Exam Board Information

OCR AS Media studies Unit G321

Foundation Production

Summer 2009

Centre Number 14277

Matthew Shirley 9686

AS Resit

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

A website is laid out in a particular way, this is called a convention. Most of these are noticeable, however, as a member of the general public, can sometimes be difficult to spot, or even find at all. They are there for a certain meaning. For exa

mple, most logo’s and catch-phrases are located in the top left. This is a general rule for a campaign website, although you can find some websites that challenge this rule. My website contained most of these conventions but at the same time challenged a few of them. I located my logo at the top but positioned it slightly to the left, so in some ways is very similar to these prime examples. Another noticeable convention is the navigation bar and menu. This is generally found to the left of the page or located at the top of the page. The logo plays a big part in the identity of a website. It instantly shows the audience what and who the website is about. Without the logo, the identity of the website would be missing, therefore would reduce the amount of customers/supporters.

This is my logo design. Compared to a lot of logos it is very conventional. I feel, it could be improved, however, the overall effect that the simple, clever logo gives off is brilliant.

My campaign looks and acts very similar to a real HTML website however, and is done using a very basic programme (iWeb).

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My campaign tackles a very serious and quite worrying subject. It is raising awareness of smoking and what effects it has on you, your friends and your family. I am representing a nation that wants to curb this habit and brush it past and up over our heads. Smoking is now a very serious social issue. Children are being brought into this world around smokers, and are being taught that smoking is perceived to be cool. This is wrong and my campaign hopes to embark upon stopping this national addiction. It is not just the younger generation I am aiming at as well; it also involves the older generation and the younger adult. My images and language support this, yes the colours that I used are bright and cheerful; however the text is very meaning full and contains a lot of facts and useful knowledge, that one day will guide and advise someone or even make someone give up this disgusting habit. I used four images on the ‘how to stop page’ of my campaign. These four images represent the younger generation and show just how happy they are without a cigarette in their hand. I also have a caption underneath these images saying ‘Giving up changed our lives, it can change yours’. Just this alone sends out a very powerful message, and that is what I wanted to get across when designing my website.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Seeing as I am touching upon such a sensitive and major subject, institutions will want to distribute it to show that care about it too. This is a great advantage for not only my campaign, but for the public as well.

I located a search bar in the top right of my website. This was purely for the fact that a search engine is my number one priority when it comes to distributing my campaign website. These search engines use popularity as a key means of gaining business. They rely heavily upon websites to be affiliated on them. They would then expect SmokefreeUK to put some sort of advertisement for them in the website. This can be anything like a small link or a search box just like mine.

Other media forms such as newspapers and magazines will also want to distribute my product. This is a great advertising strategy, however will cost SmokefreeUK a fair amount of money for a regular advertising spot. This wouldn’t be seen as a major problem though, purely because of the fact that all the papers and magazine companies wish to achieve is raise awareness to the problem. The same applies to other forms of media advertisement as well, such as television adverts or radio slots. A television advert would require a bit more money to create, compared to just one advert that is used in a paper.

If SmokeFreeUK gained enough money from charities, I would hire an ad-agency to create and distribute the campaign itself. This would require a lot less time than me doing it myself, however would require a lot more money. Not only will companies want to distribute my media product, but other charities would want to get involved to. They too are raising awareness for something that they believe in. This then would create a very healthy relationship from charity to charity, which would then get SmokefreeUK Invited to fund raisers, events and meetings hopefully involving the government policy and laws.

There are also small things that SmokefreeUk could do; these could be anything from handing out leaflets/flyers to the general public in the local area and schools. We could also carry out events and small meetings just to boost and raise this awareness that is so desperately needed in small and large towns/cities.

To sum up then what and who would distribute my product would be to say that most companies would happily involve their selves in my project, but not all would do it for the same reason. Some companies would advertise and distribute my campaign for money, others would do it for charity and because they care about the subject and lastly, others would do it for popularity and to show that they do care about the issue.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The type of person who my media product is trying to represent and get through to is absolutely anyone. It doesn’t matter on your social class, ethnicity, age and gender. Smoking can affect absolutely everyone. People are dragged into smoking and even the people you least expect, I bet a family member or friend smokes.

