theme tunes..

i went around asked people my age whether they could remember theme tunes from children's shows from when they were young. It is obvious that themes with catchy tunes are the most memorable, and have stayed with people ten years later.
For my theme i need to speak to some people who do music tech or who can play an instrument well so they can do the backing track an i also want to get some people together who once i have written song lyrics will sing it.

a slight experiment..

i decided as the girls were quite shy when i interviewed them, and i felt that as they were quite scared of the camera, using a more creative route, they may become more confident and look at the project in a more interactive way. I gave them three puppets between the two of them, and they created their own show... called the 'pickles show'! Their show included slapstick comedy that was predictable for me, but for their age group would be very funny. The characters had very simple and basic names.. (moomoo the cow, mousy the mouse and pickles the unidentified animal) and this piece of research has given me a great idea about where to start from and what type of things i can include in it.

from my research i discovered...

that people like shows that are educational, which tell the child something as well as keeping them entertained. it also needs to be adventurous and exciting, because if it's boring, the children will not watch it for long and it wont hold their attention. It also needs to have a funny element, whether thats through a funny and naughty e.g the character of Henry in the show Horrid Henry or the character of Spy Dog. The titles also needs to have a catchy song, bright colours and needs to be easily recognisable.
If there is a presenter, it needs to be someone that the children will like, and not find annoying. My only fear is that it will appeal to younger children, but it will be too young for some, and as the nine year old i interviewed, Anya said, the presenters can be funny, yet quite irritating.
I also want to create a character that children will think is cool because he breaks the rules and he rebels, but the educational bit could be him learning that his ways are wrong?

a slightly more mature version of audience research..

i decided asking people my age, 17 and 18 year olds their favourite shows when they were young would enable me to understand key qualities of shows as i remember them from when i was young.

the questions asked are:

what was your favourite program when you were younger?

i also asked whether they liked that particular show because it was a cartoon.

Audience Research...

this audience research is of a nine and a three year old, and the questions i have asked are:

what are your favourite television programmes?

do you prefer cartoons or real life?

what do you think of the CBBC presenters?

why do you like that particular program?

what would you like in a television title?

other media work; Kerry and Harriet...

The two pieces that I looked at, belonging to Kerry and harriet are of a very high standard, showing they clearly had advanced ideas on the project.
For the planning of Harriet's work, I would give her a level four as it shows clearly what she wanted to achieve, what happened and it contains a high standard of detail through out. However, her evaluation i would give slightly lower, maybe a level three as her evaluation doesn't contain as much detail as i believe it should have.

In comparison to Harriet's, Kerry uses a variety of different techniques to write her final evaluation, which really shows her great understanding. Also, most of her blogs are of a higher standard and contain much more detail. overall, I would give her a high level three/ low level four.

digital technology..

• How has digital technology helped you to capture your ideas for media production?

Without the different types of digital technology capturing our different ideas and expressing them would be hard. With the new developments in editing allows us to be able to change how the appearance of what we have captured, this helps to bring new ideas into the work that we are able to capture.

• What benefits do digital technologies offer? Are there any disadvantages?

Digital technologies bring a mass of developments to us, they enable us to develop so many ideas in a vast amount of ways. Disadvantages are few but with so many products or processes being the same its hard to find what you want and how to bring them all together.

• How did digital technology influence your work in post-production - for example in the creation of video effects, or the manipulation of images.
In post production, i found the different features on photoshop and indesign very helpful, especially as they helped me to manipulate my images.

• How have your skills with digital technology developed, and how has this influenced your productions?
I have become more confident with different types of digital technology, with each piece of new equipment brings different ideas and effects that can be applied to your work.

