Monday, 30 November 2015

Evaluation guide

Your evaluation MUST directly address the following questions, one blog post per question:


In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
-       Analyse your finished pages- compare to real magazines to demonstrate awareness of how you used conventions of real magazines, or how you challenged them. (You should not be reflecting at all on process here- it's all about the finished product).
     
     How does your media product represent particular social groups?
How does your magazine construct the representations? Analyse the representation of all artists featured in your pages- is it positive? Is it similar to the representation of that social group in real music magazines? (social group could be teenagers, rock stars, folk singers, males/females- whatever is relevant to your magazine).

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Do quick research into Bauer and Time Inc. UK- the two major publishing institutions in the UK. Which do you think would be best to distribute your magazine? Use the prompts below.
      - Research IPC Media and Bauer Publishing Group (see 'institutions research' post). Note the wealth and variety of magazines they publish.- Which of any of the magazines they publish cover, or come close to covering, your target audience?- Now look specifically at the music magazines they publish and how the target audiences vary. Is your target audience similar to any of the publications?- Decide which of the two institutions have a market for your product. You should judge this by the music magazines they currently publish- how would your magazine target a different audience for the company? Why should they invest?


Who would be the audience for your media product?
Explain your target audience- has your audience changed at all over the development of your magazine? For example, the look and style of it might suit an older audience now... Your target audience in your evaluation can be slightly different from the one in your planning- just explain the reasons why.
How did you attract/address your audience?

Refer to how your finished magazine appeals to your identified target audience- fonts, images, layout, colour scheme, mode of address etc.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

-       You can talk about your progress with photography, Blogger, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign and PowerPoint and/or any other technology you used. Take screen grabs of yourself using the software to communicate this in an interesting way. ‘Before and after’ photos are a great way to show off what you achieved with the technology. 

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
-       Summarise your skills development from the start of your preliminary task through to now. Put your preliminary task beside your final product- what have you developed? (Understanding of conventions, importance of audience, photography, use of software etc)


What am I marked for?
- Your use of technology to produce your evaluation- video, image, links etc. A words-only evaluation cannot achieve above the top of level 1 (7 marks out of 20).
- Understanding of your audience and how your text appeals to them; how representation is constructed in your pages; what institutions might publish your magazine; magazine conventions used within your finished product; how new media technologies helped you through all stages of your portfolio.
- Ability to refer to the choices you made along the way and their outcome
- Ability to communicate.



Saturday, 28 November 2015

Evaluation question 3: institutions prompts

The majority of the UK’s most popular magazines are published by two companies: Bauer and Time Inc. UK.

In your evaluation, you need to identify which publisher you think would be interested in publishing your magazine and be able to justify your reasons.

1) Research Time Inc. UK and Bauer Publishing Group. Note the wealth and variety of magazines they publish.

2) Which of any of the magazines they publish cover, or come close to covering, your target audience?

3) Now look specifically at the music magazines they publish and how the target audiences vary. Is your target audience similar to any of the publications?

4) Decide which of the two institutions have a market for your product. You should judge this by the music magazines they currently publish- how would your magazine target a different audience for the company? Why should they invest?

Friday, 9 October 2015

Coursework checklist for 'research and planning'

Links to previous years' blogs: 20142015 (group 1) and 2015 (group 2) entry

Must do…
Could also do…
RESEARCH
Research target readership of 3 existing music magazines
Explore the conventions of music magazines, and reflect on the changing function of the music press in the digital age.
Research existing music magazines’ ‘house style’
Get audience reactions to specific pages and images from magazines of your choice, to reflect on effect of media language.
Think how you use different types of media to conduct and present this- social media, audio, video, still images, etc.
PLANNING
Initial ideas for your own music magazine
Look at existing music magazines- are there any genres that aren’t currently catered for? Is there a gap in the market for something different?
Consider your reader’s consumer habits; what kind of products would want to advertise in your magazine?
Plan your magazine’s name and masthead design- analyse your ideas for their effectiveness, and explain your final decision.
Survey your audience with your possible names and mastheads?
Plan your magazine’s ‘house style’
Reflect on inspiration you got from your magazine research
Mood board for your artist.
Plan other artists appearing in your magazine
Plan pages layout – hand drawn sketches
Drafts of article ‘copy’ (words)
Photography planning- main and supporting photography.
Post discarded photographs from your photo shoot
Save draft versions of your pages as you go along, so that you can show the page development and post drafts on your blog.
Get your audience’s feedback on your magazine’s progress, and act on their feedback if necessary.

