Friday, 26 March 2010

Ancillary Products - TV Magazine Covers





















These are two front covers that are same, however I used different colour schemes. It follows the draft that I made when planning the products. Creating the magazine front covers meant i had to follow all the conventions of a magazine front cover such as a masthead, headline, main image, date, price, website, issue no, barcode and plugs. And both of these magazine front covers follow these aspects. The main image is of three characters that are in the TV trailer I have produced, two girls and one boy. Like the posters I carried on with the title 'FACES' style and colour as it is the same when it is shown in the TV trailer, however on the left one I used ideas from the other TV listing magazine front covers, as the text and colour schemes are very bright colours therefore on one of my front cover I used a bright blue which i think works well with the mood of the soap opera. One the magazine front cover on the right the colour scheme from one of the posters was followed though onto the front cover, however I dont think it has the same effect as the poster does as I wanted to follow the brightness which is found in the the examples of TV listing magazine. I postioned the image in the centre of the page, because they are the main focus content in the magazine, it also helps the audience notice what the magazine is going to be about and what the main story in the magazine is going to be about. To follow the conventions of a magazine I had to come up with a masthead for the magazine. I came up with 'SOAP BOX' as the magazine is about soaps, and the 'box' is slang for a television. I think this worked well because it really establishes what my TV trailer is, and what I aimed to produce following the breif given. The headline 'THE CONTRAVERSIAL NEW TEEN DRAMA' is used to really establish to the audience what it is about, for example the audience not only have to look at the image to see that its teens which are in the soap opera but also it is stated in the headline, establishing the soap opera even more to the audience. It is also hightlighted as it has needs to stand out to the consumers so they are able to read it clearly. The bottom headline 'WE SPEAK TO THE STARS' tells the audience what is going to be in the content of the magazine, obviously an interview with the starts of the new teen drama. The audience may be interested in seeing what they have to say, which encourages them to buy the magazine. It is also hightlighted in a much wider edging, which makes it stand out even more, it is important as it shows what is in the magazine. I put the date, price, website, barcode and issue number on the front magazine covers to make the magazine look realistic, by following the conventions. Overall I think this layout magazine cover is good because it shows everything the audience or consumers need to see to encourage them to buy the magazine. It also promotes the TV soap opera in a good way because it is shown in a magazine but also uses the image, colours and layout to create a positive 'mood' to the new teen drama.


This magazine cover has also been produced by following the draft I had made early on. This one is different from the 1st front cover as it only has one main image, were as the 1st had 3 images. The image shown in the centre is the 'gay' from the TV trailer, we can see this because of the costume and dramatical facial expressions on the characters face. To really establish the gay character, I used a homosexual boy, so i could really convince the audience.
This cover also follows the conventions of magazine front cover such as the masthead, headlines, barcode ect. However this cover features plugs, in which it tells the audience what else is in the magazine not just the main feature, which is the FACES character one of the plugs is about the real soap opera 'EASTENDERS' and another features the real event of the soap awards, by using intertextual referencing it creates realism for the magazine and the TV trailer. Again like the posters and the other magazine cover I used the same style title 'FACES' and the same colour, for the reasons of continuity so the audiences recgonise the title where ever it is shown. This is not my faverioute magazine front cover as I find it plain, however it does follow the colour scheme of one of the posters, but like on of my earlier front covers (right) it seems too dull to be a front magazine cover as the others used bright colours.




This is the 4th of the magazine front covers. I created this one to test what it would be like if i focused on one character, but by using several images that I had took of the character. The colours used on this one are very bright, and really follow the conventions of a TV listing magazine by using the bright colours. I kept the masthead the same as the other front covers as I was pleased with the masthead I had come up with. The headline 'KRISTIE DEAKIN TELLS ALL ABOUT HER ROLE AS SOPHIE IN THE NEW DRAMA .... FACES' tells the audience immediatly what is the content of the magazine, and also tells you who, and what, it is discussing, which in this case is KRISTIE DEAKIN, and in the new drama FACES. The costume of the character goes really well with the colour scheme and the stereotypical character that she plays in FACES, which is the girly girl character. Because of this i used stereotypical colours of girly girls, such as pinks and purples, by doing this it already establishes to the audience what the character is like without necessarily seening the TV trailer. The title of the TV soap opera again has not changed, even though there is a definant colour scheme, for reasons that I have already mentioned. However I find this front magazine not meeting its necessary purpose as it only promotes one of the characters in the soap opera. I think this because as it is a new TV soap opera it should introduce more than one character, if the soap opera was well established this would be a good front cover for fans to read as they would be already familar with the characters.

