Tuesday, 6 February 2018
Monday, 5 February 2018
8.3 Evaluation Question 3
Question 3
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
During our coursework, we decided to get regular feedback from a focus group of 16-18 year olds. We implemented this to make our coursework better as well as it being a requirement. Our A2 advanced portfolio consisted of an extract of a documentary and ancillary products, a double page spread and a newspaper advertisement respectively.
Our first feedback came after we delivered our final proposal/pitch to our class. The final proposal consisted of a working title for our production, the channel for broadcast, target audience research, genre and style of our documentary. The final proposal also included the first draft for voice-over script and first draft of storyboard/ shot location list. This feedback was unfortunately verbal as we didn’t create a feedback form at the time. However the verbal feedback we were given back after the proposal was to focus the script and storyboard on what HS2 is and how HS2 will affect the Midlands area rather than HS2 as a whole. The original script only spoke about what HS2 is and the benefits to society as well as the negatives. Having taken this on board, we added and changed our voice-over scripts to include information on how the Midlands is going to be affected by HS2. By focusing on a narrower part of the HS2 project, it allowed us to be more detailed in our script rather than covering a very broad topic and having no focus point.
Second Feedback Response
We received our second lot of feedback after our first drafts of the print products and first edit of the extract of a documentary. We thought this would be crucial time to get some feedback to find out whether our audience likes our extract and print products. This is known as test screening were the filmmaker shows a rough cut of a film or TV show to an audience to gauge their reaction. This has been happening in the industry since Harold Lloyd invented the concept back in 1928.
The consensus we made from our feedback was that the 1st draft of the extract was average at following conventions. From our feedback, we saw a pattern in one of the technical aspects of the piece that being sound & music which scored poorly on all 5 feedback forms, scoring an average 3.4 with 1 being excellent and 5 being poor. In the improvement section, we found on almost every form that the volume of the voice-over needs to increased and decrease the volume of the other clips being played. We implemented this by clicking on the clips that the volume needed changing and going to audio effects adding a hold keyframe at the start and end of the clip. We then increased or decreased the volume accordingly.
Another technical aspect which was scoring a low score was shot composition. This aspect scored a 3.2, we found in the improvement section that the aspect scored low because of a poor order of scenes and scenes being too information heavy. One of the improvements was to include more of the interview with the MP to break up the information about HS2. In the original storyboard plan, the MP would only feature at the start and end of the extract to act as hooks. This is a common convention of TV documentaries. A hook is where the filmmaker gets an interesting topic and puts it at the start of the film; this attracts the viewer’s and makes them want to carry on watching the documentary to find out what happens. The rest of the extract was going to filled with information about HS2. We changed the order of the sequence so that the information was broken up and less heavy. We put a title scene first, then the interview with the MP about his initial thoughts on HS2. After this we had a scene about information on HS2, following this we put some more of the interview with the MP on his more in depth thoughts on HS2. Succeeding this was some more information on HS2 with a few voxpops will feature in the middle. Next we added some more of the interview with the MP on his thoughts of how HS2 will affect his constituents in Tamworth. We followed up this scene with information about how the Midlands is going to affected by HS2 and finally we put a snippet of the rest of interview with MP and cuts for the advert break.
We also received feedback on our first draft ancillary products. Our first draft double page spread from a TV listings magazine on the documentary is pictured below.
The actual article itself was praised as it told the audience what the documentary is about which is the whole point of the double page spread on the documentary. The only criticism received about the article itself is that it needed a bit more writing. However, the improvements that were suggested on the double page spread was to rethink the whole design. Most of the reviewer’s said that it was unconventional design and did not follow the conventions of a double page spread from a TV listings magazine. Normally an article in a TV listings magazine’s background is white, the text boxes are all the same sizes and pictures are aligned with text. Despite some people liking the unconventional design for its creativity as the article’s background is that of former British Rail, people criticised the fact the text boxes were different widths and pictures were randomly placed on the page with no alignment. Furthermore, people found the black text hard to read of a red background. Having took all the criticism on board, we decided to follow a more conventional approach. We looked at examples of articles in RadioTimes, re-analysing their codes and conventions and created a final design. Here is an image of our final product.
