Evaluation: How did you use technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

There were many different technologies to get to grips with throughout the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages, the most technology being used through the construction phase.
In conducting my research into all elements of the coursework, the main technologies I used were YouTube, Prezi, BlogSpot, Padlet and slide share. Youtube in particular was extremely helpful when it came to researching existing products to gain influence from. On this technology I was able to research many different trailers, both professional and amateur, and evaluate the pros and cons from each, and where my own product would fit into and conform to these certain conventions. YouTube was helpful in the research and planning of both the main task and ancillary task, as I enabled me to learn new things and techniques when constructing my products, as well as using the site to get tutorials for Photoshop, which gave me the basic knowledge on how to use the software and manipulate images to get the desired effect. Prezi, Slide share and Padlet all helped me create interactive blog posts, helping me to create new and innovative ways to display my work, through using all of these I could become more creative in how my work was viewed, allowing me to add pictures and videos to best express the message I was trying to convey, which was particularly important during the research and planning stages.
Through the construction process for my main task, the main technology I used was iMovie, this allowed me to upload, edit and trim my soap opera trailer. Having used this software previously for AS, I was already familiar with the program, however this year my skills developed to use much more creative elements of iMovie, for example the Ken Burns effect coming into use on certain elements of the trailer, as well as the different effects on the footage themselves such as the romantic effect etc. Also I got to grips with using a voice recording device, which allowed me to do a voice over onto the trailer and so that I could do Foley recording onto areas of the footage were certain sounds were needed to make it seem natural.
For my construction of the ancillary tasks I used completely unfamiliar technologies, this proving to be a challenge and a learning curve. I was able to use industry standard software, such as Photoshop, to produce and create both the magazine cover and poster for the soap opera trailer. Using this software was difficult at first, however after looking at YouTube tutorials about the program I was able to familiarise myself with the technology fairly quickly. Photoshop was great in allowing me to really manipulate and change the images I had taken, giving them completely different perspectives to make them look professional. Also being able to use the magnetic lasso tool to crop around my images and create a smooth sleek finish to each image which was crucial for both tasks in particular when getting the smooth silhouette needed for the poster. Another useful element on this technology was the ability to change the pixels of the canvas, this enabled me to increase the pixels, which would then mean that if my poster was stretched to fit onto a billboard, the images would not be distorted or grainy, but would still be of the same quality as any smaller version. In order to show that I had used the technologies effectively to create each piece, I used another new technology to help display it, this being screen recording using Quicktime player. This software enabled me to record everything that was happening on my computer screen, through each development of my ancillary tasks. This was a quick and effective way of showing how the pieces were constructed, from this I then uploaded the footage onto iMovie to trim and speed up and then to upload onto YouTube and then finally onto my blog.
Overall it has been very difficult using each of these technologies, however they have all contributed to the interactivity of my coursework and the professional outcome of each task. I am now familiar with a variety of software's, all of which industry standard, and I now have a clear and comprehensive view of how each is used in order to produce quality work.

Evaluation: What have you learned from audience feedback?

