Skills Development Mmound

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AS and A2

Media StudiesMichael Mound AS Column D

(Teacher: Louise)


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Skills

DevelopmentBooklet

Key concepts relevant to Media Studies

Representation refers to the construction in any medium (e.g. film, television, magazines) ofaspects of reality such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities and other abstractconcepts. Such representations may be in speech or writing as well as still or moving pictures.They may include use of stereotypes and will often focus around issues like gender, class,ethnicity, age, disability, sexuality and regional or national identity.

Genre comes from the French (and originally Latin) word for 'kind' or 'class'. The term is widelyused in media theory to refer to a distinctive type of text. Contemporary media genres tend torelate to specific forms e.g. films are routinely classified (e.g. in television listings magazines) as'thrillers', 'westerns' and so on - genres with which every adult in modern society is familiar. So toowith television genres such as 'game shows' and 'sitcoms'. All of these genres will haveconventions which are expected to occur within them e.g. westerns often end with a gun fight,sitcoms tend to have a self-contained storyline running for the half hour episode.

Narrative, in media terms, is the coherence/organisation given to a series of facts. Typically, amedia text will have a start, middle and end with events unfolding chronologically. This is known

as linear narrative. A film that plays around with this convention, such as Tarantinos Pulp Fictionhas a non-linear narrative. There are a number of theories of narrative. One of the mostcelebrated is that of Todorov who talks about states of equilibrium and disequilibrium in thenarrative.

Media Language refers to written, verbal, non-verbal, aural and aesthetic communication andusually a combination of these. in television drama, a phone conversation between two charactersin different locations can only be understood by the audience because of the relationship betweenthe camera angles (close-ups, head and shoulder shots or longer shots showing location context),non-verbal performance (facial expressions during the phone conversation), dialogue (what thetwo characters say), lighting (to provide a meaningful atmosphere), editing (so that we can follow

the conversation and so that continuity is correct) and sound (both diegetic and non-diegetic). Weoften dont notice these and come to expect certain styles of acting, editing, filming and sound forcertain types of programmes/films. This allows us to read the media language as easily as wecan understand our friends in conversations without having to recall the meaning of every word.

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Audience is the group of consumers for whom the media text was constructed as well as anyoneelse who is exposed to the text. It is often described in terms of gender, class, ethnicity and age,particularly when referred to as a target audience.

Creativity or creative skills operates on two levels: first, the ability to use digital technologies tomake meaning so that the audience can respond easily to the text and second, the ability toengage and interest the audience. This may be by following conventions or by challenging them.Media products emerge as a result of hundreds of creative decisions. When you analyse texts youwill work out what these decisions were. When you make them, you will account for and evaluatethese decisions from your own personal experience.

Reflecting on your AS production work (coursework)

At A2 you will take an exam called Theoretical Evaluation of Production, andanswer a question on how your production skills have developed during the twoyears of the course. You will be asked to comment on how your skills havedeveloped in one or two of the following areas:

Digital technology

Research and Planning Using Conventions from real media texts

Post-Production

Creativity

The pages below will help you organise your thoughts on the production work wehave done so far in the course, from the Preliminary task the college magazine, tothe main task, the completed music magazine.

Skills1: DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

AS Preliminary Task

Cover and Contents Page for a college magazine

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Magazine Cover: Adobe PhotoshopAlthough this was only a short preliminary task, you have used Photoshop for this task and shouldhave developed your skills sufficiently to be able to produce the front cover of a magazine.

Image manipulationYou will have used Photoshop to manipulate your central image (s) in some way, whetherimporting, cropping, or resizing, for example. Outline below the image manipulation skills usedduring this project.

Text manipulation

You should also have used Photoshop to create and manipulate text on your cover: changing thesize, colour or position of the fonts you used, for example. Outline below the text manipulationskills you used during this project.


Contents Page: Adobe In-DesignFor this task you have learnt how to use in-design to produce and layout a contents page. This will

have involved you developing skills in areas such as structuring the layout of your page using textboxes and arranging text into columns, and also using the programme to move text and imagesaround the page.

