Evaluation

Gurpreet Singh

Introduction

Once having been given our task which was to produce a 5 minute opening extract of adocumentary, a double page spread for TV listings for our documentary and a 30 secondradio trailer. The media products were to be as professional as possible as it wouldshown on BBC Three aiming at social classes including C2 – B ageing from 15 - 24 at9pm of a Friday we thought this would be an ideal target audience and channel to beshown on. For the radio trailer we decided on radio 1 as this is popular radio channel for15 – 24 year olds. The magazine to show our article we chose Radio Times. Our group ofthree came together to brain storm different ideas and the advantages anddisadvantages regarding each idea. Upon completing a brain storm of different ideas wechose a specific idea, illegal downloading which then we discussed further in depth about the structure and planning of the potential interviews. To plan the documentary wecarried out a storyboard to structure each scene and explain what would behappening in each scene using images and texts. In addition we carried out planning bylooking at different sample documentaries such as Panorama series and other studentdocumentaries to gain ideas, for the radio trailer we also listened to other student radiotrailers. This was changed slightly when actually making the documentary as improvements were made.

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

As keeping to the codes and conventions of real media products our documentary featured anopening sequence which had a montage consisting of various images and short interviews. Thiswould be highly important as it would need to catch the viewer and interest them from the onset.We decided on small short clips of a number of stacked cd’s decreasing in size explaining thedecrease of sales in albums due to illegal downloading. After having watched this oncecompleted we felt this was highly effective as in grabbed the audience and kept them interestedthroughout the documentary. In the documentary we added many interviews from students and dome from media experts which may be said to back up an argument as they are experienced onillegal downloading situation. This has been replicated from real media products which useexperts to make there documentary more factual and reliable therefore following code andconventions of real media products. In hindsight we still feel this worked well as it addedcredibility of our documentary this worked well as this is the desired impact we wanted whendeciding to use these.

Documentary

The sample sound beds available on the site provided by the media department were notsuitable to our topic and therefore using one of the beats from there would be out ofplace therefore we decided to use garage band. Once having used garage band andexperimented with different beats and mixes we decided on a soft song to act as backingsong. This jingle was edited many times to correspond to the illegal downloading topic asa highly upbeat tune; fast paced tempo would stand out but would not fit well with outdocumentary. Therefore we made a slower paced tune, which was used in thedocumentary however due to different times of interviews and voiceover, it was edited interms of volume to act as a sound bed to continuously play throughout the documentaryand quietly fade out at the end. This technique is used by many documentaries thereforehaving researched this in our planning and research which was carried out before startingout documentary. The voiceover was recorded with clear and loud sound being the mainpriority , as we chose not to use a presenter as this had not worked effectively in otherstudent documentaries when looked at in our research.

Documentary• Our documentary can be described as public affair documentary examples of these

are panorama and dispatchers with are very similar to our documentary.• The documentary was made in final cut which we felt was simple to use however

we had difficulties with rendering therefore affecting our uses of fade transitions.• In my documentary we used a variety of techniques used in real media products

such as vox pops and interviews conducted with random members of the public and some with experts. The vox pops which we filmed can be seen as actuality as they are with random members of the public which had not been rehearsed.

• Also our documentary is a mainly expositional mode during many of the establishing shots and creating the viewers first impressions of the documentary. Also use of narration during the documentary as is a characteristic of expositional mode.

• However having used the opening fast paced montage can be described as poetic mode which is mimicked by many panorama type documentaries.

• Throughout our documentary we have also used a voice over which explains and expands points which are made using graphics. This is where the speaker explains, offering information & opinions directly to the viewer.

• Whilst expert interviews we also have used archival footage from “ YouTube “ also acting as a cutaway. The interviews with experts allows the information to be seen as authentic therefore making the information reliable. As seen in our documentary with interviews with two different experts , one a record owner and another media expert.

Cutaways & establishing shots

During the documentary we used cutaways to make it more visual while the

voiceover is explaining a fact or to link to a topic the Interview. In addition the

use of establishing shots enables the documentary to have the scene set and

remove the need to explain the situation.

Cutaways

Establishing Shot

Similarities & differences of our media product to examples real media

productsWhen framing our interviews with anyone likewise with real media products they take into account many different aspects such as lighting, mise – en – scene, type of shot and angle of the camera. In many of our interviews we used the rule of thirds explaining spacing/ framing of the shot we tried to have interviewees looking into dead space replicating real interviews.

Looking into dead space

appropriate Mise – en – scene

Bright Lighting

Medium close up

Radio Trailer

To make the radio trailer we used a external microphone for clear quality sound

and we also used a recording device. This was then put onto Garage band to

then edit the sound and apply the backing track as a sound bed to loop/

continuously play throughout.

