Evaluation

AS and A2
Media Studies
Skills
Development
Booklet

Key concepts relevant to Media Studies
Representation refers to the construction in any medium (e.g. film, television, magazines) of
aspects of ‘reality’ such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities and other abstract
concepts. 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 widely
used in media theory to refer to a distinctive type of ‘text’. Contemporary media genres tend to
relate 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 too
with television genres such as 'game shows' and 'sitcoms'. All of these genres will have
conventions 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, a
media 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 Tarantino’s ‘Pulp Fiction’
has a ‘non-linear narrative’. There are a number of theories of narrative. One of the most
celebrated is that of Todorov who talks about states of equilibrium and disequilibrium in the
narrative.
Media Language refers to written, verbal, non-verbal, aural and aesthetic communication and
usually a combination of these. in television drama, a phone conversation between two characters
in different locations can only be understood by the audience because of the relationship between
the 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 the
two 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). We
often don’t notice these and come to expect certain styles of acting, editing, filming and sound for
certain types of programmes/films. This allows us to ‘read’ the media language as easily as we
can understand our friends in conversations without having to recall the meaning of every word.
Audience is the group of consumers for whom the media text was constructed as well as anyone
else 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 to
make meaning so that the audience can respond easily to the text and second, the ability to
engage 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 you
will work out what these decisions were. When you make them, you will account for and evaluate
these decisions from your own personal experience.
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Reflecting on your AS production work (coursework)
At A2 you will take an exam called ‘Theoretical Evaluation of Production’, and
answer a question on how your production skills have developed during the two
years of the course. You will be asked to comment on how your skills have
developed 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 we
have done so far in the course, from the Preliminary task – the college magazine, to
the main task, the completed music magazine.
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Skills1: DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
Digital technology here refers to both hardware (eg cameras) and software (programmes). Answer
the following questions as honestly as possible: the unit asks you to reflect on how your skills have
developed during the course and is not a test of how impressive your skills are. You will be
rewarded for reflecting honestly and for acknowledging problems and areas for improvement.
Begin by reflecting on how experienced a user of digital technology you were at the start of the
course. In the space below, write down the names of any software or hardware you used at school
(or at home) to produce media texts. You may not have used any! If you have, briefly describe
what you used the technology for (ie image manipulation, desktop publishing)
Overall, I am pleased, I feel I have produced a good magazine front cover and contents page.
Over this process I have picked up many skills as I was not experienced with all the software we
and hardware used. The first stage of this process was to take a medium close up to be on my
front cover. I had not really used a professional camera before so I enjoyed using one to take a
high quality image.
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AS Preliminary Task
Cover and Contents Page for a college magazine
Magazine Cover: Adobe Photoshop
Although this was only a short preliminary task, you have used Photoshop for this task and should
have developed your skills sufficiently to be able to produce the front cover of a magazine.
Image manipulation
You will have used Photoshop to manipulate your central image (s) in some way, whether
importing, cropping, or resizing, for example. Outline below the image manipulation skills used
during this project.
Once I had taken the picture of my main image I had to upload it from the camera onto my
computer. I then opened Photoshop and uploaded it. I had to resize it to make it smaller as the
image was very large and it was not even close to fitting the page. Then I had to crop it because
although it did now fit the page there was quite a bit of the image that was unnecessary. Due to
this I cropped the image and then made it to fit the page. I did end up moving my image slightly to
the right to put it in one of the "hotspots" and to make sure the cover lines can be read clearly.
Having the central image in place was a good basis to continue the rest of my front cover as I
could now develop it further.
Text manipulation
You should also have used Photoshop to create and manipulate text on your cover: changing the
size, colour or position of the fonts you used, for example. Outline below the text manipulation
skills you used during this project.
I used a font that was already on Photoshop as it was what I had in mind. At first my masthead
was far too small and this was something that I needed to rectify. Therefore I made it much larger
and it was clear that this was the masthead. This was placed at the top to follow the codes and
conventions. The colours I used were blue and black because they are bold. I used blending
options to improve how my text looked. The stroke option was the one I used most as it made it
look modern and I believe it would appeal to the target audience. I positioned them away from the
image so they were easy to read.