The final product shown above was also given feedback. We found that people liked how it looks like a RadioTimes’ article as it follows many of the conventions such as the tidy layout and the big title which uses a pun. Some people thought including q&a with the producers was unique for an article in the RadioTimes. The only criticism, we got in the feedback is the final column has a lot of dead space and doesn’t fill the page. However, we did not have time to make another document.
We also received feedback from our first draft newspaper advertisement on the documentary. Below this is an image of our first draft newspaper advertisement.
The feedback from this first draft was very encouraging. Nearly everyone thought that the advertisement follows the conventions. The main conventions being the title of the documentary, the channel showing it, the date and time of the documentary. In addition to this, all text on a channel 4 newspaper advertisement is highlighted by a colour which matches the colour of the channel 4 logo. Although, we found people liked the creativity of putting graffiti on the welcome sign post-production, the main improvement we found in the feedback forms was to change the main picture as Tamworth isn’t heavily associated with HS2 so people may not know what the media text is going on about. We took this improvement and made a final design which is pictured below.
We also received feedback on the final newspaper advertisement product which is shown above. People liked that it follows the conventions on this print product such as the layout and the information displayed on it such as the title, the channel, time and date of the documentary. Furthermore people liked how the picture shows what HS2 is going to destroy and thought the colour red for the highlighting was good idea as it may show how HS2 is a danger to the environment.
Final Feedback Response
We also decided to get some feedback on our final products. We asked the same group of students, the same questions so that they judge these final products against the first drafts and other existing products to gauge how good our products are.
The first question on the feedback form was how would you rate the success of the production in terms of following codes and conventions of a documentary. In the first set of feedback, the most common answer was average whereas our improved product has received between good and excellent rating. This shows that our production has improved since the first draft and that we put in the some of the improvements suggested like changing the order of the scenes.
We found that our shot composition rating improved as a result of reshoots and further editing. Overall this section of the extract scored 2 out of 5 with 1 being excellent. From these feedback forms, we can assume that people liked montages created in this extract. We used a range of shots including close ups, medium shots for the voxpops (this allows you to see the emotions on their faces and hand gestures towards HS2), long shots of the train station and town, pans of trains and a two shot for the interview. Furthermore, we changed how the storyboard was ordered so that people have the introduction graphic to show that HS2 is a train before having a snippet of an interview with an MP (hook). Despite changing the order of the scenes, people thought that we should talk about HS2 to give some introductory information before putting an interview with the MP as people wouldn’t understand the importance of it. Furthermore, as our target audience is 16-25 year olds, they may not be aware of what HS2 is so we should have put some information before putting the interview but if the target audience was the older generation then they would most already know what HS2 is so the order of having a hook first would make sense.
The mise en scene rated 2.6 out of 5 which is just above average. This aspect scored quite lower than the aspects as the shots were quite repetitive as most shots were of trains in the first section of the extract however the montages of shots improved in the second half which included a route graphic of HS2. On a few of the feedback forms, people suggested that some of the shots looked same. To combat this we used effects such as a horizontal flip on premiere pro to transform the clip so that they looked different.
The technical aspect editing was rated 1.8 out of 5 which is well above average, nearing the excellent score. We used a range of effects and transitions such as cross dissolves, camera view, horizontal flips & exponential fades to improve our the extract of a documentary. We assume by using these effects, the audience liked them as we scored highly.
Sound and music scored a high 1.4 out of 5 on average which a huge improvement from 3.4 in our previous feedback. Since the first set of feedback, we increased the volume of the voice-over and decreased the volume on the accompanying footage. In addition to this, we added our soundtrack in the background so that extract is more stimulating to the audience. We used exponential fades on the soundtrack to fade down the music before the voice-over begins but it can still be heard.
The use of text scored 1.6 out of 5 on average. To improve this section from the last amount of feedback we added titles to the MP which fade in and titles at the end of the extract to convey to the audience that the documentary is stopping for an ad break.
The improvements suggested to improve the production was to add more voxpops so that we could get a wider opinion of the public on HS2. However we could not get any add anymore footage as the extract for too long already so it would require changing the whole extract. Another improvement suggested was to include a variety of shots as some scenes were very repetitive. Unfortunately, it was too late to add anymore footage as it require us to go out and film, edit the clips and use effect to manipulate the footage which would take too long.
Overall getting feedback at different stages was important and crucial to improve our extract of a documentary. This is because we can’t always spot our own mistakes so getting feedback can help this.