Audience feedback was one of the most crucial parts in the making of all of the media products for this coursework. A lot of my feedback came from my peers, teachers, family and friends, each giving me an insight into how to improve my product, or the elements which I should keep for the final piece. Through the use of questionnaires, and informal feedback through screenings, I was able to get a feel for how audiences would receive my work, and the ways in which I needed to create and design each piece to gage audience interest.
As a lot of my audience feedback came from people that also fit into my target audience, the information I found was of vital importance throughout the whole process. From this feedback I learned how the audience reacted to each component, such as the climactic music, where every single one of my audience sample commented on how they felt the piece had a great tension building ambience keeping them on the edge of their seats throughout the viewing. This was important feedback for me as the ambience and atmosphere was one of the more important parts of the whole production, ensuring that the right mood came across fully and not just through the images on screen. Other compliments came on the use of a cliff-hanger ending, where all of the audience feedback stated that they couldn't wait to find out who the kidnapper was and what actually happened to Ellie Dean.
Having done earlier audience feedback from just my peers and teacher, another aspect I was advised to look at was into the ending of soap opera trailers, and how broadcasters presented the name of the show and the date of its release. From this I added my own logo and advert to the end of the show to display all of this crucial information, when I later showed the final product to my screening group, everyone loved the professionalism of the ending, and how I had emulated the ITV logo, however changed it to incorporate my own channel.
Constructive criticism was one of the most important things to gain from audience feedback, and helped me to make the right decisions about what the final piece should be like, and how it is completed to the best possible standard. Most of the criticisms regarding the trailer was the sound in some areas, where the dialogue became a bit too quiet to be fully heard, therefore from this I managed to go back to the piece on iMovie and increase the volume wherever was needed. Also from an earlier showing from the first draft of my product, some of the audience felt that the footage was grainy towards the end of the trailer, therefore I reshot the whole ending scene to give it the professional quality it needed.
Even through the process of the ancillary tasks, I was being given informal feedback of the tasks during their making, with my peers' guidance on how things should look to get the best effect. This feedback helped me with the placing of my text on my magazine cover, and also the magazine title itself. I handed out a questionnaire to the students and staff at my Sixth Form to get their opinion on the different names I was considering for the magazine. The feedback was almost unanimous on the title of the magazine, therefore I incorporated it onto the cover. From these results it was clear that my target audience were very similar in their likes and dislikes when it comes to media products, and I was sure to capture their likes into my own piece. Through the poster design, I asked peers to inform me if there were any elements that needed improvement, from this they told me that the background image was a bit too dark, therefore I added a lens flare onto the piece, brightening up certain elements in a much more commercial way.
Overall, the audience feedback process throughout my coursework has been hugely valuable in helping me to fully access and reach out to my target audience. Each of the questionnaires and comments have really helped to improve all of my tasks, and get them up to a professional standard of which the audience agrees with and likes.

Evaluation:How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Although the main product helped me get to grips with how I would appeal to my target audiences and produce the trailer as a whole, the combination of ancillary tasks with this piece was hugely insightful, giving me extra knowledge in not only the making of such media products, but how such designs will influence the reception of your product and the way it is advertised and marketed.
Having previously worked on just the making of a product singularly in AS Level, I found that this new combination of the main task with the ancillary tasks allowed me to become more creative, using newer software and technology to help me produce the different pieces. Being able to do such tasks has enabled me to be more involved in the process of advertising and marketing and making me think outside the box to create original and unique ideas that will still be fairly conventional. The ancillary tasks gave me much more of a wider understanding and knowledge of the different industry standard software and programming used.
Having done much audience research in the planning part of the trailer itself, it was then easy for me to adapt this audience knowledge into the making of the ancillary products, with a good background idea of the many elements audiences like, such as striking imagery and catchy taglines as found within my actual trailer 'even the smallest of towns hold the biggest of secrets'. For the magazine cover I changed the main heading to 'Where's Ellie? Is detective Douglas losing his way?' to continue the narrative but to also add another facet to the storyline and the audiences interest. However the main tagline for the trailer was used in my poster which is 'Do you trust your neighbours?'The use of rhetorical questions for the taglines and headings of poster and magazine cover is extremely conventional, with its main use being to engage audiences and get them thinking about the media product. Also conventional to all three products as previously mentioned was the imagery used. I had to ensure I incorporated suitable and appropriate images to all tasks to create the same ambience and setting the show needed. All of the images were striking and emotive, again reinforcing the atmospheric tension within the soap opera. By using such images in the ancillary tasks it kept the trailer alive, along with the storyline.
Therefore by using a combination of all of the tasks, each one complimented the other, and again sparked more viewer interest by playing on the knowledge the audience already has of the soap. Each product acted as another way to market my soap opera trailer, and continued to keep the storyline going in the many different media forms. I feel that with the knowledge of the background into making and producing all three, I understand the TV industry much better, and how integral each aspect is to the production as a whole.

