See below my MP3 recording of my letter discussing the production skills I learnt throughout the project to a prospective year 11 student.
Transcript
My name is Maisy, I am a current year 12 student who is taking media studies. This letter will give you a taste of what you will learn on this course whilst making a music magazine and the new skills you will develop in the production process. It includes technical, creative, and transferable skills such as: how to use Adobe Photoshop and InDesign and how to communicate with others. You may think you could make a music magazine in maybe a week? However, this project took us over four months to complete.
Throughout the design process, you will learn many technical skills that will aid you in making your magazine the best it can be. We used software such as Adobe Indesign and Photoshop to layout a magazine using text boxes, text manipulation, and shapes. We manipulated images on photoshop by using tools such as select and mask, image adjustments, and smoothing tools. Technical skills are extremely important as they have an impact on the star image and how you want to represent them.
For example, I used photoshop to improve the lighting and quality of my images. I would use the image adjustment tool, my favorite being curves, to increase the brightness. However, as I learned it is a very precise process and it is very intricate. The curve represents the tone and you can move the line to increase or decrease the light, mid and dark tones in the image. Sometimes, I did adjust the image far too much to the point where it was so bright you couldn’t make out my model, don’t be afraid to make mistakes next year; it’s all part of the process. I found this skill particularly helpful as it allowed me to create good quality images, showing that my star has a professional demeanor.
In the design process, mise-en-scene is one of the most important parts of media. It is a concept that allows you to focus on the story you want to tell with an image. There are 5 key features; costume, lighting, action, makeup/hair, props, and setting. Which can be remembered with the mnemonic CLAMPS. By deciding how you want to include each element you can create a strong image that conveys a particular, clear message. This key skill has a good impact on your magazine as it allows you to represent your star perfectly to fit your target audience’s wants and needs.
My magazine was of the indie-pop genre, this genre was particularly colorful, light-hearted, and bold with a hint of grunginess. So to convey this meaning I dressed my star in a colorful bodysuit with a pair of leather trousers. I also used a pair of glasses and had my model style her hair in a high ponytail. This focus on mise-en-scene allowed me to portray a particular narrative and helped me produce a successful magazine. This creative skill also impacted AIDA, which is a strategy to draw your target audience into reading your magazine by provoking awareness, spiking an interest, creating desire, and a call to action. By ensuring my mise-en-scene was well developed I could be certain that individuals would buy my magazine as it hits all of the AIDA requirements.
Media studies is a great way to learn skills that can be used in other subject areas and the real world. One that I felt benefitted me the most was communication. Throughout the process, you learned how to communicate with others and work collaboratively through emails and social media sites. Not only this you also learn how to communicate meaning in blog posts and how to share ideas with others, providing you with the basic skills of how to work collaboratively with a wide range of individuals – all of which will be important in the working world. By learning these skills it enables you to be organised, reliable, and a good team player.
For example, I created a production meeting agenda where I could plan and organize with my models so that the perfect image could be created. I informed them what clothes they would need so I could ensure that my brief was being met allowing me to convey a perfect star image. I also made sure to communicate with my models in an easy way that was accessible for all, I decided to use Snapchat as this was a social media site we all had easy access to.
If you are a creative, hardworking individual who likes editing and design then media studies would be a good fit for you.