DUE DATES:
Research - 31 October
Planning - 14 November
Research - 31 October
Planning - 14 November
AS Media Coursework: Print
Main Task:
For this task you will produce a front cover, contents page and double page spread for a new music magazine. This magazine will be in a genre of your choosing and all of the photography and editorial content will be produced by you.
To complete this task you will be required to conduct research, plan, produce and finally evaluate your product. Marks for your coursework are awarded as follows:
- Research and Planning – 20 marks
- Construction (FC, CP, DPS) – 60 marks
- Evaluation – 20 marks
Research:
In order to complete this task you will need to conduct a variety of different types of research looking at different magazines, magazine companies and at your audience. This research should inform your planning for your music magazine.
Presentation Methods for Research and Planning Section:
The blog has a specific post, listing all of the useful pieces of technology you can use for presenting your research and planning work.- Try to select something that is suitable for your piece of research or planning and be inventive and creative with what you use.
- Feel free to research other presentation programmes or websites independently, using different presentation methods effectively can make your blog stand out and help push you into a Level 4 mark.
Task 1: Music Magazine Institutions Research
For this task you will produce:
- An analysis of a minimum of 2 media companies, 1 large company [Bauer, IPC] and 1 small company [Future, BBC Worldwide]
- This analysis should contain the following information:
- Who are the company?
- What is their company history?
- What publications do they manage?
- A detailed look at 2 of these publications and their target audience. At least 1 of these publications should be a music magazine.
Task 2: Uses and Gratifications
For this task you will produce:
- An explanation of Uses and Gratifications theory
- An application of Uses and Gratifications theory to a contents page of a music magazine
Task 3: Music Magazine Analysis
For this task you will produce:
- An analysis of 3-5 Front Covers
- An analysis of 3-5 Contents Pages
- An analysis of 3-5 Double Page Spreads
- This analysis should look at different genres of music
- This analysis should contain the following information:
- What are the conventions found on this magazine?
- How is the cover band/artist being represented? (Denotation and Connotation)
- How is the magazine representing itself? (Denotation and Connotation)
- Who is the audience for this magazine? (be specific)
- What genre is the magazine? How is this shown?
- What features of the magazine will you use/not use in your own music magazine?
Task 4: Audience Questionnaire
For this task you will produce:
- An Online survey
- AND a Paper survey
- These surveys can ask the same questions but should each be focused on getting information about your potential audience.
- The questions should focus on finding out what your audience like, dislike and expect from a music magazine as well as information about themselves that will allow you to create a music magazine that will appeal to them.
You will also need to analyse your results from this questionnaire. This should include:
- Bar graphs and pie charts where appropriate
- You should also answer the following questions:
- How will these results affect how you plan your magazine?
- What will you include/not include based on these results?
- Based on these results, who will be your target market?
Task 5: Readership Profile
For this task you will need to produce:
- A readership profile of your audience looking, in detail, at who your target audience are.
- This profile should provide the following information:
- What age range do they fit into?
- What gender are they?
- What brands do they like?
- What music do they like?
- What socio-economic group do they fit into?
- This profile should be engaging and inventive, try to think of innovative ways you can show who your audience are.
Planning:
You will now start planning your magazine, allocating your time and deciding how your music magazine will look. This will involve planning and creating the images you will use, as well as carefully considering the fonts and colour schemes for each of your pages.
Your planning should reference the research you have already completed, making sure your decisions are informed by both your audience research and your research into existing products. This is vital if you want to achieve top marks for your coursework.
Presentation Methods for Research and Planning Section:
Don’t forget to use this blog posts to help you find interesting and innovative ways to present your planning tasks.
Try to use a variety of interesting presentation methods and don’t forget you can always research your own presentation methods too.
Task 1: Calendar/Timeline
For this task you will produce:
- A Calendar or Timeline
- This should include:
- When tasks will start and finish
- Photo-shoots
- Deadlines
- Class work and work outside of class
Task 2: Mood Board
For this task you will produce:
- A mood board illustrating your initial ideas and inspirations for your magazine
- This could include:
- Potential colours
- Potential fonts
- Inspirational front covers, contents pages or double page spreads
- Inspirational images
- Each of these should be accompanied by a brief explanation illustrating why these images/fonts/colours may be suitable for your magazine
Task 3: Models
For this task you will need to produce:
- Proof of contacting your models
- This can take the form of a screenshot of an email or text message
- Remember to remove personal data (emails/phone numbers etc..) from these screenshots before you post them on the blog
- A final list of the models you are using
- This should contain:
- Photographs of each model
- Information about each model
- An explanation illustrating why you have chosen these models
- An explanation illustrating why these models are suitable for your genre and audience?
Task 4: Props/Costume List
For this task you will need to produce:
- A list of potential props you may use in your photo-shoot
- A list of potential costume items you may use in your photo-shoot
- You should:
- Include images of the props and costume items
- Explain why these props and costume items are suitable for your genre and audience.
Task 5: Photo-shoot Planning
For this task you need to produce:
- 6-8 storyboard style images planning your images and poses for your photo-shoot
- You should:
- Label each image, indicating the type of shot and lighting to be used
- Explain why these planned images are appropriate for your genre and audience
Task 6: Location Exploration
For this task you will:
- Analyse the pros and cons of a minimum of 3 different locations for your photo-shoot
- This analysis should include:
- Photographs of the location
- An explanation illustrating why these locations are appropriate/not appropriate for your genre and audience
- Your final decisions on locations for your photo-shoot
Task 7: Contact Sheet
For this task you will produce:
- A contact sheet of ALL of your photo-shoot images
- Create a contact sheet using Adobe Bridge
- An analysis of this contact sheet highlighting:
- Which images are appropriate for your magazine
- Which you will use
- What pages you will use these images on
- What you like/dislike about specific images
Task 8: Fonts
For this task you will produce:
- 6-8 examples of potential fonts for your magazine
- Each font must be analysed looking at:
- The pros and cons of each font
- Why this font is appropriate for your genre and audience
- Your final decisions
- You should also produce 3 drafted Masthead examples looking at:
- Pros and cons of each design
- Why this Masthead is appropriate for your genre and audience
- Your final decisions
Task 9: Mock Ups
For this task you will produce:
- 3 Front Cover Mock Ups
- 3 Contents Page Mock Ups
- 3 Double Page Spread Mock Ups
- These designs should be analysed looking at:
- Pros and cons of each design
- Why this is appropriate for your genre/audience
- You final decisions
