A2 Media Evaluation
How have you used media technologies?
Other than the cameras being used for audience feedback, research and planning storyboards, to get used to the general codes and conventions used in the real media world the internet was used very often. I reviewed YouTube video’s from professional media production companies to view how lighting, composition, camera angles and framing were dealt with in an open environment which was very beneficial as a pointer during our main production task. Software such as Word Processor and PowerPoint were used to take note and plan storyboards or create scripts full of ideas for the main task.
Microsoft Word was also used in order to note any scripts or location plans a long with PowerPoint for storyboarding. Blogger was also used not only to note down my weekly progress and allow me to compare my draft productions to my main task and was able to allow my target audience to view them and receive positive and negative feedback.
Blogger.com was used to note down the progress I had achieved every week during the pre-production, production and post-production of each task. Inputs involved were cameras, video cameras, scanners, general computer hardware and USB’s to transfer material from one place to the next making the main task easier as the planning was portable and could be taken everywhere I go, making material accessible for all parties. When it came to production, a lot more equipment was needed including items to help us film like tripods, video cameras, cassettes, digital cameras, chargers and other technical equipment in order to allow the video camera to function and produce the best footage. There were many technical problems that involved pixilation that were better dealt with when learning how to use the equipment correctly. Post-production software consisted of Adobe Premier Editing Software and using tape converters to convert our cassette’s to software that we could use to edit and produce our main task. Ancillary Task 1 & 2 involved Photoshop, InDesign, Paint software, and websites that help produce a better and more professional image (www.pixlr.com), which was a quicker alternative to Photoshop, one that can be used at home during spare hours.
A variety of different software was combined in order to gather all material and combine it into one. For instance, the consistent theme of our magazine was made on Photoshop, and then merged into Adobe Premier and InDesign as a consistent house style that will run from the Main Task to Ancillary Tasks, just so the target audience will gather a sense of familiarity and understanding of what is being advertised and how often it emerges in the media. If there were certain designs we wanted, we would take them from Google Images and paste it onto paint modifying the shape. Paint software was good for detecting any pixilation in the photo, and if there was, we would disregard the photo and replace it with a better quality effect. Also, a lot of computer technological knowledge was needed to know how to transport or convert files to the area/format that was desired.
Also, small gadgets like my current phone helped me a lot when it came to contacting my group in order to arrange a meeting time and place. Apps such as Blackberry messenger which was used on my BlackBerry Curve saved a lot of money with group communication and made it easier to get together in terms of filming. My Blackberry had also helped me to note down any reminders or important notes that couldn't have been forgotten. But most importantly, as well as being compatible, it saved information of pictures and videos that would give us ideas during filming that would remind me not to forget. Videos were viewed from the internet via Blackberry on http://www.youtube.com/. Mobile telecommunications was used in order to call the group to meet at a sensible time and date; the Blackberry Curve was also used to write any notes or production ideas that needn’t be forgotten including shots and angles that were to be taken care of. Social networking sites were also used in order to gather as much feedback as possible. Being able to send my friends DM'S (Direct Messages) using an Instant Messaging Service served on my Blackberry Curve was an easy and convenient way of fast communication with friends and the wider world, asking them for feedback on my posters and magazine front cover and sending them an online link version to my blog (blogger.com).
I was able to also use a tripod to steady filming; however this year I became more confident with the movement of the tripod and experimented during filming with panning and titling shots. It also helped to steady the shot so the mise-en-scene was framed perfectly within the screen and kept the filming line straight. We noticed a significant difference in the footage when not using a tripod- with this piece of equipment, the film looks well cut and shot
In what ways has your media product used, developed or challenged forms and conventions of real media products?
For my A2 A Level media course, we made a film teaser trailer of a film as the main task; a front cover film magazine featuring our film ‘SWOP’ as our ancillary task 1 and a film poster for as our ancillary task 2. Reasons why I thought creating these individual tasks for a comedy film would be the fantastic unanimous decision is because it was a chance to give us the opportunity to show off as many camera shots, editing skills, mise-en-scene, sound, language and narration choice in filming and editing all combined into a one minute clip. This will also enhance our technological skills and use them beneficially to tie in with the forms and conventions viewed during planning and research, and incorporate all the important components of a comedy genre film.
For the choice of genre and our target audience, I had to make many preparations regarding research in my chosen genre through analysis of film trailers. Our genre of film had already been decided by a random selection making a unanimous decision. The outcome was comedy, my group and I seemed very enthusiastic about this genre as it seemed a challenge but one we were familiar with. My group and I had already previously agreed the target audience we were aiming for were youths of both young males and females aged from 15 – 30. I also analysed other market campaigns, as like the film trailer I had to produce, I furthered this by producing a market campaign to consort with the trailer, for a professional outlook. Therefore looking at our target audience range, we agreed that it would be rated a 15. However, it was noticed that the trailer would be shown to all ages of the public so some aspects like sexuality and violence had to be discrete as our teaser trailer would be shown at all aspects of the day.
