1. Lauren Barrett
A2 Media Studies
G325
a) Describe the ways in which your production work was informed by
research into real media texts and how your ability to use such research for
productiondeveloped over time.
For my foundation portfolio n the first year I produced a front cover for
a new music magazine. The entire magazine had to be thought about and a
target audience developed in order to design and produce the front cover of it.
Alongside the front cover, I also produced a contents page and double-page
spread for the magazine to follow up the main coverlines on the front cover.
During my advanced portfolio in the second year I am in the process of
creating a piece of filmed footage. I have decided to create a music video for
the song ‘Autumn Leaves’ an unreleased song on Ed Sheeran’s album ‘+’ and
in order to promote the video I will also create a digipak for the album and a
website home page.
During the foundation portfolio my main source of research came from
analyzing existing examples of music magazines. During this research, I did
identify that certain genres of music magazines were more popular than
others, typically they were pop or rock magazines, which made me choose an
indie/acoustic hybrid genre for my magazine, as there was an identifiable
niche for this genre of product. Primary research played a vital role in this
decision as, although this genre would have made for a niche product, it may
not necessarily have sold in the magazine industry, and there weren’t many
examples of existing products to take ideas from. Therefore, I conducted a
questionnaire and focus groups. I needed this method of research, as I had to
identify who my typical target audience would be, and also their preferences
when it comes to purchasing and reading magazines. This was essential for
me in order to make a realistic product, as I wanted my final coursework piece
to be tailored to my target audience. Whilst I feel that the final product
conformed to the conventions of the magazine genre, I feel it could have
looked a lot more professional and followed the specific music genre and
target audience a lot more, as in cases, I made justifications not to use some
of the information gathered by the primary research, when really, my
magazine should have completely conformed to the information to make it
more successful. Once I had identified the audience, I then continued forward
my findings to locate example magazines that conformed to the same genre
or sub-genre as mine; they were Clash Magazine and Q. Through this
research, I found that the majority of readers for this genre of music magazine
had specific interests, particularly in music as a hobby and live-music events
such as concerts. A lot of the target audience were young adults and teenage
females, who also had an interest in the boho-fashion look, which inspired me
to use colours and imaging which conformed to the desires of my audience,
as I knew this would typically attract the to read or buy the product.
I developed these particular skills in research for my advanced
portfolio, as I know that the product has to be of a much higher standard in
comparison to my magazine cover. During the research stages, it was
essential for me to carry out much more in-depth analysis of existing products
and the target audience, delving deep into researching the production of other
products and also the research they would have had to undertake as well to
allow me to fully understand the process for myself and my coursework. So
far, I have developed my primary research in the sense that I extended the
target audience who I asked. Rather than primarily interviewing people in

2. Lauren Barrett
A2 Media Studies
G325
person, I posted my questionnaire on social-networking sites such as Tumblr,
Facebook and Twitter and the results were much more in-depth in comparison
to my first-year research. I also ensured that I targeted specific people who
would comply to my typical target audience description, as I knew it was there
views who would be of most value to me, whereas for my foundation portfolio,
a lot of my results came from random respondents on the street. This year, for
example, I ‘Tweeted’ specific people to gain their views on the purchasing of
music and music videos as well as my basic ideas. At this point, I knew the
genre of music video I wanted to create and I also had a good idea for the
songthat I wanted to use, so I targeted the questionnaire at females who
regularly tweeted or expressed an interest in the singer, Ed Sheeran. This is
also helped me to understand the importance of media and technology in the
real music-industry, as I regularly see the artists and bands themselves
asking public questions on social-networking sites for feedback or ideas
based on their music or videos.
Alongside using research for identification of my target audience, I
have also used the skill in both years for the production stages. In my
foundation and advanced portfolios, I carried out textual analysis of existing
products, which couldn’t have been done without first identifying my audience.
With the foundation portfolio, I analyzed layout and format existing
magazines, and for the advanced portfolio I delved deeper into the actual
content of existing music videos, using more theorists to help me understand
what goes into the production of an effective and high-quality video. Once I
had identified the song which I wanted to use for my music videos, I looked
into existing music videos by the same artists to identify recurring themes
within them to apply to my own in an attempt to make it look more realistic
and true to the musician. I found that the artist didn’t make major appearances
in a lot of his music videos, they had a rather simplistic approach which is
ideal for me, as, obviously I won’t be able to hire the actual musician to
appear in the video, and the song I have chosen will suit the same simplistic
imagery for the video. Using research methods such as secondary data on
the internet, I was also able to develop my knowledge on theories, especially
Todorov’s narrative structure, which I only briefly encountered during my
study on TV Dramas during the AS year. This was the most essential
information I have gained so far for my portfolio as it helped me to develop a
realistic plot for the music video. Although I have no need to look at film
trailers or adverts (two of the other options for the coursework), I also found it
useful to look at these other media formats when it came to the narrative
theory as it enabled me to understand the process and the importance of an
effective storyline. Whereas with the magazine cover, I had nothing else to
compare it to as all magazines follow the very same basic structure and
production.
Overall, I saw research as an important stage in both of my portfolios
as it acts as the basis for all means of creativity and understanding of the
target audience. Without the use of research, I would have had no aims or
goals for the products and they certainly wouldn’t have conformed to the
genres I had chosen. I will continue to use the process throughout the
planning of my ancillary products for my advanced portfolio, as I understand
that their success is just as important in means of effectively promoting the
main product.

