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.

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.

By next week I want to have finished the rest of my research and started looking at newspaper and tv listing advertisments.

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.

• 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 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

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

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.

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.

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

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.