Trailer

4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages.

It was very helpful during our research and planning stage to use our blog to communicate with each other.  We found it was very effective to make a record of our research such as the conventions of a soap trailer and our questionnaire results. 

Before A2 we had not used Final Cut Pro, therefore we had to familiarise ourselves with it before we began.  We found that it was fairly simple to use and that the software was capable of anything that we required from it, like effects and transitions. 

Sound track pro was useful for additional sound effects  such as the sound of a heartbeat and breathing to emphasise the life threatening nature of one scene, we had not used it before A2 but as it was similar to Final Cut Pro in set up it was not too difficult to understand once we had grasped the workings of Final Cut Pro.

The ancillary tasks; the TV listings magazine and the poster were created in Microsoft Publisher, software that we are all familiar with from AS and from school work prior to that, hence we had no problem using it to construct these texts.

To film our trailer we used a canon camcorder which we found simple to use however the battery life meant that we were limited in the time we could film out doors.

The Sony digital camera we used for the main front cover image on the TV listings magazine did not give us the quality of image we had wanted, therefore we used other cameras such as a canon digital camera for the poster and other images.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks

We maintained our house style in all three texts, as we used the same fonts primarily it was “impact”, however this is unconventional as a TV listings magazine usually employs its’ own font but to acquaint our audience with the house style of our soap.  We used vibrant and fresh colours in all texts to convey that the trailer is aimed at youths.   

Our slogan “If only you could figure out the truth” appears in all three texts tying them together and emphasising the notion that their are secrets that the audience could “figure out”, this is engaging and will entice the audience to try to do so.  The second person “you” engages the audience and reinforces that they could be a part of it.   

Importantly we would plan that our poster appears on bus stops as many of our target audience use this method of transport.  The trailer would be appear in the adverts of other popular programmes aimed at the same target audience such as “Skins” and the “Inbetweeners”.  There would also be a link to the trailer on the Channel 4 on demand service “4OD”  and in the advertisement section on Youtube clips that 16-24 year olds will want to watch.  The intertexuality on the poster offers a website which will have an advertisement for the “YOUR TV” magazine showing the front cover.  In the newsagents the TV listing magazine would be situated with the teenage magazines instead of the other TV listings magazines to make it clear that it was unlike other TV listings magazine.            

The TV magazine also advertises other programmes such as a show about skydiving, this adrenaline filled sport mirrors the drama and excitement created in the trailer through the fast paced editing. 

What have you learned from audience feedback?

•Initial questionnaire


•Peer Evaluation


•Feedback questionnaire

 

Peer evaluation during the drafting stages was the most effective feedback we got as we were still in production and could act on the advice more easily.  Our classmates are the same age as our target audience and were able to offer criticisms and areas that were good that we could emphasise more.  We had used a shot set in a fairly dark room and were told that it looked unprofessional as it was unfocussed therefore we took the advice as deleted the seen.

Our feedback questionnaire was very encouraging, the participants liked the pace of the editing particularly and were able to construe the narratives and the style of the transitions.  

Our initial questionnaires were helpful for planning the locations, actors, pace of editiing, music and shot types that would appeal most to our target audience.  Therefore we gave a lot of consideration to the data we collated whilst planning.  In this questionnaire we asked for ideas for names of our soap and although we didn’t get anything we felt we could use but it triggered ideas connected to those they gave us.   

-We found in the trailer questionnaire that the target audience wanted to see characters introduced in the trailer more than potential narratives and the overall style of the soap. 

-They only wanted to be introduced to 5-10 characters in the trailer and we adhered to this as we felt more could be overwhelming.  -

-When we asked what they enjoyed most about soaps, overall we found that it was dramatic storylines and intriguing characters. 

-Importantly we found that there was a resounding preference for fast paced editing, which we included, however we also have variations to dramatise and emphasise shots.  

-We also gave out a separate questionnaire to get ideas for ancillary tasks, these reinforced that we needed to have a specific house style to connect the three texts. 

