Evaluation Task 4

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

In pairs we took pictures of each other holding the kit that we used, this included the camera, tripod and monopod. Other online and computer programs I have used were screenshotted such as YouTube, Windows Movie Maker, Blogger, Paint, Microsoft PowerPoint and Publisher. I dropped the images onto my blog and annotated it discussing what I learnt about these previously mentioned media technologies.

The tripod was a necessary tool and was very critical to the production of our Soap Opera trailer. Firstly we used the tripod to keep the camera still in order to make the cinematography seem as professional as possible, as an unsteady camera is a sign of amatuer camera work and also may give the notion that we were using the 'jiggly camera' technique, although this was not the desired effect. Secondly the tripod allowed us to achieve cetain shots with extreme precision such as the panning shots where we see the car drive past, these camera movements would have never been as smooth without the tripod therefore an effective part of our filming apparatus. 

The FlipHD camera was clearly the most important tool within the filming process as it allowed us to capture footage/film scenes. This particular camcorder is very light and allows for maximum mobility, this was extremely beneficial to the camera man (cinematographer) when filming in awkward positions or having to film freehand for extensive periods of time reducing the stress placed on their arms/hands. The interface and buttons on the FlipHD was very simple and user friendly thus allowing us to go straight into filming without referring to an instruction manual or tutorial. Lastly the most beneficial part of the FlipHD is the USB feature that allowed us to simply plug the camcorder directly into the PC/Mac and drag the video files over to the computer. Not only was it an easy process but it allowed us to film significantly more and re-shoot particular scenes we were unhappy with, without the hassle of using a firewire which is a much more difficult and time consuming process.

The monopod wasn't used to the extent of the tripod but it allowed to overcome certain obstacles such as height restrictions. For example the extreme longshot within the trailer that reveals the entire street was only possible due to the length of the monopod which reached over the metal barriers of the overpass and capture a clear/unobscured shot.

The following screengrabs include the online and computer programs used within the advanced production:

Windows Movie Maker is one of the few editing softwares I am extremely familiar with, despite not being as advanced as other professional editing softwares such as Final Cut Pro and Sony Vegas 9.0 it offers the basic tools necessary for editing. This editing software allowed us to do basic cuts and cropping to put the footage in chronological order in terms of narrative, also add transitions such as fading and effects such as slow motion. In addition the editing software allowed us to change the brightness and contrast in order to compensate for the lack of lighting within the recordings.

Paint was used in order to screengrab/screenshot/printscreen certain things on the computer screen and turn them into pictures by pasting them into Paint and saving the screenshots as a .JPEG, otherwise known as an image.

Publisher was used in order to create the TV listings magazine which was made signficantly easier by this particular software as it is primarily used for creating things of this nature. Therefore Microsoft Publisher allowed me to produce a seemingly realistic TV listings magazine using the tools avaliable such as cropping, filling, layering, etc. All of which contributed to the outcome of my magazine cover.

I used PowerPoint very early on within my production and never seemed to return to it, despite being very good for creating slideshow presentations with headings, subheadings, backgrounds and bullet points. PowerPoint has little to no other uses, hence the lack of slideshows within my blog posts.

YouTube is the most popular online video streaming site in the world, therefore an obvious decision to upload the Soap Opera trailer in order to capitalize on its features and large audience. The annotation feature was used to label particular micro-elements which include mise en scene, lighting, performance, costume, etc, and how they were effective and challenged or conformed to the soap opera conventions. In additon the commenting section allowed us to gain feedback from the public on how to improve the product. Finally the High Definition quality of the FlipHD's was put to good use when the trailer was uploaded in 720p in order to give an extremely clear picture quality.

Firstly, despite the flaws within Blogger.com it is a very useful blogging website which allowed me to update my blog regularly through all three stages of production including pre production, production and post production. However electronically storing data on the internet means you must back up your work constantly in case of an emergency where the site goes down due to server issues or random data corruption. Other problems include the constant crashing of the website resulting in loss of data, frequently when prepraring to 'Publish Post' the website responds with an error. On the otherhand it offered me and my group members the ability to communicate with eachother commenting on one anothers work and also following other members of the groups individual blogs in order to recieve a constant update on one anothers blogging activity.

