Evaluation

Question 7.

Looking Back at Your Preliminary Task, What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Looking back at my preliminary website, I like to believe I have learnt a lot of skills and information about the way a website should draw in a customer and the software used such as iweb and final cut express. I also learnt about the web servers that that I could have used if I wished to publish my website so that it was visible to the internet world.

If you look at both of my websites, the preliminary site and the main website you can straight away see how much I have learnt and how my skill shave developed. Having never used the software before my preliminary website shows little technical skill compared to my main website which has the use of videos, rollovers, search toolbars etc. My skills on making something aesthetically pleasing have developed seeing as though I have never been an artistic type of person. My media knowledge has also developed throughout my project and this is shown with the different techniques that I have used in my websites.

Evaluation

Question 6.

What Have You Learnt About the Technologies from the Process of Constructing this Product?

The things that I have learnt throughout my media project have been very interesting, helpful and will be used in the future. I learnt how to use iweb from scratch because the Apple software was new to me. Once I got used to the Apple software, however I found the iweb software easy to use. I got used to the layouts and how to insert and aligning objects almost straight away therefore there weren’t many problems in the creation of my website. Final cut express was all new to me when it came to me making my audio-visual piece. Although I had a clear understanding of what I wanted my video to look like I found it a challenge to actually create it in final cut express. Even though I already knew how to use Photoshop from my previous experiences in DT I picked up a various amount of skills that I did not know before such as how to extract and insert a text whilst blurring the background. When I first started to use Photoshop I found it was very confusing, however once I got used to it I found it was very easy to use and I could achieve basically exactly what I wanted the image to look like.

From when I first started my preliminary site to now having finished both site I feel like my skills have come on dramatically. Both my attitude and my approach have come on. You are able to see this by viewing both of my websites and seeing the technical difference and the aesthetics.

Evaluation

Question 5.

How did you attract/address your audience?

The main way that I attracted and addressed the audience was through the way of aesthetics. Having an aesthetically pleasing website will mean that it will stand out the viewer. A good choice of colour’s and layout will mean that the website will look smart and this will mean that viewer will like it and be more interested in it then a plain, boring website. The highlighted text in the coloured boxes show the reader where the facts are meaning the website is user friendly. The language used in the website is also attractive for the customer. Each sentence sticks to the point without waffling on and describes FITT club in a way that makes the viewer want to read on. There are also no hard words to understand however the text used is still an educational choice of language. This is so the website can be read and enjoyed by that of all ages and intelligence.  

Having a user friendly website that is easy to use is also a major way of attracting in the viewers. Having a website that is easy to use and follow means that the viewer is more likely to like the website and therefore use it. I incorporated a ‘search’ toolbar that makes the website easy to search for what you would like to look at. The use of imagery and videos to back up the points made in the text and to also show off parts of FITT club mean that the website is more attractive to the viewer and that means that they will be interested in watching the video or seeing more of the images.

Other things that I have incorporated into my website to attract the viewer are things like different font sizes/colour’s, rollovers, slideshows and music. One of these things doesn’t really make a difference but all of them together give the website uniqueness, something that all of the other health and fitness websites haven’t got. The clear layout of the home page makes the website attractive and easy/clear to use.

I expect the audience to be impressed with my website and its smart, aesthetically pleasing, precise layout. I also hope that they will be impressed with the content of the website and the video’s and imagery that backs up the text and information. 

Evaluation

 Question 4.

Who Would the Audience be for your Media Product?

The audience for my website would be those aged between 12 and 18 and definitely those people that are concerned about health and fitness. The reason that I chose this target age was because the government are developing new ways to reduce obesity in the UK in teenagers. Even though the club is for people aged from 12 to 18 they are not the only age group to view the website. Their parents, grandparents, older/younger siblings might view the website that is why I have created it to cater for everybody’s needs. To see what people thought a website should entail and what their general fitness was like I created a questionnaire, which I then handed out to people of these ages and older, those of a different ethnicity and gender etc.

When I then got my results back I noticed that not many people were happy with the level of fitness clubs such as gyms and sports clubs in the area. From what they said about what a health and fitness website should entail I have tried to fit as much in as I can into the website, so that the website can cater for each person’s desires therefore making them like the website.

Below shows the results in a pie chart format from a question about what would they like to change in their gym?:

I asked thirty people what they would like to change most in their gym and the results came back telling me that they would like to change the costs most. This shows me that the high costs put people off going to the gym and having fitness sessions due to the fact that they can’t afford it. This is evidential in the pie chart shown above.

I also asked them to rate the hobbies in order of preference from one to five. The pie charts shown above display the results from which I can see that sport and reading are the two favourite hobbies’ along with exercise third.

As well as these two questions and more I also asked the person filling in the questionnaire to fill in a little box at the end that was titled ‘any extra comments about the website.’ A lot of the comments that I received back mentioned that the website should be fun, interesting and interactive in some way. That is what I had aimed to do in my website.

