The student carried out extensive research for their media production project. This included researching similar music magazines, camera angles and shots, presentation technologies, and the genres they planned to feature. They also conducted audience research by getting feedback on their treatment and storyboard ideas through a YouTube video. Compared to last year's music magazine project, the student improved at keeping in regular contact with actors, presenting their work more clearly through blogging, and using visual media like videos to demonstrate their research and planning.

1. Media Studies: Research and planning Moving image.
Q1) what research did you carry out into similar products?
In your answer you need to refer to aspects of your case studies
that were useful as research for your own production.
 For my case studies in AS, I searched into well-known
music magazines such as, Billboard, vibe and Q on
Google. This was useful for me developing ideas for
my film cover in A2. It was also useful in me
distinguishing the differences between a music
magazine and a film cover since additional content
such as, age restrictions and the duration of the film
are needed for a film cover.



2.  For my case studies in AS, I also did research into
various camera angles and shots to figure out the
appropriate angles and shots for my music magazine.
Searching up camera angles and shots were
significantly useful in a2 as I was able to memorise
them more and also apply some new camera
techniques towards my storyboard. Such new camera
techniques I learned include: A tilt shot, a Dutch tilt,
pan shot, dolly zoom over the shoulder shot and a
worm’s eye view shot.

3.  As I was producing my case studies in AS, I searched
into different technologies such as, Prezi, Stupeflix, Go
animate and Slideshare to find a creative technology
to use so that my ideas can be conveyed more
effectively. This was beneficial for me in A2 because I
could express my film ideas more imaginatively so that
my audience can gain a greater understanding towards
my narrative.
 During my case studies in AS, I additionally did some
research into the genres of R&B and Hip Hop as I was
interested in using applying those genres for my
magazine. As I was researching into those genres, I
was able to learn the way in which R&B and Hip Hop
artists such as, Alicia Keys and Missy Elliot dress. This
was useful for me in A2 as I was inspired to search into
my genre of horror to gain a wider knowledge into this
particular genre as it is what my final film will be
based on.


4.  How have your skills in researching real media
products improved since the AS course? Give specific
examples from your case study short films.
 I’m doing more broaden research into my genre which is
developing my understanding skills and my interpretation skills.
This is emphasized through my detailed analysation of the
horror movie of ‘The Ring’ in my 3rd case study.
According to the
Verge, a good jump
scare is needed to
make a good horror
movie. In a jump scare,
a dangerous situation
is introduced to be
solved; when the
situation is solved
everything runs
smoothly for the
meantime till an
unexpected shock
occurs.

5.  My decisive skills in researching real media products have
improved since the AS course since I was able to take the
leadership role in being the producer and the director in my
group.

Evidence of me taking the role as the producer
through, editing in the Mac Studio.

6. Q2) What research have you carried out into your target audience?
I have produced a YouTube video which consists of the audience
feedback of my treatment.
http://youtu.be/pJdlGWWvC20 (Click for Youtube video)
1) People thought that our idea was creative particularly the
texting amongst Diana and Priscilla interested the audience in a
humorous way.
2) In response to the idea of Priscilla's best friend texting, a
male suggested that we should keep our original idea since the
genre of our film is horror and therefore, ‘unrealistic’ or
‘supernatural’ elements are expected.
Weaknesses
1) People thought that the idea of the hand at the end of the
scene was too complicated.
2) People thought that the ideas were too much so we should
therefore cut out some scenes including the hand scene.
3) People thought our plan was unrealistic because the actors
appear to look like characters off American drama.
4) People were confused with the narrative.
5) An individual thought that it should be Priscilla's best friend
texting as opposed to Priscilla herself texting.
6) The idea of the film being in a non-linear order is too
complicated.
7) People thought that dialogue was needed to make the
storyline easier to understand however, we still kept the idea

7. of having no dialogue as we thought that it would be more
effective in relating to our genre of horror.
Use of the audience feedback from target audience:
From the feedback I’ve learned that both genders are
interested in my horror movie as a mixture of boys and girls
responded enthusiastically to my horror movie. Additionally,
judging from the feedback I realised that my target audience of
young adults were very interested in the mobile technology we
were intending to use for Priscilla to communicate to Diana.
This may well be because young adults are more familiar with
mobile technology as it is becoming increasingly popular in the
modern society. Moreover I’ve learned that my short film may
well appeal to American young adults as a student quoted that
the characters of Diana, Priscilla and Rachel were
representative of how American people look. However, as the
short film will be set in London it would be relevant for the
short film to attract Londoners; this will be achieved because
our actors are representative of typical British youths through
the way they dress and speak.
Q) How does this initial audience research compare to the
research you carried out for your music magazine last year?

