Cuffs - Research

• What company produced it?
• How many episodes were made?
• Where was it filmed?
• What channel was it broadcast on?
• Find viewing figures for every episode?
• What was the critical response for the series? In particular, focus on episode 1 - find a number of reviews that express different opinions (if possible).
• What is the mission statement and/ or ethos of the BBC?
• What type of programmes are broadcast on BBC1? Why is this?

Magazine Glossary - Media Terms you need use when analysing magazines.

Masthead – The name and logo of the magazine.

The Lead – the introductory paragraph of an article. Usually written in bold or capitals.

Body copy - refers to the text of your written articles, which should be produced as a printed presentation to accepted industry standards, e.g. correct use of language, font size, word limits etc. Usually written in columns.

Serif font – fonts like Times New Roman, or Baskerville Old Face, which have little bars (serifs) on the end of the letters.

Sans serif font – fonts like Impact, or Agency FB, which do not have little bars (serifs) on the end of the letters.

Drop Capitals – Really big letter, which start off an article.

Cross Head – Small sub-heading used to split up a large block of text.

White Space – white parts of a page other than text or pictures.

Mode Of Address – How the magazine talks to the audience.

Sell Lines – Text on the cover that helps to sell the magazine to the audience. Kerrang!’s sell line is “life is loud”.

Banners – text, which stands out because its on a coloured background.

House Style – a magazines distinctive design that distinguishes it from its competitors.

Borders – the gaps at the edges of the page.

Gutters – the gaps between the columns of text.

Leading - the space between lines of text.

Kerning - the space between letters.

Strap Lines – a smaller headline, printed above the main headline.

By-lines - name of the person who wrote the article. Picture Credits - where did the photos come from, or who took them.

Anchorage – The way in which text helps to pin down the meaning of a picture and visa versa.

Evaluation: How good is my first draft Double Page Spread?

Evaluating your own work is an important part of media production work. You need to be able to work out whether your product will be successful enough to appeal to your target audience and therefore make any money.

Task:
1. Save your photoshop file as a JPEG image.
2. Paste it onto a landscape Word document.
3. Find a professional magazine to compare it with. Ideally, this will be the double page spread you originally found to inspire you to plan your flat plan layout.
4. Label the conventions used by both your double page spread and the professional one. Conventions are the things all double page spreads will use such as: title, main Image, graphics, text boxes, columns, page numbers, branding, a quote taken from the text and fonts.
5. Explain how both pages appeal to their target audience. Compare the two products in terms of appeal.
6. Evaluate the success of your product. What improvements do you think you need to make.

Need extra help with what to write in your evaluation in your exercise book today? Answer these questions in turn:
a) Describe the target audience of your magazine and the professional magazine. Refer to demographics (age, gender, occupation, lifestyle, income, social groups). 
b) Explain how both magazines use colour to attract their target audience. Who do bright, colourful pages appeal to?
c) Explain how both magazines use font to suggest the tone of their article. Comment on whether the font seems sophisticated or young and upbeat. For example, swirly traditional fonts may suggest tradition whereas bubble fonts suggest youthful fun.
d) Explain how both magazines use their key image effectively. Who appears in the magazine reflects the aspirations (ambitions) of the audience. People like to read about people who inspire them. Comment on who appears on both magazines and why they will appeal to the readers of that magazine.
e) Explain how both magazines have used language register to appeal to the target audience. What tone is created by their style of vocabulary and sentence structure?
f) Explain how both magazines have used white space, page furniture, sub headings and graphics (including logos, boxes, quotes in bold larger fonts and page numbers) to help the audience navigate the article easily.
g) Explain how both magazines have branded the magazine on the double page spread. What does the logo and font say about the style of magazine?
h) What changes do you think you need to make on your first draft to improve your final double page spread?

Welcome to Year 10 Media

For your GCSE coursework you will be given a brief to create a magazine targeted at a specific target audience. This is worth 30% of your GCSE grade and so you need to be ready to showcase your layout, photography and journalistic skills. 

At the end of Year 9, your teacher gave you a task designed to practise these essential Media Studies skills. You need to complete this task as your first piece for Year 10.

You were asked to create your own original YouTube star. You now know how YouTubers appeal to their target audiences and are going to use this knowledge to create a magazine article about your own original YouTube star. The article needs to be an interview or feature about your imaginary star which would be read by their subscribers. 

Magazine companies are aware of the appeal of celebrity YouTubers and they would include these kinds of features for their readers. It would be a selling point of their magazine.

