Thursday, 5 May 2011
Thursday, 31 March 2011
Audience Theory
In today's media lesson, we looked at "Audience theory" in relation to our final production work.
We need to look at the ways the audience receives, reads and responds to any media text. This is important for construction and distribution of our productions as well as for collective identity.
We also look at how to distribute texts in order to attract or reach our target audience. (Advertising package)
Effect Models
These are theories that explain how we take in the media all around us and the effects it has on us. How the media might influence (or not influence) our behaviour.
Some theories lead us to think we need more censorship of the media, whilst others might lead us to call for less control.
Theory helps us to work out the complexity of relationships between audience and texts.
The Hypodermic Needle Model
It assumes that the audience just sits there and gets injected with non-stop information.
Audiences are seen as passive receivers of information transmitted in the text without thinking about them or challenging them.
People began to see the power of the media to influence and communicate messages - production of propaganda to influence thinking.
The Two Step-flow
This suggests that the audience does not absorb information directly from the text but is influenced by opinion leaders. Social factors are also seen to be important in the reception of media texts.
Uses and Gratifications
Audiences were seen as being made of individuals who were active consumers. Mass is that they did the same thing but in different ways.
This theory was developed further in in 1974 by Blumer and Katz
Diversion-(escape from everyday problems and routines)
Personal relationship-(Using the media for emotional or other interaction)
Personal Identity-(Finding yourself reflected in texts, learning behaviour and values for texts)
Surveillance- ( Finding information which could be useful for living) such as: weather, financial news, holiday information etc.
Reception Theory
Stuart Hall- Talk about the encoding/decoding model of relationship between audience and text.
The text is encoded by the producer (meaning inscribed). It is then decoded by the reader (in ways that the producer cannot control).
Niche Marketing
Despite the tendency to try to reach a large audience for the media text, it is important that we don't forget to look at "narrow casting". It is the opposite of " Broadcasting"
Audiences
Julian McDougall(2009)- suggests that in the online age, it is getting harder to conceive a media audience as a stable identifiable group. However, audiences still clearly makes sense and give meaning to cultural products.
An audience can be described as a "temporary collective" (McQuail 1972)
Leng Ang (1991)
"Audiences only exist as an imaginary entity" - so in other words, we create an imaginaryimage of our targeted audience before we create our product.
Hartley (1987)
Also suggests that institutions must produce "invisible fictions of audience which allow the institutions to get a sense of who they must enter into relations with"
We need to look at the ways the audience receives, reads and responds to any media text. This is important for construction and distribution of our productions as well as for collective identity.
We also look at how to distribute texts in order to attract or reach our target audience. (Advertising package)
Effect Models
These are theories that explain how we take in the media all around us and the effects it has on us. How the media might influence (or not influence) our behaviour.
Some theories lead us to think we need more censorship of the media, whilst others might lead us to call for less control.
Theory helps us to work out the complexity of relationships between audience and texts.
The Hypodermic Needle Model
It assumes that the audience just sits there and gets injected with non-stop information.
Audiences are seen as passive receivers of information transmitted in the text without thinking about them or challenging them.
People began to see the power of the media to influence and communicate messages - production of propaganda to influence thinking.
The Two Step-flow
This suggests that the audience does not absorb information directly from the text but is influenced by opinion leaders. Social factors are also seen to be important in the reception of media texts.
Uses and Gratifications
Audiences were seen as being made of individuals who were active consumers. Mass is that they did the same thing but in different ways.
This theory was developed further in in 1974 by Blumer and Katz
Diversion-(escape from everyday problems and routines)
Personal relationship-(Using the media for emotional or other interaction)
Personal Identity-(Finding yourself reflected in texts, learning behaviour and values for texts)
Surveillance- ( Finding information which could be useful for living) such as: weather, financial news, holiday information etc.
Reception Theory
Stuart Hall- Talk about the encoding/decoding model of relationship between audience and text.
The text is encoded by the producer (meaning inscribed). It is then decoded by the reader (in ways that the producer cannot control).
