What you should have so far
Details of a media company that make the product you're going to analyse, including a look at where they're based, what they make, a bit of their history and something about who their competitors are. This means you have already ticked off the 'company' criteria in Unit 1.What to add today
Today we need to start actually analysing the PRODUCT made by the company you've written about - this will start addressing this next criteria. The first thing you have to talk about is the PURPOSE of your product. WHY was it made?
Today I want you to tell me about the PURPOSE of the product. Do the following tasks to complete this section.
1. Open up a new blogpost and call it 'Products & Audiences Learning Outcome 1: The Purpose Of The Product'.
2. In the post, first off get an image of your product in there (the box/a screenshot) and tell me the basic production details such as release date(s), who stars in it or created it, who produced/directed/developed it.
3. Tell me, using your own judgement what you think the product is meant to make its audience FEEL. Is it meant to educate/entertain/shock? Is it meant to make you think/laugh/cry/dance/scream? Is it designed to be enjoyed in one sitting (ephemeral) or is it something that takes months to fully absorb/get into (immersive)? Is it to be taken seriously (do you think about the product when you're not actually watching/playing it) or lightly (in one ear, out the other).
4. What do the producers of the product say the purpose is? Can you find any interviews with the creators of the product or anyone involved in its production, where they explain WHY they wanted to make it or WHAT they were trying to achieve? If so link to it and explain in either their words or your own what it is they wanted to achieve with the product.
5. How much was profit/money part of the purpose? Can you find sales figures/box-office takings for the product? If it's a TV show has the show itself or the format of the show been sold abroad? Add a sentence saying how clearly making money was also a motive for the product. Is it designed to sell to a massive audience (mainstream) and boost profits or sell to a small select audience (alternative/niche) but boost the profile of the company? What products might it be trying to compete with?
6. Does the product tie in with any other product? (cross-promotion as its called)? Might the product have partly been created to sell merchandise, add-ons, tie-ins etc? This could be simple things like t-shirts, but also apps, games, posters etc Was the product partly created simply to cash in on an already successful franchise (like a games or films sequel for instance).
You should end up with
A blogpost that tells me what product you're looking at and what the PURPOSE of that product was. Read over your blogpost - does it give you a sense of what the REASON BEHIND the product is?How to improve your mark:
Go a bit further into who the product is FOR in terms of what audience did they have in mind? Obviously the main reason a company makes anything is $$$$/£££££ but how could they be sure this product would be a success? What other products that they’ve bought out will have proven to them that this product would work and be a hit? Or was it a risk?Where will you find this info?
Youtube might be a good place to look for interviews with the makers of the product - also look for interviews related to the product with the actors/performers/creative staff. If you're writing about a film/TV show, IMDB will be good in finding detailed info on the product. With games some links may be blocked in which case use your phone.Make sure you label the post correctly.
For all your stuff for this unit label the post 'Industry' and 'Media Products And Audiences'. That way when it comes to assessment I can search all your posts that relate to this unit.
What you could be doing in readiness for next week.
As you can see - on the criteria the next thing you have to write about is the GENRE of your product. Can you find out what genre your product is classified as and start to create a list of things you'd EXPECT TO SEE in that genre (what we call codes & conventions)?
Nice
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