2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? My radio drama uses conventions of similar, real media products. I was able to do this as within my research stage, I found out about radio dramas, learnt what the most popular conventions were, then involved them within my own radio drama. Having the genre of ‘teen drama’, I also studied as many of these as possible to gain knowledge of their forms and conventions. After finding out about the popular forms and conventions, I included as many similar ones as possible within my own work. I did this, as these are what the audience already like, therefore I didn't want to change this as I wanted my product to be as popular as possible. Location. Within teen dramas, whether radio or television, similar locations are always used, two of the main ones being at school and home. Therefore, the introductory clip of my radio drama, which I created for my production is based both at home, Whenshe is reading her diary, and at school. When I planned the basic outline of the whole ‘series’, these were again the two main locations of the drama. I think these locations are popular within teen dramas as it relates to the listeners, as this is where they also spend most of their time. This is why I put a school clip within my drama, as it is where Ella would see her friends if it was real life, and have a quick conversation in the hall or corridor. One radio teen drama which I analysed with similar locations was ‘Blame The Parents’.
3. Characters. Depending on types of teen dramas, different characters are always used. Within my radio drama, I have chosen to use one main character, Ella. In the introduction which I produced for my coursework, there is also a few sub characters, her mother and her friend from school. When the drama progresses through the series, these characters also grow, becoming bigger within the drama. In some teen dramas, they have quite a few main characters, for example in TV Series, ‘The Inbetweeners’, there are 4 main characters. However, in the radio drama, ‘Isolated’, there is one main character, similar to Ella who does a voice over throughout the episodes, introducing and explain situations etc. Storyline. Most teen dramas are based upon the special interests of teenagers, including coming of age, first love, rebellion, conflict with parents, alienation and personal problems. Usually, these serious subject matters are presented in a glossy, stereotyped way. When deciding on my radio drama, I looked at all of these situations and produced a questionnaire, asking which one the audience would prefer. All of them were popular, as I used the similar conventions which are already popular in teen dramas, however, the most popular was the one a chose, a girl with personal problems. I found this successful, as it is what the audience wanted to see, and similar stories have been seen within real media products. Music. When listening to real media products, I noticed that all of them have a sort of theme song, which it starts off with, fading out into the title, then ends with it, after the last word is said. I used this within my radio drama, choosing a song found on Garage Band called ‘East Ender Short’. I felt this was effective as it helped the radio drama flow by giving it a better beginning and ending. I also felt the chosen song went well with my radio drama.
8. appropriate , exciting and interesting information.I also included, short and exciting information on the page, advertising further pages within the magazine. I found this happened on most pages in a magazine, therefore to make it more ‘real life’, I thought to add these in.
9. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? The two ancillary tasks which I have chosen are a ‘newspaper advertisement for the drama’ and a ‘double page feature about the drama’. I feel that the combination of my radio drama and both the ancillary tasks are very effective. This is because all three products are related to each other as both the ancillary texts are a way of advertising the drama, therefore it must contain similarities. For the radio drama to be known about and listened to by more people, it needs to be advertised for people to see. For people to understand fully what the double page feature is about, then they need to be able to listen to the drama. I have linked the products together by using the same radio image, fonts, texts and colours. This shows a clear link and an easier way for the audience to recognise the products, allowing better promotion and hopefully an increase in audience.
10. Informing readers about information which can be found on additional pages in the magazine. This just adds a ‘magazine effect’ to the page as other information is what is usually found on large features. Double Page Magazine Feature! The radio stations name and the show’s name that the drama appears on is placed along the top of the page in big bold letters. This is so it stands out to the readers and if they are listeners and fans of the show they will definitely take a read of the article to see what they have on offer. After showing my target audience this magazine feature, 100% said it stands out and it would definitely make them want to continue reading when flicking through a magazine. After showing my target audience this feature, 95% of people said after reading the article they said they would want to listen to the radio drama, as all the information sounds appealing and relates to themselves. In the middle of the pages I have placed the radio dramas ‘image’. This is so if people have seen the newspaper advertisement, or heard it advertised on the radio then they can recognise the image, making the feature attractive to them. This is an information box letting people know if they have any problems similar to in the article, then they can call the helpline printed. This relates to the whole point of the radio drama working within ‘problem week’. If readers have listened to the show, they know what it is about and how to contact them etc.
11. After showing members of my target audience this newspaper advertisement, 100% said it gave interesting and correct information, which was enough to inform them about the show. Newspaper Advertisement After showing members of my audience this advert, 90% said they found if very appealing and would definitely want to listen to it. The radio station, show name and channel frequency which the drama appears on is placed on the top of the advert. This stands out and is for the audience to recognise, so if they are listeners of the show they will be attracted towards the poster. The radio stations website is placed on the advert so the audience know where to find our more information about the show and the drama. Here it shows the dates and time of when the drama is showing. This way they know when to catch it on air , increasing the listeners. Here gives a little information about the drama, so the audience know what to expect if they listen. After asking a few members of my target audience, about this advert, they all said this was an exciting, quick description which made them want to go and listen to it! I have placed the radio dramas ‘image’ on this advert. This is so if people have seen the magazine feature, or heard it advertised on the radio then they can recognise the image, making the advert attractive to them and keen to see what it is about.
