Preliminary Video Task

The next task as part of our AS Media Studies course is a short video project in which we have to show knowledge and correctly use various rules of film such as the 180 degree rule and match on action.





180 Degree Rule





This is where the camera cannot move across what is called the line of interaction. This is an imaginary line across people who are speaking. The line cannot be broken as it would appear that people are looking in the opposite direction to on the other side of the line of interaction. This would make it appear as both people are looking in the same direction which would not be coherant.

Match On Action


match on action is where a subject is walking through a door and the camera cuts to the otherside of the door and it matches perfectly. It is only match on action if it cuts to the exact same place. The smoother the cut the better it will look. If it is very jumpy this will create a poor and tacky shot.







Evaluation

In what ways does your media product, use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In the production of my media product i used various forms and conventions which would be used in the production of an actual media product. We followed the 180 degree rule, which is a neccesity when using shot reverse shot to create an accurate proffesional looking shot.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product represents the social group of working class men in Britain in a dominant, stereotypical way. We have represented them as men who enjoy socialising with their mates over a beer in the pub and enjoy football especially. In a less obvious way we have portrayed a dominant representation of the "Inlaws". The way we have done this is by showing them to be a nusance and something which the men see as a distraction from what they would rather be doing. This is a very stereotypical representation of this social group which is shown commonly in the media.

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

The ideal media institution for our media product would be either a sports channel as our short film is centred largely around football. There are also elements of male humour involved on occasions during the film. A example of this is with the joke about the Mother-in-Law. These elements would make our video suitable for a channel which is directly aimed towards men such as the channel "Dave".

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The obvious audience for our short film would be adult males as much of the content is aimed towards males who fall into the dominant representation of males category. This is not to say other audencies may not derive enjoyment for our short film as many young males and females enjoy football as a sport so they would enjoy that aspect of it however, many youths for various reasons would not understand certain parts of it such as the Mother in Law joke as obviously they have not experienced the feeling of having a mother in Law.

How did you attract/address your audience?

In our media product we did not really address our audience as we used highly conventional features such as the 180 degree rule and match on action. This means we have done nothing out of the ordinary to grab their attention and make them notice our film. The only thing which breaks the ordinary conventions is the fact we have not used eyeline match which is not normal for a production like ours. This was a mistake and we did not realise we had not taken into account the eyeline match rule until after we had finished the editing process.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation.

Evaluation - My magazine is similar to other magazines in a variety of ways. I investigated into the ways which magazine covers are layed out and the styles of font which are most commonly used. This allowed me to get a clear idea on which fonts and layouts would be most appealing to my target audience. I also carried out research on the way in which various magazines place their mastheads and coverlines and the effect of which this gives. This enabled me to gain a clear understanding of what a good front cover would look like. After doing my research I went on to decide that I would use a Bold sans serif font and reversed out coverlines to give connotations of youth and fun which i feel my target audience would be able to connect with. I have also used a very stereotypical layout for my magazine by having a masthead and coverlines which are generally always seen on a magazine. To be more original we placed a red star on the front with writing inside it which usually conotes a more feminine aspect, we have done this to try and show that even though we have a specific target audience that other groups could also read our magazine with enjoyment.
Our media text could be produced by various institutions such as colleges and possible universities as a student magazine as it is aimed at people in the age range who will be attending such institutions. Itc ould also be published by "lads magazine" companies as our magazine is mainly aimed towards this gender.
We did not face many problems with the technology except for when we were using photoshop because our photo needed to be lightening and we struggled to do so. Besides this we found it relatively easy to use the technology at our disposal in an effective way.
I feel that we communicated with our audience in a relatively positive way as the technical features we used such as bold reveresed out coverlines will attract our audience to our product. Also we used sans serif font and used bold colours which will stand out and attract our youthful audeince to our magazine.
We represented the social groups of students in a postive way as our magazine cover showed a student standing wearing smartish clothes which represents them as a clever and studious. The coverline which reveals his secrets to hockey also show him to be sporting and active. The overall representation is not dominant as a lot of the time students are represented as trueblesome and a nuisance in society.

Preliminary Project - Magazine Cover

Audience Profile.

Students Aged between 16 and 19.
You are the type who eats fast food regularily
Coursework deadlinea re no match for social events.
You know every social networking site on the net.
You've realised nights out are the new best past time.
Leaving home without mobile phone is like the end of the world.
Parent consultations are a date to dread.

Conotations - Youth, independance, sophisticated, mature, hardworking but fun.

Conotation of youth - sans serif font. The curved ends of sans serif fonts gives a real sophisticated and mature feel but also offers elements of fun and youth which will appeal to our target audience.

Denotations - Reversed out, flashy coverlines, freebies, big main sell dominating page. These will all draw attention towards the magazine cover and instantly attract the reader. The contrasting colours and vibrant appearance are always favourites for teenagers as they really feel a connextion to the abrstract colour schemes and bold titles.

Social values - Hedonists
Jicnars sclae - D
Age Range - 16 - 19
Gender - Both

Physchographics - Radicals + aspirers. They feel that they are different from the average person and they do not fit in with the typical stereotype. They want to be succesful and have a comfortable lifestyle with all the added bonuses they can get there hands on.

Life style - Decision pending. They have not decided what they want to do with their lives yet and are not sure in what direction to turn. They have no decided on a career path and at the present time are just living in the moment and not worrying about all the harsh realities of life.

Denotations - Use youthful informative language to connect with youth, couverlines covering wide variety of subjects eg sport, fashion, gossip, to attract all sorts.




This magazine cover is very sophisticated with a sexy feel to it which is achieved byb the main sell. There are bold coverlines with the celebrities name clearly shown to attract the readers attention to the magazine. We are also hoping to achieve the same thing with our magazine by placing a large main sell at the fore front of the spread and using flashy coverlines and serif font to give a feel of sophistication on maturity to the cover.

Photoshop - On photoshop we have edited our mid close up in a variety of ways. First of all the edited out Marcus' spots using a variety of layers of skin tone to create a realistic effect. We then used the same technique to hide the very evident tan line on Marcus' neck. We then brightended our picture so that it would be clearer when printed as before it was slightly to dark.

Quark Express - Once in Quark express we did various things to our cover to improve it. We added a masthead and placed it on a blank text box and a picture box with a red and white blended colour scheme behind it. We added two coverlines with a reversed out colour scheme to create a bold effect which stands out to the reader. We added a puff at the top of our page in a blank, colourless text box and then used a white font so that it contrasted with the photo which was in the background. We added a star in the top right hand corner and made it red with a white screamer inside it. We also added a barcode and a web address which gave us a multi platform experience.