EvaluationEvaluationJuliette Stewart

A2 Media Studies

In what ways does your media product USE, DEVELOP or CHALLENGE forms and conventions of real media products?

EXISTING MEDIA PRODUCT: Waterloo Road ORIGINAL MEDIA PRODUCT: Shearwater Road

SIMILARITIES:

Both use medium close up shots of two female characters in a classroom.

Both use naturalistic lighting to show that they are in the day, within a school/college environment, therefore both have similar mise en scenes.

DIFFERENCES:

The camera angle used in ‘Waterloo Road’ makes the audience feel as though they are sat in the classroom with the characters. Whilst the angle used in ‘Shearwater Road’ is low, as though it is on the desk, like a pencil case and we the audience are spying on the characters.

Extras are used in the background of ‘Waterloo Road’ to create a sense of realism.

SIMILARITIES:

Both clips cut as the conversation ends, which allows the audience to think ‘what will happen next?’ this creates an ambiguity .

The props used are similar. We used computers because a later clip we created, using the computer mouse allows the audience to be shown the intimacy between the teacher and student.

DIFFERENCES:

The camera angle used in ‘Waterloo Road’ makes the audience feel like an onlooker, as though they are spying on the ‘couple’. The camera cuts off Jess’ body, so that the audience can only see her facial expression, this creating a dramatic effect. Whereas the camera angle used in ‘Shearwater Road’ makes the audience feel involved, as it is a point of view shot, from somebody sat next to Jess and Chris.

The lighting used in the ‘Waterloo Road’ screen shot is duller and darker, which suggests the pair are alone and know one knows about their secret relationship. Whereas we used a brighter environment, because people are becoming aware of their relationship.

EXISTING MEDIA PRODUCT: Waterloo Road

ORIGINAL MEDIA PRODUCT: Shearwater Road

SIMILARITIES:

We used over the shoulder shots like ‘Waterloo Road’ to show emotion through the close up facial expressions and it also shows the intimidatation through the characters close postures.

The lighting this time is very similar. It is dark and suggestive. We used a red wall because it was perfect for our mise en scene of anger, but this also contradicted the theme of love.

EXISTING MEDIA PRODUCT: Waterloo Road

ORIGINAL MEDIA PRODUCT: Shearwater Road

Soap opera definition – define:

SCHEDULING:

Eastenders is shown at half 7 on weekday nights. This is because, it is presumed, their target audience have finished their tea, they are settled down and they are wanting to relax. This is like my target audience. I want ‘Shearwater Road’ to be shown at a similar time.

The accents are obviously different within our soap to the one I looked at, ‘Waterloo Road’ as their soap is set in London. There is similarities however, as teen slang is used. Words are elongated and not pronounced properly in both soaps, such as ‘’really?’’ and ‘’you did snog him!’’

ACCENTS:Please click on the link below for an example.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrrrlUagfCo&feature=related

REGIONS:

We used similar settings to the show ‘The inbetweeners’ and our main location was also a college.

EXISTING MEDIA PRODUCT: The Inbetweeners

ORIGINAL MEDIA PRODUCT: Shearwater Road

Soap opera definition – define:

NARRATIVE:

The narrative is told by these 5 characters. Each character acts a part and has more than one line which all concludes in the final outcome. We did this because it is much more interesting to watch and hear about more than one character.

This is similar to ‘The Inbetweeners.’ As there is always ONE STORY LINE but the 4 characters narrate it.

This style of narration appeals to both our audiences as teenagers get bored easily and we took this in to consideration. A show such as ‘The Hills’ however, is scripted in a way that is made to seem like a reality TV show. We did not like this style of narration and chose our soap to be like ‘The Inbetweeners.’ or ‘Waterloo Road.’

Our story line was about the inappropriate relationship between a student and a teacher. We took ideas for this from a previous story line on Hollyoaks. We liked the exciting ideas portrayed such as love, lies, betrayal and friendship.

We wanted to show contact and intimacy between our ‘couple.’

Soap opera definition – define:

SUBJECT MATTER:

HOLLYOAKS JUSTIN & BECCA:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEUrw3b85r4

MUSIC AND THE LYRICS:Please click on the link below for my song choice.

I chose the song Torn by Natalie Imbruglia, as the beat at the start of the track introduced my establishing shot exactly how I wanted it to. The lyrics are perfect, for example:

‘’My conversation has run dry, that's what's going on, nothings right, I'm torn...’’

