Evaluation presentation

How successful were your products? Did you fulfil the intentions set out
at the beginning of the assignment?


The Brief states we were to create a 2 minute clip , and a 3 page fan website to go along side.
We decided to create a fiction production, using the genre Sitcom. This must be pre-
watershed broadcasting. We were told we had to create the first few opening scenes of a
TV programme establishing narrative themes, characters and location. When looking back
on the intentions we set out to achieve, we can say we did achieve what we wanted, as we
have created a 3 page website, with a simple and easy layout to understand. Also creating
a 2 minute clip of a sitcom, which includes all of the conventions we planned, such as the
stereotypes of characters and location of setting. We had a few problems along the way,
such as a change in storyline, however it still followed the same narrative. I feel we targeted
the audience by using the same age range of characters, as when we created a focus
group for our primary research, we found out they enjoy watching programmes where the
characters are of the same age and we stuck to what they said they liked in a sitcom.
Sitcom’s have many codes and conventions, such as the narrative, which always comes
back to a new/ returned equilibrium. My intentions was to create a two minute sitcom ,
applying all the necessary codes and conventions needed , such as the camera work ,
lighting , editing , narrative and stereotypes. Also sticking to the same brand image as E4, as
we were to target the same audience. I wanted the Sitcom to be light hearted and contain
some humour. I think overall we managed to create a light hearted programme in which an
audience could watch to escape the stresses of everyday life. We included some humour,
however it is very hard to write humour and add it in to everyday life. Therefore I feel we
needed to add more humour, however we didn’t want to add so much, it started to look
bad, so we felt less is more. After finishing our final production. We presented our clip to a
number of people and also posted it up onto a social networking site, in which we got a
couple responses from. This links to my second question.


How successful were both of your products in communicating your
key ideas and concepts to your audience?


 To answer this question we needed to distribute our products to an audience of 16 to 25 (our
target audience) and see the response we got from them. I posted the video up onto
Facebook and got a couple of likes on the video and also some comments. Before
showing our product, we needed to make sure we all knew what are key ideas and
concepts of our products are. Concepts: This can be split into 4 sections, Form, Audience,
institution and Representation.
 Form: Our Video and Website are to both follow the codes and conventions of a Sitcom.
Therefore we researched into British Sitcoms broadcasted on E4. We mainly focused on
them and one in particular. The inbetweeners, in which we analysed there website
(Analysis of Inbetweeners website) and created a web layout, in which we structured our
website around. We also analysed a programme of inbetweeners, Series one episode one
(Analysis of show). From this we focused on the stereotypes, such as the character Will
‘Geek’. And we also focused on the narrative structure, in which the episode followed.
(Narrative of Inbetweeners episode). To work out the narrative structure we used Tzvetan
Todorov theory, by watching the programme and noting down the five stages:
1. Equilibrium
2. Disruption to Equilibrium
3. Recognition of Equilibrium
4. Attempt to repair
5.New/Return Equilibrium


When getting feedback from our target audience, one thing they mentioned was how they liked the clear
narrative flow, and how easy it was to understand the storyline. The third thing when analysing a Sitcom we
looked at the Mise En Scene and how high key lighting was used throughout the programmes, to connote
the happy atmosphere, even when tackling serious issues. And characters tend to wear brighter colours,
or colours relating to the programme. Such as in the inbetweeners, they wear white and blue ties, like the
title. So in our production we had the main protagonist ‘Emily’ wearing a green jacket linking to the overall
colour of the show.
Audience: When creating our programme we needed to remeber the specific demographic audience
we are targeting and how E4 target theirs. Meaning we needed to keep in mind, gender, age and social
class. This is communicated through our key idea’s, as our cast are both males and females, targeting
both genders to watch our programme. Age of our cast , ranging from 16 to 19 . As through our primary
audience research , we held a focus group , and found out our target audience want and enjoy
watching programmes with cast the same age as them. Social class, our sitcom is based in a college,
where students are b, C1, C2, and D, therefore people of these social classes will tend to watch, and are
also the social classes E4 target. ( E4 Audience research). Our audience are going to be a passive
audience, so just watch for entertainment purposes, so they wont think to much into the actual
programme itself.
institution: We are focusing on E4 institution for our programme. E4 is a British TV channel which was
launched as a pay-tv with channel 4. This has a target audience of 15-35 year olds. Therefore showing
programmes which entertain a younger audience. Many of E4’s programmes are written by older writers
who are influenced by the younger generation of today, therefore using slang and dialogue in which a
younger audience would use. Many of its programmes include stereotypes such as the inbetweeners; all of
the characters are morally good. Therefore in our Sitcom, all our characters are morally good and all have
stereotypes, such as Emily as the ‘Geek’ and Tyler as the ‘popular’ boy of college. Our programme uses
dialogue of the youth of today, as it involves actors of the same age, therefore this helps to target our
audience even more. I think these key ideas our easy to see through our 2 minute clip and also website

