Time and equipment was organised in my Foundation Portfolio task with the use of micro and macro decision. Time and equipment was not a strong aspect during this task which was a real weakness to the final outcome. Micro decisions I made included creating a flat plan of my magazine which allowed me to experiment with my initial ideas and gave me a view of what I can work with to recreate for the final piece. It was a very effective aspect of my planning as I was able to see the particular parts that worked well and those that didn't work so well, to ensure that my product was successful. I did however encounter a couple of problems, my choice of image didn't seem to be as effective as I had planned. After realising this problem I conducted a questionnaire targeted at my focus group to rectify this problem. The feedback I consumed meant that I was able to change my images to match the needs of my focus group. In the Advanced Portfolio task I organised my time and equipment much more effectively, learning from the Foundation Portfolio task. An example of this is my shooting schedule which outlined each day of filming clearly and acted as a check list of what needed to done for that particular day. It also ensured that nothing was missed or left out, right from the actors involved in the shot to what equipment was needed. This shows my progression to how I turned a weak aspect of my previous task to a strength in organisational skills which made my final product successful.
In the Foundation Portfolio task I chose and organised my actors, setting and props using macro decision. I was able to choose the the actors, setting and props needed for the photo shoot to ensure that the images suited the style and genre. This planning was effective as I made the actor successfully stand out and look unique. However a problem I faced was that the chosen locations didn't seem to be very effect, I should have looked more into a range of settings that would have been better for the images. For the Advanced Portfolio I organised my actors, setting and props using social networking websites and mobile phones. I was able to contact my actors and arrange meetings, I also sent the track to the actors through this so that they were able to master lip syncing the lyrics. I had the ability to prepare the actors in terms of the costume and props that would be used. This planning showed progression as you can see that I ensured that my actors matched the Indie genre of music and that all the needed props were taken to the particular setting in the final product.
I researched existing products in the process of scripting during the Foundation task and created a draft piece. This aspect of planning was effective as it helped me to understand the use of conventions used in a music magazine. Flat planning gave me an idea of how to construct my final product effectively and gave me the benefit of showcasing my work to my focus group to adapt suiting their needs. Although I did have problems when it came to choice of locations as the location were very dull and did not fit in with the music magazine, this could have been overcome if I had looked into different locations that would have been more appropriate for the magazine. In the Advanced Portfolio task storyboarding and scripting I used was the same but much more detailed, for example I annotated my draft version much more thoroughly to gain a clear understanding on the particular aspects. I also used a theorist, Goodwins principles to study conventions of a music video to make my end product successful. This showed my more depth of progression to how much better my planning had improved, meaning a much better product in comparison to the previous one in the Foundation Portfolio task.
With the use of primary research like creating questionnaires for my focus group to gain qualitative data in the Foundation Portfolio task I was able to gain an insight on the likes and dislikes. Which meant I could include the likes in my product and avoid the dislikes. This research was useful as it affected the end feedback of my task and meant that I could minimise the likeliness of negative feedback. Although the lack of detail in the feedback created a problem during the research, I should have used open questions instead of closed questions to receive a more detailed response from which I could have gained more usage out of. For example one of the questions were 'do you like interviews featured in music magazines?' this could have been adapted to 'what features do you like included in a music magazine? (Like interviews etc, please be specific)'. For the Advanced profile I used secondary research like the use of Goodwins principles as well as primary research for example feedback from my pitch of ideas. This showed how I had progressed as I was now using more than one form of research to gain a better form of research.
In the Foundation Portfolio task I looked at existing media products and annotated them to analyse what makes them effective and reach their focus group effectively. I analysed comparable products with the same genre of music to mine to maximise attraction of my own product. This research was useful as it helped me to understand what particular aspects of the product are vital in creating brand identity and how conventions of the magazine stand out to the focus group. I did not however understand uses of house colour and how specific colours worked better than other which meant that this was a real weakness of my end product. Which could have been improved if I had added as question regarded to this in my questionnaire to receive feedback on what colours to make use of. I researched existing media products in my Advanced Portfolio, this time I ensured that I looked into the product with more depth for example looking at costume and the various camera work used. I also ensured that I looked a several different music videos to get inspiration and add creativity to my own product. Which showed how my research had expanded and I had learnt how important depth of research was during tasks, this progression was meant that my Advanced Portfolio was much more successful and met the requirements of my focus group effectively.
