Evaluation for Total Coursework

Media Coursework Evaluation


In what ways do your media produce use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My radio broadcast uses standard forms and conventions of real media products in such a way that it uses simple aspects combined and doesn’t try to over complicate or show off more that needs to be shown off in the way of skill and technology. I wanted to show that i know what i am doing and to show that i am not scared to have a wise crack on the radio. I didn’t want to be the usual rigid radio presenter you find on not so popular radio shows. I felt that my radio broadcast challenged some forms of the standard radio news broadcast by having a broadcast almost interrupted by a live ‘special guest.’ I think it worked well as Mark and I knew that as long as it stayed to the point and even had quirky comments from Mark’s point of view, that the audience would stay listening to the radio show and not get bored. If people in my class listened to it and said it was boring then i would have gone back to the drawing board.
My news stories in my media produce were a mixture between fiction and real life. I did this in order to give a sense of timing to when i researched the news for my broadcast and combine that with imagination to be able to make up news stories which are believable. And to be honest i think the way a radio personality reacts to news stories also makes them believable, and i felt i delivered that perfectly.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product represents different social groups in a way that shows different views of local citizens in the Reading area. Asking them a question about a local topic like how the local football team is doing this year provides me with different sides of the spectrum with people thinking they are doing well but with others thinking they are doing rubbish and needing to improve. I represent teenage secondary school children as bad in my product by saying that a local school had closed down due to a poor reputation. It is not my true feelings at all but i have heard stories myself so used that to manipulate my script.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media produce and why?

My media produce would be distributed by any radio broadcasting institution as it is a lenient media because radio is very flexible due to that fact that it doesn’t need to look good as there is no visual produce anyway so I have to mainly concentrate on how it sounds and how it can be interpreted. Radio distributors like BBC or even more local Reading 107 fm would be the ideal distributors as they both provide local news and items (BBC with the local station BBC Radio Berkshire). My produce is suitable for being a podcast because most radio institutes have websites that provide free streaming and podcasts of their shows.
It is suitable for my show to be able to combine radio distributors as well as online podcasts in order for it to be easily accessed.

Who would be the audience for your product?

The audience for my product probably wouldn’t be based for a certain type of person, anyone who likes to listen to the radio. But in all honesty the majority of my audience would be adults on their way to work as i feel my broadcast would be good to be in the morning as it talks about the television for that night so it gives people an insight of what to expect. Also as i give a list at the end of shows coming up for the rest of the day. My audience would be people from the local area as it is for a local station but they could even be passing through the county so can pick it up on their car radios. I think had i done it again i would have given more thought into having a set audience. Different conclusions can be drawn from my show to suggest who it is made for. Even with the end song as it is Depeche Mode – Just Can’t Get Enough, which yes is quite an old song but at the time of recording it was covered for Comic Relief by The Saturdays who are a modern pop band.


How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted the audience by using a light hearted introduction as well as slightly more light hearted news. This was to be able to keep the show free flowing and also to enable myself to be versatile with the content and the way I delivered my broadcast. If I did it again I actually wouldn’t keep all of the content as maybe I could have added some more serious news into the broadcast and now just kept it fun and light hearted. Having shown my radio show to some peers in my class, i got quite a positive honest reaction. One of my peers said that it had realistic news items amongst some conventions with fictional news combined and interlocked. Another one said that i could have done with possibly including more aspects of a radio show with possible phone ins or promoting competitions ran by the radio station. The last one said that he felt it was good but didn't like the beginning jingle as it wasn't his preferred jingle for my show.


What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

During the construction of my media product I have learned how to use the school’s radio station more than before as I learned how to upload music from external devices as previously I had no clue on how to upload them. It is an expensive piece of equipment and I needed to ensure I kept it in good order.
To do this I needed to use the production system as I had to upload and rip the music from the hard drive. I uploaded all the music I needed to thanks to making sure it worked. If I hadn’t learned how to use this tool I would have struggled to finish my piece.
Also I needed to learn how to use audacity before the whole media coursework started. Even though it didn’t come out 100% professional it came out as well as possible because I tried to make sure I got the basics right and used the complex skills later on for a possibility of making it as good as it can be.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Looking back from my preliminary task I can see that I have learned that I can produce a real broadcast and I can write a decent script for my shows. It is useful for me as I am looking into using my school’s radio studio to record shows to play around school and to be podcasted so this skill is going to help me.
Compared to my preliminary task my main task uses more depth in the field of radio broadcasting. However I felt I also used the editing better as I needed to be able to prove that I could produce a quality piece of radio broadcasting.
However if I had a chance to do it again I would have made sure that my preliminary set a higher standard than it did because in all fairness my preliminary was quite poor. I knew that because it was slightly rushed and I didn’t use my time as effectively as I would have hoped.
For my main I felt I did it well, as I used all technologies possible for me and made what I thought was a good enough piece of radio broadcasting.