Media coursework evaluation

Media Coursework Evaluation

Danielle Calvert

My A2 Coursework

My A2 coursework was a› A 5 minute documentary extract› 2 Ancillary tasks:

A double page spread from a listings magazine, like the Radio Times magazine

A newspaper advert of the documentary

My A2 Coursework

My 5 minute documentary extract, called “Teens of Today”, revolved around youth and their representations throughout the media, mainly TV.

The Extract was taken from the start of the documentary, beginning at the opening titles but after the opening credits.

After the research and planning, that I had completed for this coursework , I found that BBC3 was as it held the intended target audience of a younger demographic, 15 to 30 years old. Therefore this institution fitted perfectly for the documentary.

Ancillary tasks:› My ancillary tasks followed the same styles and themes of the

documentary extract, as it used the same fonts. › The institution of the double page spread was the Radio Times, as it

would help attract the older range of the target audience that was needed.

Question 1In what ways does your media product

use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Conventions of a documentary

My documentary uses a lot of forms and conventions of a real documentary, which was researched by watching many different types of documentaries from different institutions in my Research and Planning.

For example the extract of “Teens of Today” has:› voice-overs throughout the entire narration and montage

scenes.› Interviews and Inter-titles, which explain to the audience who’s

view points they are getting, as well as informing the audience on the different sections.

› Non – diegetic sound bridges which are used over the section inter-titles. As well as the non – diegetic soundtrack being played behind the narration and montage scenes.

Conventions of a documentary

Although my documentary follows many conventions of a real documentary it does not challenge any forms or conventions.

This was because I wanted to make the documentary very realistic and therefore followed a lot of the convention without challenging them.

However it could be seen that I have used slight binary oppositions in the extract as I have used an upbeat, happy soundtrack when saying negative statistics for the montage scenes. Therefore creating an opposition of atmospheres. As a result this could be seen as challenging or developing conventions as it shows that I have built and changing the relationship of the audience and the text by using narratives that is mainly used in fictional media not factual.

Audience Theories

The Hyperdermic syringe theory – this suggests that the audience is injected with the views of the media. I have tried to use this as I want to make the audience believe that my views are real and unbiased.

The cultivation theory – this suggests that the audience create stereotypes from the views of the media. This theory is important as the whole documentary centres around the stereotypes of youths that have been created by the media and carried through the audience’s everyday lives.

Question 2How effective is the combination of your

main product and ancillary tasks?

Ancillary Tasks – Double page spread

The ancillary tasks that I created changed dramatically with the original Planning, that had been done, and altered throughout the different drafts that were created.

The Double Page spread started off with a plan like this:

It had Four pictures for the background with two text boxes that were opposite each other. The title of the spread was at the top.The four pictures were stereotypes of youth, pregnancy, smoking and gangs/“hoodies”.


However from the plan to the first draft to the second draft and to the final draft, the double page spread changed again:

Instead of four pictures there are now two on either side, with four text boxes adjacent to each other. The background and title colour has been changed from dark colours, that were specified in the research and planning, to gender neutral colours of purple and blue. However there font styles have been kept and the audience theme of Uses and Gratifications has also been used, as it is trying to reach a younger audience by engaging with the text and informing the audience on what the documentary is.

In the second draft the colour scheme when back to the original plan , but combined it with the first plan. The fonts were still the same as the original. However the logo was added, which was intended in the original plan, and more pictures were added. However the layout was changed again with two text boxes and pictures underneath. This again strayed away from the original plan

The final draft is as follows:

However with all three drafts I intended to use the same audience theory, Uses and Gratifications, as I wanted the audience to be engaged and informed by the double page spread. I also tried to get the target audience to personalise with the text by showing negative representations of teenagers through the use of pictures with pregnancy, “hoddies” and smoking. However the binary opposition of the positive text and quotes with the negative pictures would in hopes gain the audience to not make pre-determined opinions of the documentary


The final draft again shows a lot of changes from the original plan as well as the other drafts. For example the colour scheme has again changed with the removal of the purple. Along with the layout again. The colour scheme and layout was changed in order fit within the styles and themes of the documentary.

Ancillary Tasks – Newspaper Advert

The original plan of the Newspaper advert was again altered with the three drafts of the advert.

Unlike the double page spread many features were kept within the drafts that appeared in the original plan.For example the colour scheme of the advert was the same as the plan.The only big difference was the number of pictures and a slight change in layout.


The second draft had an extended tagline compared to the final draft and the date and time of the programme was in a different place on the poster

The final Draft was extremely similar to the original plan and the second draft only minor changes to the font of the tagline and the layout of the advert.


Like the Double page spread, the main theory that I used was Uses and Gratifications to inform and engage the audience about the documentary. Again I used some binary oppositions with the contrast of the colour schemes of the pictures and background, e.g. Black and white pictures on a bright colourful background.

The Ancillary Tasks were to have a youth theme, like the documentary, with fonts that look like graffiti and colours that would attract both genders. This was to gain a larger target audience and also to contrast with the serious style of the documentary. However it was also used to familiarise the audience with what the documentary will be like.