Task: Create a magazine feature article about a fictional YouTuber. Your article will be for a double page spread in a magazine targetted at a 14-18-year-old audience.

• Write a 400 word article
• Draw a flat plan (fold an A4 paper in half and design the layout)
• Create the double page spread including your own copy and a suitable image.

You will need to include the following conventions (see the example image above for inspiration):

• Title
• By-line
• Image
• Caption
• Copy
• Graphics
• Page Branding
• Page Numbers

Flat Plans: Drawing a mock-up of your products.

Here is a student's flat plan. It is a good example of how to create your initial plans for a magazine because it includes explanations of the design choices. Labelling your decisions on your flat plan and explaining why you have made them is a good idea. This student's use of colour and font design is also useful and helped to create a convince final product that was awarded top marks.

Here is another example, which includes even more explanation. You do not need to include this much information, but it is a good example of how valuable planning is. This student also gained top marks because they had a clear idea about their product and how it would appeal to the target audience to follow.

Task: Create your own flat plan on A3 paper. Remember to leave a border around your drawn mock-up of your product so you have room to explain your ideas in full.

Making Media Work To Do

By the end of this half term, you will have made your magazine front cover and double page spread. It is important that you keep on track with the tasks you must complete. Here is a list of the work to do ahead of the deadline Friday July 6th. It is organised on a week-by-week basis, so make sure you know what you need to get done each week in lessons and at home.

Here is a list of the tasks to complete:

Research:

• Magazine research. What magazines are on sale in the UK currently? How many people buy magazines and why? What kind of magazines are available?
• Media Audience - Target Audience appeal. Look at how magazines appeal to their readers using lifestyle ideology and representation to create appeal.
• Genre - music magazines. Make a list of the music magazines you have found during your research.
• Media Language - conventions. You need to deconstruct a front cover and double page spread of a music magazine of your choice. 

Planning:

• Create a questionnaire for your audience to answer using the Survey Monkey website. Ask questions that will help you make design decisions about your own product.
• Flat Plans - draw out your magazine front cover and double page spread, thinking about fonts, layout, branding, colour and graphics. Label your flat plans to explain some of your decisions.
• Write your Statement Of Intent (300 words) - outline your plans for your magazine product, discussing what the pages will look like and the reasons behind your creative decisions, how people and topics will the represented and how your target audience will be attracted to the product.
• Photoshoot planning - plan your mise-en-scene (costume and lighting) ahead of your photoshoot. Organise your models, camera and lighting equipment. Pick your location(s) for your photoshoot (you can choose two different locations such as the school AV Studio - which is a white room -  and another setting).

Production:

• Take your original images and create a digital contact sheet where you can select the FIVE best shots for your magazine.
• Create your magazine front cover.
• Write your magazine article (300 words)
• Create your double page spread.

Post-production:

• Evaluate your work

Schedule of work:

May 8th: 

• Complete research of current magazines on the market.
• Deconstruct a Front Cover and Double Page Spread.

May 13th

• Research Magazine Target Audiences.
• Look at how audiences are targeted by magazine companies (representation and ideology for appeal).

May 21st

• Continue research, looking closely at music magazines.
• Create questionnaires for potential readers and collect data.
• Begin initial planning of original magazine idea.

June 4th

• Planning for Target Audience based on Target Audience Research data.
• Draft - draw up flat plan of front cover.

June 11th

• Write your Statement of Intent.
• Analyse your questionnaire data.

June 18th

• Planning - draw flat plans of front cover and double page spread ideas.
• Planning photo shoots and casting models.
• Create mood boards for styling models to fit with music concept.
• Take original images.

June 25th

• Taking original images during planned photo shoots.
• Writing copy for double page spread article.
• Creating first draft magazine elements - front page and double page spread.

July 2nd

• Production of first draft magazine elements.
• OR Respond to feedback and create final draft magazine elements.

July 9th

• Complete first draft magazine elements.
• OR Respond to feedback and create final draft magazine elements.

Task: Create a Making Media Blog. You need to create your own blog. This will give you a place to present all of your work and show how you worked through the production tasks to achieve your final production.

You will need a Google account to set up your own blog using Blogger. You can find Blogger from the Google homepage.

Your address needs to have these exact details in it, so follow these instructions carefully.

Your blog address must have your full name (first and surname in full) plus 1819lcmedia.blogspot.com

So Mr Eason's would be:

mreason1819lcmedia.blogspot.com