A2 Media Evaluation PowerPoint

2. In the case of my main task, the research i did
in order to establish what the codes and
conventions of TV drama's were has very
much guided me in the development and
look of my final titles. The main conventions i
found were that shots of episodes of the show
were used as well as animation for the titles.
From looking at my final cut, i have used
footage intended to look like shots from
different episodes. I had originally planned
not to do this and have something that was
completely stop frame but decided against it
as it differed to much from typical title
sequences.
Close ups also tended to be used to establish
different characters, however if the show had a
clear main character most on-screen time went
to the protagonist. I met this convention in
order to better establish characters which was
similar to the style of the opening the ‘Hannah
Montanna’ (2006) with many having shots of
them looking directly at the camera and doing
something that tied in with their role in the
'Drama Club'. For example the shot of Sophie
laughing (0.22) and the character of Andy
taking photo's and smiling at the camera.(0.34)
In addition, the name of the show tended to
appear at the end as well as the 'created by'
title which matches my opening.

3. There was always an up-beat theme tune and a mixture of sound
effects such as canned laughter or in the case of 'Sabrina the Teenage
witch' (see blog post 'Sabrina the teenage witch analysis' 25th June '09)
sounds were used to connote the magic aspect of her character e.g..
spells/witchcraft. As the character of 'Andy' is the photographer in the
club i added camera sounds to it which also helped establish the
theme of the titles as more art based. (0.33-36) Similarly, i used
applause and clapping for the performance based characters,
particularly Sehb and Gemma as i wanted to show that they were part
of a group that incorporated all kinds of different aspects including
directing, photographing, acting and singing. (0.47)Many of the title
sequences I analysed were a mixture of animation and live action. As i
didn't really have any animation skills i decided to subvert the typical
conventions and use stop frame titles as i though this would make the
titles more interesting and attractive to younger viewers than the
typical text over the footage. The idea of having cut out letters also
added to the arty feel of the titles.
The scrapbook
Stop frame
idea from my objects for each
initial animatic, as character
inspired by ‘Tracy
Beaker’ titles.
My original animatic (see blog post 'animatic' Oct.
12th)was for the sequence to include a scrapbook the
club had created therefore stop frame would mean i
could move different objects and pictures across the
page. This would have been similar to the titles of
'Tracy Beaker' (see blog post 'Tracy beaker titles' 25th
June) as it used pictures rather than actual footage of
the characters. The objects moving in the
background were also associated with the
characters, i adapted this for my titles as each
character has an object that links with their role i.e.
microphone, clapperboard, camera.

4. In regards to my ancillary tasks, i wanted
my magazine to be very colorful and
attractive to younger audiences. In
order to get a better idea of how to
design an effective one i looked at
some existing covers and analyzed
them (see blog post 'Ancillary task Initially i had a relatively plain title
research Jan 09) however i did not think this was effective
enough in catching peoples eye and
advertising the show. I didn't have a logo as
many magazines based on television shows
do so i decided to use the stop frame letters
from my title sequence.
This meant i had a text that was
recognisable and could be used as part of
a brand to advertise the show. It improved
the overall look and met the convention of
having a big, bold recognisable heading on
the top of the magazine.

5. Many of the magazines i looked at had one
main image dominating the cover, mainly
the protagonist as seen on the cover on the
'Tracy Beaker' magazine. I met this
convention and chose one character from Recognisable
'Drama Club' and used this on the cover as i font work, simple
felt an image of all the characters would be and consistent as
more suitable for the DVD cover. Normally the well a brand
person on the cover would then have an
interview about them advertised on the front name.
so i chose to do this with the character of
Amber. Other teasers included free posters,
something that appeared a lot on the cover
of children's magazines ,a chance to meet
the cast . Similar to the cover on the right, i
decided to advertise my DVD to further
increase publicity. Most magazines have bar
codes and prices so these were added for
authenticity. As can be seen on the
magazine to the right, the text although
bolder in some places and varied in color is
the same font throughout. This stops it from
being too muddled and distracting so i opted
to do the same for my cover.
I noticed some
magazines based
on TV shows
advertised the
DVD’s of the show
on the cover

6. For my DVD cover the main conventions I
found were screen grabs on the back, along
with an episode guide. I also wanted to
include other things such as bonus features,
which are seen regularly on the backs of
DVD'S. Other features such as the universal
logo and the review were to make the cover
more realistic. I decided it would be useful to
have the review by an organisation that
would probably broadcast my television
show. Again, I have used the same font for
the title in order to create brand recognition,
a convention followed by most DVD covers of
series or films.
Screen
grabs Big, bold,
Recognisable
title
Special
features, blurb
or episode
guide. Protagonist(s)
on front cover

