Channel 4

Channel 4 Website- the main website for the Channel 4 family: Ch4, E4, More4, Film4, 4Radio and 4oD

The website is a modern style and easy to use.

Social groups: Mostly Teenagers and young adults because of the large amount of entertainment and lifestyle programmes. Channel 4 does attract other groups such as men with horse racing and cars. The documentary programmes can attract a range of people who want to learn and question questions.

Channel 4 does a lot to help people reach the careers they wish to with the 4unsigned music helping to promote signers to others so that they might get signed and 4Talent helps to get people into the media business with grants, schemes and useful tips. They help to show independent work with people being able to upload their own 4laughs clips and documentaries.

There is lots of interactivity with many forum discussions on a range of topics, competitions, quizzes and games to do.

There has been convergence with other forms of media watching TV online, getting alerts to your mobile and downloading music, clips and movies onto your iPod.

4oD online- you can watch TV programmes online- convergence of television with internet. Personalised as you choose when you want to watch the programmes Watch channel 4 online TV listings of all the channel 4 channels (Ch4, E4, More4, Film4, and Film4+1) so you know what is on all of the channels Competitions Forums for music, film, comedy etc.

This 40D service means you can be flexibile about when you watch your TV Shows and it offers a non-linear structure compared to television. This types of services are replacing TV as they are more personalised to viewers as they can choose in their convenience when they wish to watch TV.

ENTERTAINMENT

Film- quizzes, new films, DVD releases, trailers and clips, interviews, making movies and competitons

Music- 4unsigned, interviews, videos, reviews, competitions, quizzes, news and gossip New Music Month

Games

T4- Meet the crew

4laughs: video, audio, images, upload your stuff, user profiles, podcasts

LIFESTYLE

Cars- aimed at men, galleries, reviews, motor shows, celebrity drives, quizzes and competitions

Food- recipes, Gillian’s meal plans, Win Gastro weekend Health

Homes

Money- women’s financial independence, saving and spending, insurance, tax, being in business, pensions and retirement.

NEWS

Dispatches

Sport

DOCUMENTARIES

FourDocs- download onto your iPod, the history of documentary film making, upload your documentary

FourDocs Guides provide useful information on how to plan, shoot, edit and compress your documentary ready for uploading to FourDocs. If you need help with filmmaking or editing equipment, see our Budget Guide

INTERACT

4Talent- jobs, grants, schemes, 4talent (TV, Film, New Media, Radio and extras) Forums Mobile- Channel 4 News alerts, Cricket alerts and Hollyoaks alerts

RSS Feeds- New technology

What is RSS? RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. RSS provides a fast and effective way of keeping up-to-date with your favourite sites through web feeds. Whenever new content is added to the sites, these feeds are automatically updated. An RSS reader scans the feeds for any updates, and displays the latest headlines, plus a brief synopsis and a link that takes you to the source site. This process saves you from constantly revisiting your favourite sites to look for new content.

Channel 4 overall uses its website to advertise and market its programmes to audiences. They do this by trying to get viewers more intrested in programmes with competitions, quizzes and downloads.

CH4 Entertainment

Channel 4 website page

Colour scheme- vibrant pink - girly

TV sub-genre – Entertainment

Channel 4 puts its programmes into genres so it is easier for people with a specific interest to find programmes to suit their taste.
These entertainment shows are for example Hollyoaks, Ugly Betty and The O.C., these shows attract mostly women from teenager to young adult.

Main screen Hollyoaks- get news, chat and exclusive online videos
Music- win Camden crawl tickets
Film- Danny Boyle
4Laughs- upload your own comedy scripts

Film- reviews, coming soon, competitions, movie trailers
Music- Unsigned, on TV, interviews, Blog
Games- loads of games to play, Web chart, features, competitions
Quizzes- The O.C., Shipwrecked and Friends: promoting the show more
Comedy- 4Laughs, Green Wing, IT Crowd, Ugly Betty
Daytime- Richard & Judy, Paul O’Grady, Countdown
T4- Homemade, Shipwrecked, Hollyoaks

Specials- Game of the Day
Top TV Shows- list of shows Desperate Housewives etc

Advertisements: Amazon, BT and M&S

Theory- Interactivity and convergence

skins

E4- Skins

The background on the Skins website often chnages to other 'Skins' designs some of which have been created by everyday people from the redesigned the Skins logo competition.

