The students analyzed existing media like radio broadcasts and magazines to understand conventions and help develop their own media products. For their AS work, they created a local radio news bulletin after researching stations like Lincs FM to identify elements like jingles and presenter style. At A2 level, they researched magazines like Lincolnshire Life to understand conventions for tasks like creating a magazine front cover and double page spread. They also studied NME to understand how to design for their target young adult audience, learning techniques like bold headlines and contrasting colors. Analyzing existing media helped the students understand conventions and apply them effectively in their own media creations.

1. Explain how far your understanding of existing media influenced the way you created
your own media products. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how this
understanding developed over time.
Chloe Read and Daisy Allman
For our AS work we analysed different radio broadcast and developed our own local radio news
bulletin by using real media conventions. At A2 level our understanding of conventions
developed as we had to create a regional magazine consisting of a front cover, contents page
and double page spread as well as two preliminary tasks including a website and a billboard
which were used to promote our main task.
To establish a wide understanding of codes and conventions of radio news bulletins we
conducted research of existing local radio broadcasts such as Lincs FM and BBC Radio
Humberside. We began picking out relevant codes and conventions which we would later use in
our own radio news bulletin and it gave us an idea of what different elements we would use. For
example, we identified key elements such as jingles, sound beds and different elements such as
vox pops and outside broadcasts. For our preliminary task we created a jingle that consisted of
drum, bass and guitar due to the fact we decided to make a radio station with a rock genre. We
also looked into the presenter’s mode of style and address for inspiration on how we would
present our radio news bulletin depending on the audience. Lincs FM and BBC Radio
Humberside consisted of advertisements and so we picked out the main conventions of different
adverts, for example, for use of persuasive techniques the speaker uses high and low pitches
to exemplify important parts of the text. We also identified key techniques used such as direct
modes of address which persuade the audience to listen to the advertisements of local radio
businesses. In terms of style, we took inspiration from researching local radio stations by
analysing the presenter’s style. For example, BBC Radio Humberside, due to the older
audience demographic, had an formal style and serious tone of voice, whereas radio stations
such as Capital FM tended to be more light-hearted and used an informal chatty style to engage
their younger audience demographic. Consequently, we took this useful research on board
when creating our radio news bulletin. We included key codes and conventions such as a jingle
which we created using different instruments and sound effects. Furthermore, we used a sound
bed which was used under the presenter’s voice to avoid silence and make it sound
professional. We also used idents to split up the different stories so it was clear to the audience
that the presenter was going to change topic.
At A2 we had a wide understanding of the codes and conventions of magazine because we did
a lot of research in preparation of creating our main task which was a regional magazine. For
example, we annotated Lincolnshire Life magazine in detail to identify the codes and
conventions that featured in magazine to help prepare us for the creation of our magazine.
Some of the things we identified on the Lincolnshire Life front cover that met the conventions of

2. a magazine was the clear colour scheme, masthead, cover lines, barcode and the date it was
published. We included these things on our front cover in order to make sure it successfully met
the conventions of a magazine but if we hadn’t studied Lincolnshire Life front cover, and other
front covers we wouldn’t have been confident when designing our front cover. We also studied
the double page spread of Lincolnshire Life to find out the codes and conventions which we
needed to feature in our magazine. When doing this we found we needed to feature headline,
sub headline and relevant pictures. This research helped in the creation of the double page
spread I created because I added all of these features to my magazine to ensure it was a
success.
We also studied a double page from NME to gain knowledge on to reach the target audience we
were aiming for as NME aims their magazine at young adults just as we did. As young adults
ourself we had an advantage over people aiming their work at audiences they didn’t fit into but it
was useful to study NME as it is such a successful magazine for young people. From this
research we discovered in order to reach our audience we had to include big and bold headlines
on our double page spreads to capture the reader's attention. We also discovered we would
have to use colours that stand out and contrast for example NME used black and white on one
of the double page spreads we studied which caught my eye instantly because the two colours
contrasted well and it looked very simple but effective. From this story we also learned humour
was useful to attract our audience and using headlines that entice the reader to want to know
the rest of the story.