Name: Abbie FowlerCandidate Number: 6402Center Name: St. Paul’s Catholic CollegeCenter Number: 64770

OCR Media Studies – A2 Media Studies

Unit G324: Advanced Production Portfolio

Evaluation

Question 1

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

Both the main and ancillary products produced for Meadows End denote ‘elements of repetition and difference’ (Steve Neale) from the Soap Opera genre in order to attract the target audience. For example, on my Main Product which is my Soap Opera Trailer there is ‘elements of repetition and difference’ through the use of settings, costume and props. This is done through the use of the pub as an example of repetition as nearly every Soap Opera has a local pub involved within the setting and scenes. An example of local pubs; Eastenders – The Queen Vic and Coronation Street – Rovers Return. This helps to add the verisimilitude effect upon my soap opera trailer. This also keeps our target audience interested and going to the local pub is something that young adults do in todays society.

The different shot types which have been used throughout my trailer helps the audience to engage more with the trailer and keep them interested. The shot types which have been used are the flashback shots. This follows the typical codes and conventions of a soap opera trailer, as many use flashbacks on a regular basis to keep their audiences interested. However, our soap opera trailer also challenges the codes and conventions of a soap opera trailer as we have more of a dramatic drama series effect. Whereas normal soap operas keep it more less dramatic or spread out the drama in many series.

Question 1

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

In the Ancillary tasks, I had to create a Soap Opera front cover and a poster to promote my new trailer. In order to do this in a correct and efficient way I had to research other Soap Opera magazines, this means that I can ‘Repeat’ ( Steve Neale) the codes and conventions within those Soap Opera Magazines and posters onto my final magazine and poster to give it the realistic effect. One of the codes and conventions which I ‘repeated’ within my magazine was the layout of the image and the way it was positioned on the page. I done this as I felt like it would help me with the other codes and conventions which were used on my page and how they are positioned. However, I have challenged the codes and conventions of real media products on my magazine by adding extra codes and conventions which an up to date Soap Opera magazines do not have. For example; adding a Puff promotion or social media sites to promote the soap on other platforms.

Additionally, on the poster which I created, I copied many codes and conventions from other Soap Opera Trailer posters. This includes the positioning of the actors in the image and the minimal writing on that page to give it more of an affect on the main image and also a major impact on the audience in a positive way. By putting the ‘twig’ effect over the main characters face it gives the audience an insight onto why she might be almost trapped behind these twigs. I also added the logo onto my poster, when I researched other soap opera posters they all had the logos on them also. This establishes the brand product and gives it a feeling of possession.

Question 2

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

The combination of my main product and my ancillary tasks has an huge impact on the audience in a positive way as it has been very successful. The use of audience feedback and convergence throughout my main task and ancillary products has helped me to gain fantastic feedback and also gain a wider audience. As the poster and the magazine will be seen in many places this means that my target audience would be more attracted to it and it would appeal to them more.

As there is two separate products to go with my trailer this means it gives people more of an opportunity to gain a wider insight from it and more first impressions by looking at the two separate pieces.

I have used synergy throughout the making of the main product, which copies the codes and conventions of the relevance of the institutions and the producers of the show being in symbiotic relationships with other institutions. My example of using synergy is putting my main product on Facebook for feedback. Both the narrative themes and issues used within my main product and ancillary products all have something in common as they fall back upon each other to help promote this drama Soap Opera trailer.

Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

YOU MUST complete the following to demonstrate to the examiner your “excellent understanding of the significance of audience feedback” (OCR):

• Questionnaire –

1) Get a group of students to sit and watch your trailer and get them to answer a set of questions (no more than 5 of your choice) regarding the trailer.

2) Do a similar task for your Ancillary products (Magazine Front cover and Poster) OR:

• Facebook Survey –

1) Upload a JPEG of both the Magazine Cover and Poster and ask students to complete a survey (x5 questions) relating to EACH product – YOU SHOULD aim to get 8-10 participants to respond from a range (age, gender) of people

2) Screen grab evidence of this being completed – along with a hyperlink of the survey itself

FINALLY, deconstruct the results you gained and answer the question in detail by referring to specific examples.

DELETE THIS SLIDE AT THE END OF THE EVALUATION –Once it has been marked and you have been awarded a mark!

Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I have learned many different aspects from my audience feedback through getting the feedback from a varied of ways. We done a group feedback session where we showed a whole class our main product, from this we gained a massive amount of varied feedback ranging from positive points to negative points. We also embedded our main product onto Facebook to see what comments we would get back from this whether being positive or negative.

Question 4

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

There was only two main pieces of software that I used within my production work to help create that professional look. These were Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premiere. Photoshop helped me to create certain images to the best ability possible to suit the requirements of a soap opera magazine and poster. This software has given me the professional look by using the varied tools for example; quick selection tool, in order for it to be suitable for my target audience and attract people. Adobe Premier is a new software which has only been introduced to me this year, with the help of others I managed to figure out the steps quickly. As a group we managed to put together our final trailer in a professional way adding effects and movements which involved all of our opinions and ideas. “There's a killer amongst us” – This Eastenders trailer was the trailer which is fully looked into and researched deep to help me realise what I wanted my final trailer to be like, in terms of effects and colour within my trailer. My ideas changed as I researched other trailers not only the Eastenders ones as I realise there is so many other possibilities of a wider range of ideas which I could place into my trailer and make an atmosphere. I have decided to use Prezi and slide share to embed my PowerPoint evaluation onto as it shows a more creative way of thinking to show my understanding throughout this whole task.