Final initial ideas on TV channel website homepage

I am going to produce a wildlife/animal Tv channel website. It is going to have a strong theme of water and long plants. My colour scheme is going to be mainly green although there will be some blue in there and brown.

Next I am going to list my ideas of names for my wildlife channel.

What I'm going to take away and use to help me in my website

I am going to take away for my homepage

1. The main video being right in the middle of the page or set slightly to the right (disney)
2. A simple theme (uncluttered homepage) which looks effective. (food channel)
3. The logo on the top left hand corner. (all tv channels that I have looked at)
4. The box at the bottom for links and networked pages.
5. TV lineup
6. The use of adverts at the sides and bottom of the homepage.
   

Research on TV channel websites

Animal Planet

• The first thing you see about this website is the "its not all about wales". It captures your attention so you then look at the other features on the website. This is a slow slide show showing the audience what this channel has in store. This takes up the whole of the tiop half of the page.
  
• This design is a lot like the discovery channel as it is by the same people.
  
• The header includes the logo, a search bar and a slogan as the most prominent features you tend to notice in that particular place.
• There is a large advertisement banner at the top of the page which I cut off in the printscreen however I don't think this is necessary.
• The links for other discovery sites are repeated at the bottom of the page but with logos.
• In the middle there is a box of a big variety TV shows.

UKTV Gold

• This website is set out a lot like the bbc website.
• There is a big space at the top of website for logo/header.
  The content of the site is listed across the top of the page, built into the header. The channel number for sky, virgin media and top-up TV are integrated into it too.
  
• The theme of the page makes a strong background the the theme is carried on throughout the site.
  
• The login/reigster part is located underneath the header rather than in it and has a site search under that too but more graphical.

• In the centre of the page is a slide show of highlights of the week, upcoming exciting programs that the channel wants you to watch.
• To the left of the sideshow is a link to clips on the site, but no actual videos.
• Below the slideshow and still really in the middle of the page are advertisements of facebook, people wanted for presspacks and competitions.
• There is also trivia, a couple of advertisements at the bottom that you can't see when you 1st navigate to the page and a list of gold stars who are loved by the gold viewers. This is displayed using pictures and when you hover you mouse over it, an arrow points at it and reveaols information about the actor/star.
• At the very bottom of the page is a small space for quick links to other sites. This is just done in plain writing because it is no very important.
  

Food Channel

• In the header, the logo is set in white on its own. Underneath but still built into the header is the list of content on the site. The strip for this is in a different colour to the header. Also in this green stip is a site search bar.
• There is a place to sign into the site to get more specialist info on food.
• When you 1st navigate onto the page, you see a slide show of pictures of food advertsising dishes and opportunities.
• Below the slide show is a 'featured video'.
• To the left of the featured video is the 'recipe of the day'
• All of the parts of the site that the Tv channel wants you to spot 1st, are there right staring at the audiences eye.
• To the very right there are advertisements are twitter pages and surveys which obviously earn the channel and twitter, money. These adverts go right down to the bottom of the page.
• After that is a long list of the resturant/food related news which is laid out quite a lot like the bbc websites.
• There is no theme for this page, its just plain. The only theme I see is the green strip across the top of the page which shows life and health.
  

Disney Channel

• As soon as you open up the page, a video in the middle automatically starts playing to get your attention, however some audiences may find this annoying if that starts everytime they refresh or go back to the page.
• In the header of the page, there is a big space for an ad. The list of content of the site are listed along the top but below the ad. The disney logo is integrated into the side of it.
• Below the content of the page, there are 9 picture of disney shows that get bigger when you move your mouse over them. These are links to the pages on the shows. Furthermore there is a link to the side of this saying to click there to view the rest.
• Located in the centre of the page, including left and right are the 'what's hot' and 'what's on TV' etc. This makes it easier to find.
• Underneath the middle section is a box with games advertised in big bright colours. This site is obviously to amuse kids.
• At the very bottom of the page is graphical links for arts and craft printouts and e-cards. This is just a bit of fun.
• There is only really one paying advertiser on the page which isn't clearly seen when you 1st navigate onto the page.
• The whole site is themed with a deep blue and a pattern in the background which looks like the whole site is placed into a crystal ball, relating to disney films such as cinderella.
  

