Friday 16 April 2010

EVALUATION, WRITTEN (COURSEWORK)

Evaluation Questions
1. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
2. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
3. Who would be the audience for your media product?
4. How did you attract/ address your audience?
5. What have you learn about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
6. Looking back at your Preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

How does your media product represent particular social groups and who would be the audience for your media product?

I believe that our piece manages to represent many different social groups and is ideal for a very broad audience thanks to its range of differing articles. Our demographic audience is very large, mainly aimed at 16-65 year olds. International news would be more appealing to the older percentage of our audience, where as sport or celebrity news may be more appealing to a younger audience, although this rules are by no means definite. This broad offering in news articles helps represent many social groups, as well as gathering a broad audience. In the future i would put more planning into who each news article would appeal to in detail.

What kind of media institution night disribute your media product and why?

I believe that our 5 minute news bulletin would be distributed by a local radio station (much like Heart FM or Red Dragon, the pieces I have studied) as our piece fits many of the same conventions. The news section is much associated with the 'Hypodermic Syringe Theory' as it is evident in all forms of media, especially radio.

One convention of local radio articles is that they have different elements of the news (National, International, Local, Sport, Weather etc.). Heart FM used one international story (Haiti), choosing a story with continuity. Our piece (SJDJ Radio) also used the Haiti story, as well as the Cadbury story, to have a mixture of both continuitive and short stories, making our piece seem much more professional.

Both Heart and SJDJ include local news stories. Heart uses the story of a man being sent to prison for “self defence”, where as SJDJ chose 2 stories, the Westgate shopping centre and the Four Candles stabbing. SJDJ uses 3 news flashes for the sports section, yet Heart and Red Dragon do not include a sports. I believe this is because the texts I analysed were shortened news articles to fit in with the radio timetable of the show as a whole.

All of the news pieces include a weather and travel section, mainly because they are typically associated with the local news. Although the SJDJ news project may be longer than the ones found on Heart FM and Red Dragon, I still think that our news project would be distributed on a local radio station as it has similar conventions, and the time differences are only due to scheduling. I also believe that our wide range of radio articles means it's a very accessible show, meaning it could be presented on a number of radio shows.

How did you attract/address your audience?

With all forms of media, the audience either choose to continue watching/listening/reading or choose to avert to something else within the first 10 seconds of a piece. The best way for our media piece to attract an audience was to speak as if it was aimed directly at the listener, making them feel obliged to stay. I felt we did this well as we were very direct with out statements, yet at the same time, casual and friendly.

When analysing other radio shows on this topic, I realized that they all have many components. Radio 1, Heart FM and Red Dragon all used slang to make it seem less formal and easier for the average listener to relate to, tempo to highlight more important and less important information, and the general confidence of the presenters. We managed to include all these points in order to attract and address our audience. I think that if given the chance, I would make a survey with open questions asking what peoples main attractions to radio news articles are and incorporate that into the piece.

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

Throughout both the preliminary and the main task we used a combination of Audacity and Logic Pro software. Audacity, although quick and simple, incurred many problems for our recording and editing process. On occasion, files merged when saved, leaving us unable to edit them correctly. Logic Pro was very dependable, yet sadly we only had limited access to it. From this i have learnt that we must fully understand the technology before getting into a task, by doing this, the piece will be generally more professional, and will take less time.

Editing took longer than the actualy to get right. Due to our group using several different microphones, some sections simply sounded abstract, making the variation of mics obvious. From this I’ve learnt that using a consistent microphone set up is important in the sound of a radio piece. We took a lot of time putting the piece together during the editing stage, dropping segments in and out. This taught me that we needed to practice and rehearse our presentation a lot more, for if we made fewer mistakes, it would take less time and run a lot smoother, hence be more presentable.

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

In terms of software, we were much more in control during and after the main task as we knew how to use the software effectively, where as in the preliminary, we took a lot of time to master it. As a group, the preliminary showed us how much effort we needed to put into the task. Originally we were all very naïve in thinking that a 5 minute news report would take an hour or so to make.

Generally throughout the preliminary task we had fun yet slightly lacked in serious effort, yet our progress as a group was evident, as in the main task we still had fun, yet were serious when it came to the workload. Given the chance again, i would strive to get all the work done as soon as possible, in order to have more time for editing.

Tuesday 9 February 2010

FINAL PIECE (COURSEWORK)

PRELIMINARY TASK (COURSEWORK)

RESEARCH AND PLANNING (COURSEWORK)


Research and Planning

LOCAL RADIO RESEARCH

Red Dragon FM-Cardiff/South Wales

Tony Scott

Pauses, Slang and Catchphrases
• “Biggest hits from the welsh capital” used as a catchphrase by presenter
• “South Wales number 1 hit record show”
• Catchphrases used after almost every song

About The Record
• “Jason Derula there, our number 1 last night, great track, will he be there tonight?”

