Rebecca Oram's Blog- Candidate Number 6221

Evaluation

2010-04-28T06:49:00.000-07:00

For my evaluation on my Music Video, I decided to use http://www.prezi.com/ .
This is a new website which we found useful, as it was more effective to use and I liked the idea of the paths rather than separate slides. Another positive aspect was that it is online so could be accessed easier than a normal powerpoint presentation through a URL.
The URL for my Prezi of my evaluation is:
http://prezi.com/bkdt-rla3s3a/a2-media-evaluation/

2010-04-05T04:53:00.000-07:00

As part of our production we have to complete subsidery tasks being an album cover, front and back and an advertisement for the album. Due to using photoshop last year for our AS Coursework of the Music Magazine, I was able to put my skills I learnt last year to good use and produce subsidery tasks of a high standard.

I used Photoshop to produce these three items with original photos that were taken by myself. I titled the album 'You Are Who You Are' which gives an idea about the genre of music and the narratives through the music itself. This will appeal to my target audience and shows the inspirational style of music that will be on the album which was my aim.

This is the original photo I used for the album cover before manipulating the colours and editing it on the Photoshop programme:

After playing around with the image and finding the style I wanted to portray, I then put this album cover together. I have used the Album title, Artists name and 'Featuring titles' on the album cover, as the audience will then be aware of what to buy and what to look for if they were to purchase my album. With our market research, I have become aware that the more successful the advertisements and album covers, the more successful the audience interest and profits will become.

This is my finished album cover:

I then used a brick wall as a background to the back of the cover, including cong titles and a copyright sign below.

This is my final back of the album:

For the advert I knew I wanted to put the album cover as a whole onto the advert so again, my audience will know what to look for. I have also incorporated the 'house' style of the back of the cover with the brick wall as a background again.

11th- 25th March

2010-03-25T04:46:00.000-07:00

Production Work:

During these two weeks we have been working thoroughly throughout in both lessons and non contact time to finish our media final production and subsidary tasks. The editing has been a challenge due to lack of help from certain members of our group and due to the lip syncing with our song. When choosing a music video we had an understanding it would be a challenge, but as we knew this we thought of ways in which we could overcome the problems easily.

We concentrated on the editing and lip syncing to make sure all was correct throughout. During these weeks, we all felt an intense atmosphere as everybody was under pressure fulfilling the last parts of the editing and burning to disc. We had slight difficulty with some shots, as we noticed a few were filmed incorrectly or with an unsteady hand when the tripod was not needed. Therefore we decided to film two shots again, and upload them to the mac in replacement of the old shot. I am glad we did this, as it looks a lot more professional than if we had just left them as they were previously. Also, because we had to change these shots meant that when we adjusted them, some of the lip syncing after this cut was out of sync. We had to concentrate on making these back to the original length, and this was frustating at first because it was time comsuming, but we managed to finish it in the end. The film was finished by the deadline date of the 25th March, and we felt happy with our outcome. When watching it back from a critical perspective, I felt that we could have used more cuts and edits as some of the shots were too long. However, overall I think this media film is the most professional I have achieved, with having to overcome a few problems throughout the production.

This is our final A2 Production:
'Beautiful' Music Video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jfXzxuKwzA

8th-11th March 2010

2010-03-11T01:34:00.000-08:00

During the week we focussed on producing presentations based around moral panics. Each group were given a specific task to look at, ours being to create a facebook group titled 'Media A Level Support Group'. We had to look at how we would deal with abuse and how we would block members who we didn't co operate with appropriate guidelines. All in all we gained around 18 members including our peers from our class. We made a presentation throughout the week on this task to look at moral panics and how things are exaggerated and dealt with. We were then given the following week to present these to our class.

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PRODUCTION WORK

This week was very important with our production work, as we were uploading all of our filming and started putting everything together. We were uploading the track 'Beautiful' so we could start working on on the editing seriously. We got a mac and made sure no body else was using it, as that was a problem with other peoples groups crossing over with the use of the laptops. Luckily, we were able to use ours with no problem and it was our own for our group. We started to edit properly throughout the week, and used the transitions and effects to full use changing colouring of some shots to make it more sinister to reflect the narrative of the song. The lip syncing became a problem on some shots but with the right patience and determination it worked well. By the end of this week, we have managed to complete two minutes of the song. We used all non contact time and our free lessons to work on our editing to produce our final production, and still have around half of the song to complete but we are on the right tracks.

1st-4th March 2010

2010-03-04T03:50:00.000-08:00

This weeks lessons again focussed on the theory behind collective identity. We were set to read and review a piece of information titled 'Personal Homepages and the Construction of Identities on the Web'.
Our summary was to be posted on our blogs which has been done below, giving a summary of the piece itself so we knew whether we had taken a clear understanding or not.
We also looked at Moral panics, which were produced by Cohen to suggest how things in the media can be exaggerated and blown out of proportion. An example is that of 'Mods and Rockers', and Folk Devils focussed the groups of people that continued to make a disruption within society. Moral panics have elements of truth and can show a form of reality, although the exaggeration displays how they are not always as bad as they are presented in the media like newspapers and televisions. There have been many moral panics over the years including mods and rockers, peadophilia, drugs and alcohol and sexual promiscuity.

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PRODUCTION WORK:

This week we continued filming again, using a range of locations being the school grounds itself, round both mine and Emma Smyth's houses and in nearby parks and fields to reflect the emotion within the song. We created our signs with the words 'Lonely' and 'Afraid' on separate pieces of paper for people to hold within our production music video. We also decided to use three separate people in our video holding 'I' 'AM' 'BEAUTIFUL', for a part of the video showing the chorus line. We thought about using unique people and people showing different features and different ethnic minorities to reflect how every person is beautiful and it's not what is shown on the outside that counts but the personalities inside. We wanted to use a girl with a desire to be skinny and looking at pictures of skinny models and trying to commit suicide. This will be an effective part of the film, as it shows how the stereotypes shown in the media don't always have a good effect on that of the public. We have also planned to use a gay couple, yet again presenting how people don't have to follow the norms of society to be happy and beautiful. Thirdly, we have planned to use just lips being shown miming the words to give more of an effect to our target audience who will be watching this pop video.
We know that this video will be watched by a large age range, as Christina Aguilera does appeal to many people within society, so we had to think about how we could reflect the meaning of the song which would make people think twice about judging one another. Looking 'normal' on the outside doesn't reflect how people are on the inside and their inner feelings, which is a significant part of the song.