Evaluation: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Through my research into soap opera trailers, and the conventions of such a media product, it was important to ensure that I followed the conventions correctly, therefore making my own product look professional and completed to industry standard. I had to look into the different ways soap opera trailers were unique and recognisable, ensuring that my own piece looked like a soap opera trailer and not a film trailer.
There are many ways in which my soap opera trailer conforms, develops and challenges the forms and conventions of real media products. The product itself is very closely influenced by the many trailers I have uploaded onto my blog, in particular Broadchurch and more generic soap opera trailers such as Eastenders. I have tried to incorporate the main conventions such as the soap being placed in a main setting, the use of main protagonists to guide the story (i.e. the detective), however in ways my trailer challenges such conventions as I only focus on one main character at this point, as although the soap will be based around the police station as a whole, his character is the most diverse and integral to the journey of the plot. I have followed Todorov's narrative structure partly, in showing how there has been a disruption to the equilibrium, and the journey the detective goes on to solve it. Another commonality featured in my trailer is the use of cliffhanger endings as found in all trailers to entice audiences. The ending dialogue of the detective 'it's you' implies that the kidnapper will be someone he and the audience knows, and by his tone this suggests the news will come as a surprise. This will therefore continue to reel in audiences, making them intrigued and impatient to find out who has committed such a crime. I have developed media forms and conventions by using new techniques and edits to create a more unique effect to my own personalised trailer. In conforming to existing soap opera products I also had to ensure that I used the right shots and pace for the trailer, using dramatic climactic music and faster paced collaged images to in keep with the atmospheric tension that my piece needed to convey. This builds up anticipation for audiences, and through audience research I found that this was something many of the samples picked up on. Another key element of conforming to such media products was ensuring I ended the trailer just right- this being with the advertisement for the broadcasting station the show will be aired on and the name of the show, along with its sponsors. To do this I used industry standard software, along with emulating one of the most popular broadcasting stations signature logo and advertisement. With this in mind it made my piece look increasingly professional, with audiences being able to visualise the types of other products this show would be featured with. As well as the iconic imagery continuing to draw audiences in. I also added a male voice over to this iconic image, stating the name of the show and 'coming soon', again emulating industry standard pieces. Using this iconic imagery, I was able, on photoshop, to manipulate the lettering of the logo, changing it from the infamous 'ITV' to 'IPV' therefore although seeming similar, I wasn't breaking any copyright laws. I also used subtitles during the ending of my piece, thus developing the storyline more and again adding tension such as my previous examples have done in their trailers (i.e. Broadchurch). Another convention that I conformed to was the need for character backstory's to make audiences more emotionally connected to the characters on screen. To introduce this properly into the trailer, I added a few shots of the detective drinking from a hip flask, showing his alcoholism, as well as the shot of him opening a locket which features his wife and step daughter. These images should then intrigue audiences into believing the detective has a troubled background, and making them sympathise with his journey and story.
Challenging such media conventions was the use sub-genre this category fell into and preconceived notions regarding them. Normally, such crime shows as mine wishes to emulate, would only be aired as a TV drama, therefore coming on in series a few times a year. My soap opera would differ from this as although it is crime based, it will be a long running show, being on weekly (various days in the week) such as Emmerdale, Coronation Street and Eastenders. In such ways I have also developed on the conventions already in place for TV dramas, and adapted them to the conventions of long running soap operas. With such a sub-genre being so popular nationally and internationally, I felt that this type of show was long overdue, this view being adopted by audiences too.

By conforming, challenging and developing these soap opera conventions I have managed to make a professional looking product, in keeping with the main conventions of the soap opera genre, however adding unique twists to the storyline and sub genre so as to make my piece more personal and individualistic.

Making my Poster

When in the process of making my poster on photoshop, I found that the software had became increasingly slower than previously, this I assume is due to the high resolution of the canvas, therefore it takes longer for my edits to be completed. A lot of this process was similar to the making of my magazine cover, manipulating images and colours to get the desired effect. I found at one point I wanted one of the shadowed figures to go behind one of the tree branches, to do so I had to duplicate the background layer with the tree image, place the figure where I wanted it to go behind it, and then begin to rub out the tree however ensuring that the main background image was untouched but the figure was still behind the tree. This video portrays all of the process of my poster making sped up, going through the many different stages to get to the final product.