8. Locations: Very well- Me, Geneva and Asmaa as a team managed to
contact the owners of each location we chose. We contacted them
through emailing which shows that we have proficient organisation
skills as a team.
Screenshot of the interaction
towards the Hackney council
Moreover, I would say that we organised our locations very well as
we managed to take pictures of all the locations we will be using.
This is emphasized through my Reeces amongst my blog. Through
us taking pictures we were able to visually view our locations and
visualize the scene within each location. Moreover, through us
taking pictures of our locations our certainty towards our chosen
locations is portrayed. Additionally, we organised our locations
very effectively as we managed to evaluate each location in our risk
assessment which enables us as a team to assess the effectiveness

9. of each location. Through the evaluation, we were more aware of
the risks behind each of our chosen location which further makes
us more attentive towards health and safety issues such as, slippery
grounds, confined spaces and dirty surroundings.
Minor improvements that could be made
We used a spare white
cover to put on top of the
duvet so that, there is
less chance of the blood
spilling onto the actual
duvet. This was another
risk in which we carefully
considered.
-Asking to use camera equipment to test scenes beforehand so that
we do not intervene with busy schedules.

10. -Being more specific about the area of the park we will use so that
we assure that this is a definite location.
How well did I organise my costumes?
*Satisfactory- We managed to plan the types of attire each
character will wear however, we could have been more detailed
about these choices. For instance, we decided that Diana should
wear an ‘all black outfit’ however we have not made the decision
into whether Diana should wear a dress or trousers and a T-shirt.
Additionally, I would say that my costume choice for Priscilla (the
ghost) should be more realistic as we agreed that Priscilla should
wear a white gown but, we are unaware of the retails that the
actor can purchase the white gown from.
As a result of me
not being specific
enough about the
‘all black outfit’ I
have updated my
blog and applied a
picture of the type
of clothing needed:
a blazer/jacket,
tight jeans and flat
shoes.

11. How well did I organise my props?
I would say that we organised our props quite well as on the
morning of 18th of October, Saturday we as a team went shopping
to buy the properties of fake blood, red lipstick and a rope. As a
result of this, we were already prepared in terms of equipment for
our short film. Additionally, within our treatment we planned our
properties beforehand which emphasizes our commitment and
shows that we are aware of the properties we need for our film.
Other properties such as, a phone, a rope and make-up were easily
attainable as me and Asmaa already had these properties.
Improvements to be made:
*To reduce our pay towards such properties e.g. the red lipstick
was £3.50 in Claire when we could have purchased it at a much
cheaper price in Primark.

12. Class votes: Me and our group asked the class to vote between 3 of
our drafts of our film posters. .
MOST
This was useful in me
getting knowledge into
what people think about
my film poster ideas.
Therefore, I can
effectively apply the
chosen idea to my real
film production.
Q3) How does this initial POPULAR--
audience research compare to the
research you carried out for your music magazine last year?
Similar to the feedback I carried out on my film posters, I also
carried out feedback into the conventions of my music magazine
and people such as, Josephine Gyamfi and Stephanie Amaoko
responded positively to the colour scheme and the layout of my
music magazine. Stephanie Amoako quoted how she ‘liked’ the

13. colour scheme because it suited the R&B genre; Josephine quoted
how she “really liked” the red layout of my boxes because it made
my magazine look professional and stand out. This was useful as I
was able to assess the standard of my music magazine.
Likewise to the audience research I did in a2, I received open
responses for my music magazine in AS; this was useful as through
open responses I was able to gather up more information towards
my audience feedback since the answers can be extensive and do
not require a tick box.
Alternatively, different to my A2 audience research feedback in my
AS I only used the technology of the Blogger text b this had a
negative impact on my creativity skills. Moreover, due to this my
responses from my audience were unreliable as there was no
source to back up the information. However, in a way the

14. acknowledgement of this mistake has improved the quality of my
work for a2 as I was able to upload a video of my audience
feedback as evidence; also apply the responses on the Blogger text
box. (Upload YouTube video of short film treatment and evidence
of Microsoft word responses)
Q4) Logistics planning: How well did you organise your actors,
locations, costumes and props.
Actors
I would say that I organised my actors quite well as we managed to
check up on our actors regularly and arrange dates with them to
meet up. We arranged rehearsal dates with our actors through
email and how sociable and attentive of our actors we are as we
were able to keep in touch with them. Through our detailed
description of the actors of Diana, Priscilla and Rachel our interest
in the way our actors come across to the audience is expressed.
(Get images). Moreover, the fact that we were able to get
characters that look alike to the characters we produced counts as
a bonus as it makes our ideas more realistic. Furthermore, we also
hosted auditions for our actors on the 2nd of October, 2014,
beforehand to assess their performance. Through these auditions
we were able to keep in touch with our actors through Facebook,
hotmail and Whatsapp. (Get Whatsapp text) On the date of
16/10/2014 we as a team arranged to meet up with the main actor
at college to give her the details on our first shooting which will be
on the 18th of October 2014.
How does this compare to the logistics planning you did for the
music magazine?

