Evaluation task 3 - What I've learn't from my audience feedback

Please follow the link below to see a short clip of our focus group

http://mediaunit3.blogspot.com/2010/03/focus-group-meeting.html

The video clip shows a specific conversation we had that was about a specific character we had brainstormed. (we fully prepared for the focus group and handed out a programme that had sketches, storyboards, brief treatment, characterisations and possible story lines). They said the PA (personal assistant that was originally Peter) should not be homosexual as he already has a family and extended problems/worries that are associated with that. We took this into consideration and understood that maybe we were over complicating characters, so we chose to simplify this and not completely challenge the conventions of stereotypical characters but develop them slight (as we chose to keep the boss to be a female Muslim).

Yet there was a contradictory statement that was said which was; that we shouldn't assume that due to the fashion nature that it will be filled with gay man but should be seen as a generic business trade that will follow normal business procedures in a non stylised or glamorous light. (well that was implied anyway). This helped us identify our target audience more, it helped us to grasp the concept that we're portraying an office/business environment and the ideology of a fashion trade should be scrapped. This helped us to stray from a stylised representation like Ugly Betty and towards a realistic version of The Office.

We had the opportunity to see/hear real accounts of real peoples experiences at work during these times of recession/depression. There's evidence of this towards the end of the video clip and you can see that it was very tense and the mood became very solemn. This gave me a very clear indication of these peoples "fear" and "uncertainty". These people appeared petrified that they could lose their jobs tomorrow and there's the possibility that they'll unable to provide for themselves or others as jobs are hard to find. This changed our focus of the programme; rather than representing an extremely eclectic mix of characters representing the diversity of London life we thought to engage all these hard workers struggling at this very moment.

I personally interpreted this as an overwhelming and honest moment and this was my inspiration for my poster. I mislead audiences to believe it's a horror show style as whilst i was sitting amongst these people listening to them i felt a sense of terror/emergency (can be seen in the emergency exit escape, a door going down the stairs/high angle shot). This inspired the new trailer structure also. As they dismissed ideas about revealing balance sheets because they informed us that this would be strictly confidential they said that the boss would speak privately with individual employees and brief them of the current scenario. Give them what we should have done percentage wise and what was done. They also said that the boss would announce the redundancies in the privacy of an office which formed the entire environment of our trailer.

Evaluation task 4 -The equipment I used

- iPhone

- Windows Laptop

- iMac

- Tripod

- Digital camera

- Video camera

- Firewire and other usb cables

- Headphones and other peripherals.

Evaluation task 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

A.


Web page:

The web page has a black background with a faint image of a brick wall which conveys a darker theme. The bricks can highlight the industrial work/society/nature of the programme (has striking resemblance to the coronation street brick wall). The image was digitally enhanced in order to impose a darker impression upon viewers.
On the main page of the website (not the first home page as this is only a title page), i don't think the title is as clear as i would have liked. When you first see the main page your attention is very unfocused as it's visually very busy. I think this is very noticeable as it's shown immediately after an almost empty or what appears to be empty in comparison, is the first home page. This is a title page that is temporary and highlights the correlation between the 'teaser' poster and the soap overall. When you arrive at the main page of the website it follows similar conventions to that of a regular soap website. It has various photographs, opportunities for viewers to vote, current story lines and etc. Perhaps by reordering the photographs of adopting the darker theme through the whole website may have worked more effectively and not confuse or disorientate viewers.
The main storyline is featured at the top of the page, yet it may appear too busy to audiences so they be repelled rather than engulfed by it as it may appear messy. I tried making the main storyline stand out by enlarging the photo, as it's the weeks priority agenda i felt it would be easier for audiences to navigate through the site and catch up on the latest stories. Another way for audiences to navigate through easier is by re-arranging the photo's on the main page so they're able to absorb the information. I failed to make the text message scheme noticeable, it seems as audiences skim through the main page they will fail to recognise the special feature. I could have change the colour of font or perhaps put an alternative shaped border around it to draw audiences to it.


