Evaluation of Production Essay Example for Free

Evaluation of Production Essay In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? My five minute documentary preview, a view on the current influences Vivienne Westwood brings to Londons youth culture incorporates generic conventions, which are developed by comparing other real media products. To enable the use of codes and conventions, I watched different documentaries. It was difficult to conduct research that had a similar genre to my documentary however watching any documentary helped me gain some visual experience when it came to framing, layout and lighting etc. One documentary that I liked and paid particular focus on was the BBC documentary Michael Jacksons influence on Black Culture. In my opinion this documentary somehow related to mine as they both look at influences on a certain culture. I often paid attention to the framing of each shot to help me establish how a documentary should be filmed and then taking into account the conventions I learnt, and using them in my documentary to result in a professional look. One of the conventions I used was formal interviews. When filming the interviews i had to learn how to frame them accurately, and therefore i had take into account the position on the interviewee. In order to do this I used the rule of thirds. Rather than having the interviewee looking straight into the camera, the eye line is positioned slightly to the side looking opposite at the interviewer. While expressing their views it shows that the interviewee is having a direct conversation with the interviewer making it look as formal as possible. On the right side of the frame, i left room for any names that need to be added. In most real media documentaries the setting is quite apparent, there is not usually too much of a distraction behind the interviewee. Therefore whilst filming my documentary i tried to keep the background fairly ordinary in order to prevent the audience losing their concentration and instead to focus on the interviewee. During the plannnng of my documentary the idea i had in mind was very vague. However after having researched more and having got hold of some contacts that would be of use in the documentary, my ideas started to develop and change, resulting into a real plan that would have depth by including a beginning, middle and end. I had planned to go to different locations ie. Oxford street, Camden Town, Covent Garden etc where i would be able to find individuals that came from different sub cultures and interview them on the spot about their fashion sense and what it says about them. However when i captured it i noticed that the sound recording didnt come out clear enough and the wind came about as a problem because the equipment wasnt professional, therefore the microphone picked up every background sound. As a result, these different technical problems led to a lack of informal interviews. Furthermore, it was a trouble getting informal interviews as many people who I had approached refused to be in the interview. This issue was very frustrating as it was a hassle carrying the equipment around for nothing. I had also contacted Vivienne Westwood to see if she was willing to do an interview and other organisations such as the VA however they were not available to take part. On the other hand, I managed to get one informal interview that was successful, as well as getting hold of and contacting my own contacts who were reasonably effective to the documentary. The documentary starts off with the use of a presenter, who establishes and lets the audience know what they will explore throughout the documentary. As the documentary mainly consists of formal interviews there was no need for a presenter throughout the rest of the documentary. I wanted to use the convention of archive footage within the documentary. Using Clips of Vivienne Westwood that I would not have been able to obtain myself, i believe would have added more facts and information to the documentary, yet I wasnt sure if this would have got in the way of copyright so for this reason i decided not to include it. Moreover, the same issue came about when choosing which music to add to the documentary. It was hard to choose the right music that would fit with the context of the documentary as most of it was too clichi which was distracting from the interviews. However to overcome this problem i searched more around different genres and was able to find a suitable track that bonded well with the documentary. For my ancillary tasks I attempted to focus on ways that would be effective to the audience first and relate it to their needs. I was asked to make a poster that would advertise my documentary as well as a radio trailer for verbal advertisement. It is important to promote your product in order to tell the audience when it will be shown or a clue on what it will be based upon; similarly the radio trailer will give the audience an insight to the documentary and give them an idea on what will be said as well as an idea of its topic. I aimed to make both effective and accurate that relate to my documentary. In terms of my poster I would say it fits in with the content of the documentary as the documentary portrays how Vivienne Westwood started out, and explains the influences she has had on the current youth culture in London as well as how she has inspired many individuals. Therefore to demonstrate this through a poster I used a black white effect on Vivienne Westwood and in her body, placed colourful images of the different sub cultures that represent her influences. The contrast in colours makes the poster stand out and grab the audiences interest. The image of the different individuals representing a diversity of trends In the current culture of