Evaluation

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

Throughout the duration on my Media Project I have analysed similar media texts in order to find codes and conventions that I may use, develop or challenge in the media texts I will be producing. These media texts that were analysed gave me an insight to the rules in which documentaries, TV listing magazine double page spreads and newspaper adverts run on. This helped me to understand how to produce my media texts and gave me the knowledge of how to improve my work in order to produce it at a better standard.

In my research on TV documentaries I found the definition a little hazy. Documentaries do not always follow a specific structure and often the codes and conventions differ. This came with its pros and cons, for example it gave me the ability to bend the rules a little in the way I filmed and the type of show that was produced. However, this also made it hard to follow by the example of other documentaries as there was no right and wrong. I chose to go along the line of producing a small introduction of clips edited together at a fast pace with some background music. This then led into the show title and my unique jingle. I found out in my research that nearly all documentaries used a specific jingle to introduce their show. This signals to the audience that the documentary is about to start or go on a brake. Therefore when the jingle plays it catches people attention drawing them into the TV to watch the show. Voice overs are nearly always used in documentaries to help describe what is going on, what will take place in the show and to give general information to its audience. Documentaries are often informative of current events and give out large amounts of information. This is where my documentary challenges these codes and conventions as it only contains a small amount of information and a large amount of surf, skate and bike footage. Background tracks are often used throughout documentaries to cover any silent gaps and to fill in under the voice over.

I found looking at double page spreads that a single main picture was used as a background which gives quite a simple yet stylish look. Text is normally laid out 2 columns on one page usually around font size 10-12. The mast head in the research I undertook seemed to mostly be covering the width of the top left page and was in a very large font (often bold as well). I found that the mast head was not usually the name of the programme it was a question or a statement made in speech marks. The actual name of the show is usually just below the mast head in bold so that it can stand out. Many of the double page spreads that I analysed had either boxes surrounding the name or lines above and below the documentary name. So far I have followed all of these codes and conventions making the best possible use of them. I placed pictures on the right hand page which helped to split the text up and make the page look more interesting. This has been the case in many of the double page spreads. However, I decided to put a white border around these photos which I think gives the page one of its finishing touches along with the use of the paint brush to create paint like splodges making the page look a bit more unique and interesting which challenged the codes and conventions of other double page spreads.

Newspaper adverts seem to be quite plain and bold. I found that most of them had a main picture and over the top was very large font with a master head in the top left of the page. I decided to keep my idea very similar to this. A single picture was put in the middle of my double page spread giving the plain, simply feel. On a newspaper small black spaces aren’t too much of a worry as it follows these codes and conventions. All text should be short and precise, just enough for the documentary to be advertised clearly. The channel of the show should be somewhere on the poster, in my case it was the bottom right hand corner of my page in a vibrant colour in order for it to stand out. Many TV based adverts in newspapers contain a review from a TV listings magazine or from some type of media forum. This enables advertisement for both the documentary and the TV listings magazine as they work in conjunction, promoting each others media texts. This review from a media source is normally three words which are contained within speech marks stating what the show is like. The name of the media text promoting the documentary is normally in much smaller font underneath. I followed these codes and conventions in my newspaper advert. Plain colours are normally used for the background and not too much colour is normally used throughout as this increases the cost of the advertisement. The bulk of my colour is in the central picture; however some of my font is in red in order to be seen more clearly.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

The ancillary texts are effective in advertising the ‘TV Documentary’ whilst promoting the media text producer such as the ‘TV Times’. This media convergence offers all round promotions and is used frequently. I used the same font for the mast head throughout all of media texts. This gives all of the texts a sense of similarity and enables them to be recognised easily by their font type. All of my texts I feel have been produced in similar ways; sharp imagery has been used for the print texts and explosive surfing is shown throughout the documentary. All texts seem quite basic to their audience however it is this simplicity that gives them the stylish outcome. I have used a mixture of mainly blue and black in all of the texts which helps to unify all three products as a whole. The blue draws the attention of the audience as it is bright yet soft whilst black can be used as a background in order to make the focus of the text more apparent and visible.

All three texts are strongly linked together by the use of one main theme which for this episode in the documentary is surfing. Using one main theme throughout triggers the audience to think of the other ancillary texts due to similar imagery, font type and colours being used.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?
I have interview a few of my class friends and teacher to find their opinions on what they think of the documentary, double page spread and newspaper advert. Below are the views they have expressed.

Documentary-
Steven Blackburn (Student) – “I thought that was pretty decent, you had a good mixture of surfing footage and interviews which helped break up the documentary into more manageable sizes. I liked the introduction the most because of its fast pase and I thought the music went really well and made it feel quite epic. Overall I quite liked it; if I had to say something that could be improved it would be some of the surf footage because it was a bit shaky.

Dominic Barnes (Student) – “Yeah that was good mate, I thought it flowed pretty nicely and had a good structure to it. Your choice of music went well with the fast pace of the surfing. If I were to say something that could be improved it would be to mix it up a little more by adding other people and different locations into your vid. I liked how the interview was informal as it goes with the idea of surfer’s being cool, relaxed and casual.

Mr.Hail (Teacher) – “Oli, I thought that was a great start to a documentary, the opening scene gave a great impression of the action that was to be revealed throughout. It was well structured and co-ordinated. I thought the questions on a black background followed by the answers from the surfer was a good idea. Some of the music was a bit heavy for my liking but it did go well with the surf documentary to give it an explosive nature.

From the feedback I have received I can conclude that the audience liked my documentary however there are obviously improvements that could be made to enhance the media text as a documentary such as a larger variety in camera shoots (e.g. more changes in location), slightly less heavy music in order for the documentary to appeal to a greater audience and a higher quality of camera work for the surf footage filming. The good points taken from the feedback are; the backbone to the documentary (how it was structured), the genre of the documentary and the very start of it when short clips were edited together with fast pased music giving an explosive opening scene.