1st March: Homework and Deadlines

You should have handed in draft answers to qns 1-5 of the Evaluation by now. I will try to get them back to you with feedback as soon as possible.

You are on the last lap now - questions 6 and 7 this week! I'd like them by Friday but next Monday is the absolute limit (8 Mar). You will then have a week to finalise your Evaluation and post it on your blog. Ensure it is clearly labelled and all your questions are in order in one post.....

Final Deadline for Evaluations: 15 March

Qn 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
First of all, list all the technology you have used in:

your research
your planning
your creating of your product (with the software, try and list the tools, effects, filters etc that you personally used)
your gathering of feedback
the creation of your evaluation

For each stage, try and comment on what this allowed you to do, what was good about it compared to more traditional methods. Try to think if there was anything you wanted to do but could not because the technology wouldn't allow you or made it difficult.

Try and end by answering the question: what have I learnt about technologies from this project?

Then use the separate notes you have and think how you could present this in an interesting way....


Qn 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Look over both tasks - the prelim and the final one and compare what is better in the final product - try and be technical - consider shots, editing, sound, lighting, pace, clear character and narrative..... Again, think about presentation - possibly use some screen grabs.....

Evaluation Questions 4 and 5

Your homework tasks for this week include:

- redrafting your responses to qns 1 - 3 and getting them ready to post on your blog in their final form. Think about how you will present your ideas and make them visually appealing and showcase your use of digital technology

- drafting answers to qns 4 and 5 - these will need to be handed in by 4pm on Monday 1 March. Advice is in handout you have but here are some further pointers:

Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

Draw up a profile of your ideal viewer/reader (some of you have done a bit of this already, so this should be easy!). Think about:

- a name
- gender
- an age
-ethnicity
- what they like in terms of media consumption and similar products
- what they want out of your type of product

Try and add a photo - either get one of a mate or use google!

You could end with an overview, stating broadly what categories you are aiming at in terms of Gender, Race, Age, Socio-economic status and Special Interest. You could decide if this was a mainstream or niche market and why it is a good audience to target...

To present this, you could write an intro, create the profile on word etc and scan in and then add your final comments? Or, if you feel adventurous, you could film someone posing as your ideal reader and interview them and post this as a video clip???

Qn 5: How did you attract/ address your audience?

This requires you to think about all the things you have done to make your product attractive to your audience. To start with you need to identify what these are - look at the suggested starting points for this on pg 54 of your blue booklets. Try and note what features you have used and try to explain how/why they will appeal....

Then you need to consider how to present this in an interesting way.

(A) You could annotate your video in YouTube or your images in Flickr.

(B) you could present this response as a PowerPoint and use one slide to display the question, one to explain what you will do and then one slide per feature you have used with a brief explanation of how it works (don't forget to use sub headings?). Each of your key slides could be illustrated with a still (possibly cropped?) to showcase the feature. You could also weave in any feedback that confirms if this has worked or not?

(C) Another way to do this would be to make a short video - introduce it as a short survey to see what makes your product appeal to its audience. Then get lots of people to briefly pick out one feature and comment on what they like about it (obviously, you need to provide them with the answers to ensure the final version covers everything....)

Qn 4 should be quite quick to do and qn 5 should take a little more time.... Have fun...

Mrs Doggart

Evaluation: Questions 2 and 3

Your homework for next Friday (12th Feb) is a rough draft of Questions 2 and 3 for your evaluation. You can add it to your evaluation post but can you please print me off a copy - I can look at visuals etc on your post, as long as you tell me to!

Here are some guidelines to get that blog looking good:

Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Decide what the main social groups are that you represent or show in your product e.g. a music star (specify in what genre); a hero and a villain; a victim.... Start your post by stating what social group you have portrayed in your product and that you will compare them to similar images in a real product.

Find and grab an image (or a few images if you prefer) - you may need to crop and enlarge if they are only a small part of the whole picture. Try and find an image of a similar character from a "real" media product.

You could label each of the images picking out key elements of the way the character is created. Think about:
- gender
- costume
- physical characteristics
- body language
- expression
- props/accessories
- the media language of the image (lighting, colour, type of shot...)

As you label add some notes to explain what impression these details create

Finish this question by commenting on whether your character is typical of its type (i.e. a stereotype) or whether it is something a bit different. Possibly state why using a stereotype (or developing one or doing something very different) is good for your product.

You could do this as a PowerPoint and load via Slideshare or Scribd; do it as a Word document and load via scribd or scan and load; or you could write text in your blog and add annotated images from Flickr...


Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Video - use the questions on the separate handout I gave you and decide on a presentation method - you could use:

- an interview with yourself on video - a kind of DVD extra? You could intercut this with some images?
- a PowerPoint with screen grabs
- a straightforward blog entry with images

See me if you are unsure about the role of production companies and distributors....Remember that your film is a British film - possibly find some other examples of British films and state how yours is similar or not....