Poster:

To summarise the poster in a few words i would say it was a specialised poster that has a horrific narrative image that imposes the idea of horror. It doesn't represent much of the working environment as it's a teaser poster is intended to be ambiguous (it can be one of many teaser posters for the advertising strategy).
The poster shows two smoking cigarettes mirroring each other, this can appeal to the smoking target audience. There's use of symbolism as the photograph i had taken was of a fire exit, the idea of fire/burning/heat can give an impression of red/evil/horror that evokes negative thoughts and emotions. The narrative image is very dramatic, abstract and minimalistic. I believe it's simplicity is the reason it has such a powerful effect on viewers. "How are you surviving?" is central to whole frame and everything is symmetrical or parallel, this helps present everything clearer. Viewers are able to absorb the information as nothings scattered across the page, it has a very focused message and this transcends into the audience's minds.
The background is black mainly with tones of grey and white. Red is the only other colour, this is so audiences are not overwhelmed with an array of colours that can disengage them rather than draw them in. To summarise you can say it's monotonic with a red tinge to signal a danger zone (fire exit icon, everything is very visual, minimal words) which heightens the haunted house style follow the theory that 'less is more'.


Trailer:

The introduction to the trailer begins by establishing the office location. I wanted to show the offices to be glamorous rather than presenting them to be based in an industrial warehouse. This is more visually luxurious and would put audiences in a greater sense of awe. The subject matter is quite grim and we didn't want this to act as a deterrent towards viewers.
The pitch is shown in stages to gradually introduce the audience to the context. This takes a more light hearted approach than our original concept of highlighting the gritty reality of the situation businesses currently face or anyone by that matter. The environment is shown to be normal, the offices and work stations have your 'everyday equipment' (computers, telephones, folders, stationary etc) to enhance the realistic representation and to get audiences to engage more as they can recognise and relate to the current situation.
The 'stress sequence' is shown abstractly as it's conveying an emotional state, without words, that can only really be implied through using media language. I believe this was successful as there was a broad range of close up shots, extreme close up shots, canted shots and general footage which clearly communicates the idea of stress. The shots of Aya speaking at her employees perhaps was unclear at the beginning and the passing of days was represented weakly. Perhaps to have made this more noticeable there could have been a bolder changing of clothes, for example changing from a red top to a green to a blue rather than dull colour tones.
The use of ambiguous rhetorical titles enables audience members to link together the clues presented to them to piece together what's going on. An audience member may identify the subject matter much earlier than others, this means its accessible to a broad range of people as if you are not as quick to acknowledge what's going out the image gets progressively clearer towards the end.
The title frames combined with the soundtrack were intended to also impose an energetic ambiance onto viewers which will hopefully elate them a tiny fraction whilst watching it. It helps build the tension and hold the attention. Overall i felt it was quite successful
The main focus for this advertising campaign was the particular storyline of the boss making a handful of employees redundant. It seems looking at the three products there are overlaps with some iconic or symbolic references. I think that perhaps the overall artistic vision could have been improved to show more clarity in a specific message.


The poster stands out the most as it's most misleading and may be very unclear with it's intent and meaning. This dark style is reflected in the website yet it fails to be noticed in the trailer. This is because the filming was done a while before plans and designs for the website and poster had begun. We had poorly planned and were not completely sure of the overall design plan for each texts. Although the vague design plan we had conceived can be noticed, marginally.
The website features a screen shot of Ayan smoking can be perfectly linked to the poster. The font is the same through for the title and can be seen in the trailer too. The header and footer for the website adopts the same font styles.
The poster shows less significant references to the trailer yet similarities can be identified. The slogan appears on one title from of the trailer ("how are you surviving?"). This is not easily noticed as there are few title frames in the trailer. This could have been clearer if the slogan was the focus point rather than the smoking. Or, the title that features the slogan could have be red or have turned red to highlight the correlated style.
The 'footer' banner for the website highlights the offices that viewers would have briefly seen during the first few seconds of the trailer. As this is the bottom of the website and is linked with the first few seconds of the trailer it may be rather hard to realise they're a collective product. Perhaps i should have remained with the original idea of keeping the 'header' banner for the website that way audiences will be reminded of those images more often if it's presented at the top of the page.

