How did you use new media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages

Myself using The Camera

Myself using Premiere Pro

Hotmail

Hotmail was used as m personal email address.  This allowed production team members to send images they had taken on there cameras that were made to be accessed by the whole team. It allowed me to download and save the images into my documents.

Adobe Premiere Pro

Premiere Pro was the software i used to edit my footage for my soap trailer.  Premiere Pro allowed me to cut footage down, change image scale, change the speed and time duration, add transition and effects, import music into the trailer timeline and create titles. 

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop was used for the construction of my poster and tv listing guide.  It allowed me to edit and refine images. I could access blending and cropping tools allowing my to edit parts of the images that i did not need.  It also allowed me to use texts which was enabled to access many font styles and size.

Facebook

Facebook was a way of communicating with my production team so we can schedule times to get together and film.  It was also helpful in my target audience qestionnaire as i couldnt contact everyone face to face so was allowed to communicate to them through facebook.

Google Search Engine

Google search engine was my main source i used in my research and planning stages.  It helped me locate videos of soap trailers, websites for soaps and images to back up on my blog.

Freeplaymusic

Freeplaymusic is the site where i located my background music for my soap trailer.  This site has every genre of music that is copyright free.

SONY Carl Ziess Video Camera

All of the footage for my media soap trailer was recorded on a sony video camera. 

SONY ICD-PX820

This Sony voice recorder was used in my evaluation stages for my media product.  It was used for me to record an evaluation on how effective the combination of my main media product and ancillary texts are. 

Samsung NV3

My samsung camera was used to take photographs of didital images i could use in my poster and tv listing guide.

Nokia XpressMusic 5220

My Nokia phone was used in the planning and constructing stages of my media product as i had to get in contact with members of the production group. 

Wacom Intous4 Small

The Intous was used in the planning stages of my final media product. I used the intous to sketch out my ideas on how i wanted the poster and tv listing guide to look like.

What have you learned from audience feedback?

While making my soap trailer we were set a date where we should have our first draft ready by.  This allowed us to create a questionnaire to receive audience feedback. 
What i picked up from my results was;

• certain words like corruption for the titles were not understood, this means the words have to be easier to understand
• the volumne of the trailer was too loud for the viewers to enjoy
• effects did not need to be added to the titles
• the music was appropriate for the genre
• the brightness of the trailer did not need to be enhanced except for the places where it was dark

After looking at all of these points i went on to make improvements to the soap trailer. Here are the improvements i made:

1. from my audience feedback it was apparent that corruption was not the type of word i should use for one of the titles. This word wasnt really understood and made the viewer understand that storyline as having a different meaning. I think the reason why this didnt come across so well to the viewer was because it wasnt obvious and it had a deeper meaning too it. So with this information in hand i went on to change the title in the soap trailer, the original still image said "corruption" i changed the final one to "murder.. ?" This word made the storyline easier to understand as the word has one understanding.  Also by using a question mark at the end of murder, it makes the viewer think more into the storyline whether or not the lady drugging his drinks could be classed as murdering him.  This will make the viewer more intrigued by using the question mark so overall was a good improvement to make

2. One of the things i picked up from my audience feedback was there own comments at the end of it.  They said in the improvement section that the actress walking along the corridor is walking too fast.  I then noted that this looked strange in the main media text as it wasnt realistic.  I changed the speed duration of that section of footage back down to its normal time.  The reason i did it before hand was because the time it took for her to walk along the corridor was too long so i changed the duration.   However now i used the cut tool to half the clip so she started half way along the corridor so it didnt take up to much time. This still kept to the match on action shot that i wanted for this section of footage. This change has been an improvement to my work as it helps connote realism to the soap.

3.  The audience feedback showed that improvements needed to be made when there was a scene outside at the beginning of the trailer with the drug dealing scene.  The brightness of this scene had been enhanced too much and deterred from the realism of the scene.  It also didnt fit well with all the rest of the footage as colour were very light.  I changed the brightness down and enhanced the contrast which made the characters stand out more in the dark surroundings. 

4.  The audience feedback showed that it would kept to the conventions of a soap trailer if i included a bbc one image still at the end of the trailer.  This would give the information element of the uses and gratifications theory to the viewer. This is because it will satisfy their curosity of when the programme is starting and what channel it will be scheduled on. I made this image on photoshop, i had to use the text tool to get the title of the soap "Eaton" to look like the font of bbc one.  After making this in another layer it was quite easy positioning the titles on the image.

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

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

1. The ways in which this screen grab of my media product uses conventions of a real media products is from the costumes of teens in this certain storyline of drug addiction.  This is a convention of a soap trailer as it is showing the struggles and pressure that teens deal with.  This is a typical aspect of a soap trailer as it is dramatizing situations that most teens go through. 

