A2 Media CourseworkOCR G324 Advanced ProductionPAGE,LyndseyAquinas College:33435

1.In what ways does your media product USE, DEVELOP or CHALLENEGE forms and conventions of existing media products?

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1. My media products can be compared to existing media products because of the quality of the TRAILER, MAGAZINE COVER, BILLBOARD and BRAND.

TrailerAfter RESEARCHING various trailers for SOAPS/programmes we decided what we wanted to achieve; A PARODY. We looked mainly at “Hollyoaks” because we knew we wanted to aim our soap at people our age because we believed we knew what TEENAGERS wanted to see, we chose to put our soap on E4 because the majority of the AUDIENCE was aged 16-24. Our Trailer follows the TRADITIONAL SOAP CONVENTIONS for example; Multiple Main Characters, Conflict, Various shot types, Set and Location created realism but also CHALLENGES and DEFIES others; 3 or 4 storylines per trailer or episode, we decided to have one main storyline in our trailer as we could CONCENTRATE on the idea of a MURDER and it was a BIG STORYLINE in “Diamond Street” and created CONFLICT whereas some trailers we looked at had VARIOUS STORYLINES in them but SMALLER LESS HOSTILE stories as its UNUSUAL to have major stories in a soap.

Ancillary TextsWe looked at a VARIETY of SOAP MAGAZINES and BILLBOARD POSTERS to get an idea of something we could create. Our Magazine followed the conventions of any magazine e.g. Cover Star, Masthead, Tagline anchoring star, Bright Colours etc. We then SUBVERTED the norms of soap magazines and put only one person on the front of the magazine “Stacey” with the tagline “MURDER ON THE STREET!” so this could imply either the cover star was the murderer or the cover star was murdered. We also used slightly PALER COLOURS which CHALLENGED the CONVENTIONS as usually soap magazines have BRIGHT COLOURS but it still manages to look PROFESSIONAL and stand our from the other magazines. Our Billboard poster was good considering we had never looked at the conventions of billboards before but we had an idea of what we needed to include, a picture of the soap or characters, the channel logo, date, time and name of soap. We included everything we needed to include and didn’t challenge any of the conventions. We had the five main people of the storyline on our billboard which could only suggest one particular story but yet it doesn’t reveal anything.

BrandOur BRAND was a product for E4 aimed at the YOUNGER GENERATION, we completed our BRAND IDENTITY by the age of the characters in our soap, the dramatic storylines and the short episodes.

Soap Conventions

Blue Filters Set and location creates realism Multiple Main Characters Multiple Story Lines “Fourth Wall” Conflict 3 or 4 storylines in each episode or trailer Various Shot types, POV, Over the shoulder, Close up.

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We made sure we followed the traditional soap conventions but there were a few things we realised we hadn’t thought about;•We only had one Main character•We only had one Main storylineWhereas, we did some things well;•Set and Location•Ideas•Editing

TV Magazine

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Similarities •LARGE MASTHEAD conveying the BRAND IDENTITY•Price in Bubble•LARGE TAGLINE ANCHORS SOAP STAR•Other storylines from other soaps•Barcode•WEBSITE for extra information on the magazine•BRIGHT COLOURS to ATTRACT ATTENTION of potential readerDifferences•No date on “TV TONIGHT”•“What’s on TV” has brighter colours-ATTRACTS READER•TAG LINE “HAVE STACEY’S ANTICS....” for “TV TONIGHT” is NOT IN A BOX and could EASILY be MISSED, WHERAS “What’s on TV” is SHORT and HIGHLIGHTED by a white box DIRECTLY underneath Main Tagline, this helps the reader to understand.Subversion•“What’s on TV” main picture has two people in and “TV TONIGHT” focuses on just on soap star•“TV TONIGHT” tag line is ANCHORED slanted towards the LEFT whereas “What’s on TV” main tag line is ANCHORED towards the RIGHT which I think is better because it won’t CONFUSE the audience as to which storyline its for.•“TV TONIGHT” has COLOURED TABS to make it EASIER for audience to find specific day they want.

My “TV TONIGHT” Magazine

“What’s On TV” Magazine

Billboard

1The “Inbetweeners” Billboard

My “Diamond Street” BillboardSimilarities•E4 LOGO on RIGHT HAND SIDE, BRAND IDENTITY •Main character/characters CENTRAL to BILLBOARD, for example “Diamond Street” I am stood CENTRAL and “The Inbetweeners” The FOUR MAIN CHARACTERS are CENTRAL wearing completely DIFFERENT UNIFORM to the rest of teenagers, RELATES back to idea of THE INBETWEENERS crowd.•Website for soap/programme•FACIAL EXPRESSIONS convey ATMOSPHERE of programme.

