:
I will take down all your blog addresses in the next week and will
use these to check your blogs.
I will check them every Tuesday morning
Each week you should add at least one new post
Anyone who does not update will be checked up on and chased
I will be checking quality and quantity
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4. Production Diary
Backing up:
It’s a good idea to type your entries in to Microsoft Word before
you post them.
There are two reasons for this
Firstly, spell checker is much better in Word
Secondly, you can save a back up of your post
Keeping a back up of your work is important, just in case.
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5. Main Task
To design and produce the
front page, contents and
double page spread of a
new music magazine.
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6. Magazines
There are over 3000 different magazine titles in the UK, all
of which have an audience and a target market.
There is a magazine for almost every hobby, interest and
social group.
Task
List as many different magazine genres as you can
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7. Sub-genre
For every broad genre of magazine there are usually many
more sub-genres
Example
Fitness magazines:
Running magazines, cycling, body building, walking, athletics etc
Task
List as many different sub-genres of music magazines as you can
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8. Similarities and differences
Each magazine will have its own identity which may on the surface closely resemble
others. These broad similarities are then built on with design and content choices which
tailor the magazine to the specific audience.
Example
Most magazines about rock music tend to use a similar colour palette. Often they will
be predominantly red, black and white. They will also often feature photographs of
bands performing live. This appeals to their audience and reflects the codes and
conventions of the music genre that they cover.
However, just like rock music, there a lots of differences within genres and each genre
has its own style and its own codes and conventions
Design choices, writing style, layout, features and adverts work together to create a
style which is specific to that magazine, just like the clothes and hair styles
form an image for a sub-genre of rock music.
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9. Choosing a genre
Things you should think about:
Availability of reference material
Is there a range existing products that you can look at and analyse?
Your own interests
If you have a strong interest in a particular genre of music you may want to use this as a
starting point for your project or you might want to investigate a completely different
genre
Access to the audience
Will you be able to carry out research on the target audience of your magazine to help
with your production?
Design style and aesthetics
Are you interested in the design and look of a specific genre of magazine or
a specific magazine?
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10. Researching
‘..Candidates only appeared to have researched front covers’,
OCR examiners report 2010
It is important that you look at the whole of the product you are researching.
Pay attention to not just the front cover but also the contents page and a
double page spread in that magazine.
This will not only help you gain a deeper understanding of the magazine and its
audience but also be very useful when it comes to the planning stage of your
project.
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11. How much?
‘The best work had a clear sense of genre and audience and a clear grasp of
conventions...
OCR Examiners report 2010
Your research should allow you to fully understand existing products and the
audience that they are made for.
In order to gain a good understanding we would recommend that you look at a
minimum of 3 existing products in depth, using the analysing existing products
handout as a guide.
You should be analytical rather than descriptive. Use scanned images,
photocopies or printouts of existing products to support your analysis.
Show as well as tell.
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12. Research handouts
Element What to look for What to do
Colour scheme Look at the choice of colours, the variety of The colour scheme will have been chosen to
The research handouts will give you a colours and the tone (bright, pastel, dark) appeal to the audience. Note specific examples in
the products you look at and analyse and explain
the reason for those choices
guide of what elements you should focus
Photography Look at the style of photography used. Is it live or The style and content of the photography used in
on and what you should be thinking studio? Is it posed or natural? Is it bright or dull?
How are the people posed? What camera angles
a magazine can be important to the audience.
Rock music magazines will often use photographs
have been used? What has been focused on? Look from live events where a pop magazine may
about. at the mise en scene to see what that can tell you. prefer a studio shoot. Consider the style and
content of the photography in your magazine and
discuss the reasons for those choices
Colour scheme
Writing style Look at the length of articles, paragraphs and Analyse the written content and what that tells
words. Look at the style of writing and the you about the audience. Identify uses of slang and
language used. styles of writing(formal, informal, detailed, brief,
Photography gentle, aggressive). Note the reading level of the
magazine (reading age). How does all of this target
the magazines audience?
Writing style Overall look The overall impression given by the magazines A range of different elements come together to
appearance. make up the look of the design. Taking all the
elements into consideration, explain the overall
look of the magazine and give reasons for why the
Text/Picture ratio
magazine has been made this way
Text/picture ratio How much of the pages are dedicated to writing Look closely at the ration of text to pictures
Fonts and how much to pictures throughout the magazine. This ratio will change
with different target audiences. Explain the ratio in
your magazine and the reason for this choice.
Overall look Fonts The style and range of the fonts that have been
used in the magazine
Fonts, like a picture or a colour scheme, can tell a
potential audience a lot about the magazines on
the shelf. Look closely at the fonts used and
analyse the reason for their uses.
Publisher Publisher The people who publish the magazine that you are Find out who publishes the magazines and what
researching else they publish. Do they have a target
demographic or do they target a range of
audiences. 12
13. Research
Task
Use the ‘Analysing existing products’ handout to help you break down your chosen genre
of magazine.
Excellent analysis will:
discuss the different elements of the magazine and give detailed reasons for those design
choices.
It will look at the magazine as a whole including the front cover, contents page and double
page spreads and could also include advertising to build a picture of the audience
You should keep all your magazine examples for presentation on your blog or in a paper
folder
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14. Deadline
You have until next lesson to complete your product research. This
includes lesson time and homework
The work must be complete for your first media lesson next
week
Coming soon...
Next week you will carry out audience research
In two weeks time you will prepare a pitch, style sheet and draft designs
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15. Blogs
The exam board have provided a link to this blog, citing it as an excellent
example
It is worth looking through, as much for the use of technology to present
your ideas as the content.
http://www.alevelmediastudies09-11.blogspot.com/
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