 Representation: Our sitcom represents youth of today, like many of E4’s programmes,
such as Skins, inbetweeners. Sitcoms seem to represent them in a more light hearted
way, e.g. by using stereotypes of ‘Geeks’. As mediation plays a big role in the way
the audience view people. Mediation is when the media select or interpret aspects
of the world before presenting it to the audience in the form of representation. Youth
are represented badly in the media , many people picture teenagers to be drunk ,
drug dealers who cause crime , due to the media , sitcoms shown on E4 tend to
create a different image of teenagers such as the hard working , ‘Geeky’ character
of Will from inbetweeners. We wanted to do the same, and create a positive image
of teenagers. Therefore all our characters are morally good and hard working,
presenting to an audience the good side of youth today. Representation is also used
through the website, by using Semiotics, a theory created by Roland Barthes.
Starting with our title ‘ RELATIONS’ the syntagmatic choices for this title , the title is
green , linking to the overall colour of the programme , also the front more informal ,
linking to the light hearted feel of the show , and also to attract the younger
generation , just like the E4 brand image. The paradigms of the title, the word
‘Relations’ , links to relationships and friendships , connoting the programme is about
relationships you may find at college or school , telling the audience a little
information , before even seeing the programme. These are all our key idea’s and
concepts and I feel they are clearly shown through our two minute clip and also our
website.

What kind of institutional context does your product fit into?

 Our production was to fit under the institution of E4, therefore is very important we researched into E4 as an
institution and also their brand value. ( E4 Context). Channel four made a subsidiary, called E4, which was to
be the new identify of the youth image for channel 4. A quote I found in an article written in 2007 by the
guardian, “"We wanted something that reflected E4's personality - beautifully random, joyously daft and
generally not taking things too seriously," said Neil Gorringe, the creative director of E4” therefore E4 brand
value is very funnier and bubblier, with a younger target audience. This is what our production must fit into,
therefore we took measurements into the institutional demands by using bright colours, such as green and
setting our production, in a college with a teenage cast, by doing this we fit more into the younger audience,
E4 are targeting. Even the semiotics of the E4 logo , describes all that they are about , such as the
paradigmatic choice to have the font rounded, connoting the bouncy , fun feel to the channel , unlike the
formal logo of channel four. Therefore for our title name for our production, we used a more round edges font ,
connoting our up beat , happy atmosphere to our programme , hopefully target the audience like E4.
Therefore our intention about our institution is to create a fun, light- hearted institution focusing on the younger
audience 15 to 35. When creating our programme is was important to make sure our clip , actually looked like
a sitcom , therefore we researched in to a couple of Sitcoms , such as ‘ The I.T crowd’ and ‘The Inbetweeners’.
We then picked out a sequences from the clip and wrote down all the camera angles. We found out , a
Sitcom maily starts with an Establishing Wide shot of the location , followed by a mid shot of the main character
, better known as the protagonist. We also found they use a lot of shot – reverse-shots , of when characters are
having a conversation. Therefore our Sitcom , contents an establishing shot , many mid shots and shot-reverse-
shots. These are some of the conventions used. For my secondary production research , I looked through a
couple of books based on the codes and conventions of a Sitcom , and found there can be two types of
Sitcoms ‘ work’ and ‘home’ and that families are more attracted to home based ones , therefore we needed
to do a work on , by setting it in a college.(Secondary Product Research).


What genre are you with and how is it apparent to your audience?