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Contents Page: Adobe In-Design
For 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 text
boxes and arranging text into columns, and also using the programme to move text and images
around the page.
List below the skills you have developed using in-design in terms of page layout and text and
image manipulation.
Uploading images
Text boxes
Text into columns
Good layout of text
Images in suitable places
Strokes on text
Making text bold
Digital stills camera
You 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)
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Summarise below how pleased you are with the skills you have developed during this project. How
effectively have they allowed you to produce the kind of product you wanted to produce? What
further skills would you like to develop using these programmes?
Overall, I am pleased, I feel I have produced a good magazine front cover and contents page.
Over this process I have picked up many skills as I was not experienced with all the software we
and hardware used. At the start of the process I was apprehensive because although I knew what
we were expected to produce, I was worried I would have difficulty grasping all the different
software. Using things like Photoshop was new to me completely as was blogger however I
enjoyed using both. I got used to blogger much more easily because I feel that it is less difficult to
use but photoshop isn't too hard when you get used to it. The process required me to use lots of
different skills like my photography, design and assessment skills. It has been important for me to
try out all these different things so I can voice any issues or concerns I encounter. This would then
help me when it comes to making my final coursework. I studied Media Studies at GCSE so was
already familiar with many of the key terms although it has been really good to recap them and
make sure I know them so I can then use them in both my analysis and my actual pieces of work
because I will know what they mean and when to use them.
At GCSE I used software like fireworks and serif however I always felt they were quite limited and I
didn’t always feel I could produce what I wanted to. So although I was a little concerned about
never having used applications like software, I knew it would be worth the initial struggle. As
expected I did struggle with it at first and did some pretty basic errors but I didn’t make them again
and learnt from them. It was good to not make the mistake in the real thing. Another aspect of
skills I had to develop was my ability to work on my own and in a group. For the first stage of the
process we had to take photos in a group of four. We all had separate ideas for what we wanted
so we took it in turns to take our photos, sometimes even posing for someone else's. After this we
had to work on our own and produce the two pages of our magazine. I like working independently
and in a group so I wasn’t too bothered about either. I learnt a great deal on most things I used
and that helped me make two pages for my magazine that I was pleased with.
I am pleased with what I produced in the end but I do feel that there are improvements I could
definitely make. These improvements were also felt by the person who assessed my piece. The
reasons there were things I didn’t like was not because of not being able to use the software but
more due to my inexperience with it. I do not like how some of the fonts look as I think it makes it
look a bit tasteless and not as sophisticated as I would have liked. This is something that I can
easily change in my music magazine. I did not apply the rule of thirds which is one of the other
things I need to do in order to make sure my cover looks good. Also I need to make sure I fill all
the hotspots for the same purpose.
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I want to develop my skills so I am capable of using all the different software at a good level as I
will then not only be able to produce a good product but also because it will allow me to show I am
capable of using a variety of different software to achieve this.
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AS Main Task: Music magazine cover, contents page, double page article.
Your music magazine is the main task you will do at AS, and as a result you should have
developed your skills in Photoshop and in-design significantly from the preliminary task. The
questions below are designed to help you record and reflect on this.
Images
First, reflect on your use of the digital stills camera for your photographs. Summarise below how
your skills in the use of the digital camera have developed from the preliminary task (this refers to
taking photos, not image manipulation. Think about mise-en-scene, framing etc.)
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Music Magazine Cover: Adobe Photoshop
Begin by looking back at the comments you made about how you used Photoshop for your college
magazine. Then consider how you have developed your skills for this exercise.
Image Manipulation:
Outline below the new image manipulation skills you have developed during this project. Say what
you used the skills to achieve and how pleased you are with the results.
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Text manipulation
Outline below the new skills you have developed during the production of your cover. Think about
all of the text manipulation you might have done, such as shadowing, etc. Again describe why you
used 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 magazine
cover? 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 for
the production of your article. Use the space below to outline and reflect on any new skills you
have developed.