2010-03-03T06:37:00.000-08:00

Homework Task:

Personal Homepages and construction of identity on the web summary.

Media theorists like John Meyrowitz (1983) suggest how new media like the internet and world wide web interrupt the general boundaries between public and private. The internet gives an insight of peoples inside lives with the high level of explotation web users feel comfortable to portray. The web opens opportunities for information to be ''automatically'' published on global scale, and is a source of information for many other web users reading up on specific people. A home page reflects relationships between the public and private issues, as many that are private are publicly displayed to viewers. Thomas Erickson notes that home pages are not being specifically used to publish information, but is a form of constructing personal identities through a virtual environment. The web in comparison to real life forms, and real literal identities are presented through the web by profile layouts and patterns, text, and language used rather than the physical appearances like clothes and style of hair. It offers mass communication between people in other sides of the world which is generally seen as a positive impact of the World Wide Web. The method of media is open to ''mass producers as well as mass consumers'' meaning both producers and consumers gain maximum satisfaction from the internet. A Negative is often seen when users of the internet on personal homepages do not have the ability for people to meet the real person and make a judegment, and merely base their opinion on what they are presented. This has become labelled as the notion of having ''virtual selves'' through the technology of the internet, and people not being able to see the real person and their personal body language, posture and gestures therefore differing to reality of personal self.
Claude Levi-Strauss' refers to the term Bricolage as a way of defining affects of media on a person involving the materials one needs to be able to present ones self through the web. Personal homepages need bricolage from the user, to make the web page individual and unique to them as a person. It is involved with the construction of ones identity through the elements that come into play when producing a web page.
The internet has enabled people to find out more about the presentation of their own identities portraying it to much larger audiences with this type of media. Rather than staying in their own circle of friends, people are able to explore other friendships with people they would never have met without the discovery of the internet.
Users of the internet as a form of media, are more able to create a sense of identity and a sense of self through the way they choose to express themselves on their personal websites and chat forums. The internet has a mass audience which inturn makes the information written on personal profiles and homepages very public. This can be a negative when some people often manipulate their public identities on the web. Some theorists argue that the internet causes less and less face to face interaction although the development in the internet and web pages allow people to express themselves in a way which has never been possible before. This has had a big impact on the people of todays society, and will continue to allow people to present a view of themselves through the internet and many forums.

Week 22nd-25th February

2010-02-25T03:39:00.000-08:00

During the lessons of this we focussed on theory behind collective identity and the founders of the World Wide Web, including how much of an impact the internet has on us as users which I would of never have thought about before. The theory behind this is important, and gave me a clearer understanding into the way the internet works and how people's identity can be manipulated to create false identities, using websites like chat rooms, Facebook, MySpace and other web forums.
We watched the documentary called Virtual Revolution which studied the internets control over the population of the world. This was an interesting documentary and represented the way the internet is adaptable to different peoples needs and therefore attracts a large group of our population today.
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PRODUCTION WORK:

As part of our production work, this week we continued to film for our music video and focussed on this thoroughly. At home, I decided to print off a clean copy of the lyrics and annotate them thoroughly so it helped our group knowing what to film and what was outstanding, and this helped when we got to our editing stages. This was our equivilent to our storyboarding, and we now had a clearer understanding of what was going to be filmed and shown throughout our music video. This week was extremely useful in gaining a clearer picture of how we were starting to produce an effective piece of work, and yet again we still had a lack of help from a specific member of our group.

Copyright

2010-02-20T00:58:00.000-08:00

As part of our production, we have to look carefully at copyright and how we would be in breach of it when using an artists song without permission.

As we are doing 'Beautiful' which was originally recorded by Christina Aguilera, as a way of ensuring we do not become in breach of copyright, we have managed to leave a comment on her official myspace page so the producers of her records are aware of our use. Therefore, they have a chance to contact us if we are unable to use this track although this would make our A2 Production a challenge.
This is the screen shot with evidence of sending the message.

Half Term: 15th-19th February

2010-02-19T03:32:00.000-08:00

Throughout half term, Emma Smyth and I started to prepare for filming so when we we're back at school we could start to upload for the editing process. One member of our group kept letting us down when we arranged to film, but me and Emma decided to continue anyway. This was a problem and made the work harder for us as there was a lot more to do with the two of us, and she didn't show a clear understanding of what was being filmed with our new chosen song.
Beautiful by Christina Aguilera showed to have a lot more meaning behind the song, so there were many connotations we could apply to these lyrics and song.
We started to film different shots, during this week although there were some initial problems with our camera. This became a difficultly as we were unsure whether the filming we had completed would be saved on the tape, so on the first day back at school we were able to change the tape. I feel that Emma and I are working effectively on this task, and if everyone does there fair amount of help within the group, our production will be proficient.

15-02-2010

2010-02-16T03:51:00.000-08:00

Half Term Week:

During february half term week, Emma Smyth and I decided to pay alot of attention to the production of our film. Due to certain circumstances we were slightly behind on the schedule we had planned earlier in the year when we started the planning of our final production. As we were discussing the music video, we decided that the initial song of Christina Aguilera's Candyman would be too fast and hard to lip sync correctly. There were many problems like the speed of the song, people making rehearsals and the choreography that impacted on the lack of work that we were able to do. We both felt how this would jepordise our final production, and decided to change the song. Knowing it was becoming closer towards our deadline, we finally decided upon the song again from Christina Aguilera named Beautiful. This is a slower song, still in the pop genre and we rapidly planned what we would do for each part of the lyrics.
Here is our final chosen song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZjr0heZNIw

As before our research was to look into the pop genre, and this new chosen song is still in this genre of music and this therefore doesn't affect what we have already researched. We feel more comfortable knowing we are able to film using this song, which is slower and will enable us to do the best we can.

11-02-10

2010-02-11T06:34:00.000-08:00

11-02-10- Thursday double lesson.

In this lesson, we managed to plan our costumes and props that we will need to use in our film. Our group worked on the routine to our song both this week and last, and managed to prepare a section which we can then work on over the half term holidays.

Our props consist of; Sailor hats, big coloured paper as a background, candy and candy canes.

Costumes will be sailor themed, with representation of the music video itself. This lesson has involved planning and preparation so we are able to continue working over the half term holidays.

Media A2

2010-01-28T08:02:00.000-08:00

Lesson 28-01-10:

In todays lesson we focussed on our production work. We finalised our storyboard and annotated our lyrics in order to work from it when we start to film. Our planning processes are going according to plan, and our detailing of location and lyrics will mean we will be able to start filming as soon as we want to. We briefly looked at costumes and props we will need in todays lesson, although this will be finalised in the coming week.