• What role might digital technology play in the distribution of work such as yours?
Digital technology has many new levels, with new developments it has allowed us to be able to distribute the work in different areas. The Internet allows us to achieve this, with such Internet sights as YouTube it allows us to distribute our work on the net. With doing this people can view freely view the work that we have created.

change of plan..

for my audience research, i initially wanted to go into my local primary school interview pupils from one of the younger classes. I emailed the headteacher of the school, and nearly a week later, i still haven't heard back. Rather than waiting around for a reply, I interviewed some of my neighbours. One of the girls is nine and the other is six, and i asked them what their favourite shows are. I also later on gave them puppets to see if they had to make their own show, what they would put in it. Obviously, being only six and nine, i won't really use their ideas, but it's obvious they want fun and silly characters, and that is what i am aiming for. The videos at the moment are being edited and will be on here soon.

I also around my sixth form interviewed people my age, sixteen and seventeen year olds which programmes they liked as children, and why they did. The old classics such as 'Fireman Sam' and 'Come outside' were mentioned, and because of the people's ages i was able to obtain sophisticated and in depth answers.

ideal viewer...

• around six years old
• goes to primary school, and is in year 3.
• in her spare time plays the piano and draws
• when she comes home from school she watches television on the cbbc channel.
• she lives with her mum, dad and older sister who is 9
• she is quite creative and likes to make things such as perfume and puppets

do's and dont's..

this time I have constructed a list of things that i want to do and things that i want to avoid doing.

do's..

• plan effectively using timelines so that i know i can keep on track and so that I dont leave lots of work until the last minute.
• use a variety of different pieces of media including photgraphs, video and music.
• i want to explore with different camera angles to create different feels
• create a catchy tune for the theme tune that will attract children
• lots of research so i can make sure i target my audience

dont's..

• dont lose my memory stick! and just to be safe, make copies
• just stick with one idea, explore different options
• just take one persons opinion, ask lots of people, including people with an interest in media
• rush it, make sure its all organised.
• just do the work and not my blog, my blog needs to be constantly updated.

target audience...

i believe that i want my target audience to be in between the ages of 3 and 8, meaning that i want it to be simple, with no real sophisticated dialogue and with simple stories and ideas.

for my audience research, i think five year olds would be a good age to interview so i will try and sort this for my primary school visit.

titles...

i decided to go through different tv programmes and have a look at the titles and the theme songs and see what works well.

balamory
a colourful title which starts off as an animation and then goes into a real life scene. it is a catchy song and it introduces all of the characters, including the main one, 'Miss Hooley'.

grange hill
i watched two versions of this, the first one is just a still shot of a comic book, with some music behind it, which was very boring. the second version i watched was a sequence of a comic book, but it flipped the pages and the pictures in the comic came to life.

sister sister
there are two ones of these as well, and in the title it briefly explains the story behind the show, how two identical twins were separated at birth and then brought together as teens. this is a clever idea as people watching for the first time would immediately understand the story.


hannah montana
has a catchy song behind it, sung by miley cyrus who plays the main character Hannah Montana. It also shows the transformation of hannah montana into miley. it is shown of the disney channel, and is immensely popular with girls around the age of 8.

possible audience research venue..

I used to attend Brooke Primary School, so it seemed fitting that I visit there to do my audience research. I found the school website: http://www.brooke.norfolk.sch.uk/pages/viewpage.asp?uniqid=6076

and I found out the name of the current head teacher. i then found his email address in the contact tab and the email i sent to him is below:

researching childrens programmes..

captain pugwash

the initial idea of the show is pretty basic, with a few different characters which are made simply with no big movements. the range of audiences is quite large, as it will be entertaining for small children, but also enjoyable for an older audience as some of the characters have rude names, which small children would be oblivious to.

rainbow

rainbow is set in the same room, with a few characters, the main one being zippy. each show one of the characters either does something wrong or misbehaves, causing a lesson to be taught.

pingu

pingu is a classic childrens program which i remember from my childhood. Pingu the penguin each episode embarks on a different adventure, where he makes discoveries and meets different animals. there is no speech in the show, just his distinctive, unique noise.

button moon

a program starring the spoon family; mr spoon, mrs spoon and tina t. spoon who go on adventures up to button moon through blanket sky. the characters and scenes are made out of basic househould objects (the rocket is made out of tin cans and a funnel) showing that making an entertaining show is easy if you have the right ideas.

the magic roundabout

a 1970's show which is based on a group of characters who go through different scenarios each day. the show seems very simple.