This is perfect as at this moment in time the character Jess, has nothing to say.

The camerawork explains a lot of the lyrics and the soundtrack helps to build the mise en scene (love) because the tones are soft and instrumental. ‘’I'm cold and I am shamed,’’ represents the head shot and zoom on Jess’s face when she is confrunted by her two friends.

SHEARWATER ROAD CHRIS & JESS:

Soap CONVENTIONS

MISE EN SCENE:

Sam (Mr.Mead) wore a blazer and polo shirt, dressing smartly conveyed the idea that he was in a relaxed but formal working environment and through his clothes the audience were able to tell he was a teacher.

The 4 girls were college students. So wore normal, relaxed outfits with minimal makeup and carried bags full of work.

EDITING:

Our soap was filmed mostly in a college. So the lighting was bright and mostly natural. This leaving the edit similar to that in Waterloo Road as opposed to Eastenders who use a filter to make their edit gritty, dark and grim.

SOUND:

I used diagetic and non diagetic sound throughout my soap. Torn by Natalie Imbruglia is the backing track as the lyrics fit perfectly. Then when a character speaks diageticaly i dragged the sound down on Adobe elements so the audience can hear the dialogue.

Soap CONVENTIONS continued...

CAMERAWORK:

We used zoom shots, medium close ups, over the shoulder shots and establishing shots to build up our soap.

PERFORMANCE:

Emotions were conveyed through the acting and facial expressions. Even without dialogue the facial expressions of characters tell the story.

Smug facial expressions tell the story.

STYLE:

The fact that we based our soap in a college reflects the genre because most teenagers attend college so they will recognise settings and relate.

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

BRAND:

With my poster I wanted to keep the same colour scheme with the red background as I had used with my BBC ONE brand logo. This red background was perfect for our groups mise en scene as it represents love and anger really well.

I used the same brand logo as the BBC as it is a recognisable logo and also Waterloo Road are shown on this channel and my soap is very similar to theres as it is also based in a place of work with similar aged students.

AUDIENCE:

Our target market was 14-19 year olds, just like Waterloo Road. People who have just got home from school/college and are wanting to keep up to date with personal topics that may apply to them, but also ones that far fetched and exciting, like the story line we chose.

INSTITUTION:

I decided to use BBC ONE as the institution for the soap we created. I chose BBC ONE, because I felt that shows shown on E4, for example The Inbetweeners or Skins, were possibly for an older set of teenagers, as often swearing is heard and explicit scenes are shown on this channel. Whereas the soap we created is much more family orientated.

BBC ONE is identifiable across the products I created as it is shown

HERE:

AND HERE:

A 5 second clip that I created is shown before my soap as this makes the audience aware of where they can catch my show and they also are aware of the ‘style’ of viewing they shall be watching.

GENRE:

The billboard I created is typical of a teenagers doodle. The genre is set through the giant love heart and screwed up paper. Because it is pinned up on a staff notice board the audience know that it must take place in a school or college environment. The mise en scene allows the audience to think about the person who has written this as they call their ‘lover’ ‘’Mr.Mead’’ which would be inappropriate and unlikely for a student to do, so the audience want to learn more through this ambiguity.  

How constantly do your different formants share MESSAGES and MEANINGS?

Brand identity is key when creating a soap, we took different ideas from various youtube videos such as Waterloo Road, The Inbetweeners and Hollyoaks before thinking about the key conventions of our soap.

I kept the same brand identity throughout with the colour scheme of red. Red represents love, lust, anger and hatred. All themes present within our soap. The red in the BBC ONE institution brand identity, the red title on the billboard and the red on the wall behind the two starring characters on the magazine front cover.

RED WALL conveys connotations of love and hate.

RED BACKGROUND is striking and used with other BBC products so it is recognisable.

RED TITLE is eye catching and suitable as there is a red notice on the board so the theme is kept.

Clips from scenes in a school/college environment convey meanings of teenagers, friendships, relationships and trouble.

What have you learnt from AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?

PLANNING:How did you find your audience?

Similar pictures and products from last year helped me create my soap and find my audience.

Audience quote:

‘’The backing track fits perfectly, the instrumental at the start fits perfectly with the establishing shot!’’

Audience quote:

‘’The backing track fits perfectly, the instrumental at the start fits perfectly with the establishing shot!’’

