Theoretical evaluation of production

AS production
·        the layout of the magazine – kept to the stereotypical layout of particular music magazines e.g. vibe
·         the layout of the CD inner booklet- looked at different inner booklets of different genres of music 

A2 production

·        The location- stereotypical to a horror. it was dark, abandoned, set at night
·        The layout of the magazine

I analysed many different media conventions for my planning and research section for both my AS and A2 course work I did this in many different ways and did it to make my course work more effective and make it realistic as it could possibly be. In most cases what I analysed and put in my course work worked well and was effective but it didn’t always look as good as it could this happened with my AS course work rather than my A2.

A wide range of media conventions influenced both my AS and A2 media products, I looked at different real media texts too see the stereotypical conventions of each piece of course work. For example with my A2 course work I decided that I wanted to do horror as a genre so there for I looked at many different horror film trailers too see the typical conventions of horror. I took on board what I saw and interpreted it into my course work which I think made it more effective and realistic.  For example the location of my film was a dark abandoned church the film was also set at night, I think this really conformed to the stereotypical conventions of horror because where it was so dark and mysterious it gave you the feeling that something bad was going to happen so that builds up tension which i think is a vital thing in horror. Because it makes the audience feel scared. This makes the aim of your course work achieved.  

Another example of where I analysed media conventions to make my course work more realistic and effective is with the layout of my magazine covers in both my AS and A2 course work. For my AS course work I looked at a range of different music magazine covers such as vibe, I think that this really helped me to see how magazines are supposed to look e.g. the title of the magazine is always at the top of the page in big bold letters, this is what I did with my A2 course work as well but instead of music magazines I looked at film magazines such as empire. Personally I think that my A2 magazine cover looked a lot more realistic than my AS one but I think that is because I’ve had more practise and did more research into the music magazines.

In conclusion I think that looking at real media texts and analysing the stereotypical conventions of them really helped make my  AS and A2 course work realistic it also gave me some ideas on how to take on the conventions but also change them too make them my own piece of work.

Bathes theory- narrative codes

Barthes theory

Barthes theory focuses on the concept that every narrative is made up of...

The enigma code- This sets up the mystery of the narrative. This keeps the audience wondering what will happen. The enigma is usually revealed by the end of the narrative but not in all cases.

The action code- This suggests that there are events that still need to come up. This happens until the end.

The semantic code- This involves signs that suggest or refer to additional meanings. This code is implied through connotations that things have e.g. a character holding a pen implies the character has already wrote something or is going to write something.

The symbolic code- This refers to the symbolism within a text, the symbolic code involves contrasting opposites such as black and white to show contrast and meaning.

The cultural code- This involves things that refer to the current cultural or intercultural domain there is often different cultures and this provides more context and meaning to the text and the way we think about them.

Introduction on exams

In my exam for section one I expect to talk about both pieces of coursework and talk about the real media conventions I analysed and incorporated into both my AS and A2 course work and how well they worked too make my course work more realistic. In the second question I expect to talk about the skills I have developed from creating my course work e.g. technology, genre, etc.  For the third question I expect to talk about media in the online age and talk about one piece of course work either AS or A2 with this question you will have to talk about two different media texts e.g. film, music, games, etc.