Evaluation Activity 3 - Audience Feedback

For this evaluation task I am outlining the audience feedback which was received form our 16-24 year old target audience. Below Listed the feedback which we received on the improvements we were suggested to make; I have also taken screen shots from our draft and final piece, in order to show some of the main changes which were made, whilst editing Bargroves.

The first feedback which was received was from a questionnaire the group created, the results below which were collected, were based upon our first draft.

The first question asked, 'would you watch this soap?' out of the 16 people asked only one had said yes.

This brought to our attention that there were many improvements which had to be made to the trailer. Most of the responses said they would not watch due to the fact they was not attracted to the trailer.

In order to attract our target audience to the trailer, we knew that we would have to include more editing techniques, and also speed the trailer up in order to make the scenes less tedious.

The second question asked, 'would the stories affect you?' out of the 16 people asked 13 had said yes.

This was a good response, as it meant the selected storylines, which I had created in order to attract the target audience, were effective and would increase the possibility of attract the targeted audience aged 16-24 to watch the soap, after seeing the trailer.

The third and final question which was asked was 'do the titles help split the scenes?' this was asked in order to see if we should keep the titles screens in the trailer in order to create anchor narratives. Out of the 16 people asked 15 had said that they helped and were good to use.

This was a good response as not only did it create an anchor narrative, it also help to to challenge media conventions, as it prevented continuity within the trailer.


The other feedback which we had received has been listed below:

• Can't use fire starter! - it is copyrighted music
• No-one said at first it was a soap but did recognise is as drama - like skins - not obvious it's a soap
• Too long on couple in kitchen - breakup somehow
• Time - Channel - New soap needs adding to end screen - change font - BBC logo - voice over needs re-doing
• Editing needs filtering eg drug use - more psychedelic colours/black white
• 2 songs don't necessarily work

Below are screenshots which show the changes which were made, for our final draft after reviewing the feedback.

We noticed that we had to change the font, therefore within the title screens which we had created in order to introduce each issue/storyline, I chose to make the font thinner, in order to create a more sleek and temporary feel, which would attract out target audience. As you can also see we inserted the BBC logo which was something our targeted audience also suggested we implemented to the trailer.

This screen shot is the build up toward the drug deal; as you can see in the after image the screen is much more dull. The reason for this was because we removed the fire starter track, which was suggested as it our audience felt it didn't work, and it was also copyrighted. To create the dull effect, I used vignette which made the screen much more dull, as well as connote the negativity of the drug issue.

The screen shot above is the drug exchange which takes place; as you can see the colour keying between each draft has changed. The reason for this change was because our target audience suggested we used psychedelic colours, in order to achieve this we I used an effect called cold steel, which changed the colour keying. We all felt this was a good change which had been made as it help to connote the effects, and negativity of drugs.

The final key change which was made was the final title screen, the reason for this change was because we felt that it did not match, or seem related the the original BBC one title screens which are used. For this reason we chosen to change the entire colour scheme and watched numerous BBC trailers on YouTube, in order to create a similar design. This was a great improvement as it created an institutional link.

Overall I think think the changes made, helped create a stronger soap, the feedback inspired changes which created a more professional finish as it influenced better use of editing. Examples of editing which were inspired by the feedback was the use of vignette, cold steel, and the flash and spin effect. All of these effect not only helped to create a better scene, and connote the negativity and effect of the drugs; but also helped to challenge media conventions in order to compete with our rival soap Hollyoaks.

We disagreed with the comment about the fire starter song, as we all felt that it worked well and connoted the negativity of the drugs, as we felt it seemed 'rebellious', however I had to remove the song in order to prevent copyright infringement. Once the song was removed the theme song 'Eastenders Long' felt far too joyous for the scene, which is why I implemented non-diegetic sound of a passing police siren which portrayed the negativity of the scene.  

By implementing the changes which were influenced by our target audience, I feel that we will be more likely to attract more people to our soap, than previously in our first draft of the soap trailer.

Evaluation Activity 2 - Main Project and Ancillary Texts

Below is the script which I created for my voice over:

Media Voice over Script Task 2

What characters are used within your three texts?

Within the auxiliary texts the characters I used form Bargroves were; Philip and Alexander.

