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

2. Radio Drama We used ‘Clare in the Community’ as our main example of a radio drama based around a woman, trying to work in social care. This was a much more middle class drama than what we were aiming for, so just used some of the traits and common characteristics that we found when listening to this.Clare in the Community however, was performed in front of a large audience, so they were able to use the laughter of the audience as a way of using a transition between the scenes. We however, had to use a fade to show the transitions. Delilah Does Dating was a quite similar format, however centred around the idea that this was a woman, unlucky in love, who each week, found herself in a different, comedic scenario as a way to try and find a man. We chose to do a series, as thereare mainly series dramas on BBC Radio 4, which is where our Radio drama would be played. A series also enables the audience to establish a relationship with the character, and listening to the show becomes a form of ritual and part of an everyday routine for listeners. It challenges the conventions, in the way that it is a lot younger, in the idea as a whole, to what is normally played on BBC Radio 4. However, many of the males that we included in the speed dating, and Delilah herself conform to many of society’s stereotypes – a lonely woman, a nerd obsessed with Star Wars, a “camp” male who loves shopping etc.

3. Double Page Spread The only real example of Double Page Spreads are those on BBC Radio Times Magazine. Although lots of the examples that we looked at were for tv shows, it is the magazine that our article would most likely be in so we took many of the characteristics of these magazines. The whole layout of the double page spread is based upon the ideas that we saw in the examples. The main characteristic that we have used is the use of a picture as the main focus of the double page spread, Many of the articles used a header on the main photograph of the article, we also mimicked this style in our own work.

4. Newspaper Article

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

7. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

8. Facebook Feedback We uploaded the original versions of both of the ancillary pieces to Facebook. This is because the majority of each of our Facebook friends are members of our target audience, therefore the advice they provided would be highly valued. We changed some things following the criticisms we received.

9. Teacher Feedback We asked our teacher for feedback following our first draft. Following his criticisms we made a lot of changes accordingly. First Draft Finished copy “This is a real improvement on the previous one. It is eye – catching and all fits around your theme. The picture has provided an effective foreground and allowed the text to come second, which is the same in Radio Times. The fonts you have used are effective and I love the tick box idea! Well Done!” “It looks messy and unorganised, although the pictures used are effective and I like the timer idea, maybe one picture would be more useful? Or look at more recent TV listings and see how these look, I think it looks unprofessional.”

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

11. During the construction stage of the process, we spent a lot of time in the recording studio. We re-recorded several scenes following feedback and what we thought sounded better after re-listening to pieces of dialogue that we had recorded. We believe it was enjoyable although very time consuming. The construction process was longer than the editing process which was something we were unaware of before we began.

12. New Media Technologies: Equipment Microphone Sound Deck Handheld The sound deck was also used in the construction stage and allowed us to control the power an volume of the speech. For example, we could control when certain characters should sound louder, or when people needed to seem closer or further away than others. The handheld recorder allowed us to record small pieces of dialogue that we wished to edit into our show at a later stage. It was convenient and let us easily edit our work without having to book studio time just to record a small piece of dialogue. The microphone was used in the construction stage and allowed us to record the relevant dialogue for our radio drama. The ‘popper’/ cover for the microphone made our voices sound clearer and removed slight noises that may have been made during general speech.

13. New Media Technologies: Software 1 2 3 4 5

14. 1) Adobe Premier Pro: This programme was easy to adapt to as it had been used by members of the group during AS coursework. The software allowed us to control the volume, overlap and layer sound effects and dialogue and add effects such as fading to our recordings. The continuity proved quite difficult at times yet the software allowed us to pinpoint specific stages of the dialogue and iron out any problems.2)Microsoft PowerPoint: We decided to use this software for our evaluation as it was the programme we were most familiar with and we felt it would be the quickest and most convenient to move around our text and images within the allocated time. 3. Audacity : This software was the initial programme that our mp3 files went to after recording. We could immediately trim any dialogue that we knew we wouldn’t be using. It was very easy to use and the controls (play, record, stop etc.) were very recognisable. 4. Blogger: As we had all used this programme previously, this year we found this programme easy to work with. We were able to present our work in an attractive way, as well as successfully keep track of whereabouts we were up to in the process so we could quickly continue at the start of each lesson. 5. Adobe Photoshop: This programme was used to edit images and create the newspaper advert and double page spread. As we had used it before, we were familiar with the tools etc. We believed this was the most appropriate software for what we had in mind as it’s simple to move things around, and the most accessible software in college.