M3- Codes and Conventions

 How I met my media products codes and conventions:

TV Trailer

In my TV trailer, I made sure to  follow the main conventions of the dramatic trailer, giving glimpses of the main plot through narration, whilst not giving away too much. I added in a cut to black at the end in order to build tension and add in a sense of threat and peril.  I also Ended the Trailer with a call to action, including information about where to find the show, fulfilling the design conventions of the trailer in order to maximise the amount of people who watch the show at its premiere, and to increase the shows overall ratings. I based my trailer off of other modern TV trailers I have seen, which often use fast editing (montage editing) and the showing of Dramatic scenes in order to endear the show to a broad audience. Another convention which I chose to follow was that Trailers are used to establish the shows key characters, and to reveal their place in the narrative. Drama series also often use fast paced and orchestral music and trailers for this genre often use the shows most fast paced and action-packed scenes to build tension and suspense. I met these conventions in my own trailer, trying to maximise the possible drama whilst also making sure not every detail of the show is given away. I took most of these conventions from similar trailers, such as Sherlock, which use similar editing in order to make an interesting trailer without spoiling the central mystery. I believe that my video trailer was mostly successful, as it was able to show the core themes and identity of my show without revealing too much. I feel that the only limitation to my trailer is that I accidentally left in some continuity errors, such as if the main character wears glasses or not.

Radio Trailer

In my radio trailer, I also tried to follow the conventions of the medium by using dramatic music in order to show the tone of the drama as a whole, and sound effects in order to tell the story and show the environment in which the story is set. However I purposely subverted the common conventions by focusing on this auditory soundscape over using too many voice clips from the show. I instead used compelling narration and sound design to focus on building up the shows atmosphere over showing too many clips from the show itself. I also included more character dialogue than the video trailer, so that the main plot can still be conveyed without the visual element. I also continued to use narration in order to explicitly say the main story beats, as well as to say when and where the show can be watched, in order to increase the number of people who tune in to the premiere. I also feel that this campaign was mostly successful, being able to build a strong and captivating atmosphere in a very small amount of time. My only limitation here was that I created this before I hired any other actors and so I did all of the voice over myself, which I fear may be noticeable.

Poster

For my Poster, I made sure to focus the attention on to a central image, In my instance the main character, in order to not clutter the frame too much and make the poster seem iconic and recognisable, as well as instantly showing the genre which the show falls into.  I also fulfilled some conventions of the posters for TV dramas, which often focus entirely on an image of the main character, accompanied by the shows title in large,, bold lettering. This is similar to other famous BBC trailers, which often only features the main character in order to attach an actor to a project in the public eye, so that you think of the show whenever you see the actor. I fulfilled the mediums convention of using font design to create a house style by using the Victorian Decade Demo font, which I feel sold both the time period which I chose to set the show in, as well as the genre which I wanted to adhere to. I fulfilled more of the technical codes of posters when I included the BBC3 logo and another call to action, revealing  information about the full shows release date in order to inform people about where the show can be seen and encourage them to tune in for the premiere. Finally, I followed the conventions of posters in general by including a cheesy and nonsensical tagline, which informs people of the shows themes and associates it with fun and humour in the public consciousness, allowing it to stick out more. I believe that this Poster was the most successful piece of marketing that I created, as it fully captured how I pictured the poster looking in my head, and showed off the planned aesthetic for my show, with the only limitations which I believe there to be being some slight cropping issues.

Social Media

For My social media posts, I followed the technical codes by including various hashtags and acknowledgements of the brand and debut date in order to maximise the likelihood that the posts will spread, and that this will increase brand awareness for the show to come. I changed my type of post depending on the platform I was uploading on, and followed the conventions and styles of post associated with each application by focusing on the more light and easy to share advertising when using Twitter, whilst focusing the more clear advertising with the poster on instagram. I also used these social media posts in order to share small details of the plot, without revealing too much, for example by making GIFs of dramatic moments in the trailer. I decided on this format by looking at other TV shows social media posts, which also focus on showing dramatic moments without giving away much of the plot.  This also increased the likelihood of my social media posts becoming popular by focusing on a variety of outlets, such as both images and video. I do overall think that this part of the campaign was successful, as it covered a wide variety of types of posts, which would make it more likely for the campaign as a whole to become popular. However, I think that this part of the campaigns biggest weakness is that most of it consists of elements reused from other parts of the project, which may make this section stand out less.