I used them as they’re from the main storyline, drug issues; this also expressed the issue on the magazine cover which may attract the target audience.

For the billboard poster all of the characters from the soap trailer were used, apart from Penny and Martin. The reason for this is because they were not in our target age group of 16 – 24.

The reason for only using the younger cast members within the auxiliary texts was to attract our target audience towards the soap.

What Narratives are included and why have they been used?

The storylines are based around issues encountered by the 16-24 year old target audience.

The storylines are based around social issues which include; family issues, financial issues, and drug issues, all of which are related to the target audience.

The main focus of the trailer was the drug issues; we chose non-stereotype characters to emphasize the wide range of drug use which is a public concern.

The drug issues was also emphasized through editing, in order to connote negativity and challenge media conventions, vignette and non-diegetic sound of a passing police siren were used in order to connote the negativity of the issue.

All narratives used were open narratives as they would lead to other stories within the soap, the trailer also featured anchor narratives as title screens were used to summarize the scene.

What are the common features?

The common features within the campaign are the use of characters, as they are from the 16-24 year old age group, and have been used on all of the campaign materials in order to attract the target audience.

Philip and Alexander were made the main focus as they feature on the magazine cover to gain attention on the soap, and drug issue.

This also creates synergy between the materials as they are recognizable characters throughout the campaign.

 How does Institutional in formation Link?

Institutional information was linked between the soap trailer and the billboard poster as they both include the channel which the soap will be aired on; BBC One and BBC One HD.

There is no institutional information link within the TV listings magazine cover, as Bargroves is the main feature; therefore this suggests the audience will already be aware of the soap.

Evaluating the effectiveness of the campaign:

Overall the campaign created for Bargroves, will be a success, as the storylines are focused around the target audience aged 16-24.

The issues which have also been used will gain attention from the target audience as they may be able to relate to the stories, or characters within the soap.

The use of institutional information, and synergy will also create awareness for the soap, as the public will have information, of where and when the soap can be viewed.

Evaluation Activity 4 - New Media Technologies

Image 1 - Camera: The camera which we used in order to film the footage for our soap was a

Image 2 - Tripod: This is a tripod which we used in order to film our soap trailer. The use of the tripod helped to record steady shots so the camera focused on the characters on the screen, without movement of the camera.
By using the tripod we was also able to shoot many smooth panning shots of characters walking past, in order to change the storyline; an example of this can be seen within the trailer as Edward walks past Alexander.
Overall by using the tripod we managed to shoot smooth shots which were used within our footage. It also made our shots look more professional and gave us a wider range of shot types we could use within our filming.

Image 3 - Voice Recorder: I used the Olympus voice recorder in order to record and audio clip which would be used as non-diegetic sound for the soap trailer; 'How would you solve your issues? Bargroves Coming soon to BBC one and BBC one HD'.
The voice recorder was also used in order to complete Evaluation task 2; as I had to create a commentary on the ancillary texts and soaps trailer.

Image 4 - YouTube: In order to upload our videos to the internet we used YouTube; this enabled our friends to view our work and give constructive criticism on what we had produced. The feedback was very useful as many of the people which had been shown the trailer were from our target audience.

By sing YouTube it also helped to share the video between member of the group in order for them to publish it on their own blog, this saved a lot of time as we did not each have to save our own copy as we could simply copy and paste the videos URL into the video setting provided by Blogger. Also people who wish to watch any other footage or videos which we have recorded was able to view our channel where they can see our entire collection of videos which have been uploaded, again this helped greatly with feedback, as viewers could see the changes we have made to our video between drafts.

Image 5 - Blogger: Blogger is essential for our media course work; this is because it is where all of the coursework is uploaded in order to be viewed. This was beneficial as it enabled me to access my work where I was at sixth form, home or out on my mobile; as they also have a blogger app.
Through using blogger you can also follow member of the service, this was useful as I was able to gain followers or share my link in order to show people my work to gain feedback.

The use of blogger is also beneficial with this media course as the new media technology provides many features which are very useful; one of the most important features, was the video upload; as this enabled us to publicize our trailer so a larger number of people could view it, and give feedback.