Evaluation

Question 3.

What Kind of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product and Why?

There are a lot of things that will have to be considered after the designing of the campaign website is complete. The distribution for my website will be on the internet and the World Wide Web (WWW). This will be done at a charge for my website to be distributed so that all can see it through 'Google'. The cost of the distribution can range in price from nothing, if you are the only provider of the website, to a chosen cost from the company if you have somebody else to host it. The reason that this is the best way for people to view my website is because most people nower days have access to the internet and the search engine 'Google,' this means they are able to view my website at ease having already the software needed. It is also very quick, loading in a few seconds and now with all these new smart phones out you are able to have access to the internet in your pocket in most places.

A Domain name is what the viewer will type into the internet to view my website or any type of website. That is why a domain name should be easy to read and remember. I will make the name of my website a name that a person could understand for example 'Roberto's Media Blog' instead of a name for the computer which is a whole load of numbers, letters and symbols that is extremely hard to understand. When choosing the name of my Domain I had to choose a name that people are likely to search or remember. This is why I felt it was best to choose my own name for simplicity. A domain site can end in .com, .net, .org, Info, .us, .biz etc.

At a higher cost you are able to register your website with a better known, big company such as Register.com. Although they all provide the same service, having a well known company linking in with your website means that the viewers could possible view it more.
I will publish my website through iweb onto my schools media site called rwsmedia. This means that it is free for me to use and it will mean that it will be able to be shown on Google which means it will be easily viewed by millions of people.

Evaluation

Question 2.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The types of people that my website would interest are those people aged between twelve and fourteen, who themselves wish to get fit of know of someone who wishes to get fit. My website covers all social groups in a fair way and isn’t discriminating in anyway be it race, gender or social economic. The issue that my website represents is health and fitness in the younger generation doing this through text, video and imagery. Throughout the website every image or visual shot have been captured in the highest resolution making them of the highest quality available. They relate to what FITT club do and stand for which is showing people how they can get fit and healthy instead of boring them with facts and statistics. I feel that these technical qualities means that the younger generation, who have been brought up with technology can relate to the site and believe that it is an entertaining and cool website that still brings its point to interest.

The wording and colour scheme relates to those of all generations. This means that anyone who is able to read can understand the website and what it stands for. The wording is informative however makes the viewer want to know more in a good way. This thirst to know more that is left with the viewer is exactly what is wanted from the website so that the viewer becomes more interested in the website and therefore health and fitness. The key points and the options shown address the viewer about the ways that you can get healthy and fit. The layout is another key element to the interactivity with the different social groups. I took my time in making sure each box was aligned or neat so that the website was smart and aesthetically pleasing and not messy and therefore not confusing to use meaning that the viewer would not loose interest in the website. My website will help people understand all there is to know about health and fitness. This is done on the website by the interactive links on each page which allows you to find your way around the entire website and each page with information about all the different things that FITT club do.

Chosing a white background  enables the information to stand out in the cream coloured boxes that I have placed them in this allows clear vision for those of all ages of the information. The sharper colours such as the green and the red bring another edge/tint to the page. The text font that I chose, “Impact” I believe is a font that can be accepted by all generations as a formal but yet informal font, meaning that it is a font that you can use in any type of situation. It is a clear font so the viewer will not have trouble making out what the words are.

Evaluation

Question 1.

In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge Forms and Conventions of Real Media Products?

The website for FITT club that I have created; I feel is a website that uses all sorts of different conventions from different websites all put into one. My website, through bold and friendly colours, I believe is far more welcoming and interesting then the other health and fitness websites that I have researched. I have used the layouts of some of the websites that I have researched and that I feel have been aesthetically pleasing to the viewer’s eye and developed them to be less formal so the viewer feels more comfortable using it. From the front page you can straight away interact with the website in a simply and efficient way, whilst other similar websites are often confusing to use therefore the viewer looses interest

The home page, the main page of my website has all of the information required to use the site. Interactive elements such as the sports balls as links to other pages on the website as well as scrolling text and a help toolbar that I found was needed through research in questionnaires. This is different to the usual simple and boring drop-down toolbars found on similar websites. The use of an audio-visual piece is what I found that other similar health and fitness websites were missing. The colour scheme I chose throughout the website are those that I felt were bold, meaning that key points could be caught in the eye of the viewer but yet not too glary. I chose (as shown on the right) a white background which I believe enables the information to stand out in the cream coloured boxes that I have placed them in. The sharper colours such as the green and the red bring another edge/tint to the page. The text font that I chose, “Impact” I believe is a font that can be accepted by all generations as a formal but yet informal font, meaning that it is a font that you can use in any type of situation. It is a clear font so the viewer will not have trouble making out what the words are.