Audience research prompts

The purpose of your audience research is to inform your own magazine development. You need to know your audience before you can hope to appeal to them!

Complete this research for Monday.




Wednesday, 20 May 2015

MODERATOR: Blog links for G321 June 2015

Note to the moderator: where no link to a preliminary task blog is given, then the preliminary task is at the beginning of the candidate's 'research and planning' blog. Thanks.

Hayley Stacey
Preliminary task: hayleys--musicmag.blogspot.co.uk
Research and planning: hayleysmusicmagazinee.blogspot.co.uk
Evaluation: hayleysevaluationmusicmag.blogspot.co.uk

Guy Leftwich
Research and planning: guylmagazine.blogspot.co.uk
Evaluation: guysevaluation.blogspot.com

Bibek Gurung
Preliminary task: bibekgrng.blogspot.co.uk
Research and planning: gurubibek.blogspot.co.uk
Evaluation: gurublogsevaluation.blogspot.co.uk

James Van Huyssteen
Preliminary task: jamesvh.blogspot.co.uk
Research and planning: jamesvhvh.blogspot.co.uk
Evaluation: jamesvhmusic.blogspot.co.uk

Melissa Butler
Preliminary task: melissaprod.blogspot.co.uk
Research and planning: melissasmusicmag.blogspot.co.uk
Evaluation: melissasmusicmagevaluation.blogspot.co.uk/

Anya Charrington
Research and planning: anyacharrington.blogspot.com
Evaluation: anyacharringtonevaluation.blogspot.com

George Buckland
Research and planning: georgebmagazine.blogspot.co.uk
Evaluation: georgesmusicmagevaluation.blogspot.co.uk

Danielle Beckett:
Research and planning: Dannicox46.blogspot.co.uk
Evaluation: dannisevaluation.blogspot.co.uk/

Caitlin Pearmund
Preliminary task: caitlinpearmund.blogspot.co.uk
Research and planning: caitlinmusicmag.blogspot.co.uk
Evaluation: caitlinpearmundevaluation.blogspot.com/

Sophia Forrester
Research and planning: sophiaforrester.blogspot.co.uk
Evaluation: sophiasevaluation.blogspot.com

Joshua Morris
Research and planning: joshuamorris2.blogspot.co.uk
Evaluation: joshevaluation.blogspot.com

Theodore Ritter
Preliminary task: theoritter.blogspot.co.uk
Research and planning: theomagazine.blogspot.co.uk
Evaluation: theomagazine.blogspot.co.uk

Eleanor Sanmogan
Preliminary task: eleanorsanmogan.blogspot.co.uk
Research and planning: elliesmusicmags.blogspot.co.uk
Evaluation: http://elliesanmoganevaluation.blogspot.co.uk/

Dexter Roper
Research and planning: dexterroper.blogspot.co.uk
Evaluation: dexterroper44.blogspot.co.uk

Orienne Attwool
Research and planning: oriattwool.blogspot.com
Evaluation: orievaluate.blogspot.co.uk

Thursday, 7 May 2015

Film industry unit- lesson slides

Hi Year 12,

Below is a link to the class powerpoints you've had for the film industry unit- all merged together into one giant 300+ slide monster...

Lesson slides ppt

Wednesday, 1 April 2015

Glossary of key film industry terms


Film Industry Key Terms

360 degree, saturated marketing campaign –a campaign that covers every possible format in as many territories as possible and is extensive.

BBFC - The British Board of Film Classification: the British film regulatory board.

Blanket/global release-  releasing the film everywhere around the world at the same time (releasing it on different dates in different countries is known as a staggered release).

Buzz - hype created about a film through publicity online and in the press.

CGI- computer-generated imagery. Filming in front of a green or blue screen, then images added on a computer.

Colour grading- improving, manipulating or enhancing an image in editing.

Concentration of ownership:- most media companies are owned by a small number of conglomerates, so ownership is concentrated.