Print - again, use the questions in the separate handout you have.

You need to consider who would publish your magazine. You could add an image of their logo and info about other titles they publish. Think about why they would be interested in publishing your magazine - new market? emphasise your USP...how is it different to other music titles they publish?

You could do this as a straightforward blog entry or a PowerPoint or Word document and embed via Slideshare or Scribd.....

Homework: Feedback and Evaluation Part 1

These notes are simply to reinforce what I am saying in class and to give you a reference point for your work!

FEEDBACK (to be finished and on blog by Thursday next week (4 Feb) at the latest)
- use the questions on pp 49 or 50 of the blue booklet and obtain feedback from at least 10 people on your project - try and ensure they are from your target audience...
- set up a post in your blog entitles "Audience Feedback"
- explain how you have obtained feedback and about who your sample is taken from and why
- summarise your feedback - put the question and then sum up key responses below it? Could do as a PowerPoint and embed via Slideshare?
- add an overview at the end - what are the key messages from your feedback - what has worked well and what could be improved?

EVALUATION (draft of question 1 to be printed out and handed in to edit suite by Friday 4pm next week - 5 Feb)
- you can find the seven questions in the blue booklet and the marking criteria. However, use the handouts in class for ideas of how to do this!
- focus on qn 1 first - I'll set the other qns at a later date!
PREPARATION
- find and store nine images corresponding to the nine elements listed on the handout - use tech sheet to find out how to print screen, crop parts of images etc.
- find a similar real product and do the same for it
WRITING
- set up a new post and label "X's Evaluation" - use for all evaluation entries
- write qn 1 in bold and write answer in normal
- you could put a 3x3 grid of both sets of images at the start?
- explain what the images are and that you intend to compare your product to a real one to see how it measures up
- add first element title e.g. titles...
- compare your product to the real one - explore how it uses (does the same), develops 9adds something a little new) or challenges (does something really unexpected) to the usual conventions of the genre
- do this for all nine elements
- at the end, put a brief paragraph saying why you have used some elements in common and why you have added something new... and why this mix is important for your media product
HAND IN
- cut and paste answer into Word , print out and hand in - you should be able to do the images for this....
- hand in by 4pm on relevant day BUT note the notices about hand-in times - limited due to practicals!

Mrs Doggart

Week Starting : 25th January

You should now have completed your production task. We now need to focus on three things:

- embedding your final video in the blog
- obtaining audience feedback
- evaluation of product

The plan for this week is as follows:

Tuesday: final tweaking of video if needed; see Nikki or Rachel to embed video in blog; discuss feedback task; h/w produce 10 copies of feedback questionnaire for Thursday lesson

Thursday: record feedback session of video products with a group of 4 in class, edit and place on blog; h/w get further feedback and ensure results are on blog for next Monday

Friday: Introduction to evaluation and start work on first question - draft version to be produced as homework for next Friday

Alongside all of this, you need to check that your research and planning are up to date on your blog Before you add your final product, feedback etc.

We will be placing your video on your blog BUT also like to make a DVD copy - usually the quality of video is better on DVD adn we prefer to send these to the examiner. So, we need you to bring in one blank DVD per group for us to download your video - this needs to be done by the end of this week. If you want a personal copy, then you will also need to bring a blank DVD in. Make sure that your group DVD has a sheet with the names of all group members and the title of the video and your class (MEDIA1D). Make sure any personal DVD copies have your name and class and project title clearly on them.

All in all, enough to keep you busy!

Mrs Doggart

Week Starting 18th January

Okay, so we're down to the last week! What you have achieved by Friday is what you will be graded on, so it is vital that you work hard this week to make your product as good as you can.

I think both groups have virtually all footage, so the main task is to get a rough cut and music asap - by the end of Tuesday's session at the latest. It is only at this point that we can see if your sequence works and makes sense.... Then you need to fine tune your sequence - editing to get the pace and interest levels right, adding effects and transitions, adding in titles.... It is this attention to detail that gets the good grades.

You may need to put in some extra time - if so, please see Nikki or Rachel to explore when you could do this.

Please also keep your blog updated with progress reports about who is doing what etc.

Mrs Doggart

Week Starting 11th January

Okay, so last week didn't quite turn out as expected but hopefully things will get back to normal next week....

I will discuss deadlines with you when we get back - we may need to try and push them a week but this has knock-on effects elsewhere...

Your main focus this week is what I had intended for you to do last week, so look back at last week's post and take your aims for the week from there...

Obviously, whilst snowbound, you can all be working on your blog - ensuring you have all your research and planning up to date....

Hopefully see you soon

Mrs Doggart