Week 42: Improving on Past Assignment Work

Over this week I have been improving past assignment work. These are assignments which I have completed over this year. The main aspects of improving my work was the written documents. I improved work from my TV Advert assignment and also my Magazine Assignment. The main improvement which I to make was my punctuation. I have looked back over the documents which needed improving, and I improved my sentence structure within the documents. These documents included: Research into Final Product, Market Research Documents, and Justification Documents. These are the documents which I improved by re-writing with better sentence structure. In terms of my TV Advert work: I researched into Team Roles, Researched into the Target Audience in detail and was more critical within my Skills Profile.
Through improving my work, especially in terms of my sentence structure. I have been able to look at my work and understand what my sentence structure should be like. As this has made me aware of how long my sentences are, I have been aware of this when writing documents for the programme assignment. I hope that the improvements which I have been acquired to make have improved my grade. I am more aware of the points which I have been given for improvements, and I will consider these when completing future production work.

Week 41: Programme Assignment Completed

Today I have completed the programme assignment, I submitted all my individual work such as the worksheets and evaluation and also our group folder. I finished my sample viewing results today, I wrote up the responses from my sample viewing questionnaires and represented them within graphs and placed in our group folder. The responses were positive from the questionnaires, although there were some improvements I could make to my programmes from these responses. Therefore I stated these changes within my evaluation.
Throughout this week I have completed the editing of my programmes, written my review of editing skills profile, completed my evaluation and carried out sample viewing questionnaires. Overall, I am happy with my final edits of my programmes and I have also submitted my Homework Assignment today. This included the booklet, the Research Dossier File and a Folder containing the tasks from the booklet.

Week 41: Group Work Completed and Programmes Burnt to DVD

Today we completed our group work folder, this included burning all of our individual programmes to a Group DVD. Kathleen created a DVD Menu in which we put all of our programmes for both the social action and factual programmes. Today we also organised our group folder for submission on Friday, we believe the folder is ready for submission but we will double check this on Friday and organise with a contents page and title pages. Within this folder is our programmes production work including production documents, group minutes, our proposal and also secondary research. As a group we have completed all of our work, including the filming, editing and production work. I believe we have worked well as a group, which is a point I will be discussing within my Evaluation.

Week 41: Evaluation and Sample Viewing

I have continued with my Evaluation for this assignment, I have nearly completed the Evaluation. I have included all points which need to be included within the evaluation. The points which I need to finish on this are the sample viewing results, how I responded to this feedback and what I would change if I were to repeat this project again. Through this Evaluation I have reflected on my process within this assignment, showing skills I learnt and the knowledge I have gained. I will complete the evaluation tomorrow and add the sample viewing results to the evaluation on Friday, ready for final submission.
I have started to carry out my sample viewing questionnaires. Within the time given I plan to ask 10 people to complete the questionnaires for both my factual and social action programmes. Although, I have 2 days until deadline for the whole project, I aim to get people to complete the questionnaires today and tomorrow. I can then write up the results on Friday Morning and I have then finished all of my paperwork for this assignment. I can then gain feedback from the target audience about my programmes and state in my evaluation what I could change if I were to repeat this project again related to the sample viewing feedback.
Over the next two days I will organise my folders for final submission on Friday and ensure all paperwork and worksheets are complete for my submission. This includes my Homework Assignment, Investigation Exercises and the Group Folder.

Week 41: Editing Programmes in Premiere Pro Completed and Final Production Work Update

Editing Continued in Premiere Pro: I have now completed both my Factual and Social Action Programmes in Premiere Pro. I have edited the programmes together and I believe they represent my skills and knowledge within Premiere Pro and the skills which I have gained throughout past assignments. I am happy with the Factual Programme, focusing on Gadgets and their Affect on Students, as I believe this shows a clear format of a factual programme. The way in which I believe I have been able to create this structure factual programme is from my research in pre-production stage. This shows how important the reports and research which I had to carry out at the beginning of the assignment is, as I needed to understand what a factual programme is and how it is structured. This is the same with my Social Action Programme, I am happy with my final Social Action Programme and I believe it portrays the message we wanted to show clearly. As with the factual programme, both programmes have a clear structure, with facts and figures, Vox Pops and Interviews and Archive Footage.

I will also be carrying out a sample viewing questionnaire tomorrow, I will be able to gain feedback from the primary target audience of students and also secondary audience of parents for both programmes. By carrying out these questionnaires I can gain feedback from the audience who the programmes are aimed at, I can then see what improvements I could make if I were to repeat this project again. I will therefore state these improvements and sample viewing results within my Evaluation.

I have also been continuing my Evaluation for this assignment. Now that I have completed my editing I can go into detail within the evaluation with my knowledge and skills I have learnt within Premiere Pro and how I have developed existing skills. This evaluation will focus and reflect on my process throughout this project, including the pre-production stage (with my group work and individual work), production stage and post-production stage of reviewing my work.
I have also completed my Editing Skills Profile Review, which reflects on the initial skills I wanted to gain in terms of editing. I have related back to my targets and explained if I have achieved these and how I have achieved these targets through this project. I have created a page on this blog for my editing skills profile and review of the skills I have gained.

Over the next two days I will completed my sample viewing and results and also my Evaluation. As a group we will also be burning our final programmes to a DVD for final submission.