 Our Programme we created ‘Relations’ was a situation comedy, therefore having a pre-determined audience. When
creating our programme we needed to think carefully about are target audience and what is was their wanted. We
targeted the same audience as E4, therefore being an age range of 15 to 35. We needed to think carefully and
research into the Demographics of our audience. Audiences can be classified into groups using quantitive data
about age , gender and socio-economic grouping. When researching into E4 target audience, we found their tend to
target the young age of teenagers / twenties. Through research I found out when E4 starts at 4’oclock their tend to
show more cartoons and programmes suited to the lower end of their target audience, but as it turns later , 6/7
o’clock , their shown programmes such as Hollyoaks which is set more around the higher end of the target audience.
Through research on E4 target on social class, I found they target throughout the class system, but more mainly on C1
(Friends). The social class audience is spilt up into 6 sections, being A , B , C1, C2, D, E.E4 is not targeted at any set of
gender, creating programmes appealing to both male and female.This is a generic term , it is split up into 3 sections :
Attitudes , Interests , and Opinions. Attitudes about social class and beliefs, personal interests going out shopping e.g ,
opinions on the environment, globalization. All of these things are important to think about when trying to target our
audience. Therefore when thinking about E4 target audience being 15-35 , this may have a wide range of different
beliefs and interests , thats why they create so many types of programmes , fulfilling all they audiences needs. Our
Genre is a Sitcom, therefore, are audiences interests will fit of this genre, such as humour. Sitcoms are a great way in
which to tackle serious issues in a light heated way, therefore talking about issues of belief and globalization. Are
Sitcom tackles light hearted issues, such as relationships in college and also that divide in popularity. We also followed
the codes and conventions of a sitcom, as well as expectations and pleasures, audiences understand genre through
their familiarities with codes and conventions used. They take pleasure in the anticipation of familiarity; they expect
and take pleasure in repetition and recognition of the generic elements of context style and for. Therefore setting it in
a ‘work’ or ‘home’ setting , as we chosen a college. When starting to think of ideas for our sitcom, to hold a focus
group, In which we asked questions to our target audience, asking them what they liked in a Sitcom. From this we
found out they liked watching Sitcoms in which the characters were the same age as them. Also the convention of a
geeky character, therefore we added all of these elements into our Sitcom to target our audience.(Focus Group :
Primary product research) As our Genre was a Sitcom, it was important we stuck to the codes and conventions of a
sitcom, therefore it was important we did some secondary and primary research into the codes and conventions of a
Sitcom. Through my primary product research I found out a lot of what is include in a Sitcom and also the Narrative it
follows. I looked at four sitcoms and its narrative flow, finding out they all end in a Equilibrium.


How well did you target your audience?

 As a group we all did primary and secondary research both in audience and product , to get a better
understanding of how to target our audience. For my Primary audience research, I held a focus
group, in which I shown 3 clips to a group of around 10 , and then got them to fill out questions
about the clip they had just watched. By doing this I was able to get a better understanding of
what the audience want , making it easier for us to target them with our own sitcom. I found out
they like sitcoms, when they are based around a friendship group, and the group must include a
‘geeky’ character. Therefore our sitcom was based around a group of friends and a main’ geeky’
character, giving the audience what they want. For my secondary audience research I
researched into viewing figures, focusing on 4 main sitcoms, The Inbetweeners, Fresh Meat, Might
Boosh and I.T Crowd. From my research I found out the most popular shows were The Inbetweeners
and I.T Crowd , therefore I felt it would be best if we just focused on these, however the I.T Crowd is
shown on channel 4 and not E4 , so the target audience is a little different , so we decided to just
focus on The Inbetweeners. So from The Inbetweeners we focused on the micro aspects used ,
such as lighting , camera work , editing and Mise En Scene. Making sure we applied all of these
features to our programme , making it look as professional as an E4 production. For Georgie’s
secondary research she looked into social networking sites , such as The Inbetweeners face book
page and print screens the comments made, from this we found out the elements which the
audience liked the best was the characters/ stereotypes and also the comedy within the
programme , therefore we added these elements into our show. As well as a programme , we
needed to create a 3 page website , therefore I analysed The Inbetweeners webpage ( Certain
parts of the website i liked) I wrote about semiotics and the effects created by them. We then
used this webpage as our temple for our website, picking elements we liked and wanted to use.


How were the narratives constructed and what part did they play in the
creation of meaning and experience of your products?

Tzventan Todorov was a Bulgarian structuralism who created the narrative theory. His
narrative structure was split into five sections:
1.Equilibrium, 2. Disruption on Equilibrium, 3.Recognition,4.Attempt to Repair,5. New/Return to
Equilibrium. As sitcoms always come to a conclusion at the end of each episode , they all
follow the whole of this structure , ending in a new/ return to equilibrium. This links to the
relationship between narrative and genre. As our production is only two minutes long , but
we were still able to follow this structure . Our narrative structure:

Equilibrium – Emily reading her book in the library , and then leaving the library to go to
lesson.
Disruption- Emily walking into a bin , while waving at Tyler.
Recognition- Tyler noticing and running over to help Emily.
Attempt to repair- Emily acting like she is ok and not hurt.
New/Return to Equilibrium- Telling her friends what happened to her , while in lesson.


 Therefore our production ended back at the Equilibrium , sitcoms do this to give a sense of release to
the audience , showing that everything will turn out ok in the end , releasing the stresses they may
have , and in this case , teenagers who are at college , that if someone bad happens , it will go
back to normal again. From audience feedback, one of the things they commented on was they
liked how easy the structure was to follow and they understood the narrative structure. There is also a
narrative for the website, following a structure; we have a navigation bar at the top of the page,
which allows you to click and any page, and also a home button, bringing you back to the start. A
narrative can also be the process of denotation and connotation involves being able to identify and
discuss all the signs within a text and how they are communicated to an audience. Therefore the
audience may not know anything about the characters of our sitcom. So by coming on our website
and just by looking at the images the characters can get a better understanding of them. For
example , Emily is wearing glasses , this connotes to the audience she is the smart intelligence
character , who may come from a smart family , just from this one image the audience can create a
back story to the character. Also our group photo , characters are smiling , connoting they are all
friends , informing the audience this is a programme about friends , linking to the title ‘ Relations’.