Overall I think the best magazine cover are the first ones as they establish that the soap opera is new, and introduces characters. In terms of the colours of the two magazine covers, I think the brighter blue (left) is the best one for the type of mood I wish to have to introduce the TV trailer. Therefore the left one is my chosen TV listing front cover magazine.

Ancillary Products - My Posters

This is the first poster I produced. On the poster it shows all the characters that are shown in the trailer. I took an individual picture of each character, which enabled me to position the characters where ever I wanted and what looked best. The language on the poster is the name of the soap opera 'FACES' in the font which is shown on the trailer itself, i did this for continuity, and I think it really establishes the name of the TV soap opera because it is used throughout therefore becomes recognisable to the audience. I used the colour of orange and black for this title because it links in with the Hull city football team, which has the colours black and amber. The background colour going from dark blue to a lighter blue I chose because Hull as a city is stereotyped as a dark place, therefore because of the issues that the soap opera would show, could be very dark issues. The date is put on the top right of the poster in the same colours as the title of the show, for the same reasons. I think this poster works well because it shows all the characters, however gives little information to the audience, such as what time and what channel the soap opera will be shown.



This is the second poster I produced, unlike the first poster it only shows some of the characters not all of them. I did this so I could see what works well, and what effect it would have on introducing characters to the audience. However I dont think it works as good as the poster with all of the characters positioned on the poster. As well as
the amount of images placed on the poster, this poster also has a difference in the position in which the title of the soap opera and date are placed, across the bottom. This poster also includes more information such as the channel that the soap opera is being showed on and also when it is going to be shown. However i have kept the colour scheme of the title and date, being amber and black as this is what is shown on the actual TV trailer. The background colour is another difference compared to the first poster, I matched the colour of the title 'FACES' to the colour of the background to see what it would be like with a matching colour scheme. In my opinion, the colour scheme does look good, however because the all of the characters are not on this poster I think it could be more sucessful in showing the audience all the characters but because of this it allowed the images of the characters to be positioned closer therefore the audience can see the faces of the characters. Another fault of this poster is the small font information, showing the channel that the soap opera is being showed on and also the day and time that it is shown, does not stand out that much. Because this is key information it needs to stand out because the audience may find it difficult to see therefore the audience will not be able to watch the soap opera. Overall I do not think this poster is as sucessful as the first one because it has many faults, and could be made better.


This is the 3rd poster I produced. It combines elements from the 1st and 2nd poster together. This poster shows all the images of the characters like the 1st one and some are positoned differently to both. It still contains the same style and colour of the title 'FACES' as it did in the 1st and 2nd one, and also the date that the soap opera starts is the same as the other ones. This one also highlights the channel and time the soap opera is shown unlike the 2nd one were it was hard to see. I did this by adding a black border around the wording so it stand out more, even though it is smaller than the title and date. I think it sucessful put across the information that is needed to the audience so that they are able to watch the show. I also changed the colour of the background of the poster, I did this because I think the colour grey is shown in the footage of around Hull in the TV trailer and also that the stereotypical opinion of Hull is dull, and the colour grey has connotations of grey. Overall i think this is the best poster as it has all the elements that it needs to be a sucessful poster in promoting, advertising, pursuading and giving information to the audience so that they can easily watch the TV soap opera that I have produced.


