Finished Documentary

Our Little Secret from Cameron Ebbs on Vimeo.

Finished Double-Page Spread

Finished Newspaper Advertisement

Evaluation Pt 3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Our Little Secret - Audience Feedback from Cameron Ebbs on Vimeo.

So what have i learnt from my audience feedback?

Through intensive audience feedback taken by questionnaires and viewings i was able to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of my documentary and poster. The overall opinion on my documentart was very complimentary. However, recurring elements were at times, the background music was louder than the presenters voice and occasionally the lighting wasn't quite right to supplement the documentary. Despite this, generally the comments were very good and i am pleased with the overall outcome.

In order to improve my documentary i could of spent a bit more time on getting the sound right and ensuring that the presenters voiced was dominant. Also, i could of been more careful in choosing the correct time of day to secure perfect lighting for the documentary.

Again, overall the comments made on my poster and DPS were very good. I asked a wide variety of people and secured some interesting and useful information.

"It really grabs my attention"

"I like the fact that the poster uses dark colours to relate it to the documentary"

"The doll is effective"

However, not all comments made were positive:

"There is not enough information on the poster."

"The double page spread is lacking in complexity"

In hindsight, i could of tried to include more information on both the poster and DPS, however, i think that bombarding people with information often takes away the effectiveness and impact of the poster and DPS. Therefore, overall i am very pleased with both my print products.

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

Evaluation part 1

View more presentations from 93cebbs.

Copyright Requests

In my documentary I wanted to use background music to create a suitable atmosphere. The music I chose to use was Band of Horses - The Funeral and Martina McBride - Concrete Angel. In order to legally use these tracks I wrote to the respective record labels stating my cause and need for the tracks... They replied and it was prefectly acceptable for me to use the tracks.

Advertising Theory - Mort Goldstrom (10 Components of a Good Ad Layout)

When surfing the net for advertising theories and theorists... i came across the name Mort Goldstrom. He is the Vice President of Revenue Development for the Newspaper Association of America and as part of his job has published 10 components of a good newspaper advertisement. They are as follows:

1) Border
Seperates the ad from the surrounding type. They should complement the look that you are developing with your ad and should never be the most prominent part of your ad.

2) Heading
The headline is a key part of the sales message; no matter how well the ad is presented, it can’t succeed if it is not read. Following the headline, you’ll have subheads that either clarify or amplify the thought in the headline. Subheads should be handled in much the same way as headlines, but are visually weighted somewhere between the body copy and the heading.

3) Illustrations
An effective way to draw the reader’s attention to an ad is with the illustration. Studies have shown that an ad with an illustration that takes up 50 percent or more of the ad space increases readership by as much as 37 percent.

4) Price
Price is an important (and often dominant) element in a layout. Many local advertisers build their ads around the price. You can accent price in several ways: (1) as part of the heading, (2) the core the ad is built around, (3) preceding the copy, and (4) in the text space.

5) White Space
Use as much white space as you can afford to use. It minimizes distraction and draws attention to what matters most.

6) Body Copy
Body copy develops and expands on the benefits offered in the headline. The power of well written advertising copy is proven by the billions of dollars of sales directly resulted from great newspaper advertising. Benefits should be written as though you were making friendly, personal conversation.

7) Signature
The signature is often a logotype. Though often used synonymously with logo, signature means the name of the advertiser in any form, and unlike the logo, may change form from one ad to the next. Remember not to let the signature overpower other important aspects.

8) The One Second Test
The one second test is a way of determining whether a reader can tell at a glance what the advertiser is selling. It simply means that you should be able to look at a layout for a second, then close your eyes and recall its sales message. If you didn’t get the message, you need to improve the layout. Another factor that affects eye appeal is concentration. This means grouping your selling points into display headings and text masses.

9) Colour
Try to achieve contrast in layout by effective use of different size type, bold type and colour. If you can, try to fit color into your advertising budget. Introducing colour increases impact.

10) Creativity
If your ad is developed with simplicity, focal point and sequence in mind, then it will be appealing to the eye. However, some ads are more visually appealing than others. The difference is in creativity. Remember, creativity rarely occurs as a stroke of genius; it usually comes through persistent attempts and hard work.

Here is a link to the page that I found the 10 components of a good newspaper ad:
http://advertising-and-marketing.info/newspaper-advertising-layout-tips.html

Poster Mock-Ups

To help with the layout and format of my final poster design, I did 3 mock-ups to try and come to a conclusion on the bet layout and format for my poster. I used a photograph from the internet to help illustrate the dominance of my photograph in each of the 3 mock-ups:

Mock-up poster 1:

I decided to keep my first and initial mock up simple, to partner the simplicity of the logo. The area which I do like is the positioning of the tagline. I wanted the tagline to be almost focal to the poster. The tagline is yet to be decided; however, I hope that it is hard-hitting and attention grabbing.

The area I do not like quite so much about the mock-up is the high positioning of the logo. Similarly to the tagline i want it to be focal to the poster because i feel that it gives a strong indication as to the content of the documentary, whilst maintaining that hard-hitting theme.

