Use of New Media Technologies

Throughout the process of the coursework, the use of ICT has undoubtedly been a key factor in producing electronic, refined pieces of work. During the research stage the internet was an excellent tool in finding sources and statistics based around viewing figures and demographic information. Things like the BBC iPlayer allowed me to watch professional documentaries when I found it easiest, and also provided me with brief synopses describing the programme and what it was aimed at doing.

In the construction stage, Apple Mac software like 'Pages' and 'Comic Life' were useful in visually planning out any ideas I had and printing them off for reference later, however at this stage the good old pen and paper seems to have been the best option to cultivate ideas, with a scanner on hand to transform them into electronic copies.

When it came to planning the execution of the coursework, new technologies were also helpful but again up to a point. Facebook allows coordinating events online, where collective discussions can be held and ideas discussed beforehand. This was particularly helpful when organising filming dates with my actors, also with choosing materials and lighting requirements for my interview scene. Again the internet comes into play, allowing a full range of sound effects and small jingles to be browsed online. However I chose to forgo this option as I believed I already had the necessary sounds that I needed.

New technology in the evaluation stage is fairly obvious, I am writing this on a laptop, the key piece of kit which has enabled me to produce the whole coursework in one place, using a multitude of different applications and allowing me to send this wirelessly to the internet where it can be viewed and edited from anywhere.

Audience Feedback

From what I have heard back from members of my media class about my project, they agree that not being able to see the presenter does challenge the stereotype of documentary making. For the average viewing audience of my documentary, the impression I got was that my main piece had a professional style while covering a modern topic. This audience was roughly middle aged, around 30-45 years of age and seeing as this was part of the audience I was targeting I was pleased with the outcome.

Linking aspects between artifacts

The links my pieces have between each other in terms of content is consistent throughout. All 3 pieces use content that has been used in one other piece, and at least 2 of them refer to one of the other pieces. This linkage between the pieces gives the texts a unified theme, including the same colours, some similar phrases, and the same voice narrating it.

Linking the three texts also gives the set a more professional feel, as if it could be launched on a channel straight away.

Conventions and how they have been used

When exploring the conventions of documentaries as a media stereotype there were many variations on the theme. I thought about what I would expect from a documentary, and how I could use or subvert that convention, coming out with an aspect which was similar to the normal, but different, thus fulfilling the definition of being creative.

I think that some aspects of my main piece, the documentary extract, do subvert conventions of present-day documentaries. For example, not being able to see the presenter. Another way that I feel I have challenged conventions in my main piece is by including parts of voice-over with no accompanying video. However I do feel that some of the interviewing angles could have been revised to reflect a more creative approach, but not wanting to impair the ability of the documentary to portray information.

In terms of my radio promotion, I think that some conventions are changed, whereas others are imported from other media formats, combining challenging expectations with postmodern traits. The line that I finished my promotion on 'Coming soon to a screen near you' is normally heard on film promotions. By importing that style to a radio promotion, I have not only subverted conventions, but at the same time challenged the conventional narrative structure.

As for my tv listings magazine pages, they do not conform to the standard expectation of a magazine article, with all the text being situated on one page, and on the other page a large image with pictures representing various aspects of Louis Goulet. The conventions of television listings magazines are a combination of other magazine conventions in themselves. For example the Radio Times, which involves many articles but contrasts them with a large picture every now and again at the bottom of the page.

New Technology

During the course of my advanced production I have had to use a variety of software and equipment to progress further. The process of recording the footage was an interesting one in terms of equipment, the use of a tripod and headphones was certainly a good thing to have done. the tripod kept the camera level, and made shots much smoother, while the headphones allowed me to hear the audio that was being recorded on its own, allowing me to adjust the volume of the built in microphone on the camera.

Google Docs (pictured above) is also a new platform which has helped me launch my blog, it is a service, hosted by Google, which allows you to store any files or documents you want on their servers. This makes backing up work, and creating web pages much easier as you can use images which are already accessible to you on the internet. Certainly, my blog has made use of this, I have linked several documents from Google Docs in some of my posts.