Audience quote :

‘’The narrative is clear and the lyrics create meaning – conflict and love! Lower the volume on the track by the vending machine when the dialogue starts. Create a title card at the end too’’

Audience quote :

‘’The narrative is clear and the lyrics create meaning – conflict and love! Lower the volume on the track by the vending machine when the dialogue starts. Create a title card at the end too’’

I took on board my feedback and made the necessary changes to my soap.

How did you use audience responses to define your target audience?

Before creating my soap I did research in to the kind of audience who I would be aiming my soap at. I learnt from the above pie chart that my audience fit in to the typical demographic of a light easy read, where pictures are more concern than text. Through this I learnt that my soap should contain characters of a similar nature, so therefore teenagers. I learnt from this pie chart that people

mostly begin watching soaps ages 13-20. This is very similar to my target audience (14-19.) So if I can create an exciting, fresh new soap aimed at this aged audience then the views of my soap will be better than most.

POST PRODUCTION:

Audience quote:

‘’Take the 2nd soundtrack off as it is confusing to listen to, however, once you have done this the narrative and lyrics will be clear. The song you have chosen is great as it is melodramatic but not too edgy! Perfect for BBC one! This makes your audience very clear.’’

Audience quote:

‘’Take the 2nd soundtrack off as it is confusing to listen to, however, once you have done this the narrative and lyrics will be clear. The song you have chosen is great as it is melodramatic but not too edgy! Perfect for BBC one! This makes your audience very clear.’’

Audience quote:

‘’I can see you have done a lot of research in to your target audience , the print screens of different youtube clips prove you have looked in to similar genres. The clip with Mr.Mead in the classroom looking at his phone however is a little too long.’’

Audience quote:

‘’I can see you have done a lot of research in to your target audience , the print screens of different youtube clips prove you have looked in to similar genres. The clip with Mr.Mead in the classroom looking at his phone however is a little too long.’’

5 out of 7 members from my target

audience said they would watch my soap!

I took in to consideration the first comment and took the 2nd soundtrack off. This comment was useful as I hadn’t replayed my soap so I hadn’t realised I had two soundtracks.

I cut the clip that was suggested so it is now not as long, however, i wanted it to be slightly long as I liked the emotion in ‘Mr.Meads’ face and the backing track fitted well. This comment was useful as it helped me re think the timings of clips.

Audience quote:

‘’The video you have uploaded on to youtube is great but the song comes in twice, you may need to look at this!’’

Audience quote:

‘’The video you have uploaded on to youtube is great but the song comes in twice, you may need to look at this!’’

I have made the corrections to this clip and it now runs smoothly with just the single song playing.

At this point (0:51 secs) the song plays a second time as I have layered in the track twice. This alteration has now been amended.

How did you use MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES in the CONSTRUCTION an RESEARCH, PLANNING and EVALUATION stages?

CONSTRUCTION:

I used Adobe Photoshop to create both my ancillaries (my billboard and magazine front cover.) I enhanced the colour in the top third of my magazine so that it is eye catching to a potential buyer. I used Adobe Photoshop last year

when creating my ancillaries, so this year I was much quicker and advanced. This year however, I learnt how to apply filters to images.

I used Adobe Premiere 8 to create and edit my soap trailer along with editing the sound. I have never used Adobe Premiere but I found it interesting and easy to use, as I learnt new skills such as layering sound and adding transitions through simple steps.

CONSTRUCTION CONTINUED:

I used Adobe Premiere 8 to create my transitions. I did this because it looks much more professional and it flows better. I used a variety of transitions including: cross dissolve, dip to black and cube spin.

I created an ident/title card in Publisher to add at the end of my soap to make the audience aware of when my soap shall be aired. I recreated a BBC ident to follow on from the logo I used on my billboard.

MY TITLE CARD FOR SHEARWATER ROAD:

ORIGINAL BBC TITLE CARD:

CONSTRUCTION CONTINUED:

I used Publisher to create my billboard. I was able to use word art in order to make a bold title that would stand out.

I took this photograph using a digital camera, I wrote on a piece paper a typical teenager’s doodle and screwed the paper to reinforce mixed emotions and an ambiguity to who could have wrote this. I set up the arrangement on the notice board in the staff room for a realistic approach.

I took an image from Google of the BBC’s logo, because I wanted to show the audience the brand logo I had chosen.

