Evaluation Activity 1: Nine Screen Shots

Frame #1:

The first screenshot (top-left) is one of the many title screens used throughout our final media piece . The titles are featured on all three pieces (TV Listings Mag, Billboard and Soap Trailer) so that it becomes easily recognisable for the audience. The font chosen is maintained in all three pieces I created as it is easy enough for the audience to read and is also basic but does offer something different from the default font.

Frame #2:
The second screenshot I chose (top-middle) features one of our chosen locations. The location I chose to feature in this post was a key one for the 'drug' storyline which featured two of our key characters. Rather than having one communal location, we decided to have something different and base our soap around three places to give the audience a break from the ordinary and hopefully save them from becoming bored. The reason for me choosing to feature this image is because it was one that we felt would allow our audience of 16-24 year old to interact with the most. The two other locations featured in the trailer were a town centre, a characters house and also a local street as all successful soaps are based in and around the same area.

Frame #3:
The third image (top-right), is one showing the title of our soap. We chose the title 'Bargroves' after hours of deliberation. Several names were suggested but none really captured our imagination. After looking at several current soaps, we noticed that they are mainly named after the location of filming (Eastenders: in the East End, Coronation Street: a street named the same etc.)

Frame #4:
As our soap is aimed at the younger generation, we wanted props that fitted there age. What with younger people being constantly match with new, more advanced forms of digital technology, we wanted something that would fit in with that and as a results my image features what was at the time the new Samsung Galaxy Note. We used this as a key prop as it was a way of indicating any communications between characters to the audience. As you will notice, on the screen of the phone is a text message received from an un-known number reading: 'Meet in alley @ 4'. Being sent from an un-known number adds to the sense of unease as the audience would be un-aware of what is happening and who is involved.

Frame #5:
The fifth frame of the nine (middle) is one that shows one of the storylines we used. The reason we settled in include a storyline like this is because in all soaps there is something bad happening that gives the audience something to talk about. As well as this, the younger generation (both our target audience and chararcters) are linked with the use of drugs on a daily basis. Using a storyline like this enable the audience to relate to the soap much easier.

Frame #6:
The sixth frame shows the effects used. All throughout the editing phase of our final piece, we used effects that enhanced the overall feel of the trailer. For example, in the screen shot you can see (the drug deal: a switch between Philip and Alexander) we used slow-motion, vignette and also an effect called cold steel which changed the colours of the screen as our way of getting the effects of drugs (impaired vision) expressed to the audience. Effects and transitions were used throughout the entirety of our trailer making it look a lot smoother and also far more professional.

Frame #7:
Our way of introducing the characters was to allow the audience to 'get into there heads'. By doing this we instantly create a bond between the audience and characters as they are able to relate to them in a way that they feel only they can. They are then able to become more involved in the soap as they would feel like it is there lives being shown on national TV. Just to make sure the storylines involving those selected characters was clear we included several title-screens at each change showing what the next would be. Each of the storylines we used can be related to our target audience in different ways, but the screenshot used was the one that I felt had the biggest relation to me. Mark coming out of the betting shop and screwing up a lost bet slip symbolises the money 'wasted' by teens who are considered to be poor with money.

Frame #8:
Frame eight, is one that show one form of special effect we used. During our trailer this effect features during the drug scene with Philip and Alexander. The Vignette was used to create a warn out effect on the borders of the screen. This was again, as mentioned in frame 6, was to give the impression of the effects drugs can have on your vision.

Frame #9:

The final of the nine frames shows the institutional information. This particular screen shot shows the BBC Logo, Soap Name, Time and Date. This information was included to inform the audience of just when and where they can see the show. 

Evaluation Activity 2: Voiceover Script

SCRIPT

The common elements we used were done to create some synergy between our pieces. On my poster and TV Listing magazine were the three main characters so I could introduce them as soon as possible to the audience.  These also feature in the trailer.

Philip- Left on the poster- is one of the most important characters in his role of the drug dealer. It is assumed young people have tried or would try drugs. He is however made to look very non-stereotypical in his appearance. Edward- pictured in the middle of the three- also has a vital role in the trailer as he would be the main character.

Within our trailer we included three narratives; the drug dealing, family issues and financial issues. I have tried to get each of them shown on both the mag cover and the poster by using photo’s of the characters involved.

They attracted the audience as they could relate to each one as they are all associated with young people.

