Media Evaluation by Grace BlickCandidate Number 1028
16
Grace Blick G324 Evaluation Teacher: Miss Walsh In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? We have chosen to distribute our soap opera through the BBC. BBC one air many soaps such as, Eastenders. We chose to distribute our soap using the BBC due to their popularity and reputation with their audience. The BBC is a respected channel that people go to, to watch good quality soaps. Due to the digital world that we live in today, we also distributed our trailer on the website ‘Youtube’. This allowed our trailer to be seen by a variety of people and not just those that have access to a TV. By distributing our trailer on both the BBC and Youtube we optimise the amount of viewers we have access to. Therefore as a result we increase the potential number of viewers that will watch our series. Our trailer is predominately focused and inspired by the soap opera genre, and confronts issues such as affairs and murder. When researching and planning we drew inspiration from media texts such as ‘Eastenders’ and ‘Hollyoaks'. From the research, we found that Soap Operas try and stay as close to reality as possible by using natural lighting, mise en scene and simplistic camera angles. We wanted to reflect the naturalistic costumes used for characters such as Phil Mitchell in Eastenders. The characters in our trailer all have naturalistic costumes, for example Stacey Bright wears a red, long sleeve top and black trousers. Her costume creates a casual atmosphere which enables the audience to see a correlation, between the soap and their own life. However, the red colour of her top connotes danger and that she is a seductive character. These connotations provided by the red colour are brought to life later on in the trailer. Using inspiration from the media text ‘Hollyoaks’, we decided that our soap opera would be set in a town called ‘East Blue Point’. We decided on the name ‘East Blue Point’ because we wanted to challenge the conventions of professional soap operas. The majority of professional soap operas have just one word for their name, for example ‘Neighbours’. However, we wanted our soap opera to stand out in a list of professional soap operas. ‘East Blue Point’ is an original name that does not exist in the world of soap operas today. Therefore, when viewers see the trailer on TV they will instantly know they are witnessing something new and unique. Despite challenging the conventions when creating our name, we conformed to conventions when structuring the town of ‘East Blue Point’. This was due to the influence from ‘Eastenders’. We wanted to develop their idea of ‘Albert Square’. East Blue Point has a central meeting point, similar to ‘Albert Square’ in Eastenders. However, in our trailer the central meeting point is the town hall in which Martin Smith is murdered. The town hall is the place in which big events happen and new storylines begin. For example, the murder mystery storyline in our soap begins in the town hall. When creating storylines for our soap opera, we decided to use events that occur in everyday lives. However, we wanted to be original, therefore we didn't include a storyline that included alcohol. Many soap operas such as Eastenders focus storylines on alcohol and many of their characters have had a bad past experience with alcohol, for example Phil Mitchell. The uses and gratifications model states that audiences use media texts to gratify needs. By making our storylines realistic we allow the audience to compare and connect themselves to a character. They may look for ways to solve their problem through the character. For example, if an audience member is going through a pregnancy they would watch East Blue Point, to see how Jane Smith copes with her pregnancy. In 1961, Albert Bandura performed the ‘BoBo Doll Experiment’. The results showed that audiences are prone to imitate behaviour seen on TV. The BoBo doll experiment works alongside the uses and gratifications model. Therefore, we wanted to present a soap opera that battled issues which some would consider uncomfortable to talk about. By confronting issues such as, being a widowed parent, we were able to offer our audience indirect help. The audience would watch the soap and imitate the characters reactions and emotions, therefore learning how to deal with their situation. Page 1
Transcript
Grace Blick G324 Evaluation Teacher: Miss WalshIn what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?