Niche Marketing
Despite the tendency to try to reach a large audience for the media text, it is important that we don't forget to look at "narrow casting". It is the opposite of " Broadcasting"
Audiences
Julian McDougall(2009)- suggests that in the online age, it is getting harder to conceive a media audience as a stable identifiable group. However, audiences still clearly makes sense and give meaning to cultural products.
An audience can be described as a "temporary collective" (McQuail 1972)
Leng Ang (1991)
"Audiences only exist as an imaginary entity" - so in other words, we create an imaginaryimage of our targeted audience before we create our product.
Hartley (1987)
Also suggests that institutions must produce "invisible fictions of audience which allow the institutions to get a sense of who they must enter into relations with"
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Magazine Publisher
Bauer Publishing is the number one seller of newsstand magazines. Because they are number one publisher and they are well known, I thought it would be good to have them as the publisher of my magazine.
Even though they publish magazines like Grazia, Heat, Closer, Kerrang and Q. I thought because they are a big company they would be prepared to broaden their traget audience to even publisher horror magazines.
Having Bauer as a publisher would also be an advantage because it would mean that people are more likely to read and buy the magazine because they would think it would be of a high quality as Bauer has a good reputation for producing the best.
Film production company
After we finished creating the trailer. We realised that most trailers normally featured which production company they used. We thought this would be something worth adding to our trailer as it would make our trailer look good and it would attract people to watching it because majority of the films produced by well known companies tend to be 'good'.
We looked at a few production companies ranging from Hollywood pictures, Touchstone pictures, Summit Entertainment to Warner Bros Pictures. We then looked at the trailer that we looked at before creating our trailer and we noticed a few where created by 'Summit Entertainment'. We decided we would use Summit Entertainment too because the trailers we looked at were of the same genre and around about the same age boundary.
We also decided on Summit Entertainment because it is a worldwide theatrical motion picture. They also handle all aspects of marketing and distribution.
Planning auxillary tasks
After creating simple drafts I needed to think about colour schemes, fonts and titles.
The title of the poster is 'The Blackberry' because after my group and I finished creating the film trailer we decided on 'The Blackberry' as the title.
I thought to use the image of one of the characters as this will make the vewier feel like they would easily recognise the actor in the film and this makes my poster more effective.
I also thought that in order to make the poster more constructive I needed to make the font also bold to stand out .
I thought to go with the colour schemes black and red because the colours look secretive and scary which would attract the target audience.
The title of the poster is 'The Blackberry' because after my group and I finished creating the film trailer we decided on 'The Blackberry' as the title.
I thought to use the image of one of the characters as this will make the vewier feel like they would easily recognise the actor in the film and this makes my poster more effective.
I also thought that in order to make the poster more constructive I needed to make the font also bold to stand out .
I thought to go with the colour schemes black and red because the colours look secretive and scary which would attract the target audience.
Re-Editing The Blackberry
After creating the trailer, we decided to post it on sites like Facebook in order to have the target audience to look at it and leave a comment on what they think of it and areas which could be improved.
The audience seemed to be impressed by the trailer and were not so critical, however there was a samll group of people who pointed out on areas that could have been improved. These areas were:
The running scene -where the male character was running from 'danger'. It was said to have been long and could have lost the interest of the viewer.
Cutting out music that was not needed or that was not placed at the right position. If the music was at the wrong position, it would not have got the right message across or even send out the correct genre.
Cutting the screaming scene down - where the male character was running away from 'danger'. This was a problem because when filming the character made a very loud noise when screaming that the camera captured the scream before she opened her mouth.
We needed to make the sound sync with the visuals in order for the trailer to be more effective. We made these changes in so the trailer to be more effecitve and capture the audience and make them want to see the film.
The audience seemed to be impressed by the trailer and were not so critical, however there was a samll group of people who pointed out on areas that could have been improved. These areas were:
The running scene -where the male character was running from 'danger'. It was said to have been long and could have lost the interest of the viewer.
Cutting out music that was not needed or that was not placed at the right position. If the music was at the wrong position, it would not have got the right message across or even send out the correct genre.
