How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?

How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?

1, 2, 3- These three images show me using the video camera when filming my soap opera trailer.

4- Blogger- Blogger has been a very important bit of technology when creating my media products. Blogger has allowed me to develop my skills with organisation, as it has allowed me to have everything in one place, which is easy to access and can be accessed at anytime. It has help especially in research and planning, for example when researching other soap trailer I was able to copy and paste the URL’s onto my blog which meant I would quickly access anything I needed with out having to search the whole internet again. Blogger has allowed me to upload my videos, pictures, planning notes and my media products which mean I have had everything in one place at all times. This also means I am able to change, adapt and develop any posts.

5- Photoshop- This is the software which I have used for the construction for my ancillary texts; TV listings magazine and poster. I did not have much idea on how to work Photoshop, so my skills on this software have developed immensely as I have learnt that you can achieve anything through Photoshop. I have been able to manipulate images on both of these products, where I have used the magnetic lasso tool to cut the characters out accurately. From here I was able to put all the images of my characters on a blank canvas where I could move them around and arrange them how I liked.

For my TV listings magazines, Photoshop allowed me to use different shapes like on examples I had research of real existing magazines. I could then use all different types of fonts and colours to help create a bright magazine cover. For the writing, to help it stand out, I used inner and outer glows in blending option which gives the writing a coloured outline.

Photoshop also allowed my to manipulate the BBC Ones indent, where I was able to add my own text to suit my trailer. Photoshop also allowed me to find a font that looked familiar to the BBC’s own branded font. This helps to give a good finishing touch to my trailer as it looks realistic.

6- Paint- This has allowed to print screen, and take screen grabs of the editing software I have used, which has helped me within the evaluation stages. I was able to take the screen grabs, to help me when evaluating my media products to show and illustrate the specific effects used. For example, on Photoshop, I used blending options of outer and inner glow around round images, writing and shape to help make them eye catching.  

7- Canon Digital Video recorder- This is the camera I used to film my trailer, the camera is light and small which is an advantage when filming and constructing my trailer. I have learnt that by using a tripod effectively I am able use each frame with the rule of three thirds. By using a tripod with the camera I was able to accomplish conventional shots used by real media products. For example when filming a shot reverse shot, I was able to keep track of the exact positioning of the camera so the same shot can be achieved more than once.

8- Sony Digital still camera- The use of a still camera became an important use with planning because I was able to take different images of characters and locations to see what would work better. For example for the teenage drug scene, I needed something that was hidden away, stereotypical but still was light. As during stages of filming it got dark quickly, images of locations helps me to weigh out the advantages and disadvantages.

I also used the still camera when constructing my ancillary texts, as I was able to use my own images of my characters to represent them in specific ways to the audience. For example, I am able to stereotypical clothing, actions, body language and emotions that I think are important to convey to the audience.

9- Adobe Premiere Pro- this is the software I used for the construction of editing for my soap opera trailer.

My Media folder- I tried out 9 different music pieces within my soap trailer, as the music needs to be catch my target audiences attention, but it is also must become recognisable for the audience. I also have different BBC logos saved; I needed them so that I could use one running through my trailer which is located in bottom right corner. Also I needed the BBC indent for the end, which should be familiar to my audience.

After I cut everything was inappropriate and irrelevant for my soap trailer, I then cut certain parts down to make my trailer quick and snappy. After this I found three different tracks which I liked on http://www.freeplaymusic.com/, so I imported them into different audio bars, and cut the tracks so that they all come in at different times which deems effective because I felt they all complemented each other. There is also a gap in the music, to make a dramatic stop for dialogue; I think this an effective aspect because it will regain the audience’s attention.

I thought that the beginning part of my trailer; the drug dealing was too long and tedious, as it did not fit the fast pace of the rest of my trailer. However there was not much I could cut out because otherwise it would not make sense and may have seemed it was going to fast. However the zoom tool allowed me to zoom in a cut tiny parts of footage which I though made a huge impact on my trailer.

Another thing that I helped the pace of the beginning scene was by making the clips faster. By using speed duration tools, I could speed the clips up slightly and it helped to create a faster pace.