Finished poster design

Here is my finished poster design:


As you can see from the other posters I have researched into, my own product shares many similarities with theirs, this being the broadcasting station's logo, the title of the show, and the time and date of the show being aired. Not only this but I have also included a tag line for my soap opera, as featured on the poster. The use of a rhetorical question in this element works as a device to get audiences to question their own setting and surroundings, encouraging them to take on the emotions the characters in the trailer. To keep the poster artistic yet conventional and appropriate, I have used an image from the setting where the kidnapping takes place, as well as used the silhouettes of the characters in the show. Having shown my peers this poster, they loved the silhouette idea, believing it fit in with the idea of conspiracy and mystery, as well as liking the use of interactive elements such as a hashtag and Facebook symbol allowing them to access any information about the show online. This shows how my product is aimed at a new type of modern audience whose means of access are far more variable.

New Photo shoot

As I have now changed the idea of my poster design, I had to organise another photo shoot with my actors in order to get the right poses needed for my poster design.  As I only need their silhouettes, it won't matter what the actors are dressed in, however their poses need to be right in order to create the right look. Therefore Ellie will be standing face on, in an open position, and then the kidnapper shall be in the background standing with his arms closed looking on at the young girl. Here are the full length pictures I will be using:

Pixels for my poster

To make my poster on photoshop, I had to consider the layout of the page itself and the pixels I will need to use. As I am planning to use my poster design for a billboard or bus advertisement the pixels need to be set at around 1000 to ensure that it is in high resolution and match industry standards imagining it would actually be blown up to its intended proportion. Also as I have planned to make my poster landscape, the width shall be 20 and the height shall be 10 to give me this landscape design.

House and Font Styles Poster

The main house style for my poster will follow a much darker theme, to ensure it stays suitable to the serious issues the trailer touches on, and to grasp this gothic context. The main colours will be black/grey and a yellow colour centrally to imitate the torch light and the idea of the other main images being shadows against Ellie. The text such as the #SaveEllie and 'coming soon from IPV' 'Sponsored by HTO' and 'The Ridge' shall all be in white American Typewriter Font, thus in keeping with the same font style used in the actual trailer for the subheadings and title. The text will be smaller around the images, with 'The Ridge' standing out at the top of the page, and all of the other text featuring at the bottom. Also featuring on the poster will be social networking images such as Facebook, this in keeping with the Twitter '#' symbol and making sure that the trailer and any news about the soap etc. can be found online along with any discussions. On my poster there are certain bits of text I will need to incorporate to ensure that my piece will look professional. This will be the title itself 'The Ridge' followed by the 'sponsored by HTO', 'coming soon from IPV' '#SaveEllie' and the tag line 'Do you trust your neighbours?'.

Second Poster Plan

This is a rough plan of my new poster.

Changes in my poster design

Why I have chosen to create a poster

Having done a lot of research into Soap opera poster, I found that this wasn't a stereotypical marketing tool for broadcasting channels to use. A lot of my knowledge will come from my knowledge of film posters and billboards, however adapting this to my own soap. By utilising this new convention, it will allow me to target a new audience, therefore reaching more and more people as they go about daily life (billboard for buses etc.) this will attract more attention and interest for my trailer.

Plan of poster

Here is a rough plan of the structure my poster will take, a long with the text that will feature on to and the colour schemes in mind. To keep the poster fitting with the genre of the trailer, the images will be placed in a triangular pattern imitating that of a torch, keeping to the detective/crime topic. The poster will be fairly plain, with the images being the main focus and the writing much smaller, with only the title of the trailer really standing out completely.

Research into soap opera posters

Making my magazine cover

Here is a quick video of the photoshop process of making my magazine cover, this video goes over the different processes and stages I went through to get the final product.