Cutting the screaming scene down - where the male character was running away from 'danger'. This was a problem because when filming the character made a very loud noise when screaming that the camera captured the scream before she opened her mouth.
We needed to make the sound sync with the visuals in order for the trailer to be more effective. We made these changes in so the trailer to be more effecitve and capture the audience and make them want to see the film.
Alternative Ending
After filming the first part of the trailer, we found out that a few of our characters were not prepared to film the end scenes of the trailer for example the bathroom scene. Another problem we had is that we also could not find a suitable location to film that scene as the location we had selected was being renovated.
We decided to look that the storyline and see if there was anyway we could change the end scene.
We decided that we would film in the forest instead where we could have each of the characters all together, then slowing dissappearing. We decided we would have this as an ending because the forest was avaliable and because it was autumn, the weather made the scene look scary. We characters were also happy with this ending.
We decided to look that the storyline and see if there was anyway we could change the end scene.
We decided that we would film in the forest instead where we could have each of the characters all together, then slowing dissappearing. We decided we would have this as an ending because the forest was avaliable and because it was autumn, the weather made the scene look scary. We characters were also happy with this ending.
Character Profile
The attacker (main actor) - Daniel De Franca & Claudio De Franca
stereotypical ''geek''
Fighter 1 - Jake Robinson
stereotypical materialistic popular boy
Fighter 2 - Jordan Stock
stereotypical materialistic popular boy
Fighter 3 - Claudio De Franca
stereotypical materialistic popular boy
The Victims are the same characters as the fighters as the main character (actor) seeks revenge on the 'victims' as they were the people who attacked him.
The actor (main character) is the stereotypical 'nerd' who does everything he is told, while the fighters/victims are the stereotypical popular 'bad boys' who rebel and do as they wish.
stereotypical ''geek''
Fighter 1 - Jake Robinson
stereotypical materialistic popular boy
Fighter 2 - Jordan Stock
stereotypical materialistic popular boy
Fighter 3 - Claudio De Franca
stereotypical materialistic popular boy
The Victims are the same characters as the fighters as the main character (actor) seeks revenge on the 'victims' as they were the people who attacked him.
The actor (main character) is the stereotypical 'nerd' who does everything he is told, while the fighters/victims are the stereotypical popular 'bad boys' who rebel and do as they wish.
Costumes for actors
The attacker (main actor) - Daniel De Franca & Claudio De Franca
This character would need to dress in dark clothing so their face and features are not seen. The when filming they would wear a black hoodie and dark/ black coloured trousers.
Fighter 1 - Jake Robinson
This character would need to dress in dark clothing too, however they need to be able to be seen, for example if they were dark trousers they would need to wear a grey hoodie or coat. This would be done so that the audience would be able to see the difference between the attacker and the fighter.
Fighter 2 - Jordan Stock
This character would also dress in dark clothing as they too would be the fighter. They wear a dark coloured hoodie - most probably dark grey, or brown. This would be done in order to differenciate between the attacker and fighter.
Fighter 3 - Claudio De Franca
This character would also dress in dark clothing as they too would be the fighter. They would wear grey or brown hoodie or jacket just like the rest of the fighters. This actor would also carry a 'baseball bat' in order to look intimidating and scary and in order to show that they are about to cause trouble.
Victim 1 - Joy Kamau
This victim would be wearing normal clothing. She will wear a white top and a black cardigan. She would would be doing her make up in the bathroom getting ready to meet her friends.
Victim 2 - Daniel Thomas
This character would be wear a grey jacket and some plain trousers in order for it to look like its a normal day for them. They would also be carrying a bag pack in order for it to look that they are on their way going somewhere.
Victim 3 - Kojo Appia
This character would also be wearing normal clothing for the same reason. They would wear dark trousers and a jacket.
Victim 4 - Silva
This character would wear dark trousers with a jacket and a scarf. This would make the scene look they were going on about their day to day issues.
Victim 5 - Claudio De Franca
This character would wear normal clothing too. They would wear dark trousers and a jacket.
This character would need to dress in dark clothing so their face and features are not seen. The when filming they would wear a black hoodie and dark/ black coloured trousers.