What kind of values and ideologies did the productions promote or attack?
When looking back on our programme and looking at our representation , I would cristise our
representation of Gender, as we had the Male as the dominant character , and the character of
‘Emily’ wasn’t complete unless she spoke to Tyler , representing the issue of a Women needing a
Men. Such as Emily’s line “we are so going to get married”. However in the media women can be
portrayed as ‘objects’ and seen as dumb blondes , so it that way we represented women as
strong women , who can be smart and not every women is a page 3 girl , without an education.
This is how they are portrayed through the media such as The Sun newspaper. I guess we weren’t
very creative , as will stuck to the expectations of our character Emily , as she liked a boy ,
promoting a heterosexuality relationship , our programme , didn’t content any homosexual
relationships. For cultural reference, our sitcom contents some British elements, such as the British
weather seen outside in the establishing shot, the grey colours. Also we portray the British lifestyle,
of college life to a universal audience. I would say the only other thing British about our sitcom is
the accents, which content English dialect. Television content is a difficult medium of culture. It is
affected by the standards, exceptions, rules, and values of the culture, society, and the television
industry. Each of these institutions impact what society sees on television and how social groups
are portrayed. As social and cultural changes occur the representations .on television are altered
to remain to the new standards. An existing media product which uses mediation is the
inbetweeners, as they portray teenagers in a certain way, as youth get a lot of attention in the
press, for all the wrong reasons, so the inbetweeners portrays the teenage boy as hard working,
but also get into trouble, but that’s what teenagers will do. Therefore our product presents
teenagers through the media in a good way , as all characters are hard working and morally
good.

What issues of representation does your product raise?

 The process representation is often involves the use of stereotypes, in a very short space of
time or in a few words the character, situation and narrative have to be
communicated to the audience. A stereotype is a standardised, usually oversimplified,
metal picture of attitude that is held in common by members of a group towards a
person, group, place or event. Our stereotype of Emily is a geek; she is represented as a
hard working, young student who is morally good. This is clear through her appearance
and attitude shown. Stereotypes can be split into sections , one being appearance ,
the way an audience view the character and the typical stereotypes clothes worn ,
such as Emily with her big black glasses and books. The second is behaviour, such as
location, such as Emily being located in the library, and also her clumsiness around
males. Therefore by what we show of her, we can change the way an audience view
her through mediation. Our representation of gender, we have represented women to
be the more serious sex, who are harder working, and the males as the more relaxed
characters. We used a typical, tall, dark hair, masculine male as the main boy, so I
guess in that sense we didn’t challenge the conventions, and used typical stereotypes.
Also we used cast of all the same ethnic raise , not representing any other religious
group. Therefore I believe we could have represented a wider range of people. Our
sitcom represents heterosexual relationships, such as Emily liking Tyler , and not of the
characters are homosexual. Overall in the media heterosexual relationships are seen as
cultural, and not many people tend to tackle this, over the past years , more and more
programmes are beginning to represent , homosexuality relationships. Therefore as a
sitcom, which should include a lot of stereotypes and representation, we should have
thought more carefully about ways in representing a wider range, and tried to tackle
some cultural views.

How might you apply your idea to a third media platform?

 If I was to of done task two of the Creating Media brief. I would have created a teaser print
campaign. A Teaser campaign is something you distribute to the public a couple weeks
, or months before you release your final product , in which builds a hype around your
product building publicity , boosting the popularity of your programme when released ,
this can also help with viewing figures and the success of your programme. It can be
distributed in many forms, such as leaflets, flyers, billboards. I would have used a
Billboard to advertise my product, as this is normally how channel 4, and E4 publicize
their new and upcoming programmes. My billboard would stick to the conventions of
my programme, using the colour green. The colour green with resemble this is not
targeted at any specific gender as green is a unisex colour. Displaying a funny picture
of all the main characters in my programme, connoting to the audience this is a
comedy. All ready targeting a pre-determined audience to comedies. By showing the
characters, it will show the age range of them, targeting our audience of 15-35, as they
said they liked to watch programmes, in which the characters where the same age as
them. Also the Billboard would include the name of our sitcom, ‘Relations’ therefore
when the programme is released the audience will remember the name from the
billboard, persuading them to watch. On the billboard will also the be release date of
the programme so people are aware of when to expect it, adding to viewing figures.

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