Discovery Channel

• Advertisement banner across the top of the page.
• Header includes logo, a site search bar, links to other discovery sites without the logos, links of the discovery shop, a discovery travel site and the list of website content across the page attached to the head but underneath the bulk of it.
• The top video of the week is located on the right hand sites and has a list of 4 more top videos to watch.
• On the left hand side of the page, there is an advertisement for the most devastating/exciting news. The discovery channel clearly wants to try and explore the causes and fascination of such events which will draw in an audience.
• Below the devastating news, is a column for recent discovery news, features and a list of games.
• In the bottom right hand corner is the listings for today and a link to the rest of the listings for the next upcoming week.
• The links for other discovery sites are repeated at the bottom of the page but with logos.
• In the middle there is a box of a big variety TV shows.

bbc 3

• Big space at the top of website for logo/header.
• The content of the site is listed across the top of the page, built into the header.
• All of the video links and highlights of the week is set in the middle in a big square to look like a big TV.
• Listings along the side of the page to show the days of the week rather than the highlights but take up much less space.
• There's a Tv programmes a-z section on the top right hand corner which is clickable and links to the programs in chronological and alphabetical order to show what is on TV or what has already been on.
• Above the big square of showings there is an advertisement for programs to boost ratings which changes every now and again.
• On the right hand side of the page there is a news bulletin that states the most recent news. For example today, (16/9/09) it says: Dirty Dancing film star Patrick Swayze dies aged 57 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer, his publicist says.
• BBC header is at the very top to show that it hosts the bbc3 site.
• At the bottom is all links to other bbc hosted sites, for example, bbc radio, cbbc, bbc1 and bbc hd.
• Under the big square, an advertisment of i player has been made and links of yet 3 more links to well reccomended programs. This makes the page easier to navigate.
• The theme of the page makes a strong background the the theme is carried on throughout the site.

Decisions on what brief to create.

I have looked at my ideas for both briefs and have come to a conclusion that the Tv channel website brief will help me produce the best possible outcome at the end of this project.
I shall start planning my final initial ideas to help me move onto some solid material.

Tv channel website ideas

City drama channel

• A strong header with a logo which remains the theme throughout the whole website.
• city theme (i.e. cartoon buildings or something along those lines)
• Dark colours, pictures of street lamps integrated into the site.
• video footage located just overthe middle of the page to the right slightly.

Wildlife channel

• A strong contempory header which doesn't look out of place with green and wildlife pictures.
• countryside theme
• light colours, mostly green.
• video footage in the middle.
  

Ideas for a movie trailer

IDEA 1

• Strong voice over
• fast cuts from different locations
• action
  
• fast music with a strong beat and a tempo of around 150
• Actors dressed in suits and dark glasses with black brief cases
• scene mostly at night
  

IDEA 2

• Strong voice over
• slow cuts from different locations in the countryside
• drama
• music with strings and a lot of legato notes - tempo of around 120
• scene mostly in daylight but one inside the house at night.
• Girls in flowery dresses and bonnets

Ideas for a music video

Music video
Inspiration comes from ‘She left me’ by Go Audio.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBvRXi53bAs

Plan of video:
2 establishing shots of the scene/band.
Close up of keyboards.
Close up of guitar.
Cut away to story of 2 people walking in a gloomy rainy looking park.
Cut to close up of singer singing.
Shot of the whole band.
Close up of keyboards.
Quick cut away to the people in the gloomy park picking up an umbrella which has holes in.
Shot of the rain coming down from below.
Cut to drumsticks hitting snare drum from below.
Cut to bassist’s face and then move the camera down to the fingering of the bass line.
Shot of singer singing again.
Cut to park – 2 mins of park footage. Car comes, people hitch a lift and find patches for the umbrella and duct tape. They fix the umbrella and get out of the car just as the sun comes out. They then look depressed but look up and see a hot air balloon at the end of the park. They rush towards it.
Cut to keyboards.
Shot of guitar.
Shot of singer.
Shot of DJ.
Shot of drummer.
Shot of the whole band.
In the end....\/
Hot air balloon going up in the air and floating in the distance.