Fighter 1 - Jake Robinson
This character would need to dress in dark clothing too, however they need to be able to be seen, for example if they were dark trousers they would need to wear a grey hoodie or coat. This would be done so that the audience would be able to see the difference between the attacker and the fighter.
Fighter 2 - Jordan Stock
This character would also dress in dark clothing as they too would be the fighter. They wear a dark coloured hoodie - most probably dark grey, or brown. This would be done in order to differenciate between the attacker and fighter.
Fighter 3 - Claudio De Franca
This character would also dress in dark clothing as they too would be the fighter. They would wear grey or brown hoodie or jacket just like the rest of the fighters. This actor would also carry a 'baseball bat' in order to look intimidating and scary and in order to show that they are about to cause trouble.
Victim 1 - Joy Kamau
This victim would be wearing normal clothing. She will wear a white top and a black cardigan. She would would be doing her make up in the bathroom getting ready to meet her friends.
Victim 2 - Daniel Thomas
This character would be wear a grey jacket and some plain trousers in order for it to look like its a normal day for them. They would also be carrying a bag pack in order for it to look that they are on their way going somewhere.
Victim 3 - Kojo Appia
This character would also be wearing normal clothing for the same reason. They would wear dark trousers and a jacket.
Victim 4 - Silva
This character would wear dark trousers with a jacket and a scarf. This would make the scene look they were going on about their day to day issues.
Victim 5 - Claudio De Franca
This character would wear normal clothing too. They would wear dark trousers and a jacket.
Main Storyline
We decided go to with the horror genre and we decided to use 'BlackBerry' as our main focus for the trailer. We thought this would make it more effective, as 'BlackBerry' is a common phone for our target audience.
The 'BlackBerry' story is about a boy who used to get bullied for most of his life. He was isolated, had no way of getting help and was left with no choice but to fight back through a 'killing' broadcast.
One day as he walked home in the dark, he was confronted with a group of boys who had always bullied him. After they attacked him, he thought that it would be the right time to attack back.
He knew they all had a BlackBerry, he would use that as a way of revenge. He got himself a Blackberry and made each attacker pay for the pain they caused him.
The 'BlackBerry' story is about a boy who used to get bullied for most of his life. He was isolated, had no way of getting help and was left with no choice but to fight back through a 'killing' broadcast.
One day as he walked home in the dark, he was confronted with a group of boys who had always bullied him. After they attacked him, he thought that it would be the right time to attack back.
He knew they all had a BlackBerry, he would use that as a way of revenge. He got himself a Blackberry and made each attacker pay for the pain they caused him.
Storyboarding
Below is the storyboard that we created. They are quite simple but have all the information on the angles, shots and the order for it to be put together when editing.
Schedule
These were our Filming days
23rd November 2010 - First scene (fighting scene) - characters needed: Attacker and all the fighters
26th November 2010 - Victim in the bathroom - characters needed: acttacker and one victim (Joy) - Attacker typing on the Blackberry - characters needed: acttacker
28th November 2010 - Victims walking into the forest - characters needed: all the victims
1st December 2010 - Victims in the forest - characters needed: all the victims and the attacker
4th December 2010 - Victims in the forest - characters needed: all the victims and the attacker Editing days
6th December 2010 - load everything that was filmed and put it in order according to the storyboard
8th December 2010 - delete clips that are not needed to make it easier to edit the ones needed
10th December 2010 - edit the needed clips and add sound/music
13th December 2010 - finalise the trailer
23rd November 2010 - First scene (fighting scene) - characters needed: Attacker and all the fighters
26th November 2010 - Victim in the bathroom - characters needed: acttacker and one victim (Joy) - Attacker typing on the Blackberry - characters needed: acttacker
28th November 2010 - Victims walking into the forest - characters needed: all the victims
1st December 2010 - Victims in the forest - characters needed: all the victims and the attacker
4th December 2010 - Victims in the forest - characters needed: all the victims and the attacker Editing days
6th December 2010 - load everything that was filmed and put it in order according to the storyboard
8th December 2010 - delete clips that are not needed to make it easier to edit the ones needed
10th December 2010 - edit the needed clips and add sound/music
13th December 2010 - finalise the trailer
Monday, 14 February 2011
Walk around school
For this media task, we had to create an un-edited short film of a tour at St.Marks. Our aim was to incorporate the information of the facilities and subjects to new students through our ideas and skill of camera shots. We got into groups and were asked to produce a film of this topic that was no longer than 10 minutes. In our group of 3, including me, we exchanged our ideas and decided on our roles for this production. It consisted of a camera-man and a interviewee/guide. This way each of us participated in a certain way and contributed for the film. We aimed our short tour at new students that we hoped they would be persuaded in approaching St.Marks as their choice. We decided to create a simple and informal film, this way we were ensured that we could get that persuasion and positive feeling for this school as those new students would feel relaxed and not pressured as other tours can make them feel. We used many camera shots such as; wide shot, dolly shot, swish pam shot, over the shoulder shot and more. This helped show our skills using a camera and to improve our professionalism we used a tripod in some scenes to get rid of any shakiness. We weren't allowed to do any editing or changes to the film but it still looked good and understandable. I'm looking forward to do some more filming and hopefully use some editing software. This will definitely improve and help us create a better video than this one.
