Statement of intent.

How you intend to use Media Language to target your intended audience?

I intend to use bright colours, bold titles and simple images to keep the magazine interesting and engaging. Using bright colours would make the magazine attract more attention and seem more interesting than others. Bold titles and simple images would keep the magazine both easy to read and simple to understand references between the text and images. The layout of the magazine will also be laid out to make it flow easier and make it more enjoyable to read.

 How you intend to use Media Representations that are appropriate to your intended audience?

I intend to use Media Representations to represent learning through magazines and articles as more exciting and engaging. By doing this, I would create more of a meaning in the magazine by making it more original as many educational media texts can be boring for the audience to read.

NEA Part 9 - Schedule

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
13th	14th	15th	16th	17th	18th Take photos for cover and pages.	19th Take photos for cover and pages.
20th write article in word format (template).	21st write article in word format (template).	22nd Logo design ideas / logo production.	23rd write article in word format (template).	24th write article in word format (template).	25th Take photos for cover and pages.	26th Edit photos.
27th Front page layout and edit photos.	28th Front page layout and edit photos.	29th Logo design ideas / logo production. Write cover lines.	30th Front page layout.	31st Front page layout.	1st Front page layout.	2nd Front page layout.
3rd Double page spread layout.	4th Double page spread layout.	5th Double page spread layout.	6th Double page spread layout.	7th Double page spread layout.	8th Double page spread layout.	9th Double page spread layout.
10th insert photos into layouts.	11th insert photos into layouts.	12th Write article.	13th Write article.	14th Write article.	15th Write article.	16th Write article.
17th Write article.	18th Write article.	19th Grammar check.	20th Feedback.	21st Edit and adjust if needed.	22nd Edit and adjust if needed.	23rd Edit and adjust if needed.
24th Edit and adjust if needed.	25th Edit and adjust if needed.	26th Edit and adjust if needed.	27th Edit and adjust if needed.	28th Edit and adjust if needed.	29th Edit and adjust if needed.	30th Edit and adjust if needed.

• Why do you think it's important to produce a schedule of activities when working on a production?

Its important to schedule activities so that you don't get overflowed with the different things you have to do.

• Name 3 activities you're likely to struggle with?

I'm likely to struggle with the photos, the editing of the photos and the Logo design. 

• What are you going to do in order to achieve these difficult activities?

I'm going to learn a editor to edit the photos and logos in and practice my camera work.

NEA Part 8 - Casting

In this blog post, I will be deciding what actors / models that I will use in my product.

Name : Leo Waddington:

Age : 10

Gender : Male

Appearance : Blue eyes, blond hair.

What makes him suitable : Factors that make him suitable are that he is a year six boy (aged 10) which is the target audience for my magazine and that he is quite accessible because he does extra curricula school clubs that could be partly missed to take shots.

What makes him unsuitable : He can not want to take shot for the magazine which would mean that I would have to find another accessible person to take pictures for my magazine with.

NEA Part 7 - Locations

In this task, I will be deciding on what locations to take shots for my magazine.

I plan to use Thurrock gorge (RM16 6YH) to take pictures for brighter and more colourful shots because it is accessible and can be used in lots of different ways. Risks and hazards include: the public or wildlife could disrupt the shots as it is a public place and the ground can get muddy quickly if it rains so I will have to choose the days of my shots based round the weather for that day.

I could also use Harrow Lodge Primary School for shots on school classrooms. I have chosen this because it's also accessible; however, the students may disrupt some shots that I will take.

In conclusion, I have learnt that there are more places that I can easily access to take photos than I thought I could take pictures in. I'm also going to use this knowledge to think of any different locations that I could use although I don't think I need anymore.

NEA Part 6 - Product Profile

Learning Objectives:

• K: the importance of sketches and planning in the decision making process of creating a magazine.

• U: how to use sketches to influence your stylistic decisions.

• BAT: undertake a creative task in which you start the decision making process in terms of style of your magazine.

