EVALUATION - RADIO DRAMA

Pre – Production: We listened to some example of radio dramas in class. We looked at radio ones 'The archers'. Listening to this is class really helped us to see how you can tell a story without seeing anything. We took some knowledge from this and used it to help us create an effective way of telling a story. Our story is about a boy who is about to take his own life but his friend walks in and tells him not to. However, the tables are turned when his friend finds out that she is upset and going through a rough time because of him. She then pushes him off the stall and finishes what he started.

Production: Our timing was fine, we recorded the voices for the radio drama in one hour and then edited for the rest of the afternoon, then it was finished. It was a very short project and didn’t take long at all, so we didn’t really have any complications with the making of it. We well thought out the Foley noise we were going to use, for example, when the boy dies we used some celery to make it sound like his neck was breaking, this worked well.

Post – Production: After we had recorded everything and put it all together, we added in some other sounds to make it sound like a real radio drama. For example, we added in some background voices in one part to make it sound like they were in a room full of people talking. This worked well and did sound very affective.

Finished Project: Over all, it wasn’t the biggest project to work on, it was very easy and very fast to put the whole thing together. We didn't have any problems at all. It was very successful.

EVALUATION - SHORT DRAMA

Pre – Production:

I did some research into short dramas before we started planning our short drama. I looked at 'the end of the f***ing world'. I watched the whole series as I found it interesting to watch. The end of the f***ing World is a British dark comedy-drama television series, based on the comic series The End of the Fucking World by Charles S. Forsman. This gave me lots of good ideas for my short drama as each episode is only 25 minutes long, so it's good at showing you how drama can be put into short amounts of time. We made our short drama 7 minutes long in total. I noticed whilst watching it that there are lots of voice overs used to show what the actors are thinking in their heads. As the show is about a young couple that are mentally unstable and think they’re ‘psychopaths’. Therefore, it shows what the actors are thinking in their heads without them talking to each other. We used voiceover in our short drama to tell a story as well as the acting. Our planning was well thought out. We had our script with us always, so we could always look back on it and see what we needed to include. We also had a shot list and story board with us, so we could look at that and follow the shots, shot by shot. This was very useful and helped us to keep on track.

Production:

Our timing was planned out well, we had two weeks to film and a further two weeks to edit and finalise the product. In the two weeks of filming we filmed on two days in total. We filmed one day in the first week and another day in the second week. This was so we could look at the footage we had after the first day of filming and then see how much more we needed, also if we needed to re shoot anything. This would a good factor to use regarding our time as we could make sure everything was on track, so we weren’t running out of time and leaving anything too late. Everyone put in lots of effort. However, we did have some problems. One day we planned to film on Mersea beach, but it rained on the day. We had to make last minute changes to our filming and go to the college studio and film all of us inside parts instead of outdoors. This changed our plans but didn’t ruin anything.  

Post – Production:

Time was manged well with the editing. We edited the video in our own time as well as college time. This was good as we had the computers and software to be able to do this as time as editing does take up a lot of time. The overall product was manged well. I think the biggest problem we had was the weather on the days we were working on. Most days it rained, and this made it hard to film outside. Also, when we filmed outside we had to do it all in one day as the colour in the sky would change. We had to film quickly, and this added pressure to the filming days. Working to the schedule wasn’t hard as we had two weeks to do it and that was plenty of time to finish the product. Everyone within the group knew their job roles and worked well with them. I was camera operator and I enjoyed my role a lot. This was the first time I had the change to be camera operator. In previous projects I have been lighting and camera operator, so to have a different role was fun and I learnt a lot within my role.  

Finished Project:

I think we did well putting the short drama together. We made it look very professional and not just like a college word film. I think the strengths were a lot to do with team effort. I think working with a good group of people who are all passionate about the project made making the film stress free. We didn’t have to worry about anyone not taking the project seriously as everyone wanted to make it successful and look great. A weakness about the project would be weather as I have spoken about already. I think we made the drama very interesting. The ending is a very remembrall one, but you'll have to watch it to find out why.  

Over I think this is our best project yet and I'm excited to use the skills I've learnt in this one to use in the final major project.

