Evaluation

1)In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
After doing a lot of research on the horror genre I was able to expand my knowledge on the typical conventions featured within this genre, which I then used to create a film trailer, film poster and magazine cover following these conventions. I feel that I have achieved making a successful trailer by following these conventions. For example by using captions instead of a voice over. I also think that our trailer will attract the right audience as the slow editing used helps to build up tension and suspense for the climax at the end of the trailer. It also doesn’t give away too much of the plot which I have also found to by quite typical. The music also followed these conventions as it begins with a slow eerie tempo, which then speeds up as the editing does, helping add to the effect. The magazine cover consists of 3 photos, both of the actors (ryan and stacy) and the location of the film. This is very typical in movie magazines as they have to draw in the desired audience, making them want to know more. By using interesting stories and including other upcoming films this helps to achieve this, however it also helps to bring in a wider audience. For the poster it has one large photo covering the background. I have found this to be typical in horror film posters as this makes it the main focus of the page. The text and logos used are placed at the bottom which doesn’t interfere with the main image. As the caption is at the top the audience will automatically be drawn to this making them want to know more. By having a website on the poster this allows the audience to find out more about the film. This is a typical convention with any film poster. The position of the title is more towards the bottom not distracting the main image however the audience will be drawn to this as the blod font stands out against the background

2)How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
By being consistent throughout our products we was able to create a ‘synergy’. This gave the audience a strong recognisable link between each text. For example: we used the same font for the captions and the title of the film. We also featured the house on each of our products. It is important for an audience to notice these links as this will help reinforce the idea of a synergy. Helping to gain a wider audience and reminding them which film this is. I think that we have been success to link our ancillary texts with our trailer and create a strong synergy throughout.

3)What have you learned from your audience feedback?
After showing the film trailer, along with the poster and magazine cover, to my target audience, they had given me some feedback on what they thought worked and what didn’t. By making a horror film trailer it was vital that my target audience could immediately identify the genre of the trailer. Most of them pick up on this right away because of the music although some had commented that i could have been a thriller. By using dull colours also helped to reinforce the idea that it was a horror trailer. By using a fast paced song towards the end of the trailer, it helped keep the target audience intrigued and on edge, which would help attract in the particular audience. By using the music to help build suspense my target audience had told me that this was very well done as it did give them a warning that something was about to happen, but they didn’t know what. From making a horror film trailer and asking my target audience for their views I was able to identify which worked well and which didn’t. However as I didn’t show a draft trailer to my audience i wasn’t able to improve on some of the comments made. But by learning from my mistakes I know that i will be able to produce a more successful trailer by consulting my target audience more often.


4)How did you use media technologies in construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
By taking media as an Alevel option I have been introduced to a variety of technologies and the skills required. For my research and analysis I used youtube. This easily allowed me to upload the trailers and my analysis to my blog. This helped give me more of an insight on what is typical within the horror convention. As I have much experience on youtube i had found it very easy to use especially when it came to upload my own trailer to publish on my blog.




By using google i was able to find film posters and magazine covers which helped me to find out the more conventions of the horror genre, but through posters and magazine covers. Again as i use google quite frequently i found it really easy to find what i needed.







The construction of our film trailer we used a video camera and tripod, which was provided by the school. As I have had some experience using a video camera I was able to improve my skills in some areas of filming. By using the macs, we was able to upload our footage onto the relevant computer ready for editing. To take the pictures for the magazine and poster we used a still camera. As I have my own one, I found this was quite easy to use.



For the editing we used adobe premier pro. As I have had more experience with imovie i found it quite difficult to edit, however after a couple of lessons it soon became more clearer on how to use it and i was soon fascinated on how much could be done eg. Changing the lightness of a clip. To create our film poster and magazine cover we used photoshop. I have used photoshop since GCSE media so i was able to produce these quite quickly. Although i have had alot of experience with photoshop I feel that my skills are still improving in this particular area.

(Me using premier pro)
For the planning we was introduced to using a blog. Because I am used to planning through a folder i found this area very interesting. I haven’t had much experience with blog, I wasn’t really sure what i was doing but after publishing a few posts i quickly caught up on how to use them. As we had easy access to them, it allowed us to do anything we wanted pretty quickly. I prefer them to folders as i find that they fit in more with media, as you can easily use various technologies (eg. Google and youtube), they are easy to use and I was able to clearly see each stage of my planning.

Final Film Trailer!

Finished Magazine Front Cover & Poster

Overall i am very pleased on how these have turned out. I feel that we have had a huge success in making these final products. As the title font for the magazine cover was specially made, it contrasts against the dark background becuase of the red font used. As this also looks like smeared blood it again fits in with the horor genre. We also put in two interesting features on the cover to help draw the target audience in. This was also achieved by including other films on the cover to help attract more of a variety of people. For the film poster we have tried to keep the same font as what we used for the captions. This helps link both the texts (trailer & poster) together. We also added in some credits, website and logos. This helps make the poster seem more realistic.

Making The Poster

This is the image we have decided to use for our poster. We have decided on an image of the house as this is the main location in our film trailer.

