KEY TERMS: CONVENTIONS, REPERTOIRE OF ELEMENTS, CONTRACT, BLUEPRINT, REPRESENT, COMMUNICATE, INFER, SIGNIFY, CHALLENGE, USE, DEVELOP + ADJECTIVES

INTRODUCTION – take the time to read and absorb the information and advice before you start.

• Listen to screen castify and make notes
  • Complete the commentary table/template on classroom – submit for teacher feedback.
• Copy Emaze or make your own. Look at student exemplar below.
• Link is here, if this works as a copy:

• Cut and paste commentaries from the template:  how you have used/developed conventions and represented your genre/star or issues in the magazine on the relevant slides.
• Embed images from own own coursework and embed images from professional texts/examples. Snipping tool city!

STUDENT EXEMPLAR

SOME NOTES

1.  How does my product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

This question is asking you to be a detective. There are two elements to this case:

1. What are the clues in my magazine?
   • The clues are the conventions
2. What meaning is suggested, implied or connoted through those clues?
   • The meaning is the representation.

We have done work on the conventions of magazine and you may need to revisit the lessons in the departmental blog blog and the important posts in your own. These will refresh you memory about the key concepts and terminology you need to use in the reflection.

The work we did on identifying conventions (clues) are in these posts:

• How the camera makes meaning
• Writing the article.
• Magazine Page Layout
• Your Analysis of the Front Page of a Magazine

The work we did on representation (values, attitudes & beliefs) are in these posts:

• Your Mission Statement
• Representation and The Star
• Mise-en-scene (Designing your star)
• Textual Analysis (Album or Tour Poster)

Identify all the (conventions) clues on your magazine pages by using the template in classroom.

Present your ideas using EMAZE.

1. Sign up to a free account
2. Copy and rename this EMAZE template (see link below).
3.    https://www.emaze.com/@AOZFCWFCT/my-brand
4. Delete my instructions but keep in the headings and sub headings.
5. Insert images in the presentation with examples from your own magazine (use the snipping tool).
6. Annotate:
   1. The Convention usually applied, adopted, followed and did you use, develop and challenge it in your own production?
   2. Then describe the resulting representation using adjectives (find exciting ones!) for the impact that convention had on the product either in terms of how the artists or themes within the stories are represented.
7. Make the presentation your own and delete all the instructions/change the colours etc etc.

Sign up with google, open create…click on this link and then duplicate. You should have your own copy to individualise and make your own.

Some blog posts, which may help:

• Conventions of a music magazine
• The Paradox of the Star – Star Image – Metanarrative – Richard Dyer
• Star Building – the metanarrative – the big picture
• ADJECTIVES GALORE

https://codebeautify.org/convert-text-to-handwriting

Whilst the MP3 is showing the examiner that you can use different platforms to communicate (i.e. your voice and recordings), we thought it would be good to ensure that your actual letter is presented in a more standard format i.e that it looks like a handwritten letter.

If you spell check your letter in word and then cut and paste it into the above app you can play around with fonts and layout to make it look like a ‘hand written’ letter. You are marked on presentation skills so this would be an additional way to ensure the examiner sees you know about what looks good. Make sure you have paragraphs and have deleted the template instructions.

Remember:

• School Address on the top left hand corner (not your own)
• Dear Future A Level Media Studies Student
• The Letter
• Best wishes
• Your first name

Task

Please note we have slimmed this CCR down from previous years and there is no need for you to cover all three types of technology in all five stages!
So long as you have cover all three types of technology (software, hardware & online) at some point in the infographic you will be fine.
The marks will come from how well you describe the examples & techniques and how well your commentary explains the impact these technologies had on your production and the process.

Buzz words for your infographic…

Makes these command words bold every time you use them in the commentary to highlight your genius to the examiner:

• Use: implemented, applied, engaged, used, tested, signed up, explored, investigated, analysed, planned, gauge, delegated, integrated
• Progression:  improve, extend, develop, enhanced, extenuate, analyse
• Create/creativity: develop, design, map out, collate, draft, experiment, aesthetics, design, layout, conventional, adapt, tweak, alter, amend
• Achieve: succeed, result, deliver, appropriate
• Integrate: Include , Involve, use, apply, combine, embed, amalgamate, experiment.

Important

Use the term ‘CONVERGED TECHNOLOGY’ – i.e. the idea that one device can provide multiple / integrated functions.

Even more Guidance & Planning Documents

EXAMINER’S COMMENTS

PLANNING TEMPLATE

BOTTOM LINE – ANSWER THE QUESTION AND CELEBRATE YOUR LEARNING  AND THE IMPACT ON YOUR PRODUCT!