We have chosen to distribute our soap opera through the BBC. BBC one air many soaps such as, Eastenders. We chose to distribute our soap using the BBC due to their popularity and reputation with their audience. The BBC is a respected channel that people go to, to watch good quality soaps. Due to the digital world that we live in today, we also distributed our trailer on the website ‘Youtube’. This allowed our trailer to be seen by a variety of people and not just those that have access to a TV. By distributing our trailer on both the BBC and Youtube we optimise the amount of viewers we have access to. Therefore as a result we increase the potential number of viewers that will watch our series. Our trailer is predominately focused and inspired by the soap opera genre, and confronts issues such as affairs and murder. When researching and planning we drew inspiration from media texts such as ‘Eastenders’ and ‘Hollyoaks'. From the research, we found that Soap Operas try and stay as close to reality as possible by using natural lighting, mise en scene and simplistic camera angles. We wanted to reflect the naturalistic costumes used for characters such as Phil Mitchell in Eastenders. The characters in our trailer all have naturalistic costumes, for example Stacey Bright wears a red, long sleeve top and black trousers. Her costume creates a casual atmosphere which enables the audience to see a correlation, between the soap and their own life. However, the red colour of her top connotes danger and that she is a seductive character. These connotations provided by the red colour are brought to life later on in the trailer.
Using inspiration from the media text ‘Hollyoaks’, we decided that our soap opera would be set in a town called ‘East Blue Point’. We decided on the name ‘East Blue Point’ because we wanted to challenge the conventions of professional soap operas. The majority of professional soap operas have just one word for their name, for example ‘Neighbours’. However, we wanted our soap opera to stand out in a list of professional soap operas. ‘East Blue Point’ is an original name that does not exist in the world of soap operas today. Therefore, when viewers see the trailer on TV they will instantly know they are witnessing something new and unique. Despite challenging the conventions when creating our name, we conformed to conventions when structuring the town of ‘East Blue Point’. This was due to the influence from ‘Eastenders’. We wanted to develop their idea of ‘Albert Square’. East Blue Point has a central meeting point, similar to ‘Albert Square’ in Eastenders. However, in our trailer the central meeting point is the town hall in which Martin Smith is murdered. The town hall is the place in which big events happen and new storylines begin. For example, the murder mystery storyline in our soap begins in the town hall.
When creating storylines for our soap opera, we decided to use events that occur in everyday lives. However, we wanted to be original, therefore we didn't include a storyline that included alcohol. Many soap operas such as Eastenders focus storylines on alcohol and many of their characters have had a bad past experience with alcohol, for example Phil Mitchell. The uses and gratifications model states that audiences use media texts to gratify needs. By making our storylines realistic we allow the audience to compare and connect themselves to a character. They may look for ways to solve their problem through the character. For example, if an audience member is going through a pregnancy they would watch East Blue Point, to see how Jane Smith copes with her pregnancy. In 1961, Albert Bandura performed the ‘BoBo Doll Experiment’. The results showed that audiences are prone to imitate behaviour seen on TV. The BoBo doll experiment works alongside the uses and gratifications model. Therefore, we wanted to present a soap opera that battled issues which some would consider uncomfortable to talk about. By confronting issues such as, being a widowed parent, we were able to offer our audience indirect help. The audience would watch the soap and imitate the characters reactions and emotions, therefore learning how to deal with their situation.
Page �1
Grace Blick G324 Evaluation Teacher: Miss Walsh
Poster
We also created a poster to promote our soap opera. Our poster conforms to the conventions of professional soap opera posters. When designing the poster I decided to have the ‘BBC One’ logo on the poster. This means that the audience are instantly aware that it will be shown on ‘BBC One’. We also have the date in which the soap will be aired on TV. Having the date, time and logo on the poster enables the audience to access the information they need to watch the soap immediately. Making the audience aware of airing times and airing locations is essential. By doing this they have a more enjoyable experience when starting to watch ‘East Blue Point’.
The overall design of the poster conforms to the conventions of posters used for Eastenders etc. All the cast members are shown on the poster, therefore creating synergy between our trailer, poster and magazine. Audience members will be able to make connections between all three ancillary texts. As a result it will make our trailer easier to locate due to this continuity. Each of the cast members have an individual pose that reflects their character. For example, Stacey Bright has a pouting expression to connote her sexual intentions. The ‘male gaze’ theory states that males may not notice some aspects due to being distracted by a sexual pose or the camera lingering on a certain body part. The pout Stacey has, will draw men in and they are most likely to focus on this character. Whereas, in contrast to this, Jane Smith has a radiant smile that reflects the happiness her pregnancy brings her. The most prominent character on the poster is Martin Smith, he is placed above all of the other characters, giving the poster a haunting atmosphere. We wanted him to look like a ghostly figure to foreshadow what is to come in the series. The main thread line for the first series is ‘Martin’s murder mystery’. When creating the poster we wanted to have all the characters in a line below Martin. The characters in the line act as the subjects for Martin’s murder, creating a suspicious atmosphere. Throughout the series we want the audience to question every character and be surprised when the murderer is revealed.