As our final song for our music video is Candyman by Christina Aguilera, basing it around a military/sailor theme, we thought the HMS Belfast in London would be a perfect location to film. Along with the Belfast, we have thought about the Duxford Air Museum, and using there grounds to complete some filming work. We have sent E-Mails to both locations asking permission and whether this would be possible and now waiting for a response. If we are successful, we will be planning to go in the middle of February but cannot set a fixed date as it goes down to weather conditions at the time!

A2 Production Planning

2010-01-27T03:04:00.001-08:00

Schedule of events leading to our Final Production:

January:

21st- Storyboarding/Detailed planning of lyrics.
25th- Choreographing for video (Beckie & Emma)
27th- Continuing choreographing.
28th- Costume/Props list.

February:

1st- Choreographing.
3rd- Drama studio to teach actors.
4th- Teaching actors.
8th- Teaching actors.
10th- Filming.
11th- Filming in Drama studio location.
15th- Filming.
17th- Filming.
18th- Filming.

March- EDITING.
Final deadline- 25th March 2010.

A2 Media

2010-01-27T02:51:00.000-08:00

Lesson on 25-01-10:

In this lesson we looked at trailers that involved different youth representations from different decades. All trailers highlighted the way youth are related to crime, smoking and drug taking. We looked at trailers from 1936, through til modern day with one in 2006 so we could make clear connections.
Reefer Madness created a moral panic about drugs in the 1930's and shows how drugs can take over a persons complete life. The youth within the trailer didn't look as young as what we would see youth as being today, and this was one of the starting points for the stereotyping of youth in relation to drugs and sex. This promiscuous behaviour has been presented through these videos and youths seem to become highly labelled with this notion.
This is the trailer for Reefer Madness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1jB7RBGVGk

We also looked at Quadrophenia which was made in the 1970's, Look Back In Anger, Bullet Boy and Kidulthood. All trailers show the negative points and pressures of being a teenager in each decade. All presentated us with bad labelling of youth, including drugs, sexual promiscuity and violent acts. All show reoccuring themes with some elements of truth, although they have been exaggerated influencing moral panics about youth culture within our society in Britain.

27-01-10

2010-01-27T00:56:00.000-08:00

Homework- Precis on Collective Identity.

'Media and collective identity' was a piece we as a class studied in detail. We learnt a lot from this text about how the media represent groups of people in different ways to create a sense of identity, and the effects it has on our societty.

Collective identity in media terms highlights how our media saturated society has a huge impact to the way we see and hear and think about different ideas. The 'collective' suggests how large number of people beilieve in the same norms and appearing in the same ways with the same morals. 'Identity' covers how we appear to others and how we identity ourselves. Collective identity in relation to media studies implies that groups of people reading from different media texts, gain a sense of self and understand how they would want themselves to appear. From this, people change and adapt to new ways of thinking belonging to a group presented in the media that share the same norms and values.

Two theorists who were noted in the booklet was Buckingham and Gauntlett. They both have strong views on the way media affects collective identity and the way it rubs off on society.

Buckingham's Quote:

'' A focus on identity requires us to pay close attention to the diverse ways in which media and technologies are used in everyday life, and their consequences both for individuals and for social groups.''

Buckingham considers the way in which people are affected by different media texts like television, magazines and films and how us as the audience pay close attention to different representations of people.

Gauntlett's Quote:

''Identity is complicated. Everyone thinks they've got one. Magazines and talk show hosts urge us to explore our 'identity'. Religious and national identites are at the heart of major international conflicts. Artists play with the idea of 'identity' in modern society. Blockbuster movie superheroes have emotional conflicts about their 'true' identity. And the average teenager can creat three online 'identities' before breakfast... Thinking about self-identity and idividuality can cause some anxiety - at least in cultures where individuals are encouraged to value their personal uniqueness. Each of us would like to think - to some extent - that we have special, personal qualities, which make us distinctive and valuable to other people in our lives ( or potential future friends). But does this mean anything? Is individuality just an illusion? Maybe we are all incredibly similar, but are programmed to value miniscule bits of differentiation.

Gauntlett on the other hand, talks about how different organisations and media texts make people feel they need to be a part of an identity group. However, Gauntlett also highlights the way that ''miniscule bits of differentiation'' help the way we are as individuals understanding that not two of us are the same.

TV Drama progammes often can represent groups of people in which people would may want to follow. Us as an audience make assumptions from TV Drama's and even British Film, with the way they may give accurate representations of people. Many people believe what they see on TV and in films about many characters and stereotypically judge. The phrase 'Burden of Representation' indicates the way British film makers have a need to fulfil expectations of representations. Film makers reiterate how the history of social realist British film portrays certain representations which still show aspects of truth. Therefore, they have to be included in New films to carry on the notion of representations which lead to finding an identity about yourself as an individual.

Homework Task due 21-01-2010

2010-01-19T12:56:00.001-08:00

Introduction to question:
Explain how stereotyping in British TV Drama and British Film contributes to a sense of collective identity.

The notion of collective identity suggests how we as a population of society are a part of a collective group. Living in a media saturated world, many people are influenced by what we see and hear and gain a sense of belonging to a particular group, by conforming to the norms of that specific style. Many media texts including British film and TV drama, contribute to the way in which we see ourselves, as it often mirrors many norms of our society we live in. People feel a connection with many characters in certain films and TV drama series, if they have ever been in similar positions or experienced the same problems.
Stereotyping plays a huge impact on the way we perceive others around us as well as ourselves, and British television representing these connotations to us as an audience influences the way we act and adapt to modern society and how we live.

A2 Media

2010-01-16T14:13:00.000-08:00

14th January 2010:

In this double lesson we were able to start our research and planning to start our production. We used the laptops to gain more knowledge about the type of production we are doing. My group, consisting of three of us, have chosen to produce a music video. The genre of music we are most interested in is Pop, and have narrowed down our choices. Within our research we went onto www.youtube.com and watched many old 90's pop videos and tried deciding on a final song. Bands like S Club 7, Spice Girls, Steps, and solo artist Britney Spears all encorporate these qualities of being a pop icon, and we feel we would work well on a project reflecting this genre of music. We also produced a time schedule of which we were to work by so we have deadlines for each part of the project. Our deadline being the 25th March 2010, gives us three months to work on our final production and I feel having this plan will help us complete it within the deadlines. We have decided to film within the month of february and edit throughout march. This will be challenging, but according to our time schedule, if we were to work precisely we will produce a film of a high standard. I am excited about working on a project of great importance, although hoping it will fulfil our expectations as to what we would like it to be.