Sponsored by BSM- relates to audience who watch Skins who are teenagers and so will be learning to dive or about to

Us- find out about the characters on Skins and what they like and don’t like- fave TV shows, movies, bands and websites this gives CH4 an opportunity to earn money by advertising certain websites through Skins.

Sign up- join the Skins community to get free downloads; receive exclusive content and the latest updates and it means CH4 will have your email to send you CH4 related info.

Episodes: watch the episodes on MySpace
Unseen Skins only available if you are a Skins member

Competitions: these happened before the launch of Skins which meant audiences got involved with the programme before it even started and this also created word of mouth of the programme. The competitions were redesigning skins: logo, music, fashion styling and short films.

Trailers; watch all the trailers
Forum: interactivity talk about certain Skins topics creating an online community
MySpace

Latest on Skins series 2- get involved
Lots of opportunities, including the chance to visit the set when they start filming in June- lots of interacivity for audinces making them feeling more involved

Wallpaper downloads from the logo re-design winners

Audience: Teenagers as they are the target audience of the show

Theory: Interactivity (competitions), Convergence (merging TV with internet) and reach as the internet provide a larger audience who will look at the website and become m0re intrested in the show.

Insitutions: CH4 may use the emails they receieve from the sign-up to send other information about CH4 shows they could be intrested in.

Radio 1 - messageboards

Radio1 webpage

Messageboards webpage
This is a good example of where an online community can form (Diversification) and where niche groups can interact. Basically it is a place where people with similar interests and dislikes for music can interact with each other through the many different forums. To join the forums you have to register which means that Radio 1 will have your email so that they can send advertisements, competitions and news to you.

Listen live
Webcam- interactivity you can see what the radio presenters are doing.

Colour scheme is white and a light pastel pink colour which is simple and calming. The layout of the webpage is simple and easy to use with links under headings.

Different genres messageboards to discuss topics and 11 in total some examples are:
Rock, Indie & Punk: Chat guitars, drums and tracks from in New Music We Trust, Collin Murray and Zane Lowe.
Experimental & Leftifield: Discuss music from Giles Peterson, Mary Anne Hobbs, Huw Stephens and Rob da Bank
Chat & Playlist: Have your say on the music Radio 1 plays during the day and makes it into the chart
Making Music: Ask for help on music making and tell everybody about your tracks
Hip Hop: Rap music, lifestyle and principles
One Life: Chat about your life, love and living and what’s on the Sunday surgery
This forums offer lots of interactivity as audiences have their say over matters and these message boards also allow niche groups to form and discuss their views.

To make this page look more interesting instead of using photographs of people they have used cartoon characters here are a few examples below:

Glamour magazine

Glamour magazine

Glamour magazine website
Glamour magazine is Britain’s No1 Women magazine aimed at older teenagers to young adults. Like many other magazines, newspapers and comics Glamour has made a website devoted to itself. This has become extremely popular over the years as it creates more loyalty to the brand and it uses new media technology- the internet which is basically used by all and so helps them to get more and more readers. This converging two different medias: print and internet together.

Glamour is obviously aimed at women because of the colour scheme of pink, purple, orange and white and by the content of the magazine and website.

The homepage allows you to receive daily gossip everyday which is updated daily at 8am. There are several links at the top of the page like celebs, fashion, beauty and competitions. The competitions and quizzes provide a lot the interactivity of the website.

There is GlamTV which are special short videos (vlogs) for movie trailers and catwalk shows. There is also a today most searched celebs with rankings up to ten.

As horoscopes are extremely popular with women there are daily horoscopes which can be read from the website everyday.