Both Ancillary Tasks followed most of the conventions BBC3 normally use for their advertisement. As through the research and planning it showed that BBC3 informed the audience more, by giving out more information, instead of creating an enigma through the used of Adverts which is the style Channel 4 went with for their adverts.

The effectiveness of the combination of Ancillary tasks and the main product

I believe that the ancillary and the main product combine very well as, firstly, both products carry the same style and theme. For example both ancillary tasks use the same fonts and similar pictures. This links both ancillary tasks due to the same use of stylised pictures.

Secondly the double page spread links extremely well with the documentary as it looks more serious, which mirrors the documentary. This is mainly done through the use of more sophisticated colours which is later used in the documentary rather than the blue and purple colour scheme of the newspaper advert.

Finally all of the products have a running theme that follows the younger generation as all use pictures of youths of the same age rather than varying ages. As well as using more modern style texts that produce a younger atmosphere. This is effective as it allows the audience to set the scene of the documentary.

Question 3What have you learned from your

audience feedback?

Audience feedback

The production gained feedback at all stages. In other words not only did the actual documentary extract get feedback but so did the research and planning along with the ancillary tasks.

The research and planning feedback allowed me to gain more information into the target audience. For example during the research and planning stage I handed out a questionnaire that later allowed me to shape my documentary around the results of said questionnaire.

However not did I gain specific target audience feedback but I also gained feedback from the other people on the course that allowed me to give a more detailed research and planning. This was done by discussing improvements that could be made of my overall research and planning and therefore included all areas. For example after this feedback I was able to condense the idea of the documentary and narrow it down to the representations of youth.

Audience feedback

For the ancillary tasks, I gained feedback by asking the target audience for improvements on both ancillary products, which was done by a questionnaire.

After I had collected their input, I was able to improve the ancillary products being liked more by the target audience by following some of their suggestions and changing some of their dislikes of the two products. Overall this allowed me to have a more perceptive view on what would attract the target audience.

Audience feedback

The most important feedback that I acquired was that of documentary feedback.

Because of this I learned what was the weaknesses of the documentary and how I could improve it. This led me to make many changes that were needed. As well as this I was also able to see how the documentary affected the audience and the ideologies that I had created. This was helpful as it gave a first hand experience of the hyperdermic syringe effect, as I was able to see the influence I had and change what would affect the audience negatively. For example if I created a bias ideology that all teens were dangerous and violent I was able to change that to a more balanced ideology.

Audience feedback

Most of the audience feedback on my documentary was the different camera angles, editing techniques, mise-en-scene and sound that I could use that would improve the documentary. For example I learnt that the

documentary needed sound to run throughout the narration voice-overs and montages instead of just using sound bridges and soundtracks for the section inter-titles.

I also learnt that mise-en-scene was important to add in the documentary, as it was one of the conventions of a documentary and helps set the scene or atmosphere for the audience.

Question 4How did you use new media

technologies in the construction, research and planning and evaluative

stages?

Construction stages

Throughout the construction stages of my product I used new media technologies such as Editing software, conforming software and video camcorders.

I used the conforming software as due to the type of camera I was using it caused problems with the editing software. Therefore I had to conform footage in order to be able to edit the footage on the software that I had. This was useful as I was able to gain a new skill of digital technology that would help me in the future.

Research and Planning

For the research and planning, I used a lot of new media technology, which helped me plan my own documentary.

Firstly I used the internet and web 2.o, like YouTube and BBC Iplayer or 4od, to research other documentaries, as well as other newspaper adverts. For example this YouTube was used to watch other documentaries that the same institution had created and gave me an idea of how to make my documentary.

Evaluation Stages

During the course I evaluated everything that had been doing on a blog that I had set up at the start of the course.

This helped me record what I had been doing each week and later me to evaluate by allowing me to remember the details of specific things.

Again this is another example of Web 2.0 as I, the user, have been able to input my own ideas into the public and audience.

As well as Blogger, the website that I have used to create my blog, YouTube was also used to evaluate my work.

Because of this I was able to look back on videos that I had created and again share them to the public.

Examples of posts on Blogger

Here is an example of a post on my blog. An evaluation of a professional documentary compared to my own documentary. This helped me evaluate the second draft of “Teens of Today” to a BBC3 documentary that had similar things. As a result I was able to learn about BBC3 documentaries and improve mine because of it

Conclusion

In conclusion I was pleased on how my documentary extract had came out. Because of the research and planning, it followed typical conventions of a documentary which made it more realistic.

As well as this I was able to shape my documentary around the target audience due to the feedback from the questionnaires and the other feedback from the different sections of the coursework.

An improvement that I could make would be to follow the storyboards and planning as I lost a lot of time by dramatically changing the storyboards when it came to filming the documentary. Therefore if I had better time management I would be able to cut back on the amount of changes that needed to be made between the drafts.

Art & Photos

Media coursework evaluation