These are the stages in making our poster:

1. Making the background darker and uploading the picture. By using the magic lasso we was able to cut out the house and postion it in the center of the page. Then i enlarged the photo making it the main focus of the page.

2. Then we played around with the saturation and opacity to try and create a 'scary/eerie' effect.

3. I then decided that the saturation and opacity should be restored and then added in the background by using the clone tool to clone a section of the bushes at the side of the house. I also added in the title of the film in the same style font as the captions used in our trailer.

4. Next i added in logos (reelfarm and fox) in order to state which companies would produce and distribute our film. Some text at the bottom, which features who is starring in it, directed by etc and also a website. We also decided to change the layout slightly by adding in a caption as the top of the page seemed slightly bare.

Making TheMagazine Cover

These are the images we have selected to use for our magazine cover. We chose this picture of the 'killer' because we felt that by using a low angle shot he would be seen as being the more powerful and dominent one, however as stacy will be placed over the top of him it will give the audience an idea that she has some power over him. Also below are the stages of making our poster, with an explanation.

This is the stages in which we produced our magazine cover.

1. We uploaded the photo of the house and used the clone tool to select an area of the bushes (featured at the side of the house) and used it to cover in the background.

2. Here you can see the covered background. We also added in the the house again but only used the side to get a repeated effect on the side. I think this is quite effective as it has a mysterious eerie sense to it.

3. Here we have cut out the killer and placed him in the centre of the page.

4. Next we added stacy in to the picture. And by using the blur tool we was able to soften the outlines of stacy and the killer as the outlines appeared very harsh against the background.

5. Next the title of the magazine was added in. We decided to change the style of the font, making it to appear like writing in blood. this was achieved by using the clone and blur tool.

6. We added in the last bit of detail, for example the barcode,date and an interesting story that will attract the readers to but this magazine. We also featured other films on the front cover which is also very typical when making a front cover as this allows that magazine to appeal to a wider variety of people.

The Campaign

When creating a film trailer, film makers and producers create a synergy to ensure that it is advertised in the best way. When creating a film campaign, the most important part is of course the film trailer itself. The way in which this is portrayed to an audience is crucial as this is the first experience they will have when viewing the trailer. There are also more types of trailers than just the full theatrical trailer –which is shown in the cinema before the final film is released. It is vital that this should immediately attract their specific audience into seeing that particular film. The other types of trailers include:

- A teaser trailer: when the film is currently being produced in the early stages, this type of trailer will be made as they will most likely have limited footage of that film. This is the kind of trailer we will hopefully be able to produce.

- Short trailer: this is shorter than the theatrical trailer as this is usually played after the film’s release date, acting as a type of reminder to the audience.

- TV version: this is another attempt to attract the audience through the TV as they see more TV than they do films at the cinema. They usually last around 30seconds as they have to fit in the space of an advert, this is what the producers call a spot. The usual cost for one these can vary from £30,000 +

Each type of trailer can have a different effect on the audience. Each element of the film links with each other, for example the copy used in a campaign. This helps to create a visual image in which the audience can relate each elements together. By using the same font throughout the audience will be able to automatically recognise which film it is for.

Examples of this can be seen below ...

The copy in each film can vary. In horror trailers captions are most likely to be used over a voice over, which are used more for comedy films. They act as a bridge gap holding the trailer together. The film poster can also act as a teaser element of the campaign, this is made before filming starts.

Props, Characters, Locations & Equipment

Props-Knife, Machette, Black Mask, Dark Coloured Costume (for the 'killer')

Characters - Stacy Fletcher ... Women
Ryan Hussey ... Man/'The Killer'

Location- Outside the front of Jess' house, Inside the house (The Kitchen, Bathroom, Hallway etc.) and the Backgarden.

Equipment- Mac Computers, Abdobe Premire Pro, Abdobe Photoshop, Camera and Tripod

Me and Jess both took it in turns to film and direct each scene. I also acted in the trailer as the 'dead person' as we needed an extra person to do this.

PHOTOS ....

Filming

On our first day of filming (9th november), we used our storyboard as our schedule, to make sure we got each shot we needed. However because we needed to film at a specific time, it was really difficult to take everything into account of what we actually needed to do. Things we had to take into consideration was the location, our actors, weather etc. Because the genre of our trailer is horror, we wanted to film just before it got dark. This fits in with the typical conventions of the horror genre. As we needed to film just before it got dark, it gave us a limited amout of time of how much we could actually film. As our first attempt of filming didn't go exactly to plan we went out a few days after.

The second day of filming went alot better as we had actually worked out roughly how much time we would have before it got too dark. We went out alot earlier to give us more time and we also decided to film the outside scenes first because of this. Once it was dark, we still had some more outside scenes to film and found it quite hard without the correct lighting. Because of this problem, it had resulted in us in improvising. We used: a torch to light up specific objects and the car headlights were used to light up the front of the house (this was particularly tricky as we had to be careful not to create any shadows). I think that our second attempt to film was a vast improvment from the first try because we had followed our plan carefully prioritising each shot.

We used this timetable along with our storyboard to help guide us of what we needed to get done.