COURSEWORK COMPLETE!!

The coursework deadline of tomorrow has approached, and my coursework has been finally finished today.

Coursework done, Owen out.

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

There are many different ways in which my media products use and develop the codes and conventions of real media texts. I chose to avoid challenging them as much as possible, however there are certain ways in which my projects disagree with a few of the codes and conventions. I will begin by talking about my magazine front cover.

The first point to note is the use of a large, bold mashead to grab the attention of potential audiences. This is something that you always see of magazine front covers, not just the covers of film magazines. It is a vital part of the codes and coventions and plays a vital role in establishing the genre of the magazine and also in attracting the attention of target audiences. If, for example, a magazine was entitled 'Action Film' or something along those lines, the audience or consumers would clearly see and understant that it was a magazine about action films, and therefore they should only buy the magazine if they are interested in reading things about that genre of film. I chose to call my magazine 'Film central' as it attracts a wide range of individuals and as a result will have a wide target audience. My use of a large clear masthead at the top of the page is one way in which my magazine front cover uses and develops the codes and conventions of real media products.

A second part to consider is the style and framing of the main image. Throughout my research i came to understand that there was somewhat of a split throughout the codes and conventions of film magazines between to different things. Half of the front covers featured the whole of the an individual and the other half had a relavively close up shot of his/her face and shoulders. For my magazine front cover i chose to go with the head and shoulders approach. The main image tells the audience a lot about what is in the magazine and also the genre of it. In the case of my magazine, i chose a quite 'urban' styled image to depict the urban grudgey aspect of the film. At the same time, the character you use for your main image tells the potential audience about th content of the film. For example, you wouldn't have an image of a cat on the front cover to advertise a sporting film. The use of a main image, depicting  the head and shoulders of the prtagonist is another way in which my magazine front cover uses the codes and conventions of real media texts.

The use of cover lines was essential in producing my magazine front cover. It is rare that you will find a magzine cover with no cover lines to offer an insight into its contents. I chose to take the route of using and developing the codes and convention by embrassing the use of cover lines in the production of my front cover. As well as the cover lines, i used a strap line to emphasise the genre of this particular copy of the magazine. I used 'the ultimate action special' to clearly define the genre whilst the sporting doceumentry aspect was coered by the focus of Alex in the image.

As well as the cover lines, title and main image, i included the simple things like a price and a barcode. These are small things, but are vital in making the magazine front cover look like a real text. By following th codes and conventions you can make the magazine front cover look very near to a real media texts. As well, i used the codes and conventions more by including a website. Almost every film magazine will have a website on it as the magazine tries to become an even larger part of peoples life. By including all these fine details i have further used and developed the codes and conventions of real media texts. Below you can see an image of my magazine front cover against a real media text...

The second project I will look at is the poster. The main code and convention I used and developed here was the bold title of the film. This is probably the most important part of the poster and it must be clear and easy to read. I is essentially th main focus of the poster and so it must be large and interesting, as well as eye catching. I have used this code and convention on my poster by making the poster one of the most predominate parts.

The next code and convention that I followed was the use of production and distribution information coupled with the logos of certain company’s. This is something that is often used on the posters of magazine to offer some publicity to the distributors and also tell the audience where the film came from. By including this section on my poster I used and developed the codes and conventions of real media texts.

Putting the characters names across the top of the poster is something that you see more often than not on film posters, and you could argue that it has become somewhat of an icon and is definitely a code and convention of film posters. I chose to embrace this convention and add the names of three characters to my poster across the top.

Finally, there is the release date. Second only to the title, this is a hugely important part of the poster. The whole idea surrounding the poster is to advertise the film by telling the audience something about what the film involves, defining the genre and telling them when the film is released. Not mentioning the release date would be like having a sandwich without any bread, it just wouldn’t be right. I am, however, aware that there are film posters out there that choose to disagree and challenge this code and convention. I on the other hand felt that the date was a vital part of the poster and therefore I used and developed the code and convention of real media texts.

My final point surrounding my poster and the codes and conventions of real media texts is the main image. One code and convention of real posters is to include a close up shot to one or more characters within the film, often in fact only half of the face is depicted. This was something I had initially planned for my poster, however after getting started I decided to challenge this particular convention. I chose to remove the race and focus simply on the BMX bike against the fence. There were two reasons for this. The first was that I didn’t feel the ‘half a fence’ theme fitted very well on the poster, and the second was that one of the main parts of the film is the sport of BMX and I feel that only depicting the BMX in an urban environment attracts the young target audience that I am aiming for.

Here you can see an image I have made to show my poster against a real media text.

Moving on to the trailer…

In fear of clogging the blog with writing I decided I’d screen flow the answer for the trailer so there isn’t quite so much writing. You can follow this link to youtube where i have uploaded the video:

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

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Results

I collected results from a total of 32 different people, all of which were a variety of different ages. In order to collect these results, I printed copies of the questionnaire and I placed them in various public places, all with a copy of the trailer, the poster and the magazine front cover. I placed 30 copies in the library and then handed some out to some of students at my school. I only received 20 sets of results from the library and I believe this was due to the time period, as I only left them there for 2 days.

