Helen Skipworth A2 Media Coursework Evaluation

In the case of my main task, the research i did in order to establish what the codes and conventions of TV drama's were has very much guided me in the development and look of my final titles. The main conventions i found were that shots of episodes of the show were used as well as animation for the titles. From looking at my final cut, i have used footage intended to look like shots from different episodes. I had originally planned not to do this and have something that was completely stop frame but decided against it as it differed to much from typical title sequences.
Close ups also tended to be used to establish different characters, however if the show had a clear main character most on-screen time went to the protagonist. I met this convention in order to better establish characters which was similar to the style of the opening the ‘Hannah Montanna’ (2006) with many having shots of them looking directly at the camera and doing something that tied in with their role in the 'Drama Club'. For example the shot of Sophie laughing (0.22) and the character of Andy taking photo's and smiling at the camera.(0.34) In addition, the name of the show tended to appear at the end as well as the 'created by' title which matches my opening.

There was always an up-beat theme tune and a mixture of sound effects such as canned laughter or in the case of 'Sabrina the Teenage witch' (see blog post 'Sabrina the teenage witch analysis' 25 th June '09) sounds were used to connote the magic aspect of her character e.g.. spells/witchcraft. As the character of 'Andy' is the photographer in the club i added camera sounds to it which also helped establish the theme of the titles as more art based. (0.33-36) Similarly, i used applause and clapping for the performance based characters, particularly Sehb and Gemma as i wanted to show that they were part of a group that incorporated all kinds of different aspects including directing, photographing, acting and singing. (0.47)Many of the title sequences I analysed were a mixture of animation and live action. As i didn't really have any animation skills i decided to subvert the typical conventions and use stop frame titles as i though this would make the titles more interesting and attractive to younger viewers than the typical text over the footage. The idea of having cut out letters also added to the arty feel of the titles.
Stop frame objects for each character My original animatic (see blog post 'animatic' Oct. 12 th )was for the sequence to include a scrapbook the club had created therefore stop frame would mean i could move different objects and pictures across the page. This would have been similar to the titles of 'Tracy Beaker' (see blog post 'Tracy beaker titles' 25 th June) as it used pictures rather than actual footage of the characters. The objects moving in the background were also associated with the characters, i adapted this for my titles as each character has an object that links with their role i.e. microphone, clapperboard, camera. The scrapbook idea from my initial animatic, as inspired by ‘Tracy Beaker’ titles.

In regards to my ancillary tasks, i wanted my magazine to be very colorful and attractive to younger audiences. In order to get a better idea of how to design an effective one i looked at some existing covers and analyzed them (see blog post 'Ancillary task research Jan 09)

Initially i had a relatively plain title however i did not think this was effective enough in catching peoples eye and advertising the show. I didn't have a logo as many magazines based on television shows do so i decided to use the stop frame letters from my title sequence. This meant i had a text that was recognisable and could be used as part of a brand to advertise the show. It improved the overall look and met the convention of having a big, bold recognisable heading on the top of the magazine.

Many of the magazines i looked at had one main image dominating the cover, mainly the protagonist as seen on the cover on the 'Tracy Beaker' magazine. I met this convention and chose one character from 'Drama Club' and used this on the cover as i felt an image of all the characters would be more suitable for the DVD cover. Normally the person on the cover would then have an interview about them advertised on the front so i chose to do this with the character of Amber. Other teasers included free posters, something that appeared a lot on the cover of children's magazines ,a chance to meet the cast . Similar to the cover on the right, i decided to advertise my DVD to further increase publicity. Most magazines have bar codes and prices so these were added for authenticity. As can be seen on the magazine to the right, the text although bolder in some places and varied in color is the same font throughout. This stops it from being too muddled and distracting so i opted to do the same for my cover.
I noticed some magazines based on TV shows advertised the DVD’s of the show on the cover Recognisable font work, simple and consistent as well a brand name.

For my DVD cover the main conventions I found were screen grabs on the back, along with an episode guide. I also wanted to include other things such as bonus features, which are seen regularly on the backs of DVD'S. Other features such as the universal logo and the review were to make the cover more realistic. I decided it would be useful to have the review by an organisation that would probably broadcast my television show. Again, I have used the same font for the title in order to create brand recognition, a convention followed by most DVD covers of series or films.
Screen grabs Big, bold, Recognisable title Protagonist(s) on front cover Special features, blurb or episode guide.

I feel the combination of my main and ancillary tasks is very effective, as i tried to make the show a brand that spread across all three through intertextuality. One way i did this was using the same title throughout my main, and ancillary's to create something audiences could recognise. An example of this is the title of my magazine, as i used the same stop frame letters from my titles. I did the same on my DVD cover in so it was clear they all linked. If you saw the title printed in a magazine it would be instantly recognisable similar to the way the font used for the Indiana Jones's movies is very distinctive and specific to those films.
Furthermore, the main aspect that connects my ancillary's is the advertisement of my DVD on the cover of my magazine. This increases publicity and is an example of synergy across both print media and my main titles. The overall design of my magazine cover and DVD cover is similar, with paint splats and colour scheme consistent and i feel they reflect the overall look and feel i wanted to create, mainly an art and drama based show.