Evaluation Task 3

What is your target audience?

 

This is Gemma Wenman. She is 17 years and 6 months old, and lives in the urban area of Southgate. She primarily focuses on maintaining a good aethstetic appeal which is typical of his age consisting of designer jeans, shirts and cardigans which are all expensive. She enjoys going out with friends on the weekend to shopping malls to purchase the new designer accessories and clothing, going out cinema every Saturday to watch the new releases, in particular romantic comedies or ‘chick flicks’. The shops she purchases clothes from are Topshop, River Island, Next, Littlewoods, Blue Inc and other online stores. Mature teenagers negotiating their pathway into adulthood are usually into soap opera with certain issues within them that relate to their lives and everyday occurrences. Soap operas such as Hollyoaks, Home and Away and Neighbours are targeted towards teenagers and broadly speaking youth. Therefore it consists of themes and issues such as teenage pregnancy which attract these audiences to watch these in a form of entertainment. Based on her preferred soap operas, ‘The Street’ will be ideal for this particular target audience as it deals with current issues within their lives and is primarily set in the location many of the audience members will be living and experiencing at the time, university. Other TV programs she watches often reflect her age thus consisting of programs such as Friends, Scrubs and The Event consequently the most prominent channels within their viewing habits comprise of Channel 4, Comedy Central and E4. Two of the previously stated channels primarily focus on TV entertainment particularly for her age thus making them appropriate choices for airing ‘The Street' as they have a following within the age the soap opera is targeted to resulting in optimal views and ratings. The social class of Gemma is very critical in terms of being able to relate to the soap opera as it will not seem particularly realistic if it is a working class slum lifestyle which is not relatable to Gemma’s middle class background. 'The Street' features middle class students attending a middle class fictional university in the rural countryside, therefore the show will primarily focus on middle class lifestyles than working class issues but still appeal to a broad young audience, especially teenagers. Ethnicity will not play an important role within the target audience decision as The Street features a multicultural road, due to the fact we live in a culturally diverse society in the contemporary UK, although it will deal with controversial cultural issues such as Eastenders homosexuality storyline with a Indian male which was considered controversial but is realistic and entertaining. Gender is crucial as Gemma is female and therefore much more in tune with her emotions at that particular age during the youth or teenage period in their lives. However males, especially adolescent boys feel it is not the norm to watch soap operas as it has a feminine stigmatism associated with it. Therefore priority is provided to the female audience in particular young girls similar to Gemma although there will be storylines taken into consideration to appeal to a broader audience for boys as it is a audience that lacks a soap opera.

I had to use YouTube's annotation tools to to add notes, speech bubbles and links to my trailer using the following link for help:

www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=92710

These annotations will highlight the ways in which my trailer links to other similar products in order to attract the particular audience I have previously identified.

I was instructed to write a summary of audience feedback I have received at different stages of production and how this influenced your production choices.

The feedback gathered from the questionnaire was extremely beneficial as it help me acquire a target audience that want a new soap opera. For example the most prominent age category within our research was the 15 to 19 years of age category, meaning our soap will have significant competition from other soaps such as Hollyoaks (coincidentally the most popular soap amongst the people who filled in the questionnaire) which appeal to a similar audience. Therefore in order to avoid competing with Hollyoaks due to its strong established fan base, the most logical way to solve this problem is schedule our soap opera after Hollyoaks, possibly on the same channel E4 which received joint equal votes with BBC1. However this could be an opportunity to bring a contemporary soap opera aimed towards a younger audience to a very established and widely syndicated channel such as the BBC, although this may become a problem due to Eastenders audiences overlooking our soap due to the overwhelming popularity of Eastenders.  The ratio between men and women is significantly more lenient towards female audience members thus meaning the soap must deal with certain issues such as teenage pregnancy in order to appeal and educate the audience with real life issues which are relatable. Overall this questionairre was very helpful indeed and could potentially determine the outcome of our creative project.

The feedback given by the audience was very limited due to the minimal exposure of the video on YouTube, thus only recieving one comment. Despite the very small turnout of people watching the soap opera trailer (a total of 13 views) made our group use other means to gain feedback such as a questionnaire. Here is the example of the feedback from the public:

The response was very brief and only touched on the editing which prevented the narrative from flowing. We took this on board and edited the trailer again cutting it down only by 3.3 seconds however this extremely minute number makes a signficant difference to the overall outcome  of the production as shots do not drag on too long. The shots/scenes push the narrative foward smoothly thus benefitting the audiences experience watching the trailer as it is much more pleasent and interesting.



Evaluation Task 2

I had to write about the main strengths and weaknesses of each individual product including the trailer, magazine cover and website.

The Soap Opera trailers main strength is that it generally conforms to the conventions of the soap opera genre as British soaps attempt to be as realistic as possible without becoming stale as they are often very dramatic in order to entice the viewer. This is extremely prominent within our soap opera as the location/setting is an urban London street, with nothing too out of the ordinary happening. However the drama is prevalent within our trailer and can often seem unrealistic due to the overdramatic performances and narrative (storylines) e.g. Michelle’s return to the street is very dramatic. Our soap opera trailer conveys a sense of community due to the multiple characters featured within the trailer, more specifically six characters in total which include Benjamin, Michelle, Hayley, Dwayne, Cameron, Sally. The main/primary storyline is the return of Michelle to the street, however each individual or group of characters have other storylines which run concurrently although these parallel narratives aren’t as obvious as we would have liked. For example Sally fallen pregnant, Dwayne believes it is his baby but unknowingly the baby is actually Cameron’s. The trailer hints that there is a relationship between Cameron and Dwayne as they are both featured within the same shot, also Sally is seen pregnant. However in terms of establishing the beginnings of other storylines, our trailer lacks this significantly thus focusing too much on our primary storyline and not enough on other narrative, although it could be argued that the sense of community assures the viewer there will be other storylines to come within this large network of people. In addition another weakness within our soap opera trailer is the fact that we broke the 360 degree rule within one of the interior scenes which feature Benjamin and Hayley arguing. Despite this minor hiccup, overall the camera work is reminiscent of other British soap operas and broadly speaking the conventions of the soap opera genre as the camera angles are very basic in order to avoid seeming unrealistic.

The website worked well, based on the tools at our disposal in order to create it as iWeb is very basic ‘website creating’ software. Therefore the layout and design of the website looked presentable and accessible to those who wanted to use the website to find more information on the Soap Opera including character profiles and actor interviews in order to give visitors more information and trivia on The Street. On the other hand the content is still limited in comparison to other soap opera websites such as Eastenders which offers games, news and spoilers. Therefore the contribution of both the lack of time and very limited software resulted in a restricted website which is appropriate for the stage that the soap opera is at, prior to airing the first episode, but once the soap opera begins airing the website needs a necessary upgrade.

The magazine cover I created coincides well with the conventions of a TV listings magazine The colour used within the TV listings magazine are very vibrant in order to attract the attention of potential buyers whilst on sale, also the colours are attractive to the eye thus making the headlines, coverlines and pictures stand out significantly more. The main image on the TV listing magazine includes the characters features within our soap opera thus advertising it significantly more than the other cover lines. Also the characters within the image are looking directly into the lens of the camera thus addressing the reader. The typography/font is extremely bold as the text (masthead) has to be clear in order to convey potential narrative, advertise a new soap, etc. In our case the main coverline introduces the new soap opera, otherwise known as 'The Street'. In addition the text above the picture stating 'She's Back' partially introduces the narrative for the opening episode which attracts potential viewers. The language used on the TV listings magazine cover is very colloquial in order to address all readers in a user friendly way. The layout of the TV listings magazine is asymmetrical, possibly messy, although this is a convention of these particular types of magazines as they are cheap yet presentable in a contradictory way.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Then I had to write an evaluation paragraph to explain how successfully the 3 texts link together as a whole product considering:

·                  What did I do well?

·                  What would I change?