-We found that most audiences of our age preferred a range of bright colours with big bold texts and attractive people, particularly males on the cover  cover, all of the participants wanted up to three characters in the main image of the TV magazine but to adhere to convention we just had two.  

-Peer evaluation during the drafting stages was the most effective feedback we got as we were still in production and could act on the advice more easily.  Our classmates are the same age as our target audience and were able to offer criticisms and areas that were good that we could emphasise more.  We had used a shot set in a fairly dark room and were told that it looked unprofessional as it was unfocussed therefore we took the advice as deleted the seen.

-Our feedback questionnaire was very encouraging, the participants liked the pace of the editing particularly and were able to construe the narratives and the style of the editing.  

TV Listings Magazine

-Conventions of both TV listing magazine and teen magazines. 

-Kept the font of mixed up

-Intertextuality

-40p price is a convention

-Barcode has no conventional location.

Poster

Mast head at the top with slogan.

Emphasis on the characters

Poses- the finger over lips.  Ties in with the slogan.

Vibrant colour scheme to indicate youth.

 

It is unconventional in Britain to have a poster advertising a soap in itself, therefore it was difficult to research for the conventions of this text.  Therefore we used posters such as those at bus stops for movies, to distinguish the main conventions. 

Conventions met:

-We used intertextuality of a website for the soap, this is particularly important for our target audience. 

-We promoted our characters instead of the storylines as we think that strong characters are what is most important in a soap as it is continuous.

-The colours are vibrant and fresh which is conventional for appealing to a young audience. 

- Intriguing poses in our images.

- We include our slogan and housestyle. 

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions media products?

We made our trailer identifiable to our target audience of 16-24 by mostly adhering to the conventions of trailers from other soaps, however to highlight that this is different to other soaps we did not follow all conventional features of soap. 

Unconventional editing, the image becomes unfocussed when she inhales the substance.

                            

                                   The Conventionanl mise en scene of lockers conveys it is in school which contrasts with the alcohol and therefore denotes they are rebellious.

Conventions we adhered to-

-Using fast paced editing to convey excitement and energy in trailers.

-Soaps are a genre that are mostly consumed by females therefore conventionally feminine colours such as pink and purple are employed and our cast is predominantly female so that the audience could relate to the problems that the characters face.  However we have enough male characters to not alienate a potentional male audience and to further attract female viewers.

-Like most soaps we have a lack of low angle shots in our trailer, this is because it denotes a sense of dominance and authority.  Our characters are all vulnerable in some way and therefore this camera angle would be inappropriate.  Also in a soap there is a no main characters and all are equally important.

-The lighting in many of the shots is natural which convey that the soap is about realistic characters.

Conventions we subverted-

-Conventionally a soap uses limited camera shots, usually a mid shot we do not have many in our trailer suggesting that the characters are intriguing because they rarely appear in the most commonly used camera technique. .  We chose to use unconventional camera techniques such as the high angle shot of one characters who is clearly upset denotes their vulnerability, so that the audience will identify that this soap is more interesting. Also we used the unconventional techniques of a hand held shot of a girl being chased down a corridor which creates a sense of disorientation and panic.

-The area where we challenged convention the most in is editing.  We used interesting transitions to make the text more dynamic as a convention of all soap trailers is to be dramatic, hence we were emphasising the drama that is already in our text.  We also used a CCTV effect to highlight the crime that the characters are committing when they steal the DVDs and when one character “sniff’s spray” the shot becomes unfocussed to convey that she is intoxicated and implying that they take these substances to get away from reality, this technique is used in “Skins”.  The danger in the chase scene is immediately conveyed with the red tinting of the shot, the unsettling sounds effects such as the heavy breathing and the heartbeat which reinforces that this is a life threatening situation as it emphasises vital life signs.  

-There is also shots with dark lighting such as the party scenes and the drinking in the dark scene (which we tinted with green to suggest night vision) thus it indicates the rebellious nature of the characters and that their lives also have darkness in them.