A2 PRODUCTION - EVALUATIONAlice Cadenhead

FORMS AND CONVENTIONS.

To ensure that our TV Listings magazine would be recognised as a real media text, we made sure we kept to a majority of the codes of a TV listings magazine, including:•Colour schemes – Bright Primary colours, e.g. Red, blue and Yellow;•Layout – Reading from top left down;•Style of images used – Main photo central and snippets at the bottom of the page.•Language – Short ‘one-liners’ and exclamations to attract and engage the reader.•Fonts – A variety of font styles and sizes to add variation to the front cover.

We modelled our front cover on well-known brands such as “TV Choice” and “TV Quick”, those of which we analysed and established these codes.

Print ProductionTV Listings

However, we did challenge the conventions of a TV listings as our target audience was the younger generation (16-24). As we found out from the National Readership Survey, these magazines are typically read by women aged 30+. Another way we challenged conventions was making a new brand of a TV listings magazine, ‘4TV’, instead of promoting our soap in an already established magazine. A similar magazine had been created for ‘X-Factor’ during its run in 2010, so this Idea of ‘4TV’ will provide readers with information about all channels involved in the ‘4’ brand, e.g. Channel 4, E4, More 4, etc.

FORMS AND CONVENTIONS.Print ProductionTV Listings

Puffs draw attention important

information, such as price and exclusive

content.

Bright colours are used, such as red, yellow and

blue, to grab the readers attention. It also conveys its

target audience.

Bold fonts make different stories on

the front cover stand out, with the main article being the

boldest.

Snippets provide a teaser for the reader about different the

different soaps featured.

FORMS AND CONVENTIONS.Print ProductionPosterAdvertisements on posters are generally simple yet effective and we have kept to this convention by:•Using contrasting colours - make the title and date stand out•A simple layout - An insight into where the soap is set by creating a criminal line-up scenario;•Limited amount of information – A small character synopsis are written on the cast’s ‘mug-shot’ cards.The main content of promotional posters are the images which capture storylines, character traits etc. This is another convention that we have stuck to. Along with this, the Channel 4 logo has been made to stand out. By having the logo stand out from the background, it is more noticeable to the reader, even from long distances.

Posters aren’t a conventional promotional tool for soap operas, however. To overcome this, analysis of TV drama posters, such as “Misfits” and “Shameless”, was carried out. As you can see, featured on the posters are the communities that are in each programme which I feel we achieved well. The layout of the poster presents the reader with a close, interlinked community which is an important focus in a soap opera. The layout also achieves a simple style which is easily read by our target audience of young people.We kept to our house style by including the same ‘cracked’ font creating continuity throughout our texts. This font is similar to the one used in the ‘Misfits’ poster.

Print ProductionPoster

FORMS AND CONVENTIONS.

Limited information is put on the poster. The

information given is the important stuff, like the title of the program and

the date of release.

Clear imaging helps convey a specific meaning and/or representation. In

our poster, the image gives and insight into the

characters and the theme of the program.

A Brand logo is included on the poster to inform what channel the program will be on.

FORMS AND CONVENTIONS.Moving ImageTrailerWhen editing our trailer, we very much kept to the codes and conventions. This was because we wanted our audience to gather as much information about our new soap as possible and recognise the production as a real media text. We analysed trailers from soaps such as ‘Eastenders’, but we also analysed a trailer for the TV drama ‘Misfits’. We did this as ‘Misfits’ is the same target audience as our soap opera; teenagers, both male and female. However, aiming our soap at a male audience challenges conventions as soap opera has a predominantly female audience.

We identified and included codes such as:•Music – to set the pace;•Narrative – Introduction of characters;•Graphics – Scheduling and freeze frames;•Transitions – Straight cuts, fade through black.•Shot types – close-ups, over-the-shoulder shots.

Typically, trailers themselves are a story and advertise themes or potential storylines coming up in the program which is what we aimed to do in our trailer by introducing the characters. This was achieved via a voiceover. Background information about the characters is given through the use of a graphic which we created. To give time for our audience to read this information, freeze frames were used.

We included short clips with straight cuts between each one, creating tension and drama. It also reveals some of the storylines which will feature in the soap opera. In addition we used music to both set the pace of the trailer and provide the soap opera with its own theme tune. Theme tunes are a vital convention to soap operas, as well as other programmes. For example, “Hollyoaks’ “ upbeat instrumental or ‘Eastenders’’ drum beat and piano.The channel 4 logo was also included witha ‘fade through black’ transition as theend of the trailer, making it the last thing the audience reads.

