Tuesday, 14 January 2014
Evaluation 3 - What Have You Learned from your Audience Feedback?
Gaining audience feedback has been integral to the outcomes of my coursework as a lot of the edits or adjustments I have made have been a direct result of the comments people have given me. Here is how audience feedback has helped with each final piece.
Film
Throughout the process of creating my coursework I have constantly been thinking about what my target audience wants. As a teen girl myself I am effectively a member of my target audience so I initially created my film the way I wanted it knowing I would watch it. However, it became clear as I progressed that I was becoming too familiar with the film to make accurate judgements about things like, was the writing in the second conversation scene understandable or was it just that I knew what they were saying? It was in these situations that I found audience feedback the most useful.
After completing the first draft of my film I asked my target audience 6 questions that would help me ascertain what was confusing or needed improving.
These were:
What are your overall impressions?
Pretty cool
I liked the flash back in the park scene
In scene 1 who do you look at?
The bullies and then Kyra
Is text scene 1 too long?
No but you don’t know who is talking.
How could I make it more obvious that Kyra is speaking first?
Put the names on or move the text for Kyra next to her
Could you understand what was going on in conversation scene?
Yes, and I liked the effect
Do you like the music I have chosen at the moment?
Yes
Their answers helped me because it meant I could adapt my film to the wants of my target audience and get a fuller insight into whether the effects I had been using were working in the way I wanted them to.
The second time I asked members of my audience to watch my film I chose not to ask them specific questions. Instead I asked them for any comments at the end of the showing. This meant I didn't get as direct answers for improvements but it helped me in other ways as they pointed out things I hadn't realised were happening. For example, when someone told me that they liked the way the focus shifted to Emily when she was tying to say sorry.
Poster
I found that one of the areas of the process I relied most heavily on audience feedback was with the creation of my two subsidiary tasks. Most of my feedback came from asking people in person what they thought but there were some occasions where this wasn't possible. It was then that I took advantage of social media and asked people over Facebook for their opinions.
After creating several drafts of my poster I did just this and sent an image of my poster to three friends. I chose again to opt for specific questions as I felt this was the best way to get feedback on changes that could be made. Here are the answers I got:
Do you think this poster advertises my short film well?
1. Yes
2. Yes, I love it. I like the faded green colour
3. Yeah, definitely
What could I do to improve it?
1. The title needs to be more noticable - perhaps change the colour, typeface or make it bigger Make the small middle image less noticable as it distracts from the other things on the poster Make the small bottom image clearer
2. I don't think there is anything really
3. No I don't think so
Again, the feedback I received was useful as I had become to familiar with the poster and overlooked simple things like the fact that the title was too small. After this I continued to ask for feedback from my peers, teachers and family as, with formatting, I found that people not from my target audience were just as eligible to help me decide on colours and positioning.
Magazine Review Page
You will notice the amount of drafts I made for this piece are fewer than for my poster. This worried me so I kept asking my teachers and family for feedback as I thought there was something really obvious I was missing. They assured me that it didn't matter I had so few drafts as sometimes the layout works first time however, they did give me some useful pointers regarding fonts etc. I believe the reason I created so few drafts is because I have had experience at AS creating a magazine double page spread and so knew the basic conventions already.
To conclude, I have found all the audience feedback I received extremely useful as I had often become to familiar with the pieces and begun overlooking simple things that needed adjusting. Had I not used audience feedback this would have hindered the outcomes as they wouldn't have been completed to the best standard possible.
Film
Throughout the process of creating my coursework I have constantly been thinking about what my target audience wants. As a teen girl myself I am effectively a member of my target audience so I initially created my film the way I wanted it knowing I would watch it. However, it became clear as I progressed that I was becoming too familiar with the film to make accurate judgements about things like, was the writing in the second conversation scene understandable or was it just that I knew what they were saying? It was in these situations that I found audience feedback the most useful.
After completing the first draft of my film I asked my target audience 6 questions that would help me ascertain what was confusing or needed improving.
These were:
What are your overall impressions?
Pretty cool
I liked the flash back in the park scene
In scene 1 who do you look at?
The bullies and then Kyra
Is text scene 1 too long?
No but you don’t know who is talking.
How could I make it more obvious that Kyra is speaking first?
Put the names on or move the text for Kyra next to her
Could you understand what was going on in conversation scene?