Thursday, 1 February 2018
8.2 Evaluation Question 2
Evaluation Q2
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts (Print Artefacts)?
In our coursework we have made 3 finalised products over the
last few months. These consist of a 5-minute extract of a Documentary, in which
we focused on the HS2, and 2 print artefacts. One is a Double page spread based
off of the famous magazine, RadioTimes and the other print artefact is a
newspaper ad which we have based off a channel 4 advertisement. Now in this
evaluation I will be analysing how effective our main product and the print
artefacts complement each other.
For all of our products we had the same target audience,
which is a young audience in which the age range is around 16 to around a young
adult (25). We
know this is a very small age cap but we want to help other young people like
ourselves get more in tune with what is happening in our country and
documentary is a great way to provide this information.
We made sure in both our main product and our print artefacts we used bright colours to attract are audience’s attention especially in the newspaper ad where we have used a bright red colour. As this is mainly aimed at younger people.
Double Page Spread
Now to start, we believe that all are
products in one way or another connect and create a synergy between the
coursework as a whole, as in our Double page spread it uses the same person
throughout the designing, this means that that picture represents a link
between the Double page spread and the film. The picture in question is a
picture of Dan who stars in the documentary, as himself. So, with Dan being on
the double page spread, means that audiences and relate Dan from the double
page spread to the HS2 documentary. Also, the titling on the Double Page spread
means you cannot mislead it for a completely different documentary as it is original.
Also, in the
double page has used many of its conventions that a normal RadioTimes magazine
would use for example the at the very top
of the page of the RadioTimes magazine, there had to be certain types of
information, that was visible to the audience, this consisted of , the title
of the product, (HS2:A White Elephant), the time the show was being aired and
what date and also what channel. This can then tell the audience to go and
watch the documentary as you have given them all the information they need.
However, as
target audience goes, we have not effectively chosen the right magazine to do
this with as I believe that RadioTimes is more suited to an older generation.
For example, the colour scheme, compared to channel and are advert and film it
doesn’t really have many bright colours. Also, not many of our target audience
would spend money on a magazine each week, as they have better things to spend
their money on. However, there is an increase to the online market for
RadioTimes which means if a digital model of this Double page spread was made,
it could get more views from are target audience as they are more likely to use
the internet more than the older generation.
Newspaper Advertisement
First off the
Newspaper Ad has many of the normal codes and conventions used for a normal
channel 4 poster, as I found out when researching and making the poster myself.
Such as colours which I discussed earlier and also the font. The font can mean
lots to a young person. I for example won’t read an ugly font. It’s got to readable
and also nice looking and the example of channel 4 fonts I used and downloaded
are just right for are target audience. On the left are just a few of the fonts
that we trialled and some that we did use for the final piece.
However the Newspaper
Ad shows a picture of the countryside, which is something that is different to
the other Ads. I do like this poster as this is the one we have chosen to
present to the examiner. The poster itself is to show what is going to happen
if the HS2 runs through the countryside. But that is also the problem, without
any showing of the HS2 being on the poster, people who have no idea what the
HS2 is will not know the meaning of the poster
which does not fit with are target audience whom we are trying to inform
about this very big political topic. The Film
The film itself is an
entirely different product when being compared to the other two print
artefacts, it is a moving product. The
film I feel links closer to the channel 4 print product, in some cases. For example,
the animations we have are to please a younger audience, like the effect of the
cost of the HS2, £56,000,000,000, the effect we feel gets the attention of the
audience, and that of a younger audience too. But we also feel that the documentary,
despite being of channel 4 descent, links to our Double Page Spread as well.
The double page spread we feel is more for the older generation
and we have also imported elements of this into our film as well.
Overall
I feel like
as a whole both our Print products and our Film have enough synergy to be
effective in a number of ways towards our target audience, towards the
promotion of the product and with both of the products together we actually
convey to a wider audience in lots of ways by using fonts, different mediums,
and colour schemes. So this means that it is effective in a few ways and this
effectively suits the promotion of the documentary as a whole. Although there
can be/ are a few criticisms that we can identify for having quite different
print products we still believe that they are the best products that we can possibly
make and also convey to our audience who are going to see these products or
watch the documentary itself.
8.1 Evaluation Question 1
Evaluation Question 1
In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real life media
projects?
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