EVALUATIONSareena Khaira

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

Main adverts

Advertising is a form of communication used to encourage or persuade an audience (viewers, readers or listeners. Sometimes a specific group of people.) to continue or take some new action.

My media product uses forms and conventions of real media products. I conducted research into the forms and conventions of child abuse adverts and campaigns. This included showing:

A victim And abuser/situation Presenting a problem Presenting a solution

This is presented throughout the narrative of the adverts. The fact that this form of narrative is present in nearly all of the adverts that I researched, I thought it was necessary for me to include this form of narrative in my media product.

The victim – presented from the start of the advert.

Abuser/situation presented through the use of the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs.

Presenting problem and solution in one.

The narrative that I used in my advert followed a linear structure which is a sequential narrative with a beginning, middle and end in that order. My media product uses a conventional narrative structure of child abuse adverts as it starts showing the victim, then presenting the abuser or the situation being dealt with, then presenting the problem and finishing with a solution. I found this through my research of the construction of child abuse adverts, by breaking them down into their forms and conventions and finding what is similar between each advert and how they use synergy to interlink between one another. It also came apparent from my research that many child abuse adverts use similar shot angles. Therefore I decided to use and develop these conventions. They usually show a range of shot angles from long shots, medium shots and close ups. I didn't find any adverts which used extreme long shots or extreme close ups and due to my narrative I decided not to challenge this convention. Instead I used a range of shots, however I think I could have used an even bigger range of shots as they mainly consist of mid shots. I did however use high angle shots to present the victim as inferior and weak which is a common convention used in child abuse adverts.

Problem leading to solution – door opening as abuser is entering leading to the logo of campaign which is the solution.

The setting that I used in my advert follows the forms and conventions of child abuse adverts. It is common for them to be situated in a home or around a home as this is one of the most common places where the abuse takes place. The main part of the advert is based in a bedroom, also a highly common place where abuse takes place, which is also a common place where child abuse adverts are set in. The mise en scene and props used in my advert is also conventional of child abuse adverts. The use of a phone has connotations of a form of escape, the posters on the wall in the bedroom have connotations of innocence and childhood and the clothing of the girl being her school uniform denotes her age being young and vulnerable.

A common convention of child abuse adverts is to use a voice over. I developed this convention by using a voice over to present the slogan for the campaign which is “Save A Child Today” rather than have a voice over throughout the advert presenting the problems and solutions. This is used in many of NSPCC Child’s Voice Appeal adverts which use a voice over in nearly all of their adverts. The reason being that by using a voice over, it engages with the audience more creating a connection between the advert and the audience.

Another way in which I followed the conventions of child abuse adverts was that through my research I found that they feature slow tempo, sad songs. I used this convention in my adverts as the tone of the music went with my chosen narrative. The music in my first advert is slow paced and is of a violin. By choosing a song with a violin challenges the conventions of child abuse adverts as they mainly use pianos. However, my second advert features a piano which follows the conventions of child abuse adverts. It is also slow paced however, as he time progresses, the tone changes making it higher having connotations of hope and optimism. This is due to the fact that it fits in with the narrative of the advert.

I decided to challenge the forms and conventions of child abuse adverts in my second advert. My research allowed me to find that most child abuse adverts present a child at risk showing the situation they are in and how it can be resolved, i.e. – through the campaign. The way in which I challenged the forms and conventions is by the way in which I chose to present the victims point of view after being helped by the campaign. I chose to show the victim talking directly to the camera which breaks the fourth wall – a common feature which is used in adverts however, not as common in child abuse adverts. The range of shots I used is limited at throughout the advert I have used a medium shot, I wanted to use some variation by adding cuts to different angles however when I tried doing this in my editing it didn't seem to look right so I decided to not do that. The mise en scene however, uses the forms and conventions as I included props such as teddy bears which symbolise childhood and innocence as well as posters of pop stars which are indexical of childhood.

A common misconception of child abuse adverts is that the abuser is stereotypically portrayed as being a male. Due to this I decided to challenge the convention of showing the abuser in my advert. Instead I used non-diegetic sound to make the audience aware of the presence of the abuser, I used a sound effect of footsteps coming up the stairs and at the end of the advert there is a close up of the door opening and the advert stops before you can see who enters the room.

This is where the non-diegetic sound of the footsteps start leading to the victim closing her door.

This is where the door beings to open and the scene ends.

Sponsorships

My sponsorships follow the conventions of child abuse adverts as they follow a narrative. I wanted them to show the main aspects of my main adverts. They are both 10 seconds long which is typical for the length of time of sponsorship sequences. They are designed to be short and to the point which is what I wanted develop in my sponsorship sequences.

I used the same music in my first sponsorship sequence as my main advert as I couldn’t really find another piece of music that fit with the narrative as well as the violin music did.

The voice over I used is conventional of sponsorships as they consist of what the advert is sponsoring. I decided not to sponsor a specific programme as child abuse adverts are shown on pretty much every channel due to its’ wide audience. Therefore, by saying “This programme is sponsored by SaveAChild” it makes it open as this is typical of child abuse adverts.

One thing that is unconventional of sponsorships is that I didn't have any text saying “sponsored by..” etc. My sponsorships just end with the logo.

HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE COMBINATION OF YOUR MAIN AND ANCILLARY TEXTS?

For the combination of my main and ancillary tasks to be effective, there needed to be synergy between the products making them be distinctively viewed as being part of a campaign which is the intended message I am trying to portray with my products.

The way in which I created synergy was by using the same setting and similar shot angles to create continuity which I think I did quite well.