One of the main soap conventions we tried to create to use within our soap trailer was a recognisable theme tune. We have also attempted to interlink the three storylines to show that all of it is happening within one small community. One of the final conventions we used was social realism. When creating our storylines, we tried to create ones young people would be able to easily relate to. On my poster and TV mag the characters look contemporary and are wearing up to date clothes.

The synergetic features I used in both the mag cover and the poster but not in the trailer were the colours white and grey for the stencilled fonts and the useof the images.

As a whole, I feel that the campaign- trailer, mag cover and poster- are all very effective. Each piece individually looks interesting as they offer something different to the usuall items you would find for the soaps. The TV mag cover is different in that the fonts and clours used wouldn’t normally be found on a mag cover. The poster is also different as the BBC don’t often create posters advertising there shows so seeing one makes an interesting change.

Please Note: Due to some technical issues I was unable to export the video with the trailer however the TV Listings Magazine cover and Billboard poster remain.

Evaluation Activity 3: Feedback

once we had made the changes suggested by the rest of our A-Level group, our work was shown to a group of year 11’s for further feedback. To gather this feedback, we created a questionnaire that would determnine the effectiveness of the trailer and tell us if people would be interested enough to watch. All the feedback we received from our A-Level group was to speed the whole thing up as it looked too slow. We were also told to re-film a section of the trailer to make it as good and effective as possible.

The questionnaire we created to gather this vital feedback consisted of four questions. Those were;

·         Would you watch our soap?

·         Do the stories used in our soap relate to you?

·         Do you hink the editing was done effectively?

·         Do the titles help split the scenes?

Each of the answers will be presented in the form of a chart as well as an overview in writing.

To begin the year 11’s were asked to give some general feedback. Most of it we received was stuff that we knew wouldn’t be good enough to use for our final, final piece.

For a start we was told that we couldn’t use the song we had searched for. We decided after so long of searching to use the opening to The Progidy’s ‘Firestarter’. As this is actually a copyrighted song we knew we wouldn’t be able to leave it in but decided to until we could find a better replacement. They also said that they didn’t recognise it as a soap but a drama. At the start of the trailer they wasn’t informed it was actually a soap but they had to guess for themselves.

Q1. Would you watch our soap?

The results for this really didn’t go the way we hoped. Only 1 of the 16 people availible to give us feedback said they would watch it. This feedback was however, really beneficial as they compared the trailer to drama’s such as ‘Skins’ which is aimed at the same target audience as ours. Having this information allowed us to continue with the progect in the same way we had be doing.  

Q2. Do the stories used in our soap relate to you?

After some debating, 13 of the 16 year 11 students said that the stories we created for the use of the trailer would effect them. Knowing this pleased us as it meant that we were heading in the right direction and would have more chance of developing an audience.

Q3. Do you think the editing was completed successfully?

to answer this question we received quite a bit of feedback. As our soap was only in the draft stages when watched by the year 11's, we knew we needed to do some more work to it. however, having this feedback was very useful as it helped us determined what should be done to gain those extra viewers. One of the scenes that had the most attention paid to it was our drug one. We assumed this was because of how un-stereotypical it was in terms of appearance, mise-en-scene etc. the first piece of feedback we received was that the editing needed to be filtered. this was most evident during the 'Family Problems' scene midway through our soap.

As we didn't want diegetic sound, we wanted to express emotions through facial expressions. However, due to some poor filming by a stand-in camera man (Philip Gatward), this was not possible. Because of this we had to shorten the scene right down as the chance of re-filming had gone. We was also told that this could be sorted through switching the scenes about a bit to simply break the trailer up. During the trailer we also switched from our title music to The Prodigy's Firestarter. This was because we wanted to make an impact and felt it could best be done with a change of song to one with a higher tempo. Even though we couldn't.'t have the song and ws searching for a replacement, we was told that the two song didn't necessarily work.

We was given another piece of advice as a way to express the drug use which was to play with the colours e.g. black and white or psychedelic colours to emphasise the effects of the drugs and try to relate to the audience watching. Finally, we was reminded to add in the text on the title screen at the end of the trailer and also to add in the BBC One logo all throughout. As well as this we were told the voiceover needed to be re-done as it wasn't the bast quality due to the equipment used.

Q4. Do the titles help to split between the scenes?

13 of the 16 asked agreed that the title screens we used help to split the trailer and inform the audience of the stories involved.

Evaluation Activity 4: The Use of New Media Technologies in the Construction, Research, Planning and Evaluation Stages

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

What Media Technologies Were Used?