In this part I will draft my magazine by creating sketches that will mirror what I want to do with my production. This is important because without a draft of the product it may look untidy and not thought out enough.

Feedback from sketches:

To much space between boxes and paragraphs. Bar code and price on the bottom of the article. Have more images and make text boxes smaller.

From the feedback i learnt that I need to use most of the space available and position my boxes in reasonable positions so they are eye catching and the reader wont miss them.

NEA Part 5 - Moodboard

What brief did you choose?

I chose the Magazine brief aimed at 10 - 13 year old's.

What are the minimum requirements for your chosen production?

At least 5 original images, a front cover containing:
Original title, Strapline, Cover price barcode and edition number, one main cover image and 3 cover lines (one linking to the double page spread).
Double page spread:
Headline stand-first and sub-headings, Original images (one main article and 3 other images), Feature article approximately 300 words that links to a cover line on the previous page.

What is the target audience as prescribed in the brief?

At an audience of 10 - 13 year old's.

What is your target audience for the product you're creating? (this needs to link to the audience profiling post).

I will be aiming at a 10 - 13 year old audience of boys to try to boost their learning experience and teach new interesting facts.

"In this task I'll explore different types of images, fonts and colours to use in my Magazine.  I shall be looking at different connotations and how these affect the way my target audience might view my product.  By creating this mood board I will also be exploring creative ways of how to present my work".

• How did they helped you define content for your product?

         When defining my product I thought of resources that I had available to me such as 

         my knowledge of the education system.

• What will be your overall colour scheme of your production?

         I will use bright colours such as blue, red or green for the colour scheme of the

         product.

• What kind of images/shots would you use in your production?

         I will use mostly close up or mid shots in my magazine.

• What kind of fonts would you use in your production?

         I will use big bold fonts for the headline in my production as well as small fonts for the 

         text.

• What kind of mise-en-scene would you use in your production?

         I will use mise-en-scene to highlight areas of pictures that I want the readers attention           drawn to.

• What kind of intertextuality would you use in your production?

         I will use intertextuality to link all the facts and topics of my magazine together.

• Which media theory(ies) are you likely to use in your production?

         I will use Blumler and Katz theory of uses and gratification to attract parents of young           children.

NEA Part 4 - Audience Profile

Name 5 ways in which audiences can be categorised.

Media audiences can be categorised as Mass, Niche, or by genre like, TV audiences, Film audiences and Magazine audiences.

Why do you think it's important for media producers to categorise audiences?

So that the media companies can highlight and focus on the types of people that their product attracts.

What is the target audience as described in your chosen brief?

The target audience for my brief is 10 - 13 year old boys.

Give a short explanation as to your understanding of the target audience given in your chosen brief.

I chose the audience for boys mainly because I have a brother who is 10 - 13 and they find the educational system more boring and statistically read less imaginative and educational books, magazines and newspapers. My magazine would also be aimed at the middle classes to try to boost the learning through out year 6 - 8.

The results gathered in survey monkey, will help me structure and plan my magazine. For example, the results show that people want a educational magazine to be factual, engaging and colourful. Another set of results that will help me are the different magazines that people have heard of. The most popular result is National Geographic so I can look towards that magazine to try to gain a better understanding of what makes magazines popular.

NEA Part 3 - Media Theories

Pictures would not copy.

In this lesson learn and familiarise myself with media theories to aid me when creating my magazine.

These three media texts all link to Robert Stam's theory that there are infinite genres because no media texts are alike. This is because, all the three magazines target different audiences, with different genres and different styles. The Epic magazine is a gaming genre, the Match of the Day is a football or sport genre and the Scoop magazine is an educational and informative genre much like the first news.


I will use media theories in my magazine such as Robert Stam's theory and Laura Mulvey's theory to make my media product unique and stand out.

Narrative Theories:

• Propp – 8 character roles: only applies to mainstream texts where characters often pertain to stereotype. Sometimes, can apply to running news stories by analysing a Hero, Villain, False Hero, Princess (or prize), Her Father, Donor, Despatcher, Helper.