Page �2
East Blue Point 4TH December 10pm
Directed By Grace Blick, Jessica Davis and Daniel Parsons
Grace Blick G324 Evaluation Teacher: Miss Walsh
As well as having the logo, characters and date on our poster we also have the name and directors of the soap. It is essential to include the name of a soap opera on a poster. If you don't include the name it will lead to confusion for viewers. They will not be able to understand what the poster is in relation to. Therefore, making your soap inaccessible and hard to find. Having the directors on the poster also helps the audience understand what the soap will be like if they have seen some of their previous work. If people have watched previous series by certain directors and enjoyed them, they are more likely to watch another new series created by them.
Magazine
Alongside our poster we also created a magazine cover to promote our soap opera. Our magazine conforms to the conventions of the professional magazine (seen above). We have used primary colours of blue, yellow, purple and red. We used these colours to attract readers and to make it stand out on the shelf. By using these primary colours we are conforming to the conventions of a real life magazine cover.
The bright yellow box around ‘BROTHERS BETRAYAL IS RICKY’S SECRET REVEALED?’, instantly catches the readers eye and draws their attention to the characters from ‘East Blue Point’. The Semiotics of colour states that the colour yellow is mostly associated with danger. Therefore, by using the colour yellow we communicate to our audience that the storyline will bring danger. To emphasise the two brothers further, there is a lighter blue circle around them. This blue circle contrasts to the darker blue back ground which makes them stand out and be easily seen. It also connotes that the brothers are trapped within their own surroundings and cannot escape the life Page �3
Our Magazine Cover Professional Magazine Cover
Grace Blick G324 Evaluation Teacher: Miss Walshthey lead. In the professional magazine cover they have used a white shadow around the two large characters. However, we wanted to challenge this convention and use a circle that had a block colour. As well as this, we used a bold font on the text ‘BROTHERS BETRAYAL IS RICKY’S SECRET REVEALED?’, the bold text is a stereotypical character of tv magazines. The bold black text stands out to the bright yellow box which makes it easy to read.
When researching I found out that tv magazines use short snappy titles. Therefore, for all of the stories presented on our magazine cover we have used short captions. Short captions mean that if the reader is walking past the magazine on the shelf they can quickly glance at it and know what the magazine is about. The short captions also give little information about the story, therefore the reader is enticed to buy the magazine to find out what has happened in the latest episode of their favourite tv show.
Another key characteristic of tv magazines is that they are crowed with a variety of stories, for example in the professional magazine the stories overlap each other. We have created this effect on our magazine cover using photoshop. Despite the magazine being crowed, the main focus is the two enlarged characters that are central on the magazine.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Design, layout, mise en scene
When designing the poster and magazine we wanted to create synergy across the products. Therefore we have similar characters on both the poster and magazine. This means that the audience can easily identify our soap in any form of text. All the characters featured on the poster
Page �4
Draft Poster Draft Magazine
Final Magazine
East Blue Point 4TH December 10pm
Directed By Grace Blick, Jessica Davis and Daniel Parsons
Final Poster
Grace Blick G324 Evaluation Teacher: Miss Walshand magazine are seen in the trailer. This means that if the audience see the trailer they will be able to see the correlation that the trailer has with the poster and magazine. To create synergy further we have used similar fonts on the poster and the magazine. The font used is bold and easy to identify in all our ancillary texts, this font is also seen throughout the trailer. Using a similar font across all of our ancillary texts and the trailer resulting in the font being directly associated with ‘East Blue Point,' similarly to the way that the ‘DUF DUF’ is associated with Eastenders. Using this font makes our soap easily identifiable to the audience. We have also centrally placed the two main characters on both the poster and the magazine. Ricky Hunter and Toby Hunter are in the centre of the line on the poster, similar to their central position in the blue circle on the magazine. This communicates to the audience that they are the central characters within the first series and foreshadows that they will be the reason for some of the storylines. In the majority of shots seen in the trailer the two brothers are placed in the centre of the frame. This creates synergy between the magazine, poster and trailer.