Image 6 - Mozilla Fire Fox: In order to access the web 2.0 features, I used the Mozilla Fire Fox; which is a browser; the reason why I used their browser throughout most of the course, was because when using Google Chrome I kept facing issues with the uploading of images and videos which were need for my blog post.

This was also useful as the Fire Fox browser was used in order to gain research through web 2.0, the research gained contributed towards the soap, as we was able to publicize our work for other to see, as well as search soap opera information (such as conventions) in order to help produce our soap.

Image 7 - Mac Book Pro: In order to edit our HD footage, we used an Apple Mac Book Pro, this was useful as it enable our group to successfully capture and edit all of our HD soap trailer footage. We also felt that this was beneficial to use as it provided more  recent, and up to date software which was used in order to produce our soap trailer, such as Final Cut Pro X.

Image 8 - Final Cut Pro X: This was the software which was provided on the Apple Mac Book Pro; it is a new media technology which enabled us to edit the HD footage which we had captured. The software also provided many editing  features and effects which were used within the soap trailer in order to challenge media conventions.

Some of the editing features which were used are, cold steel, flash and spin, zoom, slow motion, and vignette. The software also provided a wide range of sounds which were used in the trailer as non-diegetic sound; the audio which was taken and used from Final Cut Pro X were Eastenders long, and a passing police siren. Overall I think that Final Cut Pro X was very beneficial to use as it was easy and fairly simple to use for editing footage, and also enabled saving of multiple projects which allowed an overview of the changes we had made.

Image 9 - Photoshop 7.0: I used photoshop 7.0 which is an older version of the series, in order to create my soap bilboard, magazine cover, and evaluation task images. This was easy to use and enabled me to manipulate images thourgh the use of layers.

This also contained many effects which were used in order to create my soap bilboard, and magazine cover; such as the brush tool, and the glow affect which was used within the magazine cover to add effect to the main image. Photoshop 7.0 also enabled the editing of the file format, this was a very beneficial feature which was used as only certain formats will upload on Blogger.

Group Planning: Filming Schedule

Above is an image of our groups filming schedule which we had planned before we began the filming of our soap; Bargroves. The information within the filming schedule was not used as we had complications with our actors within the trailer, and members of the group who was unable to make the filming which was scheduled.

Due to the fact the we did not use the schedule above, we spent most of our free periods in sixth form, as well as our media lessons to go and record. We had to film our soap footage within lesson and break times because the natural lighting after school hours would have been too dark to record, we was also unable to record on weekends as many of the group members have work, which mean we could not make the filming.

Bargroves Final Trailer

This is the final draft of our 'Bargroves' trialer, the changes which have been made were influenced by our target age group. The footage was filmed by Seb Hall; and Directed and Edited by Dalian White.

Evaluation Activity 1 - Soap Conventions

Shot 1: This is a mid-shot of Edward leaving the house. The screen grab shows the natural lighting which meets the soap convention of using natural lighting in order to create realism within a soap.
This shot also captured Edward walking towards the camera lense, before panning to show his trail. We used this in order to introduce the character of the soap, as well as show the location within the mise-en-scene; this also meets the soap conventions.

Shot 2: This is a long-shot of Edward, walking past Alexander, we used this shot in order to introduce another character within the soap, as well as to interweave the storylines; this is a soap convention as it features interwoven storylines, introduces a character, as well as allows continuity editing as soaps are generally fast paced.

Shot 3: This is a point-of-view-shot from Alexander; this was used in order to introduce a new story line (drug scene) which is also continuity editing. By using the POV-shot we enable the audience to feel as if they are involved with the soap, as we used this within a serious story-line which we believe our target audience may be able to relate to.The use of the prop of the mobile phone in the scene was used in order to show that the soap is contemporary, as it features new technology.

Shot  4: This is a shot of one of the title screens which we used in order to introduce a new scene/storyline within our soap trailer. This challenges soap conventions as it is non-realistic and breaks up the scenes; therefore breaks up the continuity editing, and slows the pace of the trailer.

Shot 5: This shot is of Martin and Penny having an argument; this was used in order to introduce a female character as well as show an interior of a set which is used within the soap. The use of the storyline has been used as members of the target audience may be able to relate to the issue which is being shown.
This shot also followed the conventions of soap opera as it introduced new characters, as well as feature natural lighting which is used in order to create realism.