Monday, 10 January 2011
Planning: Final Trailer Synopsis
For our final production, our group decided to produce a horror trailer based on a “Black Berry”. We were inspired to create this horror trailer by a film called “One missed call” which also included ideas similar to ours. We chose this genre as we felt it suited our skills and also appealed to our young targeted audience aged 15 and above. Our trailer consists of six characters of different ages and gender. Each one of our characters plays a unique role that helps to bring our trailer together. In relation to Goodwin’s theory, we have decided to follow the idea of the relationship between the music and the visuals. As well as this, we influenced our own ideas into the making and planning of the trailer using more of Goodwin’s Theory.
Advanced Portfolio Planning
In our lesson today, we were set our task and given guidelines and deadlines.
The guidelines included the things we could include and provide such as:
- evidence of research into similar products and potential targets
- evidence of organistaion of actors, locations, costumes and props
- provide storyboarding, scripting, drafting and layouts
- time management
- communication skills
For our advanced portfolio, we have decided to create a film trailer as we think it would be better for us as a group, because we enjoyed creating the sweded film trailer and proved to be good at it and we fell like we have the skills necessary to do so.
We have looked at a few different film genres and kept a close eye on the techniques used to show the genre and on how trailers are created to for their target audience.
The guidelines included the things we could include and provide such as:
- evidence of research into similar products and potential targets
- evidence of organistaion of actors, locations, costumes and props
- provide storyboarding, scripting, drafting and layouts
- time management
- communication skills
For our advanced portfolio, we have decided to create a film trailer as we think it would be better for us as a group, because we enjoyed creating the sweded film trailer and proved to be good at it and we fell like we have the skills necessary to do so.
We have looked at a few different film genres and kept a close eye on the techniques used to show the genre and on how trailers are created to for their target audience.
Analysing Film Trailers
The first video we looked at was 'Sorority Row'. We looked at this trailer because it featured young people, which we would be using in our trailer and it was of the same genre; horror/thriller.
The trailer first began with the young people having fun and enjoying themselves, which lead to them choosing to play a game which went wrong.
The trailer first starts with equilbrium, then a problem arises, which all the characters are involved, it creates tension and excitment leaving the audience wanting to find out more.
The second trailer we looked at was 'When a stranger calls'. We looked at this trailer because it involved the use of mobile phones, of which we were planning to do for our trailer. The trailer also featured the caller using a unknown number. This was a good idea which did not identify who the attacker is.
This trailer began immediately with the danger and this was potrayed through the choice of music used for the opening.
This trailer had quick cuts to continue to keep the audience interested and wanting to find out more as it left them hanging.
Another trailer that we looked at was 'Prom Night'. We looked at this trailer because it also involved the use of young people and it had the same genre; thriller.
This trailer also began with the equilbruim and then a problem happening.
The use of music created the tension and left the audience wanting more. It also had quick cut which matched with the genre.