Evaluation task 4 - Software - my skill developments

Internet explorer:
is the software that allows me access to sites such as youtube and most importantly blogger.com. It is the very software that enables this project to take place. Without this software i would be unable to update my blog with evidence of my progression. It also allows my to long onto hotmail.com to access my online email account to communicate with the group. When i was without my usb i realised i was able to store data online and access it at any location. This became more efficient as the network in the school didn't allow you access the your shared documents on different computers. This meant that which ever computer you were working on, you would have to remain on that particular computer as you couldn't access any of your files from any other computer. By saving files online it overcame the problem.


Youtube:
is a video sharing website and is one of the most popular sites on the Internet, globally! A fairly recent feature allows you to annotate your videos, superimpose comments and pause still frames directly to the video without effecting the offline data. I used this to complete an evaluation task. I paused a particular part of video to allow the viewer time to read the comments i wrote. This is easily adjusted and edited as there is a visible time line below the video clip that allows you to place the comment anywhere in the video and at any lengh of time. This can all be done with a click of a mouse and is very self explanatory. There are limited features, although for a simple annotating task it's most effective otherwise there would have been endless screen shots. As it is an online facility it allows you to log on and retrieve any data you were walking on. This is beneficial as you would not have to go through the procedure of saving files onto usb sticks and is also provides a back up of any files in case of damage or loss.


iWeb:
I was fairly familiar with the software and used this to create my website. Previously i would have used Microsoft's alternative, Front page which i believe is more difficult. I found iWeb very user friendly as it hides all HTML coding. It was arranged that the class visiting CLC (computer learning centre) which i found very useful as we were all show demonstrations and had a live tutorial of all the main functions. We had spent 2 hours in the centre experimenting through trial and error what the functionality of the software is like and what we're able to do with it. It seems all our work was lost from the CLC although it was fairly simple to recreate work. As apple Macintosh has very friendly interfaces and designs it was very simple to add images and videos to a particular web page. If an image was stored on the desktop you can simple click the image, drag it across onto the web page, drop the image and then it will appear onto the web page (the same applies to videos and other files). This was very efficient. The software also offers you a variety of templates from forums to galleries in very unique styles. I thought it would be most challenging, creative and fun if you were to begin with a blank page, so i did. As the software is designed for beginners it didn't allow me to change background colours nor was i able to get rid of the margins aligned to every page. It allowed you to chose from a black or white background only as i can imagine most people opt for a pre-made site. I was most concerned with the margins as computers with different screen sizes (like wide screen) may distort the appearance of the sites layout.


Windows Movie Maker:
This is a free software that comes with most Windows operating systems. I have been very familiar with the software since several Windows ago, and the functions have not changed drastically. I view it as a more simplistic version of the Mac iMovie. I used this software to create a few slide shows. It's very easy to use as you simple import all the files you wish from any folder on your hard disk. You simple drag the files into a time frame and edit any transitions or soundtracks by basic cropping, pauses and deletions. Your also able to choose from a variety of video effects. One slide show in particular i experimented with a variety of functions including video and sound FX. I used video transitions with newspaper templates. I mixed 3 songs in together yet this was rather unsuccessful as they faded off beat which takes away from the smooth continuity (i never boasted about my musical ability). I chose to use various title displays from stars superimposed onto the image to 'fly-in' titles.