Final Magazine design

Here is my final magazine cover, having looked closely into the subject of TV Guides, I have tried my best to ensure that my product best fits its conventions. I have emulated the bright house style that most magazine TV guides follow, as well as big bold titles with subtitles underneath and page numbers to allow audiences to find the articles easily. Having used photoshop I was able to do a number of things such as cropping the image, manipulating colours, creating shapes etc. All of which contributing to this final design. To help my piece look professional, I have incorporated an issue number to show that this is an ongoing magazine that has appeared many times before, with the feature this week being based upon my soap opera trailer. I have done this as it would mean that my magazine would already have a loyal fan base, therefore those fans would then see the feature on the trailer, already being a target audience. I have also included the dates that the information inside the TV guide is valid for- one week only. To further this professional look I have added the name of the newspaper this magazine would feature in, again although made up, it would still imply that this paper is a well established company and has a wide fan base. I have added subtitles and smaller feature stories to in keep with magazine conventions, working on the idea that these people are well known to the audience and would interest them also. To create this final look I had to save the cover as a JPEG and flatten the layers to create one final piece with all the layers merged into one.

Manipulating the image colour

Here I have tried changing the hue and saturation of the images, as well as changing the contrast and brightness, making both higher so the images are more visible and the colouring best matches the bright house style of the actual magazine. In doing this the images look more realistic and add a much more professional outlook to them, although still keeping the serious tone the main images need to convey.

First Draft

Here is the first part of the process for making my first magazine cover draft. These images show the magazine so far with the different layers at the side corresponding with the content on screen. From this I will need to start manipulating the colours of the actual images, as well as adding the rest of my text to the cover.

Images used on both the Poster and Magazine cover

My Main images are as follows for both my magazine cover and my poster, I have shot a variety of images involving these characters to ensure that I have the best shots possible for both ancillary tasks. With this in mind i decided to stay to the same main images for both the poster and magazine cover, as they were the best emotive images I shot during the photo shoot:

These are the images that will also feature on my magazine cover and poster, I have done all of the photography myself and they will emulate different soap operas, however under different names, so as to ensure there are no copyright issues. This will help the piece seem more professional and conventional. Here are the images that will go alongside the subheadings on the magazine over only:
These images will go alongside my magazine cover as subheadings, this follows magazine conventions as normally other soap operas will feature on the cover, with smaller articles about them, along with the latest soap news or celebrity gossip. These images will be pieced together to create this professional look.

Magazine Cover & Poster Photoshoot

As I will need the same actors to star in the images on both the magazine cover and the poster, I decided to do both photo shoots together, to ensure the actors were wearing the correct attire, and that I was able to get them all together and finished at once.

The process was fairly simple using a Canon stills camera, I was able to take professional looking photographs of each actor, taking into account the lighting and position of each.

The key to the lighting of the photographs being taken was to ensure that they were illuminated by natural light, this making the images clearer and brighter. For this I decided to go outdoors to take my shots, as well as against white walls next to doors and windows, all the time ensuring natural light was used rather than artificial lighting.

For my magazine cover, I was intent on getting a sideward facing image of the detective, with Ellie and her parents smaller images to the left of him on the page. With this in mind I had to arrange the characters into particular positions-I.e. the detective in a sideways stance, using a long shot  and a mid shot of him to get in the whole pose and the detail where needed, for my magazine cover I shall use the mid-shot of the detective, feeling that this in keeps in with TV Guide magazine conventions better than a whole body shot. For Ellie's parents, I made the actors portray the emotional turmoil they were feeling through their facial expressions and body language. Therefore both actors had very sad, distressed facial expressions, further capturing the emotion the characters would feel in reality and how this soap opera portrays many serious issues. I used mid shots and close ups of the parents to help better portray the emotions to the audiences.

For Ellie, she similarly used the same type of sad and distressed facial expressions, however to capture her innocence she was dressed in a white blouse, connoting innocence and her angelic personality. On some of the shots I told the actor to look almost vacant and upset to keep up the image of her being lost and vulnerable. Again I used mid shots and close ups to best get these emotions.