Week 40: Editing Continued and Evaluation Started

I have been continuing editing both my factual programme and social action programme. I have imported the soundtrack to the opening title of the programme, this was added the animation which I created in Photoshop. This animation has the effect of type writing, which fits in with the theme of the programme as it is about gadgets and is called 'Tech-NO-Logic'. I have nearly completed editing the factual programme, I need to import one more piece of footage to go with a voice over which I have in the programme.
I have also continued to edit my Social Action and Community Programme, I have now added all the footage with the voice overs. I now need to concentrate on cutting the programme down, I have all the footage which I need and the programme is 1 minute and it needs to be 30 seconds. Therefore I will need to look at the programme and see which footage I could cut down, with the programme still making sense to the viewer.
I have also started to complete my Evaluation, within the Evaluation I am reflecting on my progress through this assignment. This includes working within a group, skills developed, knowledge acquired and what I would change if I were to repeat this project. I have started to plan out my Evaluation with the points which I need to include within the evaluation. Over the next week I will continue to complete this document and I will also complete my Editing Skills Profile Review and Sample Viewing.

Week 40: Editing Programmes in Premiere Pro Started

This week I have started to edit my programmes, as a group we have decided to individually create the 1 1/2 minute factual programme. Therefore we will have 3 different versions of the factual programme, we decided to create individual programmes instead of creating 30 seconds of the programme each.
I have therefore begun to edit my factual programme, this was the programme highlighting the affect gadgets have on students. This include video diaries, vox pops from students and experts. So far I have created a 2 minute factual programme, I believe this highlights the focus of the programme and uses the footage we have well. On Tuesday I did come over a problem, as within a Factual Programme there are names which appear under the person in the programme. I created these within Photoshop, but when I saved the file as a PNG and imported it into Premiere Pro it did not appear. I did resolve the problem, by clicking the box which said 'scale to frame size' the graphic then appeared above over my footage. I will update my contingency plan with the problems which we have come across as a group and individually. I have nearly completed editing the programme and I am considering whether to use a soundtrack for the introduction, which is an aspect I will consider for the programme.

I have also started to edit my 30 second social action programme, this highlighted the issue of the rise in student university fees. This also includes vox pops from students, experts and parents, I have also included some archive footage of the protests. I will continue to edit this on Friday and also finish editing my Factual Programme, by importing the soundtrack.

Screenshot of Factual Programme in Premiere Pro

Screenshot of timeline within Premiere Pro Project

Week 39: Editing Skills Profile Completed and Assignment Update

I have now completed my Editing Skills profile for this project. I have created a page on this blog and posted this skills profile. This skills profile shows my understanding and existing knowledge within editing for the three stages of production (pre production, production and post production). I explained my existing skills and knowledge surrounding the areas of editing and also set myself targets which I want to achieve throughout this assignment. The skills which I want to develop include my skills within Premiere Pro CS3 and Critically Evaluating my work in terms of editing so I now how to improve it. At the end of this assignment I will review this skills profile as to see whether I have achieved the targets which I originally set.

Overall, this week our group has worked well together to film both of our programmes. I believe we have worked well and that within the first part of the production stage (filming) we have evenly assigned shots which we will film. I have also completed the Shot Log, and have written this up as this shows the shots which each person has filmed on each day, for both programmes. An advantage which we had was that the people who the subjects were about for both programmes were the same, therefore we could interview the same people for both the factual programme and social action community programme. We have now got all the rushes to start editing our programmes within Premiere Pro CS3, we have also got voice overs to add to the programmes as well. Another consideration for the editing process is creating PSD's for the names which will appear by the participants name in the programme, the PSD is then imported into Premiere Pro. Next week I will start editing the programme together and we will also have another group meeting to discuss how our editing process is going. We also to make sure we have all the correct planning documents for both programme for our group folder for both programmes.

Week 39: Programme Update and Problems which have Arisen and How we Dealt with them.

Today we finished filming both our Factual Programme and Social Action & Community Programme. We had a few more shots to film today for our programmes, these shots included the facts and figures which will appear in our Factual programme. We decided to create a different and 'low tech' effect of having the figures for the programme written on a board and this will be shown within the programme with the voice over. We also filmed one final shot for our Social Action programme, we tried to create the effect of money falling, to show the fact that this programme is highlighting the rise in tuition fees. Therefore this will clearly show this with the money falling, although the shot did not turn out as good as we expected, therefore when we edit the shot we could use slow motion so it is clear to the audience.

Problems which have Arisen:
Today we also downloaded and converted our footage from our camera using the programme, AVS Video Converter 6. We had a slight problem for the 1st Hour of the lesson as we did not have the correct settings for the footage to convert correctly.Therefore the converted footage was just sound, so we resolved this problem as quick as possible and changed the settings on the video converter. Once we had done this we realised how time consuming this had become and that we did not realise how long the footage would take to convert. We did have enough time within the lesson to convert all of the footage, so we have converted the footage to AVI's ready to use in Premiere Pro.
On Friday we need to copy all of the rushes from the hard drive onto our other hard drives so we can all start editing the programmes. As a group we also need to record our voice overs for both programmes, I have written voice over guidelines, and we will record these to use with the footage we have filmed.

