1. Shaun Liddle – Media Studies Skills and Concepts
Creativity
A1
Throughout AS Level Media Studies I feel I learnt many different sides of the creative aspect of media.
The production of my magazine front cover, contents page and my article highlighted some of the creativity within
my ability. To produce my practical work I needed to focus on how to use different computer programmes, for
example, Adobe Photoshop was at first a challenge to use however I have had previous experience from GCSE Media
Studies. As I began to produce my practical work I realised that Photoshop in AS Media studies could be a lot more
challenging to use as I wanted to make the different parts of my magazine a higher standard than previous years.
I had to use a creative side of myself to take the photographs for my project. Although I feel I done reasonably well
at the time, when I look back I feel I could have thought more creatively in order to produce a better piece of work.
Other aspects of creativity in which I feel I achieved throughout my time in AS Level Media Studies include different
multi-media methods of posting work to my blog. Use of videos and slide-shares helped to make my blog more
creative as it presented work in different ways, rather than repetition of a textual content.
A2
As I have just began my A2 Media Studies practical work I am still in the process of learning how to produce my work
in a more creatively advanced way. Up to now I have produced an animatic storyboard on the programme slide-
share in which I learnt to use in AS Level Media Studies. The animatic consists of blue cards in which I have taken
photographs of rather than just presenting my work on a normal simple storyboard. I feel that this makes the
viewers of my blog more interested as they can look at each shot individually.
I have also taken photographs for my ancillary task this year in which I made sure I was more creative in different
ways to use camera angles and lighting to make my photographs represent the horror genre. I have also chosen the
locations for my horror trailer in which to choose I had to think creatively in order to make the horror trailer be
presentable in terms of ideology and also have easy access of when we need to film our trailer.
This year I have continued to use Adobe Photoshop however I have developed further skills in editing photographs.
Last year for my music magazine I didn’t edit my photographs what so ever, however this year I have decided to edit
the brightness and contrast on my photographs to connote the horror genre. This reflects on my creative part of my
skills as I have more input with the editing of photographs.
Research & Planning
A1
Throughout AS Media Studies I feel I produced less research and planning to help me with my practical work. I feel I
could have analysed more of the content within a magazine rather than just the front cover, e.g. I only analysed one
NME magazine front cover, therefore I could have analysed a contents page, and an article and maybe more front
covers. However, I feel as though my questionnaires helped a great deal with the production of my magazine as I
found what the desired audience particularly wanted. I also think that the audience profiles helped me with my work
as I could imagine the exact audience who would buy my magazine therefore this helped me when producing my
practical work.

2. Shaun Liddle – Media Studies Skills and Concepts
Before actually producing my real music magazine I had the chance to produce a practice school magazine which
also helped my skills develop further in certain things such as technology, and creativity. This also gave me the
chance to see the layout of magazines therefore helped me with my actual project.
A2
For my A2 project I feel that I have done more research and planning. I have conducted research on other horror
trailers, posters and magazine covers and have written textual analysis’ on them. For example one of the trailers I
analysed was ‘Paranormal Activity 3’ which has a horror genre. This has helped me a great deal as I now know what
to include in my horror trailer and this has also helped me develop skills in what conventions I need to use for my
horror trailer. I have also conducted audience research for my A2 Media Studies projects; for example, I gave out
questionnaires asking the desired audience about horror trailers and what they like to see in horror trailers. This also
helped me for my ancillary tasksas I knew what conventions to include in them.
I and my fellow group member also planned the roles and responsibilities that we had to undertake, which was a
great help as we now know our set targets and aims. E.G. my role is to direct the horror trailer and my group
members role is to produce the horror trailer. Although we have set roles and responsibilities me and my group
member will get to know how the different roles are done therefore we will gain skills in this.
At the start of A2 Media Studies I and my group filmed a practice chase scene which gave us an idea on how to film
our actual piece. This task was set in order for us to better our actual project by having a practice run for planning.
From this task we got to see how different camera angles would suit certain scenes and how to edit the trailer
together. This has given me the chance to improve my camera angles and movement and editing skills in the real
media project.
Digital Technology
A1
Throughout AS Level Media we were given stills cameras for the photography which would be included on my real
project. As I had previous experience I knew how to use the stills cameras however I thought as though I could have
improved on some of the camera angles more. Even though I think this I still feel that my skills using the stills
cameras had developed further for example I knew how to use different options on the camera in order to get the
correct style of photograph I wanted.
I also had my blog in AS Level Media Studies which gave me the chance to update my work in a multi-media format.
This gave me experience in working on slide-share and making videos to display my work. For example I could display
my media evaluation by video and by answering questions such as ‘In what ways does your media product use,
develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products’.
The programme I produced my magazine cover, contents page and article on was Adobe Photoshop. I had previous
experience when working with this programme; however AS Level was a whole new experience as I developed my
skills further in order to succeed in producing a better project.
A2
As I only used stills cameras in AS Level Media Studies, a new experience arose when I was given a moving image
project. In order to get used to the cameras the task we were given was to film a chase scene. This helped with the

3. Shaun Liddle – Media Studies Skills and Concepts
camera angles and would also help us improve in our real project. I feel moving image cameras are difficult to use as
they require much more detail in positioning and movement.
In A2 Media I have continued to use blogger to display my work. I still post my work in different multi-media ways
however I now have more experience in using the website.
This year my group have decided to produce the storyboard differently by setting out blue cards with drawings on
with the order of the shots. We have taken pictures of the shots and put them in order on a PowerPoint
presentation. We chose to do this in a different way because we feel that an original boring storyboard would be too
original.
Using conventions from real media texts
A1
Last year for Media Studies I feel I could have analysed more music magazines in order to get ideas from them.
However one of my style models which was ‘NME’ helped me a great deal when producing my music magazine.
Analysis of contents pages and articles could have been at a higher level as this lacked compared to the amount of
magazine front covers I analysed.
As my music magazine genre was rock, I made sure I done a fair bit of research into the specific genre. By doing this I
had to look at different rock bands in the music industry in this day and age and I also produced a mock article on the
band ‘Kings of Leon’. I feel this helped me in the production of my real media product as it helped me develop
language which is used in real music magazines, in my own music magazine.
A2
One of the first things I made sure I done this year was to look at real horror trailers. When doing this I watched the
horror trailers in extreme detail and produced a range of different textual analysis’. For example, I analysed the
trailer of ‘Sorority Row’ which has the same genre as my moving image piece. This has helped me gain ideas in
camera angles, mise-en-scene, edits and sound.
As well as producing a moving image product in A2 Media Studies I must also produce an ancillary task, which
consists of a film magazine front cover, and a horror poster. I have analysed many different horror posters and
magazine front covers to get ideas for my ancillary task, from this I have learned that for the ancillary task to look
professional I must use the photography to represent the genre of horror e.g. I must have extremely detailed
costumes and make up to make the photographs look presentable in terms of ideology.