1 (a) Describe how you developed research and planning skills for media production and evaluate how these skills contributed
to creative decision making. Refer
to a range of examples in your answer to show how these skills developed over
time.
During the two-year
media course I had to produce both a foundation portfolio and an advanced
portfolio. For my foundation portfolio in the AS year, I created a music
magazine front cover, contents page and a double-page spread. Now in my A2
year, I am currently in the research and planning stages of creating a music
video, with ancillary products of a Digipak and a website home page to
advertise the artist and the chosen song.
I feel like my skills in research and planning first developed during
senior school when I had to conduct a dissertation as part of my Extended
Project qualification. My chosen topic for the qualification looked into the
impact the media world had on the fashion industry, particularly picking up on
the impact the music of today’s society has. I chose this sort of a topic, as I
briefly knew that I wanted to study Media Studies during college. With this in
mind, I started work on my research skills, but I never really planned on how I
was going to execute the said information I had found during the research. My
research was also very basic, it simply involved me copying information from
Wikipedia, but I have since learnt that this is one of the more unreliable
sources and I should learn to take what I learn and apply it to my final product.
Research and
planning was essential for me during my foundation portfolio as this was the
real basis for me to start creating the actual product, as I needed to identify
a target audience for me to aim my coursework at. I conducted primary research
in the form of a questionnaire and a focus group in order for me to identify a
specific genre of music people preferred before I could go on to research into
the codes and conventions of said genre through secondary research. The primary
research allowed me to identify a demand and a niche for a music magazine
specifically aimed at indie/acoustic music, whilst I then used secondary
research methods such as the Internet, magazine publication records, existing
media packs etc. to identify the requirements for such a magazine, and also the
codes and conventions of magazines in general. It gave me a good understanding
of all aspects of mise-en-scne in particular, as I found that magazines have to
‘look’ a certain way in order to have a successful impact on the audience. This
really influenced my creative decision-making, as I understood that there were
certain stereotypical codes of magazines that I had to conform to, but there
were some that I could challenge also. For example, the layout of a front cover
of any given magazine is very particular, as it has to have a strong impact on
the audience’s vision when they come to make a product purchase. The heading of
a magazine is conventionally stretched across the top of the magazine’s front
cover as it means it is clearly visible by audiences, but if the magazines are
stacked vertically on a magazine shelf, it means that the title will always be
seen and therefore it would make that magazine in particular stand out more,
and people will be able to identify it. However, research into existing music
magazine covers suggested that some front covers might have the title aligned
along the left-hand side binding of the cover, with the letters arranged in a
vertical layout. This was useful if the magazines were to be stacked horizontally
as this would mean that the title would still always be visible to audiences,
but as this was a very unconventional technique, I chose to conform to this
idea and keep my title positioned at the top as this looked much more
professional.
Also during my
foundation year, a lot of the research and planning skills involved me taking
on information from relevant media theorists. By researching theorists, I was
able to begin to understand the basics of WHY certain things are applied to
magazines. Laura Mulvey was a big theorist to study for my foundation portfolio
as it had a strong influence on whether I used a male or female model for my
main article images. The majority of music magazines will switch between
whether they use a male or female cover star, but it is also dependent on the
genre of music. A lot of pop music thee days are produced by female performers,
whilst rock music for example is heavily dominated by men. The Male Gaze Theory
developed by Mulvery suggests that women are used as cover stars in an attempt
to increase demand from male audiences, as they typically like to see
good-looking women and they objectify them – women become nothing more than
something to stare at. Despite that my music magazine genre was dominated more
by men, I chose to re-create a female cover star as I wanted to appeal to a
larger female dominated audience, and rather than employing a model-esque girl
for my images, I used a friend who I considered to have a very influential,
‘normal’ look, which I hoped would inspire more women to ‘purchase’ my
magazine. In a similar sense, I could have easily hired an attractive male
model for my images in an attempt to attract women, but I felt that having my
female model smile and pose with a guitar was much more innovative and creative
and separated my magazine from the majority of those already on the market.
During the second
year, these research and planning skills have become so vital for me to create
an even better piece of coursework compared to that from my foundation
portfolio. So far I have really learnt to develop my research and planning
skills to allow me to understand that it is also acceptable to challenge
conventions, as long as I can apply it to the genre and the audience. With the
music video industry, I have learnt that there are three different types of
music video; performance, conceptual and narrative – all of which I learnt
about during initial research. I also feel that I have made a smart choice in creating a music video, as I will be able to apply the knowledge I learnt about the conventions of music genre into my video, and further improve and enhance these elements. In order to be more creative with my A2 coursework, my research so far has involved me looking at the specific requirements of the three main types of music video, and how different genres of music apply to these. My chosen genre of music is a hybrid of indie and acoustic, which research showed me, was more likely to require a narrative-based video. Pop and rock music videos were more likely to be performance-based, so in order to make mine look more creative and unique in comparison to others out there on the market, I have planned to create my music video as a narrative, but with performance-based elements mixed in to diversify away from the stereotypical market.
Overall, over the past few years, the skills that I have developed have had a great influence on the way I consider the planning and production of my coursework, because it has allowed me to view media texts in a completely different light and it also effects the way that I deconstruct them all. My research and planning skills have certainly had a great impact on the way I consider the fine details in my coursework, allowing me to improve upon my creativeness as I progress through to the A2 year and produce something which is appropriate and specific to my target audience.