AVS Video Converter Logo

We also had a group meeting today and discussed some other production documents which need to be completed. At the beginning of the assignment we were unsure whether we needed to create a script and shooting script for our programmes. Therefore today we decided to complete the script and shooting script, this changed our initial tasks which we would complete:
Shooting Script: Factual Programme: Hannah (I decided I could complete the shooting script as I had already completed the script for the factual programme, therefore I could create the shooting script as well)
Script: Social Action Programme: Kathleen
Shooting Script: Social Action Programme: Ben
We have had many changes to our production schedule throughout this assignment, as we were unsure about the script and shooting script we decided to split the risk assessment and call sheet documents between us. This has been shown on our production schedules which we have kept record of throughout this assignment as a group and as individuals.

Week 39: Film and Video Editing Techniques Worksheet Completed and Homework Assignment Completed

I have now also competed my film and video editing techniques worksheet. This worksheet asked me to research and show my own knowledge surrounding film and video editing techniques. I created a timeline with the key dates from 1900- 2011 in terms of editing techniques. Through creating this timeline I have gained more knowledge about the different techniques and gave me ideas of the techniques I could use within creating my programmes.
Within this worksheet I also had to highlight and explain 5 main editing techniques. These included: 180 degree rule, Jump Cuts, Continuity, Cross Cutting and Point of View Shot. I explained each technique and showed examples of these techniques being used in existing movies.

Homework Assignment Completed:

I have also completed the 3rd and final task of the homework assignment. This task focused on my future career plans, the tasks which were included were:

• CV
• Covering Letter
• Portfolio of Existing Relevant Work
• Career Path Document for the Next 15 Years
• PowerPoint showing Steven Spielberg's Career

I have completed these tasks for the final task and within the work for the portfolio I have included, current College Assignment Work and GCSE Media Production Work. Through completing this task I have a clearer idea of the career path and how I would achieve my future goals. I have researched into the the job of a journalist and what qualifications I need. I have also seen how a successful director has followed his own path, without the best qualifications and has created many memorable movies.
Within the whole of this homework assignment I have gain more knowledge into how the media industry works including:

• Different Companies such as ITV and The Walt Disney Company with how much they own and what companies they are in corporation with.
• The legal and ethical regulations within the media: Different regulators such as TV and Film.
• Different Media Acts such as The Broadcasting Act 1990 and Human Rights Act 1998.

Overall, this homework assignment has given me a clearer understanding of how the media industry works.

Week 39: Filming Started: Factual Programme and Social Action & Community Programme

Yesterday (6th June) we started filming our programmes, we have booked the camera out for 3 days from 6th June to 8th June. We managed to film most of our Social Action programme yesterday and the elements which this included were:

• Student Vox Pops: Their opinion on the rise in University Fees
• Expert Vox Pop
• Parents Opinions on the Rise in University Fees
• Introductions to the programme and the Vox Pops
• Images of Students holding signs with their opinion on this subject

As a group we have filmed and participated within the filming of this programme, this is the 30 second social action and community programme for this assignment. Therefore in terms of how many people we asked to participate in terms of students was 5, this was because we figured we could gain enough footage for the Vox Pops with 5 students.

Factual Programme
We also began to film our factual programme showing the affect gadgets and technology has on students. Whilst filming students for the Vox Pops on our social action programme, we also asked the same students to participate in our factual programme. The reason why we asked the same students was because for both programmes the audience is the same and both programme subjects affect all students. The elements which we have filmed for this 1 1/2 minute programme include:

• Student Vox Pops
• Expert Opinion
• Diary Entries from the experiment
• Footage of students using gadgets

From this we now need to concentrate on other element, which is photos of new and old gadgets, this includes the old mobile phone and the newest mobile, such as the iPhone.
We have also filmed links for the different parts within the programme, we believed this would benefit the programme, by having ourselves talking to the camera. We will still have some voice overs within the programme, when still images are being shown and for the summary on the social action programme.
I believe as a group we have worked well within the production stage of filming and tomorrow we will complete our filming and download our footage to the computer and convert the footage ready to import into Premiere Pro CS3.

Week 38: My Individual Group Tasks Completed and Homework Assignment Completed

I have now completed all of my group tasks for our factual programme and our social action and community programme. The tasks which I have completed include:
Factual Programme Tasks:

• Script: (Although we do not need a script for the factual programme, as it will mainly be voice overs within the programme itself.)
• Treatment

Social Action and Community Programme:

• Shooting Schedule
• Risk Assessment and Securing Resources: I have completed the risk assessment for the social programme and we have also booked out the camera for next week (6th June- 8th June), which shows the securing resources for the camera.

Proposal Research:
I have also completed my part of the proposal, we gave each other set tasks to research into the final product. We have decided to combine both programme ideas into one proposal, as the guidelines for both programmes is similar and has the same aspects within the proposal. Such as: Target Audience, Similar Existing Products, Legal and Ethical Considerations and Budget. As a group we are writing the proposal, the tasks which I have completed are:

• Target Audience
• Techniques- Filming (location and editing)

Homework Assignment Completed
I have also completed my Homework Assignment booklet. I have completed the final task which includes my Personal Career Development, the tasks included: Researching into a well known figure within the Film Making Industry, my own Career Development Path for the next 15 years, Creating a CV and Covering Letter in response to a job advertisement along with a portfolio of my current work.

