Production Log

Today I started to create the base of my website on Microsoft FrontPage.

I created the navigation and the links between the first few pages, which so far are; TV, Sport, Music, Reality and the Homepage.

I wanted to create a horizontal navigation bar with a roll over effect which brought down a more specific menu for each section. I used various tuturiols and HTML codes, but found I really struggled. So I have decided to leave this bit for a while because it seems it is probably going to be the hardest part of the website design.

I think it is going to take a lot of hard work to create the website how I would like it so I’m going to have to spend a lot of time learning HTML and will be using various books and websites.

So far I’ve used the tutorial from this website:

http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:lo7moCB0JhcJ:www.thekjs.essex.sch.uk/yates/Documents/FrontPage2000.doc+tutorial+frontpage+2000+websites+that+suck&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=firefox-a

I did already know the things on this, but it helped jog my memory. I now have a basic hyperlinked navigation bar which runs along the top of all my pages thanks to shared borders.

I also looked at the themes which come with the software, but they are all pretty rubbish so I am going to upload my own.

One helpful thing about the tutorial was all the tips it has without about what makes a good website including a link to what bad websites look like.

Next I’m going to work on adding graphics and my logo to the homepage. I’m also going to start planning advertisements that would be suitable.

Existing extreme sports tv channel websites

Extreme

http://www.extreme.com

Homepage

• The background is white with black, grey and blue text to make words stand out and easy to read
• There is a black banner at the top with a grey navigation bar and white text, they are all very boyish colours
• The logo as in a lot of websites is in the top left hand corner
• There are several advertisements dotted around the page which aren’t particularly relevant; phone company, driving school, car hire and one saying ‘Time to find a real job’..which makes me wonder what kind of people watch this tv channel
• The font is the same and is quite boring and too small
• There is also a photo for every article so some of them are small to fit in and they are too small to see
• Horizontal menu bar; Home, OnTV, Videos, Events, Photos, Articles, 10_years, Games, Forum, Win

Logo

I have the name for my tv channel, ‘Edge’, so now I need implement a logo onto the computer using this. I started by selecting 12 various fonts and printing out my name in each font.

I did a survey of several peers to get some general feedback about the fonts and also tallied which one they thought would be the most suitable.

I told each person that:

• The logo was for a tv channel aimed at young people
• The tv channel is aimed at both genders
• The tv channel broadcasts extreme sports/music/reality tv
• The music genre is rock/indie
• The logos currently have no colour, I am just focusing on the fonts and I am going to add to them in Photoshop

Feedback:

1 ‘This is good because it fits a general genre which would be suitable for my tv channel because it’s target market is broad.’

2 ‘Too 50 year old grandad’

3 Needs to be bigger and more in your face, but otherwise good.

‘Looks like something you’d see on a music television channel

‘Reminds me of the Fender logo so would fit in well with the music genre’

4 ‘Makes me think of English literature. If you

Production Log

Today I implemented my website sketches into a PowerPoint presentation to show present my homepage layout and ideas to peers. I also used hyperlink to show interactive features e.g. how i want the navigation bar to expand when you hover over it.

I got lots of good feedback from people and the main criticisms were that the background was to plain and the layout to random. I played around with the layout a little, but found it looked too much like a magzine. I referred to my research and looked at some websites; ITV, Channel 4, MTV to refresh my memory. I’m happier with the layout, but think it will look better when I expand on the design elements more when I take my next step and when I create this in FrontPage.

Production Log

Today I added to my TV Channels research by looking at Nickelodeon and looked at the website homepage for 4Music.

I was surprised to learn that Nickelodeon is aimed at children aged 6-20 as I couldn’t imagine a 20 year old watching Nickelodeon, but then again it might be different in different parts of the world.

From looking at the 4Music homepage I learnt that less is more when it comes to websites as in comparison to the MTV homepage it was a lot easier to view and the images were better larger.

Also these are some other points I picked up on which will help me produce a good website:

• Have a simple yet effective and memorable logo
• Use a light background and contrasting text to make it easy to read, as well as quite a simple font
• Adverts are usually related to the websites content to target specific markets e.g. guitar brand advertised on a music channel website

Research Introduction

My research is going to be split into four parts; Existing TV channels, websites, newspaper advertisements and TV listing advertisements.

TV Channels

I’m going to look at four existing TV channels to gain some general knowledge about the industry and how they work.

Websites

I’m going to analyse music, sports and reality tv channels because this is what I would like to base my website on.

I’m going to look at the homepage and the websites as a whole.

Then I’m going to compare them and summarise to come to a conclusion of what makes a good website.

Newspaper advertisements

I will look at three newspapers advertising a tv channels and make points on what works and what doesn’t.

TV listings

The same format will go for tv listing advertisements as it did for newspapers to see if there is a difference and to learn for when I create my own advertisements.