List below the skills you have developed using in-design in terms of page layout and text andimage manipulation.

I have learnt how to use Adobe In-Design to design a magazine whichwas made up of pieces of text and images which were taken and

developed by myself as well as how to produce a professional lookinglayout including a colour consistent theme and professional additionssuch as the issue number, date and website.

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Digital stills cameraYou used the digital stills camera to take your photos for this project. List below any photographic

skills you have used in doing this (such as framing, focus etc)


Summarise below how pleased you are with the skills you have developed during this project. Howeffectively have they allowed you to produce the kind of product you wanted to produce? Whatfurther skills would you like to develop using these programmes?

Overall, I am happy with the skills I have learnt over the duration of thecourse. They have allowed me to create a professional looking magazinethrough the use of image capturing, manipulation and designing thecomplete layout of the production. I have learnt to use Adobe Photoshop,InDesign and further developed my skills with various other softwaresuites. I would still like to improve my photograph manipulation skills aswell as magazine creation.

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Text manipulationOutline below the new skills you have developed during the production of your cover. Think aboutall of the text manipulation you might have done, such as shadowing, etc. Again describe why youused each technique and how pleased you are with the results.

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Summary: How useful do you feel Photoshop was in enabling you to produce your magazinecover? Were there any limitations to the programme or skills you would still like to develop?

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Music magazine: InDesign

You will have used InDesign to produce your contents page for your music magazine and also forthe production of your article. Use the space below to outline and reflect on any new skills youhave developed.

LayoutComment on how you used in-design to layout your pages, using text boxes, columns, etc.Comment on specific tools you used and on how useful you found the programme to be.

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TextComment on how you used InDesign to position and manipulate text. Describe specific techniquesyou used and evaluate their usefulness for the tasks you were set (ie production of contents pages

and article).

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Summary:Summary: How useful do you feel InDesign was in enabling you to produce your contents pageand your article? Were there any limitations to the programme or skills you would still like to

develop?

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Skills2: Research and Planning

For both your Preliminary and Main coursework tasks, you undertook both secondary and primaryresearch. Below, you are required to reflect on this, beginning with the Preliminary task.

College magazine.Although your college magazine was a preliminary task, you should have carried out someresearch in order to allow you to complete the task.Outline below what your research objectives were for this task: ie exactly what it was that youneeded to find out.

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Outline below and discuss the usefulness of the research methods that you used during theproduction of the college magazine.


Was the research that you carried out sufficient to allow you to complete the task to a satisfactorystandard?

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How might you improve your research skills next time?


Outline below the planning tools you used for this task and reflect on their usefulness

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Music Magazine.Your main task is a more detailed task and as a result you should have developed and used moreadvanced and sophisticated research skills. You need to outline and reflect on these below.

Audience ResearchBefore producing your magazine you were required to carry out research into the tastes and

interests of your audience in order to help you produce a magazine that would appeal to them.Summarise the aims and objectives of your audience research below:

Outline the research methods you used for audience research (ie questionnaires, focus groups).

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Outline the different styles of questioning you employed (ie open/closed) and talk about thestrengths and weaknesses of each style.


How did you select your sample? Reflect on this.

How did you present your findings (graphs, etc.)? Reflect on this.

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It is important in this unit that you show how your skills have developed. In what ways do you feelyou could improve your audience research for your next piece of production work? Set cleartargets for this.


Topic ResearchIn addition to carrying out audience research you should also have carried out research into theparticular genre or area of music that you made your magazine about. Outline and reflect on thisbelow.

Begin by outlining your research objectives. What exactly was it that you wanted to find out?

Internet Research.Outline below the websites you used for your research, indicating how useful you found each to be

and summarising what you found from each site.

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How did you check the validity and reliability of your findings?

List and reflect on the usefulness of any other research methods you used for your topic researchbelow.


It is important in this unit that you show how your skills have developed. In what ways do you feelyou could improve your topic research for your next piece of production work? Set clear targets forthis, eg Next time I will ensure that each fact I use will have been cited by at least 2 sources.

