In what ways your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My media product challenges real conventions because it has elements that real life products would have. For example the calendar i created has editorial credits and a bar code. The main product challenges forms of existing products because it has features that have been already been used in music videos for example a point in the video that is sped up which represents loneliness has been previously used in music videos like "Numb" By Linkin Park and "Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve so we decided to include these aspects to ensure it meets the requirements of the target audience

For my ancillary products I looked closely at the conventions of existing calendars on the Internet. I looked at some existing calendars on websites such as hmv to see what layout was most appropriate for the genre of the calendar I was going to create and I found that a lot of them used thick block text which I Incorporated into my product as well as dark colours which I already used due to the colour scheme. The tour date poster I created also challenges codes and conventions of existing products as it has a simple presentation which, during the research stage I found most tour date posers have yet the key information is in a bright colour meaning it stands out, it to be simple yet effective and that the way it challenged media texts and I feel the creation of it was successful.

Evaluation: Using new media technology in construction research planning and evaluation stages

In order to create the successful video we used a lot of new media technology from cameras to using blogger to keep track on everything I've done. To create the music video we used Adobe Premiere Pro which I mentioned in blog "sorting through footage..." Before the production process at the beginning of the school term we created a school open day video helped us gain an insight on Adobe Premiere Pro which at times can be difficult to use by doing this we learnt simple techniques like speeding up footage, and slowing it down. using the razor tool to cut footage etc. The more time spent using Adobe Premier Pro meant that the editing stages were becoming simple as it was easy to forget which tools do what so it was important to use the software for hours at a time. Using Adobe Premiere Pro was a new skill I learnt, I didn't know much about the software before creating the main product as I've used software like Photoshop and Illustrator before learning to add things such as motions took concentration and practice as certain shots needed to be more focused than others and we added jump cuts so getting it right was vitally important to ensure that the video looked conventional and professional.

Even the use of the blog was a good way to documentate what work has been done and what is left to do. It is easily accessible creating things like a filming diary where you can look back on where you have gone is good also its a way of storing photos and its a god way of group communication.

To film we used video cameras along with all the things we needed to ensure we got the correct shots that we needed as some shots need to be close up, far away and focused. We used a dolly, tracks and a jib as well as the video cameras.  I primarily used the Internet to undergo research as the Internet is a much more quicker way of looking at existing products rather than going to shops or to locations to look at existing products.

New media technology helped out in all stages of the production process, from pitching the idea on a PowerPoint presentation to using photoshop to edit photos. I even found it more easier to make plans of what the ancillary tasks would look like on word documents on the computer after sketching them on paper because its easier to convey the ideas and the position of each of the elements when it is already on screen.

Evaluation: Effectiveness of Ancillary Tasks and Main Products

The effectiveness of the ancillary tasks and the main products was good, I feel they went together well and had shared the appropriate features. The narrative structure of the video is revolved around belonging, loneliness and love. This made the mood of the video quite sombre. After storyboarding and brainstorming our production group decided to focus our video around themes that would match the narrative. E.g. ensuring that the locations we were shooting at were all busy so that we could represent loneliness so nothing too bright that represents happiness quite dull and plain yet suitable for the genre and target audience. The tone of all the ancillary tasks match as we all used the same colours and fonts, Skin And Bones.

As this is the theme of the music video using dark colours such as shades of grey and dark blue matched the convention of the theme. The song "Use Somebody" isn't an upbeat cheery song, its average speed, the lyrics are solemn and meaningful therefore using bright colours would look out of place and inappropriate. We did not include any narrative devices such as flashbacks in the story as it wasn't suitble for the representation of the theme of the video. To keep everything consistent we shot the band shots in a dark and dim coloured studio making sure the members of the band were wearing clothing that looked like the indie style, e.g  checkered shirts, similar to what the real band wore.

The combination of my ancillary products and the main task were good. I looked at the principal photography from the studio studio photography which gave me ideas as to what images I could include in the calendar. I decided that the band shots were appropriate to use and some of the shots I used are in similar position to those used in the actual video which worked well. The photos from the digipak all use the photography from the studio which means that all of the products were consistent. The studio footage was used a lot in the main products so the images used for the ancillary products strongly relate to the video.

Completed Tour Date Poster

 This is the completed tour date poster which has the same grey used throughout the project on all of the other ancillary products which relates to the mood of the narrative structure of the video.

This is the front page of the calendar which again has the dark grey colour scheme as well as different shades of grey for the mast heads.

Completed Calendar Front Cover

Overall I feel that there is a good link between the ancillary tasks and the main tasks the house style and colours match the themes and I feel that it doesn't look random, it all matches and this means that it looks up to a professional standard and conforms to the codes and conventions of other products in the same catergory. Perhaps some more iconic London aspects or pictures could of been added to the ancillary tasks to show iconography as it would reflect the narrative idea of being alone in a big city. Although by incorporating this it could be slightly confusing but overall I feel the completed tasks and the main product are effective together. 

Evaluation: Audience Feedback

This is the completed version of the tour date poster. I finally incorporated the font our group decided on for the mast head of the poster and the sub titles which is good because it means that all of the ancillary tasks remain consistent as well as this I also used the colour scheme so the house style of the products was consistent.

This is the original version.

I decided to use one main image instead of two to keep the poster conventional as after the research I conducted I discovered that a lot of tour date adverts had one main image so in order to keep the product looking professional as possible I decided to work on a new illustrator file to incorporate these changes. Also I increased the sizes of the text as when I printed it out onto A3 the text was incredibly small. I requested some peer review and from this I also discovered that from afar the main text that said "Kings Of Leon" was hard to read as it was black text over the dark image.

During the course of creating the ancillary tasks and the music video I was constantly requesting feedback from my peers to see what I could improve. Minor elements like changing font sizes made vital differences as some on the tour date poster some of the significant fonts were in the incorrect size. For example the text that what was on the bottom of the page was in standard Arial font and after receiving peer feedback I was aware that it looked more professional by having the same text as the mast head. The font that is used for this was Skin And Bones so by applying this to the text at the bottom the poster looked much more conventional.  

I benefited a lot from peer feedback as small things that I wouldn't notice other people did, such as grammatical errors. Another example of something that I didn't originally notice was in the calendar I put the data into the month February incorrect and I was unaware of it until I asked for some peer feedback from another person in a different production group. This would of majorly affected my work if it was left unnoticed as all of the other data in the other months would have been wrong.

Receiving feedback from non-media pupils was helpful throughout the process particularly in receiving feedback from the main task. By receiving feedback from non-media pupils we got some positive criticisms back that not necessarily a media student would of picked up on. For example in the video there was a part of video that became blurred, slightly pixilated and cut off due to the original footage being cropped and zoomed in, this piece of footage was about 5 seconds to 10 seconds long so it wasn't a major part to be fixed straightaway. When some media students watched the part they didn't really focus on it because it may of been assumed that it was the camera but a non-media pupil pointed it out and it was easily rectified. 

Overall from audience feedback I have learned that it is important to stick to correct conventions to meet the requirements of the target audience. Audience feedback was a valuable part of the production process because when contstantly working on the same product it is hard to spot mistakes made. Things like consistency throughout all the products are important to ensure that it is up to a professional standard. Audience feedback taught me to check over work to ensure that everything is correct. E.g no spelling mistakes or grammatical errors as aspects like that make products not look up to correct standard or look professional.