Evaluation

https://ventr3ss.wixsite.com/a2mediaevaluation

Final Products

Ancillary tasks:

Ancillary Task: Poster

I will put these pictures into a Slideshare format when I get access to a computer (this has been typed from my iPad)

Also on Blogger's IOS app you cannot post drafts as actual posts so I will do this when accessing a computer as this post is basically finished but I need to add the bits featured in bold. 

Below is the first idea I had as a poster (I don't have this picture on my iPad-it's on my computer so will upload as soon as I'm on my laptop). The rough plan was Molly ('Melody Blake') turning away from Harry ('Nathan Mathewsonn'), Molly much larger than Harry and obvious they weren't in the same shot. 

*insert picture here*

However, the same problem arose that Molly had her photo taken in a different place to Harry and therefore the lighting was different. Molly having a plain top on that day worked well though as it allowed me to put the title of the programme and the time it's aired straight onto the image. Harry's picture was fine but I edited it to (insert the brightness and contrast here as it says it on my laptop) and obviously made it black and white.

Below is the version after I had rephotographed Molly. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask her to wear a plan too again and so the striped top was hard to see the programme's information on there, luckily I added a black to transparent fade from bottom upwards which I think actually looks better than when the text was straight onto the image. This features the phrase 'kids can be cruel' which gives the poster a slightly sinister affect but makes you question what will happen to who? Molly's expression is more innocent than Harry's, suggesting he's the one to be cruel to her - however the actual story line is that Harry is just going to unknowingly supply the drugs she kills herself with, he wasn't doing it to be cruel but should've thought about what he was supplying and how much before doing so. I also made the slight joke of using 'term starts' rather than the series will start this date. This adds information into what WestView High is (a school) and adds a bit of character to the poster. I also added the WestView High emblem in the bottom right to co-inside with the red of 'kids can be cruel' but also to make the poster look more believeable and more interesting for having it. 

Like the TV listings magazine ancillary task, I was unsure whether the actors' imperfections made this looks less professional, things like moles, spots and scars. For this reason, again using the 'Blemish' tool on the 'Avairy' application I 'airbrushed' them making their compelction look smoother. This version is below and I think this is the final one I will be using. 

 

Ancillary task: TV listings magazine cover

I will put these pictures into a Slideshare format when I get access to a computer (this has been typed from my iPad)

Also on Blogger's IOS app you cannot post drafts as actual posts so I will do this when accessing a computer as this post is basically finished. 

Below is my initial TV listings magazine cover. I followed the layout template I made at the start of the year closely. It was good to have this template as it allowed me to focus more on the content than where what should go. I used a mixture of Microsoft Powerpoint, Graphic Autodesk and Adobe Photoshop to edit and make this. First I made the blue background, this is to the same scale as other TV Choice magazines, it is a simple blue rectangle with a slight gradient of a lighter blue outing getting ever so slightly darker blue in the middle. I then got the PNG of the TV Choice logo from Google Images, this came with the white surrounding glow with fades to transparent which looks really effective so I was very happy to use this. I edited the date it is correct for in a similar font to what TV choice normally use onto their logo (13-20 March 2017) but as I prodominatly made this last week I had to guess a little what the story lines would be for each show. Next I made the surrounding clutter of the magazine, things like the price, and coloured boarders for the images, these were simply made on Powerpoint using the shape tools. I keep up to date with watching EastEnders, The Replcacement and Broadchurch so these titles and subtitle weren't hard to come up with. For the title of 'Secrets to Suicide' I used Graphic Autodesk application and saved that as a PNG to edit onto the rest of it. I also notices TV Choice often uses a paint brush mark for a bit of extra information on the main title, I used this in my listings magazine to give detail on who will (or is thinking to) commit suicide. I cut around my characters with the 'Remove Background' tool on Powerpoint, this worked just as effectively as the Lasso tool I also tried on Photoshop, both look quite ineffective but once I had rephotographed Molly this didn't seem s obvious, more on this below.

 

However although I think this works well, Molly Bishop's ('Melody Blake's) head has a lot of light reflecting off the top compared to Harry's ('Nathan's') & Pixie's ('Jasmine's) and it is obvious they weren't taken in the same place. I also had to add more of Molly's green top to her sides because otherwise there was a too much blue background, consequently making her look very overweight, which she is not. Because of this, I re-took the photo of Molly and edited that on, to solve the blue background problem I moved Harry ('Nathan') next to Molly. I also got rid of the 'Crufts' feature as it didn't seem to fit with the all dramatic soaps/dramas surrounding it and makes the cover look more cluttered. Below is this version:

 

Although I think this looks a lot better than the original one, I was unsure my characters looked realistic enough to be on the cover of a TV listings magazine, I wondered whether their imperfections (moles, spots, scars etc.) made them look too young and therefore then used the 'Blemish' tool on the photo editing application 'Avairy' to almost 'airbrush' them a little, this version is below and I actually thing it does make the magazine cover look more professional.

All that is left to do is to make the pink lettering of 'BROADCHURCH' to be the same size as the yellow box, it is on computer screens when I edit it but isn't when I save the image as a JPG or a PNG, I will probably just make the lettering and the box different objects and try saving it from there. I also am going to change the Broadchurch headline to 'What is Trish Hiding?' as this is more suggestive that 'she IS' rather than an 'is she?'. Excluding these minor points I am very happy with how the TV listings magazine cover has turned out and think it looks really good and current.

Trying to Make 'West View High' Look Real

This is an image I quickly made to see if I could put WESTVIEW onto my high school and sixth form's building. It does fit but doesn't look very convincing in this mock-up.