7. I feel the combination of my main and
ancillary tasks is very effective, as i tried to
make the show a brand that spread across
all three through intertextuality. One way i
did this was using the same title throughout
my main, and ancillary's to create
something audiences could recognise. An
example of this is the title of my magazine,
as i used the same stop frame letters from
my titles. I did the same on my DVD cover
in so it was clear they all linked. If you saw
the title printed in a magazine it would be
instantly recognisable similar to the way the
font used for the Indiana Jones's movies is
very distinctive and specific to those films.
Furthermore, the main aspect that connects my ancillary's
is the advertisement of my DVD on the cover of my
magazine. This increases publicity and is an example of
synergy across both print media and my main titles. The
overall design of my magazine cover and DVD cover is
similar, with paint splats and colour scheme consistent and
i feel they reflect the overall look and feel i wanted to
create, mainly an art and drama based show.

8. In addition, The review featured on the back of my
DVD cover my 'CITV' would likely be who would market
and broadcast my show as they have a target
audience (12 and below) similar to mine. The show
would be advertised in many children's magazines
such as 'Toxic' or other magazines for children's shows
such as 'Ben 10' or 'High School musical’. The context of
consumption would be through these other magazines
or advertisements on TV, after or before already
established shows on 'CITV.' I feel it is a uni-sex show so
it could be advertised in both girl and boy magazines,
however it could be manipulated more easily to
attract girls due to its dominance of female characters
and aspects such as singing and performance and
lack of action and adventure more associated with
boys. 'Drama club could be compared with shows like
'Tracy Beaker‘ as it has a similar multi-media approach
through a complimentary magazine and DVD releases
of the show.
Overall, I feel the degree of synergy I created between my magazine and
DVD cover was fairly good. Obviously, had there been actual articles in the
magazine there could have been further advertisement of the DVD inside.
The main aspect i feel is the strongest example of synergy across all three
texts is the ‘brand name’ of the show. It is recognisable and is featured in
both my main task and my magazine and DVD cover, therefore brand
recognition similar to shows of its type was created.

9. Emily aged 11 – 'I
could tell from the
'starring' at the
beginning and the
The target audience for 'Drama Club' was 10-12 credits that it was
year olds, possibly slightly younger. This meant the opening to a
the Year 7's would be the perfect age group to
give me feedback on my titles and whether show.'
they are effective. I used my brother who his
currently in year 7 and sent out emails to get a
group of five other students together. I tried to
spread them evenly and have a mixture of boys Joe aged 11 - ' I
and girls (3 were boys, 2 were girls) and asked
them a series of questions after viewing my title think it's about
sequence. I have picked out the main points, group of kids who
and some interesting comments they made.
create a drama
group and all
have their own
Jack aged 10 - ‘I parts.'
thought the hand
wiping it way and
moving objects
were really clever.’

10. Positives comments,
t looks like a title sequence
Liked the use of sound, music sounded like it was
from a real TV show.
Liked the stop frame animation
Mixture of stop frame and footage made it
interesting, found it engaging.
Accepted it was a title sequence, worked this
out without being told.
They could understand what the show was
about
could understand the role of most of the
characters had within the show.
Liked some of the shots used- particularly the shot
of Sehb moon-walking with Gemma in the
foreground.(0.7) Negative comments,
 The main issues they had with it were that at times it
was unclear what the characters of Sehb and Sophie
were, however they did get the basic idea that one
was a dancer/performer and one was a 'Joker'.
The end stop frame where the title 'Drama Club'
appears could have been more interesting, they
suggested having a clip of the group all together.
The most interesting thing they picked out was that
although it did meet their age range, which
contrasted my idea that it was to young, they felt the
actors should have been younger and more their
age then they would have indentified with them
more.