This is the 4th poster I have made. It is different to the other three as it a verticle A4 poster. This poster shows three images of the characters, it is very dark and the images are in black and white. The only colour on this poster is the title 'FACES' the same as the other posters and the date. It also tells you the channel which the soap opera will be shown but doesnt tell the audience the time. Unlike the other posters it has a headline 'welcome to the dark side', this is intertextual as it is taken from the film star wars. I decided to put this on the poster as it goes well with the dark colour scheme of the poster but also links well into the images and the facial expressions of the characters on the poster, as they are all pulling serious expressions, hints on the issues that the soap opera may focus on. The 'dark side' is used as a metaphor of Hull because it is stereotypically noticed as a dull, dark place, where there is alot of crime and not many things to do. I think this poster is a good poster however it doesnt show all of the characters and put a dark mood on the soap opera which may not encourage viewers to watch the new soap.

After analysing each of the posters I have produced, I think the best one, that meets the conventions of posters and also establishes the purpose of these posters well is the 3rd poster, with the grey background. It features all the characters so that the audience can recognise these characters from the TV trailer. This poster also gives all the information that is needed to the audience so that they can watch the TV soap opera, making it sucessful.

Planning and Drafting For Ancillary Texts(LIIAR)

Front Cover Drafts
#1

















I created two different drafts for what I wish my finished magazine cover will look like. One features just one image of a character from my trailer, in the centre of the page with a headline, plugs, ect. The other one features three of the characters featured in my film with the name of the TV series i have created, plug lines and other conventions of a front magazine cover. I wish to create both of these to see which one looks best and how it appeals to the targetted audience.


Poster Drafts
#1



















I decided to draft two different posters, one vertical and one horizontal. Conventionally most posters are horizontal but i decided i am going to make one vertical to see what the effects are, and what is sucessful for promoting the TV soap opera. The vertical one only features three of the characters and is alot like one of the front cover drafts that feature only three characters however the horizontal one allows me to fit in all the characters which I think would be better for advertising, and stating all the different stereotypes featured.


LIIAR - magazine front cover
Language- Language that is found on a front cover of a magazine will be conventions such as a masthead, an main image, plugs, date, price, barcode ect. The front cover I am going to create will feature main image of some of the characters in the soap opera by doing this it will grab the intended audiences attention by regonising the faces of the characters in the soap opera, if they have seen the poster or trailer. The language of the front cover also includes the colours used and the layout in which it has been presented. For example the colours will need to be bright, and as i found out when analysing other TV listing magazine that usually bright colours are used on there front covers, to catch the readers eye but also set the mood on the issue of the content in the magazine itself.

Insistuion- The insitution is the publisher of the magazine, the componies which publish TV listing magazine will be mostly British as the soap operas they discuss in the magazine are British. Componies such as IPC media is one popular magazine publishers.

Ideology - The main ideology for the TV front cover is consumerism. The front cover contents needs to catch the readers eye to encourage the to buy the magazine, this can be done by colours, layout and image. The front cover I will produce must be sucessful in catching the readers eye in order for the TV magazine to be popular and get higher ratings.

Audience- the audience that i will be aiming at when producing the front cover of this magazine will be people who watch alot of television, and particulaly watch soap operas, in order to buy the magazine to find out what is happening on the weekly television. As within the content other soap opera will be mentioned.

Representation- the TV listing magazine will represent soap opera's that are on the national televison at the time it is published. The front cover mainly shows characters from soap opera's this is what I aim to do on my own front cover, not only will this represent the soap opera it will introduce the characters in a different way, if the consumer has not yet seen the trailer.


LIIAR for posters.
Language- The language on the posters will be forms of text such as the name of the TV soap opera, the date in which it will start or be shown, the channel that the program will be shown on, and the time it will be shown. Putting across this information correctly means that presetenation of the information needs to correct such as the colour needs to be bright so that the audience are able to read it, but also needs to go with the mood of the soap opera for example mine shows the life of teenagers therefore I have chosen to use colours that are bright connotating a happy mood between the characters.

Insistuion- the insitution for the posters will be the company that made the soap opera and the channel in which it will be shown. If the channel is shown not only will it let the audience know where they can find it but if the audience have already watched programs that the channel shows and finds them interesting it would encourage them to watch the new tv series.
Ideology - the ideology for the poster is to advertise and inform the audience about the upcoming new soap opera. This will be shown through images and language that are prestended on the poster. Its function will to encourage the audience to watch then new soap opera.

