Evaluation

Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

For my main task and both ancillary tasks, I have used very typical codes and conventions of the thriller genre. For my main task which involved a 2 minute trailer, I used very dark lighting and very fast pace music to enhance the thrill and excitement in my trailer. I thought this idea up by researching previous film trailers in the thriller genre, including box office films like 'Taken', as this film relates highly to my project as it has the same sub- genre, which is kidnapping. I used music that builds up drastically giving a lot of suspense in my trailer, this idea was taken from my research and planning of previous film trailers as the music in the existing products is usually tense and exciting as the trailer goes on. My music is a song by a band called Of Mice And Men; it works well with my trailer and the genre as it is a very emotional song which enhances the emotions expressed by the characters.

I also researched trailers and how they used titles. This gave me the idea of using numerous titles and spreading them out over the whole trailer with clips between them. This  uses particular forms and conventions of real media products in any genre, not just thrillers. I made my titles very simple, with a black background with white writing in a very small font. I think this is more effective as it shows secrecy and gives off a' whisper' tone to the text.

In my two ancillary tasks, the poster and the magazine cover, I used similar forms and conventions as real media products do. I researched previous posters and magazine covers, particularly on magazines like Empire. As the genre is a thriller, I stuck to the typical codes and conventions of the genre, which is low key lighting, serious facial expressions, and simple backgrounds.

In particular, for my poster, I used a plain black background which allowed the three actors to be the main focus and jump out of the poster. I placed the main character in the middle, and had her look down to show her emotion straight away. This also gives off her character almost immediately. The two actors behind her are looking straight at the audience with angry and concerned expressions on their face which again shows them as the 'bad guys' in the film. I have used photoshop to edit these actors on the cover and have given the effect that they are emerging from darkness. This shows a lot of mystery in my poster.

I challenged the typical forms and conventions on previous media products in my product by creating tasks I don't think have been used before. For example, I haven't seen any trailers that begin with baby videos of the main character to show the simple life before the film incident occurs. However, I didn't think this idea up originally, as I have seen a few films begin with baby videos to show the same effect I was trying to project. Below is my opening scene:

Also, I have seen many posters of films with dark backgrounds, however most of those have just one actor emerging from darkness at a close up shot, this would show the facial expression of that character. I challenged this idea to see if it would work with three characters captured at a medium close up shot, and luckily, I believe it worked really well, as each characters expression was given off immediately to the audience.

As you can see in this existing media product, the characters face is emerging from the darkness showing his concerned facial expression and also showing the main location of the film to the audience at the bottom of the poster.

However, in my poster, I have three characters emerging from the 'unknown' giving off a lot of uncertainty. You can still recognise the facial expressions of each character though which shows similarity in mine and previous film posters.

Question 2

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

All three of my tasks, which includes a 2 minute trailer, a poster and a magazine cover, work together in a way which enhances the effectiveness of my one idea. Each relates to the idea of kidnapping as they show devastation in the characters acting skills and facial expressions. This also highlights the genre of all of my tasks as being the same.

A number of my shots in my main task have an effective combination and relationship with my ancillary tasks, particulary in the lighting and facial expressions of actors.

This shot here is of a very low key lighting and gives off the character in a deep thought process. She also looks fairly upset and worried. This is shown also in my poster image...

As you can see there is upset, anger and dedication in the facial expressions of these three characters. This combines with the facial expressions in a high number of my shots in my traile

This shot shows a very dark scenery with little knowledge on the actual location. This long shot combines well with my ancillary task.

This shot shows a very concerned character at a close up shot, which as well combines with my ancillary task.

All three tasks have to link together as one advertising/thematic package across two media platforms, print and film. I have placed my film on the cover of Empire, produced the poster and trailer. In doing this the film can reach its potential target audience through the promotional campaign.

Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I screened my trailer to a sample of my target audience and they gave me some interesting and helpful feedback to my trailer.

I have learned so much from my audience feedback enabling me to change a few features in my trailer. I was advised to change the font of my titles as they looked a bit plain, so I made the font bolder and changed it to one that related more to the genre of my film. This was a great piece of advice as after I manipulated each title my trailer did look a lot more convincing.

A number of people really liked the music I used as it worked really well with the pace and genre of my trailer. This was something I agreed with, as my choice in music was something I was most impressed with because it gave my trailer a lot more emotion to it. A few people didn't like it because they thought from time to time it drowned out the sounds in my trailer, however, I therefore to changed this by lowering the volume during the voices made by the characters, and after going through my trailer numerous times, I managed to manipulate this problem and have the diegetic sounds clear against the non-diegetic sounds.

My audience feedback taught me a lot on what the best effects/ideas are for this type of trailer (thriller/dark). I was suggested to have the 'Lionsgate' production ident in the timeline of my trailer, this looked a lot more effective and realistic compared to just having a plain title declaring, 'Lionsgate productions presents'. It also gave my trailer a break up in the visuals, which real trailers use.

Question 4

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Beginning with my research and planning, I used the internet, specifically a website called 'Webnode' to construct and update my research and planning daily. This site was a very reliable source which enabled a safe keeping of all the research I had conducted and all the planning I had made. The internet also enabled me to get hold of my trailers music and the production title for 'Lionsgate', overall, the internet played a very important part in the construction of my research and planning, my evaluation and also a few inputs in my film trailer.

In producing my main task, which was the construction of a 2 minute thriller trailer, I used a numerous amount of media technologies. To begin, I used a dv camera to capture the shots for my trailer, this took a lot of skill on my behalf, however, the camera enabled me to get a good picture quality.

Although this was the most important media technology in the process of constructing my media trailer, the editing afterwards enabled me to put the shots all together to create a trailer type sequence. I did this by using Adobe Premier Elements which gave the input of visual manipulation, sound manipulation and sequencing. The titles were produced on Adobe also, which made the filming sequence portray more trailer type visuals.

As well as using this media technology, I used the site 'Youtube' to gather my music and production title, this was important as a trailer without music gives off a completely different feel and wouldn't relate to existing products.

As well as using the dv camera, I also used my Samsung Galaxy S3 camera to record baby videos for the beginning of my trailer. I decided to use this as I was told the picture quality would come out worse by using this, but it is the effect I wanted at the beginning of my trailer to compare the past against the present.

To create my ancillary tasks I used Photoshop to edit my photographs seperately and then put them together and layer them over one another. This was the best programme to use compared to others like powerpoint or publisher, this is because it enables you to layer photographs over photographs which other programmes dont allow you to do. The titles however were created on publisher as this was easier for me to move them around and have them exactly the right distance away from each other as I wanted. I made the titles first on publisher and then layered the photograph I edited behind these titles. The white titles against the black background gave an amazing effect agaisnt one another.

On reflection, my research and planning worked well, and the my 'Webnode' site was packed with existing product analysis and regular updates showing my progression from the start of the project till the later stages. However, my filming of my main task hit a few problems which prevented me from capturing every shot earlier on and allowing more time to revise and review my progress. These problems included weather and unavailability of actors. So by the time all my filming had been captured, I had lost a fair amount of time in which could have been filled with plenty more adjustments to my final product. For future projects I need to have more contingency plans in place.