Action Plan..

initial things that I need to do...

Audience research:
A local primary school would be ideal for them to watch my piece and for them to give me their feedback. I also could interview them at the beginning and find out their favourite shows and why they like them. I would then go and find these shows and watch through them and find out what elements of that show would work in combination with my ideal thoughts.
I could also bring in older tv shows such as 'Watch with mother' and 'Captain Pugwash' and see what they think of them compared their usual shows.

To Do:
Contact the primary school and let them know what i would like to do.
If they accept; make a letter to send to parents for permission to film/interview their children.

Character making for film:
In Norwich there is the Puppet theatre which does work shops for puppet making; this would be ideal to create charcters for my show. Also, even if i went and interviewed someone there with tips on how to make a puppet or character look effective, that would be a great help.
Also, there is a local company called 'Garlic Theatre' which is based in Wicklewood near Wymondham, which do visual shows including a range of different puppets and figures.
The website for The Garlic Theatre is: http://www.garlictheatre.org.uk/company.html
The website for Norwich's Puppet Theatre is: http://www.puppettheatre.co.uk/

To Do:
Contact both theatres and find out avaliability and pricing etc
Research different shows including little characters and how they work well/
Look on websites such as YouTube for puppet tutorials on there.

A Variety of audiences?:
In some childrens programmes such as Captain Pugwash and some Disney Films there is a double meaning to some of the stories. There is an obvious story which the children will follow, but often there are hidden sexual inuendos which the children would not understand meaning the show would appeal to a variety of audiences.

To Do:
Watch an episode of Captain Pugwash and see whether there are anymore shows which have an underlying meaning.

Research and planning..

• How did your research into genre contribute to your production work?
My research into genre; which was rock-pop included me going on tv channels which played mostly rock music; such as Kerrang and some of the MTV channels too. I also looked through different music magazines that I wanted mine to be similar to such as MOJO, NME and Kerrang and I saw what worked well on the page and what didnt and followed those.

• How did your research into audience contribute to your production work?
my audience research helped me to see what was in popular demand when it came to a monthly music magazine. My questions included the ideal price range and the type of things that people would want. The most popular suggestions were new bands, music facts, and popular chart topping bands and artists. I also did a smalls urvey which included popular music magazines and people's criticisms of them.

• How did your research into institutions responsible for the production and regulation of the media influence your production work?
I especially looked at NME, which is owned by IPC media which is owned by Time Warner, a global brand. NME is one of the most popular magazine, but I did look at how sales dramatically decreased when the new era of online articles came about. That is why when i was doing my magazine I mentioned a website as I knew all successful magazines had an online edition as well as versions for portable internet devices such as Amazon's Kindle and Apple's Ipad and Iphone.

• What pre-production planning techniques did you employ (scripting, storyboarding, shot-lists etc.)? How effective was your planning – how did it help you in the production phase?
In my pre production stages, my planning was quite rare. I didnt often write out detailed plans of what to do so I often lost way slightly. I used things such as my moodboard as planning as i represented what genre i wanted to represent in my piece. I also did an initial action plan where I listed the different things that I needed to do.

• What did you learn from planning your first production that helped you to improve your planning for the second?
I think this time I will plan more effectively using a time scale so I set myself deadlines so that I can get it all done . However, i will need to make these realistic. I will also as im doing a film this time do storyboards and scripting so I know exactly what needs to happen. I also want to this time do a more detailed plan including everything that needs done.. maybe a brainstorming session at the beggining will help as i can think of everything that needs to be done and i can look at when we have media lessons and when i have free periods so that i know when i actually can get it done.

• How did you use audience feedback to influence your production work while it was in progress?
I asked fellow pupils in my media class what they thought of the magazine so far about half way through, and i knew asking them was a good idea because theya ll have quite a strong media interest and they knew what worked well, and their feedback helped me to improve.

Different portfolio ideas..