Mock-up poster 2:

Out of the three mock-ups, i think that this is my favourite. I have moved both the logo and tagline to a more central/focal position to increase the chance of grabbing a readers attention. I also like the positioning of the promotional features. Furthermore, I have included a channel logo to add to the documentaries brand image.

Mock-up poster 3:

Although very similar to mock-up 2, I settled on the fact that the promotional features box should be underneath the logo and tagline as to not draw attention away from them. However, what first attracted me to this mock-up was the very simple layout and dominance of the photograph itself.

Existing Products (posters)

I have decided to analyse and interpret some existing posters on my chosen area. I will use my findings for inspiration





I like the fact that this poster was designed without shying away from showing the horrific realities of child abuse. The colours are very simple and the font is foreboding. What I like the most is the fact that they have used a fact to reinforce their point and it really hits the audience hard.














I really like this poster. Whereas, usually, the child's eyes in a poster are hidden to add animosity. This poster's focal point is the eye. In the eye is a reflection of a man, this suggests that what the child fears is this man. This interpretation is backed up by the text "can't you see the fear in their eyes?" Moreover, the font and colours are kept very simple as is the convention for a poster condemning child abuse.










This poster is successfully conveys a bleak and traumatic outlook on child abuse. Rather than a poster for a documentary, the poster is an appeal. This could explain the more hard-hitting attributes like lack of colour and harsh fonts. The child in the poster is looking directly down the lens; giving the impression that it a direct appeal from one of the many victims of child abuse.









The reason that I chose to look at this poster is because similarly to my documentary, it uses the words 'Our Little Secret'. In this instance, the words are part of a longer sentence. However, to me they seem more hard-hitting with just those 3 words. The poster itself is effective. It hides the girls face to give a sense of anonomity, suggesting that the abuse could happen to any child.

Brand Image - Logo: Development and Colour

This is my finished logo! logo is very similar to the initial idea. This is because I wanted to keep the logo simple yet effective. I have added a drop shadow on photoshop and used the simple coulours of maroon and black. I used only two colours because red symbolises danger and rage. Whereas black symbolises power, mystery and death. All of these attributes can be closely associated with child abuse. Finally, i chose to underline the words to give the words a sense of importance in the hope that it will stand out to the audience and capturre their attention.

Brand Image - Logo: Initial ideas

The logo and brand imaging is very important, I like to think of it as the face of my documentary. It is the first thing that the audience will see when they look at the posters and double page spread. Therefore, it is essential that the logo gives off an impression of the documentary. I want the logo to reflect the documentary itself and give subtle hints to the content. First of all i came up with two basic designs:

Basic design 1:

This was my first idea. I used two fonts (Propaganda and Selfish). By using only two fonts i have kept the logo simple and clear. Both words 'our' and 'secret' are created using the bold font Propaganda. The word 'little' is emphasised by using a different font Selfish. By making the word 'Little' slightly different it gives an indication that the emphasis of the documentary is on the 'Little' people or children. Also, the two words that dominate are 'Our' and 'Secret' giving the visual effect that 'Little' is being enclosed in and bullied. To finish the logo off, I surrounded the text in a box. Again, I did this to give the impression of being enclosed, or imprisonment. This logo was created initially in Photoshop.

Basic design 2:

My second design is both similar and dissimmilar to design 1. It uses the same fonts and the same words. However, what contrasts is the levelling and size of the words. This design juxtaposes the first because the word 'Little' is this time the word that is more dominant. As the word 'Little' in my documentary symbolises the children, I have gone against the convention and made it so that it is more dominant. This i feel is effective because it gives the impression that they are the people who eventually come out on top despite the abuse. They are the 'bigger' person. This is the logo i will use and develop further because as well as showing the trauma of abuse, I also want my documentary to celebrate the 'Little' people who battle through it and come out on top.

Change of title... (Our Little Secret)

After some reconsideration I have decided to change the title of my documentary. In my proposal I chose the title 'The Silent Kids'. Although i feel this is a suitable title in terms of the content of the documentary, i wanted the title to be slightly more sinister.

I feel the new title... 'Our Little Secret' is a more brooding and effective title. I read about a girl whilst doing research who was threatened by her father that she could not tell anyone about his abusive actions, he told the girl it's "our little secret". This is why i believe that the title is more sinister because it has actually come from 'the horses mouth' as to speak. This adds a sense of realism and authenticity to the documentary.

Audience Profile

The target audience for my documentary is young adults aged between 16-30. The reason that I have chosen to aim my documentary at this sector of the public is because they are the people who are most likely to have a child. My aim is to inform and educate the people of this age group so that they are less likely abuse their children. More specifically, I want to aim my documentary at young coulples. Again, for the reason that they are more likely to have a child than any other sector of the public. Below I have created a profile of the average people I would want to see my documentary:

Names: Sam and Becky

Relationship Status: Together for 3 years

Ages: 19 and 20

Sam

F. Music: Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Jay Z, Kanye West

F.Films: The Expendables, The Other Guys, Forrest Gump

F.Programmes: Shameless, Skins, The Dudesons

Becky

F.Music: JLS, Justin Beiber, Lady Gaga, Beyonce

F.Films: Mean Girls, Atonement, Precious

F.Programmes: Skins, Glee, Eastenders, Coronation Street