IMovie:
This was the program that i had used to edit the trailer. It was the older iMovie version which was limited in it's functionality. It had the same principle as Windows Movie Maker (WMM) offering a variety of title templates and animations, video FX (slow motion) and also allowed you to divide footage into chapters. I found iMovie most helpful as it organised the croped sections of the trailer into a side bar that was easily accessible. The layout was reminiscent of WMM and Youtube as it had a time line that allowed you to see all the layers of the trailer (sound, video, transitions) although i Movie allowed you to also view it in storyboard form which was useful when swapping video sections to experiment with different sequences. There was a feature that allowed you to zoom in to view the time line so you were able to make very detailed amendments to the video.
I had spent many hours experimented with all the different features. I was particularly joys when i discovered the title fonts were the same as those offered by adobe photoshop and iWeb. This is beneficial in terms of the whole project. Rather than this discovery being a fluke perhaps i should have investigated in case of any future problems.
I became confident with iMovie towards the end of the project as i found myself using shortcut keys more which made the editing process more efficient. Rather than navigating through the menu bar i was able to delete, undo, copy and paste which are all simple functions although in creative moments these are all you need. It helped me progressively quicker as when i had an idea i was able to demonstrate it fairly quickly without forgetting. I wished i had used my initiative early in the project and researched shortcut keys rather than spending hours adjusting to the interface/software.


Adobe Photoshop:
I have never approached photoshop before and already i felt quite intimidated as it appeared very complex. I felt bombarded with jargon and this was indeed frightening, i thought the only way was to just try out all the features and guess what icons could do what. I was very impressed the magic wand tool. This feature automatically selects a section of your image that is of similar colour tones (contrasted to what it's parallel to). This was useful as it allowed you to divide an item in the foreground of an image from the background with ease. There was a selection of gradient tools which allows you to fade an image to black, white and even transparent! By fading an image transparent or even selecting the back ground to be transparent made it very efficient to add to the website. The software separates your one image into layers, one layer may be some text or a separate image superimposed on another. The layers are presented in a separate window, this window box is very small and helps you bookmark your progression. You can choose to view one layer alone to help you work on a particular section of the image without fear of disrupting/changing the other layers. This became useful when designing the posters as you were dealing with many layers that superimpose upon each other. Seeing the layer in isolation is very useful when working on finer details although at times you need to see the whole image when making minor adjustments such as colour to see whether it compliments the overall style. I found you were able to also lock layers which means if you click on a layer accidentally it remains inactive and blocked from any amendments. This was a feature i used often. I felt i had made significant progress with photoshop, i had watched a few tutorials on youtube that demonstrated how to carry particular functions. I believe for me personally i had to figure out the features myself by making many mistakes and beginning again. Photoshop offers you so much and i had barely scraped the surface. When selecting font you were able to add texture, embed, shadow and add many other effects. If i was granted more time i would have spent more time on fonts; experimenting with what effects can be created as i believe i was safe with my font choice to avoid complications.


Garageband:
I chose to use this program, regardless of my musical know how. I thought i could experiment and create my own music although this proved to be much harder then i anticipated. Perhaps i was complacent yet i believe my knowledge lacks in musical composition. I uploaded my soundtrack onto a timeline and adjusted volume levels when there was dialogue in the trailer. This meant that when Aya was speaking it would be much clearer and the music would not dominate. Maybe i could have experimented with moments of silence as she's about to announce the job loses to create suspense/tension. I did however attempt to raise the overall volume towards the end although this was not as effective as i had hoped. By using Garageband i believe the trailer has improved as it allowed greater music features that iMovie enabling me to create a more professional trailer.

Website main page annotations

My final poster design

Originally i had retrieved inspiration from the footage to create a poster as i thought this will instantly add a correlated style to the advertising campaign. The below poster design was one of my first. I created a dark feel to it from the original as it would imply a negative and dramatic narrative image which i would assume most people associate the recession with. The mannequin communicates an ambiguous message of fashion manufacturing, designing and the non-glamorous-business orientated side of general high street fashion. The style is very simplistic as this adds sophistication. Nothing is super imposed onto anything with flamboyant borders or bold colours. Instead, everything is very symmetrically aligned.

Below is the digital design of my original idea. The angle of Aya's face is different yet the overall positioning of the cigarette and her face in the frame is awkward and artistic. The font styles remained the same as i thought the simplistic serif contrasted the sans serif style for the pitch slogan is very effective. The title is bold and clear for the reader whereas the pitch is very flamboyant to add more complexity to the design to draw viewers attention. I don't think the below image is striking enough it appears to similar to that of a postcard. The design and communicated message is simple although it doesn't have the impact needed to be a poster i thought i could perhaps use this for a header for the website.