Conglomerate- a large media company that contains several smaller companies within it (e.g. The Walt Disney Company, Viacom, 21st Century Fox etc).

Convergence – previously separate types of media have now converged with the development of new media technologies. The use of different mediums is now common, i.e. comic books, publishing, TV and Film, online etc to create a world outside just the film which in turn helps advertising. The film industry uses all the different media types now to promote and distribute its films.

Cross-media ownership- owning companies in more than one media sector (e.g. film and television.) The conglomerates are all examples of cross-media ownership.

Demographic profile - analysing audience in a quantitative manner, mainly consider gender (Male/ Female), age (ranges i.e. 5-12), socio-economic class (ABC1C2DE) and ethnicity.

Digital Intermediate- footage is filmed on 35mm film, transferred to computer for editing, then back to film for distribution. (Hollywood is mainly all digital now, but some studio films are still made with these methods).

Distributor– the company in charge of getting the film released and marketing it to the target audience.

Film buyer - an employee of a Distribution company who is responsible for finding films with profitable potential, they usually search at film festivals.

Film festivals - major publicity events, filmmakers can enter their films into film festivals across the world in the hope of winning awards and attracting distribution. Some films at festivals will already have distribution, but are hoping for awards in order to boost profit.

Genre - a way of categorising film, this is a very useful tool for distributors as it helps them to produce sale forecasts.

Hardware- the physical media items, such as cameras and devices (smartphones, computers, tablets, televisions etc).

HD- high definition

Independent industry - all films produced outside of the Hollywood conglomerate system.

Merchandise- products related to a film that make money for the production company and help to promote the film. Toys, clothing, games etc.

MPAA - The Motion Picture Association of America is the America equivalent to the BBFC.

On-demand- Sky Box Office, Blinkbox, BT Vision etc. You pay for just the movies you want.

Online distribution - distributing a film via the internet, including making it available on streaming sites such as Netflix, or for download in places like iTunes.

Piracy- films stolen (e.g. filmed in the cinema) and distributed illegally through DVDs or online.

Pre-existing property - something a film is based on, it could be a novel, another film, a comic book or even a theme park ride (as Pirates of the Caribbean was).

Premier - a major media event when the film is shown to the public for the first time, this will generally occur in a major central cinema such as in Leicester Square, London.

Press junket – a day when journalists are invited to meet and interview key cast and crew from the film. The cast will speak to each journalist for a set time, i.e. 10 minutes before the next is invited in.

Press pack - a document from the distributor which gives journalists key information about the film, i.e. cast and crew, 10 frequently asked questions and a synopsis.

Press screening - a screening exclusively for journalists and reviewers before the Premier to encourage early reviews of the film.

Production: the process of making a completed film.

Product Placement: when a company pays for their brand or product to appear in a film (e.g. Heineken in Skyfall).

Proliferation: to increase or spread at a rapid rate

Promotion - any advertising which involves competitions or involves the film being advertised through other products.

Publicity - press coverage of the film, this could take the form of TV or print interviews, articles or documentaries about the making of…

Sales agent - a person employed by the production company to help raise awareness of the film and to attract a distributor.

Special effects - the use of technology to create effects that are impossible in our real world or to enhance images.

Streaming- watching films through the internet without having to download them. (subscription services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Video, as well as on-demand streaming like Blinkbox and Google Movies).

Studio productions - any production made in Hollywood by the majors.

Subsidiary – another company within the same conglomerate.

Synergy – working together with other companies to produce or distribute the film (see tie-ins, spin-offs, merchandise, product placement and pre-existing property).

Tagline - a brief, enigmatic statement which sells the film, normally seen on posters, trailers and online advertising.

Target audience - the key audience that the distributors are aiming their campaign at.

Teaser campaign - the early marketing campaign which leaves audiences asking questions and wanting more.

Tie-ins- when a film and a product work together to promote each other (e.g. Happy Meals, or Skyfall and Omega watches)

USP (Unique selling point) - the aspect that makes the film different from others; the main selling point to push in the campaign.

Viral marketing - interactive, online marketing. This usually refers to something beyond just a standard website.

Zeitgeist - the ‘thing’ of the time.

Marketing - all print, online, audio-visual advertising created for the film