The website itself is very easy to read and understandable. This then is attracts the younger people of this era and promotes the dangers of smoking. It’s not just children/teenagers that need to know the dangers of this habit, some adults don’t fully understand the dangers of smoking and the kind of effects it can have on your body and on your family and friends. I would then by lying if I said it was just aimed at children then, because I tried to focus it on adults as well because of this reason. This is shown by the type of language that I use and the overall feel of the website. I hope that all age groups, no matter on your class, gender or ethnicity feel welcome and are able to open up and gain something from their visit to the media product.

How did you attract/address your audience?

When researching similar campaign websites, I noticed that they contained very long, hard winded paragraphs. I didn’t want my website to be like this, it puts people off. I looked at other campaigns such as the NHS smoke free website and the British Heart foundation.

I feel that my target audience need to be able to read the text with ease, and not feel that it is an essay like task. I doubt people would enjoy reading something like this and would just simply look at another website.

This is my home page, I did the complete opposite to what I tried to avoid. The colours alone don’t make the reader feel at all depressed and created a very good first impression of what it contains and is about. My text isn’t long winded and is short ‘n’ sweet. It s

hows clearly exactly what it is that SmokefreeUK want you to gain and achieve out of visiting it.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

To begin with, my media product looks very professional, however the programmes I used limited to some extent on what I could achieve and create.

Creating this product, I have learnt a great deal of skills and technical knowledge. These range from software and hardware.

The main programme used was iWeb. This programme took some time getting used to, however, this is a very easy and effective way of creating an HTML based website. It allowed me to create a professional finish to not only my home page, but the rest of my links. The home page the hardest to develop due to it having many key aspects. One of these aspects was getting the layout perfect and the positioning of the pictures, texts, logos and the navigation bars. The best part of iWeb is that it takes such a short space of time to learn all the basics. You can then quickly develop these skills to create a brilliant piece of work. I like how when the programme is started, there isn’t anything you need to go through, as soon as it is open, you are instantly there.

There are downfalls to this programme though. It is an excellent piece of software for a student or someone who just wants to play about with website building; however, it’s very difficult to create a brilliant product for such a serious web builder/designer. They would struggle greatly due to it having limited features. For instance, iWeb doesn’t allow you to create something like a hit counter, which most websites contain. The only reason my campaign website contains a web counter is because I managed to created an HTML code which I’m sure, most people would struggle to do.

I also used Adobe Photoshop CS4. This programme is the world’s best photo and digital image editor. There are major downfalls to this programme, because it is so complicated to use, you need to be so familiar with this programme to create anything of a high standard, This takes a lot of time though. I only needed to use this programme for a few pictures; these included the logo and the design for the image next to the logo.

The last programmes I used were iMovie 6 HD and Garageband. These are fantastic for creating a simple, but effective small movie. The main downfall to garageband is that you are limited to a small range of features. I would have liked to create a more complex song for my campaign video; however it is still a perfect programme for a student.

Lastly the overall use of an Apple Mac was very enjoyable. I already had an understanding of an Apple Mac from be being a graphic design student as well as Media Studies. This would have been a major problem though if I hadn’t had this knowledge and be able to work my way around an Apple Mac do easily. They are very complicated and are completely different to Windows. They have better features; however we have all grown up with Windows. Simply Macs are more reliable, faster and applications and programmes are a lot easier to use.

To conclude I learnt a great deal from the technologies I used to create my media product. The programmes that are available to us now for our time is exceptional and quite something. It’s such a shame that we were limited with the programmes that we used, especially iWeb, on the other hand, we were so lucky in which that we had such brilliant facilities to create a website of such a high standard.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

For our preliminary task we were asked to create a two page website, containing information for a school. We had to create the design our self and were asked to come up with a school name and logo.

At first, I had major difficulties getting used to iWeb, but suddenly managed to develop and enhance my skills in website designing using this programme. I am very proud of my preliminary task as it looks very professional, however, the thing that differs from my campaign website, is that i used a template in my preliminary task, which in a way took the fun out of designing it.