Overall I think that all of the ancillary texts and our trailer are successful and I am very happy with the outcome. It meets the expectations that I set, however if I was to recreate the magazine and the poster I would create more synergy between the three, with regard to the colour scheme.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
To collect audience feedback I created a series of questionnaires to hand out during the showcase. I created three questionnaires; one for the magazine, one for the poster and one for the trailer. Creating a questionnaire for each of the texts we had produced, enabled me to collect an array of feedback. The questionnaires’ asked questions such as ‘How old are you?’. I asked this question because I wanted to understand who our audience were. Understanding the age of our audience helped me to decide whether we were targeting the right audience with our soap. I also wanted to know the sex of our audience, which helps me to produce more storylines in the future, that may be more relatable to them. After these two basic questions, I began to ask the audience about the viewing of the trailer. I created a scale in order for the audience to rate our trailer. Overall the majority of ratings were between 7 and 8 out of 10. Once I had collected all the feedback from the questionnaires regarding the trailer, I began to draw up pie charts to represent the feedback. The pie charts enabled me to see the feedback easily and analyse it to improve our trailer.
Page �5
Males and Females in Audience
GENDER NUMBER IN AUDIENCE
Male 15
Female 9
Pie Chart to represent the genders in our
audience
38%
63%
MaleFemale
Grace Blick G324 Evaluation Teacher: Miss Walsh
Page �6
Age of our audience
AGE NUMBER
16 6
17 14
18 2
40 1
45 1
4%4%8%
58%
25%
16 17 18 40 45
Trailer Length
WAS THE TRAILER LONG ENOUGH?
AMOUNT
YES 16
NO 8
33%
67%
YES NO
Does the trailer look realistic?
DOES THE TRAILER LOOK
REALISTIC?
AMOUNT
Yes 20
No 4
Does the trailer look realistic?
Number of people in audience
0 5 10 15 20
Yes No
Grace Blick G324 Evaluation Teacher: Miss Walsh
Page �7
Camera Work
RATINGS NUMBER IN AUDIENCE
Good 13
Average 8
Needs improvement
3
Terrible 0
13%
33%54%
Good Average Needs Improvement Terrible
Editing Techniques
RATINGS NUMBER IN AUDIENCE
Professional 19
Satisfactory 1
Needs improvement
4
17%
4%
79%
Professional Satisfactory Needs Improvement
Engagement
RATINGS NUMBER IN AUDIENCE
Engaging throughout 22
Lost my attention 2
8%
92%
Engaging ThroughoutLost my attention
Grace Blick G324 Evaluation Teacher: Miss Walsh
Page �8
Overall Rating of the trailer
RATINGS NUMBER IN AUDIENCE
1 / 10 0
2 / 10 0
3 / 10 0
4 / 10 0
5 / 10 0
6 / 10 2
7 / 10 10
8 / 10 8
9 / 10 2
10 / 10 2
8%8%
33%42%
8%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Was the music effective or not?
RATINGS NUMBER IN AUDIENCE
Effective music 20
Not effective music 4
17%
83%
Effective Music Not Effective
Based on the trailer, would you watch the series of our soap?
YES/NO OR MAYBE? NUMBER IN AUDIENCE
YES 18
NO 2
MAYBE 4
17%
8%
75%
YES NO MAYBE
Grace Blick G324 Evaluation Teacher: Miss Walsh
Page �9
‘East Blue Point’ Poster Questionnaire
1. How old are you?
————————————————————————————————————
2. Are you male/female?
3. On a scale of 1 to 10, how aesthetically pleasing is the poster? (10 being ‘I love the look of it’ and 1 being ‘why did you bother?’)
10. Does the trailer look realistic? If so, what parts of the mise en scene emphasise this realism? (Mise en Scene is everything you can see, for example set, props etc.)
