1. OCR G324 Advanced Production HUTTON, Georgina 3410 Aquinas College: 33435 (With Eleanor Boocock, Georgie Morton, Amy Hamilton & Lyndsey Page) Q1 Q2 Q3 If a slide relates to more than one question, two tabs will appear in the top right hand corner indicating which questions it is answering. Q4
2. Planning & Final Pieces http://georgiestardust.blogspot.com/ I used this BlogSpot blog to upload my planning documents as well as filling in entries such as my audience research and similar trailers. The final trailer, magazine front cover and billboard poster are in the blog, too.
3. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of existing media products?
4. Planning Q1 To keep my planning clear, concise and in chronological order, I uploaded it to a blogspot.com blog. This allowed all my storyboarding, note making and deconstruction of existing products to be presented in a tidy and clear manner. GeorgieStardust.blogspot.com
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6. Soap Forms and Conventions Q1 In order to create a trailer for a soap opera we first have to understand the codes and conventions and how they work in practice. To understand the forms and conventions, Soaps must be deconstructed and evaluated. The following slides show some of these conventions and how I have usedand challengedthem in my Soap trailer.
7. Evaluating an existing Soap Opera.- Forms & Conventions Q1 Lighting creates realism and mood. Outside lighting is cast through blue filters to create night time. Indoor lighting is cast through a yellow filter to create the effect of an electric bulb. Over the shoulder shotcreates a third person perspective. The viewer feels like they are there, experiencing the events. Low angle shot to show the character’s dominance in the scene. Toned down Christmas decorations create realism of a budget Christmas without the extravagance of TV Drama.
8. Evaluating an existing Soap Opera.- Forms & Conventions Q1 Outdoor shot uses blue filters to create gritty, realistic lighting. This allows the audience to relate to the soap. It also helps to construct the regional identity of the East End. Realistic costumes represent the dreary day to day existence of the characters. Southern accents are a key aspect of creating regional identity. Sparse Christmas tree with thin tinsel represents the economic state of the country, creating realism.
9. Evaluating an existing Soap Opera.- Forms & Conventions Q1 Shot-reverse-shot The audience can engage with the conversation without the fourth wall being broken. Characters can also be seen reacting to lines and environment. Camera as the fourth wall. This is never broken i.e there is never communication with the audience, this keeps the soap realistic and makes the audience feel as if they are watching someone’s life play out rather than being a part of it. Point Of View Shot The point of view shot allows the audience to feel a part of the soap without breaking the fourth wall. This maintains the realism. The Fourth Wall
10. Comparison- How does my soap use and conform to conventions? Q1 The fourth wall Minimal makeup on the characters to create realism. Natural light to keep the gritty, realistic mood to the soap. Even when shooting inside we used the most natural light possible to avoid yellow tones and a happy atmosphere. Big close up to show emotion and reaction.
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13. Point of view shots to allow the audience to engage with the events.
18. Comparison- How does my soap challenge conventions? Q1 It is unusual to see slow motion shots in soap opera but we used them to construct flashback scenes as motivation for the murder. It is also unusual to see Blood in soaps because they are prime time viewing. We have chosen to ‘air’ our soap at 8pm, one hour before the watershed and because of the target audience’s age, the use of blood isn’t as shocking as it would be in a soap like Coronation Street.
19. Parallel NarrativesWe used three main characters and therefore three parallel narratives in our trailer. Q1 The narratives, at the same time as being parallel were also converged by the ever-present Stacey.
20. Creating Flashbacks Q1 We used a fade to white transition to represent the flashbacks as well as the echo on the instruments on the backing track.
21. What Makes Your Trailer Soap? Q1 The fourth wall Realistic costumes Filtered, natural looking light Big close Ups & multiple shot types.