I also looked at other school websites, and got my idea and information from my school, Ravenswood. This was brilliant because I could get ideas for my campaign task; the preliminary task was just there to get us used to the programmes, which I think worked brilliantly.

Research into producers of websites - ad agencies and web designers (INSTITUTION)

There are companies out there who produce websites. Ad agencies and web designers are widely involved around this topic. The agency is employed by a company which therefore promotes their product and increases revenue. They find means of advertisement. This can include anything from radio shows, to television broadcasts, they also include newspapers and the internet. This then is where the web designers come into hand. They are then employed by these ad agencies for a visual representation of what the company is best known for, online. The web designer is critical for additional promotion.

Examples of these types of companies:

-ImageWorks

ImageWorks is a Custom Web Design Firm and Marketing Agency Specializing in Branding and Marketing Strategies That drive in Revenue.

Analysis Of Video

The video i created demonstrates a nice array of images. It is there purely for the enjoyment and satisfaction of the audience. They are able to work there way through there website and eventually come across the video. Every slideshow involves different aspects of smoking. This is work really well for my campaign and shows just what it is like to smoke. The background music was created by me using garageband. It's relaxing and sets the tone for the video/website.

Analysis of photographs and sourced images

Analysis of survey results and audience profile using survey, demographics and VALS

The survey, i found came out with an array of results. From these survey results, you can understand and notice what different VAL'S are involved. For example, from the survey a lady considers her self to be healthy, she doesn't smoke and eats her 5 a-day. She also doesn't smoke so would this mean that she is an achiever?

The results are very clear but at the same time, very dismissive. At first glance, the shock of the amount of people that actually smoke, is quite terrifying. 30 people i feel isn't enough to reflect a proper survey that i can carry out research and get a better understanding of what and who i am dealing with within my campaign.

Website research n.2

Not only did i analyze related campaign websites but i also looked into other, non-related websites to do with smoking. These were included as my research and roughly managed to get ideas and thoughts on how to layout and present my campaign.

http://www.givingup-smoking.co.uk/

http://www.eppingforestdc.gov.uk/news/2008/NHS_Stop_Smoking_Campaign.asp

http://www.southwarkpct.nhs.uk/

http://www.learntobehealthy.org/?wt.srch=1&gclid=CKmXlKyn75YCFRqH1Qod33YJrQ

http://smokefree.nhs.uk/

Survey Results

Survey Results

Age:

15-25 = 12 people

26-40 = 16 people

41+ = 2 people

Gender:

18 = women

12 = men

Income bracket:

10k – 25k = 3 people

25k – 35k = 6 people

21 people didn’t want to say..

Have you ever been affected by cancer?

Yes = 5 people

No = 25 people

Are you a smoker?

Yes= 11 people

No = 19 people

How many do you smoke a day?

5-10 = 1 person

11–25 = 3 people

25+ = 5 people

If you do smoke, what age did you start?

2 people = 14- 16

7 people = do not know…

Does anyone in your family smoke?

Yes= 28 people

No= 2 people

Do you have children and how old are they?

Yes= 8 people

No= 22 people

4 people were 1-6 years old

2 people were 7-13

2 people were 14-21

Do your children smoke?

No= 6 people

Yes= 1 person

Maybe= 1 person

Do you exercise weekly, if yes how many times?

No= 26 people

Yes= 4 people

2 people went 3 times a week,

2 people went more than 5 times a week.

Do you go to the gym?

No= 20 people

Yes= 10 people

Has anyone in your family been affected by cancer?

Yes= 17 people

No= 10 people

Not sure= 3 people

If you do smoke, how much do you spend on cigarettes weekly?

£20+ = 1 person

£40+ = 3 people

£60+ = 4 people

More = 3 people

Do you use the NHS for medical care or are you private?

30 people use NHS = 100%

If you do use the NHS, Do you feel it’s of a high standard and that they can provide a good service for you?

Yes= 14 people

No= 16 people

If you have ever smoked, how long have you given up for?

No one has given up = 100% said no.

Do you eat your 5 a-day?

Yes= 20 people

No= 10 people

Do you consider yourself healthy?