How can I achieve this?
Film the shots of guitars and keyboards separately with people who are easier to get hold of and then film the establishing shots on a day when the band/ group of volunteers, can make it.

Research

I picked out a few of the given briefs and have researched what each of them involve and include.
Here are my findings:

Film trailer

• Short - about 1 min 20 secs long
• Lots of action, characters and locations.
• Doesn't reveal whole story, but introduces the basic premis.
• Voiceovers
• Loud sound effects
• Music
• Name of prominent cast members
• Quotes from reviews in writing across a black screen.
• Begin with names of production company and studio
• End with title and then release date of the film
• Begin with a slightly longer extract of film without music, then music and fast cutting kicks in.
• Extract not in chronological order, but an order which introduction premis, main theme and highlights (funny, sad, sfx etc)
• Music buildto a climax which occurs just beforetitle and release date
• More fade outs
• Changes in tone
• Close ups that are integral to the plot

Music video

• Often have bright/contrasting colours
• Energetic
• Cuts match the rhythm of the music OR match the pace of the music e.g. slower fades for slower songs, quick straight cuts for faster songs
• They suit the particular genre of the musoc, e.e. aggressive theme/imagery for rock music, club theme/imagery for dance music etc.
• They always tell a story. Sometimes have an acted prologue or epilogue to set the scene or conclude the story
• Similar to films they have establishing shots and close ups to shot emotion
• Cuts in between band and story
• Lots of cultural references
• Close up of the insturments being played
• Extreme angles to emphasise emotions
• Tendancy to use handheld camera rather than other cameras on tripods or pedestals
• Huge variety of bugets depending on wealth of the band, genre and where they were classified in the charts depending on how much they were earning
• Generally innovative use of camera and effects.

Commercials

• Usually set in the same location
• Like music videos, use a range of angles and cuts
• Usually have a musical soundtrack/jingle
• Close-ups of product and emotional reaction to product
• Sometimes focuses on brand building rather than product
• Always have a slogan that they go back to
• Focus on the senses to create an appetite
• Use attractive models/images to sell things (the brain remembers such things easily)
• Tend to stick to one location
• Use humour and irony (the brain also finds it easy to remember funny things)
• Generally try to be innovative
• Almost always finish with the brand or corporate colours
• The action/themes/images don't always have a strong connection to the product but are memorable
• Sometimes use 'ordinary' people
  to help audience relate to them
• Use innuendo and double meanings
• Celebrities are used to raise a high profile
• Use a 'visual slogan' -> Adsa advert - for example an action that is associated with company/product.

Soap opera trailers

• Horror and tragedy - generally extreme emotions - something nice about to be destroyed by something nasty going wrong (emotionally contrasting plotlines)
• Lots of action
• (Melo)dramatic
• Specific characters - focus on heroes, villains and victims
• Cliffhanger endings (lie the episodes)
• Lots of short scenes of specific characters speaking
• Hints of revelations of murky past
• Dramtic soundtracks
• Voiceovers
• Echo effects
• Ends with title of soap and schedule info (channel, day and time)
• More hysterical emotion than could possibly be contained in one person's entire life, let alone a week of their life (even in the self admittedly self obsessed and emotionally supercharged world of a kent girls school)
• Lighting tends to be dark, flashes, short cuts to empasise the tragic emotions.
• Repetition of schedule information
• Use of soft focus to emphasise romantic scenes
• Use of block and white to signift dreams and flashbacks.

Websites

• Bands - prominence given to image of band and/or band's logo
• Soaps - prominence given to flash player window in the which you can play an extract from the tugid rubbish that somehow captivates the attention of millions of viewers
• Bands - use imagery and colour schemes which are associated with the band's image
• Bands - Lots of links to whatever the target audience might be interested in - new photos, upcoming gigs, websites where you can download (for money) their music. Adverts for related products and services.
• Soaps - homepages seem to be plainer - more empty white space. Channel logo prominent at top of the homepage.
• Band - Use fonts and logos associated with the band and its style.