AS Media Studies:

An essential guide for

your coursework

Research & Planning

Blog Posts

Research Posts

Textual analysis of existing media products. (LABEL C)

For this post you will do six textual analyses of existing magazines. Two front

covers, two contents pages and two feature articles (double page spread).

They do not have to be exclusively music magazines, as many music magazines

can be considered to be ‘lifestyle’ magazines as well but you will need to

analyse at least one front cover that is of a similar genre to the magazine you

intend to make.

The actual analysis of front covers will focus on the genre of music, images

used, fonts, colours, layout, cover lines, masthead, selling line, rule of thirds

and anything else you wish to mention.

A similar analysis will be used for the contents page along with other

information you get about the actual contents of the magazine. Make sure you

discuss the conventions used in the contents page – layouts, regular / feature

article sections, other conventions used that are specific towards that

magazine – e.g. NME always have a band index list on their contents page.

For the feature article you will need to discuss layout, columns, gutters, drop

cap, pull quotes, images used, colours, fonts and style along with anything else

you wish to mention.

Each analysis is approximately 400 words.

To present them on you blog you can use either ‘flipsnack’ or ‘Issuu’ or another

online document viewer, or you can produce them in PowerPoint and upload

them to Slideshare.

Don’t forget that you will need to convert the finished word document to a

PDF file if you want to upload the analysis to Flipsnack or Issuu.

Complete analysis of a music magazine (LABEL C)

For this post you look in more detail at one music magazine of your choice. You

will need to discuss the history of the magazine; how long it has been around;

any changes over time of the magazine; the music genre/s it covers; the target

audience of the magazine; the style of the magazine. The multi-platform

aspects of the magazine such as web-site, apps, T.V channels, and any events it

sponsors. Do a good job with this research as it can be used again for the

magazine industry question in the exam. This post can be uploaded straight to

your blog and most of the information you will get from the magazine’s

website and media pack.

Minimum 300 words.

Overview of the Magazine Industry (LABEL C)

For this post you will discuss the magazine industry as a whole (Again this can

be recycled for the exam). Look at facts and figures, top selling magazines, top

selling music magazines. There will be a handout but try and find some data

yourselves about how much we spend on magazines and how much

advertisers spend on placing their products in magazines.

Minimum 300 words

Information on Magazine Publishers (LABEL C)

One of the evaluation questions asks you to think about who would publish

your magazine so it is good to have some evidence of researching into

magazine publishers. Below is a list of publishers you can look at, you only

need to choose three of them. Look at who owns them, what other magazines

they publish along with their music magazines, how many magazines thay

publish, what percentage of the market they have, their audience and their

multi –platform products.

Approximately 250 words for each company.

Choose from:

IPC Media

Bauer

Future PLC

Conde Nast

BBC Magazines

Livingly Media (On Line Only Publishers)

Mood Boards for Research (LABEL C)

You will need to create 2 ‘mood boards’ to supplement your research. Mood

boards are essentially a collage of images which can be used to represent a

social or demographic group or some kind of thematic idea.

It is relatively simple to make mood boards in Photoshop, but these can also be

done in Word.

You will need to create TWO mood boards:

1 – Target audience: any magazine will target a specific demographic and

psychographic. Use images to show a clear representation of who the target

audience is for the music magazine you wish to create.

Think about your typical reader as magazines do in their media kit; the best

way to approach this to think of a day in the life of your typical reader. What

clothes will they wear, what will they eat for lunch, what car might they drive,

what will they watch on T.V, what bands will they listen to, what technology

might they use, where would they go for an evening out, their job, their

favourite holiday destination, anything that helps to build a visual

representation of your typical reader

2 – Advertisers: advertising is a key revenue stream for any magazine and the

companies that advertise in a magazine are chosen specifically to target the

right audience. Create a mood board to show which companies you would be

targeting to advertise in your magazine based on your target audience.

Some obvious ones to start you off would be technology companies, cameras,

mobile phones etc. Music stores, car companies, clothing brands. Have a look

at some existing magazines if you need some inspiration.

Each mood board needs to be accompanied with a written analysis of

approximately 200 words explaining the choices you have made and giving

more information about your intended product and the target audience for the

product.

Audience Research (LABEL C)

For this post you need to carefully create a questionnaire that will help you to

determine what your readers want from your product. There is a fine art to

creating useful surveys so you will need to do a draft first and get some

feedback before you upload the finished survey.