Differences•Website “Diamond Street” is in left hand corner•E4 LOGO slightly different STYLE•“The Inbetweeners” Billboard has more of an ORDER to it in comparison to “Diamond Street”

Subversion•The E4 LOGO is different in “The Inbetweeners” Billboard compared to “Diamond Street” this may be because of the date “The Inbetweeners” Billboard was made in balance to “Diamond Street” which was made by me December 2010.•More people in “The Inbetweeners” Billboard gives the idea of a SCHOOL ATMOSPHERE and could CONVEY MULTIPLE STORYLINE S whereas “Diamond Street” there is only FIVE main people on the billboard which gives the idea of ONE POSSIBLE STORYLINE

Trailer Screen Shots“Amy-Diamond Street”

“Mercedes-Hollyoaks” 1

Similarities•MEDIUM CLOSE UP shot•FACIAL EXPRESSIONS similar CONVEY idea of ANGER and EMOTION in the character.•“Hollyoaks” BACKGROUND BLURRED to draw audiences eyes to “Mercedes” face and “Amy’s” face is also CLEARER to show grab the ATTENTION of audience•COLOURS are SIMALAR- SKINTONES, BLACK and GREY.Subversion•DARK LIGHTING , “Hollyoaks” clip is EDITED, DARK, GRUNGEY and HOSTILE similar to the EXPRESSIONS of the character compared to the NATURAL LIGHTING in “Diamond Street” which doesn’t relate to the FACIAL EXPRESSION of “Amy”•The POSITION of the CHARACTERS “Hollyoaks” she is facing the camera as if she was talking to the audience and “Diamond Street” she is looking away from the camera towards something that's happening or has just happened further away.•I should of edited my shot so it was dark and grungy looking to convey the atmosphere of the shotDifferences•“Mercedes” facial expression shows a lot MORE EMOTION.•EDITING is different•LOCATION is CLEAR in “Diamond Street” • “Mercedes” is placed on LEFT hand side of screen facing the camera, “Amy is placed on RIGHT hand side slanted looking away from camera.

Trailer Screen Shots

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“Diamond Street”

“Hollyoaks”

Similarities•Both shots have more than ONE CHARACTER•This is a TWO-SHOT and neither of the characters are FACING the CAMERA.•The shot shows an INTIMACY between TWO CHARACTERS, they are talking amongst themselves.

Differences•The COLOURS in these screen shots are completely OPPOSITE•The LIGHTING is BRIGHTER in Hollyoaks•“Hollyoaks” has EXTRA CHARACTERS to create a REALISM

Subversion“Hollyoaks “ have BRIGHT colours that relate to the ATMOSPHERE of the scene- PARTY SCENE . “Diamond Street” the COLOURS are natural and the character is crying, and friend comforting her so the DULL LIGHTING relates to scene, We purposely did not edit the shot because of the storyline

Trailer Screen Shots

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Similarities•The idea is SIMILAR, the screen would flash up in-between each part of the trailer.•Causing SUSPENSION for the audience.

Differences•COLOUR and STYLE are different.•“Diamond Street” screenshot are the COLOURS of E4 BRAND, this conveys the BRAND IDENTITY, (white and purple)•Background is different

Subversion•Title cards are never usually used in soaps, but E4 is different to any other channel and has a different TARGET AUDIENCE so therefore it works well.

Character Comparison

“Diamond Street” “Hollyoaks”“Stacey” from our soap “Diamond Street” was based

around the character “Theresa McQueen” from the

programme “Hollyoaks”.I played Stacey and wore a

BLONDE wig and PINK lipstick to convey the TYPICAL

BLONDE BITCHY TEENAGE GIRL.We did this so the AUDIENCE

COULD RELATE to the character through the ways in

which she acts and she implies a sense of NAIVETY

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Sound

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•La Roux-In for the kill (SKREAM REMIX)•Blondie-Rip her to shreds•Just Jack-The day I died•Heart-If looks could kill•The Runaways-I love playing with fire

Song Ideas

The sound in our trailer was NON-DIEGETIC throughout apart from the DIEGETIC sound we had when the characters spoke

with relevance to the clip.

We chose La Roux-In for the kill (SKREAM REMIX) because of the ironic idea “In for the kill” and our soap trailer was a PARODY about Stacey getting killed for meaningless reasons, we wanted to EXAGGERATE the narrative. The reasoning for choosing the REMIX version is because of the BASS in the song which fitted in with our murder and helped create the ATMOSPHERE

2.How effective is the combination of your MAIN PRODUCT and ANCILLARY texts?

Brand Audience Institution Genre Brand Identity

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Ancillary-TV Magazine Cover

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It makes the AUDIENCE want to WATCH the soap because of the TAG LINE “Murder on the street!” ANCHORING the COVER STAR.The feedback on our magazine was good, people commented on how “PROFESSIONAL” looking it was and loved the use of BRIGHT COLOURS, typical soap conventions, BOLD TEXT, pictures and upcoming storylines.

