In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
With my media product being a website, it is very hard to talk about how it develops and challenges forms and conventions of real media products in the same way you would for a film or a tv show. Despite this, there are some very clear ways in which my final product challenges the forms and conventions of similar products, including websites from companies and corporations such as the BBC.
Before I started creating my media product, I researched a lot of different television channels and their accompanying websites, looking into how the websites were designed and how fitting the websites were when compared to the design and colour scheme of the channel itself. From what I noticed during the research stages, the majority of the television channels all shared the same type of colour schemes, using very plain, light and pale colours throughout their whole designs, including their websites. These colours mixed with black and white created designs which were very easy on the eyes and could be viewed for long amounts of time easily, perfect for websites which aim to keep their viewers on their websites for as long as possible. The majority of the websites I researched all tended to have the same layout to their website as well. This may be for many reasons, including the fact that if the majority of the websites share similar designs, it makes it easier to navigate them once you are used to browsing one of the websites. This may also be the case because of the already existing web conventions that many websites follow. These conventions include things that make browsing websites easily accessible, with clear menus and layouts, so it is clear to tell which areas are the main content sections and which sections to read last. The majority of websites on the internet tend to follow these design conventions in one form or another, as they are the main way to appeal to the audience with ease of use and functionality of website.
I took all of these into consideration whilst creating my final product, and stuck with some of the conventions, whilst also challenging some of the other standards. I decided to keep the layout of the website that I was creating the same as many already existing websites, following the conventions used in web design today. This included having a clear navigation throughout the whole website and clear distinctions between the main content and the additional content on the webpages, such as in the sidebars and in the footer of the pages. Having the same design website as many already very popular websites ensured that I kept with something that I knew was already popular and works well with the audience, steering clear of any issues with the website if I had chosen a more unique layout for my website.
For the colours and design of the website, I chose to go against the convention and the norm, choosing something a little brighter than normal. Rather than using very plain and very toned down colours, I have used a selection of rather bright and colourful colours, which stand out against the white areas of the webpage, creating a contrasting design. Also, I chose to have a revolving colour scheme throughout the website, so that the colours used for the links and the background changes with every page. This tends to go against most already existing website designs, as they tend to stick with the one fixed background image or colour and the one colour for links and text throughout the site. I chose to do this do help make my final product stand out more, making it more lively, much like the television channel I have created.
Unlike many television channels that specialise in just one genre of programmes, such as Comedy Central and the Discovery Channel, I chose to focus on a smaller and more detailed genre. Due to this, I chose to base my channel on the mocumentary genre, basing all of the content on this genre and its relevant views and ideas. This goes against the convention of many channels that either base their channel on a rather large, easily coverable genre or not base it on any genre at all, instead choosing to cover all types of television.
In conclusion, my final media product challenges many conventions in order to create its unique design and view, whilst also following many conventions within web design, creating a final product that is both unique and easy to use and follow, like many of the already existing television channel websites.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
I believe that my main product and the ancillary texts are very strongly connected in my piece of coursework that I produced. The main task was to produce a website for a fictional television station, which I completed. However, the website needed more than just the creation of the website to make it a realistic and believable experience – like those already existing television channels and their websites. The launch of a new television channel is often highly publicised in all forms of the media – not just on television. An example of this is when Five launched its new line of channels, including FIVE USA and Five Life. These were advertised for weeks within magazines and on the internet, as well as on their already running channels.
For this reason, I felt that the ancillary tasks needed almost as much effort as the main product, so that they are as realistic as possible. One area if focused on was getting the same style running throughout both the main product and the ancillary tasks. This included using the same colour schemes and the same fonts for any text used, so that it would be clear that the two are strongly linked. I also made the connection between the website and the channel on more than one occasion, with information displayed at the bottom of the poster and advert, including the fictional website address and the relevant television channels.
For this reason, I felt that the ancillary tasks needed almost as much effort as the main product, so that they are as realistic as possible. One area if focused on was getting the same style running throughout both the main product and the ancillary tasks. This included using the same colour schemes and the same fonts for any text used, so that it would be clear that the two are strongly linked. I also made the connection between the website and the channel on more than one occasion, with information displayed at the bottom of the poster and advert, including the fictional website address and the relevant television channels.
I believe that it is clear to anyone that both my main product and my ancillary tasks are linked together and that the combination of the two helps create a realistic and strong advertising campaign for the new television channel that I created.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Before I produced my final product and the ancillary tasks, I completed a lot of research into already existing websites and what type of product I would create. This research included gaining the opinion of the target audience, in the form of a vox pop and survey. For the vox pop, which is short for Vox Populi, meaning “voice of the people”, I travelled to Norwich and asked members of the public their opinion on certain things, including how useful and appealing some already exisiting television channel websites were. This was recorded on video using a camera phone and later uploaded onto our blogs.