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Skills 3 Using Conventions from real media texts

All Media genres have set of conventions that the audience expect to find in them: in a ScienceFiction film, for example, we expect a certain type of setting plus spaceships, aliens, explosions,possibly battles in space. These conventions develop, however, as Media producers challengesome of the traditional conventions of texts. In the film Psycho, for example. Alfred Hitchcockunsettled and surprised his audience by having the character played by the films main star killedafter 30 minutes: something Horror audiences at the time didnt expect to happen in a horror film(or in any film, come to that.)

Before you produce any Media text you will need an understanding of the conventions of thatparticular genre. This unit asks you to reflect on how you have done this and how your ability tofollow, or develop, the codes and conventions of the media texts you will produce has improvedduring the course.

College magazineWrite below the codes and conventions of college magazines. Indicate how and why you haveeither used, ignored or developed these in your magazine.

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Skills3 Using Conventions from real media texts

Music MagazineBefore starting to produce your music magazine you should have spent time discussing the codesand conventions of the genre in lessons. You should also, individually, have researched examplesof the specific kind of music magazine you decided to produce individually. Below you shoulddiscuss what you found the main codes and conventions of your text to be, in terms of style and

content. You should then reflect on the extent to which you have followed these codes andconventions and also comment on any codes and conventions that you have not followed or havetried to challenge or subvert, explaining why you have done this.Front CoverUse the grid below to reflect on how you have used or developed the codes and conventions ofmusic magazine covers. List the main conventions and then comment on how you have usedthem in your cover eg I used 2 Free offer splashes on my cover as I feel they are important inattracting readers in a competitive market.Conventions: Content

Skills3 Using Conventions from real media textsNow do the same for your contents pages and for your articleConventions: Content page content

Skills4 Post Production

For this section of the unit you are required to describe and reflect on the post-production activities

you have carried out. This refers to areas such as gaining audience feedback on your productsand successfully evaluating how you have worked.

College Magazine:Outline below any methods you used to gain audience feedback (ie questionnaires, focus groups).Summarise your findings

We used questionnaires which were handed out to the students so thatwe could receive feedback on how good each part of the magazineproduction was. This allowed us to improve the bits which werent up tostandard and let us know which parts the audience preferred.

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Outline below any evaluation that took place after you completed your production. Reflect on yourconclusion and the methods you used.

Skills4 Post ProductionMusic MagazineFor your music magazine you should have spent longer on the post-production stage. Below youshould reflect on this.Audience feedback

Briefly summarise why it is important to gain audience feedback on a production. To what usemight the data be put?

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Outline below the aims and objectives of your audience feedback. What information were youtrying to obtain?


Now describe the methods you used to gain audience feedback on your product (iequestionnaires, focus groups). Outline the methods of questioning you used within yourquestionnaires (ie open/closed/restricted choices) and reflect honestly on how productive thesemethods were.

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Summarise below your findings from your audience feedback. Having looked at this, how do youfeel you could improve the quality of audience feedback you receive next time? Set clear targets,based on your experience this time around.

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EvaluationOutline below the methods you used to produce an evaluation for this production (ie powerpointpresentation, essay) How useful and appropriate was this method?

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How reflective do you feel you were in your evaluation?

How do you feel you might improve the quality of your evaluation for your next production?

Skills5: Creativity

College MagazineHere you are required to reflect on your creativity during the production tasks you produce on thecourse. This refers to your ability to create original and good quality products.

How pleased are you with the piece you have created for this task? What elements of it are youespecially pleased with?

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Reflect below on the creative process ie how you came up with your ideas(brainstorming/looking at examples of existing practice/drafting).

What equipment was especially important in helping you to produce what you wanted to produce?

Music magazine

How pleased are you with the piece you have created for this task? What elements of it are youespecially pleased with?

Skills5: Creativity

Reflect below on the creative process ie how you came up with your ideas(brainstorming/looking at examples of existing practice/drafting). This may be an assessment ofhow you organised the photography, how you used the photographs, how you organised yourlayouts, the language you used, the way you drew attention to certain elements etc

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What equipment was especially important in helping you to produce what you wanted to produce?

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