22. Using Music To Create Mood & Story Q1 For the final trailer, I used an instrumental version of Fleetwood Mac’s “Oh Daddy”, written and performed by Christine McVie from the album Rumours. The track is in the key of D Minor, which is typically the ‘saddest’ ofall keys. This automatically makesthe audience sense the disequilibriumin the trailer and forthcoming episodes. The use of the organ adds to theominous and melancholy sound, foreshadowing what is to come in the episode. The use of echo on the track createsthe feeling of a flashback as well as emphasising the key and mood.
23. Q2 How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?
24. Soap Magazines-Evaluating the forms and conventions of real media products: Soap magazines Q2 Date Cover stars eyes are looking out at the reader to engage. Large masthead, to the left of the page. Top 1/3 Tabs to allow the reader to flick to the correct page. Price in a star or bubble. No colour scheme or house style. Large font, all in capitals so it is easy to read. Other soaps & characters being referred to by first names Anchoring Website
25. My Product Q2 Cover stars eyes are looking out at the reader to engage. Large masthead, to the left of the page. Top 1/3 Tabs to allow the reader to flick to the correct page. Website Price in a star or bubble. Large font, all in capitals so it is easy to read. No colour scheme or house style. Anchoring Other soaps & characters being referred to by first names
26. Choosing A Channel & Colour Schemes Q2 We decided to use E4 as the channel for soap because of our target audience. To create a house style, we used the Channel 4 style guide.
28. Representing A Region. Q2 I used a street name for my trailer to create a regional representation. The audiences who relate to Coronation Street know that it is in Manchester. The same goes for East Enders and London and Emmerdale and Yorkshire. The Coronation Street set represents working class Manchester. The Rovers Return pub and the terraced houses create a realistic representation of life in the suburbs of Manchester. The birds eye view shot of the River Thames immediately shows the audience that the soap is set in London. The Market and the square represent people working hard to make ends meet. The audience can relate to feeling the pressure of finance problems and working to get by.
39. Audience Feedback For The Final Piece Q3 After seeing the trailer, magazine cover and poster, would you watch ‘Diamond Street’? Who would you say the target audience was? Number of votes Number of votes Age in years Which product do you think is the most effective form of advertising? Do you watch soaps more than once a week? How old are you? Number of votes
40. Evaluating My Products Q3 After surveying both the audience that our soap is aimed at and people from different age groups, the comments were as follows: “The reaction scene in the restaurant needs to be longer so we can engage with the character who is being insulted.” “The adverts definitely look like they are from E4. It’s a lot like ‘Misfits’” “Putting Stacey’s reaction to being stabbed in slow motion would work better. By lengthening it, it could be more dramatic” “There is definitely a clear genre, brand and broadcaster.” “The murder scenes could be darker with possibly more comical conflict.” After gathering my audience feedback, the majority of the people I interviewed agreed that the most effective way to advertise my soap and reach my target audience was by using a combination of the TV trailer, Soap Magazine feature and roadside billboard.
41. Q4 How did you use Media Technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?
43. Creating My Preliminary Task Q4 To create the preliminary trailer, in a group of three we filmed the computer screen when the individual images from a comic strip were on it. This allowed us to practice using the moving image cameras and to understand how the microphones on them worked. It also helped us to understand some of the important camera angles that are conventions of Soap Opera and editing software we were going to use in our final piece.
44. Researching Similar Products Q4 To research similar products, the main thing I used was the search engine Google. This allowed me to find images of soap magazine covers and billboard adverts at ease. I also went to my local supermarket to buy copies of different Soap magazines as a basis for comparison. This way, I was also able to study the content and not just the front cover. Thirdly, I watched the Soaps on the television and on BBC iPlayer and ITV catchup. The two websites allowed me to go back and take print screens of the Soaps to study the forms and conventions.
46. Saving the video files Q4 To prevent my video files getting separated or lost, I stored them on an external hard drive. This allowed me to keep them all together and when elements was unable to find the files, I could easily go into the hard drive and locate them.
47. Using Premier Elements Q4 To import the media from the HD camera, I chose ‘Get media’. Then, by scrolling through the files on the card, I was able to select the clips that I was going to use in the trailer. By dragging and dropping them, I added them to the timeline for editing. To add a transition, I went to the edit menu and selected transitions. This allowed me to select the ‘dip to white’ which then had to be dragged and dropped onto the correct clip before shortening or lengthening how long the transition would be.