A2 Media

2010-01-06T08:18:00.000-08:00

5-01-10

As from the beginning of this term, we are focussing a part of our week on our ultimate coursework task of film production. We have had many experiences with the camera and using the editing software on the apple macs and camera's themselves to help us gain an insight into what is expected. The editing software becomes easier to use after a certain amount of experience, and having an 'MOT' type test on the software, makes it apparent whether we have a good amount of knowledge and understanding for it. Passing this test, I feel comfortable in using the mac's to edit and cut a film to a standard of high quality. Whenever this software is used, I feel I learn more and more about it everytime.

The tasks we have undertaken recently to help give an idea about the expectations of film, have been of great significance. This is in the way that they have helped us develop our ideas and knowledge about film and how to use the software appropriately in different locations.

The first task was that of the competition involving the alcohelp group, and producing a film targeted at young people about the effects and consequences of alcohol. This has already been mentioned in my previous blog, and I felt I learnt a lot from this task. The planning, filming and editing were of equal importance and my group worked efficiently when producing it to our best standard.

The second film we produced as a sueding of a well known film. Being in a group of four, we had to watch trailers of recent films, and use this as a guide to producing a copy of the trailer. Our group decided on 'Run Fat Boy Run' as our trailer, and found this experience very helpful. Again, it taught us a lot about the amount of planning that had to be done in order to produce a successful film. Although we were only given a short amount of time to work on this production, we still had a chance to work on the macs to produce editing of a higher standard. This short film may have been more humorous than the others, however still encorporated a significant amount of work to produce.

Lastly, we had the opportunity to work on a music video and this I felt was the most challenging film of the ones we have completed recently. Being given a song, my group received Abba- Money, Money, Money and created a music video using different connotations of money. We thought showered our ideas and started to create the film and used the drama studio to create a show style scene and we thought carefully about the misc en scene. Again, we planned in detail and thought thoroughly about how the different words within the lyrics were filmed. We edited with such care, that the lip syncing worked well and the outcome was better than what my group had expected.

These little projects have all been leading up to our final production, so we have a full understanding of how to use all software in order to produce the best of our abililty. We have an insight into the amount of work that has to be done to help achieve this, and I am determined to use all time to put in the most effort possible.

A2 Media

2009-07-10T01:40:00.000-07:00

9-7-09 & 10-7-09

For our next project, we are going to be entering a competition producing a film 3-10 minutes long based around underage drinking. Underage drinking has become a major factor within the UK in these present times, and we need to start bringing awareness to all those who participate. It will be entitled 'Consider the consequences' and is rather self explanetary. The charity working alongside this project is called 'Alcohelp'. The website containing a full brief is www.alcohelp.co.uk/consider
Our target audience for this project is 13 year olds, which we found to be quick an astonishing age to work around. They are very young to even consider drinking, whether or not it is on a regular basis or once in a while. Within the film we are able to include one of the following aspects that cause underage drinking to start with to bring awareness to those involved.
They are:
- Peer pressure
- Violence
- Long term health problems
- Truancy
- Binge Drinking

This is to raise awareness of the different issues, and if a particular child has experienced on of these, the short film will aim to show how it needn't be the case.
We have to portray how underage drinking isn't fun and games, but does have serious consequences. For a homework task, we were asked to research into the topic thoroughly and find statistics that will shock our audience.
As I found in my research, long term health issues if starting to drink alcohol at an early age consist of things like Brain damage, liver disease, cancer risks and loss of awareness, for example sleeping with somebody whilst being drunk and becoming pregnant. Young people do not realise these consequences, and until they see it to believe it, it may not become apparent. Statistics gained within my research, showed how many young children these days can buy alcohol within a shop without being questionned of their age. This makes it easier for underage drinking to occur, as parents are not in control of their children's behaviour if they do not see what goes on. Also, 54% of children said that they drink within the home. This is a shocking statistic, but it doesn't state whether this is just one or on a regular basis. Children as young as 12 have been admitted as alcoholics due to excessive drinking on a regular basis. This is hard to understanding, when you automatically think of young children being innocent and well behaved in many parts of the country.
However, alot of the underage binge drinking occurs within parks and outside locations where parents are unable to see the effects of what they do. Many young children say they do this because they have no other activities they can become involved in.
In the second part of our lesson, we started to understand how different aspects of the film could make it more influential and realistic using several techniques. We looked at how documentary type films often use interviewing techniques, cutaways, and still images to get the message across clearly. I like the use of voiceovers in many short films, as I feel it makes it affective when trying to understand the point of the film. This could be affective when producing the alcohol awareness short film, as many of these techniques could attract the audience and inform them of the effects their drinking will have in the future.

Lesson 3

2009-07-02T04:43:00.000-07:00

A2- 25/06/09

In this lesson, we were able to get into our new groups to begin on our task of creating a short film titled 'Rape Awareness'. This film is based around personal safety, and has to encorporate a serious side so it is believable to our audiences.
It is aimed at young girls mainly because they are the most vulnerable when looking at statistics of rape and how it occurs. My group chose to use this time to research the topic so we had a clearer perspective of the topic. We found some shocking statistics which included the fact that nearly all rapes are committed by people that the victim has known within their life. We chose the specific statistics that we are going to use within our film, and next lesson we will start to film this sequence. Our storyboards are now completed so when it comes to filming, it will be easier to create, as we are all aware of what shots we are going to use and the sequence of events.
As we found in our other task titled 'The telephone call', planning is vital to completing a successful film. Although the practical side of filming can take a lot longer to come to terms with, the planning helps this become alot easier as we are aware of what to do in order to create the film.

A2

2009-06-21T07:43:00.000-07:00

18th & 19th June 2009.

In both lessons we were continuing to develop our ability when using the cameras. In the double lesson, we were able to get into small groups and work together to produce a small film titled 'The Phone Call''. We had to plan using a storyboard so we knew what shots we were going to use and the length in which we were filming for. We used the setting of an underpass, and near a forest for our two locations. After filming we were able to use the apple mac's to start to edit the film and place the shots in the appropriate order. This took alot of time and effort was worth it when looking at the outcome of our first short film.
Through this process I have learnt that filming takes alot of time and effective planning, if the film is to be a success. From this, we now have an understanding of how to use the apple macs which we can now use to edit all work that we produce for this unit. The editing takes time to come to terms with, however overtime this will be a great help to our overall outcome, and help us develop our understanding od film altogether.