 

Adobe allowed me to construct a voice over with a BBC indent to match. I was able to fade the sound of my music by using music keys; this allowed me to change the sound of the music. After fading out my music, I was able to import a voiceover with my own manipulated BBC Ones indent, this helped to create realism and a suit of professionalism.

When I was filming my trailer, it got dark extremely quickly; this affected the light on my end footage. However Adobe video settings which contains brightness and contrast meant I could use this to change the light on given clips. 

10- Facebook- Facebook allowed communications between group members. It gave us the opportunity for quick communication. This meant that we were able to arrange meetings, ask questions ect.

11- Windows Live Mail- The use of Email allowed me and my group members to Email images, videos, URLS ect to each other. For example, because I took the photograph, when I uploaded them I was able to give my other group access to them through the use of Email.

Email also allowed me to work at sixth form and at home, as I was able to email work back and forth. This let me have two copies of my work, as a back up.

12- Voice Recorder- I used a voice recorder within the evaluation stages, as I was able to record myself talking about how successful the combination of my main product and ancillary texts are. After recording I was able to upload the recording on the computer through USB where I could import it into Adobe Premiere Pro.

13-  Internet – The internet permits me access to search engines like Google. Google has helped me with everything to do with my research. I have been able to research different characters had storylines which has then influenced me with my planning. I have been able to look at images of existing TV listings magazines and posters, where I have been able in analysis and evaluate which have helped me through the planning process of developing my own ideas.

The internet gives me access to http://www.freeplaymusic.com/ which is the website I got my music from for my trailer. I was able to open the files in Windows Media Player and listen to the music is a fast way. Therefore this helped me with the construction of my trailer as the music plays a big part, because it needs to be something that is catchy and my audience will be able to recognise.

14- YouTube- YouTube has allowed me to research into other soap trailers, from this I have been able to see what a conventional soap trailer looks like, what it contains and how it appeals to the audience.

15- Mobile Phones- This again allowed communication between group members, it meant that we were able to arrange meetings, ask questions and sort out anything like queries, worries ect.

16- This is image shows me on Adobe Premiere Pro editing software.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Through the process of editing my soap trailer, I had a deadline where I had to have completed a draft of my soap opera trailer. By doing this it gave me an opportunity to get audience feedback. I created a questionnaire of nine questions, which were relevant to helping me improve my soap trailer. I then played my draft to different audience age groups. They completed the questionnaire and this allowed me to create an analysis to help me gain some idea of what I could do to improve my trailer.

My questionnaire and results were published on posts called ‘Questionnaire’ and ‘Questionnaire Analysis’ on Sunday 6^th March 2011. From here, I was able to take the audience feedback and go back to Adobe Premiere Pro and improve my trailer.

I found from my results that all my goals had mainly been achieved within my draft. My audience feedback showed that: -

·         I had used a wide range of characters which had been shown clearly throughout my trailer.

·         I had used a wide range of camera shots.

·         The said that the music I had used to appropriate for a soap trailer.

·         The trailer had continuity.

·         I had used the right mise-en-scene to promote the stereotypes for the characters I had included within my trailer.

However a few participates suggested that I should include some transitions in my trailer. When I came back to editing I then playing round with different video transitions like fade, swipe, zoom, dissolve and wipe.

After a lot of debating, I decided not you use any transitions as I believe that the quick snappy cuts are more successful. I think that by just using the simplicity of cut helps to connote realism of the soap opera to the audience. I also felt that transactions did not give off as much as a feel the audience because it almost seemed to slow the trailer down- and this was not my aim. Therefore from this audience feedback I have learnt that for this particular advertisement of the genre transactions were not necessarily need as cut give a better finish.

There where a few adjustments and changes made after I completed my questionnaire and analysis.

1. The first image is of the beginning of my trailer, I decided that I was going to make this a little bit lighter. Therefore I was able to use the lighting control of brightening and contrast in order to do this successfully. I also increased the pace of one of the characters walking, as I felt it made the beginning feel a little sluggish. I increased the duration speed as this helped the trailer become a bit more upbeat. I learnt from my audience feedback that my fast snappy cuts and paced where what was deemed successful about my trailer, so it is extremely important the whole trailer includes this element.