As smoking is dominant prop for the trailer i thought it would better correlate with the poster if it featured a cigarette. As the style was intended to be for a sophisticated theme for an older generating, smoking (cigarette and smoke) i thought would visually satisfy this. Smoking 20 years ago was seen as a very glamorous habit, although now many older people are trying to quite they still grew up with this marketed onto them. I believe I'm challenging the current conventions that damn the idea of smoking by making it sophisticated, glamorous and yet still damning it by implying it's a negative habit that's due to a negative mental state (stress!).

Above: This design is the one i favoured, as it was very dark and can be conventional to that of a horror/thriller film poster. This may be because it's very ambiguous, it appears claustrophobic, the red font appears shocking and it makes a bold statement to the viewer by centralising in the frame, direct rhetoric. I believe these similarities can be compared to 28 weeks later film poster, where the poster is tinted vermilion red with an extreme close up of the characters face.

I understand we're not creating a film poster in the slightest although as it is premiering a new soap the advertising style must be bold and is acceptable to be misleading. As eastenders and various other soaps are already established there is no need for this. Specialist advertising is also seen when the programmes anniversaries arise, they may focus and highlight a specific storyline or theme (this can be seen in the Xmas specials). As our soap is new and is introducing a realistic horror style scenario (a business being hit hard by the recession) i think the exaggerated poster can be enigmatic although accurately and abstractly portraying our narrative image.

To add impact i wanted everything to be centralised so when i added the cigarette image, which was copy written free, i creatively decided to mirror it to create a symmetrical and centralised style. I believe this draws audiences in more effectively as visually its more organised and not as scattered. It helps define the communicated message and has a stronger impact on viewers. I decreased the opacity of the images as i didn't wanted to make them the focus but almost make the smoker a border for the poster. I believe has improved the poster drastically and I'm contented to say this is my final design.

Evaluation task 1 - How i used, challenged or developed conventions.

Top Left

Characters:

We chose to represent unconventional characters in the office environment to represent a multi cultural community that reflects the greater location of suburban London that will portray realism. By this i mean; we developed the conventional use of white male characters for any high hierarchical business positions but rather a female replacement. The dominant female character is conventional archetype in soaps. I believe we have developed the conventional representation of the Islamic culture with the Boss as a clear example. What's shown through the media is an extreme spectrum of people following the Islam faith, forgetting the majority who don't follow the scriptures as strictly, this too can be seen with all faiths. She's shown to act as anyone would under enormous stress and pressure to succeed. She's seen smoking which one could argue is unconventional to cultural traditions but perhaps seen as conventional in terms of modern London society.Most characters in the soap would speak with general London accents although as the company off shores certain activities (meaning the business interacts and does 'business' in other countries around the world) so lorry drivers for example may be featured that have very little English skills. Characters can have strong regional accents due to a enriched ethnic background. We followed conventions of typical soaps by displaying a range of characters to appeal to that broader audience. As the business is divided in different job positions on different levels this may reflect their determined social class and IQ. The boss will be very intelligent and of course wealthy whereas the cleaner is recreational 'pot' smoker that may consequently not be as bright. I believe that the characters we've chosen can unconventional to normal soaps as we have not proceeded with the common archetypes but have developed to create an alternative soap that's dynamic and interesting.

Top Right

Soundtrack:

For advertisements in particular there is no correlation they all range immensely. It's a case of what effect are trying to impose on your audience and what's catchy. I wanted audiences to feel a sense of adrenaline which will excite viewers and entice them to tune in. I chose a hard rock soundtrack that is energetic and gives the impression of a dramatic and powerful prelude.I chose the piece because it's quite epic as it begins fairly quietly then the layers of instruments build towards the end. This fits the style of conventional trailers as they build tension towards the end that help highlight the drama. The only photo i had taken that can correlate with a rock style soundtrack would be an image of a truck. This is associated with a stereotypical image of a 'trucker', which is more of an American culture although can be commonly associated with a rock 'n' roll attitude.