A2 Media Blog.

2009-06-15T23:53:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 9th June 09-

Today we made a start at looking at the practical side of film for our next piece of media work. As we are aware, it is going to be a harder and more challenging project than our magazine production, as it uses a different type of equipment to produce a different type of media.
In this lesson we used the video cameras to try and catch different shots, like medium shots, long shots and close ups, while also trying to use and practice camera movements like panning and tracking.
I learnt that this was alot harder then what it looks like, and keeping the camera still without a tripod is extremely challenging as every slight movement can be shown. The cameras themselves, I found to be slightly confusing, but after practice and more experience this became easier to do.

Final Piece

2009-04-22T08:19:00.000-07:00

This is the overall outcome of my magazine. If you click on the images, they will appear bigger for a clearer picture.

Poporama!

Front cover

Contents Page

Double Page Spread

Foundation Portfolio Evaluation

2009-04-22T08:02:00.001-07:00

I have now completed the foundation portfolio task, using photoshop. It is called ‘Poporama!’ and I decided to produce my magazine within the Pop genre. I have produced a front cover, contents page and a double page spread with photography and interviews.

Top of the pops is a existing magazine within the music industry. Here I am looking at the conventions of both music magazines, my own production and Top of the pops and seeing how they use, develop and challenge each other. In both magazines, you can see from my research and planning that I have incorporated the glossy front cover style, similar fonts and images of celebrity icons. It also gives an insight into the content inside the magazine by showing different images and exclusive information on the front cover.

Here is my contents page with another pop magazine contents. They are slightly different in the layout, but both portray the correct message to the target audience. They both feature exclusive content, reader interactivity included in the content, and both fit the genre of pop itself. Bright colours and the house style shown on both, are represented clearly through the contents pages.

The double page spread again has used bright colours that fits into the pop genre. As shown in this slide the double page has used the famous icons to represent the music industry. Celebrities are used to attract the audience, as well as the exclusive features shown in both magazines. My magazine has used these conventions of a pop magazine which is already on the market. The house styles has been carried throughout each page which can be clearly seen here.

‘Poporama!’ presents particular social groups in a variety of ways. To show this I have compared it to NME which is based around the rock genre, rather than pop. They tend to show the social groups by using bright and dark colouring, different style of language and different content information. This will attract people who are into this particular music and genre, whereas mine has more girly features and celebrity advice which will fulfil the reflecting of social groups.

I have gained an understanding of the different publishers and how they fulfil their audience needs. If I were to publish ‘Poporama!’, I would use IPC Media. This is because they show a high success rate, and already publish the well known music magazine NME. Statistics show that they reach most of our population within Britain and produce a high variety of magazines. IPC media have a big audience who constantly invest within there company. ‘Poporama!’ will reach my target audience and become a success if published with IPC.

My target audience for ‘Poporama!’ is shown through the layout and colouring of the magazine itself. It shows that it is aimed at young girls, from around 9 years old to early teens who are still in need of finding their identity. Outgoing girls who like to talk about music that falls into the pop category are also the perfect audience for ‘Poporama!’. Escapism through the uses and gratifications of a magazine, shows how my target audience would feel the need to read the magazine as a way of leaving the real world and becoming closer to their celebrity idols.

Attracting my target audience within my front cover was thought about thoroughly in the production of my magazine. The low price will encourage people to buy the magazine and the celebrity icon giving advice within an exclusive interview, will make the young girls want to learn more about themselves and escape the real world. The pastel colours straight away reflect who the magazine is aimed at so it is distinctly different from others that already fall into the pop genre. Free inserts like posters in this case make people want to buy the magazine more than if it was without. This is an effect used by many magazine producers, as girls and other audiences want to use these for themselves.

The learning process when producing ‘Poporama!’ was very challenging. When we initially started to use Photoshop, I was very stuck with the process and I didn’t feel I was learning a lot when I wasn’t seeing a possible outcome. However, through trial and error and practicing on Photoshop with a lot of my time, I managed to produce my magazine to great effect. I have learnt a great deal whether it be time management, or the planning and research. It has made me think carefully about everything when it comes to production, and how important planning is before you start. The images I have used were thought about extremely carefully from the costume to where they were taken, as the genre has to been shown clearly.

The blogs in which we were asked to keep, made me confused at the beginning of our production. However, after being told about how to produce them effectively, I found that the blogs were for track of progress and to show how we overcome problems. Blogs posted recently whilst doing both the preliminary task and final task include images of what would work, and progress of my magazine itself.

From the preliminary task to my final music magazine, you can see there has been great changes. The development in skills and outcome can be seen through the different magazines as shown in this slide. I have taken the challenges and problems which occurred during the preliminary task and tackled them, which overall has made a huge difference. I was constantly developing new skills throughout both tasks, and this progress is also reflected within my blogs.

To conclude this foundation portfolio production, I have learnt a great deal. Through the process of trial and error, I was able to produce a pop magazine to a professional standard. Within my presentation I have included the enjoyments and challenges that I have faced and overcome. There are icons which show which blog will reflect what the slide is about with detailed reference, and if the images of slides are clicked on they will appear bigger so they are clearer to see.
I am proud with my achievement, and feel that the magazine production has been an enjoyable task. Although it was challenging, I have put my skill to good use and worked hard in order to get my magazine to the standard that it is. I have learnt that in order to complete a task on this scale, patience is the key to success.

Lesson 22

2009-03-30T13:21:00.000-07:00

Lesson 22: 27-03-09

This lesson was spent thinking carefully about the evaluation process and how we need to present our blogs to gain the higher levels.
We thought carefully about our target audiences, and how it has affected our decisions when producing our magazines. After this, we were able to spend the lesson on what we needed to work on whether it be the production or taking extra images. This lesson helped us organise what is still needed to be completed and to start thinking about what is required for our evaluation when the product is complete.

Lesson 21

2009-03-30T13:13:00.000-07:00

Lesson 21: 26-03-09

This lesson we were able to spend the majority of our time working on our foundation portfolio final production. The front cover needs a little more work, and more text about the promotions, and the double page spread is almost complete. The contents page has been started, and is looking the way I had planned. This lesson was simply spent organising our production and making progress.
The photoshop application is becoming a lot more familiar, and I feel I am constantly learning new tools which is helping the progress of the magazine. From the preliminary task through to this foundation portfolio, I have learnt that everything is possible within photo manipulation when using the right tools to work with. I feel this has been successful in the way that I have learnt new ways of using software and although I have found it a challenge, the commitment and dedication is starting to show with the outcome of my magazine.