The three texts which include the soap opera trailer, magazine cover and website all link extremely well due to the fact they are based on the same content i.e. The Street. The soap opera trailer consists of three central characters within this particular narrative such as Benjamin, Hayley and Michelle as they are featured on the magazine cover and the website thus establishing that they are participating in the central narrative. All three texts went well, however more time could’ve been dedicated to the two ancillary tasks which include the magazine and website. However due to the lack of software, they looked significantly more cheaper or less professional than the soap trailer as we were provided with Flip HD cameras which allowed us to shoot significantly more increasing our filming to throw away ratio by 2x from last year’s production thus being 8:2. Despite the lack of software necessary to improve the quality of the ancillary tasks, Microsoft Publisher allowed us to create a decent looking TV listings magazine cover. Perhaps you could argue that the ‘cheapness’ of the TV listings cover is appropriate as they are supposed to be a cheap production made from cheap materials therefore justifying the quality of the magazine cover. The same applies for the website as the iWeb program on the Macs was foreign to me and my group thus not using it to its full potential. Overall the two things I would change about my advanced production is the quality of the webpage and the magazine cover.

Evaluation Task 1

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

I had to choose 9 images to represent the following 9 areas of forms and conventions. Use these as sub-headings and briefly explain each one.

1. Title

This title is used to formally and clearly present the name of our soap opera trailer. The basic font, complimented by the boldness of the text makes it clear to the audience to the name of soap opera without giving anything away as the next extreme long shot establishes the setting/location. However it can be argued that this title challenges the conventions of the soap opera genre due to the fact the majority of the popular soap operas featured on TV in the contemporary UK feature some sort of establishing shot or image of the location/setting of the soap opera.

2. Setting

This is an extreme long shot/establishing shot which immediately establishes the setting of the soap opera which is located within a small street in North London. The terraced housing is synonymous with the working class thus being an appropriate class representation within soap operas as the lower classes are often prominent. The significance of the car is later revealed when the daughter of the Michael family exits due to her surprises return to The Street. This shot conforms with the soap opera genre based on the realism of the road, nothing out of the ordinary is featured within this shot which is conventional of the genre.

3. Costume

The shirt that Benjamin is seen wearing is typical of working class service sector occupations such as admin jobs. The costume, more specifically mise-en-scene helps establish the class of the characters due to the audience using social class/cultural indicators.

The costume worn by Dwayne clearly represents the stereotypical image of Afro-Caribbean youth who are portrayed in the media as rebellious and troublesome creating anarchy in the streets of London. Immediatley Dwayne's character seems troublesome due to his clothing which is synonymous with the youth gang culture in modern society e.g. 'Hoodies', therefore Dwayne is conforming to the stereotype.

4. Props

The cars used within the soap opera trailer are the biggest and most significant props, especially the van seen in the background as vans are often associated with the working class as those who drive them are blue collar skilled manual workers.

5. Cinematography

Michelle is not revealed entirely within this shot as the camera maintains its low angle position.  Despite this, the viewer can gather that she is a female based on her provocative clothing (mise en scene), but it provokes curiosity as he role within the narrative is unknown. Nevertheless the audience know she is an important contribution to the narrative as the car is such a prominent prop within this particular shot thus assuming the passenger is of equal importance.

This is a medium shot of Benjamin which utilizes the rule of thirds as you can clearly see his characters face is only features within the left third of the frame thus focusing the audience’s attention on his character. This shot is close enough to show both the characters facial expressions and body language in order to convey certain aspects of the narrative without the use of dialogue, hence the non diagetic soundtrack overwhelming the dialogue within this particular scene.

6. Narrative

Including all three characters within one shot (medium long shot) allows the audience to see the significance of the characters, thus introducing them as a family. The return of Michelle, the troublesome daughter of both Hayley and Benjamin is introduced by the dialogue during the argument where Benjamin shouts, “She’s our daughter, alright!” therefore ensuring the audience is aware of the parents and eventually their daughter.

7. Introduction of Characters

Michelle is concealed beneath the shadows within the car thus remaining anonymous until the very end of the trailer. However the constant arguing between Benjamin and Hayley hints to the audience throughout the trailer that Michelle is returning to the street.

Michelle still remains anonymous as her face is not revealed until the very end, however as she approaches the door the audience assume she is participating within the central narrative thus possibly being the daughter returning to the street.

8. Genre

Conventions of the soap opera genre include using issues within other media text such as newspaper and portray them within a narrative. For example Benjamin is on the verge of hitting Hayley, domestic abuse is a prevalent issue within the media and is also very controversial thus appropriate and typical for the soap opera genre.

