Evaluation Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Website

With websites, a lot of the conventions are consistent across all websites in general; things like header navigation, use of images and video, hyperlinks, and basic interaction. These are all things I have included in my final production. The top level navigation is something that you will find on most websites, I developed it from the majority though by allowing it to stick to the top of the page, remaining in view at all times, something the ITV website also does.

Use of images and video is something I have developed from other sites too, with no other sites I looked at having video on the homepage. My teaser trailer is available on the homepage without having to navigate to another page, a developed convention from other TV channel websites. I also use images consistently throughout the homepage and other pages, a standard in websites especially for TV channel websites.

Hyperlinks for navigation is another easy convention to employ, and is a must have for websites that users need to navigate around. I developed this convention on the shows page by having large images act as the links to the pages, as opposed to just text.

Interaction with elements is another developed convention. The homepage banner fades out to reveal the video when the user clicks on watch trailer. The link would usually link to another page, but having the video come preloaded onto the page means that the user does not have to wait for a new page to load. A lot of other websites simply link to another page, starting the loading of assets all over again. In some ways this actually challenges the convention of having no video on the homepage.

Animated Ident Sequence

For the animated ident sequence, I actually decided to have multiple version of the sequence depending on the genre of show, a developed convention of just having one for all the shows like HBO.

The sequence still features my logo, something all sequences conform to. The sequence is branding so not having the logo at the beginning would be unwise. For the drama intro, I had chosen deep red and just a soft fade in, keeping in with the serious nature of the sequence.

Newspaper Advert

Newspaper advertising is a very common form of advertising and there are a lot of developed codes and conventions to adhere to. For TV show adverts, it is all about the imagery created from the main subject of the image. Having looked over many, there were some key elements that had to be retained. It was important not to hide the show information, or have it appear cryptically. Clarity about what the show is called, and where you can get more information is an important convention and is one that should be kept.

The change to develop and challenge conventions comes from the use of the image. I opted to choose vector art as opposed to an actual photograph. Commonly, adverts would show the main roster of actors in their poster. I challenged this convention by choosing to not show characters of any kind, just simple but thought provoking image. Having this was a compromise in terms of being able to capture the image I wanted in real life, as well as in the end being a more effective image than an actual photo would have captured.