12. What have you learned from your audience feedback? Audience feedback is extremely important for all products. This is because they are who the product is being made for so it needs to be what they like and are interested in. The audience feedback I gained from my questionnaires gave me the basis for my product, including the use of text, characters, sounds and genre. Throughout my coursework, one way I gained feedback was via questionnaires. I produced these for my target audience, and also offered a few outside of this audience. These helped me mainly in the beginning of my production work, where I found out their main interests along with what they preferred to listen to. This was helpful as it gave me knowledge of what to put in my drama; including text, drama names and genres, to make it as successful as possible. Producing 3 draft copies of my script allowed me to gain Feedback from my teachers, peers and members of target audience, informing me where I need to improve, what I need to change, and how i can make it generally better. This helped me a lot as it reminded me of how important audience feedback is, because if I would have left it the same after the first draft, it wouldn't have been as popular, as i was able to change it to make it more likeable for the Audience using their feedback. By using a blog this year to present my work, people were able to view my blog and see my work in stages. This allowed them to see how I was getting on, my ideas, products I was thinking of and my radio drama as a whole. this was very helpful as once again, they were able to give me specific and useable feedback which I could then use to improve my research, planning and product. Over all, I have learnt a lot about audience feedback over the course of my production task. I have learnt how important it is and is needed with all media products, including radio dramas, as audience are the key item to a successful product as a whole.
13. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? Throughout the whole of my coursework, many different media technologies were used. All of these used were the ones available to me as a student through school, and anything else I could get my hands on to make it as best as I could, including some of the basic facilities at my radio work, East Herts Hospital Radio. I used similar technologies in all of the stages, however also some specific ones which could only be used for the each different stage. In the following information I will present which technologies I used in each stage, how I used them, and how effective they were. Research The internet – throughout this stage the internet was extremely helpful and important, it was key to my research. It allowed me to find, listen too, assess and evaluate existing media products similar to mine. This was very helpful as when I started this piece of coursework, I knew nothing about radio dramas, however this gave me a very increased knowledge about most areas of them. The search website Google was one main website that I used. This was very helpful as it allowed me to search the information needed, offering me further websites with more and more information. Another website used was Blogger. This was where I was able to present all of my research into one place, where I could easily view it, along with other people to gain feedback etc. The BBC Radio 4 website was another which I used a lot throughout my research. Here I was able to listen to similar and existing products, as this is where all the radio dramas are played! Radio – throughout my research stage, the radio was another technology used. This was used to enable me to listen to all different aspects of the radio, including how it works, is set out, how it flows and how it is presented to the audience.
14. Planning Internet – During my planning stage the internet was used again. I was able to present each of the draft copies of my script onto blogger, where they could be presented and feedback could be given. Microsoft Word – I used this programme to write up my scripts. This was helpful as I could use spell checker, helping me with spelling, and the dictionary button, where I could find similar however more excited words to use, using the ‘synonyms’ button. This was very helpful, as finding words isn't my strongest point, therefore this made my script more excited and likeable for the audience. Construction Hand held voice recorder – I used one of these to record the final copy of my drama. I found this very easy to use. It had many different simple functions allowing me to create better sounds for my drama. Garageband – This is a programme found on the iMac computers. This is what I uploaded my final recordings on to, allowing me to edit it by putting it in order and adding effects allowing it to flow and overall, sound like a radio drama. This was a very handy programme, as it had everything I needed to make my radio drama work. All I had to do was plug the voice recorder into the iMac via a USB cable, download my recordings, then place them into the programme. ITunes – I have 2 clips of songs within my final piece, which are played before and after my radio drama, allowing the piece to sound my like a show and in flow. I used my iTunes where I already had the songs, then simply dragged them from here onto garageband, then they were done!
15. Construction continued Photo Plus 11 – I used this programme to produce my radio image and both my ancillary tasks. It was a very good and helpful programme, as I was able to try all sorts of different effects with my radio image before I found the perfect one, as well as allowing me to put my ancillary tasks together. Paint – I used the programme paint to place my pictures onto before saving them. I did this my ‘print screening’ the images as I found this the easiest way for presenting on my blog by getting the images to the correct sizes etc. Serif Page Plus – I also used this programme in helping with the production of my ancillary tasks. Like photo plus, it allowed me to get my ancillary tasks looking good and together as one piece. Evaluation PowerPoint – I used this programme to present my evaluation. It was very easy to use as I could just type up information, then add in colours, fonts and photos. Internet – Once again, I used the internet to help me with the evaluation stage. I used to websites in this stage, the are; Slide Share – slide share is a website on the internet, where you can upload presentations and put them into a format where you can present them onto your blogs. So, this is where I uploaded my evaluation so I can add it to my blog. Blogger –I used blogger once again to present my evaluation, after uploading it onto Slide Share.
16. THE END ! And that’s the end of my evaluation. I hope you found it interesting with enough information presented.
