5. Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? SOAP TRAILER... My soap trailer was to relate to a teenage/younger generation and audience, therefore I looked at similar existing trailers, like Waterloo Road and Skins. There storylines consisted of couples, break ups, drugs/alcohol, fights and conflict- often showing binaries for example ‘socialising’ rather than college and school work. My storyline includes skirmishes, arguments and rows that are all connected to each other as the characters are from the same college ‘friendship’ group like The Skins cast and Waterloo Road.
6. Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? SOAP TRAILER... The Soap Trailer that I produced used similar conventions of those real media products. On the blog- planning of similar products, I looked at Waterloo Road as inspiration of how they used their mise en scene, sound and editing, camera angles and movements and how they pieced their advert/trailer through quick montages. We used a similar age group for the cast acting in my soap trailer which relates to a type of audience that the real soap programme ‘Skins’ target.
7. Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? SOAP TRAILER... In my soap trailer, I filmed many different shots that were used in other similar advert/trailers, Waterloo Road being one of them. A third of the way through my trailer, I shot a close up of the character above while circling around her which ended up showing an over the shoulder view point, this was inspired by the images also shown by Waterloo Road demonstrated with the character- school teacher.
8. Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? SOAP TRAILER... I used other different camera angles and movements that are used in other real TV Soap programmes. The range included: close ups, Point of View, Hand held, Over the Shoulder, Two Shot, Reverse-angle editing and Establishing shots. I edited the footage down to a variety of 3 or 4 second montages. That ended up being 1 minute and 3 seconds. Close Up POV Intertextual Establishing Shot Over the Shoulder High Angle Two Shot Long Shot Hand held
9. Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? SOAP TRAILER and existing camera angles that inspired me... A heated argument running throughout the trailer which sets the scene, however we keep the story secret from the audience so that it creates an enigma. Group of the characters and cast... Audience doesn’t know the reason why for this action, which creates a mystery... This creates tension as shocked expressions suggests this... Creates tension and suspense for the audience...
10. Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? SOAP TRAILER... Sound- Existing soaps have a music track over the top of their trailers, I edited a track over mine (Jimmy Eats World- The Middle) over the top of my trailer which would create impact for my targeted audience. Both ‘Skins’ and ‘Waterloo Road’ use like-‘indie’ music where the quick montages creates enigmas and suspense for audiences. Mise En Scene- The costumes that were used in my trailer is everyday clothes of what teenagers wear. Click to play the music track of Jimmy Eats World- The Middle Editing- Soap trailers have a 1 minute advert with many short sequences. I have edited my footage to have montages throughout, this creates suspense and tension for audiences.
11. Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? TV SOAP MAGAZINE FRONT COVER... I produced a front cover for a TV listings Soap Magazine where my Soap Trailer starred as the main feature... This shows how the main codes and conventions were applied to my Magazine front cover... Cheaper than other existing magazines. ‘exclusive’ appeals to the audience as they can only read the stories and features that are only included in this magazine. Magazine name, suggests that it is a brand. A weekly guide... Main image on the front cover, suggests that it is a main story. A question as a title shows an enigma which persuades buyers to read this magazine so they are the first to discover.
12. Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? TV SOAP MAGAZINE FRONT COVER... My TV Soap Magazine shows many forms and conventions that are similar to other existing media products. My front cover looks authentic and realistic to those shown on the right. The forms and conventions used in my front cover includes a blocked colour background, a big header as my brand, a button with a price of the magazine, barcode, day buttons as a weekly guide, glows, shadows and strokes, main picture, additional pictures with white boards, big title, captions and an A4 layout.
13. Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? TV SOAP MAGAZINE FRONT COVER... These two arrows display a convention that I have used on my front cover that is used in this existing magazine ‘What’s on TV’, it shows an outlined glow around the main featured images, this suggests to the audience that they appear significant and that the readers will want read about the story. This arrow shows that I have used similar conventions of existing TV Soap Magazine front covers, in this case, the contrast of the yellow and black subtitle acts as the main storyline of a soap, the colours suggests danger, which appeals to the audience. The title is also big and bold for the audience to be aware of this important feature in the magazine.
14. Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? TV SOAP MAGAZINE FRONT COVER... This arrow shows a strip convention saying ‘Exclusive’ which appeals to readers as no other magazine has this story. This arrow from ‘TV easy’ shows the daily guide from Monday to Sunday, this suggests that readers will be getting their monies worth as there is a weeks worth of TV soap stories. I have included this in my front cover.
15. Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? TV SOAP MAGAZINE FRONT COVER... Things that I would improve:... I would have edited this photo down by cropping, to make it smaller. In replace, I could have put a button to attract other features for my audience. The ‘exclusive’ feature I would have changed so that it stood out more, therefore changing the inside colour to a darker shade or colour. The Soap Magazine’s name doesn’t stand out as a brand because of the colour, it is not interesting enough for audiences to pick off the shelves in supermarkets. I would change it to either have a different colour or to have a red outline so it would mark itself as a brand name. I would make the weekly guide more noticeable for audiences which suggests that there is more content in the magazine, to show this I would stroke or outline the text to become more bolder.
16. Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? POSTER... My poster uses forms and conventions that other real media products use... These arrows show how I also used the darkened effect similar to the ‘One Tree Hill’ poster which creates mystery for the audience. My poster was inspired by the conventions of ‘One Tree Hill’, the way they have separated the characters up into strips looks effective. The emotions of the characters used in my poster express conflict and anger, suggesting that the storyline of their friendship group could be divided.
17. Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? POSTER...and initial ideas My initial ideas for my poster uses forms and conventions that other real media products use also. The poster for ‘Skins’ shows a group of all the cast on a brick wall, I used the same technique for my initial ideas for my poster, however it ended up starring in my trailer as a title card... Inspired from Initial Idea 2 Product Inspired from From trailer Initial Idea
18. Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? One of the main features starring in the trailer, front cover and poster shows the characters emotions of conflict within the facial expressions. This is clearly recognisable across all three products. I used most of the same characters in the trailer, poster and Magazine front cover, however when having unreliable cast, I had to use some characters that did not feature in the trailer... Genre...
19. Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? My audience can associate to this image that was featured in my trailer, as teenagers of 13-19 can relate to mobile phones and other forms of media such as the internet and social-networking sites. Audience... My Front Cover and Poster relates to my audience also because the characters used in both products are of a similar age. The storylines in the trailer and the facial expressions shown in the other two products represent what teenagers face in their daily lives, this indicates that they will be of interest in my products. Intertextual
20. Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? Institution... The TV institution of E4 have many soaps that teenagers relate to, such as One Tree Hill and Skins, therefore I will advertise my trailer on E4 to attract this similar audience. I will promote my poster and TV front cover so they also appeal to audiences of this age group.
21. Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? Brand... Below shows merchandise with ‘skivers’ on certain objects that teenagers would associate to. This would help to develop ‘Skivers’ as a brand... My product ‘Skivers’ doesn’t show a recognisable logo within the three ancillaries, however using the same characters shows part of a brand. To make my brand identity more recognisable, then I would have created a title card or logo so that I could have used in my products. T-shirt Laptop I have used the same font within my poster and front cover which shows part of the ‘Skivers’ brand... Cards Coffee Mug
22. Question 3: What have you learnt from audience feedback? Through looking and researching other Soaps such as ‘Skins’ and institutions for example E4, I have resulted in targeting my audience to a young generation and teenagers of the age of 13-19. The use of gender in the trailer, poster and front cover shows more female characters which would appeal to more girl watchers rather than males. Audiences relate to other forms of media shown in TV soaps and programmes for example Facebook and mobile phones, this suggests that my teenage audience will associate with ‘Skivers’ from watching the trailer. Click on the video to watch other comments...
23. Question 3: What have you learnt from audience feedback? The best way to get true and realistic audience feedback is through producing a questionnaire for teenagers (targeted audience) to fill in... I asked 20 people from the age of 15-19.
24. Question 3: What have you learnt from audience feedback? I also picked up other comments from people from my classes and friends... Trailer: “...the storylines used are similar to storylines in actual TV shows” “...the trailer is of fast pace and creates a lot of anticipation” Magazine: “...the layouts and images are similar to other TV magazines” “...the emotions of their faces makes the characters stand out more” Improvements and Comments: “...At time the music in the trailer is too loud for the characters when talking” “...The E4 sticker at the end isn’t in place” “...I didn’t understand some of the scenes” “...Some of the cast aren’t featured in the trailer and in the other products” Poster: “...very dramatic but looks professional”
25. Question 3: What have you learnt from audience feedback? From the feedback I got back from people, I can see that there is many good points and opinions about all three products, however I can improve on them all by the comments made: the music used in the trailer, re shooting some of the scenes and making them make sense and advertise ‘Skivers’ to make my brand more recognisable.
26. Question 4: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? Construction... When I was shooting for my trailer, I took out two DV camcorders from the library, with one tripod to keep the footage steady to make it look like a professional trailer; this was to ensure I had a range of camera shots throughout the trailer to meet with the conventions for example: handheld, pans and tracks. I faced difficulty with the camera, the two main problems was getting used to the camera and the other problem was the battery running out which became time consuming. Premiere 8.0 was the programme that I uploaded my footage on. I could use different layers to capture music and make the scenes flow better. I used photoshop also to edit the photos for my front cover and poster, and I also had to edit the E4 strip for the trailer....
27. Question 4: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? I used YouTube to watch similar trailers to my ‘Skivers’ product such as Skins and Waterloo Road; I did this by embedding the html details and composing them into my blog posts... I also uploaded my finished version onto YouTube. Research... I used a scanner to import my storyboard to Publisher so I could evaluate it and upload it onto my blog. Above is my Blog that shows other products including existing TV magazines...
28. Question 4: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? Planning... My storyboard was part of my planning also along with scripts on Word documents, locations and other ideas that could feature in my trailer... My blog shows all the planning from looking at music videos.
29. Question 4: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? Evaluation... This section shows the media technologies of the evaluation stage, where I used Powerpoint to present and evaluate my three ‘Skivers’ products. I have uploaded my powerpoint presentation of the evaluations onto my Blog by using ‘Slide share’...
