Exam Prep

1. Research and Planning
What skills did we learn about the
importance of R&P?
G325: Section A: Theoretical Perspectives in Media
Question 1a)

2. 7 Research and Planning areas to consider:
1. Types of research
2. Advantages/Disadvantages of sources
3. Organisation of research
4. Organisation of planning materials
5. Presentation of planning materials
6. How research and planning has informed
your practical work

3. Why is Research and Planning
Important?
Research Planning

4. Learning research skills from AS to A2
Primary – Primary research is material uniquely gathered/generated by you/your group:
•textual analysis of similar genres through internet/TV/magazines/student exemplars
•audience feedback (staff and peers)
•Questionnaires
•vox pops,
•opinion polls
Secondary research - Secondary research is where you’ve read and used existing writing:
•Books
•Websites
•Newspapers
•Blogs
•Articles
•Theories e.g. Goodwin, Post Modernisn
•Class notes
•Viewing music videos, websites, digipack, adverts.
1. Types of Research

5. • 2. Advantages and Disadvantages of sources
The focus is on SKILL – progression and changes in methods from AS
to A2. You need to think about what you learned about the
advantages/disadvantages of:
•Expense/Cost – how much did the research cost? Books? Magazines?
•Accessibility – Was the research easy to find?
•Time – Was it time consuming?
•Reliability – was the research measured to be consistent – did you
find a trustworthy source, was it another student’s work?
•Accuracy – were the facts and figures correct? Did your audience
feedback results provide a fair sample of overall opinions?
•Bias – textual analysis can be bias as it is subjective – did you
complete enough research to overcome this? Were any secondary
sources biased?
•Validity – was there a link between the particular research and final
product? Was there a strong indication that this research affected the
outcome of your work?
•Usefulness – how relevant was this to your project (see validity). OR
did any of your research methods prove to be completely useless and
why?

6. 3. Organisation of Research
You used your blog to organise ALL of your research.
•What skills did you learn about organising and
referencing materials? (Remember if your research isn’t
referenced correctly then you will not get full marks –
labels1)
•How did your skills of organisation develop from AS and
A2? E.g. If it was the first time you used blogger at AS
did you find it easier to blog at A2?

7. Organisation of time, personnel and
equipment:
•Did you complete on time? Did you meet
deadlines?
•What are the pros and cons of organising
personnel?
•What have you learned about communication
between personnel?
•Did your knowledge of production schedules
grow?
•What could you have done better?
•What are your strengths and weaknesses?

8. Working individually or as part of a group:
• What did you learn about individual and
team work?
• What are the pros and cons?
• What main things have you learned
about group work at AS in terms of
planning your product?
• Advantages/Disadvantages
of working alone for A2

9. 4. Organisation of Planning Materials
• How did you organise your planning materials?
• Did you utilise the blog more at A2 level than at AS?
• How did you follow your storyboards – what did you understand about
changes to be made?
• Did all members have copies of production schedules and storyboards?
• Did you complete diaries and/or ‘progression so far’ posts? Why was
this important in terms of planning both pieces of coursework?
• Have you used any of the research and planning skills in other
products?

10. •How did you present your primary and secondary
research on your blogs? We are talking about
enhancing CREATIVITY and USE OF DIGITAL
TECHNOLOGY.
•Did your presentation of audience feedback for
example become more creative through your
increased use of digital technology available for
embedding on the blogs e.g animoto? Slideshare etc?
5. Presentation of Research and Planning

11. 6. How your Research and Planning has informed your
practical production
 How did your research into genre contribute to your production
work?
 How did your research into audience contribute to your production
work?
 How did your research into institutions responsible for the
production and regulation of the media influence your production
work?
 What pre-production planning techniques did you employ (scripting,
storyboarding, shot-listing, flat-planning etc.)? How effective was
your planning – how did it help you in the production phase?
 What did you learn from planning your first production that helped
you to improve your planning for the second?
 How did you use audience feedback to influence your production
work while it was in progress?

12. A2 Coursework - Homework
• Look back at your A2 blog and all of the posts you have labelled as
research and planning. Look at the Check List (below in this post)– did you
complete all of the research and planning tasks specified?
• Make a list of the primary research you carried out for your music video
and ancillary tasks.
• Make a list of the secondary research you carried out for your music video
and ancillary tasks. You might need to look back at your blogs to identify
theorists, articles etc you read.
• What are the pros and cons of the primary and secondary research you
have carried out?

13. Comparison
• Compare the extent of the research/planning
you carried out for your AS and A2
coursework.
• To what extent have your research/planning
skills improved? Explain and support your
answer with evidence.

14. • Identify specific aspects of your productions
that have been impacted by your planning and
research.
Productions

15. • What research skills have you developed in the
last two years (think blogs, textual analysis,
audience research etc)?
• What methods have you used?
• How have they impacted your work?
• Are there examples of time when your research
has not been effective?
• What effect did research have on your work?
• Did you change your plans? Why?
Research Skills

16. • What made up planning? What methods did you
used?
– Year 12 Year 13
• How have they impacted your work?
– Year 12 (good/bad) Year 13 (good/bad)
• Are there examples of times when your planning
has been poor? IN YEAR 12?????
• What effect did planning have on your work?
• Year 12 (good/bad) Year 13 (good/bad)
• How have your planning skills develop?
• Did you change your plans? Why?
Planning Skills

17. • Describe how your research and planning
skills have developed over the last two years
and what impact this had on your work.
Question