RESEARCH INTO DRAMAS

I've watched a few short dramas so I could get some ideas and inspiration for my own short drama.

- The end of the f *** ing world

The End of the F***ing World is a British dark comedy-drama television series, based on the comic series The End of the Fucking World by Charles S. Forsman.

The rough outline of the story is:

A boy called James is 17 and is pretty sure he is a psychopath. Alyssa, also 17, is the cool and moody new girl at school. The pair make a connection and she persuades him to embark on a road trip in search of her real father.

-This gave me lots of good ideas for my short drama as each episode is only 25 minutes long, so its good at showing you how drama can be put into short amounts of time.

-I noticed whilst watching it that there are lots of voice overs used to show what the actors are thinking in there heads. As the show is about a young couple that are mentally unstable and think they're 'psychopaths'. Therefore it shows what the actors are thinking in their heads without them talking to each other.

-They also use lots of close up shots to show the emotion on the actors faces. As the drama does have a lot of things happening in it, for example, James see's his mum take her own life. They used some good close up shots here to show the emotion on the actors faces to show how he's feeling.

-The locations used gave me some good ideas for my short drama. They used a stolen car, a house they broke into and a woods. These locations all contribute well to set the scene for a drama. 

RESEARCH INTO SHORT DRAMAS

JOB COMPARISON

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MUSIC VIDEOS AND ADVERTISMENTS?   

What general skills are needed for both jobs?

A sense  of organisation

Being  prepared for the job

Turning  up on time and making sure tasks are finished on time

 Being creative, independent worker as well as a team worker 

What differences are there  between both jobs? E.g. qualifications, roles, responsibilities

Music  video is more what you see with moving videos / images. Adverts are more  still pictures so they need to be more eyes catching at the first look.

Music  videos tell a story, whereas adverts are trying to sell something or make  something like a product look good.

 Music videos can get away with more things that would be aimed at an older audience, where as an advert can be seen by anyone so they would have to have more limitations.

What similarities are there  between both jobs?  E.g.  qualifications, roles, responsibilities

Both  music videos and adverts have to have a target audience so they know who  they’re trying to sell the video / avert to.

Both used  for promotion

Both have  to be applied for my creative people

How easy would it be to move between jobs i.e. transferable skills?

Having  any sort of work experience in media will help anyone get into these types of  jobs.

Media  skills

A strong CV

What would YOU need to do to get either of these jobs (training,  experience, qualifications etc.)?

A levels  and some work experience within media

GCSE 5 or more grade A* - C

Evaluation of music video

Pre-production –

We did a fair amount of research into our music video. We compared a few music videos together to look at the different types of music videos there are so we could find an interest into what type of music we wanted to use. The research we did had a big impact on the final product. It helped us to decide what types of music could have a narrative or have a performance story line. We figured out that more songs with a story or songs that would talk about situations or describing something were easier to add a narrative to. Also songs that had a meaning to them were easier to think of a narrative for. We found that more videos were easier to do a performance video for as they just require the singers and their bands if there were a band. As we chose the song “paradise” we decided to do a narrative as the songs were about someone’s paradise and we related this to a dream. We managed to gather a good handful of ideas for this. Our product wasn’t planned very well. We had a lot of good ideas for the music video but our struggle was the shot list. We had some of the shot list filled out but we didn’t stick to it. This had a huge impact on the first day of filming. If we had planned the shot list better this would’ve made the days of filming run a lot smoother. Our strongest parts of planning were the special effects. We had planned what special effects we wanted to use and we had tested them out to see if they work well before the starting date of editing.