To get people more and more involved with glamour and its website you can signup to get daily gossip and information set to you everyday. As Glamour is a part of the Conde Nast group when you sigh up it asks if you would like information about their other magazines therefore offering advertsisng of their different products.

Advertising creates more revenue and these adverts relate to the type of readers which read Glamour. On this specific time i looked at glamour it had two advertisemnets on the main page Head & Shoulders (hair product) and Ford Ka (car for females).

Radio 1 website

Radio 1 website

Radio 1 Website


You can change the colour scheme of the website which is very interactive and personalised for the consumers, so they can make the website suit their tastes.

Listen to radio 1 via the website- converging the internet with radio, with new media technology constantly being developed radio has to keep up with it in order to stay competitive.
Says who is now on air and what is now playing, lets the audience know what is happening without even listening to the radio.

Competitions to win tickets to My Chemical Romance Radio 1- interactivity within the website

There is a list of links to click on the left hand side:
Listen/ Podcasts; Link to BBC Radio Player, you can browse several radio stations and find a certain show to listen to making this much personalised and flexible to around your time. As Radio 1 podcasts are free it means there is scope for a larger audience and encourage brand loyalty.
DJs/ Shows: A-Z List of shows, you download your favourite shows making the nature of radio less linear.

Radio 1 schedule: Daytime, Dance, Rock/Inide, Hip Hop/RnB and Experimental. Trying to suit a wide range of interests and audiences, the role of BBC.

Events: info about past and future events allows audiences to know what is going to happen next and for industries it is good as they can promote these events before they happen.

One Life: highly interactive section of the website which features fun and freebies, chat and vote. OneLife seems to be about getting the audience involved within array of areas such as health and education.

Listener’s 6 Mix- get your mixes played out on BBC 6 Music- making radio more personal

Banner of random photos and move the mouse along to scroll through the photos.
Webcam bottom of page click to view larger image- interactivity

At the bottom of the website there are links to the following which are all converging different types of technology with the internet:
RSS Feeds: Different music genres, Message board topics
Podcasts: The Best of Chris Moyles, Radio 1 Documentaries, Radio 1’s Best of Unsigned and Entertainment News.
Mobiles: Radio 1 on the move- audio downloads, latest Radio 1 pictures, Entertainment news and pictures, Webcam updates, Track listings, Programme schedule, DJ Wallpapers and more.
Interactive TV: Relates to BBC channels and freeview.

Audiences: As it is BBC radio 1 the main radio station of the BBC it has to try and relate and attract lots of different audiences as it is BBC roles to attract the widest audience as possible.

Theory: Convergence (merging different technologies together: radio on internet) , interactivity (within the website), non-linear (choose specific radio shows to listen to- changing the structure of radio) and vertical intergration (BBC brand- loyalty)

Lost Fansite

Fansites

They are becoming more and more popular with more people using the internet as it is cheaper and faster than before. Fansites are websites in which fans of a certain something can pursue this interest whether it is a sport, TV programme, actor/actress, band, singer or hobby. Fansites are made by a fan for the fans, and these people aren’t generally out for making profits but for pursuing their interest and a way to find other people like them. The internet has a massive potential reach as it is world wide which means these niche groups can form and come together. Fansites allow more interactivity within these groups than in the past. It has become possible and relatively easy for people to be able to start their own website, this means that anyone can set up a fansite.

I thought looking at fansite for a TV programme would be a good choice as it relates to the technology of television.

http://www.lost-tv.com/

The unofficial Lost Fan site
The main page to the website has a array of links and information

There is a welcome notice which includes:
‘This site is the first unofficial fansite for the show and was launched on 20 March 2004. If you wish to send anything my way - news, articles, pictures, links, wallpaper, etc. - then don't hesitate to email me at xander1600@yahoo.com.’