• Out of the 32 people, 14 said they would rate the trailer an 8 out of the possible 10. This is 43.7% and was the majority. The lowest score the trailer received was a 7.

• The posters most popular score was 9 and this was given by 53.1% of the people.
• The magazine covers most popular score was, like the trailer, 8 and this was given by a record 78.1% of the people who replied.
• 17 out of the 32 people said that there favourite part of the trailer was the titles, making up for 53.1% of the total people. This was followed by the 10 people who said the editing was their favourite part, accounting for a further 31.2% of total people.

• 18 out of the 32 people (56.2%) said that sound was there least favourite feature of the trailer. I cant help but think this was something to do with the loyalty free aspect and the fact that they couldn’t recognise or relate to it.
• 31 out of the 32 people thought that the trailer looked like a real media text. That is 96.8% of the people asked.
• Both the trailer and the poster came in equal in terms of popularity with 12 each, leaving 8 people preferring the magazine front cover.

• The least popular was not simply the flip of these results as you might expect. In fact, the poster and magazine front cover came in equal here with 15 votes each, leaving the trailer with only 2.
• The distribution over this question was relatively even. Style came in top with 8 out of the 32, giving it 25% of the total peoples vote. The main image, cover lines a colour followed, giving a value of 15 together.
• The main image and title came in top with 16 and 12 respectively. These two options were far above any of the others, leaving only 4 people out of the 32 choosing the other options as their favourite part of the poster. The least popular part was ‘Other’ with people not having to specify what they meant by this. 21 out of the possible 32 people chose this option.
• 14 out of the 32 people said that they consumed media surrounding films on a daily basis; this is equal to 43.7%. Weekly was the next popular choice, with 12 out of 32. Interestingly, only one person selected the ‘more’ option.

So what do these results mean?

I have made a video to explain what these results mean and what i've learnt from them. I have uploaded it to youtube and the link is as follows... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNlsC6MRjdY

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

I chose to answer this question by using a screen-flow of a powerpoint presentation. I've posted it below for you to see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz3cubOyJsA

As well as the video, i thought i put together the image you see below to point out the main ways in which the main project and the two ancillaries work together. All arrows of the same colour point to the same theme of things, just so it's easier to see the differences.

... As you can see the ways in which the combination work together is by establishing the genre in a clear and easily notable way and also by having distinct similarities with each other so you recognise them as promotions for the same film. The three things i have chosen to show on the image below is the same font used for the film title on all three texts. This is probably the most important feature. By usung the same font the audience will begin to recognise the title or font and associate it with the film, by doing this where ever they see the font, whether its in print or video, they will recognise the film. As well as the title, the other thing i kept the same throughout was the 'urban style'. This plays a large part in establishing the role of the film, and also reaches out to the younger target audience with its sense of the city and being 'cool'. By carrying this urbanised style through the main task and the two ancillary projects, the three become linked and work as a combination to drive home the genre and promote the film. The final thing i chose to point out in the image below was the use of the same character and same style of props. Obviously using the same character goes without saying, and the audience will recognise the film by the character that plays the main role in it. Also, by having the main character as a young, urban looking male it attracts the teenage target audience and they are able to relate to it. Using the same style of clothing for the main character was also an important part. A t-shirt and dark jeans was what i chose to help distinguish the genre and, again, attract the target audience.

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

Here is a link to a video i made of me explaining how i used different technologies throughout the duration of the coursework... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiE261vFgas

I thought just to finish up that i'd make a list of all the different technologies i had used:

• Internet
• Photographs/Camera
• Scanner
• Screen-flow
• Powerpoint
• Final cut pro
• After effects
• Sound track pro
• Photoshop CS4
• Imovie
• Screen shots
• Videos
• Film cameras
• Radio station (voice recording)

Audience Feedback

I created my audience feedback questionnaire today and tomorrow i will handout copies (obviously with a copy of all the projects) in the hope of decent results. Below i have taken a screen grab of the questionnaire in the word document before printing to blog about.

Evaluation/Construction Documentary

Right, now i've totally finished my projects i need to evaluate them. I understand that there are 4 different questions and i will approach each one in a differenrt way to ensure that i use different forms of media texts, whilst finding the best and easiest way to present the information. One of the questions is about audience feedback and so i will have to begin collecting this quickly as the dealine is this friday, 4 days time.

CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTARY


My construction documentary is now live at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj_r_r6UGAw

Complete magazine...

This afternoon i completed my magazine ancillary and this is it...

(please ignore the white strip at the top and the bottom)

Complete Trailer...

The easiest way for me to be able to show you my trailer through the blog is using youtube. Loading videos up onto blogger takes quite some time and on top of that, you cant access them at school, which makes life hard for mr.dowson to mark it.

So here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gshWUE1RW7g

Last changes to the magazine cover...

Today i changed two things about the front cover.

• Firstly, i changed the film title, i took away the effect that was on it which made it look more solid. At the same time, i changed the test 'pushing the boundaries' to white so it stood out more. (you can see this on the bottom image below)
• The other change i made was adding some new cover lines in the top right, just below the masthead. I didnt think there were enough cover lines considering it was a front cover so i thought i should add some more.

This is the front cover before the new cover line was added...

And this is it with the new cover line on...