Nickelodeon

• Previously known as Pinwheel 1977-1981
• Owned by Viacom
• American cable television channel
• Also broadcast in Europe, the Middle East, Russia and Asia
• Aimed at children 6-20
• Prime time aimed at children 12-20
• Launched 1st December 1977
• Went national 1st April 1979
• Famous for ‘You Can’t Do That On Television’
• Used to finish programmes at 9pm
• Was known in 1981 as ‘Nickelodeon, the first channel just for kids’

Channel 4

• Channel 4 began on 2nd November 1982
• It is publicly self funded
• Channel 4 is broadcast all over the UK and also in some nearby countries
• It’s sister channels are; E4, More 4, Film4 and 4Music
• It is a terrestrial channel normally tuned to 4, except for in Wales
• Channel 4 premiered popular shows including Friends and ER
• The first advert shown was for the Vauxhall Cavalier Mk II
• The first man and woman on the channel were Richard Whitely and Carol Vorderman
• It also showed reality shows including Big Brother
• Channel 4 targets a wide audience, but has a clear market for 18-35 year olds

Glossary

TV licence fee – Every household which contains one or more televisions must pay a license fee. For the financial year of 2008/09 it cost £139.50. This pays for BBC 1 and BBC2 (ITV, Channel 4 and Five are paid for with advertising).

Terrestrial – These are the standard tv channels BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 and Five.

Cable – additional tv channels transmitted to your tv via cables which are paid for as an extra in top of the tv licence fee e.g. Virgin Media

Satellite – same as cable except the channels are transmitted via an aerial e.g. Sky

Ofcom – the independent regulator of TV, radio and other digital communication services. They monitor what is being shown and deal with complaints or things they think are inappropriate

Commercially funded – when a channel is gets it’s money from it’s advertisements

I’ve also stumbled across a web page which is also a glossary and has lots of words used in the tv channel industry which will be really helpful in this project.

http://www.howtolaunch.tv/glossary.asp

Brief

OCR have given me a choice of thirteen briefs to choose from for this project. Each brief has a combination of two or more of the following media:
- Video
- Print
- Web-based
- Audio
- Games software

The brief I’ve chosen is:

A website for a new TV channel (to include a minimum of three hyperlinked pages with original images, audio and a video extract), together with:

- a newspaper advertisement for the channel
- a double page spread for a listings magazine, focused on the channel’s launch

First Stop Animation

This is my first attempt at a stop animation. I just used 16 photos which are repeated. I don’t think the quality of the photos are good nor is the idea original, but I just wanted to try it out and grabbed my camera and what was on my bed.

I compiled the video using software called Robot Jam, which I downloaded from a really good site:

www.giantscreamingmonkeys.com

My second attempt at animation

This my second go at stop motion animation. It’s pretty similar to the first one except longer and with some text. I created tis using both a digital slr and using the still photo mode on a video camera. I put the animation together on Final Cut Pro and was taught the basics of how to use it.
I found Final Cut Pro harder and more time consuming than Monkey Jam although, I know if I need to do anything more technical I could do it on here. The programme is more suitable for video than still images.
This is my animation:

Animation website

I’ve found a good animation website with lots of information and links to other helpful websites.
This is the website:
http://www.stopmotionanimation.com
The handbook seems particularly helpful, though I’ve only really scanned through it. I think this is going to be useful in my project and will be refering to it throughout.

Another attempt at animation

This is an attempt at animating letters. I cut them out of magazines and wanted to make them come to life to create words.
I took this with my still camera, it constists of 94 photos and took a lot longer to produce.

From making this animation I’ve learnt the importance of consistency. I am therefore going to start using a tripod to make sure the transistion between frames is smoother. I also need to be careful not to let my photography slip because the lighting was uneven with this.
I like the idea of animating letters to create words (although the words in this clip were totally random, i just picked out what I saw). I think this would work particularly well in conjuction with lyrics for my music video and is something I’m thinking of using at a later date.
Next, I want to try using alphabet fridge magnets and using the same technique. I also want to work more in a photographic studio with better lighting and background.

Timeline of the Internet

This is a timeline showing major events that have happened over the past 49 years to contribute to the way the Internet is today.

1958 – President Eisenhower requests funding to create the ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency). This was the forerunner of the ARPANET and the Internet.

31 May 1961 – ‘Information Flow in Large Communication Nets’ gets published RLE Quarterly Progress Report. It’s Leonard Kleinrock’s first paper on Packet Switching. Kleinrock, Professor of Computer Science at UCLA, was a big part of the building and management of the ARPANET, the world’s first packet switched network.

Oct 1965 – Larry Roberts directed the first network experiment which successfully made two computers talk to each other using packet switching.

Dec 1966 – The ARPA project began with Larry Roberts as its chief scientist. Teamed with Leonard Kleinrock, Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf they create ARPANET and are responisble for something that was built on to get today’s Internet.

1 Sep 1969 – The first ARPANET node is installed at UCLA Network Measurement Center. Leonard Kleinrock puts the Interface Message Processor to a Sigma 7 Computer. This is the first generation of what a router is today.

1 Oct 1969 – The second node is installed at Stanford Research Institute. The machine sent its first message ‘lo’, the first three letters of ‘login’. Unfortunately, it crashed when they typed in the letter ‘g’, but the bug was fixed and they were able to login successfully.