Sound bed looped continuously

Editing the sound levels

Putting the vox pops and the voiceover into Garage band

Article

Rule Of Thirds

Masthead

Main Image

Date

Cover line

Caption

Columns

Page Number

Quote

Small image

Article

• To make the article we used Adobe In Design CS3

• The different tools were used to edit and add effects to the article to make it more professional like real media products

• The different varieties of shadows/ glows e.g. – inner glow , outer glow , shadow and the different shades or opacity levels had to be adjusted to make the article stand out and to be made to look more professional

• Sticking to the codes and conventions of articles we also used three columns.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks

• The three tasks we would say we created brand image that is could have been improved as we should have used the same voice during the documentary and during the radio trailer therefore keeping consistent. This has made them seem different and not very interlink able.

• In addition having used as the sound bed made in garage band we used it in the documentary and in the radio trailer. This has made our 3 tasks identifiable keeping them linked together.

• The article features less pictures then a real article therefore it is very heavily text based which may not catch the audiences attention. However the use various colours makes it more appealing therefore more likely to attract our target audience.

• The radio trailer is clear and up beat matches the fast paced montage featured on our documentary’s opening sequence, also the radio station the trailer is being played on ( Radio 1 ) has also got a target audience similar to that of our tasks.

Combination

• Overall the three tasks could have been combined better as the different voices have made the tasks seem been separate. This would be fixed by using the same person doing the voice over in the documentary as well as being featured in the radio trailer.

• Also we would have taken some pictures to use in the documentary and change the time of our the showing of the documentary to a different day. This is due to the target audience are not really the main users of television on of a Friday night.

• However use of the same sound bed throughout combines well as it is used well in both the documentary and radio trailer keeping it consistent.

What have you learned from your audience feedback ?

This is the questionnaire prepared which we felt asked all the necessary questions we needed to receive feedback on all three of our tasks.

Analysing the results

• We handed out our questionnaire to a number of students that were also in our target audience from the results we can see a variety of things such as

• The documentary looked professional• Very effective on explaining illegal downloading• Interested the viewers as many would carry on watching after the initial 5 minutes• The article replicated a real media product• However even though we explained our argument unbiased we still were unable to

change many peoples view on illegal downloading

In addition to handing out our questionnaires we also recorded a focus group which we

asked a group of students to answer some key questions recording their responses.

Doing these tasks enabled us to see what improvements could have been made also this

outlined the strengths and weaknesses of each of our three tasks.

Does this documentary look professional ?

Does This Documentary Look Professional ?

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Yes No

This means we have tried hard to make it as professional as possible this has been shown in our questionnaire as 100% of the people have said it looks professional. This adds to the authenticity and confirms the objective of replicating a real media product.

On a scale of 1 to 10 how do effective do you feel the documentary was in explaining

illegal downloading?

People That said 8/10

People That said 7/10

People That said 6/10

People That said 10/10

People That said 9/10

On a scale of 1 to 10 how efefctive do you feel the documentary was in explaining illegal downloading ?

This graph shows us that the majority of people thought that our documentary filled its purpose to explain illegal downloading. We tried to give a unbiased view this may have aided with the explanation as many were for illegal downloading however we a found record label owner which was against it.

Are The Sound Levels Appropriate for the radio trailer ?

Are The sound levels appropriate for the radio trailer ?

0

5

10

15

20

25

No Yes

Qu

esti

on

ees

Op

inio

ns

This graph showing the answers for the sound levels of the radio trailer show us on a whole most of the people thought the sound levels were decent. However personally within the group we admit the sound levels may have been altered/edited to be clearer and louder using normalisation on final cut.

How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning

and evaluation stages ? In the initial planning process of our media products we used many types of technologies

and software's, there were some which we had used before but still were not confident

with yet there were some that we picked up very quickly. To conduct research on the

different documentaries, articles and radio trailer we mainly used the internet on the

computers provided. This was relatively straight forward as we had used the internet to

Research many times for different products. For this particular project we used sites such

as BBC Iplayer, Wikipedia , YouTube.

These sites had much past video content which helped us a lot by showing us the codes

and conventions of previous documentaries giving us many ideas. After having

completed some planning research we started to gradually upload to Blogger.com . This

seemed easy as many of the other groups had difficulties although we felt is was simple.