About The Listener
• On the phone to listener in between tracks
• “I think you should get back to work Dave”
• “A big happy birthday to Matthew Bowyer, big thanks for that”
• Happily accepts phone calls and texts on the show

Digression to another Subject
• “As you know, Red Dragon is THE welsh radio show representing the X factor…”
• Linking the show to other topics

Say what’s coming up
• “Lady Gaga up next, she’s playing the X Factor next week, speaking of the X Factor, we’ve got a bit of news coming up”
• “Got Pixie Lott to come, but over to Matt with the weather after the break”
• “Kings Of Leon coming up after Pixie Lott”

Promoting Other Shows
• “Remember to tune in tomorrow morning for Kam and Sally at breakfast!”

Criticisms
• Presenter attempts to cram a lot of points into a small gap in the show, sometimes losing the listener
• Very few pauses/breaks between songs, some listeners may see this as a positive aspect of the show, yet it leaves little time for the presenter to connect with the audience

Positive Comments
• Smooth transition between songs, be it by using show clips or jingles, or simply fading into the next song
• News and Weather section, music in background

Oxford, Heart FM, 102.6

Toby Anstis

Pauses, Slang and Catchphrases
§ “Fulfilling your musical need for the day, with me, Toby Anstis”
§ Catchphrases used frequently

About The Record
§ “Another delightful tune from Mika there, that’s as depressing as Mika’s songs get, and it still made me smile”

About The Listener
§ Accepts phone calls and texts from listeners
§ “Hi there Janine, what are you up to?”

Digression to another Subject
§ “So who’s been watching X factor this week? Text in with your thoughts on who should win”
§ Digresses to another subject but still keeps it linked with the show
Say what’s coming up
§ “We’ve got some Take That coming on after the break”

Promoting Other Shows
§ “I was listening to Jason Donovan on Heart the other day, you should all listen”

Criticisms
§ Conversation between tracks seems labored and/or rehearsed

Positive Comments
§ Popular selection of songs

ROUGH TIMELINE
Jingle (Introduce Hosts) 0.30
David with Headlines 0.10
Haiti 1.00
NTA 1.00
Jenny with local news 0.10
Local Headlines 1.00
Outside Broadcast/Voxpop 0.30
Sam with sport 0.15
Football 0.15
Rugby 0.15
Olympics 0.15
Jack with weather 0.30
Ending credits and jingle 0.10
Total: 6.00

HOW I CONTRIBUTED TO THE PLANNING PROCESS
The final piece of coursework took many hours to prepare, including background and radio research, timeline and planning, story research and a preliminary exercise. Without these degrees of research and planning, the final piece would not have been completed to the same high level of quality.

I was heavily engaged in the research into other radio stations and the conventions that are typical in presenting the news and the show in general. I observed Red Dragon radio (Local Cardiff radio show) and Oxford’s Heart FM in detail to identify the conventions of local radio that appeared in their shows, with good results. These results were a key part of the planning process as they allowed us to know what elements of local radio we should incorporate into our own piece.

Before we could begin on our final piece, we had to first complete a preliminary exercise to use as a demonstration and also to get us used to the equipment and theory involved. I was involved in the layout of the exercise, organizing the structure to ensure it flowed smoothly and fit the time limit set.

After we had accumulated a decent amount of research, I created a rough timeline for the project, choosing to over compensate on rough timings, knowing that it could be shortened in the editing process. This gave the group an idea of what needed to be done to be ready to record the project.

As we now knew who had what role in the project, I began to prepare my speech for the outside broadcast/voxpop and my piece as a specialist reporter (weather). For my outside broadcast I was going to be reporting live at the location of a local news headline (Four Candles stabbing) and interviewing a person linked to the story. I prepared a short speech and a short interview ending with a send off into the next section of the project (sport news). I then wrote a script for another outside broadcast (weather) which tied in with the sections either side of the outside broadcast.

Overall, I contributed heavily to the planning and research, trying my hardest to help make the final piece as professional as possible.


LOCAL NEWS CLIP


HEART FM 102.6 (OXFORD)





THEORIES IN THE CLIP


The first news story in the broadcast was about the Haiti disaster, and how Simon Cowell was due to release a charity single to raise money for the aid provided for Haiti. This item of news links in with multiple theories and news values. It contains some slight Elitism in the story when referring to Simon Cowell and various other celebrities, highlighting their celebrity status and the power they have and use to help others less fortunate.

The Haiti story also has a lot of continuity, meaning it will be an on-going story, as the disaster will be remembered for years to come. Human Interest is very common in disaster stories, helping create a respone from the audience, int his case, with the news of more survivors from the earthquake, the audience will begin to feel hopeful for more survivors.

The second story is about a man being freed from prison after attacking a burglar on the grounds that he was seriously provoked. The story has elements of Simplicity, as the culprit and victim are easily highlighted, yet it also includes Human Interest as people have an understanding for the sympathy given to the man as he was provoked.

The third story from the extract is based on Avatars nominations for the BAFTA awards. This contains elements of Continuity as the story will continue until the night of the BAFTA's, and also Elitism due to the general celebrity status of the people involved.