• I have researched into Steven Spielberg's career and how he became such a well known director and created a PowerPoint to graphically represent his career.
• Created my Career Path Document for the next 15 Years: Goal: To become a Journalist for a well known magazine.
• Created a CV and Letter in response to the Job advert for a Junior Production Assistant in a Television and Film unit. I have also gathered my current work in relation to media studies, which will be attached to the letter and my CV.

I now need to complete my Video and Editing Worksheet and my Editing Skills Profile, which will show my skills within Premiere Pro and editing so far and the skills I would like to gain through this project.

Week 37: Group Pre-Production Work Started

We have started working within a group to create our factual and social action and community programmes, I am in a group with Kathleen Turingan and Ben Elderfield. We have carried out 2 minutes meetings so far, we have discussed our ideas and decided who is carrying out which tasks.
Yesterday we started our Pre-Production work for our factual programme, within our group we discussed who would carry out which tasks. We decided on a final idea, which focuses on how gadgets and new technology affects students, technology such as iPod's, Laptops and iPad's. The programme will show someone taking part in a experiment, where they will not be allowed to use the technology they usually use every day, and see how this affects them. The programme will include video diary entries from this person, about how they feel without being able to use their gadgets.
The tasks which I am completing for the Factual Programme are:

• The Treatment
• The Script

We also discussed which tasks we would each be completing for the Social Action & Community Programme. We are all completing different tasks for this programme, from the factual programme. The idea for the social action programme is based around the rise in University Tuition Fees. The programme will show the effect the rise in tuition fees will have on students. It will also include interviews and Vox Pops from students and parents, about how they think this is going to affect them.
The tasks which I am completing for the Social Action and Community Programme are:

• The Shooting Schedule
• Risk Assessment and Call Sheet

I will start to complete these tasks for both of our programmes. 

Week 36: Homework Task 2 and Film and Video Editing Techniques Worksheet

Throughout this week I have continued to complete my homework assignment task 2. This included my research into regulatory bodies, the different acts within the media industry and two stories which two companies broke the guidelines within the media. I chose to talk about the story surrounding the News of the World Phone Hacking and the Blue Peter Fake Competition Winner. Through this I have learnt about how the media regulators work and who owns what within the media, as BBC were responsible for the Blue Peter Scandal and News International were responsible for the phone hacking. I have also learnt about the guidelines which each company broke and how they were punished and by which regulators they were punished.
I have also started the Film and Video Editing Techniques worksheet. I have started to create the timeline showing the developments within editing and the purposes of these. I have carried out the research for task 1 and 2 and I have also started to write up the report on the conventions and techniques within editing with examples.

Week 36: Film and Video Editing Techniques Worksheet Started

I have started to complete the Film & Video Editing Techniques worksheet, this will allow me to gain more knowledge into the history and techniques used within film editing. Yesterday we watched a documentary Called 'The Cutting Edge', this showed the history of editing and included the key moments within editing. I took notes from this documentary, including iconic films and key dates in editing history. These notes will help me in completing the worksheet, as I have started my research into the history of editing, as I have been asked to create a timeline showing the key developments within moving image editing. From this worksheet I also need to complete a report showing my understanding of Conventions and Techniques of film and video editing. This includes conventions such as: Continuity, Montage, Jump-Cutting and Crosscutting. These are some of the conventions which I will research into and explain the conventions with an example and how I would use it in future production work. I have started research for Task 1, the timeline and I will start to create my own timeline and research into the conventions within editing. A website which I have found which includes the editing key dates within the film industry is filmsite.org, which will help me within task 1 & 2.

Week 36: Proposals and Social Action and Community Worksheet Completed

I have completed the two proposals which I have been asked to complete. These proposals include: one for my Magazine Factual Programme on Student Life and one for my Social Action Programme about a Charity which I chose, which is Chestnut Tree House.

  

Chestnut Tree House Logo


 Through these proposals I hope to show the client my idea and understanding of how creating a programme works, including showing my knowledge within: Copyright, Budget, Equipment and Codes of Practice. As these are some of the important aspects which need to be considered within creating a programme, and must be considered within Pre-Production Stage. For the two proposals I have created separate documents for each proposal, but I have used the same guideline. For example, within my first Proposal for the Factual Magazine Programme, I wrote the main points and also used these within my second proposal, but I changed the significant aspects which would be different within a 30 second programme. This includes the Budget, Locations and Time Management, as these are different for each proposal.

I have also completed the Social Action and Community Media Production Worksheet, this highlighted and helped me gain knowledge in this area. Within this report I was able to highlight some existing Social Action Documentaries and explain their impact on people involved and the viewers. I also showed my knowledge in using Quantitative and Qualitative Research methods within Primary and Secondary Research, and how I would use them within creating a programme. I talked about the issues and needs which I need to consider within creating a social action programme and how I would resolve this within the production of the programme.

Week 35: Update of Homework Assignment Task 2 & Social Action Worksheet

I have now completed my first Homework task, for the ownership of two major companies. This included a research dossier about The Walt Disney Company and ITV Company, with information which I had also written up about the companies. I have now moved onto the second task in the homework assignment, I have started to write up a report about the different acts within the media industry. This second task also includes researching into the regulators for different media sectors such as Ofcom, and I will also be researching into companies who have broken regulation rules in the media.

