Production Evaluation

My task for the production was to create a DVD cover and a promotional poster for my television drama. The DVD cover is for the first season of the television drama, and the poster will be advertising to sell the television drama.

My first part of conducted research was to look at existing DVD covers for television dramas. I chose three to analyse the layout, images, and uses of colour, camera angles, characters and other generic conventions. I used the analysed features to put towards the progress of my own DVD cover and poster. This will be helpful as I will be able to see what makes them good and what is similar about them so I can mimic it.

Once this research was done I could create some ideas for my DVD cover and poster. I drew out eight sketches, showing where I could put things on them, then four bigger pictures of the four best ones, and then two large pictures of my best two with text on them, which would help when I had to actually do them later on.

Next, as I did with the pre-production pieces, I carried out a focus group test. I chose a group of people to answer some questions about the DVD cover and poster I made. I asked them a set of open questions to get a better glimpse of their opinion. It was good to use open questions because then I could get specific responses, to make them look better and I could give the audience what they want. The suggestions they gave me helped them to look a lot better.

The target audience of the television drama is for young people aged 16-24. Knowing the target audience meant that I could cater the poster and cover for what attracted people of that age. Both of them are simplistic, with bold lettering. This makes for a quick and easy read which is what most young people will tend to prefer. My font is quite simple on the poster, and the two lines of text are different. This is similar to the DVD cover I researched for ‘Supernatural’ where the same type of text was used. The use of the ‘15’ rated logo also determines the target audience because it means that there will be content in the show that means that It needs to be that rating, and that will appeal to young people. There is also the used of the male and female gaze. Laura Mulvey’s theory states that people will watch the media for pleasure, relying on scopephillia, also linking to the uses and gratifications surveillance.

The DVD cover and promotional poster both use visual and technical codes. For my cover I used three images and for my poster I used one. On the individual shots used we see the main protagonists alone, each doing their individual thing, so we assume that they maybe do not know each other or that they do not like/talk to each other. Then, we see a juxtaposition because on the poster they are laughing and talking as a group. This challenges the stereotypes of young adults because although they seem to not like each other when they are not together, when in a group, can talk very easily together. In the editing on the photographs, there is a lot of natural light which makes them look more youthful because they are outside, and is iconic to being young as they are outside with friends.

The attention of the audience is captured through the use of direct mode of address used on both the cover and poster. The direct mode of address- the way the characters look, gives the audience personal identity, meaning they can relate to the characters in one way or another, either by their age or appearance, or even the troubles they face in the text. This is similar to the DVD cover I researched for ‘Merlin’ because in that all of the main protagonists on the cover are giving the audience direct mode of address too.

Because of this, we are lead to the audience effect theory of uses and gratifications. These are the main reasons people engage and interact with the media. The ones implemented in my television drama are;

-          Personal identity: The audience would watch the show and put themselves in the shoes of the characters, relating to them and comparing themselves with the characters, either by appearance, attitude, or the problems they face.

-          Escapism: The audience would watch the drama as means of their entertainment, and to escape from routines and escape problems/stresses.

-          Personal relationships: The audience would look at the relationships between the characters and compare them to what they have.

In conclusion, my DVD cover and my promotional poster were designed for my television drama through my own ideas and the responses that I got from my open questions questionnaires, also with the help of the media theories.