Research comments

·         Your chosen brief is perfect – great link to your investigation and a genuine product I can imagine in the media environment. Going for a weekly news magazine is much more achievable and realistic than a newspaper.

·     

    Your planning – at least on your blog – is pretty weak. I’ve actually seen a lot of your drafts on-screen and they look very promising but I hope there’s more by way of planning and research that is sitting on paper somewhere and didn’t make it to your blog. There is no requirement from AQA to submit any research or planning but there is absolutely no way to reach the top level (“approaching professional standards”) without meticulous planning and research.

·        

The photography you’ve posted up on your blog is mixed – I’m not seeing too many professional-level photos in terms of framing and focus. It may be worth pursuing the more cartoon-like approach you’re going for on the cover on the inside pages too. That might mean heavy editing of your images on Photoshop to continue this visual style. If you want to run with standard photos, clever cropping will be essential to make the images approach professional standards.

·       

  More than any other project, your final grade will depend on excellent writing. The content of your double page spreads (and contents page) needs to match a professional design. This is a challenge – any lack of authority to the writing (or particularly poor written English) will wipe marks off your final MEST4 grade. At the moment I haven’t seen any of the text so this is naturally a high-risk area for the project currently.

·         Post these tutorial notes to your MEST4 coursework blog as a new blogpost.

·         The rough cut/page deadline is Wednesday 22 March – make sure you are on track to meet this deadline.

·        

After pasting these notes in your blogpost, write a numbered list of THREE things you will do in the next seven days in order to move your Linked Production project to the next level.

Critical investigation draft 2

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1Z4w00mNpaINFRpUXllRTc1anc/view?usp=sharing

First draft LR

WWW: You've addressed a fantastic topic with solid research and some excellent quotes and plenty of relevant texts

-There is clear potential to take this to a higher grade

EBI: Howeve, im disappointed in the quality of written english the first page is mixed but from page 2 limited capital letters used for name of newspapers. Needs proofreading

-bibliography is web heavy, not enough evidence of research in the essay more quotes required for top level

-last couple of pages need serious work- drift off question, did social media influence the referendum? echo chambers... fake news... but keep focused on the question

-add the front pages to your essay and offer more textual analysis.

In the second draft i'm aiming for a minimum of 38-40- level 4-B+

1- Proof read and correct grammar so there are no mistakes

2- Re-visit the BFI library and reach a minimum of 10 books

3- Reach a minimum of 30 quotes for next draft

4- Bring focus back to the question at the end of each paragraph and when comparing

5- Include more theory (what has been learnt in lesson recently) and more textual analysis of front covers

MEST4 Linked production: Research and planning

MEST4 Linked production: Research and planning

1) Confirm your production brief. You write this yourself but it's absolutely crucial this is clear, appropriate and achievable. You should have done this already - the original blogpost was here - but it may have changed as a result of your preliminary exercise.

2) Research: detailed notes on at least THREE texts similar to what you are creating. What are the key conventions? What can you learn/borrow from the examples you have looked at?

The Economist- Simple but ambiguous front pages usually colourful and one central image, some titles have a play on words, no space for 'cheap' advertising', usually some detailed background with meaning to the main article in the magazine. Simple contents page with colours mainly black and white with a similar theme to the front cover. Detailed and sophisticated articles inside with a large image professionally taken and/or edited, either on one side of the page or in the middle or somewhere else, double page spreads are quite varied but again kept simple yet sophisticated. 

Foreign policy- this is an American liberal magazine which is very similar to the economist even in terms of logo and colour schemes, they just take an American approach to things in the sense 'bigger is better' and the double page spreads are slightly more extravagant.

The New Yorker- This American newspaper famed for its hand-drawn cartoons and old fashioned font style is also very sophisticated but also simple with the one central image taking up the majority of the page. In some front pages they take events from the past and put the present events into it... eg: Trump as King Kong on the empire state building.

3) Project schedule: when will you shoot and edit this production? Make this a week-by-week schedule leading up to Easter. Key dates: we break up for Easter on Friday 31 March and the final deadline is Wednesday 19 April.

4) Script - see the BBC Writers' Room for advice/script formatting. If you're making a music video, you'll want to write a treatment instead. This is anexample treatment that I provide for GCSE Media students studying this topic. For print productions, this means writing all the text for the cover, contents and feature articles. Write this in Microsoft Word so you can proofread and spellcheck the work before moving it into Photoshop.

5) Sketching and drafting - for video-based productions this means astoryboard - sheets available in DF07 or you can print out your own AQA storyboard sheet. For print productions, this means detailed sketches of all your pages.

6) Shot list - use Microsoft Word or a template like this to help you. Remember, you need a shot list whether you are filming or carrying out a print photoshoot - professional quality original images are essential if you want to reach the top level.

7) Mise-en-scene: casting/model details, costume and make-up, props, lighting, location scouting for video productions etc. Use photographs to document and plan your mise-en-scene - using your phone is acceptable for this.

MEST4 Preliminary exercise: evaluation

MEST4 Preliminary exercise: evaluation

1) Why did you choose this particular recreation and how does it link to your main production?

The central image used a technique i wanted to explore and have some practise with to use in the linked production. I used this because it links to the political theme i was going for.

2) What difficulties did you face in producing this recreation?

The main difficulty i faced was having to alter the central image to fir the original as it was difficult to find someone to portray 'the Donald' accurately. Also, trying to match the exact colours was difficult and took a lot of playing around to get close to.

3) What are the strengths of the production?

The strengths is that the text and images are aligned well, also the colours and textures are almost exactly the same which makes it look more authentic. 

4) What aspects would you look to improve?

The central image is the main thing I would like to improve as an official photoshoot wasnt used to take the image which could be a better quality.

5) What lessons will you take from this process that will help you with your main production?

Take more time for the photoshoot and casting for it is equally as important.

6) Now that you are ready to start your actual linked production, explain clearly what you will be creating and how confident you are in delivering this.

I will be creating a politics magazine for a review of 2016 politics mainly for the UK but also US briefly, also predicting what 2017 politics would be like.

Preliminary finished

Preliminary exercise: Recreation task

Preliminary exercise: Recreation task


Name of the text you plan to recreate:


Scene/section you will recreate:
Front page
Location you will use for your recreation:
...
Actors you will require for your recreation:
Joseph 

Props/costumes you will require for your recreation:
Microphone, wig?

Equipment you plan to use:
Camera, microphone, wig, white screen, photoshop


Any other relevant information:
...