I have also completed my Investigation into factual programmes, this included the different modes of documentary and the different codes and conventions within news and documentary programmes. Through this report I explained these codes and conventions and also showed examples to show my understanding. I have also completed a Proposal for my Factual Programme, this is based on my double page spread article, about student life. Through this proposal I explained my idea, and I also included the budget, clearances, time management and Copyright. This then shows my understanding within these areas within a Proposal, and how I would consider these within the production of the programme.

Today I have also been working on the social action and community worksheet. As this worksheet helps me understand what social action is, I am also completing a Proposal for the Social Programme, as I will be creating a short programme on a social issue. I have completed the first 2 tasks on the worksheet and am concentrating on the final task which is the Proposal.

Week 35: Investigation Exercise Complete & Introduction to Task 2: Homework Assignment and Introduction into Social Action and Community Media Production Worksheet

Task 2: Homework Assignment: Today I have been introduced to the second task on the homework assignment, within this task I am researching into the Legal, Ethical and Regulators within the media industry, I have started to research into the different Regulators within the media industry. This is within Film, Television, Newspapers & Magazines and Computer Games, through this research I am gaining knowledge into what the regulators do for the industry and for what sectors within the industry, I have researched into the British Board of Film Classification for the film industry. I will also be researching and creating a report on the legal side, with the different law acts which affect the media industry in terms of documentary making and I will also be explaining 2 case studies which have broken the guidelines within these acts such as The News of the World Phone Hacking story, how this happened and what punishment was given to the company.

Today I have also been introduced to the second worksheet based on my documentary making, this worksheet asks me to focus on the social action and community within the media, I have now completed my first task of the investigation into documentaries and news programmes conventions. I am now starting the second task and I have started to gain research for this task as this focuses on the social and community impact, the tasks include analysing existing TV Programmes which highlight these issues and explaining their impact on the community. I have found 3 programmes which I believe show these issues, these are C4 The Secret Millionaire, ITV's Home is where the Heart Is and BBC 1's Famous, Rich and in the Slums, as all of these highlight an important issue surrounding both the UK and other countries. Through this worksheet I will also be writing a proposal for a documentary based on either the effect of the EMA cut or the work which St Wilfrid's Hospice does.


The Secret Millionaire

 I will therefore be continuing my research into these different areas and start to write up the report for both the homework assignment and Community and Social Action in Media.

Week 34: Update of Investigation Exercise and Homework Assignment

Today I have been continuing with both my Investigation exercise into Documentaries and News Programmes, I have nearly completed this assignment and today we were introduced to the fact of evaluating a subject Critically. As within the media especially Factual Programmes, they need to be Unbiased in the way in which they present the subject within the programme itself, therefore within my Investigation Exercise I have found a story about Impartiality, which was about the fact that the coverage of the Royal Wedding on BBC was Biased. As this bought up the argument about the Values of the Royal Family in Britain today, and within research I have found information about this argument and that the coverage did not reflect both sides of this argument. Therefore I am going to analyse this article and the information which I found on the subject to be able to understand both sides of this argument and give my belief on this subject within my Investigation, so I can clearly show my understanding of the subject as being biased within a programme can cause complaints, in which it did from the coverage of the Royal Wedding last Friday.

Homework Assignment: I have also been completing my Homework assignment on the two different companies in the media industry I chose to research into The Walt Disney Company and ITV. I have found secondary research into these companies including their history, who owns the companies, what the companies own, their income and employees. From this Secondary Research I have then written all these different areas up in my own words to show my own understanding of the companies within the media industry, I have also started to place the information into create a PowerPoint on the two companies to clearly show my understanding and research. I also need to complete the two questions within the booklet for this task, about the amount of employees, main Competitors, income and advantages and disadvantages of owning such a big company. I have completed the Research Dossier for this task with Annotated Research and the Document which from my Secondary Research I have been able to write my own document about the two Companies.

Week 34: Documentary Assignment: Investigation into Factual Programming Started

Today I have started my investigation into the issues which need to be considered when creating a factual programme, such as Privacy, Accuracy and Impartiality, I have researched into these 3 issues which need to be considered when creating a Factual Programme, what I have been asked to do is to research into these different issues and explain in a report how I would use these correctly when creating a factual programme. I will also include examples from existing factual programmes on these different issues and how they have used them and considered them within the factual programme.
The second half of this investigation focuses on the Codes and Conventions of a Factual Programme, including News Programmes and Documentaries. I have carried out research into News Programmes and I am going to explain the way in which news readers are presented within news programmes, I am also going to carry out research into the way in which news programmes interview people and I will include examples from news programmes to support my explanations. Within the second part of this investigation I am also explaining the different types of documentary and examples of existing factual programmes for each type of documentary as this will help me in explaining the codes and conventions of the documentaries and factual programmes.

Week 33: Introduction to Documentary Assignment and Homework Assignment

Today I have been introduced to my 4th Assignment and this is to create a Documentary which shows a subject which I am interested in and also shows social and community within the theme of the subject. I have also gained knowledge into what documentaries are and I have been shown the features which should be included within a documentary and the order in which they are put into the documentary footage. For example the background on the subject is very important and also interviews with both the people which the subject affects and experts on this subject, as this therefore supports the case you are trying to portray to the viewer. Throughout this week I will be developing an idea for a documentary which I would want to create and learn more about the different documentaries, as today as a class we also watched some short videos on the BBC website on subjects such as Royal Weddings and the FA Cup, which were factual programmes which included archive footage, sound effects and narration.