This an example of the process in which I am producing my final product. This is the start of my contents page, although there is still alot of editing to be done.

Lesson 20

2009-03-30T12:34:00.000-07:00

Lesson 20: 24-03-09

In this lesson we discussed the ways in which different magazine companies produce a wide variety of magazines which will suit the majority of readers. We looked at three main institutions which publish the different magazine's and researched their websites to see which would most suit our product itself.
We looked at Emap, ipc and Bauer. There websites showed a range of magazine styles from boating magazines to the music magazines themselves. IPC is said to reach approximately 70% of women and 50% of men within the UK. This is a great amount of our population and shows how this publisher has become a success by producing the wide range.
The website of IPC, http://www.ipcmedia.com/ shows the way they address their audiences, and the different magazines they produce.
Emap shows a different way to their publications, and doesn't show to be as successful as IPC productions. The website, http://www.emap.com/ also shows the different ways in which emap works, and tells us the different genre's of magazine's they produce.
Bauer was the last magazine publisher that we looked at in detail, and includes a variety of genres within their collection. http://www.bauer.co.uk/ again shows the variety of magazines, from Q and Kerrang! down to the magazine's such as Take a Break and Mother & Baby. This shows that these producers like to widen their audiences and supply the right magazine for the majority of our population. There shows to be magazines specifically aimed at men like FHM and Zoo, and also magazines aimed at only women, such as Heat and Grazia.

After thinking about my magazine product itself, I have decided that if I were to choose an institution in which to publish my magazine, I would most likely use IPC. This is because they show to have a wide collection of magazines with a very popular and high audience rate. There success is reflected through their website, and the collection of magazines show how they can compensate for every type of audience, whether it be from specific sports or TV magazines.

Lesson 19

2009-03-23T11:50:00.000-07:00

Lesson 19: 20-03-09

In this lesson, we concentrated on the theory side of our media product and looked at a powerpoint presentation about the assessment criteria so we have an idea of where to aim.
It told us the division of marks and the levels in which we needed in order to gain the highest of our ability.
The Foundation Portfolio consists of three sections, the Research and Planning, the Music Magazine itself and the Evaluation. These are all of great importance towards to development of the product and how much work is involved in order to make it successful.
The pictures that we take to use within the magazine, have to be thought about very carefully including where and what is within the shot itself. I have an understanding that a variety of shots including both long shots and close ups will make the magazine more effective, without just using the same style of image throughout.

Lesson 18

2009-03-23T11:37:00.000-07:00

Lesson 18: 19-03-09

In this lesson we used the ICT suite to make a start on our media product, the music magazine. I used photoshop to start the front cover of my pop magazine named 'Poporama!' and thought about the type of image I was going to use for the front page. From the plans that I produced during the preparation, I had an idea that I wanted to have a bright and bold front cover, with a bubble writing effect as the title to fit the pop genre. I thought this was appropriate to the style of music that I have chosen to base the magazine around. The use of music notes as imagery and bright colours fulfils the expectations of a pop magazine, and I am currently in the process of producing the front page.

This image is the one that I have chosen to use for the front page. I thought it would work well with the genre of Pop, as the participant looks glamorous and fits the style well. The iconic girly features will express the genre clearly, and I am going to cut the body out of the background using photoshop, so the background will not be shown.

This image that was also taken as part of the process, I do not feel works as well as the image above. The positioning of her body doesn't reflect the right message that I need in order to make this magazine production a success. The shot was not taken correctly, and therefore cuts out a part of her left arm. This is a problem when coming to work on the image in photoshop, as it will not look effective as a the image on the front page of the magazine itself.

I have learnt that it is alot more time consuming than what I originally thought. In order for this to be a success, I have to spend a significant amount working on my final product so it is at a professional standard.

Lesson 17

2009-03-17T13:46:00.000-07:00

Lesson 17: 17-03-09

In today's lesson, we focussed on the Uses and Gratifications approach within our media consumption. It made us think carefully about how we can involve these ideas within our magazine production to fulfil our target audience needs. The uses and gratifications is the notion that we choose what we consume as an audience, and ties in four main subjects.

1. Escapism- Where readers have a chance to get away from reality, and become engrosed in what they are involved in.
2. Personal Relationships- Where the audience feel they have a significant relationship with the celebrity they are reading or looking at.
3. Personal Identity- Where the trends and ways of living become shown through the particular media product, which consequently makes people make a statement about themselves and discover their own identities.
4. Surveillance- Where the readers and audiences learn about the world around them, whether it be about music itself or a particular news topic.

I have an understanding that all of these points that come under the uses and gratifications, have dangers and can often make people believe lies about certain issues and take things too far when consuming their own media. We also discovered that there are certain ways in which our media product the music magazine, can include these aspects which will fulfill their needs to full effect.

Lesson 16

2009-03-12T05:36:00.000-07:00

Lesson 16: 12-03-09

In todays lesson we had access to the computers within the ICT suite, to make a start on a final product. I looked at my previous plans for the pop music magazine that I am going to produce, and started to think carefully about the practical side and how the layout is going to fit within the Photoshop element.
I started the middle page spread and started to add in the text that will be the information on photoshop. I have left spaces for the images that will be used on this page, and worked around what I need to add. I found the text needs to be thought about carefully, and quantity that is going to be on the page as there needs to be room on both sides for the logo, title, and captions aswell as the images themselves.
This is the first part of our practical task that I have started, and it has given me an understanding of how the planning needs to be precise and clear before starting.

Lesson 15

2009-03-12T02:15:00.000-07:00

Lesson 15: 10-03-09

In this lesson, we looked at our plans of the magazines and produced them in greater detail. We considered the images, text, contents and articles that we were going to put into our magazine.
I produced a storyboard of the images that I am going to include within the magazine. Every page that I am going to produce will be thought about carefully and I have an understanding that the pages will need more than one image each. I found that it will be better if I take more than the amount of images needed and choose from then, rather than being limited to what I am able to use.
After the images were roughly drawn, I used the time to think about the article that will produced for the double page centre spread. I have chosen to keep to the genre of the magazine, by having a pop icon and idol being the centre of attention with an interview style spread. It will consist of questions and answers from the personal response of the chosen pop star, so the younger readers within my target audience will be inspired to achieve.
This lesson made me think carefully about the planning required before setting out to physically take the images. The storyboard of ideas will be helpful when taking the images, as I will know what images I need for the production of my magazine.