The bits in the school will be filmed within my school so will look real as it will be, I just need to make sure it doesn't say 'Sprowston High and Sixth Form' anywhere. 

Reason for Delay

All of my actors/actresses (Pixie Clinton, Eleanor Rose, Molly Bishop and Harry Colgan) are in the school show this week, which means they are very stressed and busy. They've told me they are unable to spend any free time filming - as they don't have any free time. I aim to finish filming next week instead when the show is all finished. This week I aim to film the text message sequence between Harry and Molly's characters as I can fake that without them being there and to do my animation of my school's emblem on After Effects.
Update 28th Feb: After Effects done! - see in post below

Logo animation

I am happy with my initial WestView High School emblem (pictured below) which I made on AutoDesk Graphic iPad application in quite a short space of time. I will follow this tutorial (embeded below) on Adobe's After Effects in order for my WestView High School's logo to shatter like this. I find After Effects a difficult software to use so am apprehensive to see how this turns out. I also will be doing this from home and as I do not have an Adobe subscription will be doing it with the Creative Cloud trial, this means I need to complete and export it within 7 days. 

6 hours of work later! Here's my 6 second logo animation, this will feature in the trailer the the viewers are aware of the School's (and program's) name and the logo. The YouTube tutorial wasn't that difficult to follow in the end but as I did not go at the same pace as the filmer of the video, it involved a lot of pausing it to keep up. The filmer was also working from an older version of After Effects so some buttons were positioned slightly differently making it slightly more difficult to follow.



Reflective comment:
I am very proud of how my logo animation turned out although it was a very headache-causing, time consuming task but it is done now! I think it looks quite professional and works well allowing the viewer enough time to see the final logo. If I were to do it again I would make sure the original JPG of my logo to edit on After Effects had the scale of the whole screen to that the left side doesn't have a cut off line, however this is quite a small issue and would not be worth redoing it all just for that.

Ancillary Tasks focus

Focus on your ancillary tasks. Have a look at the site below for some inspiration for typography within posters.

Posters for Soap Operas are rare, this will make research difficult. However TV listings magazines are common, there are a few that all feature EastEnders story lines.These feature kidnap, killers/murders, and confessions, all of these are criminal acts but some sometimes feature affairs and love triangles. The title on the TV listings magazine needs to do have no more than 4 words that instantly tells the viewer the act/crime but also grabs their attention and makes them take not of the magazine. All are bold colours that many clash together, this again attracts the audience's eye and fits with the conventions of TV listings magazines.

Earlier in the year I made this template for my TV listings magazine, I plan to follow this format as it is conventional for other listings magazines such as What's On TV, TV Quick, TV Choice and TV Pick. 

Short Clips to Break it Up

To break up the trailer so it isn't person shouting at someone to person shouting at someone, I thought I could film a few seconds long short clips of common school/sixth form life that can break up the trailer a little bit. All of these will be put in reverse too so it fits with the rest of the trailer. One of these could be a the use of a vending machine. I filmed this with Victoria Semineo (one of my peers). She used the Sixth Form vending machine to get a drink. I edited this on iMovie to crop it to a few seconds long, sped up certain bits, slowed down certain bits and to put all of it in reverse.



Others of these I could use are a pencil writing on some typically lined paper to show the school environment, someone kicking a football as that frequently happens in frees and lunch times and would look effective in reserve or just someone tucking in their school chair as that would be easy to film. But obviously I probably don't want more than about 2 of these break ups as it's predominately a trailer to show the drama.

Sorry Ms Moore

The posts I had started were in my Google Docs drafts not my Blogger drafts! My mistake - sorry!

I am aware 20th (tomorrow) is the deadline is the 20th I obviously have not met this but will keep trying to catch up to get it done as soon as possible. 

Started filming

On the 16th December 2016 I filmed a little section of my soap opera advert with Molly Bishop (who plays Melody Blake) and Pixie Clinton (who plays Justine Webber). This was the scene of Melody getting very upset about everything in a school toilets and overdosing on medication in order to commit suicide, Justine (her close friend) then finds her collapsed. However as I am reversing my whole advertisement, this means this scene is obviously in reverse too.
In order to make it feel more reversed too and give it a quirky, but not disturbing feel, I've also trailed reversing music along side the footage. For this trail I used Riverside by Agnes Obel, I will not be using this as the background music for my real soap trailer but is useful to see what feel it gives it. Riverside by Agnes Obel is a sad song, it focuses on somebody going to a riverside by themselves.



I am hoping to include music I have produced myself in my soap opera trailer but it is good to have a rough idea of at least the genre of music I want to produce, to then put into reverse in my real thing.
Sound effects
The occasional 'turntables scratch'-noise I think works well. This is by chance it's fallen in this version as this is the genuine noises produced when filming and how they've sounded after reversal. They echo to the audience that what they're watching is reversed, which I think is important to reiterate to the viewer as that's a key point to this trailer and makes it most memorable.

NOT ALL OF THIS FOOTAGE WILL BE IN REAL SOAP TRAILER


This is 50 seconds long, not all of this footage will be used in the real one, realistically more 15-20 seconds. There is too much of 'Melody' crying, also the first of the tear rolling back into her eye didn't work as well so will probably only keep the second. It would be good if it was clearer when 'Melody' takes the tablets in reverse. Also I've used the 'Westview High' as a divider in this just to cut up the section where she is actually unconscious, with the scene were she's in the process of committing suicide. However I am happy with the first section that includes 'Justine'.