Homework Assignment Introduction
Today I have also been introduced to a Homework Assignment which is a booklet with tasks which I need to complete as well as the Documentary Assignment, this homework assignment allows me to gain further knowledge in understanding the Media Industry. Today I have started Task 1, and within this task I am researching into two large companies, The Walt Disney Company and ITV, within this task I am creating a research dossier and presentation of some sort which shows the history of the company, the company income, what the company owns, who owns the company and how many employees the company has.

ITV Logo

The Walt Disney Company Logo

Week 30: Feedback from Target Audience

I created a questionnaire for the target audience of students and secondary audience of parents, I decided to create a questionnaire to gain the potential readers opinion on my magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread as these are the people who will be reading the magazine and therefore the magazine needs to appeal to this target audience. From this questionnaire I got positive and negative feedback from the target audience which was useful as I was able to see the positives and negatives with my magazine pages, for example the feedback on my front cover was quite positive and that the majority of the people liked the image which I used on my front cover, as they believed it represented student life clearly and they were able to see that the magazine was for students. Some negative feedback which I received in relation to my front cover was one comment that my front cover looked to 'busy', I believed it was good to gain negative feedback as this could be an improvement I could make in the future if I were able to repeat this assignment. The main positive feedback came from the questions and answers on my double page spread, as all 9 people liked the content and layout of my double page spread and believed it does look original and eye catching which is the main aspect I wanted to create within my double page spread.
I believe I have gained a lot of feedback from this questionnaire and it was important that I gained opinions from the secondary audience of Parents as well as Students.

Week 30: Completed Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread

Today I have completed my Magazine Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread for my student magazine, these images below show my final colour versions of my magazine pages. I also had some problems today related to the image which I was going to use on my student magazine, the second image down shows my magazine front cover which I was going to use as my final front cover. Although, when I printed the front cover with this image of the group of students the image quality was not very good, as the original image itself was affected by the sunlight and this affected the image with the sunlight within it and once I printed the image it was not very clear. Therefore I tried to resolve this problem by changing the contrast of the image, but this still didn't improve the image quality, so I decided to go back to my original image of the two students and I decided to include the group image at the bottom of the front cover. I chose this front cover as the image quality was much clearer and I could also include a smaller version of the group image which showed both genders, which is who the student magazine needs to appeal to. My final front cover is also responding to the feedback I was given last week, I have enlarged the image and from the clients opinion I have kept the image of the students at the bottom of the cover and I therefore believe my final front cover will appeal to students and also parents as this is the response from my clients feedback.



Final Magazine Front Cover



Image which was not the best Quality
to use for my Final Front Cover

This is my final contents page, which I have changed in response to feedback and I have included the title down the side of the contents page as this is still clear and can be read, I believed this was more creative and interesting to read and I also think that this contents page links well with the front cover, as I have tried to keep a continuous theme through the different pages.

Final Contents Page

Below shows my final double page spread, I have finished my double page spread today and I have included the feedback from the client and students from yesterday and the change in the colour of the writing helps the text stand out and is clearer and I have also included the block colour behind the '5 Steps to Applying for University' which is eye catching.



Final Double Page Spread



Overall I am very happy with my Final Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread as I have carried out a lot of research from the beginning of the assignment into the elements surrounding magazines and I have created a original and unique front cover, contents page and double page spread, I have gained feedback from the target audience on their opinion on my final pages and I can therefore see how I could improve if I were to repeat this project.

Week 30: Contents Page and Double Page Spread Progress

Today I have continued to complete my double page spread, I have also been given feedback from both the client and the target audience of students about my double page spread, I have nearly completed my double page spread today and I have had feedback from a student about her view on my double page spread. The changes which I have made today to my article is that I have changed the colour of the article writing to black, as from a students feedback they said that there was too much red within the article, which I did believe was true and the black text breaks the article up and I think this does work better. I also received feedback from the client and he said he liked the layout which I had with the images in the centre of the double page, I was also shown how to make the quality of my photos better, by using the Curves in Photoshop tool to create a well balanced colour image, the screenshot below shows the curve which is commonly used when using this tool to edit and enhance an image within Photoshop.




Curves Tool in Photoshop

 

This image below shows my nearly completed double page spread, I have changed the layout and included the main article on student life on the first page, with the second page I have added the interview to the left and an additional box at the bottom of the page with 5 Steps to Applying for University. I think the layout of my double page spread is now clear and eye catching and included an article and contents which will appeal to both students and parents and potential advertisers, I think I have now completed my double page spread and I will ask my primary target audience of students tomorrow to complete a questionnaire for feedback on how I could potentially improve my magazine pages if I were to repeat this project.

Double Page Spread

 I have now completed my Contents Page for my student magazine, I have changed the title within the contents page, I have decided to place the title down the left hand side of the page and I changed the opacity of the font to make it faded, I thought having the title at the side of the page is because I thought this is more eye catching. I have also added an introduction message into the magazine which tells the reader what it within the issue and I have also added the website at the bottom of the page, and I have done the same on my double page spread in the corners of the pages.

Tomorrow I will ask my target audience to fill out a questionnaire on my 3 different magazine pages and I can therefore see their feedback and see whether the pages do appeal to them as the target audience.