48. Choosing A Soundtrack Q4 To add a soundtrack, I ripped the audio from a YouTube video before adding it to Elements in the same way I added the video footage. To get the audio from the video, I used the website fetchmp3.com.
49. Adding The Soundtrack Q4 After downloading the audio, I uploaded it to elements before dragging and dropping it onto my timeline and editing the volume levels at different points in the trailer. I then added different keyframes at multiple points in the audio. When I had added 4 keyframes, I was able to make the audio dip gradually rather than coming to an abrupt halt and lower the volume from there.
50. Making The Title Cards Q4 I created the title card background in Photoshop. I then copied a crumpled paper image from a stock website. Which I pasted onto a new layer. I made a new image in photoshop, the same size as my video clips. To make the paper e4 purple, I made a new layer and filled it purple. I then chose the layer effect ‘linear burn’ to make the paper look purple. After this, I created another new layer which I filled black before using a soft eraser to create a vignette. I then uploaded this to elements before placing it where I wanted at multiple points on the timeline.
51. Making The Title Cards Q4 I selected the text option on a new image, the same size as my video clips on which I typed each different slogan. After inserting the text, I went to the FX button to add the drop shadow. I then set the distance, spread and size of the shadow. I saved the text pictures as PNG files so that they didn’t have a background, enabling me to overlay them onto the same background in Elements.
52. Constructing Title Cards Q4 After uploading the background and dropping it into multiple points in the timeline, I put a dip to black transition between the title card and the clips before and after it. I dragged the text images onto the video 2 timeline, so that they would play at the same time as the background, looking like one image. However, because it was on a different timeline, I was able to apply a zoom transition resembling the title cards on a Hollyoaks later trailer.
53. Making The Logos Q4 In order to use the e4 logo on my products, I had to cut it out in Photoshop using the magic wand tool and the freehand eraser, re-add the drop shadow using the FX button and save it as a .png file so it didn’t have a white background.
54. Q4 Making The Logos To make the tape logos, I had to type my Soap name and time into ITC American Typewriter on myfonts.com, print screen it and add it onto the tape logo that I had removed the Skins information from. I removed the Skins text by using the paintbrush tool and the blur tool in photoshop.
56. Using Blogspot Q4 I found the David Bowie theme I wanted to use on my blog on a theme garden. Unfortunately it had been written to fit the old blogger layout. Because of this I had to open both HTML documents and re-write the HTML and edit the colours through the template designer for my Media blog. After saving the background image, I uploaded it to an external source and wrote that into the HTML. I print screened the template into Photoshop to get the HTML colour codes for the text and borders.
57. Uploading To YouTube Q4 After logging in to my YouTube account, I clicked upload>Upload video> selected the file I wished to upload> opened. The video uploaded to my YouTube account and ready to be viewed publicly. Whilst the video was uploading, I filled out the title, description and category.
58. Embedding YouTube Videos In A Blogger Post Q4 To embed the video, I copy & pasted the HTML code into a new post on blogger under the “Edit HTML” tab.
59. Slideshare Q4 In order to make my powerpoints accessible, I uploaded them to slideshare.net. This allowed me to embed the presentations into my blog as separate posts, preventing my blog from looking messy and overcrowded. After uploading the presentations, I used the embed tab at the top of the presentation. I coped and pasted the HTML code into a new blog post and published it.
60. Evaluation Q4 I decided to use Microsoft Power Point to evaluate my presentation because I am familiar with it and I knew I could successfully evaluate my product effectively using a combination of print screens and annotations. The ability to use text boxes and images has made it possible for me to insert graphs to evaluate my audience feedback as well as existing soap print screens and prints from my trailer. I have also avoided the possibility of any websites going down for maintenance or work not saving because I have been able to save my evaluation to the computer hard drive and two different external drives. One flash and one a 250Gb external hard drive.