Regarding the generic characteristics, humour, action, drama and adventure is what my target audience want to see so we tried to incorporate all these general comedy elements into our trailer. “Narrative is a way of organising material” Todorov proposed the idea that a narrative had 5 distinct transformations through which the story proceeds. We decided that the narrative structure of the trailer is linear & equilibrium disrupted / disturbed. There are cliff hangers towards the end of the film to entice the audience and want them to see more. However the trailer is viewed from and outside perspective from beginning to end so that there are no biased viewpoints and an accurate experience of both teenager’s scenarios and characters is viewed. I have done some extra research on three London films: 'Bullet Boy', 'Fish Tank', 'Anuvahood' and ‘4.3.2.1” in order to get the idea of the current representations projected from real media products. These three films were both chosen due to their similarity in ethnicity, gender and also the obvious class division. After watching these films that were very similar to the idea our group's trailer for a film, I had made some essays to properly analysed these films in detail. They include my thoughts and ideas about the representation of youths and how it is portrayed in the film.
I also showed a full analysis of the mise-en-scene, sound, camera angles and composition, effects, language in order to show this. My plan was to use a couple of their ideas and incorporate it into our own trailer, but exaggerating them considering that our idea is more of a spoof (most similar to Anuvahood).
After analysis, I felt that getting some professional advice from professional production companies on how to plan to use the best codes and conventions whilst filming, I researched some YouTube tutorials packed full of tips and advice:
Also using YouTube tutorials for caption/ background designs:
We thought that having roles, like the professionals, during the process of making the trailer would make us more successful as the planning would be well organised. Within my group we were all assigned roles, we thought we would challenge the normal process of filming by exchanging these roles every week, this was in order to combine all three skills that the different people may have, and to also get a grab of an all-round perspective of each role.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
There are a variety of methods of measuring an audience. McQuail offers 4; we decided to use one of them: The deliberate target audience of particular sections of the mass audience. Social, economic or even lifestyle groups can be persuaded that certain products and services are especially suitable for their needs, although that group only comes into existence when the targeting takes place.
The methods used when wanting to reveal a little more about my target audience were questionnaires which were turned into statistics in order to generalise the overall majority. Also, interviews were used in order to gather a more qualitative means of data and allow my target audience to suggest other alternatives they may want to add regarding the tasks.
The technologies involved whilst researching and planning involved the use of cameras to film short interviews participated by our target audience gathering their insight on what would make a comedy teaser trailer, taking conventional ideas from the target audience in particular was important if we wanted our trailer to be successful in finding out what worked for them, which meant the idea of successfully selling our film in the real media and marketing world.
Target audience (reception theory) – My target audience from ages 15 – 30 can relate to the current evens in my film and the over exaggerated representation. Majority of our viewers will negotiate with the representations as it isn’t trying to mediate the current negative representations of the media but are trying to create a mockery out of the negative representations that some audiences may find oppositional (Stuart Hall). The target audience, as well as the older ages will negotiate with the representation and create their own interpretation as not just one type of teenager is represented but two different kinds. Whereas, other media texts tend to take a ‘Hypodermic Syringe Inoculation’ and feeds untrue ideologies to the audience but our aim is to make the audience aware of the stereotypes and allow them to decide after giving a fair view point.
Based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, users of the media use media texts to satisfy their certain needs. In relation to my trailer and ancillary texts, the audiences by the end of my trailer will feel the need to self-actualize, challenging the stereotypes represented and building their own judgement.
How effective is the combination of your designs for your main and ancillary tasks?
Throughout my main product and the ancillary texts, I am certain in saying that all of the productions consist of the similar layout and same house-style, colours, characters, language and other codes and conventions that were decided would be repeated in all production tasks. I thought that the main element that had to be incorporated into all three productions were the choices of colours which I decided was a range of reds, yellows and possibly oranges. This original choice of house-style will make my product stand out amongst the other media productions as they are bold and bright primary colours that are uniquely creative. Making sure the characters names are consistent throughout all three productions is important as the audience can become familiar with the content when the texts are reoccurring. I also made sure that the productions looked suitable for my target audience which was young adults aged 15 – 30 which is why bright and bold primary colours were used. The oppositions of red and yellow suggests there are two main characters in the film but where one is the more dominant character. If colours are inconsistent throughout this will send mix messages to the audience and bring out misunderstanding and confusion which isn’t what we are going for, the aim was the draw in the audience by the recognisable famous icons, film logo and use of vibrant colours. The house style, fonts colours, mise-en-scene was all replicated in both ancillary task 1 and the main product. The more consistent I made the house style / codes and conventions, the more professional the final outcomes will look when put together and compared with each other.
To conclude, I found out many other things I could have previously done to get a better more professional outlook. One being, I felt the quality of the camera massively let me down as it wasn’t as clear as we’d all imagined it to be, instead we could have pre planned a better video camera to use to make our footage more clear and professional looking. A second change I would have made was to make the pace of the trailer a little faster, however was held back due to the pace of the second music in the second draft.
I feel proud of the main task final outlook and feel that a lot of group effort was put in, especially using each other’s own initiative and combining it to get a powerful finishing main task. The ancillary task was individual, and I felt that my skills picked up from both AS and A Level helped me to come up with a creative, original style whilst at the same time taking different aspects of codes and conventions from other real products and incorporated bits and bobs into my work which made it my own.
I won’t disregard the fact that all the tasks created by myself and the team had a few flaws that could have been improved on, however I feel that the main purpose of the tasks, which was to successfully produce a professional looking production that targets the correct target audience and uses media codes and conventions to do so, was successfully achieved. Whilst also challenging typical stereotypes of femininity, youth and class in contemporary media texts.