Yes= 24 people

No= 6 people

Do you know how many people die per day from smoke related cancers?

100% said no..

Survey

Audience and institution Table

~Children between 5-9	Holidays	Holidays designed for the younger generation and families all tend to follow the same pattern. The focus is on the children, for example they organise trips, workshops and crèche’s. So the holiday is therefore planned out to involve the kids, which is a huge advantage for the parents. The advertisement’s for a holiday like this often shows bright, happy colours. The images are usually of happy children/toddlers playing around or in the pool, and/or on the beach.
Young people between 16-20	Holidays	The younger generation tend to set out looking for a enjoyable time, clubs and party’s. It needs to be cheap, so offers a low price that appeals greatly to teenagers and young adults.
Middle aged people between 30-50	Holidays	The middle-aged generation look for relaxation in a holiday. Advertisement for this would show families and couples enjoying their selves and generally relaxing. There would also be offers on spa’s and days out.
Older generation 50-75	Holidays	Older couples tend to book and buy cruises that run over a period of time. Advertisement for this would be placement; marketing for this type of holiday should be suitable for the elderly, so it would need to be in certain places. The images on the advert would generally consist of Older couples relaxing and maybe with their families.Older couples relaxing and maybe with their families.

Audience and Institution Task

Audience And Institution

Task 1

Medium: Music Download

Name: YoungShare

Content And Genre: My download system will include a Unique Selling Point. The Cost of the songs and albums will be available at a very reasonable price. It will include all genres, but mainly focus on Indie, Grime and Rock. I would expect the younger generation to be the main buyers of my products, however, the older generation could also be interested in the classic rock songs that are available. The kid who would be interested in buying my products, would be either into grime music, or on the other hand, into indie music.

Two Similar Organisations:

iTunes

Jeff Robbins and Bill Kincaid developed the software that was the basis for iTunes as a media player called SoundJam MP, and was released in 1999. It was purchased by Apple in 2000. Almost everyone in the world has heard of iTunes, yet only 70 per cent of young people in the age group download music in any given month - and 49 per cent of young people use iTunes.

Napster

Napster was an online music file sharing service created by Shawn Fanning between June 1999 and July 2001. Napster was originally made for the younger generation (college students). Napster simply allows individuals to share music, as does tape recorders and CD burners. However, in March of 2001, due to a court order, Napster blocked the trading of over 100,000 files of copyrighted songs. The court ruled that Napster's technology was an infringement on the copyrights of published music.

Website Research

To sum the research up that I found then, I would say that each campaign website has very similar attributes. They are all targeting the same audience and are all on the same subject matter; however, the layout and techniques that they use are slightly different. The simple things are there, like all the conventions I mentioned earlier. These are things like the logo being in the top left, and the navigation bars being on either the right or left of the page and just underneath the logo. These would tend to be in black and white, but I did find one website that used a range of colours. This is rare for a campaign website because there usually made to make the audience feel sad and sorry for them. This website however, used very bright and bold colours, as if to say it’s a happy, cheerful website.

Overall then each and every campaign website follows the same pattern/conventions. The ones that stand out are the ones that do this slightly differently.

institution research Web hosting and domain name registration

Web hosting and domain name registration

What is web hosting?

Web hosting involves providing space on Internet servers, for the storage of the World Wide Web. This can then be viewed and used by others in that network. For instance, with the school server, the students and teachers can gain access to files and websites through that server.

http://www.freevirtualservers.com/

After researching web hosting, I found an example of a web hosting company, ‘Freevirtualservers’ who specialize in free hosting to business and web hosting.

These range from £1.25 a month to £25 a month. They also claim that you can rank higher in the search engines, from just £69. I found, after looking into more web hosting companies, that this would be the most suitable. It follows the same pattern to my campaign website and is reasonably cheap. This would be a great advantage for me as it would keep my costs down and will still come out with all the benefits. For this cost I would be able to register my domain, and design the website.

What is a domain name?

A domain name is simply the ‘Address’ or ‘URL’ of a website. It then refers to the name of the website. A domain name makes it very easy for the user/viewer identify and find a particular website.