Overall, I feel the degree of synergy I created between my magazine and DVD cover was fairly good. Obviously, had there been actual articles in the magazine there could have been further advertisement of the DVD inside. The main aspect i feel is the strongest example of synergy across all three texts is the ‘brand name’ of the show. It is recognisable and is featured in both my main task and my magazine and DVD cover, therefore brand recognition similar to shows of its type was created.
In addition, The review featured on the back of my DVD cover my 'CITV' would likely be who would market and broadcast my show as they have a target audience (12 and below) similar to mine. The show would be advertised in many children's magazines such as 'Toxic' or other magazines for children's shows such as 'Ben 10' or 'High School musical’. The context of consumption would be through these other magazines or advertisements on TV, after or before already established shows on 'CITV.' I feel it is a uni-sex show so it could be advertised in both girl and boy magazines, however it could be manipulated more easily to attract girls due to its dominance of female characters and aspects such as singing and performance and lack of action and adventure more associated with boys. 'Drama club could be compared with shows like 'Tracy Beaker‘ as it has a similar multi-media approach through a complimentary magazine and DVD releases of the show.

The target audience for 'Drama Club' was 10-12 year olds, possibly slightly younger. This meant the Year 7's would be the perfect age group to give me feedback on my titles and whether they are effective. I used my brother who his currently in year 7 and sent out emails to get a group of five other students together. I tried to spread them evenly and have a mixture of boys and girls (3 were boys, 2 were girls) and asked them a series of questions after viewing my title sequence. I have picked out the main points, and some interesting comments they made.
Emily aged 11 – 'I could tell from the 'starring' at the beginning and the credits that it was the opening to a show.' Jack aged 10 - ‘I thought the hand wiping it way and moving objects were really clever.’ Joe aged 11 - ' I think it's about group of kids who create a drama group and all have their own parts.'

Negative comments,
The main issues they had with it were that at times it was unclear what the characters of Sehb and Sophie were, however they did get the basic idea that one was a dancer/performer and one was a 'Joker'.
The end stop frame where the title 'Drama Club' appears could have been more interesting, they suggested having a clip of the group all together.
The most interesting thing they picked out was that although it did meet their age range, which contrasted my idea that it was to young, they felt the actors should have been younger and more their age then they would have indentified with them more.
Positives comments,
t looks like a title sequence
Liked the use of sound, music sounded like it was from a real TV show.
Liked the stop frame animation
Mixture of stop frame and footage made it interesting, found it engaging.
Accepted it was a title sequence, worked this out without being told.
They could understand what the show was about
could understand the role of most of the characters had within the show.
Liked some of the shots used- particularly the shot of Sehb moon-walking with Gemma in the foreground.(0.7)

From looking at my feedback, i feel my work did fit the brief in that it was an effective title sequence. They understood it and seemed interested which was my main goal, and were willing to accept that it was the opening to a show which shows i got the style right. I would say it does meet my opinion of my work in some areas, i think the stop frame works well and the use of the hand is effective however i wouldn't agree that my use of sound was particularly good. I felt i could have played around with this more, and found some better sound effects. For instance, have had Gemma actually singing during the opening shot (0.5) I do like the camera sounds during Andy's credit and would keep this if I was to do it again. I completely agree with the idea of using actors that were the same age as my target audience and would say this is one of its biggest flaws as its simply not realistic to have 17/18 years olds in a show for 10 year olds. If i could further improve on it, I would add more interesting transitions. I would say the best transition is the dissolve from Andy's credit to him taking photos in the library (0.31) I could perhaps have experimented more with this and used it in other places during the sequence. For example used a zoom into one of the objects such as the clapper board and faded into the footage of Amber directing.
I would also consider changing the way I did the 'created by Helen Skipworth' title (0.50), I like the paint splats but rather than have them appear one at a time, perhaps a splat that got gradually bigger or all the splats on one page would have been more effective. I think I would keep the ‘drama club’ title stop frame but maybe have some of the objects featured during the sequence re-appear around 'Drama Club.' I had tried this previously when doing my initial stop frame but it looked to cluttered. If I had more time i would have done as my target audience suggested and had an additional shot of the club together at the end, perhaps jumping and freezing on the image of them in the air. I would definitely use younger actors, as this would have made it far more convincing as a children's TV drama and perhaps tried to incorporate my original idea of having a scrap book with photo's.

The program i used to create my main task was Premier Pro. I had some skills that i picked up from AS but as i was in complete control of everything this year, i had to improve my skills dramatically if i wanted to produce some good quality work. The reason i chose the children's TV drama brief was because i didn't want something that included the use of flash, as my skills were non-existent. Premier pro was a program i was familiar with and throughout the process i feel my ability to use it has greatly improved. Importing the images for my stop frame and getting the timing right was a big task, as at times it was too quick and you couldn't didn't get a chance to take in what was happening on screen. To combat this problem i had to copy a lot of the images in order to make them last longer, and change the shot duration. The area i feel most comfortable with is shot duration and cutting shots appropriately, editing the footage was something i got a lot better at as time went on as i could see more clearly where things needed to be changed. Towards the end i decided that i needed to add some better transitions between stop frame and footage, one way i used the program was to add a zoom and a dissolve effect (0.31) Looking back i would have including more of this so I had more variety of transitions. Example of outer shadow effect, I experimented with many o these effects on Photoshop such as inner/outer glow etc. in order to make the text more defined.

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Helen Skipworth A2 Media Coursework Evaluation

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Helen Skipworth A2 Media Coursework Evaluation — Presentation Transcript