Question 1A w/c 2nd December

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.