Contents Page



Week 29: Responding to Feedback

Today in lesson I was given feedback on my Magazine Pages, this has helped me in improving my student magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread.
Front Cover
The feedback on my front cover which I have taken on board and have started to add this feedback into my final front cover:
Layout: I was given feedback on the layout of my front cover first and this was because the cover which I had created had a white band at the top of the magazine with the masthead and the features within the magazine. The reason why I had the features at the top of the cover is because I thought the image was being covered by the features and I believed this layout looked more imaginative. From my feedback on this layout I have therefore enlarged the main image on the cover, I believe this does work well as it is larger and emphasises the point and clearly shows this is a student magazine. I have also used the band which I had across the page, but from feedback I have slightly slanted and rotated them so this looks more visually appealing and eye catching for the target audience, I have used one of these bands at the top of the cover, with the Issue Number and Issue Date and I have also used two along the bottom of the cover with the contents of the magazine included within them. I believe this layout is eye catching and creative as the contents text is not over the image, but is still clear of what is included within the magazine, this image below also shows that I have enlarged the image and this definitely emphasises that this is a student magazine.
Masthead: I also received feedback on the masthead I had created for my student magazine, I was struggling with creating an eye catching and creative masthead with the name of my student magazine, Students United, therefore Simon gave me feedback and helped me in coming up with a new masthead, a point which was mentioned was that my first final masthead was not clear as the writing could not be read properly. Therefore I created a new masthead using the same colour scheme but made it more creative, by having the S and U sideways facing each other with the name Students United in the middle is much clearer and eye catching.
Colours: Another aspect which was mentioned was that I had used too much red within the magazine front cover, I do think I used too many shades of red within the front cover, and I have therefore kept the colour scheme to two shades of red and white, as this looks clean and the colours help each other stand out on the cover.




Responding to Feedback: Front Cover


 I have also created an alternative front cover for my student magazine and I have changed the image on the cover, and I believe this image works well, as does my other front cover, but this image shows both genders and a group of students which represents student life well. I hope to ask my target audience next week which cover appeals to them as a student, within this alternative cover I have kept the layout of the text and features the same.




Responding to Feedback: Alternative Front Cover



Contents Page

I also received feedback on my contents page the feature which was commented on was the fact that I did not need the masthead for the magazine at the top of the contents page, therefore I have taken the masthead away and I have put the title of Contents at the top, I can therefore place an image related to one of the contents within the magazine at the top with the main image. This image below shows my contents page after feedback and I will be placing an image in the red box at the top of the page.



Responding to Feedback: Contents Page



From the feedback I have been given on my magazine pages has really helped me in realising what makes a good student magazine and how I can make the layout creative to appeal to the target audience and that I have been given feedback from the client, to what they expect for the brief and that with the feedback I am hopefully full filling the brief for them. I therefore hope to carry on completing my student magazine and continue to respond to my feedback for the deadline next Friday, 8th April.

Week 29: Update on Magazine Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread

Today I have been continuing creating my magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread for my student magazine, the images below show my magazine pages so far, for my front cover I have included the image of two students , as this clearly shows the fact that this magazine is a student magazine and that it shows how good student life is. Another image I have also included within this front cover is an image of a group of students as this shows the different genders and the different social groups within student life and this also represents the same message of student life, I have faded this image as I wanted to create the effect that this is a separate image and that it is another image representing student life. I have included the features within the magazine at the top of the magazine front cover as these are then not placed over the image and therefore the image can be seen clearly.

Front Cover

At the beginning of the week I decided to change the layout of my Contents Page, this is because from my research into existing magazine contents pages the most eye catching contents pages had each of the magazines contents under headings, such as News, Features and Regulars. Therefore I rearranged my layout and also from my analyses of magazine contents pages I found the layout was eye catching and the images were clear and that the contents layout was based around the images. I have therefore included a main image at the top of the contents page and have included other various images related to the features within the magazine and I have placed the different features under certain sections within the headings such as 'Features', this then makes it easier to read and find the feature you want to read in the magazine. For this design of the contents page I will ask for feedback from the target audience and ask how they think I can improve the contents page.



Contents Page

 Below shows my progress within making a double page spread for my student magazine, this shows how from my initial sketch I have kept to this sketch and included the main feature in the middle of the double page spread of the title in the centre with images related to the article of student life around the title. The images which I have placed on this double page spread represent student life and are clearly related to the article, within the article I have discussed student social life, education and issues surrounding students. I have also included an interview with a student about the topics I have discussed in the article and I am also writing some advice for students on what to do after college and university, their next steps for the future.
Today I have also been shown how to create columns and guidelines for text within the double page spread, this will prevent the text going off the page, therefore I will need to ensure the double page spread I am creating has the same sized columns next to each other so this looks professional.

Double Page Spread





Week 29: Contents Page Analysis and Front Page Analysis

I have analysed different Magazine Front Covers, Contents Pages and Double Page Spreads to help inspire me and help me in creating my own student magazine pages, within analysing these I looked at the colour scheme, layout, images and features.

Front Cover Analysis'

I analysed two different magazine front covers which I believe are the magazines which the target audience for my student magazine would read these magazines were NME and Vogue.

Vogue Magazine

Within this magazine front cover I analysed the image and the colour scheme as this cover featured Cheryl Cole and the colour scheme of the pastel colours worked really well with the image, as the colours which were used were pastel colours such as pinks, yellows and oranges linked in well with the image because the clothes which Cheryl is wearing is a pastel yellow. These colours work well together and the issue cover is eye catching because the whole magazine cover is linked together because of the image and the font colours.