Production -

Out timing was planned out well, we had two weeks to film and a further two weeks to edit and finalise the product. In the two weeks of filming we filmed on two days in total. We filmed one day in the first week and another day in the second week. This was so we could look at the footage we had after the first day of filming and then see how much more we needed, also if we needed to re shoot anything. This would a good factor to use regarding our time as we could make sure everything was on track so we weren’t running out of time and leaving anything too late. The overall product was managed well, we kept checking everyday as a group to make sure we weren’t running out of time and also making sure we were on track with the deadlines. We did come across a few problems on the way. The music video was based on Abbey Fields. As this is outside and we were filming this in November is was very cold. This caused a problem because we were very cold filming for the music video. Also as we filmed on two different days over two weeks the colour in the sky had changed a fair bit. This was an issue and we did end up trying to find some spare time to go and re shoot some of the video during college hours. Within the group we all knew our roles very well, but as we were a small group of four people we were able to help each other out with job roles. For example the director would help out with the editing as they didn’t have much to direct once filming was finished. When editing everyone was happy to get involved and put in ideas so we could get a bigger image of the video. Overall we did work well as a group, even though there were some debates over ideas for the finished idea, it all worked out well in the end.

Post-production –

Time was manged well with the editing. We edited the video in our own time as well as college time. This was good as we had the computers and software to be able to do this as time as editing does take up a lot of time. The overall product was manged well. We were able to add everything that we thought had a good connotation to relate to the music video. There were some issues with editing within the group. We couldn’t agree on many things to include such as colour schemes and the paste of the video itself. Also editing itself was hard as we were new to Adobe and we had to find ourselves around it alone. This took a fair bit of time as we couldn’t figure out where anything was on the software. Working to the schedule wasn’t hard as we had two weeks to do it and that was plenty of time to finish the product. I think I worked well within my role. I was lighting and sound operator. I think I would’ve been able to work better in a more involved person within the process of making the video. As I haven’t had a change to do anything that involves camera work or editing. The group worked well within their job roles. One thing we struggled with was that our director had one vision for the video when it was being edited and the editor had a different idea for the editing. This was hard to figure out what to do as the direct had the main focus on the idea for the video, but the editor had more editing skills and there for made the video make more sense. This was overcome by the group having a discussion about the idea for the editing and we tried both ways until we decided as a group what one we would go with.

Finished Product –

After finishing this product I now feel more confident in making music videos and now understand the difference between performance and narrative music videos. Everything within the music video did go to plan. I feel like the image we had has been produced well. One thing that is different is that when we were planning the music video we didn’t have a good image as to where the music video should be set. We ended up filming at Abbey fields which wasn’t such a bad thing, but realistically we did want to film at a more eventful location as there wasn’t much to do at Abbey Fields, however we made it work.  The technical quality of our product was good. We did make it and put it together well. It was also very cut to the beat which would keep the audience interested and it also allows the audience to want to keep watching. It looks professional as we are in an out of education environment so it looked more informal as the whole idea for the music video was a “dream”. Some weaknesses were the budget we had for filming. We didn’t have money to get us to a better location so we just had to work with what we had locally. We only had regular things to use for the video, like the outdoors, a car and average looking clothes. This affected a technical look of the video as we only had a field to film at.

The content of the product was good. We had filed up all the room in the video with no empty space. We were also able to cut it to the beat so it was interesting to watch. The camera work could’ve been improved by looking at the footage whilst we were there and making sure we had everything perfect. Models and actors all looked fine, I think we could’ve improved the location because even though we didn’t have money to go somewhere higher budgeted we still could’ve picked a location with more for us to explore with. Things I would change was the location, the roles within the group and maybe pick more creative shots as I feels like some of the shots dragged out too long.

Overall I was pleased with the final product and it was marked highest grade in the group. I also enjoyed working on the product even though I thought a music video was going to be a struggle. It all turned out alright in the end.

CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS

We compared two music videos so we could analyze each one.

 Logic - 1-800-273-8255

-Narrative of a story about a boy who is being bullied     

- Change in time period - shows the boy growing up and becoming comfortable within his own skin.

- Genre-pop

  Catfish & the Bottlemen - Soundcheck

-The song follows someone needing someone’s company but then realising they don’t need them anymore.

- Set in an earlier date - maybe 1990′s.

- Genre - Indie

Comparing these two music videos was quite simple and easy to tell the difference as they’re different genres and have a different target audience.