Middle Left

Setting/Location :

We were lucky enough to have access and permission to film at a large organisation. The location was perfect as the offices inside were stylish with brick wall features and glass walls/doors. The building was very large which helped us portray large national companies which employ most people in the country which adds to the realism.Setting our soap in a smaller radius helps us portray a larger radius. A large organisation is dynamic enough to feature a variety of characters with sufficient relation to each other to be known as a community. Although we're able to show few individual characters and their home lives living in the same borough and showing greater diversity. We have developed the idea of a small external community that is commonly defined as a high street with local independent businesses and market places were locals are familiar with each other. We've developed this common convention as i believe our society is no longer set on a foundation of independent shop owners or known 'regulars' and the local pub for example the inaccuracy shown in Eastenders with Ian Bill and his local shops and the Queen Vic as a meeting point.

Middle Right

Costume and Props:

The costumes will resemble traditional business attire. Some employees will be more formal than others. Characters will not be seen wearing tracksuits in the offices, nor will everyone be dressed as though they're attending a wedding, but wear realistic and appropriate outfits for their job title. The male employee in the trailer is seen wearing a suit (blazer and tie included) he will be of middle management, this conveys a realistic office environment and more believable characters. The costumes will be the near enough the same style on a regular basis as it is a uniform and is business procedure. Soaps generally show characters to be in similar costumes regularly to portray a certain stereotype. We have followed this conventional thought although went on to develop it further as characters/employees can be seen in their homes or other locations wearing their casual day outfits which will add greater depth to the characters.The boss wears a headscarf to highlight her religious following, this is a conventional prop to highlight someone following the Muslim faith. She is smoking heavily and drinking plenty of coffee which is a very conventional associated ritual of one who's under enormous stress. The desk she's sat on has many folders and documents spread across it to highlight the mountain of work that needs to be completed. Folders, computers, telephones, pens, notepads and calculators are common items to be found on a desk, we featured these items to follow a conventional view of an office.In the trailer the boss changes clothes every time she says a different sentence to signify the passing of time. It was to represent a different day and her speaking to a different employee.As the offices we were filming in were in use we didn't need to bring significant props. The offices already depicted realism with the computers, desk space, folders, shredders, cupboards and documents.

Bottom Left

Narrative/Storyline:

As the recession is an economic crisis it will affect everyone in many ways so this will be our focus point to most story lines. Whether your an aristocrat or homeless the recession will affect you and therefore everyone can have relevance to it and form some opinion of it. It is a developed narrative concept (to revolve most all most story lines around the recession as a theme), as traditionally soaps will have continuing dramatised story lines with no correlation such as murders, love triangles and issues of current time. These will involve different characters and all will intervene in a complex community. Whereas we're converging the concept of a Drama and a Soap but having a focus point and showing individual tangents off this central issue. Showing the smaller story lines allows us to follow the convention of a complex relationship dynamic where all characters and story lines inter play. Soaps would not change the dynamic of their storyline foundation to adjust to the current state, perhaps the situation of people losing their homes and jobs will go unnoticed in Eastenders or will not be emphasised enough and only be featured in one storyline. Whereas our story lines will blossom from a realistic setting and we will feature the conventional story lines like love triangles but will have a consistent theme as that similar to Holby City.

Bottom Right

Camera work/Editing:

The beginning of the trailer shows slower paced shots that have fade out transitions in between each shot to introduce the location in an abstract style. This is intended to draw audiences with suspense. There are two main shot types that are used, these are medium shots and a range of close up shots (extreme close ups to general close ups).The medium shots show the boss conversing with what appears to be the viewer. Most of these shots are face on. We could have made it more clear and separate from the close up shots by having all shots of the boss face on so she appears more direct with audiences. This may have also created greater tension as audiences would have felt more involved in the moment giving them the impression that they are the employee who doesn't know what's going on yet but can feel the stressful environment.The close up shots were supposed to be creative sequences that emphasise the bosses stress. These shots are a combination of smoking, drinking coffee, typing on keyboard and facial expressions. It's conventional to have abstract sequences although my trailer is centralised around one person and not; many characters. This trailer implies other story lines/characters but is left completely open (enigmatic).Originally the trailer was going to feature more characters through certain intervals in the trailer although this made viewers confused and unclear as to what was going on. The only shots we were able to use (due to bad filming) were of only two characters. The shots were edited in after the boss announces redundancies to form reaction shots. The trailer ended with this which is a cliffhanger and is commonly used in trailers to highlight the main dramatic storyline of the moment to attract audiences.