Throughout the creation of our final media piece, we used several different forms of media technology we were unable to during the AS year. The biggest difference was that we had access to a HD camera. For our A2 filming stages we were able to use a HD Panasonic Camera which enabled higher quality video capture creating an all round better look to the final product. Along with the HD camera, I was able to create a far more steady shot thanks to the use of a sturdy tripod.

To keep a record for my Advanced Portfoloi, I used an internet program called 'Blogger'. Although usable for my foundation portfolio, I have been able to create far more detailed post because of the advanced media technologies made available.

The most useful media technology that had an effect on any of the stages during the creation of our media piece was the use of Final Cut Pro on the iMac. During AS, I was only allowed access to the standard school computers which limited creativity with effects and storylines. Being on the iMachas enabled me to develop and nunderstanding with each of the possible effects and transitions.

For me, the creation of the Magazine cover and billboard poster was the easiest of the three pieces of work required for my advanced portfolio. Since I have studied Media for the past several years, my skills in manipulating images has developed extremely well. I have also been able to create far more effective final pieces as a result of the progress made in those previous years of studying Media. Although the effects used (such as the outer glow on the billboard), and the texts/fonts chosen are only basic, this is for a very good reason. Although we had to be creative in the making of our pieces, I didn't want to stray too far from the original magazines/posters our audience are accustomed to seeing. I believed that had my magazine been too different from the natural things it may have been overlooked as something other than what it was.  INCLUDE MAG COVER AND BILLBOARD POSTER SCREENSHOTS

ALSO ADD A SMALL PICTURE OF ALL THE EQUIPMENT/RESOURCES USED FOR THE CREATION OF THESE PIECES E.G. YOUTUBE, BLOGGER, PHOTOSHOP, PHONE, FACEBOOK (ARRANGE MEETINGS)... THEN POST DONE.

My Billboard poster

This is the final copy of the billboard poster I created for our soap 'Bargroves'. I tried to keep it simple as you dont often see the BBC producing billboards to advertise their shows. It features three of the main 4 characters that appear in the trailer.

Finished Magazine Cover

Second Draft and Feedback

Once we had recieved the feedback from the first draft, we set about making all of the nesaccery changes to improve our trailer. the following vidoe includes all of those changes plus some extra mentioned after this second draft had been seen by the Year 11's.

We went through the trailer thoroughly to filter out un-needed content and add in some effects to add to the impact of the trailer. Each of the effects and changes made will be listed under the video.

Changes Made:

Drug Scene:
Vignette
Zoom
Slow Motion
Quick Flash and Spin
Cold Steel

Police Siren Added in for effect

Title Screens:
Colour Saturation
Cross Dissolve

Once we had filtered out the un-nessacery content, we focused the majority of our time on the drug scene of the trailer as thats where we wanted to make the biggest impact. The final version of our soap trailer will be listed along with any additional changes made after draft 2 is complete.

First Draft and Feedback

The Feedback We Recieved:

The reason that our first draft has no audio is because the soundtrack we had in was copyrighted. After a long search we settled on 'Firestarter' by The Prodigy. We also had a defult tune in as our theme song which will now be used through the entirety of our trailer. We was also told to cut out some of the trailer as it dragged on for too long. Each of the changes that were made can be seen in the second draft and feedback post along with feedback from that second draft.



The search for the perfect soundtrack

All throughout the planning phase of the media product, the entire group was thinking of what we could use as the most suitable soundtrack to our trailer. the search from the sound too us through various sites such as iTunes, Soundcloud and the Shared Area of the iMac's and school computers.

iTunes:

We started to use iTunes as a good way to simply preview the music we were interested in using for our final piece. As iTunes only really specialises in copyrighted music we didn't.'t really look into any great depth at the songs available through them as we see that as a potential stumbling block. However, after spending hours on end searching for the best track to use, we decided to pay 99p for the Prodigy's 'Firestarter'.

Soundcloud:

When we started the search for the music it was suggested that we tried to look through a site called Soundcloud which provided both copyrighted, but more importantly, un-copyrighted music for people to download and use for the purpose that suited them. Although it was suggested as a good site to find music, we as a group couldn't decide on a track that would complement our final piece. So the search turned to the default, shared area's on the school PC's and iMacs.

