Tuesday, 22 April 2014

Critical Perspective Theoretical Evaluation

What is genre?

Genre is catagorising texts by the particular themes and conventions in which they have in common. According to theorists David Chandler (2001) and John Fiske (1989) genre is used to structure some order to simplify the mass of available information and for the convenience of both audiences and producers. Barry Keith Grant (1995) suggests that genre is a broad aspect it consists of hybrids, a combination of 2 or more genres, and sub-genres, smaller more specific genres within a bigger genre, he states that these are used to allow audiences to identify genres specifically by their familiar and recognisable characteristics. Genre is described by Rick Altman (1999) as a way of offering audiences' a set of pleasures. Audiences' actively select what genre they want to consume based upon experience and prior knowledge. Jason Mittell (2001) states that genre is used to sell products to audience then. It makes reference to the audiences' knowledge of society and other texts.

How does your work fit into genre, sub-genre or hybrid genre?

For my A2 trailer I decided to produce a product which fitted into the horror genre. After researching this genre and other texts which fit into the genre in depth I was able to create a product which held the particular themes and conventions of the horror genre. I did this in order to present the particylar pleasure of understanding what genre my trailer fits into to my audience. For example in my horror trailer my main antagonist carries a knife, this prop repetition is similarly used in A Nightmare On Elm Street as the main antagonist carries blades and in Chainsaw Massacre the main antagonist carries a chainsaw.

Monday, 19 August 2013

My Skills Assessment

In my first year in media studies I had to research, plan and create my own front cover, contents page and double page spread for a music magazine. From the research, planning and producing of my product I have learnt and developed numerous skills.
I have learnt how to research and analyse professional products so that I could take idea's from them and re-invent them into my own product. In order to create my product I learnt how to use certain software such as Photoshop and InDesign so I could make my product look as professional as possible.

Photoshop

To make my product look as professional as possible i learnt how to edit and reconstruct all my photographs if needed. I learnt how to use a certain tool called a clone stamp which allowed me cover any blemishes which were on my models. I also learnt to alter the levels and brightness of my images to make them look more bright so that they would look more summery and link into my magazine style. From using photoshop i also learnt how to export images and convert them into JPEG's.
Although I am not 100% confident when using Photoshop and still have to ask for assistance and guidance when using some tools I think i will learnt how to use all the tools I need as I progress through the year and make a better product.

InDesign

While using InDesign i learnt how to:

  • What all the appropriate tools are and how to use them.
  • How to download new fonts into InDesign and use them on my product.
  • How to insert and arrange images.
When creating my product at AS media studies i also learnt how to control the lighting in the studio so that I could experiment with different camera angles and shots with different lighting levels to create an effective image.

The different forms of research which I did was 'textual research', this included me selecting two professional music magazines (MOJO and NME) and analysing and deconstructing the front cover, contents page and double page spread of both and expressing why certains colours, layout, fonts etc were used in these magazines, this helped me to understand the real conventions of media.
I then did 'secondary audience research' where I looked at an audience profile from both of the magazines which I had previously collected data on to see whether they appealed to a young/old/female/male audience. From this research I think created my own audience profile for my magazine.
I then went on to complete 'primary audience research' where i collected opinions from an audience suitable to my magazine using videos, questionnaires and post-it notes and then used the data which I had gathered to improve my magazine.
I then completed 'instituational research' where I collected data on two publishing groups (Bauer and IPC) and looked at other magazines which they published and then stated how this research would affect my ideas.
I also collected researc hon different font types to see which fonts would be suitable for my music magazine genre and which would not. I did the same research again but this time with colour.
After creating my first drafts of my magazine pages I collected feedback from other students in my college and my teachers which I then used to improve and create my final product.