2. This image shows the poisoning storyline, I felt that within my draft, the character drinking the poison did not match the fast pace. Therefore I cut out a couple seconds allowing the scene to flow with better continuity as it kept up this fast pace my trailer has. Also by doing this I got a better effect of the music because of the certain beats. The music also complemented the change in scene, as there a build up at the end of the poisoning scene, where the music is cut out allowing a dramatic effect fro dialogue.

3. This image represents the BBC One indent and my voice over. After my analysis I learnt that I needed to cut the music completely at the end and only have the voiceover. I think the use of both of theses helps to create realism to my media products as this is typical convention used by real media products made by the BBC. I decided that I was going to use a women voice as I found from my research that most voiceover made by the BBC had a female’s voice. The BBC still have this element of Received Pronunciation, although it is not as strong as it used to be in past- they still used a convention British accent. I feel this also linked to the attraction of my target audience, as soaps are seen as a ‘feminine’ genre.

4. The images represent the BBC One logo that I have used throughout my trailer. I think that is a successful element to my trailer, which has been mirror on all of my ancillary texts. In my draft, the BBC One logo was rectangle and I believe that by making it square and positioning it in the bottom right hard corner conveys realism of real media products. I was able to manipulate the positioning of the logo through the effect control of position and scale.

How effective is the combination of your main product

How effective is the combination of your main product

and ancillary texts?

