Detail how your understanding of the importance of good research and planning skills developed throughout the pre-production

of your AS and A2 coursework

The research I conducted falls into two categories; primary and secondary. I used both types of research both years of the course. At As, the primary sources included textual analysis of various music magazines that fell into the category I had chosen. I researched the appearance and content of the magazines, for example the colour scheme and what features were included. I also produced an audience profile for which the magazine would be aimed at; this was based on a real person and so helped to refine down what interests my target audience had. Further primary research was taking photographs as test shots to see how I wanted to present the artist in my magazine; I did however conduct secondary research into the Golden Spiral theory to improve these images. Secondary research included taking fonts from magazines or websites which I thought worked. For my pitch which was using previous ideas to simulate what I would be trying to create. I also looked into the theory of social groups and how I would represent them in my product. A lot more research was conducted for our A2 coursework, mainly because there was much more to research into. Primary evidence once again included in-depth textual analysis of both music videos and ancillary texts. Again an audience profile was created in order for us to match our target audiences interest to the products we were including. Creating a mood board was also something helpful to create when researching music videos, we could both exercise our knowledge and any inspiration we had into an organised form. The creation of the band and song choice were also key to the music video as we had to make sure they were appropriate and matched the genre we had chosen. This also included the bands style, which was heavily influenced by other bands, for example The Drums. Location was another thing we researched, what would be both practical and aesthetically correct. Secondary research was looking into these examples of work and refining them to what could work for us. I also conducted Market research into what would work well in the music industry today. Again our pitch consisted of our influences, representing our intentions. We also applied theory such as the bands persona and biography by specifying the social representation. Similarly to AS, I analysed examples of ancillaries from previous sources such as magazines and online, this helped me research what was included and what worked with appearances on ancillaries. For both years finding examples of texts was not difficult; having actual examples of magazines and ancillary texts helped, but ones found on the internet were equally effective. And of course music videos are free to view on YouTube so expense was not particularly a problem with research. We also managed to find time to conduct the research; we had a lot of lesson time and conducting the researching was impractical to do so we were able to do it to a high standard. The sources I used I would consider trustworthy as they are successful products to a mass market. Audiences opinions are also valid simply because the audience I spoke to corresponds with who the product is targeted at and so was necessary to cater to their needs. The only possibly bias, may have been, my opinion. At times I was resentful to not use things that werent working because I liked them, despite the majority not liking them. Eventually I chose to include the elements that my audience preferred. With both years there is a strong correlation with my research and final products; my product is produced solely on the research I have conducted and so I would consider it to have a high validity.

I would say I was fairly organised with my research; I kept strongly with the structure provided by our teachers, particularly at A2. Planning was a large aspect of pre-production. At As this largely amounted to draft versions of the magazine. At A2, planning for the video consisted of more drafted ideas and making sure they were practical before developing them into more detail. We also planned out the pages of our digipaks and magazine posters. Audience feedback came from both or teachers and peers; simply assessing what they did and didnt like and what they would recommend instead. We found this to be more helpful in A2 as we were learning a lot more about the technologies we were dealing with. At A2 I would say my time was well spent, I also made sure had Photoshop at home to allow any extra time and give me the maximum ability to complete my work. At A2, this was more difficult as the technology required limited our time. Working in a group also constricted time as well as working with the people we were filming with. Making sure everyone was available was difficult. Communication is perhaps one of the most important aspects of working in a team. If everyone is completely aware of all situations then all processes tend to flow much easier, and I would also say it is more encouraging as a team as everyone feels equal. My organisation of schedules has vastly improved; when more people are involved then the need for accuracy and practicality is raised and so I think from AS to A2 this was a great improvement. I think in A2, we could have been more prepared for any difficulties we faced and also could have planned more specifically although we felt we planned very detailed, perhaps the communication of this detail was not always passed as thoroughly as required. I did however I feel put in maximum effort into all aspects of the work. Working as an individual requires a lot of personal decisions to be made but also allows freedom of ideas and full control over your product. Although this is taken away when working in a group, the shared responsibility allows more work to get done and to share the work out equally allows for better quality in shorter time. It also allows inspiration from both people involved and can end up producing better all round products. I would say I was organised with planning materials; keeping all computer files on a memory stick to ensure I could use them whenever. At A2 our storyboard and various notes were kept as a one in an organised style. I used the blog more in A2 simply in order to keep up to date with my partners work and to make sure I was aware of where our progress was at. Our storyboard, although was detailed and attached to the soundtrack, was not quite as representative of what we were actually filming and so we had to take this into consideration when we drafted a second one. We kept the blog up to date with progress so that all group members were aware of what was happening. Presenting our work was primarily through online programmes that we could use on our blogs. This included Scribd, Slideshare, Prezi and Animoto. Presenting it in these different ways encouraged my creativity and also makes the blog more interesting as a whole to look at