Layout
Comment 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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Text
Comment on how you used InDesign to position and manipulate text. Describe specific techniques
you 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 page
and 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 primary
research. 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 some
research 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 you
needed to find out.
Outline below and discuss the usefulness of the research methods that you used during the
production of the college magazine.
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Was the research that you carried out sufficient to allow you to complete the task to a satisfactory
standard?
How might you improve your research skills next time?
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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 more
advanced and sophisticated research skills. You need to outline and reflect on these below.
Audience Research
Before 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).
Outline the different styles of questioning you employed (ie open/closed) and talk about the
strengths and weaknesses of each style.
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How did you select your sample? Reflect on this.
How did you present your findings (graphs, etc.)? Reflect on this.
It is important in this unit that you show how your skills have developed. In what ways do you feel
you could improve your audience research for your next piece of production work? Set clear
targets for this.
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Topic Research
In addition to carrying out audience research you should also have carried out research into the
particular genre or area of music that you made your magazine about. Outline and reflect on this
below.
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.
How did you check the validity and reliability of your findings?
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List and reflect on the usefulness of any other research methods you used for your topic research
below.
It is important in this unit that you show how your skills have developed. In what ways do you feel
you could improve your topic research for your next piece of production work? Set clear targets for
this, 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 Science
Fiction 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 challenge
some of the traditional conventions of texts. In the film ‘Psycho’, for example. Alfred Hitchcock
unsettled and surprised his audience by having the character played by the films main star killed
after 30 minutes: something Horror audiences at the time didn’t 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 that
particular genre. This unit asks you to reflect on how you have done this and how your ability to
follow, or develop, the codes and conventions of the media texts you will produce has improved
during the course.
College magazine
Write below the codes and conventions of college magazines. Indicate how and why you have
either used, ignored or developed these in your magazine.
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Skills3 Using Conventions from real media texts
Music Magazine
Before starting to produce your music magazine you should have spent time discussing the codes
and conventions of the genre in lessons. You should also, individually, have researched examples
of the specific kind of music magazine you decided to produce individually. Below you should
discuss 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 and
conventions and also comment on any codes and conventions that you have not followed or have
tried to challenge or subvert, explaining why you have done this.
Front Cover
Use the grid below to reflect on how you have used or developed the codes and conventions of
music magazine covers. List the main conventions and then comment on how you have used
them in your cover – eg I used 2 ‘Free offer’ splashes on my cover as I feel they are important in
attracting readers in a competitive market.
Conventions: Content
Convention Comment
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Conventions: Style
Convention Comment
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Now do the same for your contents pages and for your article
Conventions: Content page content
Convention Comment
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Conventions: contents page style
Convention Comment
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Conventions: article content
Convention Comment
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Conventions: Article style
Convention Comment
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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 products
and 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
Outline below any evaluation that took place after you completed your production. Reflect on your
conclusion and the methods you used.
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Music Magazine
For your music magazine you should have spent longer on the post-production stage. Below you
should reflect on this.
Audience feedback
Briefly summarise why it is important to gain audience feedback on a production. To what use
might the data be put?
Outline below the aims and objectives of your audience feedback. What information were you
trying to obtain?
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Now describe the methods you used to gain audience feedback on your product (ie
questionnaires, focus groups). Outline the methods of questioning you used within your
questionnaires (ie open/closed/restricted choices) and reflect honestly on how productive these
methods were.
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Summarise below your findings from your audience feedback. Having looked at this, how do you
feel 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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Evaluation
Outline below the methods you used to produce an evaluation for this production (ie powerpoint
presentation, essay) How useful and appropriate was this method?
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?
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Skills5: Creativity
College Magazine
Here you are required to reflect on your creativity during the production tasks you produce on the
course. 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 you
especially pleased with?
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 you
especially pleased with?
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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 of
how you organised the photography, how you used the photographs, how you organised your
layouts, the language you used, the way you drew attention to certain elements etc
What equipment was especially important in helping you to produce what you wanted to produce?
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