Coursework: Print brief research and planning

The Print aspect to our coursework brief is as important as the video work we have been focusing on so far. 

It is crucial that you research, plan and design print work that could comfortably hold its own alongside professional examples. You will also need to make sure you have included a paragraph regarding your print work in your final draft Statement of Intent. A reminder of our coursework brief is here, with the key tasks as follows:

Print

Create three posters as part of a marketing campaign for the documentary. 

Each poster should focus on a specific marketing strategy for the documentary whilst also ensuring the overall advertising concept remains coherent across the adverts. 

Audiences should recognise each poster as being part of the same campaign. Your concept must allow you to include different images in each poster.

Examples of marketing strategies you could communicate are:

• how to access the documentary
• a specific aspect of the documentary’s content
• review quotes / celebrity endorsement of the documentary

The posters should actively promote the social media profile of the documentary and act to encourage sharing and/or audience participation and increase its circulation.

What are the minimum requirements?

Three A4 print adverts for your documentary (portrait OR landscape OR a mix of the two - your choice). The minimum requirements from the brief:

• Appropriate layout, and design choices for each poster
• Appropriate choice of copy in each poster
• Three different posters, each using a specific marketing strategy
• A common visual style to the overall campaign creating a recognisable brand for the campaign
• At least three original images across the three posters with a different dominant image in each poster – these must be images generated specifically for the poster campaign
• Appropriate choices of font, type sizes and colours to create meaning
• Appropriate consideration of the industrial context of production.

Research and planning blog tasks

Create a blogpost called 'Print brief research and planning' and complete the following tasks to plan and prepare your print work:

1) Research TV marketing poster key conventions. Find at least five examples of posters promoting a TV documentary or similar show.

Note down the design elements you notice in each poster and look for aspects you can use in your own work (e.g. a particular camera shot, page design or colour scheme).

Here are a few examples to start you off: 

2) Look at this poster campaign for the BBC3 documentary series 'Not Sorry For Being Me'. How does the campaign use design elements to create a brand for the show? 

You can find out more about this campaign from this Design Week feature here or alternatively look at this BBC Creative page which has a video about the campaign.

Here are some examples from the campaign:

3) Now look for examples of marketing material for documentaries on your chosen subject or something similar (do a Google Image search for documentaries in your chosen area e.g. mental health or sports documentary). 

What aspects of the topic are emphasised on the posters and how can you create something similar? 

Here are a few examples:

Planning and sketching

1) Plan the marketing strategy and main focus of each of your posters. For example:

Poster 1: focus on content of documentary

Poster 2: focus on how to access / watch documentary (e.g. release date, channel, streaming service)

Poster 3: review quotes from social media / newspapers / celebrities 

2) Plan the image(s) you will take for each poster.

3) Write the copy (words) you will use on each poster - title, slogan or tagline, any further information about the documentary, review quotes etc.

4) Plan the social media content you will include in each poster e.g. hashtags, Twitter handle etc.

5) Research and select the font or typography you will use for your posters. This is a critical element of your print work - and also needs to be consistent with your title sequence in the video documentary.

6) Find the TV channel and streaming service branding you will need for your posters and save it in your coursework folder on Media Student Shared.

7) Produce A4 sketches of your three posters, deciding which will be portrait or landscape and where the key information will be placed on the page.

8) Create three new documents in Adobe Photoshop in either A4 portrait or landscape and start designing your posters (even if you don't have the images yet you can add the text, correct font/typography, TV channel and streaming service branding etc.)

Photoshoot

1) Who do you need to photograph for your marketing posters? Remember, you need three separate original images - one for each poster. 

Note: you could photograph someone that isn't in your video extract if you wish (but would appear later in the documentary) - this means it could be someone in class which will make things a lot easier in terms of running the photoshoot.

2) What camera shots do you need? Write a shot list for your photoshoots. Make sure you plan a variety of camera shots you will look to capture - medium shots, close-ups etc.

3) Plan the mise-en-scene. What costume, props or make-up will you require for your photoshoots?

4) Finally, note down the time and date for your photoshoots. This may be inside or outside school (or a combination of both). You will have Media lesson time for this in the week after the mock exams.

Statement of Intent

1) Once you have completed your research and planning, go back to your statement of intent and make sure you have included the print brief in your final draft. Then, submit the final draft statement of intent to your teacher.  

Use the next two weeks of lessons to complete these planning tasks - homework time is to finish exam work and revise for mocks.

Due date for research and planning on Google Classroom.