Audience - The poster i aim to produce will aim to reach a mass audience. The poster will be placed in puplic places so that public can see it, places such as magazine, the internet, bus stops, billboards ect. With the content shown on the posters will tell the intended audience who and what the soap opera is about, for example because the posters will shown teenagers, older people are not likely to watch the soap opera as they cannot relate to the comtempory issues in todays society effecting teenagers, were as if a teenager was to see the poster, they are more likley to watch the soap opera because they can relate and hopefully enjoy the storylines, and stereotypical characters shown.

Representation- the representation will be shown through the genre of the soap opera. Establishing the conventions of the genre for example soap opera - stereotypical characters. The language and image will allow this, image such as the characters looking towards the camera, doing stereotypical teenager things, and wearing stereotypical costume. And the use of colours such as if the mood is happy bright nice colours would be used, if the mood of the soap opera was serious dark colours would be use.


Images- I took a number of images of the individual so that i could see which one looks best, I did this for all the characters unfortuantly I had to delete the pictures to allow more space for the photoshop files. However the one of the character 'Krystina' were saved. This is an example of the images I took using a digital camera.





Example Posters & Magazine Covers

Posters
This poster is from the American series 'Gossip Girl'. It shows the main characters within the drama. The characters are positioned boy, girl, boy,girl showing the different genders in the drama and shows that they are equal. The colour scheme is shown through the costume of the characters, either black/grey suits for the boys, white dresses for the girls, and other colours such as aqua green, which is linked in with the colour of the title, as the word GIRL is in the same colour as the shirts and dresses as some of the characters. The characters are all positioned sepratly, which is what i aim to do for my poster. Taking pictures of every individual character will able me to position then in a way i think is suitable and looks good on photoshop pro. It seems as the mood for this poster is very relaxed and glamourous, which is different to the mood in which I want to represent in my own trailer,poster, and Tv magazine. Also this poster does not have dates or time that the TV program is shown however on my own poster I wish to provide this information to the target audience, but i will produce a poster that doesnt to see the effect It has on the audience.


Skins
This poster is from the british Tv drama 'SKINS',which features teenagers in todays society. My aim for my own trailer is very similar to skins as it will feature teenagers in a college setting. This poster is very bright, and happy as the colour yellow establishes its mood. The characters are widly spread out in the foreground of the picture and the background. Each character shows stereotypical actions to which is shown in the series for example, 'cook' on the left of the centre girl, is showing facial expressions that show anger, and in the series, this character is very tempermental, and often gets in to fights. This poster like the Gossip Girl one doesnt give the date and time and were to find the show, and also doesnt give the title of the program it is advertising. However because these are the characters of the 3rd series, audiences will automatically know what this is advertising if they have watched the series before. However I will not be doing this as the breif describes as a new soap opera, therefore I would not be suitable for me to do this. The insiration I got from this poster, unlike the Gossip Girl one is the use of stereotypical characters, and the actions that they show that are stereotypical. In the gossip girl poster it is not noticable what the characters are like as they all show the same facial expression and are dressed in formal clothing.


Magazine Covers
This is a front cover of 'WE LOVE TELLY' magzine, a TV listing magazine showing what is going on in the soaps that are on the television weekly. On this particular front cover it shows two characters from the soap Eastenders. The couple within the soap are both muslim and this is portrated on this front cover, as we can see this through costume, as they are wearing stereotypical costume of what muslims, as a religious group would wear. By doing this is shows the characters within Eastenders, and does not show the real person that plays them. This is what I intend to do on my own TV magazine cover, show the characters as they are in the trailer. The colours used on this magazine are very colourful, and are bright. The reasons are for this is to catch the readers eye, leading them to read the main headline, encouraging them to buy the magazine. I also plan to use bright colours in my magazine to signify the young adults in my teenagers that have alot of life in them. Even though the setting in Hull seems dull, it shows a contrast between the surroundings and the people within the setting, which is what I plan to put across. Along the left hand side of there is three plugs from other soaps that link into the contents of the magazine. The mainhead line 'Happy ever after?' is positioned in the centre on top of the picture of the characters, it is also in a bright pink colour along with the colour yellow, both very happy colours suggesting that the mood of the magazine and the content in it are 'happy'


