In what ways does your media product use, develop

or challenge forms and conventions of real media

products.?By jamie francis.

how I used real media conventions to help me with

my product. Before making my product I had browsed over the internet to find the most popular children's tv shows, which also had DVDs and magazines running along side them, things such as Hannah Montana and Sabrina the teenage witch. I analysed each DVD and front cover to see what

was the most important conventions to keep the audience interested.

I looked at styles, colour, fonts and layouts of each DVD and magazine front cover. Also the content of what was written inside of them.

This helped me to see what the audience would be expecting from me and how I should layout my products .

I also took a look at different opening sequences and analysed the camera work, sound, mise en scene and editing on each one and made

a summery of what was best.

What are the conventions of a childrens magazine and dvd

covers?☺Having a clear layout will help the younger

children to understand what is going on in an opening sequence.

☺Upbeat fast passed music will create a fun effect.☺LARGE FONTS – easier to see and clearer to read.☺High key lighting to seem bright and fun.☺Stereotypical groups of people, e.g. geek, popular

kid, bully. ☺Characters they can relate to and situations they

can relate to. ☺Bright colours to stand out and catch there eye. ☺Short sentances.☺Mise en scene/ setting they can relate to.

Conventions of a children's DVD cover.

This DVD front is of saved by the bell which is a very popular children's tv show. This conventions of this DVD front cover are that there is one large picture in the middle, bright colours that stand out, which not too much writing. The one picture in the middle is very prominent because it’s the only thing on the cover and it has all of the main characters on that are in the show you can create a character identity before seeing the DVD. The use of unisex colours has also been used with is very good for creating a wider target audience as boys and girls will be more likely to want to watch.

My DVD front cover of school daze shares some of the same conventions as saved by the bell cover does aswell, in the ways that there is one big clear picture that will attract the younger children. My cover also challenges the conventions here because instead of having a brightly coloured background the text stands out more, this is because it is the same as the opening sequence and the magazine so the target audience will relate back. Also the little amount of text will not out off a target audience of younger children. Also the use of unisex colours have been used.

Conventions of a children's magazine front cover.

This front cover shares the same conventions as most children's magazines do today, its full of bright colours that stand out. But the main thing is that the text on the top is the same as what the opening sequence is on the tv show itself, this links the media together. Having a smiling character on the front is going to make more of the audience attracted to buying the magazine itself because it looks like a fun read. Having lots of offers on the front of a magazine will also encourage buyers. Having lots of text on the front of a magazine is a good thing because it shows there its lots inside and teasers making the audience want to know more!

My magazine is also like this in the way of having lots of teasers on it, but also has each character involved showing there personalities with what they are gossiping about. Also the use of the brightly coloured title that is the same as the opening sequence shows the product is the same. The text is either side of the main picture to catch the eye of the target audience and different colours are used to show the character identity as they all have individual colours, so the use of a plain background helps all of the colours to stand out.

Conventions of audiovisual media.Camera work:

Using a small amount of movement on a children's tv show is very common as this doesn’t cause confusing and allows focus on one particular part of the clip. In the other media that I had analysed I had found that once I shot had been taken there was often a close up of the main character after rhe short introducing who they are, this would help to show off there happy facial expressions which will allow the audience to create a feeling towards the character. In School Daze after introducing each main character we had taken the same approach by zoom in to the face of the character so we could see more, but always starting with a long shot so the the setting etc could be seen. In most of the videos I had analysed however, there was not a zoom into the characters face but a freeze frame, so we have adapted our video to how we believe our target audience will benefit the more. The photos bellow show how the clip starts with a long shot showing the girl is girly what shes wearing etc, then a mid shot with a till camera as she is walking, then a zoom into her face, showing her happy facial expressions.

Mise en scene:When analysing other products like my own I found that stereotyping for the typical boy girl extra was used. Most characters had there own style or colour that was used in any text around them. I used this convention in my audiovisual media by creating a tv show that was a group of friends with all different personalities this made it a lot easier to create the stereotypes. For example, one girl was a geek and one was popular this could be shown in what they were wearing and what colours they have shown with them. The geek was a yellow uni sex colour where as the girly girl was a pink, which also matched her clothing. Another important convention was where each character was show and the setting they where in. This was shown in my product, where the geek was shown with a teacher at a white board and the naughty class clown was shown messing around on a computer.

Sound:

The conventions of sound there where most important that I found was that the sound was fun, fast passed and bubbly, that is why I have chosen what I did for the audio. It was upbeat which I believed showed that there was a lot of fun to be had in the series and fitted all of the characters smiley giggly natures. In most tv series there are lyrics in the theme tune but I chose to go against this because it then it concentrated more onto the characters themselves. It wasn’t like Hanna Montana were there was a singer so it was not relevant.

Editing:

From the research I had put into other products I had found that a lot of opening sequences had used a lot of fades, swipes or spins in the editing. But for the text there was a lot of pop ups and for example, in Hannah Montana there was flashing lights used to show her fame.

Most of the clips that I had analysed myself had ended in a black or white screen of some sort. On the editing of my audiovisual piece I had gone against the conventions in may ways to try to liven up the clip and make it as fun as the characters themselves. At the start of the clip the picture is brought in a different way so your looking at all of the characters at different times, as a page curl was used to give the effect of a story beginning which was also used at the end of the sequence. To make the piece more interesting I had also added a freeze frame which the title of the show on in all of the different colours so the name ‘School Daze’ is the last thing that you see. And the back ground is dazed away, to fit in with the title itself and this shows that not its not a serious too.

The editing that I find most important I the adding in of the characters names in there own separate colour. I believe this shows them as all individuals.