This shot in particular is the epitome of the soap opera genre, this shot is similar to the title shot of Coronation Street and Emmerdale as they feature establishing shots of the location/setting. Based on the conventions of the soap opera genre, realism is an important aspect thus choosing a realistic and gritty location to host our soap opera, therefore conforming to the conventions of the genre.

Overall I feel our media product, more specifically our soap opera trailer conforms to the conventions of the soap opera genre as it was necessary in order to consider it a 'soap'. Very rarely does our trailer challenge the conventions of the genre, for instance in terms of characters, location, mise en scene and narrative our soap opera follows the soap conventions. However the title is considerably bland based on the title being placed over a black background, although this isn't challenging the conventions of the genre, instead it just doesn't follow them rigidly. Rather taking a more modern and contemporary approach with the use of slow motion during the argument scene, this doesn't disengage the audience from the illusion that the soap is rea, instead it enhances the experience and intensifies Benjamin's emotions. To conclude our advanced production generally conforms to the soap opera genre.

TV Listing Magazine Annotated

In order satisfy the conventions of TV listings magazine i must achieve the house style which includes:

• Colour
• Images
• Typography
• Language
• Layout

The colour used within the TV listings magazine are very vibrant in order to attract the attention of potential buyers whilst on sale, also the colours are attractive to the eye thus making the headlines, coverlines and pictures stand out significantly more. The main image on the TV listing magazine includes the characters features within our soap opera thus advertising it significantly more than the other cover lines. Also the characters within the image are looking directly into the lens of the camera thus addressing the reader. The typography/font is extremely bold as the text (masthead) has to be clear in order to convey potential narrative, advertise a new soap, etc. In our case the main coverline introduces the new soap opera, otherwise known as 'The Street'. In addition the text above the picture stating 'She's Back' partially introduces the narrative for the opening episode which attracts potential viewers. The language used on the TV listings magazine cover is very colloquial in order to address all readers in a user friendly way. The layout of the TV listings magazine is asymmetrical, possibly messy, although this is a convention of these particular types of magazines as they are cheap yet presentable in a contradictory way.

TV Listing Magazine

In order to create the TV listing magazine I used Microsoft Publisher as it was the most efficient program at my disposal as I had prior knowledge of the software.

Despite not being as professional and advanced as Photoshop, it allowed me to create a simple design using various different shapes, fonts, colours, etc. I used a copy of TV Guide as a template to prevent deviating from the conventions of a TV listings magazine.

I used images from the internet to such as www.google.com and www.photobucket.com to copy and paste into publisher where I applied them appropriately on the cover. I then used a camera and took a picture of the three main characters within our soap opera, which include: Benjamin, Michelle and Hayley.

It was vital to ensure the picture had significant lighting in order to the picture to seem professional thus using a torch and projecting it onto the characters. Once finished I took a screenshot of the cover and dragged it into paint where I cropped it and then saved it as a .jpeg.

Storyboard Re-Draft

Shooting Script Re-Draft

 

Shot	Timing	Description
1	2 seconds	“Welcome Too”
2	2 seconds	“The Street”
3	3 seconds	Benjamin arguing
4	4 seconds	Car pulling into the road
5	2 seconds	Hayley arguing
6	4 seconds	Jerome and Dwayne looking at car
7	4 seconds	Jerome and Dwayne watch car drive past
8	5 seconds	Benjamin arguing again
9	3 seconds	Car driving down road extreme long shot
10	3 seconds	Two shot of Benjamin and Hayley arguing
Q	3 seconds	Newspaper hitting the floor
12	3 seconds	Benjamin walking off
13	4 seconds	Couple kissing watching car driving  past
14	3 seconds	Car driving past
15	4 seconds	Benjamin pointing at Hayley
16	5 seconds	Car pulling up outside a house
17	4 seconds	Opening door and Michelle exits
18	4 seconds	Dog barking at Michelle
19	3 seconds	Michelle opening gate
20	3 seconds	Michelle walking towards front door
21	3 seconds	Michelle drops her bag on the floor
22	4 seconds	Benjamin and Hayley open the door to Michelle
23	2 seconds	Michelle looks into camera
24	3 seconds	“Welcome Back”