All the trailers used Goodwin's theory of the relationship between the music and the visuals. We also planned to use this as it seemed to work well in the trailers and help the audience understand the story line more.
The trailer first began with the young people having fun and enjoying themselves, which lead to them choosing to play a game which went wrong.
The trailer first starts with equilbrium, then a problem arises, which all the characters are involved, it creates tension and excitment leaving the audience wanting to find out more.
The second trailer we looked at was 'When a stranger calls'. We looked at this trailer because it involved the use of mobile phones, of which we were planning to do for our trailer. The trailer also featured the caller using a unknown number. This was a good idea which did not identify who the attacker is.
This trailer began immediately with the danger and this was potrayed through the choice of music used for the opening.
This trailer had quick cuts to continue to keep the audience interested and wanting to find out more as it left them hanging.
Another trailer that we looked at was 'Prom Night'. We looked at this trailer because it also involved the use of young people and it had the same genre; thriller.
This trailer also began with the equilbruim and then a problem happening.
The use of music created the tension and left the audience wanting more. It also had quick cut which matched with the genre.
All the trailers used Goodwin's theory of the relationship between the music and the visuals. We also planned to use this as it seemed to work well in the trailers and help the audience understand the story line more.
"By the time I get to Phoenix" Music video/ Evaluation
For this task, we were put in to groups and asked to create a music video of a given song. My group were given the song "By the time i get to phoenix by Glen Campbell.
Before starting the production of our music video, we decided to research it further so that we could get a feel of what genre the song was in as well as the time in which the music might have been produced. Looking at the original music video, we came to a conclusion that it was too boring and olden. The original video only focused on the main character and we found that boring as well. Below is the link to the original video by Glen campbell.
Before filming our version of the video, we decided to modernise it a bit but still keep it in black and white. This would help keep the olden day age effect but have clips from our modern age. We planned our video on a story board and went through the different camrea angles we might use as well as the different effects.
Using Goodwin's theory, we decided to include shots of the main character/Artist. This ensured that the main character was clearly portrayed to the audience. Another Goodwin's theory technique that was used, was the link between the lyrics and the visual. Our music video did not only have shots of the main character but also included a story line.
Our version of the music video, included an establishing shot, zooming in and out shots, medium shots, long shots and close ups. We tried our best to include as many shots as possible to help make it look more professional and neat. As well as filming, we were then given the task to edit our finished videos. Our group included transitions and the black and white theme. We also included scenes that slowed down bits of our video.
When evaluating our music video, I would say that the stability of our shots were quite good and constant as we used a tripod for most of our shots. We also made sure we shot clips in different areas, therfore giving our video a good misce en scene. We finally posted our finished video on youtube. I have attached a link of our video below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZum2JXg4VY&feature=fvsr
Before starting the production of our music video, we decided to research it further so that we could get a feel of what genre the song was in as well as the time in which the music might have been produced. Looking at the original music video, we came to a conclusion that it was too boring and olden. The original video only focused on the main character and we found that boring as well. Below is the link to the original video by Glen campbell.
Before filming our version of the video, we decided to modernise it a bit but still keep it in black and white. This would help keep the olden day age effect but have clips from our modern age. We planned our video on a story board and went through the different camrea angles we might use as well as the different effects.
Using Goodwin's theory, we decided to include shots of the main character/Artist. This ensured that the main character was clearly portrayed to the audience. Another Goodwin's theory technique that was used, was the link between the lyrics and the visual. Our music video did not only have shots of the main character but also included a story line.
Our version of the music video, included an establishing shot, zooming in and out shots, medium shots, long shots and close ups. We tried our best to include as many shots as possible to help make it look more professional and neat. As well as filming, we were then given the task to edit our finished videos. Our group included transitions and the black and white theme. We also included scenes that slowed down bits of our video.
When evaluating our music video, I would say that the stability of our shots were quite good and constant as we used a tripod for most of our shots. We also made sure we shot clips in different areas, therfore giving our video a good misce en scene. We finally posted our finished video on youtube. I have attached a link of our video below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZum2JXg4VY&feature=fvsr
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)