11. From looking at my feedback, i feel my work did fit
the brief in that it was an effective title sequence. I would also consider
They understood it and seemed interested which changing the way I did
was my main goal, and were willing to accept that the 'created by Helen
it was the opening to a show which shows i got the Skipworth' title (0.50), I like
style right. I would say it does meet my opinion of the paint splats but rather
my work in some areas, i think the stop frame works than have them appear
well and the use of the hand is effective however i one at a time, perhaps a
wouldn't agree that my use of sound was splat that got gradually
particularly good. I felt i could have played around bigger or all the splats on
with this more, and found some better sound one page would have
effects. For instance, have had Gemma actually been more effective.
singing during the opening shot (0.5) I do like the
camera sounds during Andy's credit and would
keep this if I was to do it again. I completely agree I think I would keep the ‘drama club’ title
with the idea of using actors that were the same
age as my target audience and would say this is stop frame but maybe have some of the
one of its biggest flaws as its simply not realistic to objects featured during the sequence re-
have 17/18 years olds in a show for 10 year olds. If i appear around 'Drama Club.' I had tried this
could further improve on it, I would add more previously when doing my initial stop frame
interesting transitions. I would say the best transition
is the dissolve from Andy's credit to him taking but it looked to cluttered. If I had more time i
photos in the library (0.31) I could perhaps have would have done as my target audience
experimented more with this and used it in other suggested and had an additional shot of the
places during the sequence. For example used a club together at the end, perhaps jumping
zoom into one of the objects such as the clapper
board and faded into the footage of Amber and freezing on the image of them in the air.
directing. I would definitely use younger actors, as this
would have made it far more convincing as
a children's TV drama and perhaps tried to
incorporate my original idea of having a
scrap book with photo's.

12. I used new media technology a lot during the planning
stages of my coursework, particularly 'Google' and
'Youtube' as these were the main tools i used for the
research. In order to get a better understanding of
children's TV i found some videos of various openings to
children's programs (see research based blog posts during
June/July) and analysed them. From this i was able to
construct an idea of what the codes and conventions
were and the typical style of the genre i was working on. I
also researched how to do certain tasks in Photoshop
through 'Youtube' as my skills were limited and the video
tutorials helped me learn some basic skills. Free play music
was a site I used for the music for my titles, I knew I needed
something upbeat and this was a good site to listen and
download copy write free music. I use facebook initially to
get people to answer my questionnaire, however the
opinions expressed were not from my target audience so
a lot of the information I gathered from this was not
relevant. During the evaluative stages this would have
been a good technology to use in order to get feedback,
but due to the younger target audience facebook was
not such a suitable technology for me to use. To combat
this problem I had to send out emails, and get feedback
from my younger target audience (year 6/7) to actually
view my product and tell me their thoughts.

13. Another technology i used for both AS and A2 was
Blogger. I used this to keep an up to date record of
the whole process including initial planning and
research, post-production and the finished
product. I felt it helped me mange my time better
and i was able to use it much more effectively this
year, as many of my posts were more detailed and
certain aspects such as my storyboard which were
absent from my blog last year were added. It was
very useful in the planning stages, as it meant i
could upload videos and images of existing
products and analyse them before creating my
own work. Below is an example of a post i did
which focused on DVD cover research. Having a
blog to refer back to during the process was very
useful, particularly at he half-way mark, where I
uploaded two different rough cuts. As I progressed
to my final cut I was able to refer back to both
these and my animatic, storyboard etc.

14. The program i used to create my main task was Premier Pro. I had some skills
that i picked up from AS but as i was in complete control of everything this
year, i had to improve my skills dramatically if i wanted to produce some
good quality work. The reason i chose the children's TV drama brief was
because i didn't want something that included the use of flash, as my skills
were non-existent. Premier pro was a program i was familiar with and
throughout the process i feel my ability to use it has greatly improved.
Importing the images for my stop frame and getting the timing right was a
big task, as at times it was too quick and you couldn't didn't get a chance to
take in what was happening on screen. To combat this problem i had to
copy a lot of the images in order to make them last longer, and change the
shot duration. The area i feel most comfortable with is shot duration and
cutting shots appropriately, editing the footage was something i got a lot
better at as time went on as i could see more clearly where things needed
to be changed. Towards the end i decided that i needed to add some
better transitions between stop frame and footage, one way i used the
program was to add a zoom and a dissolve effect (0.31) Looking back i
would have including more of this so I had more variety of transitions.
I used Photoshop, a program i was unfamiliar with in order to design my
Magazine cover and DVD cover. I asked other students who knew it
better to show me how to do certain things whilst constructing my
magazine cover, and once i knew how to edit text and cut out pictures
i was able to play around with it more and make it look more
professional. I managed to work out how to put an image of my DVD
cove onto my magazine and crop and move the image to where i
wanted it. I also added certain effects such as shadowing and outer
glow and gave the background a paint-like effect. Google was mainly
a source for images whilst practicing with Photoshop, through doing
the coursework this year, I learnt how to use search engines better and
find appropriate pictures that i can work with in Photoshop.