The first thing to consider is ‘What do I want to know’ and then design your

questions to be able to extract useful information to help you create your

magazine. Once you have your questions you will need to upload your survey

to SURVEY MONKEY and then wait for responses. Survey monkey will generate

graphs for each of your questions which we can load into flipsnack along with a

written analysis of approximately 250 words which discuss your findings and

how you will use this information in the construction of your products.

Don’t forget to share your survey! Get your friends to complete it, share it on

facebook and twitter. A survey is no use with minimal responses so ensure you

get a good number of responses to use as your market research.

Planning Posts

Original ideas statement (LABEL D)

This is one of your shorter posts and is just a brief statement about the type of

magazine you are going to make. Is it just music or is it other things as well as

music, who is the intended target audience and why have you chosen this

particular type of magazine.

Approximately 150 -200 words.

Mood boards for planning (LABEL D)

For the planning of your magazine, you will need to create an additional 2

mood boards to show what fonts and colours you intend to use or are

considering using on your magazine. These should relate to the genre and

target audience of the magazine as well as including a range of design ideas.

Don’t forget to look outside Photoshop for examples of fonts. DaFont or any

other online font websites can be much more effective in creating an individual

look for your magazine.

For the colour mood boards, look at various shades of the colours, and include

these as well as the mood is merely an indication of intention. It may well be

that during the design and construction process you will experiment with

colours extensively so by including various shades, you cover this with your

mood board.

Each mood board needs to be accompanied with a written analysis of

approximately 200 words explaining the choices you have made and giving

more information about your intended product and the target audience for the

product.

Drafts

You need to create drafts for the products you plan to make. These can be

done by hand and then scanned or they can be created in photo shop. They

need to identify your proposed layout for the three products and give an idea

as to the colours and fonts that will be used. You need to complete at least one

draft for each of the three pieces. (LABEL D)

During the construction process, you will inevitably make changes to the work

that you create. This evaluative process is vital for the planning process and

should be recorded on your blog. You will receive continual feedback from

your tutor on your work, so the best process to introduce into your work is to

make sure you save multiple copies of your work as you progress.

For example, if you think you have completed your front cover, and your tutor

gives you some feedback on how to improve what you have, save the file as it

is at that stage and then re-save the file under a different file name (front

cover ver.2?) and then make changes to the new file to keep the original file

intact. When the work is complete, you will be able to upload the old version

onto your blog and make some evaluative comments on why you changed it.

This process is an important part of the construction process. (LABEL B)

Location / Props / Costumes (LABEL D)

This post will obviously differ depending on your plan. You need to detail

where you will be taking your images and any props or costumes you will be

using in order to create the right image for your readers. If you are using a

studio then say why you feel that this is the better option, if you are using a

location explain why you think this is a good location. Do the same for any

props and costume you use, why have you used them and how does this

reflect and connect with your target audience?

Approximately 200 words

Additional Paperwork to complete where appropriate (LABEL D)

Talent releases – adult or minor (essentially permission forms);

Risk Assessment;

Location recce form;

Location release form

Blank versions of these forms are found here:

Student Shared(P:)\Media\AS MEDIA COURSEWORK

Construction Schedule (LABEL D)

This post simply explains when you plan to make your products and how long

you will spend on each one. It also needs to include all your photo shoots.

(remember to save all your images as they need to be uploaded onto your

blog as a separate post. You can make a contact sheet in photo shop and

upload your images to this)

A construction schedule may look something like this or could be in the form of

a monthly calendar:

Week 1 (date) Work on drafts for three products

Week 2 (date) Photo shoot for front cover image/s

Week 3 & 4 (date) Construct front cover

Week 5 (date) Photo shoot for contents page and feature article

Week 6 & 7 (date) Construct contents page

Week 8 & 9 (date) Construct feature article

Week 10 (date) Final changes to finished products

Include as much detail as necessary and you have 10 weeks in which to plan

out and organise your construction schedule.

Contact Sheet and Unedited Images (LABEL D)

This is simply an A4 sheet with thumbnail images of all the photos you have

taken for your coursework. DO NOT DELETE any photos you do not intend to

use as they will go on your blog. A contact sheet is very easy to create in

Photoshop and is basically an automated process.

Select FILE – AUTOMATE – CONTACT SHEET – navigate to the folder where the

photos are stored and hey presto!

You should also keep unedited, full resolution versions of your photos that you

intend to use on your coursework to add on to your blog.

Discuss why you like the images you will be using and how you think these

images will attract the target audience.

Remember – there is a wealth of support and guidance in handouts and

online documents which will help you through the creation of your blog

posts.

www.enasmediablog.blogspot.co.uk is a good starting point but if you are

unsure how your blog post should look or what information it should

contain, have a look at some exemplar blogs from previous years.