Yes, and I liked the effect
Do you like the music I have chosen at the moment?
Yes
Their answers helped me because it meant I could adapt my film to the wants of my target audience and get a fuller insight into whether the effects I had been using were working in the way I wanted them to.
The second time I asked members of my audience to watch my film I chose not to ask them specific questions. Instead I asked them for any comments at the end of the showing. This meant I didn't get as direct answers for improvements but it helped me in other ways as they pointed out things I hadn't realised were happening. For example, when someone told me that they liked the way the focus shifted to Emily when she was tying to say sorry.
Poster
I found that one of the areas of the process I relied most heavily on audience feedback was with the creation of my two subsidiary tasks. Most of my feedback came from asking people in person what they thought but there were some occasions where this wasn't possible. It was then that I took advantage of social media and asked people over Facebook for their opinions.
After creating several drafts of my poster I did just this and sent an image of my poster to three friends. I chose again to opt for specific questions as I felt this was the best way to get feedback on changes that could be made. Here are the answers I got:
Do you think this poster advertises my short film well?
1. Yes
2. Yes, I love it. I like the faded green colour
3. Yeah, definitely
What could I do to improve it?
1. The title needs to be more noticable - perhaps change the colour, typeface or make it bigger Make the small middle image less noticable as it distracts from the other things on the poster Make the small bottom image clearer
2. I don't think there is anything really
3. No I don't think so
Again, the feedback I received was useful as I had become to familiar with the poster and overlooked simple things like the fact that the title was too small. After this I continued to ask for feedback from my peers, teachers and family as, with formatting, I found that people not from my target audience were just as eligible to help me decide on colours and positioning.
Magazine Review Page
You will notice the amount of drafts I made for this piece are fewer than for my poster. This worried me so I kept asking my teachers and family for feedback as I thought there was something really obvious I was missing. They assured me that it didn't matter I had so few drafts as sometimes the layout works first time however, they did give me some useful pointers regarding fonts etc. I believe the reason I created so few drafts is because I have had experience at AS creating a magazine double page spread and so knew the basic conventions already.
To conclude, I have found all the audience feedback I received extremely useful as I had often become to familiar with the pieces and begun overlooking simple things that needed adjusting. Had I not used audience feedback this would have hindered the outcomes as they wouldn't have been completed to the best standard possible.
Evaluation 2 - How Effective is the Combination of your Main Product and Ancillary Texts?
With the poster and magazine review page, I feel that the information I have displayed gives away just enough about the film to draw people in and get them interested but not enough to reveal the whole story line. For example, the sell line 'Two Girls...One Friendship' tells the viewer that it is the tale of the friendship between the two girls but doesn't reveal any of the important plot twists. Similarly, the information in the review tells more of the techniques used by the makers as opposed to the plot. I have also linked the two by using the same images on both. On the poster both are put together, to add to the overall effect, whereas on the review page they are separate but the two images feature on both texts.
This is the reason why my review page looks so different from my poster and film. I deliberately chose to use a completely different format and set of house colours as I felt this would demonstrate my abilities to link a totally different type of text to the two that obviously go together. The target audience for the magazine would be a lot broader than that of the film so it's house style had to appeal to all of them and not just the niche audience of my film. When creating my review page I had in mind that the target audience for the magazine would be film fanatics aged between 14 and 20 and so made my page fun using bright colours and bold sans-serif fonts to intrigue this audience.
Overall, I believe that the combination of my three texts is very effective as I was always thinking of ways to link the three together which I believe I have done successfully.
Monday, 13 January 2014
Uses and Gratifications
The uses and gratifications theory deals with what an audience gains from
viewing media texts. Because of this I have been looking at the ways in which my film
could gratify an audience.
After deciding on my idea I thought about my target audience and concluded that it would be female teens as they can identify more with the themes I display (See more on my target audience post), however, I am also aware that my film will have other viewers and so have taken this into account when thinking about uses and gratifications.
First of all my film has been made for a niche audience because, although the female teen market is large, the artistic features of the film, the way to access it and the fact that it is a short, all narrow its appeal. With this in mind my target audience becomes a selection of teen girls and serious film fanatics or critics who are interested in every aspect of film, short films, classic films, modern films and the future of film etc.