Shot 6: This image is a Close-Up-Shot of Philip, this was used in order to introduce a character within the soap as well as the drug scene. This met the soap opera convention as the close-up-shot introduced Philip, the location of the alley, and the drug scene, as well as synergy between the previous shot of Alexander texting.

Shot 7: This shot is of Alexander approaching Philip in order to exchange the drugs. The camera shot used was a long-shot where Alexander then walked towards the camera before the a cut transition I used the cut transition as it met the convention of soaps as this was realistic, and continuity editing. Although the image does not show then editing which was applied after, this shot also challenged the conventions of soap as I applied a vignette in order to make the lighting dull and connote the negativity of the storyline.

Shot 8: This shot is focus on the drug exchange between Alexander and Philip. The camera shot which we used within this shot was an close-up-shot, this was in order to add emphasis to the drugs; we also challenged the conventions of soap through editing as I used a flash and spin effect in order to connote the effects of drugs, and zoom effect which pulled the screen towards the drugs to clearly show them to the audience.
The use of non-diegetic sound also challenged soap conventions, this is because I inserted a police car passing-by in order to connote the negativity within the scene; the reason for this was because I felt the soundtrack was too up beat for the mood of the scene.

Shot 9: This is a panning shot of Mark leaving the betting shop and looking at his betting slip. This met the soap convention as it introduce a new character and storyline within the soap. It also met the soap conventions as it used natural lighting, and only featured cut editing technique, which made the scene realistic.

Many of the shot listed above followed the conventions of soap opera, however as our group wanted to compete with channel 4's 'Hollyoaks' we chose to include editing techniques, and non-diegetic sound in order to challenge both the conventions of soap, and Hollyoaks as we have the same audience age group.

Group Planing: Editing Techniuqes

As our group had decided  to challenge the conventions of soap opera, in order to compete with Hollyoaks; we deicied to use a wide variety of editing techniques which where provided on Final Cut Pro.

As editior and storyline creator I wanted to really emphasise the drug storyline; I achieved this by usign many editing technique which include a spinning flash, vignette and zoom effects; all of these affects challenged soap opera conventions as they are not natural. The other scenes which are featured within our trailer included basic editing techniques such as cuts, crossdisolves, and title screens.

The sound which we used within our trailer was non-dieget, as we used East Ender Long from Final Cut Pro as our theme song within the trialer. We planned to use Prodigy - Firestarter for our drug which we purchased from Itunes, however this was copyright material; without the song it felt like the theme song was too joyous for the mood of the scene; this I why I had chosen to add non-diegtic sound of a police siren as it create a negative connotation for the scene.

Group Planning: Scripts

As director of the trailer, I made the decision not to implement diegetic sound within our trailer; for this reason we did not include a script which was used within our trailer footage.
Despite new soaps using trailers which feature diegetic sound, in order to show the location through speech dialect; I felt that we didn't need to include these as we featured various locations where shops could be seen as well as phone numbers which included the area code (01480) - this can be seen within the mise-en-scene of the drug scene as the local florist is in the background.

Another reason why I chose not to feature diegetic sound wihtin our trailer was because Philip our drug dealer has a speech impediment which would have made it hard for viewers to understand; I also did not want to change the actor of Philip's role in order to solve this problem as I wanted to feature an unsterotypical drug dealer.

We featured speech wihtin the trailer in written form by using props (phone); we used this as it is modern technology which helpep signify that this is a modern soap, as well as it was a way around not involving diegetic sound.

The text message stated:
Meet @ 4 in alley..

The only use of a script within our soap trailer which we used was in order to record the voiceover; the script which we created was short in order to quickly deliver the needed information for viewers and used a tag question in order to gain their attention.