The results from the trailer questionnaires, show that the feedback on our trailer is wholly positive. The audience felt that our trailer presented realism and that the trailer was of correct length. Realism is a convention of stereotypical soap operas and we have met our intentions by achieving this. Another convention of soap opera trailers, is a soundtrack or piece of music being played in the background. In our trailer we used a dramatic piece of music that 83% of the audience felt was effective. The audience stated that our good camera work and professional editing techniques ‘worked well with the music’. Over 50% of our audience stated that our camera work was good, in correlation to this, 79% of our audience felt that the editing was professional. Our engaging trailer meant that 75% of our audience would watch the ‘East Blue Point’ series. Therefore, in conclusion our trailer was a success in engaging the audience and persuading them to watch our series.
On the other hand, the results from our magazine and poster questionnaires are as follows:
Page �10
‘East Blue Point’ Magazine Questionnaire
1. How old are you?
————————————————————————————————————
2. Are you male/female?
3. On a scale of 1 to 10, how aesthetically pleasing is the magazine? (10 being ‘I love the look of it’ and 1 being ‘why did you bother?’)
Are there any elements of the poster that don't work or don't need to be there?
ELEMENT THAT DOESN'T WORK NUMBER OF AUDIENCE MEMBERS
There are no elements that do not work 2
Name and date do not stand out 1
Grace Blick G324 Evaluation Teacher: Miss Walsh
Page �12
33%
67%
Name and Date No Elements
Do you feel that our poster promotes our soap opera well?
YES/NO NUMBER
YES 4
NO 0
100%
YES No
Grace Blick G324 Evaluation Teacher: Miss WalshThe feedback gathered from the poster questionnaire shows that the overall rating of our poster is 9/10. Therefore, suggesting that our poster is aesthetically pleasing. As a collective the audience’s favourite part of the poster was the characters and the colours. One of the audience members said that, ’the colours and the characters suggest a dark storyline’. The comments represent that our intentions have been met throughout our poster. Despite this positive feedback, the audience felt that the date, time and channel that our soap is aired on, doesn't stand out enough. I agree with the audience on this matter and will rectify it. This comment was the only piece of constructive criticism. As a whole, the audience felt that the poster fully promoted our soap.
Page �13
How aesthetically pleasing is the magazine?
RATING NUMBER OF AUDIENCE MEMBERS
1 0
2 0
3 0
4 1
5 1
6 1
7 1
8 1
9 0
10 0
Pie Chart
20%
20%
20%
20%
20%
12345678910
Favourite Part of the Magazine
FAVOURITE PART OF THE
POSTER
NUMBER
Coverlines 1
Characters in bubble
1
Creation of regional identity through picture of Bedford
1
Colours 1
Content 1
Black and white photo
1
17%
17%
17% 17%
17%
17%
Coverlines Characters in BubbleRegional Identity ColoursContent Black and White Photo
Grace Blick G324 Evaluation Teacher: Miss Walsh
Page �14
Are there any elements of the magazine that don't work or don't need to be there?
ELEMENT THAT DOESN'T WORK NUMBER OF AUDIENCE MEMBERS
Too crowded 1
Blurry Images 1
There are not any elements that don't work 1
Positioning of the name of your soap 1
Colour Scheme 1
20%
20%
20%
20%
20%
Too Crowded Blurry ImagesNo Elements PositioningColour Scheme
Do you feel that our magazine promotes our soap opera well?
YES/NO NUMBER
YES 4
NO 1
20%
80%
YES No
Grace Blick G324 Evaluation Teacher: Miss WalshCompared to the feedback received on the poster, the feedback given on the magazine is less positive. The highest rating given for the magazine was 8 out of 10, compared to 10 out of 10 for the poster. In contrast to the poster, there was no predominant favourite part of the magazine. The audience said that their favourite parts of the magazine were the cover lines, the characters in the bubble, the colours, the content, the black and white photo and finally, the creation of regional identity. Furthermore, the audience also found elements that didn't work or they felt didn't need to be there. These elements were the positioning of the soap name, the colour scheme, the amount of images on the cover and the quality of the images. In comparison to the majority of the feedback given, 80% of the audience still felt that the magazine promoted the soap opera well.
During the showcase, we filmed the audience’s reaction to the trailer as they watched it. Filming the audience’s reactions meant that we could analyse whether the overall reaction was positive or negative. Throughout the ‘reactions’ film, the audience are all engaged and occasionally laugh at certain moments during the trailer. It is clear to see that the audience enjoy the viewing experience and are impressed by the trailer. Overall the reactions to the trailer are positive and confirm our confidence within our trailer.
