Question ONE
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I have used many forms and conventions in my media products, for example an interview with an expert to get their professional opinion on the situation/topic being discussed.
I also used music in my documentary I used an acoustic piece and used it in the title sequence and the ending credits.
MUSIC....
my products use develop or challenge the forms and conventions of typical media products by
how I put the key features into the documentary
Question THREE
Why and how does the industry use audience feedback
Media industries use audience feedback to get a better idea on how to create a better product or how to better their existing products. How they do this is, they invite an audience to view the product before they release it, this gives them the advantage of if they need to change or improve it in anyway to do so before it is released to the world.
there are four types of audience feedback that I could have received for my media products:
Feedback in the formative process which is basically getting feedback from a class, teacher or someone- this can be a benefit because you can change it while you are still working on it, so it can look better for example while I was working on my poster my teacher and a few of my class mates commented saying that the font colour didn't match what the poster was about so I could change it and make it look better before finishing it and looking back thinking how I could change it now that it is finished.
Informal Feedback which is the first impression of something for example. as someone is walking in they would say "I like that" I dislike that etc etc first impressions at a first glance. for example this would be a benefit again while I was working on a picture for my poster a technician walking in said that he particularly liked the photograph I was using because you could see the entire person, and what they were doing, but it could also be a problem if they do not tell you what parts they like or what parts they dislike just saying I dont like that would not be helpful so more would be needed.
Formal Feedback which is a group of people brought together to comment on what they like and dislike about a product in a focus group. this would also be a good benefit because getting a group of people to talk and criticise the work you have done could help you out by showing you the bits that you could change and what bits are done really well.
Online Feedback you can get from posting your work online onto social networking sites and blogs. This can be benefitted because you can get friends opinions about your product for example putting your poster onto a facebook page to get your friends opinions about the shots and the sound quality or if you need to edit a part of it to make it better.
I received feedback for one of my ancillary tasks which was my poster, I had some positive feedback from a focus group that was held to get some formal feedback, I could not attend this, but my poster was shown and from what I have heard from my teacher I had received some positive feedback, saying that "the poster really made them want to see the documentary and it related well to the title." If i had received feedback I would have listened to the feedback and taken it into account and thought about changing or at least editing the parts which were commented on, Emotive feedback is a good thing to get, but for it to actually help with creating a better product it would have to be more than I like that or don't like that, it would have to have a bit more than just that if the person commenting said why and what they didn't or did like then i would look at it differently and see what would make it better.
Question TWO
What creative decisions did you make to produce your three products?(e.g Why the locations, Why edit in a particular way quick slow etc, Why the music used?)
for the decisions made for my documentary I took into account the genre of the documentary, so the types of camera angles that I used had to be a certain viewpoint especially when interviewing an expert this is to make it seem/look formal and professional in a way I chose close ups on the shots when the obsessive act is being performed, this shows that it is the main focus of the scene. I chose the locations also very carefully because
I made quite a lot of changes to my original plan for my documentary because I couldn't find enough people who were willing to be filmed or even admit they had an obsession even if it was faked, but these didn't make a big difference to the documentary in general
I ran into a few problems while trying to film the documentary, these where only small problems well actually the actors not turning up on time was an on going problem because the person I was using had a few "personal" problems of her own and also didn't turn up on time when she was supposed to, so how I got around this was that I planned her to arrive ten minutes before I did so that I when I turned up I could arrive roughly the same time she got in which didn't always work well considering she turned up later than I did, so I realised after a couple of times to book the equipment later than I turned up so I could go in grab the equipment and go, which in the end did work. until she became angry at helping me, which ended with the clips I had being put together quite quickly to make it look realistic. I also had one other problem with actors the person who had OCD was camera shy, so she would talk off camera but not on camera, I managed to overcome this in about ten seconds I asked a teacher if she would be filmed without sound, and I used the OCD sufferers voice instead which actually looked very good.
I improved my practical skills on InDesign and Photoshop. I also learned how to use GarageBand. I still need to improve my management and planning skills but that is all in the process.
I had some challenges when I was trying to put some music into GarageBand because I didn't realise I had to convert the music from an MP4 to MP3 so I could move it to itunes.
How did you ensure your ancillary products link to the main task and effectively promote the main product?
(Use of images fonts colours style etc etc.)
My poster linked nicely with my documentary because I chose a still framed shot from my documentary to put as the background image for the poster this was to show a similarity between the two, and also to give the implication of it being about obsessions.
I linked my radio advert to my documentary by using a instrumental version of the opening song
Question FOUR
how did you use media technologies in construction, research, planning and evaluation stages.
CONSTRUCTION
During the construction I used a camera in the construction process because the camera would show a good clear shots, it is easy to handle and is light so you can manoeuvre it easily. the disadvantages of using a small camera is that it is light and can easily be dropped. the advantages though is that it is easy to upload the clips or pictures onto the software on the Apple mac computers.
I used tripods to make sure the shots I was taking were stable, and to also help check the framing of the shots before and during the construction of the film.
I used the Radio room to record the sounds for the Radio advert and for some of the dialogue in the documentary I also used the Control room to change the voice of one of the actors voices.
I used a mobile phone and social networking sites to get in contact with the actors to make sure they knew when to turn up and what was needed.
I used a microphone to make the sound more clear and this was also in partner with a laptop which happen to die during the recording of an interview. this was also to make sure that the background noise could be edited to be quieter and so that the voice is heard clearly and is understandable.
I used memory sticks, this was to transfer the radio advert from the Radio room upstairs to the apple mc computer I was working on at the time.
I used three different types of software while producing my media task and ancillary products, I used InDesign, Photoshop, and Final Cut Express. I used InDesign to work on my first ancillary task which was my poster. I used InDesign to create the final poster for my ancillary task I used InDesign to put all the pieces together this included putting a picture as a main image, adding in different fonts for a title and date and times. I also used Photoshop to edit part of my pictures because it had a black square right next to the arm that was in the shot. So I used Photoshop to clone and cover the square with a white-ish radiator.
I used Final Cut Express to create my Documentary and this was done over time due to editing and filming and things like that.