3. Lauren Barrett
A2 Media Studies
G325
b) Apply theories of narrative to one of your coursework productions.
For my advanced portfolio in A2 Media I am creating a music video for
the song of my choice, ‘Autumn Leaves’ by Ed Sheeran, and then two
ancillary products to use to promote the video; a digipak for the album and a
homepage for the artist’s website. The song is an indie/acoustic hybrid genre,
and the music video itself will be a combination of narrative-based and
performance, as this conforms to the genres of the artist’s other music videos.
The ancillary products will also have imagery that reflects upon the themes
exposed within the music video to show a distinct connection and recognition
for the target audience.
The narrative within any given media product is about the way a
story is told and represented; it is the way a series of facts or events are
presented and organized. Whist a story is basically just the facts, a narrative
adds in more detail to present the facts in an interesting way, and is how
meaning is constructed for the target audience. The narrative of a media text
can be constructed through various elements such as the camerawork, miseen-scene, sound and editing. One theory suggests that the most basic
Narrative Structure consists of 5 stages, which are the exposition,
development, complication, climax and the resolution. Another major theorist
is TvzetanTodorov, and he created the equilibrium – disequilibrium –
equilibrium structure for media texts to follow. He also suggested that the
structure can be expanded to include other forms of equilibrium and
disequilibrium and most media texts will conform to the structure as audiences
are comfortable with and recognize it well. VladamirPropp is also a theorist
who worked on the idea of narrative in media texts. His research consisted of
analyzing Russian fairytales, and from these he produced a list of ‘stock’
characters, which conform to all or most media texts, including the protagonist
and antagonist, a princess, her father, the helper etc. Along with the stock
characters he also suggested the idea of narratemes, a series of stock
situations that occur in most stereotypical media texts when exploring
narrative.
Although I am yet to physically produce my products for my advanced
portfolio, I have constructed a basic plan for the music video including a 500word plot and I have analysed it against the narrative theories I have studied
and listed above. I also cannot expand upon this theory with my foundation
portfolio as the majority of the marks came from the imagery of the magazine,
rather than the short article I had to write for the double-page spread. With my
music video, because of the simplistic genre of the song I have chosen, it was
really hard to create a plot that conformed to either of the narrative theories
because only minimal action takes place, and so a typical Todorov narrative
structure would not have been appropriate. I wanted my music video to have
a big enigma code in the shape of a cliffhanger at the very end of the footage,
as this is quite common with the singers’ other professional music videos, so I
knew that the plot would require a disequilibrium element at the end to
conform to this structure. I started my plot creation by listing some of the
characters I wanted to include, and some of them conformed to Propp’s
theory. I included two protagonists in the plot, as this was quite a common
recurrence in narrative-based music videos I looked at during my analysis. A
lot of other music videos did include antagonists, but these were more
common in comical, conceptual-based music videos, which didn’t apply to my

4. Lauren Barrett
A2 Media Studies
G325
idea or the song itself. Other than this, my plot only really contained a few
minor characters that might be identified as ‘helpers’ to conform to Propp’s
theory, or just background characters. My main protagonist, however, I
decided to create in the form of my ‘performer’. The performer in the plot
appears in alternating scenes between the narratives, but his/her purpose
doesn’t become evident until the final scene when they comfort the one
remaining female protagonist.
Other than applying the narrative theory to my plot, it was also
important for me to be able to analyse and identify the narrative within the
lyrics of the song. The song itself conveyed themes of sadness because of an
unidentified character’s death. The singer is performing the song to the
person that he is missing, and he is expressing his emotions over the incident
and how he wishes that he could still see them. The lyrics continue however
to identify more positive emotions as the singer begins to accept the person’s
death and treats the song as a positive memory and outlook on the person’s
life. It was important for me to understand the narrative behind these lyrics in
order to produce a plot which was appropriate and conveyed these messages
to the audience, which is often a musician’s aim for a music video.
In conclusion, it was vitally important for me to apply narrative theory to
my coursework (however only so far evident in my planning rather than the
finished product itself) as it allowed me to understand the basics of media
production in general, and how to communicate effectively with my target
audience.