After the audience watched our trailer, I interviewed a handful of the audience members. I interviewed them to retrieve detailed feedback regarding our trailer. In the first interview with Chelsie, Phoebe and Annie, they gave a wholly positive response to our trailer and said that one of their favourite moments was ‘the beginning shot in which Martin Smith is dead on the stairs’. I was extremely happy with the feedback on the collection of shots at the beginning because I filmed them. I feel that the shots were effective and the audience agreed on this. In all of the interviews, the comments were positive however the most prominent improvement needed was the pub scene. The audience felt that the table tennis tables in the background were distracting. Despite this, all the audience members that were interviewed were impressed and stated that the trailer left them asking questions.
https://youtu.be/VPWk8DSu2iQ
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Throughout the process I have used media technologies such as ‘Photoshop,’ ‘Camera Equipment,’ ‘Blogger,' ‘Youtube’ and ‘Adobe Premiere Elements’. When researching for inspiration for our trailer, I used internet explorer. I am very comfortable in my skills within internet explorer. I was able to find information quickly due to the skills I gained in my AS year. However, internet explorer played a minor part within the whole process compared to Adobe Premiere elements and the use of the recording equipment. Due to my previous experience with camera equipment I was able to film all the scenes in the trailer. I was confident in the shots and angles I wanted to use. This confidence came from the leadership role that I took within the group. My confidence was also supported by being the person that created the storylines and drew up storyboards. Therefore, I knew exactly how I wanted the trailer to look. My experience using camera equipment in my AS year made me feel more comfortable when it came to filming difficult shots, such as the high angle shot of Martin Smith murdered on the stairs. The camera we used in the AS year was an outdated camera compared to, the Canon we used to film our soap trailer. The camera was handheld which meant we required a tripod. I used the tripod in shots that required a stable shot, such as the slow zoom on Martin Smith. In comparison to last year, the camera I used this year was much easier to use. Due to the handheld element I was also able to film very low angle shots by lying on the floor. This technique Page �15
Grace Blick G324 Evaluation Teacher: Miss Walshallowed me to get the POV shot seen in the scene when we see the murderer at the top of the stairs. Overall, I felt that my camera work was good and that I met the expectations I had for myself. After all the filming was complete, I began to edit the trailer. To edit the trailer I used the programme ‘Adobe Premiere Elements’, which I had previously used in my AS year to edit the thriller. Last year, Adobe Premiere Elements was a new software to me and it took a while to get used to. However, this year the programme was a lot easier to use due to my previous experience. My previous experience meant that the editing process of ‘East Blue Point’ was a lot easier, compared to the editing process of ‘The Third Day’. However, the effects used in ‘East Blue Point’ and ‘The Third Day’ varied due to their genre. For example, in the thriller we had dark lighting to create an unnatural atmosphere. This contrasts to the natural lighting used in the soap opera to create realism.
In both years we used a website called ‘Blogger’ which allowed us to publish our work online and share with the examiner and our peers. Personally, I find ‘Blogger’ easy to use and upload documents to. In the previous year I had no problems with ‘Blogger’ and none have developed this year. Another media technology that I found natural instinct to use was ‘Youtube’. I have a personal ‘Youtube’ account and use ‘Youtube’ on a day to day basis. I have experience uploading personal videos and uploading ‘The Third Day’ thriller in the AS year. As a media student, ‘Blogger’ and ‘Youtube’ were the easiest media technologies to use, especially when compared to ‘Photoshop’. I have always found ‘Photoshop’ difficult to use, therefore when it came to creating the magazine and the poster I struggled slightly. In the previous AS year, we didn't use ‘Photoshop,’ therefore I had no previous experience with the programme. However, I took it upon myself to improve my skills within photoshop and by the end I was able to comfortably use ‘Photoshop’. Overall I feel that the whole project was a success.
![Question 3 of Evaluation [G324]](https://static.documents.pub/doc/80x56/58a0d8311a28abeb378b521b/question-3-of-evaluation-g324.jpg)