15. In AS, I did not use any pictures to give a visual image of the
clothing, props and make-ups I chose. As a result of this, my
logistics ideas came across as less realistic as I was unable to display
my ideas.
Printscreen of my logistics in AS.
Different to A2, in AS I barely kept in contact with my actors;
because of this I had little updates on them. Furthermore, due to
this I was unable to book the dates in which they were all available
which led to disaster as on the day one of our actors was unable to
show up. My organisation of actors improved tremendously in A2
as, I produced a Whatsapp chat to keep in contact with my actors
regularly. Additionally, we also took pictures as a team and
frequently uploaded them on Blogger.

16. Print screens of conversations with actors/A2

17. Narrative planning: Evaluation of Story Board
Whilst producing our story board we divided our roles amongst each
person. For instance, I was the person who distinguished the camera shots
whereas, Asmaa was the drawer and Geneva was liable for editing
techniques. However, Asmaa had the least time on her hands as she had to
spend the most time on the story board so therefore we could have at least
equally shared the responsibility of drawing the scenes. Moreover, we were
in a rush at first which had a negative impact on the quality of our story
board since we had to produce a new storyboard on top of our previous
story board. Therefore, we should have arranged an available time to finish
the story board so that we do not have to rush because of busy schedules.
What made our second story board more effective was because we were
able to identify the mistakes we did in our first story board to avoid
repeating it for our new storyboard. For instance, in our old storyboard we
made the mistake of not putting enough detail on camera angles and shots
in each scene but, in our new story board we managed to put every detail
on camera angles and shots for each scene. Even though this took us hours
of our time, we were able to secure a good grade after which rewards our
effort and commitment towards producing our storyboard. Moreover, due
to misreading the instructions we did not notice that we had to add a script
on our story board. Without a script to on our story board, the audience will
be unaware of the message behind every scene so we therefore informed
by our peers and later produced a script later on. As a result of this, I would
say that our time management and negotiation skills as a group would need
to be improved so that we can get work done before deadlines. In
comparison to my time management in AS, A2 was better as I was able to
get the work done more quickly than working by myself.
In terms of organisation skills in producing our script, I would say that they
are quite effective as we managed to regularly keep in contact; share work
through Facebook. Through that way, members of the group can voice out
about what needs to be improved about our script and how our script could
be improved.

18. Evidence
Evidence of the script work me and
my team produced.
Evidence of the
conversation we made
about the production of
our script work.

19. 1st story board which was
had less context.
2ND Story board which has much more
detail and colouring.

20. How well have I presented my research
and planning?
Quite well, I was able to use creative features on Microsoft word to make
my treatment stand out. Such creative features I used on Microsoft word
included: soft edges on the picture effects, picture contrasts and
brightness, page colour on page layout, shape effects and captions added
to pictures. Moreover, in my Case studies I was able to use a variety of
layouts on Prezi which relate to my aspiring genres. For instance, for my
genre of horror I used a black and blue layout to symbolise something
sinister and mysterious. Whereas for my Shrek analysation I used the
background image of an audience watching a show to, relate to the film’s
genre of being a comedy. Furthermore, my research was quite effective as
different to AS I managed to produce V logs on YouTube so that my
audience can visualise the activities we do as a team. Through this way,
examiners are also aware that our team meetings are valid.
In terms of planning, I would say that my planning was quite well as I
managed to keep in contact with my team members through a range of
social networking apps such as, Facebook, Hotmail and Whatsapp. Through
the use of these social networking sites, I was also able to frequently blog
any team meetings during the process of producing the short film as
evidence of me and my team operating together.
Is this an improvement on last year’s blog?
Yes- In AS, I barely kept in contact with actors hence the reason why, one of my
actors did not show up on the day however, within A2 I kept in touch with actors
more regularly through Facebook, Hotmail and Whatsapp. Moreover, in terms of
planning the layout for my Blogger in AS was disorganised as my teacher struggled
to mark all of the work. Alternatively, in A2 I improved significantly as I managed to
chose a simple layout and add suitable titles to my posts. Furthermore, in terms of
research for AS I did not frequently blog posts which were relevant to my chosen
genre. However, now in A2 I managed to regularly blog posts which are relevant to
my genre of horror such as, fake blood equipments, ghost costumes and horror films
e.g. One Missed Call.

21. Evidence
Conversations I and my team have.
Evidence of some creative features on
Microsoft word
I decreased the
contrast of the
image to make
the image
appear bolder.
Soft edges effect
which makes my
image look more
appealing as greater
focus is added onto
the image.
Shape effects of stars added to
make the title look distinctive.
http://youtu.be/Bze
JUTshGr0
Click to view Vlogs