Plan on past paper

Question 1a) Describe the ways in which your production work was informed by research into real media texts and your ability to use such research for production developed over time

Start with foundation portfolio (AS)
The genre is punk/rock so I researched into similar magazines with the same genre. These are magazines such as Kerrang and NME. I got my inspiration and ideas from these magazines as they contain the same features of mine, a music magazine. They all contain lists and articles on music which is what I made my magazine feature. I had to include all of the same genre of music as it would make sense to appeal to the targeted audience. I deconstructed a couple of existing punk rock magazines as this would help me to understand what appeals to my audience. These were things such as bold headlines selling the story on what the best music is currently/concerts going on. They also included a main image to sell the music, I did this with my foundation portfolio as well because I think it sells the story if there is a key image to associate it with. I picked out the main articles down the side of the magazine talking about the current news in music (kerrang TV) I got my inspiration from a particular article on Kerrang which shows a lot of information about what is new. However I reduced the amount down the sides as it looked a little bit crowded because of the colours I had (red, black, and white) I learned from this that you need to consider the layout and colour schemes of the magazine before adding in the text otherwise it may not be visible enough to read. Kerrang's colour scheme was black and white so the text was easy to adjust as opposites over the colours to make it clear, but when I did this I found that some of the words were not seen because of the red which had a major effect on the important articles.
Advanced portfolio
This is a fashion magazine specific to the North East region of England. I have researched into other magazines similar to this such as Etc magazine and Living North magazine. Etc is about fashion and advice aimed at women but Living North is mostly about interior design, however I chose to look at these because they are based on the NE of England which helped me to understand what kind of things people from this region look for in a magazine. They would mostly be interested in events happening around them as they are the people most likely to attend. By researching into other magazines similar to mine I have gained an insight as to how to make my magazine the best and most professional it can possibly be. My magazine genre is quite unusual of pop culture/indie regional fashion magazine so I had to look at genres of magazines that have these features because none had them all together. Comparing existing magazines to mine was proven quite difficult as it is a very rare genre if not existing at all. My magazine is a combination of these common genres found in regional magazines. I developed my creativity skills from the foundation portfolio as I had to combine the two genres together to come up with a new genre, rarely seen. This includes the two genres that are becoming increasingly popular by demand (pop, indie/rock). I managed to combine these two effectively as I have displayed a range of both genres in my images and layout. I think this works because I have not neglected one or the other so there is a balance of both that create a feminine outlook on the indie/punk genre. I was able to do this through researching into existing magazines as I found support on how to set out my magazine to attract the right people, for example, the colours to use, type of font, typical stories that they would be interested in (fashion icons/music icons/regional events).

1B
Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to genre

In my advanced portfolio I have created a regional fashion magazine. The genre is pop and indie/rock. A combination of two genres (hybrid) The two genres I used are not typically seen together (binary opposites) but I have put them together to create originality. These two genres are becoming very popular now and as they are combined it could potentially increase the number of buyers for the magazine if it were to be published as it includes features from both genres that would help to sell the magazine, for example, the style of clothing my model wears is both pop and indie. This also helps attract readers of the targeted age as she is 20 years old.
The layout is for women age 16-25, young audience, feminine- colours pink, black, and white. Typical of a fashion magazine to attract certain type of person, who would most likely be involved in fashion or have hobbies such as clothes shopping. Includes some indie genre on the double page spread- clothes, colours, for the older audience (b&w) 20-25. The younger audience more attracted to the front including brighter colours.
The two chosen genres would typically not be seen together but as I have combined them together and incorporated their features together I have created a new kind of genre that older teenage girls and young women (20-25) would most likely to be interested in. (because of the fashion changes and what is most popular with these age groups. I think these work because the two genres are closely linked in terms of audience, closely linked fashion themes and colour schemes. However the indie/punk side of the magazine changes the genre dramatically but I have thought about how to present this in my double page spread and figured out a way to make this genre come across more feminine with pop culture.


1A
In my foundation portfolio I chose to create a music magazine with the genre of punk/rock. I researched into existing magazines such as Kerrang and NME to look into what I needed to add to my magazine in order to attract my targeted audience. I looked at how the front cover was presented and the colour choices they made. My biggest inspiration for this was Kerrang. They use predominantly black and white for most issue covers, I think they do this because these are the most popular colours for this genre. I took note of this and when it came to planning and creating my magazine I used the same colours with a red background. I added the red because my magazine is called 'Fire' which corresponded with the colours and gave it more emphasis on the name to make it more memorable. Kerrang have the slightly burned out masthead similarly to mine to give it the rebellious look. I included, in my magazine, the names some bands under the headline 'the hottest music' this again corresponds with the theme of the magazine, that being fire. It makes sense to name the bands that are typically liked by the people who would like my magazines' genre of music, this is to attract my target audience. I deconstructed a few magazines with the genre similar to Fire to get an idea of what they consist of and how I can use that information to create a successful magazine that appeals to my target market. The most important thing that I found out from the deconstructions was that the masthead and the headlines as well as the key image are really important for attracting people's attention. From this I learned that, in future production of a media product, I need to make sure these features are the most prominent because this is what will determine the popularity of the magazine. For example, it has to have a catchy or bold masthead and the main image needs to instantly connect with the readers, this could be through the use of a personal mode of address with direct eye contact. The stories down the side of my magazine were looking too crowded at first so I researched into how other magazines presented their articles and some of them could get away with the crowded text look but my colours were too bright to do this. It started to look messy because of the red background so I took this into consideration and reduced the amount of words for each story. In turn, this gave enough room to move the image along the page to get more of the model in frame. I could also make the masthead bigger and therefore more noticeable which is one of the main points to emphasise. My ability for research into existing magazines developed over time as I found out that certain colours should not be implemented when black or white text needs to be used. I also found out that the image's position is really important for mode of address.