This brings me on to the way my film appeals to an audience. First of all the fact that it is a short modern day silent film makes it appealing as it is something new. People can get bored of watching the same types of texts, dramas, comedies, murder mysteries, and sometimes something different can be quite refreshing. In a way this appeal may increase the amount of people my film reaches as it may be mentioned in passing and people may want to investigate it further.
Secondly the fact that it is essentially a 'homemade' film gives it an element of appeal as people will be drawn in by the techniques I have used considering I was working on basic equipment. I feel that the finished film looks quite polished and professional and this will add to the element of intrigue.
Finally, uses and gratifications extends to what people will feel after watching my film. My intention is that the audience will feel empathy toward the main character as it becomes clear that her ‘friend’ is actually one of the bullies. In turn the intended effect is that they will also feel elation when it turns out the friend never intended to hurt the main character.
After deciding on my idea I thought about my target audience and concluded that it would be female teens as they can identify more with the themes I display (See more on my target audience post), however, I am also aware that my film will have other viewers and so have taken this into account when thinking about uses and gratifications.
First of all my film has been made for a niche audience because, although the female teen market is large, the artistic features of the film, the way to access it and the fact that it is a short, all narrow its appeal. With this in mind my target audience becomes a selection of teen girls and serious film fanatics or critics who are interested in every aspect of film, short films, classic films, modern films and the future of film etc.
This brings me on to the way my film appeals to an audience. First of all the fact that it is a short modern day silent film makes it appealing as it is something new. People can get bored of watching the same types of texts, dramas, comedies, murder mysteries, and sometimes something different can be quite refreshing. In a way this appeal may increase the amount of people my film reaches as it may be mentioned in passing and people may want to investigate it further.
Secondly the fact that it is essentially a 'homemade' film gives it an element of appeal as people will be drawn in by the techniques I have used considering I was working on basic equipment. I feel that the finished film looks quite polished and professional and this will add to the element of intrigue.
Finally, uses and gratifications extends to what people will feel after watching my film. My intention is that the audience will feel empathy toward the main character as it becomes clear that her ‘friend’ is actually one of the bullies. In turn the intended effect is that they will also feel elation when it turns out the friend never intended to hurt the main character.
Post Modernism in my Short Film
Looking at my now completed film I have noticed that it has a lot of postmodern features.
The most postmodern element of my film is the fact that it is a nostalgic bricolage of short and silent film. When I made the decision to remove the dialogue from my film I looked at the conventions of silent films with a view to using some in my film, however, I only really looked at the media conventions. For example in my film I used black and white, emotional instrumental music and obviously the characteristic omission of diegetic sound. This meant, however, that I overlooked the other features of silent films that are also conventions such as the fact that they are all set in the 1920s. This is where my film becomes nostalgic as it is set in modern day, relying heavily on modern technologies, creating a hybrid of old and new that forms a juxtaposition between the modern setting of my film and the 1920s setting that is conventional of silent films forming a sense of nostalgia.
Creativity
Having now finished my main and subsidiary tasks I have decided to reflect on the different creative processes I have used.
Subsidiary Task - Magazine Review Page - Final
This is the final draft of my magazine review page. The only differences between this and my third draft is the font of 'Stick Up For Me' and the addition of page numbers. I feel that overall the piece works well as a review page and is cohesive following a clear house style.
Subsidiary Task - Poster - Final
This is the final draft of my poster. I have decided to move the name back to the bottom of the page as this is more conventional and I felt it distracted slightly from the main image. Overall, I feel this poster portrays the film well and looks professional because of the conventions I have followed.
Main Task - Short Film - Final
Subsidiary Task - Magazine Review Page - Draft 3
This is the third draft of my review page. All I have done to this version is play around with the positioning of the components. For example, the images are all less crooked and the web address box is more central.
Subsidiary Task - Magazine Review Page - Draft 2
This is the second draft of my review page. On my first draft I felt that there wasn't enough of the colour red. To solve this I have made the 'Our Verdict' box have the same format as the 'Reviews!' title making it more noticeable. I have also slightly altered the positioning of the text so that it is smaller, allowing room for the 'Our Verdict' box to be bigger. Looking at it now, I feel like the main image is too croocked and close to the top so I will go back and alter the positioning some more.