• A promotion package for the release of an album to include a music video together with; A cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD package) and A magazine advertisement for the digipak.

as music videos can be so widespread I really liked the idea of doing it as i have a big interest in music. The type of music i would put into my video would be chart music as it would be most popular and i could familiarise myself with the music easily and get to know the song and be able to match the video to the song easily. I would like the video to follow a group of young people.. in everyday life.. or just a person by themselves going through ordinary life.

• A selection of materials related to an original childrens tv drama to include the title sequence to the programme together with; The front cover to a magazine for the series and a DVD cover for the series.

After watching button moon, a popular tv programme in the 80's.. it has given me inspiration to do a childrens programme with puppets and figures going around in every day life. But as most childrens programmes have an underlaying educational theme.. i would like to link the lesson taught with story.

am i creative?

• What features of your work would you say are original to you?
I'd say my original idea for the magazine was original.. and the way I executed it wasnt similar to anybody elses work. Instead of just being about music, I decided to target a deeper meaning which linked with music- the lack of individuality around nowadays. I also think the colloquial style of writing throughout my magazine was different to others, and I chose to do it to familiarise people with the magazine. I also put a picture of myself on the contents page, once again for familiarity for the reader.

• Which media texts and producers have influenced your creative decisions?

Many different media texts influenced my creative decisions. Looking through public prints such as NME, Kerrange, MOJO etc, I could see what worked well within a successful music magazine and took ideas from there, but expanded them to make them original and my own.

• How successfully does your work engage its audience and provoke its interest?

In my opinion, my work engaged the audience in the sense that on the front cover it had snippets of what the magazine contained. Also, on the front cover I had a famous rockstar who is well known by many, so I knew that he would generate interest. Also, the artists mentioned on the front and in the contents page were extremely popular and new.

• Consider some of the creative choices you had to make during the course of your production – how to use cameras, lighting, dialogue, colour etc. How did you make these decisions, and how did these contribute to the final production?

what is creativity?

PLANNING
creativity...

...consists of original ideas executed in a clever and effective way.
four characteristics of creativity:

• imagination
• purpose
• originality
• of value

'Imaginative activity fashioned so as to produce outcomes that are both original and of value'

dictionary definition: Creativity is often defined as the ability to generate innovative ideas and manifest them from thought into reality.

creativity in every day life:

VALUE

• I can use things I have already learned to help me:

Learning from past errors will teach me not to do the same wrong thing.
e.g in an exam answering a question one way and it not being successful; next time round I would change the way I answered it.

• I can see if my work has achieved it's purpose:

Before a task, if you outline an end goal.. you will know when its completed if you have reached that goal. Perseverance.
IMAGINATION WITH A PURPOSE

• I can create things in my mind:

Before writing an essay, I plan the structure and the content in my mind which helps me to write a better essay.

• I try out lots of different ways to do things and solve problems

When I was learning to drive, If i struggled to do a certain bit, I would try different alternatives so that i could end up doing it with ease.
ORIGINALITY

• Takes risks

I believe it is often good to take risks as sometimes they do pay off on a large scale. For example, in a piece of coursework, writing differently to usual as it backs up your idea may pay off, however, sometimes it may not.

• I dont always believe things just because everybody else does

To me, individuality is extremely important, as acting the same as everybody else, and thinking the same as everyone can be extremely monotonous and i believe it is good to be different.

A2 production portfolio

The options for my portfolio are as follows:

• Music video



• Original Childrens Tv Drama



• Documentary



• First pages of a local newspaper



• Short film

After watching some different childrens tv programmes such as Rainbow and Button Moon I really would like to do a childrens programme as I think it would be fun as well as there are so many things I could do.

I am not too keen about doing a newspaper as I did a text project last year and I would like to expand my media knowledge by doing a film.

this is the picture of button moon and all of the characters are made using everyday items.. such as their rocket is made out of tin cans and a funnel.. making it quite easy to create characters which are effective.

rainbow was a popular tv show many years ago and that uses simple stories which have an educational undermeaning.