The shot angles and distance is the same in both my main advert and my sponsorship advert. The setting is the same as well as the clothing creating synergy between the texts as well as continuity making it recognisable as being part of the same campaign.

MAID ADVERT

SPONSORSHIP SEQUENCE

The music in my first main advert is the same as the music in the sponsorship sequence. This was mainly due to the fact that I couldn’t find another song which I thought fit well enough with the narrative. However this creates synergy between the adverts. It is slow paced and has low tones connoting sadness and despair.

The music in my second avert is a slow paced, slow tempo piano based song which gradually gains a higher tone and tempo connoting brighter days and that there is a silver lining to every cloud. It starts of quite sad which is contrapuntal to the emotions being presented onscreen. The music in my second sponsorship sequence is also a piano based song however, it is of a faster tempo and a more upbeat song due to the fact that the tone in the sponsorship sequence is happy and uplifting. Therefore I felt I had to find a more upbeat song but by still finding a piano based song it created synergy between the two texts.

For my radio advert I used the same music as the music in my second main advert. The reason being that tone of the music works well with the speech in the radio advert. They both start off sad but then progress to being more optimistic and uplifting. I was trying to find a piece of music that included both a violin and a piano to create synergy and continuity between my texts however, I couldn’t find a fitting song to the message I intended to portray.

I also wanted to create synergy by using the same actor to do the voice over in the TV advertisements and in the radio advert. I also included the slogan in in both my radio advert as well as in my main adverts creating further synergy and continuity throughout.

Further synergy is evident through the placement of my logo in each of my texts. It is placed at the end of each of my adverts with a voice over of the slogan on top of it. However, I think that I could have changed the placement of the logo by challenging the conventions of child abuse adverts by placing it at different points of my adverts. I could have also played around with the voice over and have it at different points in the adverts rather than being at the end of each of them.

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FORM YOUR AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?

To start off with, I posted links of my productions on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. However, I soon came to find that this wasn't very effective as I gained feedback that wasn't constructive criticism that I could use to adapt my production to suit my audience’s needs.

This therefore lead me to find a different more constructive way to gain feedback. I decided to get a group of people to sit and watch my adverts and at the end ask them their thought and opinions of what I did well and if they didn't quite understand anything – the message I was trying to portray. The group 10 people, 5 boys and 5 girls making it even. The age ranges consisted from 11-50 making it a wide variety of ages and opinions. The reason being that the intended audience for my adverts don't have a specific age range/gender.

The feedback I gained was mixed. What went well:- “the editing was done smoothly, all the

scenes merged into each other at the right time”

- “the music choice suited the emotions that were being shown on screen”

- “you can tell that they are a part of the same campaign”

- “engaging to watch”

Things that could have been better:- “logo could have been more bright,

maybe include pictures”- “could have added more angles in the

second main advert, its all just one view”

- “could have included sound effects in the radio advert”

- “maybe say more in the voice over to engage more with the audience”

- “the camera shakes a bit in some parts”

The feedback that I received was constructive as it was collected from a range of people showing a wide vary of thoughts and opinions. I agreed with the things that they thought I could have improved on and can see how they came to that assumption.

Having the camera steady was one of my main issues and was something the audience picked up on. I struggled trying to make my transitions steady.

HOW DID YOU USE NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH, PLANNING AND EVALUATION STAGES?

Research and Planning

The internet was the main research tool that I used for example, I used Google as a search engine to help me gain insight into the way in which TV adverts are constructed and what their forms and conventions are. I used websites such as Wikipedia which gave me the essential information that I needed.

Another website that I used was YouTube. This is what bought depth into my research as it allowed me to view examples of child abuse adverts as well as adverts about abuse as a whole. It helped me understand the common themes in adverts including the similarities and differences of each.

I also used Blogger which is a website in which you can make blogs. I used this to record my progress and my work over the course of my production. I felt very comfortable using this site as I had previously used it in AS, therefore, I was familiar with how it works and how I was meant to use it.

This allowed me to be able to record my progress confidently and use it to aid my understanding of how to plan and develop my media texts.

Construction

During the course of my construction stages, I used a variety of different new media technologies. To shoot my footage, I used a HD camera to insure that my footage was of the highest quality. I also used Adobe Premier Pro to edit my footage. I found using this programme fairly easy as I had already previously used it in AS which made editing my footage a lot easier. The editing of my footage was the most crucial part in order to make my texts the way I wanted to them to be seen. I had to make sure that scenes were cut at the right time to make them flow.

To prepare me in using new software that I hadn't already used, I did some research to gain some background knowledge into how to use programmes. This included Photoshop as I was not confident in how to use it. I watched a few tutorials on YouTube which helped me significantly making me confident enough to use the programme to create my logo. I think I used the programme quite well as my logo turned out how intended it to.

Another new media technology that I used was Garage Band. In order to create continuity I recorded my voice to be used in all of my adverts and was able to edit the sound of it in order for me to be happy with the outcome of how it sounded.

Evaluation

I used new media technologies during my evaluation stages in order for me to reach my target audience to ensure that I was gaining the right feedback and responses. One of the media technologies I used was Facebook. I used this to gain feedback on my adverts, however, I didn’t get the intended feedback that I though would be constructive and help me gain insight into what my audience thought I my adverts. This was the same for Twitter as I didn’t gain many responses. Another media technology I used in my evaluation stages was YouTube. I thought that this was a great media technology to use as I was able to see how many views my adverts had and also it is used all across the world thus expanding my audience.