Misfits trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUMgVUmA0u0Eastenders trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbUoYGRbIygSkins trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH0O5AuYC30

MEDIA TECHNOLOGIESPlanning and Research•Blogging – Update each other about plans for filming etc. Receive internal feedback.•‘Survey Monkey’ – Research what our audience wants and expects.•Internet. E.g.:

- Google – Research about young offenders institutions.- YouTube – Search for music to be our theme song and trailers/- MySpace- Ask the band permission to use their song.

•E-mail (Microsoft Outlook) – E-mail record label for permission to use the song.Construction•JVC 300x Mini DV Cam Corder - Filming•Final Cut Pro – Editing of footage.•Soundtrack Pro – Create music to include in the trailer.•Photoshop CS4 – Photo manipulation, creation of TV •Listings Magazine, Creation of still shots.•DTP (Microsoft Publisher) – Creation of poster.Evaluation•Facebook – Audience feedback.•Media fire – Audience feedback.•PowerPoint – Presentation of evaluation.

Theme tune YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-p22D9CXpQb

MySpace band page: http://www.myspace.com/youngoffendersinstitute

Trailer feedback: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150130689200016&commentsAudience feedback: http://www.mediafire.com/?3djjfcy3jt9eyut

Blog: http://fsga2production.blogspot.com/

EFFECTIVENESS OF MAIN PRODUCT AND ANCILLARY TEXTS

All-in-all, our project was successful, receiving lots of positive feedback. All three media texts work well together as a promotional tool as they conform to, and challenge codes and conventions. Continuity was applied via the positioning of the channel4 logo as well as using the same ‘cracked’ font for the title of our soap ‘Insiders’.

Similar images used in the poster and the trailer, e.g. Information given about the characters, stills in the trailer and “Mug shots” in the poster. This anchors the promotional texts together, creating a package.

The same characters have been used throughout all of the texts, with additional characters changing, too, e.g. Security guard featured on the poster but not in the trailer and TV listings, however “Harry”, “Shanice” and “Doug” feature on all three of the texts. As well as this, screenshots from the trailer have been put onto the TV listings magazine alongside staged photographs of the characters.

I think that our products are realistic and work well as one whole promotional package. They all fulfil their purpose and are similar to real media texts. We know this because on our audience feedback 100% of the people asked said that all of the texts look part of a promotional package and all work well together. View trailer:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150130689200016&comments

Edgey

Recognisable audience

9.8/10 AUDIENCE FEEDBACKTo get our audience feedback we created a questionnaire for people to answer and for them to have a chance to interpret each of our media texts. On the whole, the feedback we got was positive, but also included ideas for changes to our texts. By doing this, it enabled the group to understand our audience more and gain an idea of what they like and dislike.TrailerThe trailer received a great response from our audience. We asked our audience to rate the trailer and scored and average of 9.8/10. We found that the audience enjoyed the storylines within the text which made them want to watch the soap if it actually produced.

The filming techniques in which they liked was the pan of the characters combined with the stills – “It’s edgy and appropriate for the theme it

portrays”, “I liked the way it showed the little bits of each person’s personality. The stills were also very good with the colour backgrounds”.

It appears that we created a successful trailer with a clear target audience and engaging characters, as the audience have interpreted our conveyed image correctly, apart from a handful of people who thought it was set in a school, not a young offenders institute. This could be because the filming took place on a recognisable environment (our school grounds), which could have mislead these people. However, the majority of people asked thought our trailer was advertising a new TV drama/Soap, with the others thinking it was a series about juveniles.

Another positive remark was made about the intended audience. All of the people asked evaluated the text as something for young

people. But, along with this, someone commented “It also appeals to me as a parent”.

Clear

CATCHY

Appropriate

AUDIENCE FEEDBACKPosterThe poster also received a good response with the majority of people liking the layout and the content in the images. “It had all the characters with the signs like a prison and clearly shows it’s about the young offenders institution – very appropriate”. However, comments were made about the props the models were holding – should be whiteboard, or something similar, instead of a bit of paper.

On the whole, our audience recognized that the poster was advertising a TV drama. We found that this was due to the Channel4 logo being used and also the inclusion

of the Channel4 website.

Some comments were made about the poster’s colour scheme being too dark and should be brightened up a bit, but overall our audience thought that the colour scheme “was appropriate for the setting of the soap”. Moreover, everyone identified that the colour scheme was appropriate for its intended audience.

TV ListingsA mixed response to the TV listings was given. Although a few comments were made about changing aspects of the magazine, the majority of people asked thought the magazine worked well as a promotional tool. The main criticism was about the colour scheme.Research that was carried out prior to construction showed that bright colours would be effective to use on the TV listings. Our audience feedback showed that the colours used

were “too bright” according to a few people. However, others thought that the “bright colours are good! It’s catchy” and that they were “appropriate for the magazine”.

Along with these points, the audience pointed out that the language was suitable for the target audience and the magazine cover has clear, bold fonts.