• Todorov – Act Structure: Equilibrium, Disruption, Resolution, New Equilibrium.

• Levi-Strauss - texts are often understood by the ways things are placed in binary opposition to each other - the good and the bad, the pretty and the ugly, etc.

Audience Theories:

• Blumler and Katz - Uses and Gratifications.

• Stuart Hall – audience positioning and dominant/negotiated/oppositional readings.

• David Gauntlett – Producer as Consumer (Prosumer): thanks to digital media, many consumers of media as also producers e.g. YouTube as cultural phenomenon.

Genre Theories:

• John Hartley – genre is interpreted culturally e.g. Coronation Street or Eastenders could only be understood in terms of the conventions of UK soap operas, American television dramas tend to have a slightly different set of conventions to British television dramas.

• Robert Stam – there are infinite genres. Basically Stam is advancing an argument that genre no longer exists and we do not have to analyse text in terms of genre.

• John Fiske – genre as ‘convenience’ for producers and audiences – this means commercial success is underpinned by the conventions of genre in terms of what audiences expect.

Representation Theories:

Feminist approaches:

• Angela McRobbie – post feminist icon theory suggesting female character are determined, strong, independent and in control but also utilize their sexuality e.g. Lara Croft, Lady Gaga…

• Laura Mulvey – male gaze/female gaze. It suggests the female form is objectified in a range of media. 

Other approaches:

• Richard Dyer - Stereotype legitimize inequality by marginalizing certain individuals and social groups. "Media institutions with power make stereotypes of those will less power".

• David Gauntlett – Producer as Consumer (Prosumer): thanks to digital media, many consumers of media as also producers e.g. YouTube as cultural phenomenon.

NEA Part 2 -Intertextuality Research

Media text - The media text is any media product we wish to examine. Every description or representation of the world, fictional or otherwise, is an attempt to describe or define reality, and is in some way a construct of reality, a text.

Choose 2 different media texts... as long as they link to the brief you've chosen.  

How and why is intertextuality employed in 2 media products and what effect does this have in their intended audience?

Intertextuality - the relationship between texts, especially literary ones.

The intertextuality in the Discovery and Arts and Activities is that they both have bold, interesting and eye catching covers. This would make people look longer and probably buy the product making more money. The covers also both have bold titles and short captions, e.g. wonder of clay, hinting about what the magazines contents will be about. By hinting about the context, readers would be given a small insight into the magazine which could interest them.

In my magazine, I will use bold and eye catching titles and captions to entice the readers and fully engage them in my magazine.

NEA Part 1 - Media Language and Representations Analysis

How is media language used in 2 media products to create meaning through constructing representations and following genre conventions?

The best way to answer this is by looking at the representations first, then look at how media language is used to create them... 

• What type of shot/music are they using? 
• What connotations do the colours they use have? 
• What does the set represent the time and place of the situation? 
• What does the make-up and hair used say about the characters/models? 
• What does the body language say about the attitudes of the characters/models used?
• What connotations can the type of lighting used in the shot/scenes have? How does it help create representation?

If you chose to do Brief 1:
Choose TWO front covers and TWO double spread articles from educational magazines.

This magazine cover is showing a colourful tiger which is eye catching and can show that the magazine would be fun and interesting. The magazine is formatted in a way that makes it look interesting and makes their target audience want to read and learn more of the magazine. The language used in this magazine is informative but simple and easy to follow. This magazine would try to eliminate the negative stereotype that learning is boring through its use of easy to read facts and statistics.This would change peoples mind about this stereotype by teaching kids facts with jokes and small puzzles.

Fun For Kidz is another colourful educational magazine 
showing the creativity of kids. Its colour is eye catching demonstrating that the magazine is going to be filled with interesting activities for kids to do. The magazine is formatted in a way where it looks interesting and full of pictures and colour. This magazine would try to eliminate the negative stereotype that learning and reading is boring and pointless through its use of bright colours and pictures. This would eliminate this stereotype by making learning seem a bit more engaging and colourful.