For my A2 Advanced Portfolio, I was set the task of creating a website for a new teen channel. I decided to focus on music, as that is a very important aspect of life for teenagers. My site is aptly-named BenFM and it focuses on music for both TV and radio. My target audience was older teenagers, of both genders. There is something for everyone on the site. I have a very dark colour scheme, with greens and reds mixed in to stand out. I didn't think these colours would stereotypically represent genders, such as the way blue does with boys, or pink does with girls. ALong with creating a website, I was also set two ancillary tasks, which were to create a newspaper advertisement, and a double-page spread from a magazine. Both had to be related to my site to help promote it.
Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
In preparation for completing the tasks, I researched into each one of them to find codes and conventions of websites, newspaper ads and magazines. I tried to make my work similar to those. In terms of the newspaper ad research, my work is similar to these examples in several ways. For example, I have a tagline to go with the title, and I have a few important details summarised in a list. I included the dates and places to see the channel, and I ended it with a link to my site. This is all the vital information, plus it doesn't clog up the advert too much, maintaining a sort of clearance to attract the eye of a reader. My double-page spread somewhat challenges conventions. I wanted to make something different; not too plain, not too complex. Instead of including one giant photo of the band or one of the band members, I included a picture I made using photoshop to combine several images I came across whilst looking for royalty-free photos. It is meant to be related to the band's new album, but this is not revealed in the article, nor the interview. Some of the conventions I used in my work was the small piece of article on the bottom half of the page, which was common to a lot of the examples I researched. I also have a large title on the left, much like the other examples do. On the right, I have unconventionally spaced out the interview so that it is easier to read and doesn't appear as a single block of text. When making the website, I tried to keep to the conventions I had seen in the sites from my research. For example, I put the navigation bar at the very top of the page, and included much of the content common to the sites I studied. The home page included segments of all the other pages to act as a taster of the site. If viewers wished to read more, they could navigate to the appropriate page and read everything.
Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?
The main product, the website, was combined very effectively with the ancillary tasks: the advert and the double-page spread. For instance, I kept the same colour scheme with the two ancillary tasks, as that was the original colour scheme my site was set up with. However, I changed my site from a purple theme to a black theme, with white, red and green text. I also kept the featured bands the same for the website and the double-page spread, to add a slight sense of realism. I decided that the ancillary pieces would be linked through colour, and that each would have a link to the site on them at the end. Then, that connects everything. When the readers see the magazine or the ad and they visit the site, they will see that the colour scheme makes it look so much better than the plain purple one does. Hopefully. Therefore, I believe I have effectively combined them to make them all work together.
Question 3: What have you learnt from audience feedback?
Although most of my feedback was through vocal responses, I did create questionnaires which I handed out to my classmates and some of my other friends. I allowed them access to my site and asked them to answer questions about it and if it works. Among the information I received back were details about the navigation of the site, the appeal of it, and the usability. I concluded from the results that 100% of the users found it easy to navigate. I also gathered that the colour scheme did not appeal to some people. Generally, the adults who saw the site said they did not find it interesting, and would not visit it again, if it were to actually exist. I took this as positive feedback, as the website is not aimed at adults, and the teenagers who saw it reported back with favourable comments.
Question 4: How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?
The main software program I used was Adobe PhotoShop Elements. This was an extremely useful tool when it came to arranging the elements of the pieces and editing images. Another key program was Kompozer, which was the program I used to build the site. Through the use of these programs, I have developed my creative and I.T. skills to the point where I am able to independently create a decent website. I learned so many things from using PhotoShop in Media lessons, and I have naturally picked up how to operate the programs and how to get exactly the result you want from using it. Another skill I have developed, which goes without saying, is through the use of my blog. I have been using a blog for Media Studies for two years, and I find it is a very useful and simple way of planning and making notes. It is also good for teaching, as occasionally, other students may stumble across my blog and they may learn something just by reading about the kind of work we've been doing. My blog came into the processes of making the pieces at every stage, with the research being posted here, notes being made for me to relate back to at a different time, and it has allowed me to accurately bring my work full circle and realise my intentions throughout the project.
Conclusion
Overall, the process of getting from planning, to evaluating has been a unique experience. I haven't had the chance to do anything like this before, and I feel it has taught me a lot about websites and various programs that we used, and that are used by professionals every day. It was interesting to see my work develop from almost nothing to what it is now. I am confident that I have worked to the best of my ability and I've documented everything along the way. I stayed true to my intentions from the beginning, and the only big change I made was the colour scheme of the website. Everything has come together and when I look back at it all, it seems to work and connect. If given the chance, I wouldn't change anything about my finished pieces because they are exactly how I wanted them to look and they work well with each other.
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