R093 TA1: Sectors, Products and Purpose

1 Identify two sectors of the media industry and give one product made by each. 4

One mark for each of the following, to a maximum of 4.

• A valid sector is named
• A product that genuinely belongs to that sector
• A second, different valid sector is named
• A product that genuinely belongs to the second sector

Model answer. Television and film is a sector, and it produces products such as film trailers. Publishing is a second sector, and it produces products such as monthly magazines.

2 State three different purposes a media product might have. 3

One mark for each of the following, to a maximum of 3.

• One purpose from the specification list
• A second, different purpose
• A third, different purpose

Model answer. To entertain, to inform and to persuade.

3 A charity is producing a 30 second television advert asking the public to donate. Explain two purposes this product has and how each one is achieved. 4

One mark for each of the following, to a maximum of 4.

• Persuade is identified as a purpose
• How persuasion is achieved in the advert
• Inform is identified as a second purpose
• How informing is achieved

Model answer. One purpose is to persuade, which is achieved through emotive content: close shots of an affected child with slow music underneath, ending on a direct call to action with the donation number on screen. A second purpose is to inform, which is achieved through a voiceover and on screen captions giving statistics about how many people the problem affects, so that the viewer understands why their donation is needed.

4 A publisher is launching a monthly print magazine about climbing, aimed at experienced climbers. Discuss how the sector it belongs to, the type of product it is, and its purpose affect the decisions the publisher must make. 8

One mark for each of the following, to a maximum of 8.

• The sector is correctly identified as publishing
• The product type is correctly identified as print based
• At least one purpose is identified
• A decision that follows from it being print
• A decision that follows from the audience being experienced
• A decision that follows from the purpose
• A consequence of being monthly rather than daily or online
• A judgement that weighs the points against each other

Model answer. The magazine sits in the publishing sector and is a print based product, and both of those shape the work. Because it is printed, every image must be supplied at around 300 dpi in CMYK rather than RGB, pages need bleed, and once the issue goes to press nothing can be corrected, so proofreading and sign off matter far more than they would online. Because it is monthly, the content has a long lead time and must be planned issue by issue; it cannot react to news in the way a website could, so the publisher will favour features and reviews over reporting. The purposes are to inform and to entertain, with a commercial purpose underneath, since the magazine is funded by advertisers who want to reach climbers, and that affects the mix of content and where adverts sit. Because the audience is experienced rather than beginner, the writing can use technical terms without explaining them, and the photography has to be credible to people who climb, since a staged or technically wrong image would lose the readers' trust. The constraint that drives the most decisions is print itself: it fixes the deadline, the colour mode and the resolution, and it removes any chance of correcting a mistake afterwards.