Default Music:

after searching through both iTunes and Soundcloud, and fining nothing, we stared to look at the default instrumentals that we already on the school system. After quite a bit of searching through the files, we discovered one that sounded like a soap theme tune that we all agreed on. This theme tune would be the one people would associate with the soap, we didn't want it to feature all throughout our trailer. Towards the end, when the drugs scene begins, we want the music to switch to the fast paced, loud bass, music of the prodigy's 'Firestarter'.

Group Planning: Props Used

In every soap episode props are used to create realism. We wanted ours to do the same. In our opinion, making a soap that has some realistic features and storylines is what decides whether or not it is deemed successful. Within our soap trailer we tried to use many realistic props that would usually be associated with the younger generation. these included a mobile phone, drugs and betting slips.

Mobile Phone (Samsung Galaxy Note):

Nearly all young people possess a mobile phone. in soaps, mobile phones are commonly used to interlink storylines involving two or more sets of different characters. we liked this idea and decided to incorporate it within our soap. The mobile phone we used in our soap was a Samsung Galaxy Note. We used this as it was fairly up-to-date and had a large 5.2" viewing screen meaning we could show the messages on screen giving the illusion the viewer is the one receiving the message.


Betting Slip from Ladbrokes:

In the planning for our trailer, we come to the conclusion that  some young adults are experiencing money issues. As a group we felt that the best way to show this was an issue in our soap was by the use of Ladbrokes, the betting shop. To show that the best was void or a loss we asked the character to look angered whilst throwing the slip to the floor. We felt that once we had edited the raw footage this worked extremely well.






Drugs:

When creating our storylines, thinking of realism, we decided we should use a storyline involving drugs as this is one that most teenagers or young adults would have been in contact with in some point of there life's. to really drive home the drug deal we searched through the effects to find one that would emphasis it well and decided on a slow motion effect to work along side the close up we used during the filming phase.

Group Planning: Software Used

All throughout the creation of our final piece, we used newer more modern software and equipment. This included, a new High Definition Camera, iMac and iMac Software, and Voice Recorders.

Sony HD Camera:

During the creation of our AS piece, we used a standard definition camera which had a huge effect on the final quality of our work. However, this year was different, this year we had access to a HD camera capable of capturing high quality video as well as being able to take HD still images.




Apple Mac and Final Cut Pro:

Last year whilst creating our AS final piece, Taken, we used a standard personal computer with the usual editing software (Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premier Pro). this year was different in that we were able to se the iMac's available to upload our footage and edit on the Final Cut program included with the Mac.

Using Final Cut Pro allowed us to experiment by using different effects/transitions not available on the standard school computers which the made the quality of the final piece much better. An example of this can be seen by the use of a flowing title screen rather than that of a still image. Doing this gave our media product a much more professional finish while remaining relatively easy to alter if necessary.





YouTube and Blogger:


Throughout both the preparation and creation of our final media product we used both these pieces of software to upload our piece once we had made either changes or improvements. Both site played a part in getting our piece seen and allowing us to receive feedback on what we could change.


iTunes:

We used iTunes to help us search for an appropriate soundtrack to complement our final piece. After a considerable amount of time was spent searching for what we felt was the perfect song to used for our trailer, we chose The Prodigy's' Firestarter. The reason we all, as a group, felt that this complemented our soap trailer and was the most suitable track to use was because it is fast paced, and could be viewed as the genre of music young people (aged 16-24) may listen to. Although we didn't
want to use the Prodigy's Firestarter all the way through our trailer, we still decided to purchase it as we felt it would attract the attention of those losing attention as it is a contrast to the theme music we have. we have also decided to mix up the music used in the trailer to try and challenge the conventions of the soap trailers in that they usually use the same tune for the entirety of the trailer to create something people may associate with the soap. although we want our audience to recognise us, we didn't want he same tune all the away through as we wanted to offer something different from the ordinary.

Group Planning: Scripts

As a group we decided against the use of diegetic sound. The reason for this is that we felt it would tamkeaway the effects of the trailer and make it look worse than it could be. Instead of using diegetic sound, we decided to try and express the emotions through facial expressions so the audience could decide for themsleves how they feel.

Although we didn't want to have our actors speaking throughout the trailer we did have a voiceover added in at the end to inform viewers of the name, time and date in which the show would be aired.

Voiceover script;

How would you solve your issues? Bargroves. New to BBC One and BBC One HD

Although the voiceover is short in time, we feel that it gives the correct information and doesn't cause the audience to lose attention.

Group Plannning: Institutional Information

...