Our main product was SUCCESFUL and audience feedback was generally very POSITIVE along with our ancillary products.The front cover works well. It gives an IDEA OF THE STORYLINE but DOESN’T REVEAL the whole story.

I think this product its very REALISTIC in the sense that it FULFILS ITS PURPOSE and is very well put together, It is very SIMALAR to other soap magazines on the market.

We felt our soap trailer fitted its PURPOSE and both the TRAILER, MAGAZINE and POSTER ADVERTISED our soap as we stuck to the main SOAP CONVENTIONS and DEFIED OTHERS.

Ancillary-Billboard

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As our main product was so SUCCESSFUL our ancillary products helped make our

main product better because they ADVERTISED the storyline which made the

AUDIENCE want to WATCH THE SOAP.Our Billboard poster which we created

using PHOTOSHOP had EXCELLENT FEEDBACK, and it was very impressive.

The billboard works well because it DOESN’T REVEAL what Is going to happen

in the soap, it just ATTRACTS the AUDIENCES ATTENTION because its so

HOSTILE looking and they see five IMPORTANT CHARACTERS never usually

associated in the same poster with NO TAG LINE or clue as to what is going to happen,

this INTRIGUES VIEWERS If they see the TRAILER or read the MAGAZINE this will make AUDIENCES want to WATCH the SOAP and see what happens, as they know after seeing the MAGAZINE

COVER that MURDER is on “Diamond Street”This Billboard also conveys the GENRE of

our soap

3.What have your learned from AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?

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Many people that watched my video told me my trailer was professional and unique.

We were also told that the track we chose “La Roux- In for the kill (SKREAM REMIX) and shot types was good, one thing that we learnt we

many have to change was the song because it overlapped itself part way through our trailer, we also were told we may have to change the speed of our trailer as parts of it were in slow motion and we were told

it was too slow and didn’t work.I managed to change the sound to make it smoother and more sinister.Overall we were told our trailer was very good and there was only some

minor issues for example the sound and the editing.

Audience

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Young (16-24) E4 Loyalists are social and stylish.•“Celebrities influence my purchase decisions”• “I really enjoy going out to get drunk”•“The point of drinking is to get drunk”•“I wear designer clothes”•“I cannot resists buying magazines”•“I spend a lot of money on clothes”•“I am a regular cinema go-er”•“I spend a lot on cosmetics”•“I like to keep up with the latest fashions”•“I like to try new things”

The audience we wanted to attract was the younger viewers that E4

attracts , I believe we did this well because the research we did and the

trailers we evaluated 3

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Target Audience

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Hollyoaks Diamond Street

Weekdays

6.30pmThursdays 7pm

One main storylineVarity of

storylines

Various Characters

Stories

Smaller soap

Larger audience and is shown on

two channels

Target Audience Continued

Predominantly Female (16-24)

Social Status-Middle Class

“Average Student”

E4 Loyalist, Social and stylish

Could be from any stereotypeFollow trends

and Celebrity fashions

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Audience

The age of the characters are

important because they are similar ages

to target audience

Appeals mainly to aged (16-24)

girls

Audience Feedback

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Audience Feedback• “Good use of slow-motion”

• “Branding is clear, audience clear because of stars, narratives, costumes,

music and locations”

Uploading my trailer to “BlogSpot.com” and “YouTube.com” helped me gain

audience feedback.

4.How did you use MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES in the CONSTRUCTION

and RESEARCH, PLANNING and EVALUATION stages?

Construction Research Planning Evaluation

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Construction-Using Technologies

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Uploading it to “YouTube”

“Adobe Premiere Elements 8.0”

“You Tube”

Construction-Using Technologies

The stages of the Transitions used and edited in “Adobe Premiere

Elements 8.0”4

Construction-Using Technologies

Editing my Trailer on “Adobe Premiere Elements 8.0”

Uploading Sound

Construction-Using Technologies

We used “Adobe Photoshop” to create our ANCILLARY TEXTS, our MAGAZINE cover and BILLBOARD poster. We also created our E4

BRAND IDENTITY

Billboard Magazine Cover

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Construction-Using Technologies

We used “Blogspot.com” to create our own blog, we uploaded our PLANNING,EVALUATION and FINAL PRODUCT to our BLOG

We created a “Planning Video” because we were using, Fake blood and a rubber knife to create our

murder scene, we wanted to show how we filmed this scene

We used “Slideshare.com” to create PowerPoint presentations and upload them straight to our blog

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Research-Preliminary Task

“Preliminary Task”“Waterloo Road”

“Grange Hill”

We wanted to do something set in a

school/college we looked at SIMALAR PRODUCTS like “Grange Hill” and

“Waterloo Road” We used “YouTube” and “BBC iplayer”

We used “Adobe Premiere Elements 8.o” to edit our

footage

This was part of my planning, I uploaded

it onto “YouTube” and my blog

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Research-Similar products

Again we used “Google” “YouTube” and “E4” Website

to Research our similar products

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