Evaluation Task 2

For the second evaluation task I had to write about some of the strengths and weaknesses of each of the individual products. 

Webpage; 

When it came to completing the website, Janki and I decided that we wanted it to be fun to navigate around and not only explained the soap in detail but was also somewhere where fans of the show could come and learn more about the characters and the actors that play them. We also had the right technology we needed in the form of iWeb; a program on the mac's that allowed us to create out own pages, add podcasts and videos along with the correct placing of text and photos. In completing research into other soap websites I payed close attention to the Hollyoks website and how they had different pages in which you could browse around photos which included 'set photo's' and 'behind the scenes' which I thought would be a good idea to have on our own website. On doing this something else that worked well was the idea I had for me and Janki (as actors) to have our own blog on the website in which we posted pictures of our day on 'set' and what went on 'behind the scenes' once everyone had finished a 'long day of filming'. 

The only weakness I found when it came to doing the website that it was a new program that i'd never come across before and it was the process of teaching myself how to use it while trying to make our website to the highest standard it could be. Also we was only able to add information for the airing episode of the soap, once it went on air full time the website would have to be maintained and updated on a regular basis. 

T.V listing magazine cover;

When it came to creating a T.V listing magazine cover, I didn't want to create the typical chaotic covers we usually see. Instead I really liked the way the front cover on the radio times looked. It had the header that displayed the name of the magazine which in this case was the 'Radio Times' there was only one picture and that filled up the whole of the page. It then had a sub-heading with a tagline underneath (see individual blog for example) it then has subsequent story lines from other soaps in a formation around the main article. 

However when it came to creating my own version of the radio times with our soap as the main article it proved difficult as it didn't really look much like a T.V listing's magazine cover but more like a poster. 

Trailer; 

The main thing that worked out well for our trailer was that it specifically followed the typical conventions of the soap genre. Soap opera's tend to be as realistic as they possibly can without being over dramatic and unrealistic. When it came to filming our trailer the location was crucial, it not only needed to fit in with the name of the soap 'the street' but it also needed to show of a sense of community. So we wanted one predominant story line for the trailer but at the same time showing that it didn't revolve around one family but everyone that lived on that road, resulting in subsequent story lines. For example we achieved this by showing Michelle's return to the street and adding in other characters and their growing curiosity to see who's arriving in the car. The different characters presented to the audience that make up the community in the trailer are Benjamin, Michelle, Hayley, Dwayne, Cameron, Sally. The main/primary storyline is the return of Michelle to the street however each character has his/her own story line that run parallel to this one, unfortunately these are not as clear as we would like them to be. The trailer establishes the relationship between Hayley and Benjamin, clearly stating their married as there are seen to be arguing over 'their daughter'. The trailer also hints at the relationship between Dwayne and Cameron as their seen together in the same shot within close proximity of one another. 

Unfortunately our trailer doesn't succeed in establishing the beginnings of other characters story-lines which we see in all soaps and it becomes clear our main focus was more on the one story-line. However it could be argued that although there's only one main story line evident in the trailer we managed to show a sense of community and reassure audiences that there is more drama to come as we showed everyone who lives on 'the street's reaction to the arrival of the car, for example what were the two women discussing on the end of the road before they were distracted by the new comers arrival?

Despite a few reshooting issues that we managed to sort out I think our group managed to portray a great realistic representation of community and narrative in our soap trailer. 

How successfully do the 3 media texts link together as whole product?

Personally I think that our 3 media tasks link together very well. In all 3 the same focus was of course the soap itself 'the street' the 3 main characters who feature in the premier episode were used in the trailer, featured on the blog and Michelle and Hayley featured on my radio times magazine cover along with a tagline detailing they were mother and daughter which links into what we see in the trailer, all names were kept the same along with their appearance. I think if we could go back and change anything it would be to film on a better quality camera, we had to use the school's Flip camera's which aren't a great quality and make the trailer look amateur compared to that of an Eastenders trailer so to speak which looks professionally filmed. Another issue that occurred was creating the TV listing's magazine cover, with the very limited knowledge of how to use photoshop it was hard to create a decent looking cover, however you could argue that alot of TV listings magazine look cheap and a bit mish mashed so this worked out in our favor. The only main thing I would change would probably spend more time working on a better magazine cover that would appeal to a wider audience and bring in a bigger fan base for our new soap.