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

1. The first image is taken from the beginning of my media product, the mise-en-scene is important in this scene where conventions of a real media product need to be used. For example, the teenage character needs to be stereotypically portrayed which mirrors the way they are shown in existing soap operas. To be able to achieve a stereotypical look for the teenage character, he is dressed in dark clothing of a hoody, tracksuit and trainers. The audience is able to connote that something bad and mischievous is going to occur due to the stereotype stigma attached to teenagers. The location that this scene is set it also helps to convey stereotypes, as it is set in an alley way which looks hidden; this helps to present the characters more to the audience. Also in the scene the teenage character is looking around, to make sure that no body is around, again this represents him to the audience as a guilty character whom looks suspicious.
2.  The second image is again taken from the beginning of my soap trailer; The Drug Scene. The scene needed to follow the convention stereotypes that soaps would use. The characters need to be represented to audiences in conventional ways, so that the audiences are able to build opinions where uses and gratifications occur.  Therefore by both teenagers dressing is stereotypical clothing of hoddies, tracksuits and trainers and the scene taking place in a hidden alley way, allows the audiences to become enlightened by there way of life and their particular characters. The scene is left on a cliffhanger, which is conventional of a real soap opera. This works well because my media product is a trailer, whereby it teases the audience.
3. This image shows how my trailer has used shot reverse shot, which is conventional of soaps, as soaps are based around conversations and this is the best way of showing conversations. All the stereotypes that soaps would use have been developed with in my media product. As this scene deals with social issues, which are conventional of soap operas. For example, the scene consists of underage drinking and peer pressure. The audiences are able to relate to such issues where they gain uses and gratifications and maybe even nostalgic memories. The characters have been developed from real media products, as teenage girls used in my trailer have been developed from research of other soaps. As you can see, the three girls go with the teenage stereotype of getting drunk down the park which is becoming a well-known and recognisable stereotype in society. However the girl who is being peer pressured is flouting this stereotype as she refuses to drink alcohol.  The way the teenagers are dressed and their body language also helps to convey their characters to the audience. The three girls, the one on the left is laughing at the peer pressured girl, the middle girl wearing stereotypical clothing (hoody) and the last girl conveying an attitude through her body language.
4. This image is of a shot of the bottle of alcohol being dropped on the floor in the scene of underage drinking and peer pressure. This shot may not be a necessarily be a conventional shot used within soaps, as soaps many focus on peoples facial expressions and actions. However, this close up shot, of the bottle hitting the floor helps to draw the audience’s attention to the important part of the scene. The scene is also left on a cliffhanger which is conventional of a real soap opera as it allows the audience to be left on a dramatic suspense, leaving them wanting more. Again as the purpose of my media product is advertise a new soap opera, using cliffhangers when showing characters is a successful way to advertise the soap, catch the audience’s attention and leaving them wanting more.  
5. This image shows the Eaton Oak, which is the pub in my soap. Within soaps, it is stereotypical to have a pub, as it is a place where characters socialise and storylines occur in these places. The convention of pub also helps to connote realism as they are not only dominate is soaps, but are dominate in the lives of the audience. The image also shows the BBC One logo in the bottom, this follows the real media products produced by the BBC. Some soap trailers have the logo somewhere on the screen as this helps the audience members remember the channel which he soap plays on. I think it is important that my soap trailer mirrors this convention because I am advertising a new soap, as most existing soaps audience already know what channel the soaps play on; Eastenders on the BBC and
   Coronation Street
   on ITV1- it is important that my audience can remember the channel.
6. This next image is the last shot of my soap trailer, my research shows that in some way all soap opera trailers consisted of some shot at the end similar to this one; showing the channel, time, website ect. I was able to take the BBC One indent logo from the internet and manipulate it to suit my purposes through Photoshop. As BBC One have their own synergic font, unavailable to me, I had to find a font which best matched the BBC One’s. Once I had done this I was able to adjust the image to fit my soap. After I was able to record a voice over, through an external microphone and add it into Adobe Premiere Pro. The voiceover fitted the conventional voice over from real media products I researched created by BBC One. For example, I used a woman’s voice as it reflects the audience from soaps. As soaps are seen to be watched by more females as it is seen as a ‘feminine genre’, therefore by using a woman’s voice it helps to attract female’s audience members attention when advertising the soap.
7. This image shows a close up, which is conventional of real media products of soaps. It helps to draw the attention of the audience to important and key parts of the storyline or scene. Here is a woman who is having an affair locking her door. The audience is unaware of the affair until the last shot, therefore the women’s reasoning for locking the door, and why it has been so made so obvious is open to be interpreted in different ways by the audience. Audience’s attention will be kept as they will be guessing and read the scene differently. This is something that soaps tend to do, as they are known for their conventional cliffhangers.
8. This image is an example of a mid shot that is conventionally used by real media products. This shot is taken from the affair scene, where the woman is making a cup of tea.  I think that is shot is successful as it helps to give a right amount of information to the audience. It helps to show the location in which the scene is set it, but gives the audience an idea and understanding of the character, through the use of mise-en-scene; clothing. As the image shows her wearing a black dress which is connotation of a business woman, which means the audience members will be able to relate to this particular character on the ground of employment. The shot also allows the audience a peak into the house of the character, which again helps the audience relate to characters. Soaps are based around working class people, and is a genre which is described as a ‘feminine’. By showing female characters is this way, means that audiences (especially female members) will want to watch the show, as they gain uses and gratifications through the pleasure of watching other people and their problems.
9. I have used this screen grab on the grounds of storylines. This is taken from the storyline of the elderly women poisoning her husband.  This type of storyline is typically used in the genre of soap operas; existing media products use storylines like this to help keep audience entertained.  Storylines like this can deem dramatic and over the top however this is something that audience especially enjoy because it allows them to relax after a long day and fall into the soap opera bubble. I think that soap opera would not be as popular if they did not offer the drama. The Audience members high demand for drama needs to be matched through out my soap, therefore I have used many social issues to attract all different ages of audience members. I have used peer pressure, underage drinking, an affair, poisoning and drugs. Although the storyline I have included are dramatic, it can help the audience members to become aware of theses social issue through the way they are represented through my soap opera. Again this is something that existing soap opera are known for because they tackle many different social issues.

My Soap Opera Poster.

This is my Soap Opera Poster.