The Vox Populi idea is a good way to gain an audience’s opinion on a subject, but did not work well for me, as it was incredibly hard to get quick responses and opinions from people on something like the design of a website and people were quickly put off from answering the questions. This added to the fact that many did not want to be filmed or have their voices recorded, I was only able to record two full interviews with the public.
After this failed attempt, I chose to gain the audience’s feedback in a more simple form, by asking people to fill in a questionnaire, available online and in paper form, about the functionality and design of a few examples of television websites. The results were then combined and analysed to see what the overall opinion was on certain important features of a website.
This form of research worked well for me and gave me a good idea on what the public, and my intended audience, thought of certain things that are used in web design, allowing me to design my product in a way that it appeals to the audience that it was intended for. Plus with the two vox pop recordings that I managed to collect, it created a visual form of representing the public’s opinion, that I could display on my blog and use in the process.
This form of research worked well for me and gave me a good idea on what the public, and my intended audience, thought of certain things that are used in web design, allowing me to design my product in a way that it appeals to the audience that it was intended for. Plus with the two vox pop recordings that I managed to collect, it created a visual form of representing the public’s opinion, that I could display on my blog and use in the process.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and
evaluation stages?
Media technologies and the use of them have played a major role in all of the stages of my work, whilst creating my main product and the related ancillary tasks. However, I believe that these new technologies played the biggest part during the construction and research stages of the work.
Whilst conducting research for my product, I used many different technologies to gain the opinions of others. Whilst out on the streets completing my vox pop, I used a range of different pieces of equipment to record the opinions of those I was interviewing, including a portable mic and even a camera phone. Without these simple pieces of equipment, it would have been impossible to truly record their opinions in a way that is sharable to others, apart from simply writing down the results and typing them up later. I also created a survey for people to fill out on a survey-hosting website, then used social networking to promote this and help spread the word. This was a time saving way of gaining the opinions of others and was in a form other than the standard paper-based survey. These two instances show that modern day technologies can help make even the simplest tasks quicker and easier, with clearer results that are easily shared with others, such as on a blog.
During the planning stages of the production, I used many pieces of software to help create models and plans of my final product. The main piece of software I used was Photoshop CS4, as it allowed me create plans and drawings quickly and easily, with the help of my drawing tablet. These plans started off as rough, black and white sketches and then became more detailed, coloured drawings as the pieces of work were put together, making the finished product. Another piece of technology I used whilst planning my product was the internet and a certain few websites. These websites are showcases of already existing websites, showing off the web creations and helping to give ideas and inspiration to many. I used these websites greatly, looking at which designs were the highest rated and which colours worked the best, so that I could use them in my own production. They also helped me when coding the website that I created, as they helped me with new parts of the code that I had not used before.
Throughout the creation stages of my production, I used many different pieces of software and tools to create the webpages and the content within them. The main tool I used throughout this stage was Dreamweaver CS4. This was the main program that I coded all of the web pages in as it was available for both Mac and PC, so I could continue my work at home or when I was not in the media studies computer room. I also heavily used Photoshop, as it allowed me to quickly develop graphics and images to be included in the website, whilst coding. Although there are alternatives to these pieces of software, both paid and free versions, the Adobe software was vital in creating high class products in a short space of time, using their unique features and tools within the software.
During the evaluation stages, I relied on my blog quite heavily, as all of my work and writings were posted on it for everyone to see and evaluate. This allowed people to easily see and comment on what I had done, without me having to individually send the work to all of the people, saving time for everyone. However, the one issue with this is that the blog network was not available at all times, particularly whilst I was at school, preventing me from uploading new content when I wished. This also prevented many from seeing my work, as their only chance was to check it during school and in lessons, stopping me from receiving as much feedback. Apart from this, the whole concept of using a blog to share your creations is a very good thing and has helped throughout my production, including the evaluation stages.
Compared to my AS work, I have used significantly more media technologies this year, and have taken advantage of those technologies more and more as I progressed through my work, including the ability to share my work with everyone on the blog, the easiness of gaining peoples opinions through the use of online surveys and questionnaires and the advancement in new features and tools in programs such as Photoshop and Dreamweaver. All of this together has meant that my work has been taken to a level that I could not reach with my AS work, due to the lack of technology available that time round. This has in turn allowed me to create a better final product, using the resources available.