Some of the paper based research would have been awkward to type up due to the

formatting of the original sheets we were given so we decided to upload many of the

sheets to the blog using a scanner. The scanner personally I felt uncomfortable using

however once explained I like the others in my group started to use more frequently with

ease. The items once uploaded using the scanners were then put into either an online

Program called Scribd or slideshare .This made the blog look more professional, more

attractive in addition it making it easier to see and use. To make the documentary we

used video camera’s ( Cannon HG20 HD Camcorder with Hard drive ) These were easy

to use as they had simple buttons with labels. Due to us trying to film a documentary

which is supposed to be professional we used a tripod and a External microphone for

steady shots and clear sound. The tripod came packed up and secure also the external

microphone was in a easy to carry case making setting up quick and effective due to us

wanting to film vox pops. Using this camera made post production easier as many of the

editing such as lighting and focusing can be done on the camera therefore saving time.

Apple Mac’s & Final Cut Express

After having completed filming the documentary we had to complete post production on Apple

Mac which was straightforward. There was a programme on the Mac’s called Final Cut Express

which all of our editing took place on, we needed some external help with certain tools and to

help complete some things which did not know how to do. Overall we coped well ending up with a

decent documentary according to our audience feedback.

Our set of files, videos and audio we can put in final cut.

Canvas Showing the video/clip you are watching.

Timeline allowing you to order/organize clips.

Layers enabling audio/text whilst a clip is playing.

Viewer enabling previews of trims and text

Sound levels

Final Cut Express

There were many stages to completing our documentary in final cut, the first step was to

collate all of our clips which had been filmed into Final Cut this was done using log in and

transfer. When we started filming we were told not to delete any clips as we never know if

we may need them. We then continued to add them to our timeline continuously

changing the order which made the making of the story board challenging. Also the use

of graphics with text and dissolves made this process very time consuming. After having

completed this the sound was a major issue as sound needed to be crisp we therefore

had to edit individual sound levels and also used normalization. We also speeded up a

clip in town which also has text this gives a good effect as it is in the initial montage which

is fast paced and continuous. This was done using the roll tool we could see how fast or

slow paced the clip. The duration and the speed can be edited quickly using this tool.

Fade TransitionsWhen moving from frame to frame we use many different transitions however as wewere unable to render our documentary we were restricted to a smaller variety. The useof fades enabled us to subtly change from clip to clip as many were filmed at differentplaces , times and people. Once able to render the selection given we felt were notsuitable to our documentary as they were to quick or too spontaneous. Once we lookedat all the fades we mainly used ‘fade in’ and ‘fade out’ and sticking to the conventionsand codes of real life media products we used them frequently to keep it the samethroughout. During the montage due to the quick paced tempo we did not usetransitions as it would slow down the pace of change. This enabled the audience to keepinterested.

This box shows the duration of the fade

Selection of fades available , some which will need rendering other not

Garage Band

We used Garage Band to design a jingle that was used in the radio trailer and the documentary

to try and keep it consistent. The jingle was made using a variety of instruments , this was a

short process as the group were familiar with garage band. The use of final cut previously

enabled us to create a tune that could be edited easily , as it had a similar process to Final Cut

with the different clips. The volumes could be adjusted so they may act as a constant beat which

could be played throughout whilst other instruments were used on top of it. Garage Band was

very easy to use but it is necessary to be creative and be able to think outside of the box as you

may end up creating a tune which may break free from codes and conventions of existing

tunes.

Different types of instruments

The layers instruments could be placed on top of each other to make a tune

Sound level for the instrument

Adobe In Design CS3We started with a plain double page which we could use how ever we pleased and thought best to do so to make our magazine article. We had decided as a group to make it more text based which may have different after having looked at our audience feedback. Adobe In Design we felt was a very complicated programme to use, we would rather have preferred to use Adobe Photoshop as it is less complicated. We had many problems with the moving of objects and text alignment.

Toolbar for all the editing for the cursors

The swatches tab also used for the different colour choices

Customisable sidebar which can be edited to suited users needs for editing and modifying

Page margins which the article should be made within

We used the effects page heavily as this gave our magazine its professional looks

making it stand out. This was effortless using however this may have been overused in

hindsight. The detail in the effects could be maximized or minimized this allowed us to

trial the extremes of many of the effects finding the right blend. Mainly we used the

shadows which could be adjusted with a simple to use slider changing the angle or

opacity. In addition colour changes could be made with the swatches.

In Design is still a complicated programme to use but now we feel we are more

comfortable with it knowing more of the techniques it has to offer. Although with more

practice we would have been able to complete this task to a higher standard, even

though the audience feedback was positive.

Angle editor

Opacity

Effect to be put on text or objectDifferent effects

Overall

Overall the tasks presented us with new opportunities to develop our existing skills

using new technologies. We encountered some difficulties with the soft ware but worked

through them ending up with a good end product according to our personal views

and the feedback given by the questionnaires and the focus group. The programs used

were good as they did enable to use more advanced tools to better our work to a higher

standard.