I have used all the characters from my trailer, and I have used the same images of the three characters involved within my affair scene. They are located in the centre of my poster as I believe they best help to represent my soap. I have used the same colours of black, red and white. I have used theses because red and white are iconic for the BBC which helps the audience members to remember the channel. I have used black because it connotes darkness, allowing audiences to attach different thoughts and opinions of the soap (reception analysis). Therefore attracting my target audience, making them want to watch the soap. I have also used big and bold writing, for example ‘Eaton’ is very eye catching as the red outline on the black letters help to draw in the audience’s attention. I have also included the BBC One logo, website, starting date and time and the soaps tagline which is also used on my magazine. I decided to use a grey sky in the background as it connotes a storm, meaning that it helps to show the drama, storylines and characters to the audience due to the iconography attached.

Photos For The Poster.

These are the photos I have used on my advertisement poster.

I decided that I was going to use the same photographs of the three characters involved with the affair scene. This creates advertisement synergy allowing the audience to become familiar with theses characters.

For the drug scene I continually used the hoody stereotype because again this will get the audience familiar with this particular character.

For the other character involved in the drug scene, I decided that I was not going to use the stereotypical clothing like used before. I did this because it teases the audience more about why he may be dressed differently.

For the girls, I wanted them in normal clothing, because it shows how the social issue can happen to anybody. It always means that the audience are eager to find out more about these characters and their lifestyles.

For the elderly characters I wanted something that reflected their scene. Therefore the elderly womens facial expression if rather bitter, which represents the type of character to the audience in a reflective way. For the elderly man, I wanted the photo to give of a helpless and innocent  feel which makes the audience emphasis with him.

Planning of my Soap Opera Poster.

Planning on this particular exercise was definitely need because posters of soaps are not very common and advertising a new soap opera was even rare because of the success of existing soaps- it is hard to find a gap in the market because of what existing soaps offer and how popular they are.

Therefore I thought it would be a good idea to keep it simple, allowing the audiences to gain a lot of information from glances. Therefore, I thought it would be a good idea to put all of the characters from my soap onto the poster allowing the audience to see the variety of characters, but also due to the synergy from my trailer and poster it allows the audience to become familiar with the characters.

Research on Soap Opera Posters.

Research on posters-

There are some example of posters I found created from real media products – Eastenders,

Coronation Street

and Hollyoaks.

They do not seem to have any formal conventions because posters seem to be rare with soaps because they are known for being on the cover of TV listings magazines, where soaps advertise upcoming storylines and issues.

My final TV Listings Magazine.

This is my final TV listings magazine cover.

I think I have successfully used all the conventions that I found with in my research which can be found on my blog on the post called ‘Research on TV listing magazines’ published on the 22^nd of March.

Photos for TV Listings Magazine.

 

These images are from the affair scene, which I have used on my front cover of my TV Listings Magazine. I decided that was going to uses these characters and storyline because it think they appeal to a mass audience; as teenagers, the middle aged and the elderly will be interested in them.

I chose to have the characters in a particular position which mirrored those in existing media products. For example I wanted all the characters in a straight position so that I was able to move them about into a triangle position on my front cover. I believe that this helps to give the audience some narrative as they will be able to realise a love triangle.

I decided to use this image of teenagers partying as documentary type on BBC3, it seems that the channel has consisting documentaries about teenagers therefore I thought I would realistic to developed their use of teenagers on my own front cover.

I used this image because of the use of mise-en-scene; suit. Therefore I thought it would again be realistic to develop an idea of an award ceremony. They are pretty popular with audiences; again this would appeal to a magazine demographic.

I used this to help to mirror the idea of ‘Loose Women’. This type of TV is popular with women and therefore I thought I would be a good idea to include this because of the similarities in target audiences. For the photograph all the ladies are wearing causal clothing, which helps when appealing to the audience but I also think that by having all the ladies facing one way with their arms cross connotes humour, girly and talk show to the audience.

The Planning of my TV Listings Magazine.