Important

For isolation study only.

“Do not do this work if you are attending school. There is time available after the magazine is finished. Those who are isolating will do this earlier and get an extension on their deadline, whilst you are doing this work after you’ve completed the magazine.”

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Creative Critical Reflection 1 – Question 3

How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

You have to think about your “skills,”, just like Napoleon Dynamite does…

You have thought about and evidenced your production journey in A Level Media Studies and all of the reflection is in your blog.

Most of the work for this question has already been done! So…Hooray & Hoorah!

This CCR will require you to reflect on how far you have come this year. In particular it will require you to reflect on the production skills you have acquired and how they have helped you become a more skilled (both technically and creatively) as a media producer and:

• Photographer
• Photoshop(er),
• Designer
• Journalist

Moreover, you have also learnt some valuable production skills that are easily transferable to other parts of your life, education and ultimately career:

• Time management
• Directing and Management
• Communication & Collaboration
• Writing skills
• Research and Planning

Mrs Cobb has done a screencastify presentation for you – listen and enjoy!

TASK 1

You will write a letter to a future A Level Media Studies student in order to prepare them for what lies ahead. You need to advise them to learn from your experience and perhaps also your mistakes.

• Use the template in classroom to write your letter that you will later record.
  • Each skill must specifically refer to the IMPACT it had on the product.
  • Always try and mention  – how the skill impacted on genre, narrative, star image, audience etc.  Focus on AIDA and B and K too.

Key terms you should be trying to include: ‘audience, information, entertainment, social interaction, personal identity, star image, genre, conventions, narrative, attract, interest, desire, action.’ As well as: font, copy, coverlines, masthead, pugs, plugs, standfirst, drop capital, cover star etc  – all the terms you have already used in your reflection.

• An Introduction – Dear Future A Level Media Student etc
  • Outline how you have acquired a variety of production skills that can be classified in various ways.
• Technical Production Skills – include specific key skills you have learnt in Indesign and Photoshop and then focus on one particular anecdote (story) where you can describe the impact the technical production skill had on the product, project. 
• Creative Production Skills – include key skills you have learnt about design, costume, photography, MES etc then focus on one particular anecdote (story) where you can describe the impact that creative production skill had on the product, project.
• Transferable Skills – include key skills you have used and improved that you can use elsewhere in life – communication, time management, organisation, collaboration, confidence, literacy, computer skills etc. then focus on one particular anecdote (story) where you can describe the impact that transferrable skill had on the product, project.
• A sign off and good luck.

TASK 2

Turn the letter into classroom so that your teacher can give you feedback.

TASK 3

Recording your letter on any application and upload as an MP3 into your blog CCR1 in a post entitled:

‘CCR1 – Question 3 – How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

You should also include the letter below the recording.

THIS IS AN EXEMPLAR of one recording previously, when they also had to do a presentation for it – we are not asking you to do the presentation – just the letter.

Advice.

Be sure not to make it a list – instead ensure each skill has an example attached to it and how that skill specifically impacted on the product – how it affected star image, or genre, or narrative, or the audience.  We need specific scenes, shots, frames, angles, fonts, colours etc and how that particular production skill impacted on them.

Remember, making the result ‘more professional’ or ‘more aesthetically pleasing’ is not enough – what do you mean by that? ALWAYS ADD IN A STORY, A FOR EXAMPLE, AN ANECDOTE.

Make it chatty, exciting and personal.

THIS DOCUMENT HAS A VARIETY OF IDEAS ON WHAT YOU SHOULD MENTION IN YOUR LETTER.

If you are off school in isolation we need to provide you with meaningful work to keep you on track if you are well enough to work, that is.

The problem is that in school students are working on their magazine pages and we can’t reflect that at home as it is unlikely you have the necessary Adobe applications.

So, if you are working at home we are going to bring forward the evaluation questions which are the last part of this production unit. Those questions, are called The Creative Critical Evaluations, and are worth approximately 20% of the final grade you get for this unit.

There are four of them:

1. How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?
2. How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?
3. How did your production skills develop throughout this project?
4. How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?

The creative element demands that these are not just presented as a written essay, but must use multimedia to present your findings / analysis in a creative way.

The one which we would like you to work on, if you are in isolation is:

• How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

There is a new blog post that has been rolled out which describes the task and the approach we would like you to take and the outcome. Classroom has the resources.

Once you come back to school, you will have an extension to work on your magazine pages, whilst the rest of the class work on their evaluations.