The script for the voice over stated:
How would you solve your issues? Bargroves Coming Soon to BBC One and BBC HD

Group Planning: Shot Lists

Above is the shot list which our group used in order to shoot our scenes for our soap. When planning the shortlist we focused on a range of close ups which would be used in order to introduce the characters within our soap. As I took over the role of director when we was filming I decided to not go by the shortlist as I felt that some of the shots did not suit the scenes, as the previous footage for our drug scene used many mid and long shots and had very bright lighting as it was shot in the sun; I decided to change this as it did not focus on the drugs or the issue. I also chose not use the shot list as we chose not to film our pub scene, which was also a main scene within our soap. The reason for this was because their was too much risk involved within the scene. As we did not use the shot list myself as director and Seb Hall as camera man,decided what shots to use for the footage whilst recording on set. Despite the late change, I feel that we manage to capture very good shots which provided realistic lighting which met the soap opera conventions.

Soap Trailer: First Draft & Feedback

Above is the our groups first draft of our soap; Bargroves. No audio is within this footage of our draft as the orignal draft included Prodigy: Firestarter, which we did not have permission to use from the record company; so we removed the audio to aviod copyright.

Group Planning: Institutional Information

In order to air our soap on BBC 1, we looked at the schedules of other popular BBritish television soaps that are being aired. The main focus for this planing was to analyse Hollyoaks; as they're our main competition. and Eastenders; as this is on the same channel (BBC 1) which we plan to air ourr soap on. Below are the soaps airing schedules which we have analysed:

Coronation Street:

Monday- (7:30-8:00) (8:30-9:00) Double Episode

Tuesday-

Wednesday- (7:30-8:00)

Thursday-

Friday- (7:30-8:00) (8:30-9:00) Double Episode

Saturday-

Sunday-

Eastenders:

Monday- (8:00-8:30)

Tuesday- (7:30-8:00)

Wednesday-

Thursday- (7:30-8:00)

Friday- (8:00-8:30)

Saturday-

Sunday-

Emmerdale:

Monday- (7:00-7:30)

Tuesday- (7:00-7:30)

Wednesday- (7:00-7:30)

Thursday- (7:00-7:30) (8:00-8:30) Double Episode

Friday- (7:00-7:30)

Saturday-

Sunday-

Hollyoaks:

Monday- (6:30-7:00)

Tuesday- (6:30-7:00)

Wednesday- (6:30-7:00)

Thursday- (6:30-7:00)

Friday- (6:30-7:00)

Saturday-

Sunday-

We noticed the pattern with Eastenders airing schedule, as there was a variety of times which Easetender is aired (8:00 &  7:30). As a group we decided to follow a similar pattern to Eastenders as these may be regulations of BBC 1. As Hollyoaks is aired at 6:30 - 7:00 we decided to aim for the same airing times as they do; this is because they are our main competition and they're likely to have the same target audience as we have based our soap around. This played part in our final decision of our airing schedule as we thought our target audience would already be viewing their television as Hollyoaks is being aired. Our final airing schedule is below:

Bargroves:

Monday- (6:00-6:30)

Tuesday- (6:30-7:00)

Wednesday-

Thursday- (6:30-7:00)

Friday- (6:00-6:30)

Saturday-

Sunday-

Soap Billboard Poster

Group Planning: Roles

Before we began to shoot the footage for our trailer we had already assigned ourselves roles within our first group meeting, the roles which we had chosen are listed below.

Job roles (Planning before pitch):
Seb - story boards, film, camera man.
Dalian - storylines, lead editor, director.
David - location photos, music.
Philip - project manager.

Actor Roles (Selected in group planning):
As we did not have our actors before our pitch we had to go back and plan which actors we would use for our storylines which we had planned. Below is a list of the actors which we used within our trailer, what role they played and why.

Edward - Teen: We chose to use Edward as he is within our target audience age group and we felt people would be able to relate to his character.

Dalian - Teen: We chose to use myself in the soap as I too am within our target audience age group, and I also have a White-Black Caribbean ethnic background. (I was unable to be in the recording so we planned to use David within the trailer; however we did not shoot the pub scene so David's did not appear in the trailer).

Philip - Drug Dealer: We chosen to use Philip as a drug dealer as we felt that he was not a stereotypical drug dealer, this was in order to connote the unexpected.

Martin - Parent (Arguing)

Penny - Parent (Arguing)

We used Philip's Parents in order to show family issues; unfortunately our cameraman Seb was unable to shoot the argument scene of the parents. we feel the shot recorded by Philip of his parents argument was poor filming as it did not feature shot reverse shot, and looks like they're washing up.