The main section of the front page is News and Updates, for example
Monday, January 08, 2007LOST Nominated for Producers Guild Award
Lost has been nominated for The Norman Felton Producer of the Year Award in Episodic Television - Drama at this year's Producers Guild Awards. Other nominees in the category are Grey's Anatomy, House, The Sopranos, and 24. The winners will be announced on January 20.
(9:05 AM)
In case people wish to look at old updates there is a link to them.

‘Next on Lost’- a paragraph or so which tells fans what will happen next on Lost

There is a bar on the left hand side which is a list of links to other pages of the website for example:
News and updates
Cast: Photos of cast and their real and actor names, with a biography and flexography of them
Crew: Learn info about the creators and producers
Characters: Character information
Episodes: A list of all the episodes and info about them
Media: Downloads
Fan Section: Fan Fiction, Fan Art and Humour
Message Board

Advertisements: Amazon, Make Poverty History and ads powered by Google
Affiliates: LOST-TV Forums, Spoilerfix.com, Lostdaily.com, Stationzero etc
These institutions are using these fansites to advertise adverts and other websites.

This Lost unofficial website is powered by Google

These fansites will generally get viewers to look at their website, but some of these websites may not get many. This Lost website from its appearance and content must get an alright amount of surfers, but the forum with lists of different discussions did not have many posts with most with zero. This could be that people who go on this website do not go into the forum as they would just prefer to read Lost news and this fansite has to compete with other fansites and the official Lost fansite.

Theory
Interactivity- via the website
Diversification-internet allows these niche groups to form
Reach- internet can be reached by all so niche groups can form and setting up fan sites mean there are many potential people which could look at your website

Film on DVD- extras

Film on DVD- interactivity of the extras

‘The Da Vinci Code’

Extras came in separate disc which had 10 special features:
First Day on the Set with Ron Howard
His opinion- representing the book, actors, places: Paris, behind the scenes- camerawork

A Discussion with Dan Brown
About the first book he wrote, about Da Vinci- hidden history- thriller. Research took a year and writing took a year. His success and people’s interest, loss of privacy. About his next book-same style but different place.

A Portrait of Langdon
Dan Brown view of Langdon- main character- Tom Hanks. Other people’s view on Tom Hanks- casting of him- Director, Producer. Learn more about the characters.

Who is Sophie Neveu?
Opinions of her, emotional journey- enigmatic quality of actress

Unusual Suspects
They hired true nationality actors more authentic, other actors- why they choose them

Magical Places

Close-up on the Mona Lisa

Filmmaker’s Journey Part One
Many themes which accommodate to everyone’s taste- Religion, thriller, travel and adventure.
Learn about the choice of costumes
Learn about how they made an exact replica of an actor so they could have a realistic dead body

Filmmaker’s Journey Part Two
How the filming went and the process.

The Codes of the Da Vinci Code
It tells you about the director and writer putting hidden codes and symbols into the film and it gives the viewer examples, for example:
A rose in an Alabaster Jar symbolises Mary Magdalene.

The Music of the Da Vinci Code

These extras provide more interactivity for the audience as they learn a lot more about the film and book. It gives examples of hidden symbols and codes in the film and gives the audience time to guess what it means, this provides more interactivity. The extras are put onto DVD to promote the film more and to get the audience more interested within all aspects of the film i.e. the making of.

King Kong website

King Kong

King Kong website which has dramatic background music which gives the website atomsphere

Market/ promotion of the film
Watch the trailer online
Cast and crew information: learn more about the cast and crew to become more involved in the film
Clips and more
Interviews: become involved with the actors and actresses themselves
Production notes: learn the more technical side to the making of the film
Special features: this allows the audience to see something extra than the film itself
Link to buy the King Kong itself promoting the game via the website

Attract the audience
Downloads- free to download and attracts the audience more
Wallpapers
Aim icons: can be sent to others on emails therefore word of mouth of the film occurs
Screensavers
Games: fun to do
Photos: can gain photos of the film if they wish so

Theory:
Interactivity- lots to get involved with within the website
Convergence- merging film with the internet
Reach- creating website which can be seen by all via the internet