2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
When producing my media products I used a number of different media conventions in order to
ensure my productions remained professional but also creative. I used these throughout starting
from how the master head was placed on my regional magazine front cover and also how I chose to
situate my images throughout the entire regional magazine. I followed specific codes and
conventions when producing my contents page. I placed my images in a very similar way to the one
of the regional magazines I researched.
I originally decided to place my pictures in a way that do not follow the codes and
conventions of a regional magazine however I found that my contents page didn’t follow
and my images looked like I placed them randomly so I then decided to go back to my
research (which my focus group suggested) and follow the codes in conventions, which I
found gave a much more professional overall result.
3. My media product uses the codes and conventions
because I chose to use similar colours throughout all my
productions for example I use the same shade of blue
throughout in order for it to look professional and link
with all my other productions (also follows
well/audience able to tell they are all apart of‘Life in
Kent’). I also followed codes and conventions as I chose
to put the website link on the billboard page this would
support the uses and gratifications theory under the
surveillance theory as having this extra piece of
information enables the reader/viewer to access more
information my using the extra information placed on
the advertisement.
The same technique is also used on my advertisement
featured in my regional magazine this again supports the
same uses and gratifications theory of surveillance as my
seeing this simplistic advert the reader is able to gain extra
information such as where the company is situated and their
contact details which the allows them to be able to research
further into the company.
4. Another code and convention that I followed was
the idea of the t he uses and gratifications theory of
the effects theory I demonstrated this in my front
cover for my regional magazine this is evident as
the purpose of my sell lines was to intrigue the
reader enough for them to want to find out more
about the stories etc. therefore want to purchase
the magazine so they were able to read different
articles.
5. My website also follows codes and conventions as I chose to include a digital archive which I found
most websites of magazines include:
However I challenged the codes and
conventions as I chose to include a
little paragraph underneath each of
the digital magazines so the reader
could see what that particular issues
included this idea was produced by
my focus group who suggested
different aspects that they would like
to see being included on the
website.
6. How effective is the combination of your main task
and your ancillaries?
I believe that the combination of my main task and my ancillaries are extremely effective because
they all follow the same style and approach as my main production my regional magazine. The
website ensures the regional magazine is professional and also highlights that my audience can also
access any issue of Life in Kent online in an easy and accessible way. My focus group provided me
with very positive feedback on both of my ancillary tasks.
To help ensure all my
productions followed the
same style I chose to use
similar colours
throughout to ensure my
productions looked
professional.
7. My focus group agreed that all my productions provide a very professional and sophisticated style
and my main production is followed well with all of my ancillaries.They all follow a similar colour
code:
8. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
I found using audience feedback to construct and edit my media productions very useful, as it helped
me to understand what my audience wanted and expected from the different productions. My focus
group often provided me with constructive criticism and suggested possible changes I could make in
order for my media production to relate to my specific target audience.
I therefore added more texts and slightly changed the layout
of my wed page in order for it to follow better and appear
more professional my finished product was a lot more
similar the professional websites I had researched.
For example my focus group provided me with
constructive criticisms on my website they said they
loved my images and the way had them situated on the
page however they said that in order for it to be a
website more text was needed in order for it to
appear professional as it was evident that the research
I had done on different websites did include a lot
more text them mine.
Once I made the suggested changes I would show my focus
group again in order to ensure their needs were met and they
were satisfied with the end result. I found that using audience
feedback from my focus group also made my overall
productions appear much more professional and sophisticated.
9. My focus group also suggested that I should follow the codes and conventions of a regional
magazine when I was designing my contents page, as I originally chose to place my images in a
different way which was going against the codes and conventions however they suggested in order
to keep my magazine professional I should place them in a way which follows to codes and
conventions.
This is the way I originally placed
my images.
My final contents page (following
codes and conventions)
10. How did you use your media technologies in the
construction of research, planning and evaluation stages?
Throughout my research, planning and evaluation stages I found media technologies very
useful when it came to constructing these individual stages. One media technology that came
particularly helpful to me was the use of the websiteYouTube, it allowed me to access
different tutorials throughout the production process including how to work the camera
which I found most useful.
Using the tutorials abled me to save time and become more efficient as I was able to teach
myself how to work the camera instead of being dependent on my teacher for help. Another
website that I also found extremely useful was Prezi as it allowed me to display my research
(during the planning process) in a different way which I felt made my research section a lot
more interesting and enjoyable for the reader as it was less text heavy in comparison to just
using paragraphs to display my research.
11. It is evident that another media technology that I have used in order to construct my evaluation stage
would be slide share as it has allowed me to present my evaluation in a way that is not simply text heavy
and I believe the use of images and this display makes it easier and more enjoyable for the reader to
view.