SIMILARITY between my soap and an existing soap

CONSTRUCTION CONTINUED:

I used a tripod to get a steady shot and to also enable me to correct the height of my shot, I wanted ‘Mr.Mead’ to be in the background whilst ‘Jess’ was in the foreground closer to the camera in eye line of the viewer. I did this because, it makes the viewer feel as though they are sat next to Jess therefore making the situation seem realistic.

I wanted to create an establishing shot so that my audience knew where my soap was taking place. This shot only lasts a few seconds but it pans the majority of the building from right to left. I also did this so I wasn’t just jumping straight in to dialogue. My song of choice begins with an instrumental which helps set the mise en scene.

I wanted to use an over the shoulder shot because it is much more interesting for the audience to view because it puts them close to the character and makes them feel involved with the plot. I did this as a close up shot so the viewer could read the details.

RESEARCH:

I did a lot of research on youtube before deciding on any final ideas for my soap. I liked the idea of doing a soap aimed at teenagers in college like myself and when doing this research I came across two similar story lines of a teacher and student love affair.

I thought this story line would be interesting as it is not realistic so I can expand with my characters in the plot.

WATERLOO ROAD JESS & CHRIS:

HOLLYOAKS BECCA & JUSTIN:

SHEARWATER ROAD JESS & MR.MEAD:

I used similar shot types to that found on Waterloo Road and Hollyoaks because I liked the passion and emotion shown between the couple as I thought this came across well in the storyline.

PLANNING: Digital storyboarding

Over the Summer holidays I took screen shots from the soap Eastenders and selected images and then quoted parts of the dialogue to build up my knowledge on story boards. This planning helped with my own because, I was able to select key parts of what I wanted to happen in my soap and adjust them at my leisure. I did 22 pages of research where I discussed the camera angles and editing used in order to gain research in to shots I could use for my own soap.

I liked the camera angle chosen here, the over the shoulder shot shows the passion and intimacy between the inappropriate relationship, this giving the audience an exciting on look to the characters. I decided I wanted shots like this too within my soap and wanted to recreate similar – which I did.

PLANNING CONTINUED: Existing products

I know from last year that the eyes should be in the top third of the magazine. I took this in to consideration when creating my soap magazine as the eyes are one of the elements that lure in the potential buyer.

MY BILLBOARD:EXISTING PRODUCT:

I wanted my billboard to be simple so that the message would get across easily without giving too much of the plot away. The day and time are clearly shown and the brand logo is too. The tag line is ambigious as the picture does not reveal very much.

2 EXISTING PRODUCTS: MY MAGAZINE COVER

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEUrw3b85r4

PLANNING CONTINUED: Music choice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRDpn7ePJrc

Natalie Imbruglia - TornRihanna ft Eminem – Love the way you lie pt 2

I looked at this song and I thought the lyrics fitted well, ‘’On the first page of our story, the future seemed so bright. And this thing turned out so evil I don’t know why im still surprised’’ But both Rihanna and Eminem are RNB artists and so this would not be suitable for the BBC who are airing my soap.

I chose this song in the end as I found the lyrics very fitting, ‘’I thought I saw a man brought to life, he was warm he came around like he was dignified’’ and then the lyrics go on to tell the story perfectly. The tempo of the song is great as it is slow but still has rhythem, it is a song that would be very similar to that already found on the BBC as it is not RNB or POP but SMOOTH yet contemporary.

EVALUATION:

I enjoyed this project as I am not use to working with cameras, last year it was all photography based so this year it is much more interesting to be working with moving images. I enjoy watching soaps at home, anything from Coronation Street to Hollyoaks so I knew I would learn a lot from this project but also I would be able to use some of my own knowledge that I already have of this particular genre.

From this project I have learnt how to use Adobe Premiere 8. I struggled at the beginning with the sound as I was unable to make it flow out smoothly, but once I had been shown how to do it I was able to help others! This was a great feeling. I like Adobe Premiere as it is simple to play around with, you are able to use the exact clips you want as many times as you like and they are easy to cut. The transitions available are really good as they look professional, my favourite was dip to black, i used this at the end before my title card came in as along with the beat of the music it looked really nice.

Creating my ancillaries was something I had the most fun with, I have had a lot of practice doing this so I knew exactly what colours to use and where to place particular text and images. I am pleased with both my magazine front cover and billboard.

Improvements I could make: My video that is on youtube Is not the correct one. I have made the correct amendments to it as the sound came in twice and you were unable to hear some of the dialogue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0BlERR4wqY

My soap on youtube with the title card fading in to a transition of the first establishing shot.