Filming - 18 February

Today I completed new shots and re-shoots and this was successful.

Shots I completed:
- new shots of the girls and boys separated to create a more friendly feel in the group
- took an alternative of the jumping shot - a mid shot instead of a long shot
- new shot of Steph and Henry walking towards the camera whilst holding hands to reinforce their relationship through a different shot
- Emily's shot has been completed with better lighting and framing
- the walking shots were also changed, so the characters now walk past and towards the camera, allowing the audience to feel more connected-
- along with filming, I also took some photographs of the 'gang' to go towards the ancillary tasks

Overall, I feel today's filming was effective; the shots that I have completed will hopefully add more personality to the piece and allow the audience to connect with the characters much more, as before there was a lack of connection between the characters and the audience. Moreover, as many of the shots are now either a close up or a mid shot, this should be effective as it shows that the codes and conventions of children's TV drama have been taken into consideration closely. However, I could have taken more photographs of the 'gang' to help with the DVD cover and the magazine cover as the photos I have lack variety, but from mocking up ideas, I don't think this should be too much of an issue.

Photoshop Practice

As most of the class are unfamiliar with Photoshop, we starting to practice certain skills on the software.

To begin with we took a photo of a celebrity from Google using a specific search and opened this in Photoshop. This was followed by cutting out the celebrity from the image and placing it into a new A4 size image. I used the Magnetic Lasso tool; being beginner of Photoshop I felt that this would be the most effective way of cutting the image out without any noticeable errors. In addition to this, once the image was placed on the new A4 image, we used the text tool and inserted text over the image and then created a text box - adding a shadow effect to it and also adding effect to the celebrity by changing his opacity.

Practice 1...



In another lesson, we were given cameras and took photos of each other and imported one of the photos into Photoshop to do a similar task and to strengthen our skills on Photoshop. Similarly to the celebrity image, I used text over the image but added a shadow to the text and also added a shadow to the photograph, but the shadow was created by duplicating the image and changing the brightness/contrast levels.

Practice 2...

Codes and Conventions - Secondary Media

As beginning the ancillary tasks is approaching, I have completed research into the codes and conventions of my secondary media - a DVD cover for the series and the front cover for the magazine series. I have chosen specific children's TV drama series to give me an insight into the common features of DVD covers and magazine covers for the series. Particularly looking at Saved by the Bell and Everybody Hates Chris, as they were strong influences of my final piece.

Codes and Conventions:
- the main characters are typically centered in the piece
- a logo or a unique font is always evident so the audience visually recognise the series
- a small amount of writing, most attention is on the visual imagery
- quite basic techniques are used, which makes it easy for the young audience to associate with
- bright colours
- an obvious relation between the covers and the series itself should be evident

Textual Analysis:




I have completed some initial textual analysis of Everybody Hates Chris to give me a starting point for my ancillary tasks. I have now have an effective idea of the codes and conventions and will now begin to create some initial ideas for possible pieces. I will analyse more series, such as Saved by the Bell, Grange Hill and Sabrina The Teenage Witch so I have a significant understanding of how I can create an effective DVD/magazine cover.

Feedback

I received feedback from my teacher highlighting the areas that needed change to create a piece with codes and conventions evident, and to engage the target audience more:

- Improve the generated background from After Effects as it causes distraction and doesn't entirely fit with the piece
- The opening shot of the gang walking changed from an ELS to a MLS and have the gang walk closer to the camera to add a character engagement with the audience
- Shot 4's size to be reduced slightly to fit with the first shot of the character
- Shots 5-8 change the background to all pink to keep with the colours signifying gender and keeping to stereotypes
- Change the text colour of shot 6
- Shot of Heather is too far away, change to a CU or MS
- Shot of Emily is poorly framed and the lighting could be better - re-shoot
- Football shot doesn't work in the piece and the same for the shot of the girls laughing - create more effect by changing location so the boys and girls are laughing/messing around
- The shot of the gang walking back needs to be centralised
- Final shot to be changed to a close up of them jumping

To stick to the codes and conventions of the children's TV drama genre, I need to use close ups and mid shots of the characters as this is typically used in this genre to create an engagement with the characters and the audience. This is especially evident in Saved by the Bell. It was also established that the background music that has been chosen is not the right tempo to engage viewers as it becomes quite monotone, therefore I will aim to find a more up-tempo piece of music for the final piece.