Title:

Verve House is the title i chose and i was inspired by the company we used to observe and mainly conduct our market research from which was called Verve. Originally we though we could call our soap Baird Road as this was the street name Verve is situated on. We all agreed the name Baird Rd didn't present itself to audiences as well as Verve House.Coronation street reads perfectly for its particular target audience as it represents a very working class living and is intended to be presented in an everyday normal style. We hoped to stylise our soap because we wanted to base it in a working environment rather than having a street life focus. I say street life and by this i mean the general style of having neighbours conversing outside and occasionally meeting on the streets and so on.
Verve House implies a more professional and respectable name compared to Eastenders for example. The term 'eastender' comes across quite degrading the the people living in the east end of London. I understand its a colloquial adjective and perhaps it was not intended for that purpose although it does categorize people in such a way that implies they're inferior to you. Considering it focuses on the idea that the east end people are of a lower social class also reinforces this idea yet i believe these ambiguities cannot be seen in a name such as Verve House so overall this was a successful name choice.
The main phrase for the poster, "how are you surviving?" i would think is extremely effective. At first glance you would read this and it would appear quite enigmatic. Your unsure whether its intended to be rhetorical or are you supposed to react to. It's very direct towards the viewer and confronts them on a personal level. It has a strong impact and follows in the style of the famous 'lotto' adverts that state "it could be you" with the giant pointing finger. This has further connotations to the infamous army recruitment poster back in one of the world wars ("we want you")
The verb surviving implies a life threatening circumstance. Audience may wonder what horrid circumstance they're personally struggling with (hint to the recession). It follows styles of a horror show yet remains enigmatic and ambiguous with its intent. The grammatical tool of rhetorical questions is a common convention for advertising products and is often misleading audiences thoughts.
The style of all the fonts used across all 2 media products were mixed between serif and san-serif designs. Verve house was written in the same font although the style varied slightly due to limited software functionalities. The spacing for the font varied between the trailer and the website as iMovie didn't allow you to adjust the font as much as iWeb allowed. The font was white which contrasted well against a black background. The trailer featured an animation that was supposed to give the impression of the spaced out lettering which was intended to add correlation between all the products. All the font aimed to be fairly central to the space given. This can be seen in the trailer, and the first page of the website which features only the title. All sub headings had similar font styles. The trailers titles were of a generic times new roman font which was feature for some sub headings on the website yet perhaps these may appear to scattered. Next time i will have a maximum of 2 font styles in order to formulate a more correlated 'house style/theme'.

Genre:

The trailer suggests soap conventions as it highlights a particular dramatic storyline that is a basic foundation for a soap. There's a huge essence of a realistic representation and a naturalistic acting.
The editing is often incoherent and more abstract than what would be shown on the programme yet it does reflect an essence of 'real time' (a realistic passing of time that is an editing tool to create this impression). Aya is seen having a discussion with someone (you are unsure who it is until the end), where this strangers reply should (as Aya's answering questions) there's a short sequence of abstract shots that highlight her daily stresses and yet every time you return to view Aya you see her continuing her discussion as though real time has passed (gives the impression that the stranger she's speaking to has responded yet you were unable to see it). This build of enigma's can also reflect the style of soaps, as enigma's build until there's a finale cliff hanger. The cliff hanger is the main technique used to 'hook' audiences. A cliff hanger is used at the end of the trailer as it shows Aya dismissing her two employee's yet the idea was that by this point audiences are so drawn in that they must see what happens next (defined as a cliff hanger). I think this was successful and had the right affect on audiences. It could have been improved if there was more employees shown and with varied appearances/characteristics although we were short on cast