This is another magazine cover, however it is not a TV listing magazine but a magazine for Gays. The attitude magazine features two of the characters from skins, and one the blonde one plays a gay in skins. Again reference of the characters are followed throughout to magazine covers, as if the characters are real. The boy on right plays a hetrosexual boy in skins however at the time this magazine was published, in skins he had a fling with the homosexual boy Maxi (on the left). The colours used on this front cover, are mostly pastel colours but bright ones such as the yellow, this is also seen in the WE LOVE TELLY magazine. The main headline 'YOUNG ISSUE THE BOYS FROM SKINS GO GAY' is in three different pastel colours, adding varitety making the magazine much more presentable. It also tell the audience what is in the contents of the magazine with the tag line 'PLUS HOMO EMO, YOUNG GAY HEROS & TEEN DIARIES FROM WILL YOUNG, MATT LOCAS, JOHN BARROWMAN, ANTHONY CRANK, DAN GILLESPIE.' all of this is in the colour yellow again creating a bright, happy mood to the magazine and the issues it follows.

Location & General Planning

My main location for my soap opera trailer is the college as a planned my soap opera to be inside a college in hull so that i could get the teenager characters I wanted. The footage of the characters is located within Wyke College.













The beginning setting of my trailer is set throughout the city of Hull. Shooting landmark like the humber bridge, and iconic buildings such as The Deep,St Stephens Shopping Centre and Hull Paragon Station. I did this so that it would set the scene and audience's may recognise the setting.

The Deep & St stephens






Shooting Schedule & Plan of Shots

Shooting Schedule
I plan to shoot my footage at college so that I get the right location, but also it allows me to cast the right characters that I want for the trailer. The planning and research will take place over the first months, for example in october,november, and december so that I can let the cast know when they will be needed. I plan to start filming during more nicer days, when the weather is good because the nicer weather creates a happy atomosphere which I want so this means February & March.

Plan of shots
  1. Firstly the shots of Hull and the iconic places in Hull (Hull paragon station,st stephens, hull truck, queens gardens, the deep and lastly the Humber Bridge (the main icon of hull).
  2. By the use of a sound bridge I will introduce the characters by the stereotypical actions, for example, the young couple kissing, the geek eating a sandwhich, and the bad girl smoking ect. This will be done for all the stereotypical characters I plan to feature in the trailer.
  3. Then I will do freeze frames for the characters for example - action - freeze frame - continue action. This will allow me to introduce the characters by name during the freeze frames.
  4. After the last character is introduced it will go back on to the humber bridge at the other side, the title will come up, the date, channel and time, closing the trailer.

Health & Safety considerations

Health and Safety

Because I plan to film during college times there is many health and safety aspects to consider. By the use of props and actions I had to think about what would be suitable, and what was the best way to make sure it was safe, but presentable. These are the health and safety problems I took into consideration.


  • When filming Hull, I have to make sure that the person driving was reliable, and has a full driving lisence so that I am not put into any danger, and also make sure that I wont be distracting the driving by filiming.
  • The shots of the two girls fighting, I have to make sure that they are knowledgable of how to 'pretend' to fight, learnt in drama classes. I will have to cast someone within the college that has learnt the technique so no one gets hurt.
  • The shots of the girl smoking, is already a smoker and to make sure that I film within a designated smoking area, therefore doesnt effect the health of others and doesnt cause damage to the surroundings.
  • And other aspects such as cables, making sure they are not going to cause hazards, like tripping over, ect.

Thursday, 18 March 2010

Prop and Cast list

Cast list
Jonny Kelly - the gay
Emily Potter - the geek
Jack Waller - sporty
Lousie Baker - bully
Krystina Cole - rebel/smoker
Kristy Deakin- girly girl
Emma & Mark - young couple

Prop list
Jonny as himself
Emily - sandwiches and paper
Jack - a ball/ or something to kick
Krystina - a cigarette
Kristy - lip gloss and mirror