Evaluation Task 4

Facebook:
We used facebook as an easy way of communicating ideas with other members of our group, it saved us much time and also gave us the opportunity to notify the other members of the group when something new had been added to the group or individual blogs.

Youtube:
We used the website Youtube to post and annotate our final cut of our soap opera trailer 'The Street'. Youtube is also easily accesible to anyone who has internet and is the most premier video website on the world wide web.

Blogger:
Blogger.com is where i created both my AS and A2 projects. It helped all of us to document are planning and reseach for our project and is very useful yet so easy to use and access. It was the most used website and helps show my progression and work throughout this project.

Windows Movie Maker:
This is the programme my group used to edit most of the soap trailer on as it is simplistic and easy to use but gave us all the tools we needed to create a suitable trailer.

iMovie:
We used iMovie for some of the editing but realised that Windows Movide Maker was much more useful and we had access to it at our homes unlike iMovie, which is also slightly more complex.

Adobe Photoshop:
Photoshop was used for making our magazine covers. It was complex to use but the group worked as a team to all give eachother ideas and pointers on how to manipulate the tools within Photoshop.

iTunes:
We used iTunes to store our music and edit it into our soap opera trailer video.

This picture shows the standard Apple Mac in which we used to make our blog's, edit pictures via photoshop and publisher, edit our soap opera trailer via iMovie (along with Windows Movie Maker) and post our final trailer to Youtube.com. After now using the Apple Mac for a year it was very useful to our group but sometimes was still hard to do the simple things with.


In this picture I am holding the tripod we used for precise still shots in our soap opera trailer, we used this a only a few times but it was very consistent and useful when we did use it.

These pictures show me holding the FlipHD video recorder. It was the main and most useful tool for filming our soap opera trailer, it gave us a high quality of video (resolution: 720p) with great mobility, as it is a compact device and made it very easy to transfer our clips to any computer (via a USB which slides out of the side of the device).
This picture shows myself holding a mono-pod which we used for filming our soap opera trailer. It gave us a steady and precise shot as we attached the FilpHD video recorder to it and used it mainly for panning shots.

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

I was tasked to choose 9 images to represent 9 areas of forms and conventions and briefly write about each one:

1. Title

The titile we created is a very simple title and 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.

2. Setting

This establishing shot from our trailer immediately establishes the setting of our soap opera The Street which is located within a small fictional street in the heart of North London. The road itself consists of a single side of terraced houses which gives the sense of a working class community; which is typical within soap operas. The main road to the right also gives the idea that this soap is set in an urban enviroment, also a convention of many soaps is to be set in these kind of enviroments.

3. Costume

The costume worn by actor Ashley Loblack (Left) represents the image of a black youth shown specifically with the bandana/balaclava around his neck and also the wolly hat; sometimes black youths are portrayed in the media as being somewhat hell raisers, however in our soap we aim to challenge this and one of the ways we did this was by placing Ashley with his friend in the soap, actor Phillip Constantinou (right), who is wearing a polo shirt and jumper. This all helps show the diversity of the community within our soap opera trailer of The Street.

4. Props

We used automobiles within the soap opera trailer as the most significant and important props, the van helps represent a working class community and blue collar jobs within The Street and the car is very important in the trailer; transporting the suprise member of the cast and taking part in many of the shots withihn our trailer.

5. Cinematography

The medium shot shown here of the character Benjamin (played by myself, Jack Fairbank) helps show the media technique of rule of thirds. We can clearly see Benjamin's face only on the left hand side (first third) of the frame which helps gain the audiences attention and communicate the idea of a converstaion. The shot also shows enough of the character to establish his body language but most importantly his facial expressions which are key in communitcating emotion to the audience within soap opears.

6. Narrative

This is a key shot from our trailer, as it establishes all three main characters into the same narrative through a medium over the shoulder shot. This is the scene in which the character Michelle returns to her family, we use this as a cliffhanger for our trailer, which is typically used in soap and could even be said to be a convention of soap operas as its key in keeping the audience hooked and wanting more.

7. Introduction of Characters

The introduction of the character Michelle is a lengthy and longed out proess within the trailer to add a real sense of mystery and antcipation to The Street; shown in these long shots, of the car she is in and from behind her which are two of many shots within the trailer which do not give away her identity. We hope this echoes throughout our audience too as it is key in giving an importance to our characters.

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.

Soap Opera Trailer w/ Annotations

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 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.