Initial review of Evalution Task

The evaluation task requires our group to address four questions on the production and finished product of our main and ancillary tasks. In order for us to create a compelling, reflective and subjective evaluation, we knew that it had to be rich in content based on audience feedback collected from a variety of angles, as well as including our own views on how succesfull our finished project has been. Moreover we wanted to use a range of mediums to create a finished evaluation that would allow us to fully learn from any mistakes, while also remembering any specific techniques that worked to help with any future media productions we may embark on.
The questions were as follows:

Q1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Q2 How effective is the combination of your main products and ancillary texts?

Q3 What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Q4 How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?



To begin to evaluate, we first had to collect audience feedback from a number of different perspectives to see whether our production would be appreciated by a variety of audiences. Our first and primary feedback was from our classmates and teacher, this would run under the category of an active audience because they would be critically viewing our film and ancillary texts on the basis of not only their knowledge of the subject, but also drawing upon their own experience of media production. Secondly we showed other students at school that don't study media to see if our production would appeal to a younger audience, similarly we also showed other teachers at school to see if they had any criticisms or praises to make These would both fall under the category of a passive audience, but this is also important feedback because ultimately this would be the majority of viewers if our film were to screened like any other media product.
While we want to be creative in the mediums in which we convey our evaluation, we felt that its important to gather together all of our feedback and own views before hastily going into the construction of the 'evaluation film'. So we have set appointments for our group to meet up to discuss the content that we wish to include.
We have decided to use a podcast, interview style film, and a 'prezi' presentation that will be filmed as we preform it in class. By using these mediums we believe that we are more likely to use the points of evaluation in any other media productions because it will be more accessible and memorable in the future, as apposed to a mere written piece. Furthermore we feel we need the use of images and possibly video clips to put our points across more clearly to the audience.

Stephen

DocuSoap Case Study

Definition:

DocuSoaps are simply a form of reality TV, however certain elements differentiate it from mainstream viewer-led television such as talk shows and the likes of Jeremy Kyle. Similarly, it isn't 'access television' (Which from my understanding is a predominantly American form of TV created by ordinary people and non-profit organization, might be worth looking into), since the audience is in fact the subject of the program.

Can be defined as a program about ordinary people or events, made by professionals to entertain and instruct.

General Structure of DocuSoaps.

Narration plays a very influential part, since narration is likely to increase viewer involvement and add another layer of representation through meta-narratives. Dramatic reconstructions may also be used to further the cause. Story lines often follow a weekly structure (Notting Hill 2010) possibly providing firm viewing numbers. The stories are real, and therefore connect to the audience in a very real way, since the issues raised are particularly key debates or areas of interest in the media world at the current time (Britney and Kevin: Chaotic - Bricolage of home videos in order to set up the narrative, and professional filming in order to tell it).

DocuSoaps are cheap to produce, easy to work to within deadlines and can be aired immediately. However this raises other issues. The British DocuSoaps are not particularly involving when compared to North American alternatives. For example Airport and Airline were two of the best and most viewed DocuSoaps in the United Kingdom, however when compared to the scale of North American counter-parts such as Ace of Cakes, Ice Road Trucks, Miami Ink, Deadliest Catch and Storm Chasers, not only does it effectively describe the type of target audience but it also shows what people find involving and of interest. DocuSoaps also can be considered educative as well as entertaining. This authoritative stand may give them a lot of appeal to the average television viewer.

"Reality TV shares many of the characteristics Modelski assigns to fictional soap operas such as a participatory quality; a sense that characters or social situations are 'like me'...and emphasis in knowledge of what others might do and think...rather than strictly factual 'know-how'; acceptance and acknowledgement that viewers are subject to 'interruption, distraction and spasmodic toil'; multiple plot lines; and casts of characters who may not know each other."
Bill Nichols, Blurred Boundaries: Questions of Meaning in Contemporary Culture. 

Elias