Logic’s song is aimed at people who enjoy pop music but also people who may have a sensitive side. As the song is directed at the American suicide number, as the song is called 1-800-273-8255, the song shows a young boy who is having trouble with his sexuality. The song uses Todorov Theory, he’s bullied at the start of the song and doesn’t want to continue dealing with life, but by the end of the song he’s happy with who he is and he has lots of support from all his family. In this music video, their are lots of close up shots on the actors faces. This is used to show the emotion within the music video. As the music video is about the boy who is scared and sad about his sexuality, there are lots on high angle shots, this is done to show that the subject is weak. As the music video goes on, you start to see more low angle shots used on the actor (main boy) to show he's becoming happier and stronger with in himself.

Catfish & the Bottlemen’s song is more upbeat. It’s easy to tell the song is aimed at an audience to try and make the audience dance to create a happy mode of address. The song is an Indie Rock song. This is very different from pop, using different instruments can change the feel of the song completely and attract different audiences to the song. The indie rock video is based in black and white throughout the whole music video. This is their USP (unique selling point). They do this so they are recognized by such a small factor. The audience, when seeing one of Catfish & Bottlemen's songs, see the video in black and white and relate that to the bands USP. This makes the bands relationship with the audience stronger.  

From comparing the two music videos together and also from doing more research online, looking into different genres, I think I’d like to do a music video based on Pop music or Indie/Rock (hence why I choose these two genres to compare) as I find these music videos interesting. I also think there is lots of Pop and Indie songs with good story lines behind them and this will help to come up with an interesting idea for a music video.

EVALUATION OF SELLING THE DREAM

Introduction ˜Selling the dream’ is the title of our advert assignment. In this unit the target was to create an advert which had to be no longer than 30 seconds. We had to pitch our ideas for our adverts, then we got put into groups of four, each person had a different role. The different roles were director, editor, sound & light operator and camera operator. In my role I was light & sound operator. Our advert idea was based on a Kit Kat chocolate bar. Our directors idea was to have three different people, eating a kit kat in three different ways.’

Pre- Production -We had to put in some research to look at what locations would be suitable for our kit kat advert. Some locations that were considered were: Abby fields, St. Marys, the high street in Colchester town, Castle Park and also normal way. These are all based in Colchester. We wanted to find a location with some park benches as the benches were essential in our filming. Our research influenced the final product as we looked at an editor called Edgar Wright and some famous movies that he has worked on such as: Baby Driver, Shaun of the dead and Hot Fuzz. We liked his fast panning shots that he is well known for. This gave us an image of what we wanted to do within the advert. I think we couldve done some more research into audiences to see what we couldve added to attract all ages, as we used 3 actors the same age. We didnt include anything that applies to an older audience. We could’ve also planned the location and timing of the advert better as some of the actors were busy at different times, so we had about 2 hours to film the whole thing. Team work was an important factor in making a successful advert as the planning and filming requires a lot of team effort. This required turning up on time so we have every minute to plan and create an effective script that would allow us to put the advert together more efficiently. In my role with the lighting and sound, it was important to make sure that the lighting was all the same throughout filming. In addition to this we did all the filming within two hours to make sure that the lighting didnt change too much. It wouldve become a barrier if we had to film two different times of the day, or even on different days as the lighting wouldve changed. The lighting was a success. One of our actors George wore red clothing to match the colour of the Kit Kat bar. This creates a more relatable mode of address and makes the audience feel more connected to the product. As a group we decided to challenge ourselves.

Production - We decided to film some pan shots that connected two people together. We had confidence that these shots would work well together, and they did. We did struggle to add some of the panning shots together as we had to film two different shots and put them together. This did create a short jump between the two clips, however we pulled it off by spending the time to try and match the two shots up the best we could. The lighting in the advert was easy to maintain. We shot all the shots within two hours so the lighting didnt change. We all worked well within the group. We all had the same sort of idea for the advert so when it came to filming for the advert we were able to put a script together easily and work through it quickly. The entire group added new ideas in that we worked with, and we all made sure that everybodys voice was heard to make sure everyone had the chance to express their ideas.