London fashion are the people that would have been interviewed if my documentary was longer, however it would be relatively insignificant to do this as it is only a 5 min clip. My other ancillary task, the radio trailer, was slightly harder in my opinion, as I had to not only inform the audience but also make it sound persuasive to raise awareness of the documentary. In order to make my trailer effective I looked back over my documentary and used sound clips from my interviews that would be useful in the trailer to give it a sense of reality and direction. For the script I wanted to make it sound catchy so the audience would not get bored and distracted. In order to do this I used short sentences that informed the listeners about the main details of the documentary. I had to make sure it was well written with the use of appropriate English so that it will appeal to the majority. I believe there is a strong link between the ancillary tasks and the main product as they all portray a similar style. By keeping a similar style, in my opinion I think this shows continuity throughout. In terms of audience feedback, I have learnt that the audience help me establish the positive and negative parts about my documentary. I believe that it is important to take the audience into consideration while making a documentary as they are the ones who are viewing it therefore it should be made to suit their needs. My aim was to complete the documentary to the best of my ability, in order to please the audience. When the documentary was complete I played it to the class where both students and teachers shared their opinions. The feedback that I received was mainly positive and detailed; though of course there were also criticisms. I believe it is essential to listen carefully and take in all criticisms as they will come in use for my future work and help me learn from my mistakes when making new media products. One of the many things the audience liked was the information and facts which the documentary showed and the fact that there were different sides to the story. I am pleased with this as it was my purpose to create not only a documentary that was informing but also showing different opinions and beliefs. I think this shows a sense of realism. Another point that the audience liked was the idea of one of the interviewees being filmed in front of a police station. This was interesting because the interviewee is seen to be a rebel; therefore juxtaposing the two was attractive. Overall I am pleased with my final product as the audience have shown interest in my documentary. To a certain extent, I believe there is a fair range of camera shots and techniques used throughout but there could always be room for improvement From start to finish, I used different types of new media technologies in order to help my research and planning stages through to the construction of my project. The main technology I used was the internet. This helped me when I was at the stage of researching and planning, as it was a quick and easy way to access all kinds of information that I needed. Firstly, the popular search engine Google, allowed me to carry out primary and secondary data. It helped me get information on the different locations and institutions that I found interesting such as The Fashion and Textiles museum, The London College of Fashion etc. It helped me gather information for my planning stage. Secondly, having access to email was very convenient. It was an easy way of allowing me to communicate with others by sending and receiving instant information where I could access it either my phone or computer. It helped me make sure everything was organised and arranged. Thirdly, before I started filming my documentary I had to know the specific conventions of documentaries therefore I wanted to watch a lot of different documentaries. I would usually watch BBC1 and channel 4 however instead of waiting for the documentary to come on Television; YouTube gave me instant access with a range of choices. During my project I had to present each stage of my planning and research. I used Microsoft PowerPoint to do this. PowerPoint, is easy to use and is a good way of presenting information in a clear and understandable way. I used Final Cut Express to create both my documentary and radio trailer. I enjoyed using this software as I was able to expand my skills and learn new ones by using different tools. One of the skills I learnt were putting footage over interviews and playing them simultaneously. I am now able to use voice over when recording sound and other tools when editing the sequence. I believe that from this it has given me more confidence to use the software because I now have the ability to structure a timeline and create a story giving it a narrative. Using Adobe Photoshop for my Poster was not so easy as it was my first time using the software, nevertheless with some practice and hard work I managed to complete my poster successfully. I not only completed it but used media technology to do so. I am satisfied that I have gained new skills. For the title of my poster I used a site called DAfont I found this site effective because it had a wider selection of fonts that I could choose from that suited with the overall image of my poster For my interviews it was important that I knew how to go out and actually use a camera. To make sure everything was perfect; I practiced with my partner before shooting. I can definitely say that my camera skills have broadened through learning how to properly take out a camera and attach it to a microphone, tripod and headphones while at the same time making sure the faming and sound is correct. All these new media technologies supported the research, planning and construction of my production project.