For the Poster, I took a variety of shots of all of the character's to make sure they would suit any position I wanted them to be in for the final design. In mind I think I shall set my poster out in an upside down triangular way- much emulating the way a torch would project light- with Ellie's face being at the bottom centre, and then each other actors' face becoming bigger and spread out as the triangle goes up. Therefore I mainly used close-up shots for these images, as well as mid shots to ensure I had a variety of images to choose from and that they would fit the final design.

Researching into Industry Standard Software- DTP

I have decided to research into the different software programmes the magazine industry uses to create their publications, and how I may be able to access such sites for my own magazine and poster creations. I first looked into Desktop Publishing, and what this really meant, here is a brief definition from http://www.life123.com/technology/computer-software/desktop-publishing/a-guide-to-desktop-publishing-software.shtml A Guide to Desktop Publishing Life 123;
Desktop publishing, or DTP, is using your computer and software to combine text and graphics on a page that will be printed. Newsletters, brochures, greeting cards and any other number of items that can be printed on a regular printer-not a full press-fall under the banner of desktop publishing.There are industry standards in desktop publishing that include the big names like Adobe, Corel and Quark.
Mentioned most is the use of the company Adobe- in particular Photoshop which is easily accessible to the public. Having previously used this software before, I would like to produce my magazine on it also, so as to make sure it emulates the industry standard and it should enable me to ensure my magazine cover really looks professional. To recap over the Adobe software and how to use it, I watched a few short basic Youtube videos about the programme to reaffirm my knowledge.



From these videos I was able to get a quick insight into the basics of Adobe Photoshop, and how I can apply these skills to my own images and texts on my magazine covers.

My Magazine Cover Subheadings

Having looked at many different TV guide magazine covers, I found that all of the subheadings on the cover portrayed big news and events happening to soaps on TV. I shall incorporate this into my own cover, but using other people to be cast members from different made up soaps so as not to infringe on any copyright by using existing images. With the subheadings usually portraying the biggest soap news, my subheadings will be as follows: 'Where's Ellie?' 'Is Stacey's love affair in out?' 'Soap Awards Winners Announced'
Each of these subheadings should continue to raise audience interest. With the use of rhetorical questions, it continues to keep audiences thinking, with the main subheading for 'The Ridge' will be 'Will they find Ellie Dean?' therefore gaining audience's attention before the soap opera is properly aired, but having hopefully previously seen the trailer, it will continue to keep the story alive.

Font Style

Having looked at the different type of font styles used on published TV magazines, this will then influence the way my own magazine will look like in terms of font style and colour. Having already deliberated on the house style of my magazine and the type of colours I will use, the main focus now is figuring out the different fonts that I will use. I have looked at many different styles on online websites to see which would best suit my magazine and the normal font conventions.



Here is the font type 'Nouvelle Vague', having used 'dafont.com', I managed to pick a lot of different font types to go onto my magazine. I think this font best fits magazine conventions, as well as making it stand out against the rest, adding more of a personal touch for the magazine to make it identifiable. The font looks sophisticated and the bold writing emphasises this making it best suit the norms of magazine font styles.



Here is the font style 'Elegant Typewriter', I chose to look into tho type of font as it in keeps with the idea of journalism, and magazines, adding an old traditional twist. This type of font is best associated with old newspapers and writings, therefore I felt it would add a more older feel to the magazine. Witht his in mind, although it being a very conventional font type for magazines etc. I believe I need something more modern and contemporary to suit audiences today, as well as in keeping with the idea of all of the news inside being the newest and most up to date information.



Here is 'School Book New', I wanted to test out more unconventional font styles, to try and challenge certain magazine conventions and to see whether my magazine would work better with something more personal. However, after class feedback on this font, I found that people found it to look childish, and a type of font that would be found on children's magazines rather than on a TV guide. Therefore this will not be the font I will use on my finished piece.

From further research, I found none of the other font styles I looked at seemed to fit the magazine conventions as well as 'Nouvelle Vague'. With audience feedback as well from my peers, many also said the same. Therefore this will be the font for my magazine title.