Lesson 14

2009-03-11T15:40:00.000-07:00

Lesson 14: 7-3-09

In this lesson we started to think about the content and layouts of our magazine, brainstorming anf noting down different ideas. This was quite challenging, as we had to think about the genre, title, captions and images that will need to be taken in order to make the magazine a success.
Images, content, layout, font, style and colours are all needed to make a music magazine, and how we portray these is key to making an interaction with our audiences.
There has to be a house style, in order to keep the readers attracted and in line with the magazine and how it is presenting its information. The magazine's have to be thought about with great detail, before the producing of the final product starts to take place.
Here, we have learnt how important it is to think about every aspect in detail in order to produce a magazine which has a significant impact on its readers and will make them want to read it again.

Lesson 13

2009-03-11T15:31:00.000-07:00

Lesson 13: 5-3-09

In this lesson, we had access to the computer room and ability to produce a powerpoint presentation on a music magazine of our choice.
The magazine which I focussed on, was Kerrang!. This gave me an insight into how the heavy rock genre was portrayed to it's audience and how they present the specific styled bands in a variety of ways. Within the presentation, we had to show the success of the magazine through circulation and readership figures, how it was first produced and made a high valued magazine, and the ways it attracts it's target audience.
It was an insightful lesson, that made us think carefully about the magazine's and how the different music genres had various ways of representing the different aspects within the read.

Lesson 12

2009-03-03T09:03:00.000-08:00

Lesson 12: 03-03-09

In todays lesson we had to write an exam style essay under timed conditions, about the magazines print and online versions and how they target their specific audiences.
This enabled us to think carefully about how the online versions of the music magazines offer many other aspects than what is avaliable in the printed versions. I found that the music magazine of NME- New Musical Express, had a lot more video footage of the music agenda and had a lot more interactivity than the printed version. The printed versions of all magazines are going to be limited in what they can offer as many of them are only weekly, if not monthly issues. Therefore, the most up to date news about music is going to be shown on the online versions and through E-Mail newsletters where avaliable.
This task helped me to think about how the different magazines portray different aspects in each version of their music news. It enables me to think how many magazines keep the same style on the online version, and how different the information can be in both the printed and online versions.

Lesson 11

2009-03-02T08:37:00.000-08:00

Lesson 11: 27-02-09

In this lesson we focussed on a specific magazine genre in pairs, and how they use different symbols to represent the genre itself. The magazine that I looked at was NME which is New Musical Express. I come to the conclusion that this fell under the category of Rock, as within the magazine there were many references to rock itself whether it be certain bands or the colour connotations and imagery. There were a lot of use of the colours black and red which symbolise a depressing and low tone. This was also expressed within the content of the magazine in specific stories, including one from the band 'White Lies' who portrayed themselves as being very unhappy and are only within their band because it is a ''necessity''. There were many references to the fact that it is targeted at older teens and people in their 20's who enjoy the music of rock, as there is certain language that is used with 'rock' terms which I think if you weren't a regular reader, it would become harder to understand.
This lesson helped me gain an indepth understanding into how each different genre of music can have a great impact on the type of magazine that is produced. Whether it be from the colour and imagery used, to the type of stories and general tone of the magazine, they are carefully thought about to target the right audience.

Lesson 10

2009-03-02T08:28:00.000-08:00

Lesson 10: 26-02-09

In our double lesson today, we used the computer room to finish any left over work from our preliminary task, so we have a clear understanding of how to produce our music magazine main task. We needed time to be completely comfortable with photoshop so we can produce the magazine to the highest possible standard with every element taken into account.
I managed to complete the task, along with the contents page. This helped me to understand how the contents page and front cover had to have a specific connection. This is to make the magazine recognisable with it's own personal feel, with colour connotations that will reflect and symbolise the producers and magazine itself. I used the same font and colour scheme for the front cover and contents page to make this connection, and it taught me how important this is for a professional magazine standard.

Lesson 9

2009-02-26T01:11:00.000-08:00

Lesson 9: 24-02-09

In this lesson we got into small groups of three or four, and produced brainstorms on different genres of music to help with our final task of creating a music magazine. We had to think about pop, hip hop/R'n'B, dance, rock and the different forms of these genres. In our group, we each assigned to a genre and produced four A3 mind maps with all the information about each genre and gave examples of current bands that would fall into these categories. We also thought about popular magazines that portray these bands in different ways, which helped us understand how different types of music are reflected in order to target their specific audiences.
This task helped me in the way that it showed us how different genres of music are presented to give off certain effects. The target audiences are attracted by using different ways of presenting the music, whether it be from the lyrics used or in different magazines that specialise in the certain music type.

Lesson 8

2009-02-19T06:59:00.000-08:00

Lesson 8: 12-02-09

In this lesson we had the time to produce our preliminary task of the front cover of the St Mark's school magazine. We individually chose the layout, images, font types, information and colour schemes to our front covers, and tried to think specifically about our target audiences.
The task was to help us think about our ideas carefully, so when it comes to producing our music magazine, it will enable us to use the appropriate techniques to fulfil the aims effectively.
The school magazine that I produced was specifically targeted to the Sixth Form of St Mark's only. Therefore, I used an image using two year twelves as the front cover and included captions of information that was included within the content that would appeal directly to the Sixth Form. UCAS tips, exam technique and star sixth former were all parts that would have been included within the magazine, which was made clearly on the front cover. The layout was bold, and used vibrant colours as the image was situated within the library which suggests the study side to the sixth form itself. The front cover was made to fulfil the needs of the sixth form and included topics which would have been useful and informative for the readers. I think this task worked very well, and I enjoyed producing the front cover thinking carefully about every detail, and I was happy with the outcome. It will help give us an insight into the expectations of an audience,
espcially when it comes to making our music magazine as part of our coursework.

'On Your Marks' front cover finished product.

'On Your Marks' contents page finished product.

Lesson 7

2009-02-12T01:16:00.000-08:00

Lesson 7: 10-02-09

In this lesson, we had the opportunity to go out and use the digital cameras to full effect. It allowed us to take our images that we want for our front cover of the school magazine preliminary task. We had to consider how many pictures we wanted on the front cover, before going out to take them so we knew what we wanted to capture. Planning was essential in this part of the task if it was going to be a success. We had to think about how the images would fit the A4 page, and whether they were suitable to our specfic audience whether it be just the 6th Form, Staff or the school as a whole. We gained an understanding into how we should think carefully about everything in the shot, so when it comes to producing the front cover, it is slightly easier and more effective. On my front cover, I had an idea and knew the way in which I wanted my image to look which inturn will give off the right message. The layout, size and camera angles were thought about with great consideration, because I want my magazine cover to be a success and appeal to those who will gain the most out of the information inside.

