Sian Lynes How has your understanding of the importance of good research and planning skills developed throughout

the pre-production of your AS and A2 coursework?

I believe that from AS to A2 I have developed the ability to carry both good research and planning skills which aided the pre-production of my coursework. I learnt the importance of reliable primary research as well as the consideration of secondary research to contribute to the final outcome of my work. For my AS production work my primary research consisted mainly of analysing magazine covers, contents pages and double page spreads so I could gain an idea of the conventions and further incorporate them into my product. I understood the importance to gain magazines of different genres such as rock magazine Q in comparison to mainstream music magazines like Billboard so that my research was not biased. This allowed me to gain an equal insight into the varied conventions and style techniques that I could modify for my own unique magazine. However, unlike A2 I found that the extent of my primary research was limited. For A2 my research skills become more accurate and specific to my product, for example my research into 1950s typography for A2 was more useful in comparison to almost random typefaces I compared in AS. During A2 my research allowed me to be more subjective which I believe I lacked in AS. For example, I carried out an textual analysis of other texts such as Lana Del Rey's 'National Anthem' among others where I could see which components of the text were successful and could apply to my own. Whereas for AS this approach was not as prominent as I did not look as in depth and only applied it when comparing which conventions were more preferred, such as looking at colour palettes. From AS to A2 I also increased my awareness of secondary research that aided the final production of my work. Secondary research lacked in my AS, I researched into 'S' and 'Z' models of magazine cover conventions, Laure Mulvey's The Male Gaze theory and the Rule of Thirds. However, this focused mainly on the visual impact of my production, although I did research into ABC1 profile of Q magazine to identify female to male ratio of readership. Whereas for A2 I believe I learnt the important of valid secondary research, following a wide variety of theorist and genre categories from Barthes' theory of 'The Grain of Voice' to Illustration, Amplification and Disjuncture. This research then further improved my planning of my music video and ancillary tasks as I could then plan new narrative codes and theorists alike to my own text, conforming to conventions of real media texts. In terms of planning my A2 become more detailed than my previous AS which allowed me to organise my time more efficiently and create accurate drafts. For my AS I constructed a hand drawn form of my intended visual concept on paper which I allowed me to follow later in my productions stages. However, the draft were not as detailed as my A2. For example, I created a detailed storyboard of the shot types and times necessary for my music video. Although I disagree with the statement that if a project is too well planned it lacks opportunities for spontaneity and creativity as I was still able to modify my planned ideas in later stages if necessary. Planning in terms of my product was also more extensive in my A2. For example, at AS although I understood the necessary requirements for good research the lack of time meant that only minimal research into only some typefaces, colour palettes and theme meant that my planning was limited. Whereas for A2 I was able to research over 30 digipaks and album adverts and convention designs.

Sian Lynes This showed how I valued the importance of good and detailed research as it ultimately allowed my final tasks to be more accurate for its purpose. Also, I developed my skills in the importance of research and planning my production work. For AS I created a moodboard and pitch using the platform Animoto which I presented to my peers. This feedback was fairly limited and did not allow me to progress my product much in my planning stages. Whereas for A2 research into audience feedback and their opinions become significant. I received feedback for the draft of my initial pitch for my video and ancillary tasks, as well as continued feedback of the draft of my music video and then final music video. This continual feedback through all stages allowed me to really improve any possible flaws and increase the success of my final products; whereas for my AS the feedback was only on my initial idea. In this sense this importance of research and planning of feedback complies with Donald Larning's statement that judgements are comparisons of 'one thing or another'. This subjective approach allowed me to improve my skills in the planning stages of my product to create a more specific product for my target market. Overall, I believe that my research and planning skills improved greatly and without this understanding I would not have achieved a such a successful final production work.