Question 4- How have you used new media technology to produce your media products in construction, planning and evaluation

Question 4: How have you used new media technology to produce your media products in construction, planning and evaluation on Prezi

Question 3- What did you learn from your audience feedback?

We showed our rough cuts and final film productions to our target audience, this included a range of students and friends. We gained both written feedback and a video from our demographic, the video  included feedback from our 1st rough cut and final film and we gained written feedback for all three cuts. Below is the feedback we gathered.

Rough Cuts

It was really good to get feedback for our rough cuts. Even though we knew that there were still improvements to be  made, by showing what we had done so far to our demographic audience they were able to give us extra ideas and comments on how to make it better. It was especially useful to allow a fresh pair of eyes to view what we had created so far to spot mistakes/corrections that us as a group hadn't noticed. By showing it to our demographic it was helpful to see what they liked and what they didn't like as they would be the potential viewers who we would expect/want to view the soap.

First Rough Cut

Our first rough cut was quite basic and didn't include much. Some improvements that were suggested were to add music to help move the piece along, add some titles to help make it clear what the piece is about and the continuity needs to be made sharper. As, this was the first cut, this feedback was expected as we knew that we needed to add these elements to the piece. Some positive feedback was that they liked the unique setting, the lighting and use of shots, the mise en scene and what it showed about the characters and how it was a modern soap opera.

Second Rough Cut

With the second rough cut we took all of the improvements on board and, we added music, voice overs, titles and sorted out the continuity.

 Some improvements that were suggested were to add some more transitions between the drug deal scene as continuity wasn't always great and they pointed out that there needed to be time passing between the phone call and the Bachelor's entrance.  We took this on board and agreed that this is something that needed to be added. We had been experimenting with music as we wanted to pick something that would really suit the theme and the atmosphere. In our second rough cut music was added and the audience liked this as they thought that it flowed better however, they felt that the lyrics alongside the voice overs was too much and that it distracted them from the trailer. This was very helpful as it lead us to decide that we would only use the backing track without the lyrics and personally as a group we decided that we liked this idea better as well.

Final Cut

With the final cut it was great to hear what our demographic audience thought of our finished product. It was good to hear the positive feedback and how some liked that it was set in a studio and some would have preferred a bit more colour. However, we wanted it to be this way to give it a crisp, glamorous feel to reflect the theme. It was nice to hear that overall they liked the trailer and some said that they would actually want to watch the soap if it was to continue. They liked the mise en scene and this was very satisfying as we hoped that this would stand out as it enhanced who our characters were. They also, liked the music and thought that the music and voice overs were well blended and this was good as we had worked hard to get just the right mixture in volumes.

Poster and Magazine

For the poster and magazine we gained feedback by handing out questionnaires to our target audience with a list of questions for them to answer about our products. We gained feedback for our first drafts and our final draft.

Audience Feedback Questionnaire


Magazine

By gaining feedback for our poster and magazine our demographic audience were able to tell us what they would want to be included. From the beginning of the creation of these products till the end they changed a lot. With the magazine feedback the majority said that the first magazine looked empty and dull but they did like the Logo. This comment made us add as much colour as possible without making the magazine look crowded and it decided our answer to give the magazine a blue background colour. Also, in the planning stages we were only going to include three story lines on the front cover but many commented that they would like more story lines to be included so, these comments gave us the opportunity to add more as we knew the potential audience would like it. To add more colour we decided to put coloured boxes around all the images and this also helped to separate the stories and make them clear to the reader.

With the final draft of the magazine the feedback was very positive. Many liked the blue background and thought that  it was really eye catching. They liked the logo and thought that it was unique. They thought that the images and corresponding tag lines worked really well and gave them a good amount of information about the different story lines they can expect to be included in the soap. Many said that they would want to watch the soap after viewing this magazine and many also liked the 'Free Poster' of the new soap hunk.

Poster

 With the poster many did not like the font we had used with the first one, we wanted to change this anyway and this comment just concluded our decision. We chose a different font for the poster which was much clearer and looked more professional. Also, some commented that the writing was too grouped together so, we decided to put some writing on the bottom and some at the top. With the image some commented that it wasn't as crisp as it could be so we decided to enhance the image to give it a more professional look. We also added the ITV1 logo to the poster to make the channel easy to identify.

With the final draft of the poster we gained many positive comments from our target audience. Many liked the image and thought that it looked very professional. They also liked the ITV1 logo and they thought this made the poster look like a real soap opera one. Another thing they commented on was the border, they liked it and thought that it grouped the poster together and gave it a professional finished look.

Overall, I learnt that it is very beneficial to show your work to others especially to your demographic audience. It is really helpful to see if your ideas are understandable and made clear to the audience. It is useful to receive both negative and positive feedback to understand what you need to work on in order to produce the best product that you can.

Question 2

Question 1- How does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Question 1 on Prezi

Soap Trailer Development- Final Ideas

After reviewing our initial ideas as a group we have now come up with our final ideas. Here I have presented them in a Prezi document:

How soap operas use social media to advertise and distribute their work

 

The Evolution of Soap Operas

The Evolution of Soap Operas on Prezi