2.  This screen shot has the conventions of a real media product by the use of camera angle.   The camera has been set to a close up.  This helps draw attention to the storyline of the scene in action.  After the woman says farewell to her husband you wonder why she so hastily locks the door.  It is later evident in the last part of this scene that she is having an affair as she greets another man at the back door to the house.  This is a typical aspect of a soap trailer as it is allowing the audience to interpret the storyline as it gradually unfolds, but as the trailer leaves it as a cliffhanger the audience is drawn in to find out more.

3. This screen shot of a figure knocking at the door is also a convention of a real media product.  The silhoette of the man is too dark to make out who it could be.  This is often done in soap trailers as it keeps the audience thinking who the person is as they are unable to view the persons face.  This is a typical aspect of a soap trailer as it wants the viewer to think who this person could be, and normally when there face is revealed the audience will be shocked to find out who it really is.

4. The ways in which this screen grab uses conventions from a real media product is that it is introducing us to a character.  This is a typical convention of a real media product as it shows the audience what that characters personality is like and what role they will play for the rest of the programme.

5. This screen grab uses conventions of a real media product by the use of titles.  In real media products for soap trailer there is often titles giving quick words that detail the storylines of the soap.  The title already suggests what is happening in the storyline that is about to be shown.  But by the use of a question mark it makes us question if that is what actually is going to happen. This convention of a real media product challenges the use of the title being another guideline into what the storyline is about.  This aspect is commonly seen in soap trailers as if there is no dialogue andjust the backing track it is another prompt to the audience on what could happen in the storyline.

6. This screen grab uses conventions of a real media product by the use of camera angles.  The camera angle that is set for this shot is a match on action shot.  The older lady walk towards the camera with a rather stern menacing expression on her face.  This uses forms from a real media product as you question her intentions from the earlier shot of her spiking her husbands drink. 

7. This screen grab shows the convention of a real media product being the shot reverse shot angle.  Not only does this shot use shot reverse shot but it also allows the audience to see the social issues that are dealt with in the soap.  This social issue outlines underaged drinking.  The use of shot reverse shot allows us to view the conversationg taken place.  By the use of the camera angle being over the shoulder and viewing the teens putting pressure on that individual it makes the teen being pressurised seem very vunerable.  the body language they use in this screen grab i also typical of a convetion for a real media product as it helps stereotype what kind of people thety are. 

8. This shot shows the drinks bottle being pushed away as the girl who was being pressured into drinking it refuses and it falls to the ground.  This shot is typical for a convention in a real soap trailer as it is the ultimatum that she has refused to let these people bully her into drinking.  The bottle rolls away like an incident is about to take place with the teenagers. This a convention in a real media product as it shows the refusal in a social issue which will make the situation more of a problem causing the drama in the soap opera.

9. This screen grab is a typical convention of a real soap trailer as it has the bbc one logo, the title of the soap, the date and time at the end of the trailer.  This is a convention of a real media product as from research i did most of the trailers end with a shot giving details on the soaps screening time.  This is done for the uses and gratification theory information element as it inform the viewer on necessary information about the soap.  This shot at the end of the trailer also has a voiceover reading out what is said in the frame.  The voiceover is done by a female as from research for my target audience females are normally the main audience for soap operas. 

Final Soap Trailer

The link below will take you to youtube where my final soap trailer is located.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnyRdQGUQYY

First Draft of Soap Trailer

This is my first draft of my soap trailer. After completing this first draft i wanted to get audience feedback so i could alter any elements that needed improvements.  I set out by making a questionnaire that could answer any of my quiries for the outcome of my first draft.  Here are my results:



Question 1. All of the participants that took part in the questionnaire agreed that the words were appropriate too the storyline.  One person commented that they didnt really get the storyline when the word corruption appeared but otherwise thought the trailer was good.

Question 2. 12 out of the 14 participants agreed that the musc synced well with the clips. The two that didnt said that they thought the music was too fast and loud.

Question 3. 9 of the participants rated the clips at 3 on how well they flow together and 5 rated them at 4.

Question 4. The majority agreed that no effects should be added to the titles with 4 saying there should be. 

Question 5. 9 answered no to the question with 3 stating yes for the words to appear quicker. The last two were unsure if the words should appear quicker.

Question 6. There was a balance between participants thinking the brightness should be enhanced.  The majority answered that they wouldnt change the brightness off the clips with one saying only when it is dark.
I shall use all of this information when i go back to the final edit of my soap trailer.

My Final Poster