Subsidiary Task - Magazine Review Page - Draft 1
This is the first draft of my review page. I have chosen to use the bright house colours red, white and blue as I feel this makes my titles etc. stand out. I have also used one big main image and three smaller images that are all stills from the film. I have then added a boarder to them so that it looks as though they are printed photos lying on the page. I have used the same boarder on the 'Our Verdict' box to make it stand out so that if the reader only wants to read that section they know where it is immediately. I'm not sure about the blue background so am going to play around with colours and placement a little more.
Sunday, 12 January 2014
Magazine Review Page Deconstruction
As I am unfamiliar with magazine review pages I am going to de-construct an existing example.
This is the double page review section of the 'Flipside' magazine. It reviews several different films using the same format for each.
Title - who made it - release date
What's the story?
What's it like?
Any clever bits?
Flipside says
By doing this it keeps things uniform so if a reader only wants to read one section of the review they can find it more easily.
As with movie posters the magazine has a set of house colours, red, yellow, blue and white. All of these colours are bold and make the titles etc. more eye catching. To help this, the article has been written in one or two sans-serif fronts. This means it is again more uniform making it more easily understandable.
The language used in the writing is quite complex in some ways. The writer use phrases like 'bum-numbingly exhaustive' to describe the films which highlights the almost sarcastic tone the reviews hold as well.
Since it features more than one review, there is a limit of one or two pictures per film. This enables them to fit more on the page with the two biggest picture accompanying the reviews for the films they have done previous features on in the magazine.
Finally, they add additional information in circular bubbles around the page which makes them stand out.
From this deconstruction I deduce that the conventions of magazine review pages are:
- Review more than one film and keep the structure uniform.
- Have a set of three or four house colours
- Use a sans-serif font because it is easier to read
- Use quite complex language in the article
- Limit the amount of pictures per film
- Use coloured stickers to make additional information stand out.
When completing my review page I will try to stick to these conventions as much as possible to make my piece authentic.
Saturday, 11 January 2014
Subsidiary Task - Poster - Draft 10
This is the tenth draft of my poster. I have decided to remove the smaller bottom image because I felt it couldn't be seen very well. I also received comments that the colours I had used for the text weren't quite right so I have decided to change them around a bit. I have also changed the title to cream as I feel this makes it stand out more. To avoid there being too much cream on the poster I have therefore changed the review quote, credit block and web address to green. I feel that my poster now looks well balanced and everything is clearly readable.
Friday, 10 January 2014
Subsidiary Task - Poster - Comparison
I feel the ninth draft is a lot more effective as the main image and name stand out really well. The addition of the credit block and web address at the bottom also makes it look a lot more authentic. I am definitely glad that I took out Emily's silhouette as having the faded black and white image of her looks a lot more professional.
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| ninth draft |
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| first draft |
Subsidiary Task - Poster - Draft 9
This is the ninth draft of my poster. I had been getting comments that the small bottom image wasn't as noticeable as the other things on he poster. To resolve this I have put in the colour version of the photo and haven't reduced the opacity. I feel this was a good call for two reasons, firstly, it now stand out more and secondly, it links more forcefully with my film as it is using the actual colours of the scene.
Wednesday, 8 January 2014
Subsidiary Task - Poster - Draft 8
This is the eighth draft of my poster. As I said I have now brought down the sell line at the top and I also evened out the spacing of the image and texts at the bottom of the page. I think if I make any more changes they will be small things or things that people suggest I could do to make it better.
Subsidiary Task - Poster - Draft 7
This is the seventh draft of my poster. I decided that the smaller middle image wasn't fitting in right so I decided to get rid of it. When I did this it left a big gap so I put a review in its place as this is another thing you tend to see on posters. I have also altered the colour of the title a little. I did this by choosing a lighter shade of the same colour. I also thought the actors' names tended to blend in with the other text on the poster so I chose to make them pale blue. Finally I brought the smaller top image and the review down so that they were more 'involved' in the poster. I feel that all these changes have made the poster a lot more ascetically pleasing. Having done this I feel that I could now bring the sell down a little lower again.
Subsidiary Task - Poster - Draft 6
This is the sixth draft of my poster. When creating it I took into account the comments I received from my audience feedback. As a result I have made the title bigger. To balance this out I have also increased the size of the sell line. I have also slightly changed the shape of the middle picture as I felt that this was what was making it look awkward. I toyed with the idea of eliminating the image completely but the poster looked unbalanced when I did this. I'm still not entirely happy with it though so I think I am going to play around with colouring a little more.
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