1 Nov 1969 – The third node is installed at University of California, Santa Barbara.

1 Dec 1969 – The fourth node is installed at University of Utah.

Existing music channel websites

MTV – Homepage

http://www.mtv.co.uk

• MTV (Music Television) was originally a channel specifically for music videos, but now has a variety of shows particularly popular being the reality shows.
• It is aimed at young people, mainly teenagers and older adolescents.
• On the website for MTV is their logo which is placed in the top left corner so it is one of the first things you see.
• The logo is very simple yet effective and has become very recognisable all over the world.

• The background for the website is a light grey and the text is black so that it stands out and is easy to read.
• The primary navigation bar is horizontal at the top of every page. It branches out into more specific links, but the initial category’s are; Channels, Music, Shows, News, Videos, Galleries, Competitions, Games, Downloads, Mobile, Community.
• When the mouse hovers over a category a vertical navigation bar appears giving you more options which relate to the category.
• The layout for the homepage is lots of tables and lines to divide articles.
• It has lots of images and text which make it look exciting and busy, but I think it has too much text and some of the images are too small. It isn’t what you want to see on a homepage which should be simple and not overwhelming.
• Other things included in the homepage that I like are; music video chart, downloads (especially these days), popular searches.
• A good way to navigate around the website is the internal search engine and by using the artist and show browse, which is important for such a complex and detailed website.
• There is an advert which is relevant because it links to Amazon a popular shopping site commonly used for purchasing CDs and other music related items.
• The text and images are set out differently, but aren’t all over the place. In different sections the image and text placing alternates.
• The first thing to catch my eye on the site was the flash animation up the top. It changed every so often between 5 images of different artists and tv show advertisements. There wasn’t a lot of text mainly large eye catching images as well as 5 thumbnails next to it to choose from.

4Music

http://www.4music.com/

• 4Music is the sister channel of Channel 4
• It is aimed at a young audience
• The homepage is a lot simpler than MTV, but is quite effective and not overwhelming
• There is a horizontal navigation bar with; Home, Artists & Tunes, On TV, Free Stuff, Monkey
• The logo is in the top left corner
• There is a one table used which is formatted with the images on the left and the text on the right
• The background is light with contrasting text to make it easy to read
• There is also a weird photo in the background which is a bit distracting and pointless as you can’t even see what it is
• The photos are a good medium size
• There is an advertisement by Orange advertising their indie rock day so is relevant
• The channel covers a wide variety of music genres which are listed at the bottom of the page

Film Distribution

Film Distribution

A film distributor is a company which link the film producers to the people who are going to watch the film. They take films shown in cinemas and make them into DVDs, Videos etc and sell to the public for home viewing.

During the film distribution process, the distributor books a film with the producers, where they see ways to target the audience and market the film.

They then negotiate a percentage of sales for the distributor who create a line of of advertising material and sell the film on DVDs etc.

They are also responsible for dubbing foreign films and adding subtitles.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), is a story about an alcoholic ex-footballer and his wife who he has emotionally abandoned. The drama unfolds when the husband is reunited with his father who’s dying of cancer and a host of memories surface.

It was one of the top ten films of 1958 receiving 6 Oscars, another 2 wins and 8 nominations.

The total gross for the film was $17,570,324.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is highly accesible on DVD from most popular shops I looked at on the internet.

SMART Targets

SMART:

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Realistic

Time Measurable

This is a table I’ve made stating my SMART targets and what makes them measurable, achievable, realistic and time measureable.

smart targets

Production Log

Today I created a table of SMART targets. I took my brief and broke it down into individual task that have to be done to achieve what I want and get the final result. I wrote what I needed to achieve in order to have completed each task and who would agree the task was finished, mainly the subject tutor. I also wrote about what made each task realistic and a deadline that I wanted it to be done by.

From what I did today I realised that there is a lot of work to do this year. But by creating this table of targets I’m hoping to keep organised and by meeting all the deadlines I should be fine.

It also made me think about things such as organising photo shoots which is something I hadn’t thought of because it had all felt so far away. I am now going to really crack down and start thinking about how I’m going to do everything, but I’m less worried than I was and now excited about the project.

Production Log

Today I started my research. I’ve gathered information about; Sky, Channel 4, MTV, Nickelodeon and BBC.

I’m in the process of highlighting key information which I will compile to give an insight into those channels. I chose these because they are varied and have lots of sister channels which I can look at in more depth and cover a wide audience.

From what I’ve researched so far I’ve learnt about how up and down the tv industry is and how hard it is to keep your audience. There were a few things I came across that I didn’t understand so I’m going to make a list of these and create a glossary for reference in the future.

After looking at the channels in general I want to look at channel names, logos and slogans. And evaluate and compare.

Logo

Using my research and feedback I set to work creating a suitable logo for my website. I didn’t want to use little pictures or anything because I wanted it to be simplistic and not complicated. I used the font that my peers had chosen as their favourite and adapted it to make it more personal and suitable as a logo.

This is my final design:

I’ve chosen to use purple as it is eye catching and also appeals to the females of my target market without being too girly.

I’ve adapted this by adding a drop shadow and extending the bottom of the ‘g’ and the top of the ‘e’. I decided this would be best because it looks less like a font you would find a main body of text written and more like something that would look good in the corner of each of my web page.