Mark - Bet Maker: We used Mark as a bet maker within our soap trailer as we also if from the our target audience age group. Mark was also a good actor to use for this as role as he was able to show the frustration which emphasised that he had lost a bet.

Alexander - Drug User: We chosen to use Alexander as a drug user as we also felt that he was not a stereotypical drug dealer, this was in order to connote the unexpected.
 

Group Planning: Evidence of Permission For Use of Pub

Letter used to ask for permission at: 

Pig and Falcon Pub, St.Neots, Cambridgeshire, PE19 1AE

Dear Landlord

We are writing to you to ascertain whether you would consider allowing us access to film part of our A-Level Media coursework on your premises.

The filming should only take a maximum of 10 minutes as the scene is only brief part of our trailer showing a man walking out of your pub onto the pavement from inside your pub.

Thank you in advance

Philip Gatward Project Manager  

If you agree and would allow us access please sign on the line below.

_________________________________

The Owner of Pig and Falcon; John, contacted Philip back and granted permission to use the pub for filming our soap trailer. Philip and John later arranged a time which we would be able to use the pub to record our footage. However as we had enough footage and was running out of time to record we decided to miss out the pub  scene as there were also high risks involved in the and run scene.

Soap Magaznie Cover

Group Planning: Storyboards

Before shooting our footage for our soap trailer we made separate storylines, this was so we knew what social issues we wanted to include and how we would create an interwoven storylines. It also made it easier for us to make our storyboards as we had the storylines planned and put into order. Below are images of the storyboards which we created.

Shots 1-3 was planned to be our wardrobe scene. Shot 1 was of a teenager waking up and getting ready to meet his friend, we planned to use an extreme close up camera shot of the teen's face whilst he was getting ready, and this was in order to introduce the character to the audience.
We planned for the teen to open their wardrobe and take out an item of clothing through a point of view shot.

Shot 2 switched to a second teen. A close up would be used to introduce the teen, whilst they are also taking an item out of their wardrobe. This also showed that both characters are in the same storyline.

Shot 3 we planned to use and over the shoulder shot to show the view out of the window, this was in order to move the storyline to the passer-by.

In shot 4 the passer-by’s point of view is used to focus on the prop of the phone so the viewers can read the text message; this was used in order to move the storyline to the drug scene.

Shot 5 is a scene of a couple arguing, we planned to use an over the shoulder or shot reverse shot in order to show the argument between the couple. This was used in order to show relationship issues as well as introduce a female character.

Shot 6 is Philip reading the text which has been sent from the teenager who passed by the window. This was used in order to link the two characters together within the same storyline of the drug deal. (Incorrect order whilst planning).



Shot 7 was a shot of our main communal area which we planned to use within our soap, we planned to capture the exterior of the pub in order to emphasise that this was the main communal area within the soap, before we would fade into the next shot which would take the audience into the pub.

Shot 8 would be faded into after showing the exterior of the pub, this in order to show the audience the interior so they can see the main setting where storylines within our soap will become interwoven.

Shot 9 was the character in the pub leaving, who would then walk into a character coming out of the betting shop, this was in order to show the social issue of financial situations, as the character leaving the shop has lost their bet.

Shot 6 mentioned previously (Wrong order in planning)



Shot 10, was Mark walking past the drug deal whilst it was taking place. We planned to shoot this using a trailing show of Mark before switching to a mid-shot of the drug scene in the alley. This was in order to create continuity editing.

Shot 11-12:

For shot 11 we planned for the character (Mark) that has lost the bet to push the character that has left the pub (Edward) due to anger, who would then stumble into the road with oncoming traffic. This would then cut straight into shot 12, where you would see an extreme close up of Edwards’s face, before changing to a point of view shot of a car coming towards him. We then wanted to black out the scene in order to connote that Edward had been hit by the car. However after carrying out the risk assessment we felt that this would be a dangerous scene to capture as there were many high risks involved.



Shot 13 was the title screen where we planned to show all of the characters within the trailer on a black screen where out title 'Bargroves' would then fade onto screen. We planned on using the black background with a dissolve effect as it would be an effective transition from the black out.