Lesson 6

2009-02-05T05:07:00.000-08:00

Lesson 6: 5-2-09

In todays lesson, we used photoshop to adjust our images which we took in pairs the previous lesson. It gave us a chance to use photoshop and see how it worked so we could use it to great effect. I completed two front covers, one of which I didn't like as much as the other. It gave us an insight into how it worked, and how we could adapt our photo's to fit the A4 size, adding text, and creating different effects on each image. This let us understand what type of effects are successful when creating a front page of a magazine, and I now know how to use photoshop with the specific tools needed to make my preliminary task a success.

Lesson Five

2009-02-02T05:23:00.000-08:00

Lesson Five: 30-1-09

Today in pairs, we completed a photo task and had to take photo's which would suit a magazine called 'Nature'. We had to think about everything that was going to be useful as a front page of this type of magazine, thinking about its target audience group and how well the image would symbolise nature itself. Adam and myself took four images altogether, and thought carefully about the framing and everything that was shown within the shot. We saw a contrast in colours by the pond scenery which helped create a powerful image portraying that nature aspect of the magazine. It could promote many messages within the images taken, and this task helped us to think carefully about how many things we have to take into account before taking a picture which would be suitable for a specific magazine.

Lesson 4

2009-02-02T05:14:00.000-08:00

Lesson 4: 29-1-09

In todays lesson, we had a photoshop tutorial consisting of an expert in the field coming to discuss the benefits and functions of photoshop, which we can then use when producing our magazine. Photoshop is a program on the computer which helps adjust a particular image to fit our own purpose. We got taught how to use the basic skills we need in order to use photoshop effectively. In the second part of our double lesson, we started to focus on an indepth analysis of two front cover of magazines which are from universities. 'Newsman' is a magazine aimed at undergraduates of Newman College, and 'Quad' is a magazine aimed at postgraduates from Queens College in the University of London. Both differ very much in the way they are presented and we looked at the different aspects like font, layout, titles, colour and the overall presentation. From this we could make a finialised conclusion, and produce a detailed textual analysis which is our homework task for next week.

Homework Task- Magazine Research

2009-01-27T07:25:00.000-08:00

Homework Task-

Research into school magazine: Leaving School Issue 7.

This magazine focussed on what issues are raised once you have left school itself, hence the magazine name. There is a picture of a famous celebrity on the front cover, which would be appealing to students as it is what they want to know as well. The front cover includes ASOS fashion tips for him and her, sexual health advice, Diplomas uncovered and a land based careers special. There is a play on words, as it says ‘Paint the town Pink’, which is also the name of the celebrity revealed on the front page. The contents include many different aspects of the magazine that appeals to its target audience. This magazine looks like it has been aimed specifically at the younger generation and just the students, rather than acknowledging staff and parents. It shows that it includes advice about different ways of post student life from diploma discussion, to sexual health advice. There are advertisements including Price Water House Coopers, which is aimed at students who want to go to university, other adverts include RAF careers and Camp America opportunities which give advice to students that are leaving school. A main part of the magazine’s purpose is the careers advice. There shows to be a lot of information about different careers that will suit the majority of its readers from NHS health workers, down to careers at sea. There is an entertainment section which includes the celebrity Pink and a page full of information on her and how she made her career a success. This has probably been used as a way of showing how any person is able to make something of themselves, as she is famous for being quite an uncontrollable character. There is a page of reviews towards the end of the magazine, which shows film of the month, game of the month, and a response card. This suggest that this is a monthly magazine, and it gives the students a guidance into there life after school. I think that this type of magazine looks very professional, and will gain an audience successfully. It consists of 50 printed pages of information on various topics, and shows to have a balance between informative topics like careers advice, to more personal advice and celebrity gossip like the information on Pink.

Didn't know how to do a link! Website is:

http://www.leavingschool.co.uk/downloads/LS_7.pdf

Lesson 3

2009-01-23T08:19:00.000-08:00

23-1-09
Lesson three- In todays lesson, we focussed on the making of the fron page of our school magazine. We looked at the ideas from our sales pitch and gained knowledge into the production layout. We continued in our groups of two's and three's to produce different issues of the magazine itself. In my group we included imaghes from previous magazines and tried to tie it in with our content ideas. On the front of the first issue which I produced, I included community news, a free promotional stationary set advertisement, wrote the cost in bold font and used many others. This lesson helped me gain an understanding into how we should consider all aspects when producing a front page of our magazine, from how appealing it is, to suiting our target audiences appropriately.

Lesson Two

2009-01-22T08:16:00.000-08:00

22-1-09
Lesson Two- In this lesson, we worked on our sales pitch presentation which helped us see our ideas in a clear and understandable way. This will be very useful when starting to plan and produce our magazines and we listened to everyone elses ideas which was very effective. Within our groups of two's or three's we started to come up with a plan and gain a visual construction of how the magazine could look.
I worked with two other students within the class, and we came up with very good ideas which will benefit everyone. We focussed on how the magazine will be produced and included the costs of production. Our presentation included how we would attract and appeal to our target audiences of pupils, staff and parents by including different content on a monthly basis. We decided that we would include themed pages including a problem page, dates for upcoming school events, subject news, and a page about changes within the school. We worked out that with a 15 double page A4 magazine layout, including one coloured front cover and a ringbinder fastening, one magazine would cost around £1.06 to produce. Therefore, we came up with ideas in which we could make the money if we were to sell each magazine at 50p each. These included advertisements which would be of some use to the audience, inlcuding promotions from local food stores etc.
From this lesson, I learnt that we have to think carefully about the selection of items to produce the magazine. This can be very costly, if no profit would be made. Secondly, we have to think about what would suit the target audience as there has to be something to suit every kind of reader from a member of staff, to a parent of a student. Lastly, we have to show a mix of entertainment and fun from the school magazine, to a certain level of news and school topics. This would be a good balance and should suit our target audience with higher success.

Lesson One

2009-01-22T08:08:00.000-08:00

20-1-09
Lesson one- In this lesson we focussed on The Foundation Portfolio. We were talking about the process and outcomes of the preliminary exercise. We have to be aware to consider all parts of the school magazine including, target audiences, content, format and the costs. We looked at the key themes of the school magazine, and started to work on our sales pitch presentation work, which will give us an insight into what we are going to produce. It will help us be able to see what will work within the magazine itself, and listen to other ideas which could be of our benefit.