First idea- VWTV (Volkswagen Television). Comparing to Audi TV, which also has a web page.
Research- Specialized TV Channels
Audi TV- The Audi Channel was a digital satellite television channel, launched in the UK in 2005 by the German car company Audi. It was broadcast via Sky Digital, which is generally receivable in the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland (although the Sky Digital output is also receivable in many mainland European countries). It was free-to-air. The Audi Channel was broadcast in the 4:3 aspect ratio, in standard definition.
The channel featured a variety of programmes, including "user-guide" information about Audi's vehicles, in-depth model profiles, test drives, celebrity interviews, historic features, new product launches, professional driving tuition, dealership profiles, coverage of sporting events sponsored by Audi, including the "science of sport", and each round of the DTM - the German Touring Car Championship.
The channel closed at midnight on 1 August 2009.
Audi Worldwide also have a web-only stream, called "Audi tv". It can be found at http://tv.audi.com. The website shown below is the internet version of the TV channel.
TV channel remits-
When a new Tv channel is set up it has to have aims and objectives as well as a business proposal and a remit. As well as this a mission statement is ideal to the company so they know what they are setting out to achieve. My TV channel would be no different and I would show the aims and statements through my TV channel website.
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), the station is now owned and operated by the Channel Four Television Corporation, a public body established in 1990, coming into operation in 1993. With the conversion of the Wenvoe transmitter in Wales to digital on 31 March 2010, Channel 4 became a national TV channel, after almost 28 years.The channel was established to provide a fourth television service to the United Kingdom that would break the duopoly of the Television licence-funded BBC's two established services and the single commercial broadcasting network, ITV. Channel 4 enjoys almost universal coverage in the United Kingdom and some neighbouring countries and a significant audience share, despite having seen new competition with the growth of cable, satellite and digital services.
Public service remit
Channel 4 was established with, and continues to hold, a remit of public service obligations which it must fulfil. The remit changes periodically, as dictated by various broadcasting and communications acts, and is regulated by the various authorities Channel 4 has been answerable to; originally the IBA, then the ITC and now Ofcom.
The preamble of the remit as per the Communications Act 2003 states that:
"The public service remit for Channel 4 is the provision of a broad range of high quality and diverse programming which, in particular:
Demonstrates innovation, experiment and creativity in the form and content of programmes;
Appeals to the tastes and interests of a culturally diverse society;
makes a significant contribution to meeting the need for the licensed public service channels to include programmes of an educational nature and other programmes of educative value; and
Exhibits a distinctive character.
The remit also involves an obligation to provide programming for schools, and a substantial amount of programming produced outside of Greater London.
Motors TV
My Product- Target Audience
As well as new Volkswagens being popular, older VW’s such as the beetle, camper and mark 1 golf’s are hugely popular in the VW show scene. A large part of VWTV would be focused on this huge VW scene. From researching popular Volkswagen forums, I have found that there are 120,091 members across just 3 forums, a large percentage of these users would most definitely be interested in VWTV.
Video, Images and Audio clips- Website Research
When I come to creating my website and putting it together I will need a range of mediums (Audio, video, images and fonts). These will need to be edited and cropped to make them fit in to my website sufficiently.
FiveFWD
Before taking my own images and doing some filming I will first need to research the kind of images and video which appeal to my audience. To do this I am looking at channel 5’s sub-website ‘fiveFWD’, this website is based on motoring such as fifth gear and gadgets that you will find on the gadget show. This is quite a specific audience and very similar audience to what I will be aiming at with my website.
From this screenshot taken from ‘FiveFWD’ we can see that the website is layed out in a grid style. It is a simple website with everything clearly organised into columns and rows. This makes it easier to read but doesn’t have a unique selling point over other websites. The website is very factual; with all the text and images relating to reviews of cars and shows. The images are simple and not particularly attractive but get to the point none the less.
The colour scheme is also simple with block colours; brown, blue and white. This divides the background from the foreground but is simple and does not work to good effect. Images in the background and gradients could help improve the aesthetics but the simple feel would be lost. Video
At the top of the website there are icons to navigate to different pages, one of these pages is ‘video’. This is particularly interesting how they have a whole page dedicated to videos. When I clicked on the link to the video page the layout was very similar with thumbnails of the videos set out in a grid. On this page the viewer has access to over 600 videos, this will have been built up over time and now there is a large collection. When viewing videos on a website the user’s computer can sometimes struggle to load and they can get agitated, therefore it is important that the file size of the video isn’t too large and is compressed.
Media Studies- Questionnaire
Gender. Male [ ] Female [ ]
Age. 11 and under [ ] 12-17 [ ] 18-25 [ ] 26-30 [ ] 31-40 [ ] 41+ [ ]
What Style of website most appeals to you? (please choose as many as you like).
Simple [ ] Flash [ ] Grid [ ] Complicated (detailed)[ ]
Other _____________________________________________________________
On average how many hours do you spend on the internet a week? Never [ ] Once or twice [ ] Three to five [ ] Six to Ten [ ] Eleven to Twenty [ ]
Other______________________________________________________________
Are you a sky or cable TV customer? ________________________________________________________________________
Does a TV programme based on motorsport/cars interest you? ________________________________________________________________________
Are images and video important on a website?
_________________________________________________________________________
Do you currently use the internet to TV?
__________________________________________________________________________