Vogue Magazine Front Cover

NME Magazine

This is a magazine which I believe appeals more to the audience of males, as the colours used are colours which are bold and would appeal to males more than females, as the colours of the black and red work well with the theme of the issue and the font is very bold and eye catching for the main theme within this issue. The layout of this magazine appealed to me as they clearly stated the main theme for this issue, the albums of 2011 and this feature takes up the whole of the front cover and stands out, I liked the layout of the image over the main title as I think the image of the different artists is well placed on the front cover.

NME Front Cover

Contents Page Analysis'

Heat Magazine

I analysed the contents page of Heat magazine as this is a layout which I wanted to adapt for my contents page, as within this contents page they featured the main stories within the magazine and did not state every single feature within the magazine. Therefore this showed how they featured the main stories which would interest the reader and they featured these around the side of the page, under the main headings of On the Cover, 'News and Stuff', 'Features', 'Starstyle' and 'TV & Reviews', as this is a clear way of searching for a feature which you want to read about. Therefore the layout of this contents page is eye catching and clear, as they have featured an image of one of the main stories over half of the page with the contents around the left of the image to the bottom of the contents page, which is a layout which I have adapted for the design of my own contents page. I have also stated how the contents page links in with the front cover of the Heat Magazine.

Existing Heat Magazine Contents Page

Heat Magazine Front Cover

OK! Magazine

OK! Magazine has a similar layout to Heat magazine as they put their features into different sections, their sections included News, Features, Fashionista and Regulars, this showed every feature within the magazine, unlike Heat Magazine as they only highlighted some of the features. Also, the contents page linked in with the front cover, as the colour scheme which is used within the contents page is continued from the font cover, as they use the colours of red and yellow on the front page and this is used within the contents page, which shows how the two are clearly linked with each other. This contents page also featured an editors word, where she introduced the issue and explained what was within this issue the reader is about to read, also, within the contents some are highlighted in red, this is because they are featured on the front cover and this clearly shows the features on the front cover within the contents page. To me this contents page looked more like it would appeal to the older audience than teenagers as it is very formal, whereas students like to see a creative and interesting contents page to look at within a magazine.

OK! Magazine Contents Page

OK! Magazine Front Cover

Through analysing these contents pages and front covers I have learnt about how they are laid out to appeal to the reader and I have taken some of these elements on board, as I have used the Headings within my contents page with the features underneath them, I have also learnt how the contents pages and front covers link together.

Week 29: Magazine Front Cover Layout and Progress of Double Page Spread

Magazine Front Cover Layout

I have carried out completing my Student Magazine Front cover today and I have decided to change the layout slightly, as I believed the layout which I initially had with the main image as the background and the features simply placed in a simple font over the top of the image. The reason why I decided to change the layout is because I believed that with the image I had I could change the layout to make it more appealing to the audience of students and that I didn't have to just place the features within the magazine over top the image like other magazines, therefore I decided to make the front cover clear but original, I have kept my original masthead in the top corner of the magazine, as I was happy that this would appeal to the target audience because of its meaning of the fact that this font is used for iPod and will therefore be recognised strongly by the target audience.

I gained feedback from my target audience of a student about the layout and I was happy that they agreed that the front cover needed to be more eye catching and creative. Therefore I decided to make the image smaller which also bought the image back to its original size so it did not look stretched, I made a space at the top of the magazine for the masthead to be placed and also I decided to have the contents of the magazine at the top which made it unique as most magazines feature their contents on the image between the middle and bottom of the magazine and I believe this looks more unique to have the features at the top.

Another reason why I placed the contents at the top is because the contents were being placed over top the image and covering up the image which did not make the magazine front cover clear, I also duplicated the different contents at the top of the page and changed the opacity of the text so it look eye catching and creative as though the contents text was being shadowed. I also placed a band across to separate the image and the masthead, and this works well as it includes the issue number, website and issue date, the main image is the same image on my original front cover design, but I have adjusted the contrast and tone of the image to make it stand out, I also placed another original image over this image as it shows what student life is about and the two images work well together. I will also need to create my masthead in Illustrator as this will better quality as it is a Vector Image which is the graphic which most magazines use on their front cover for their masthead.




Old, Original Front Cover






















Sketch of New Layout



New Magazine Front Cover Layout in Photoshop

 

















Double Page Spread
I have also been working on my Double Page Spread Article, my double page spread article is focusing on Student Life, I have completed the article and I am in the process of putting my article together with the images and the article itself. I have researched into the font size and font which is used on articles and I have found out that an article average font size is 8-10, therefore I have used the font size of 10 but I have found that my article does not fit the whole of the double page, therefore I need to complete the article, some ideas which I have had to complete the article is to include a mini interview with student about student life and the issues I have discussed within the article. Below shows an image of my double page spread so far and I have used the layout shown on my initial sketch, of the images placed in the middle of the double page with the title, as this is eye catching and interesting to read. Next I will complete the article as this is a problem I will need to overcome to be able to complete the double page spread on student life.

Double Page Spread in Photoshop

I now also need to gain feedback from a wider target audience of both students and parents on my front cover, contents page and double page spread, and also the client, as I am making the product for the client so it needs to be to their standards as I am creating a new magazine idea for them and for the target audience.