Planning of my TV Listings Magazine-

I decided that it would be a good idea to plan my magazine to ensure that I included all the correct conventions for this genre. I planned my TV Listings magazine twice so that I was able to visual see the aspects of my magazine. I believe that planning my cover before creating it in Photoshop was an advantage for me as I was able to get all my ideas down on paper so that I had a clear indication of what I was going to do when I was in front of the computer. This also allowed to me compare with other existing magazines in a successful way. It also meant I was able to adapt and change my magazines and ideas in a realistic way, so that when I was actually creating my TV listings magazine on the computer I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

These are my plans of my TV listing magazine- here I have created the initial ideas for my font cover when I have included all the conventions of this genre. From here I was able to use these when creating the cover in Photoshop.

Research on TV Listings Magazines.

To be able to create a successful media TV listings magazine, I had to research other existing magazines so I was able to educate myself on the conventions of these typical media products. Therefore I had to look at every aspect of these particular magazines and find similarities and difference between them.

Firstly I explored the internet for different existing TV listings magazines so I was able to analyse them thoroughly. Here are some of the most popular TV listing magazines available in the market today:-

·         What’s on TV

·         TV Easy

·         TV choice

·         TV Quick
·         TV Mag

 

I took a few font covers for the same magazines to see how they varied within themselves. Even from just looking at theses magazine I was able to indentfy the clear conventions and similarites they all share. For example:-

·         They all have blue background

·         They all mainly have title of the magazine in the left hand top corner which is very eyecatching to the target audience/

·         Colour photographs which fill up the magazine- this helps to attract the target audience as they are familiar with the characters faces and what programme they are in.

·         They all have big headlines and straplines

·         All contain pugs

·         The price stand outs

·         Very colourful (attract the target audiences eye

·         Mass audiences

·         Coverlines

·         Date, region and issue number

·         Barcode

·         Masthead
·         Taglines

Therefore by researching all of these magazines I am able to use the conventions when creating my own TV listings magazines. I am able to create a check list so that I ensure all the conventions of this particular genre of magazine in included in my own one for my soap so that it can be a successful media product.

Final Soap Opera Trailer

After audience feedback through my questionnaire analysis, I was able to adapt and improve my soap trailer. Here is my final media product.

Questionnaire Analysis

Questionnaire Analysis.

Question one-

For this question I asked people if they thought I had used a wide range of characters in my soap trailer. They all agreed that I had, as I have used a variety which consists of teenagers, middle aged and elderly. Therefore this mirrors the conventions within a soap opera.

Question two-

All the people that answered my questionnaire agreed that all the characters have been shown clearly. Therefore I believe that stereotypes have been portrayed accurately.

Question three-

This question shows that the people who answered my questioned believed that I have used a wide range of camera shots. I used all the typical realistic shots used in soaps like close up, mid shots and shot reverse shot. However I also used panning and zooming which gives the trailer a more sophisticated look.

Question four- 

Everybody agreed that my music suited my trailer, as research showed that most trailers where around 30-50 seconds, I needed to mirror this. Therefore I used quick snappy show and I needed my music to be exactly the same. I used different tracks and put them together in order to help me accomplish the fast snappy track I needed.

Question Five-

It was agreed my trailer had continuity, because of the fast snappy cuts and the music completing this.

Question six-

All 20 people agreed that mise-en-scene fitted the stereotypes which is something that is important when creating a trailer for a soap. As the genre is created by stereotypes within society.  

Question seven-

For this analysis of my questionnaire I found out that majority of people said I should uses Evaluation activity three- within my soap trailer. Therefore I will be using this information when going back to editing to see how they can used in successful ways.

8. Do you think there is anything that I can improve within my trailer?

Out of twenty people, five suggested that it maybe a good idea to add some transitions between the different storylines of the characters, which will help break them up a little bit more. Also there was a suggestion about having my music at the end concluding rather than fading out.

9. What do you think is successful about my trailer?From the questionnaire I have found out that my quick snappy editing cuts deem successful, as it gives my trailer a fast pace which helps the trailer make sense. People commented on how they liked the music as it was appropriate for the atmosphere for the trailer and made it lively. Someone also said that the music complemented my fast cuts and also the different range of camera shots used which makes the trailer seem like a stereotypical Soap Opera trailer.