Post production -The editing was hard. We had trouble trying to put all the different shots together as we filmed on a slight hill. It took a fair amount of time to try and perfect the shots together. In addition to this adding the voice over at the end was hard, and also adding the sound effects was hard to go along with the video footage. I think the editing itself was a task as it took the most time and took the largest amount of focussing. Finding the right sound effects online took some time too. We had to try and find some natural sound effects for the outdoor environment to set the setting well. Also finding some eating sound effects for when the actors bite into the kit kats. Once we attached the sounds effectively, we then had to lower and higher all the sound effects so that they would work together to give off a good effect on the advert.

Finished product -“ Over all, we shouldve allowed more time for our advert and also planned the shooting time better. Also sticking to the call sheets and the time sheets would’ve allowed us better timing for our advert. However the positives of the editing and the overall look and product of our advert were successful. We worked well within a group and as a result of this our advert looked professional.

THE FINAL IDEA FOR 'SELLING THE DREAM'

Our final idea for selling the dream was for a kit kat idea, where Charlie was our director. The idea of the advert was to have three different people eating kit kats in three different ways.

In my role I was the lighting and sound operator. I also had to act in a few shots as one of the people eating the kit kat.

The idea for the advert was to have very fast shots keeping the audience entertained.

Each shot pans from one person to another so the audience can tell it was all set in the same setting. At the end of the advert, we aim to have the camera pan to an empty bench where the kit kat logo will appear, and the slogan which will be 'how do you eat yours?'

Before we started filming, we had a task to go out around college campus to interview people on our product (kit kats). This was to find out more information on our product.

-Attached is a picture of us doing the interviews on college campus.

RESEARCH INTO ‘SELLING THE DREAM’

RESEARCH INTO ADVERTISING

-Which advert has been considered the most successful in the advertising history? In 1988, Nike sales were at $800 million; by 1998, sales exceeded $9.2 billion. "Just Do It." was short and sweet, yet encapsulated everything people felt when they were exercising.

-What was the purpose of advertising in the 1920s? In the earlier days, the purpose of advertising was far simpler and much more limited. It let buyers know what goods the seller had in stock at any given time and how much they cost. In the 1920s, however, both print media and radio began to tempt consumers with vehicles, clothing, furniture and household gadgets, as well as with chances for social events and activities, thus opening them to a whole new world of opportunities.

-What was the world’s first advert and who invented it? The first advert itself was broadcast in the US on July 1, 1941 over the New York station WNBT – which is still going as WNBC, 'channel four.' The advert was for watchmaker Bulova, and was shown before a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies.

-Which advert was the most successful and popular in the 1950s? The 1950′s focused heavily on advertising cars, as radio, newspapers and became the norm, whilst TV was becoming a revolutionary platform to begin advertising on. These car adverts quickly became popular, and sales for cars went up, as more and more families were being sold the idea of cars helping them with their day-to-day lives.

-What were the most common techniques using in early commercials? There are several techniques that directors used in early commercials. One of which is colour. Colour can effect/influence the mood of the buyer, and became a powerful tool in persuading a target audience to buy the product. Logo’s are another powerful tool, as it gives the product a brand, a picture to go buy, so when people are out and about, they recognise a brand just from the logo. Direct Gaze can be extremely useful when done correctly. Direct Gaze is when an actor looks directly into the eyes of the viewer, suggesting equality and normality between the actor and the viewer, indicating the product is for all. And finally, celebrity endorsement is paramount, as when people see their favourite celebrity supporting a product, they’re more inclined to buy said product.

-What is the main purpose of TV advertising in today’s day? The Thinkbox study, Screen Life: TV in demand, suggests that the live television experience “satisfies human emotional needs that on demand viewing alone can't”. ... The researchers found six main reasons that people watch television: to unwind, for comfort, to connect, for an experience, to escape, or to indulge. People can’t get enough of TV. Putting advertisements all over television is the best way to get adverts across and the best way to grab the biggest amount of attention from all ages of audience.

-Why were radio adverts in the 1920s considered for many people to be the radios golden age? The 1920′s are widely considered to be ‘The Golden Age Of Radio’. This is primarily because the majority of homes in the United States had a radio, and therefore was the main way for entertainment to reach households. This factor also links in with the purpose of advertising in the 1920′s. As the majority of families had a radio, it made sense to begin using the radio to advertise products.