So far I am happy with the progress that is being made towards creating a final piece; from gathering a variety of feedback I am aware of how I can show that I have paid close attention to the codes and conventions of the genre and I have a clear plan and idea of what to re-shoot/shoot, what to alter and what to add to create an effective piece. I do feel that such areas as the music and the generated background used from After Effects could have been altered earlier, but I still feel that progress is going well.

Initial final cut

Changes from the rough cut:

- action montage added at the end
- change of background music
- change of the amount of shots all characters have
- more of a narrative added to the intro - shot of characters walking down a road together and returning together - adds to the concept of a gang

This is my initial final cut as there are a few amendments that need to be made, including:

- a change of background music to fit more with the pace and tone of the piece
- changes to the diegetic sound as some sound can be heard that isn't meant to be there

Audience Feedback
To establish whether my piece was effective to the target audience, getting feedback from my target audience (7-13 years old) was essential. The response was:
- many liked the introduction of the characters with the animated background
- many said that it became monotone with all characters having two different shots, so I changed the pattern of the characters shots
- change of background music would prove more effective, as it didn't fit with the target audience or the piece itself
- the overall response was better than the rough cut; the audience felt there was more connection with the characters and this was particularly as a result of the action montage

So far, I am happy with the initial final cut; I feel a lot of progress and improvement has been made from the rough cut and that the piece is started to feel like a children's TV drama. However, there are still some obvious changes that need to be made to create a better effect and to enable the target audience to relate to the piece.

Freeze Frame effect

In the final shot for my children's TV drama coursework, I chose to a shot of the 'gang' jumping and then freezing this shot to allow the title to appear, whilst having the group visible in the background. However, as this was a new effect that I have no experience with, I chose to look on YouTube for some tutorials on how to create a freeze frame. I found this tutorial and it provided with the steps shown below to add the effect:



Step 1


Step 2


Step 3


Finished shot

Rough Cut

This is my rough cut for my children's TV drama opening. From watching my rough cut and gaining feedback from the teacher, I have instantly recognised the changes that I need to make for the final piece.

Main changes and improvements that need to be made:

- Music that builds the pace
- Less zoom on characters
- Title at the beginning needs to be more prominent
- Increase font size to avoid distraction
- Action based montage at the end

The main response to my rough cut is that it stays the same throughout - the footage and order of my piece flows, however there is little that builds the pace, most significantly the music, which inevitably loses the engagement of the audience. In addition to this, there is little action in my rough cut, therefore I need to add possibly a montage of action to give more of an insight into the gang, as it is quite easy to lose focus that this children's TV drama is fixating on a gang of friends. I will also alter the duration of time on each character - choosing two main characters within the gang that will be longer than the others; this will engage the audience in establishing the roles of each of the gang. Additionally, the length is longer than anticipated and with the action montage and other shots that will be added, I will need to ensure in the final piece that the length isn't too long - as children's TV dramas are typically under a minute in length. Furthermore, the titles I used proved to be ineffective; while I received positive feedback on the positioning and font of the titles, as there is so much going on in the background, it was easy to be distracted from the titles, making it difficult to read. Thus, I will stick to the positioning and font but make the text bigger for the audience.

It is evident that I have used Saved by the Bell as an influence for my children's TV drama piece, this meant that I had to use a mixture of different software to create my rough cut. I predominantly used Adobe After Effects, and after creating the rough cut, I'm still learning new skills for ways to improve the piece. I aim to change the shape of the footage on screen, as this appears in only one shape throughout, so by changing the shape this makes it more interesting to view and will create a distinction between characters.

Comparison with Saved by the Bell: