Evaluation 4- How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Evaluation question 4

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Furthermore, during my construction of all products, WEB 2.0 helped me a lot in my creations through watching tutorials. An example of this is Google and YouTube where you can type anything you need help with such as "Livetype tutorials" where everyone helps one another, and you can even download professional step by step guides in programs such as photoshop. This opened a wide range of possibilities and advanced my skills in production.

Evaluation 3- What have you learned from your audience feedback

Trailer:
Overall what I got from audience feedback along with these interviews, the questionnaires and online feedback to, that the inter titles could have been more centeral, and more movement and catching. Maybe not just standing still but needed real impact behind them to keep the flow of the trailer.
I felt this feedback was particularly satisfying as it mentioned the look of my scenes being gritty looking and this is exactly what I was going for.



I was really happy with this feedback as it commented on my use of props which I carefully thought about in the process of filming to fit conventions of my intended genre. My editing I felt could have been quicker at the end which is what this person picked up on. However I was trying to create the build up in the middle to come to a dramatic ending.
Connor also said about my magazine
“The white noise was clever it really ties in with the title of the film and the overall image you have tried to tie in throughout”. Which is exactly what I was hoping to achieve although his criticism about this was the font used on the magazine itself it didn’t particularly stand out.



Narrative and props were my strong point in this opinion however again some improvements on the inter titles could have been made if I were to re-do it.



I agree with this feedback I think my main criticism on myself was the repeat of muddle box production- I wanted to start the whole thing of calm to then go into the conventional writing and a more impacting sound. Yet I could of just gone straight in and It would or probably been more effective.
Poster I am glad that the distortion worked for my audience as this is what I wanted to create throughout.
Magazine- similar to the audience feedback before the text issue I think making it more clear would of fitted better with the conventions of Little white lies but against the noise background it was hard to find something that would distract the focus away from the image.


Luke Gartside said
"overall very powerful and evocative, with technical code used effectively, possible the inclusion of a voice over may make it slightly more attention grabbing, and although intrigues the audience does not give a lot about the narrative of the film away"

Youtube

Through my research there were other times where initial feedback and other things helped me with production. I always tried to refer back to what the audience wanted and any improvements they had.
Previous blog posts such as the audience questionnaire and http://aimee-a2mediablog.blogspot.com/2011/04/audience-initial-feedback.html were just some aspects of feedback that carried me through production.

evaluation 2- How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

When I was first given my task for a2 media, the main thing was to ensure we made a promotional package. I researched all sorts of different trailers that portrayed my genre, as well as posters and magazines that may not have been to do with the same film. However one package I did look at overall as a package was “Hostel” which gave me a clear indication of their focus within shots, colour schemes and font etc to link the products together.
I feel it is important to ensure there is an obvious link between products as audiences should be able to easily associate a poster for example to the teaser if they had seen it.

Annotated, film poster and magazine.


As this is annotated, it goes at its own pace, you may have to pause.





I also made sure that I had a clear indication of what the purpose of my film poster was. I intended for it to sell the film. By using it as a teaser poster, I aimed for it to be out just slightly after the trailer itself. I used the star appeal to help sell the film and also the overall mode of the poster to portray the genre. The mis en scene was critical in the portrayal of the genre.
The intention of the magazine release would be after the film had been released because of it being named "The Wired Issue" I want there to be a shared frame of reference there. The film in little white lies tends to be the selling point and this is what I achieved.

Evaluation 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

1. I feel the inter titles of my trailer fit the conventions of a psychological thriller. In trailers such as "Black Swan" and "Saw", the use of inter titles create a narrative of the story. By using 4 inter titles that all link together, to create a narrative but don't give away the story, helps the shots flow and create links within the teaser as sometimes the shots are not in order of events from the film. I also feel using 3 inter titles (4 including the name of film) is a typical amount for a short teaser trailer and isn't overdone.

The font is "Cracked" to create an unlinked effect and fit conventions of horror such as the font you may see in "Hostel".

This is a screen shot video of my trailer and how it links to other teaser trailers I have researched during planning.


This is me speaking about my Film poster and Magazine cover about how it develops, follows or challenges conventions.

Magazine:



Magazine Cover

final trailer with sound

final magazine

Final Poster

Magazine steps

Poster steps

Image manipulation

After the photo shoot for potential images for my magazine front cover or film poster, I decided to play around with a image in photoshop to give a broken effect to symbolise how he is not wired like everyone else.

This is the original image

Broken brush effect via photoshop

Background edit

Photo shoot

These are a few images I took of the leading actor to use on either my poster or magazine. Previously on the blog i made an entry on scientific images I played around with to create a base theme, I may also use some of these.

Un-edited versions of the images.

soundtrack

Hostel package

Seen as I have looked into hostels trailer and inter titles I decided this would be a good film to look at the poster for as it'll give a overall running theme throughout and a branded identity that Hostel holds. These are a few hostel posters I have found with a short annotation of the one I like the most.

I like the simple design of this poster using a single weapon as the main image leaving the rest to the audiences imagination which is scary in itself as you would initially think harm. It is a strong poster in terms of audience and narrative relationship and has a similar theme and colour scheme to the other posters and the trailer itself. There is a clear style running throughout to give a strong brand identity. I like the gritty background linking with the storyline being gritty. It looks like it has been scratched maybe relating to escaping or torture itself. The blood stained hostel title is fitting with the intended genre and as a result very effective. There is a nice balance of text and image with it all neatly and clearly laid out.

The strangers Psychological thriller Poster

This poster for "The Strangers" follows the typical code and conventions of a film poster with the image dominating most the page and having writing at the top and bottom. The image draws the audiences eyes straight to it and keep their focus. The image isn't to busy and shows a subtle image of someone in the background which could connect to "the stranger". Very warm tones are used to give a sense of it happening in a home and it also doesn't look to over done.

The tag line placed at the top of the page also achieves attention from the audience and is easily identified. It uses inclusive words such as were involving the audience straight away showing that in the film it will be easy for the audience to relate, possibly making it more scary. The tag line asks them questions about what it is they will fear, or what it is they were wrong about.

At the bottom of the page there is again institutional information and the website of the film. This is placed here as it is the last thing you will see, therefore taking it away with you.
Having information like this is good as it allows them to find out more that they may not have found from the poster itself however it isn't necessary as long as you know the film title.

By successfully following the codes and conventions of a film poster, it allows the film poster to be recognised as a poster, and also meets the needs and desires of the audience. This film poster uses dark tones and dark lighting to create a fear, horror theme with a figure in the background watching over to create a sense of psychological thriller. From first seeing this film poster, it was easy to identify the genre and work out for yourself what the story line could be. You can also see a sense of vulnerability by having a women standing alone in her room.
The background figure portrays many conventions of horror being masked killers, hiding their true identity, and making them seem inhuman and eerie.
The name of the film again suggests the genre as the name ‘The Strangers’ suggests an unwelcomed guest which is why it is very important that the film name must have a link to genre and to contents.

The lighting comes from within the image and within the home creating realism and adding to the sense of horror being within your home. The positioning of the characters is very effective in this poster having a women in the foreground and a masked person in the background meaning audiences may feel on edge and scared for the safety of this women already before even watching the film.

Other type on the poster includes ‘inspired by true events’adding additional fear and tension to the film and this is typically used in horrors to do so.
Overall I feel this film poster is successful at meeting conventions and portraying the intended genre and creating an automatic audience to poster link. The warm tones invite you in and your attention is automatically drawn to the picture. Interesting glowing typography is used for the title of the film drawing attention to it and giving a sense of mystery.

Film posters I like for this genre

I really like the simplicity yet mysteriousness of this poster. The image acts like a spot light into something and it is unclear what is happening yet the audience wants to know more. There is a red splat print on the film title connoting its genre and adding subtle colour into the image. The slogan is in small print at the top left hand corner reading something very interesting that doesn't seem to link to the picture showing that there may be levels of depth to this film.
There is a conventional involvement list at the bottom of the poster in white, fitting with the rest of the colour scheme. I really like its simplicity yet effectiveness.



This one differs from the previous, yet just as interesting. It uses a figure from the film taking up 3/4 of the picture with someone hostage. Having an image like this allows the viewer to ask questions based on this. There is also interesting font used for the title creating the feel of a horror genre. Having quotes on the left hand side helps sell the film and gives people an idea of what others think of it that may sway there decision to watch.

General film posters analysis

In order to get an idea of conventions in film posters, I have tried to look at a range and analysis what I think is effective and what conventions are normally followed or sometimes broken.


My analysis of newmoon


















After looking at various different film posters I have concluded that these are the common conventions that I should either follow or challenge:
Film title
Main actors names usually above, below or opposite an image of them from the film itself
Awards that the film has won along the top or bottom of poster
Image taken from the film (either a character or place)
Colours relevant to style and genre of film.

Little White Lies

Little White Lies is an bi-monthly independent film magazine that is run by a small group of people with a focus being on one or two independent films rather than reviews and coverage from a lot of films. It is a very arty, graphic based magazine writing on films that are both independent or blockbuster that the editors finds interesting or lays out a message. Along side articles it is packed with illustration and photography relating to cinema. The interviews are occasionally with the directors themselves acting in a similar way to sight and sound.
Each issue of Little White Lies is themed around a single cover film, inspiring the design and editorial content of the entire issue.
Little White Lies breaks normal conventions of a film magazine as it does not include a lot of feature stories on the front cover.

Every little white lies cover looks different based on the issue and whether or not it has writing down the side to tell you what is in the issue. However it is still easily identified by the circle graphic for the title and the arty graphic that each cover person is edited to. I feel this magazine is most suited to my intended target audience due to it's bold, inspired quirkiness with the same target audience. My film being independent and gritty looking, wouldn't fit with the stereotype of empire covering Hollywood glamorous looking films, and isn't the correct target audience.

Sight and Sound Analysis

First published in 1932, Sight and Sound is a monthly, British film magazine published by the British Film Institute. It focuses more on technical prowess then the big blockbusters and well known actors. The image on the front cover is usually of directors and low key people rather than Empire and similar magazines who sell on the star power/focus point the cover displays. Real film lovers, that appreciate the directors and everything else that comes with a film are more likely to pick this magazine up as this is known as "the film magazine for directors". Instead of big stars interviews, the articles revolve more around the vision and intentions of the directors.

Both blockbusters and independent films can be covered by sight and sound, increasing their target audience and appealing to almost everybody from "Inglorious Bastards" to "21st century girl".

Compared to the other magazines such as total film and Empire, there to entertain, in the media this is seen to be a more informative magazine with many reviews in each issue as well as editors film choices, directors interviews, the insides and outs of new films.

Sight & sound

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Target audience

Unlike my intended audience, the sight and sound appeals to a much older age group being around 35 years to 55 years in the A to C2 bracket. The informative, more in depth writing and reviews support this as there is less trivial, gossip, colloquial, entertaining a lower age group would appeal more to.

Empire Magazine Analysis

Empire Magazine

With Empire magazine mainly looking at big blockbuster movies' such as Twilight and Harry Potter to do their whole issue on, they wouldn't display a picture of an independent movie as this wouldn't appeal to the audience. Films and the magazines, through marketing processes work closely together to ensure the right target audience is being targeted at to ensure the greatest profit.

This front cover fits well with what you would expect to see on an empire film magazine. Daniel Radcliff, easily identified as Harry Potter is the main character and without having to read anything we know what film this will be about. I feel this image is particularly effective as well as he is still in character. It gives it a sense of depth and focus on the film. The only difference with this front cover to the other empire magazines is that the actors head is behind the Empire title. The master head being bright and bold, does stand out and easily creates a brand image for this magazine. There are also selling lines and cover lines which both give a little bit of information out on the left hand side of the magazine usually and catches the attention of others to get them to buy it.

Target Audience


Unlike my own film, Empire targets a much wider audience world wide which is resembled in how it looks mainly at big blockbusters. From the national readership survey site, you can determine that the main audience is from social groups AB and C1 and they are mostly 15-44 year old males. This shows how they style there film to fit there audience, as a lot of the time they depict action stars as well as sex icons like Megan Fox and Angelina Jolie.

Film magazines

As part of our ancillary products, we have been asked to create a Film magazine front page. Film magazines are a chance to review, interview and advertise upcoming actors and films. They also celebrate and provide information on films past and present and from the films we hate, to the films we love.

"Empire" is one of the UK s' best selling film magazine which focuses on popular titles attracting a wide target audience, usually high budget films. A huge percent of their readers are male and regular buyers fit into the stereotypical film fanatic. Common traits in Empire which may relate to the male association is the use of heavy imagery, very little text and any writing there is, tends to be big, bold and vibrant.

For any magazine, the front cover is the decider of whether they will find it interesting this week or even appealing enough to pick it up to read what they can find inside. Some of the main codes and conventions that you expect to see on a film magazine front cover are as follows:
- Mainly a close up shot showing the actor or a shot in costume from the film.
- A common convention in most magazines, the big bold mast header along the top of the page. Taking empire for example, it is a worldwide well known magazine and sometimes the image overlaps the header yet is still easily identified as being Empire.
-Film magazines tend to use dark, primary colours because they are simple and bold.
-The names of actors, actresses and famous directors are featured on the front to draw in all kinds of different target audiences.
-Only three/ four colours maximum are used on the front cover to maintain the simplicity of the magazine. Always fitted with the genre of the film their advertising.

Filming- Behind the camera

During shots I voiced over them to give directions and the position of where I wanted the actor to lay and what I needed him to do
Here are a view clips with voice cues over the top.

Target Audience

My initial thought of target audience I have been working for is that of 18-35 year olds and statistically it says that around 75% of people who watch thriller film are students.
This means that for my genre being Sci-fi, psychological thriller I feel it will also appeal most to this core target audience. I feel it will appeal to males more so but also females who enjoy films such as dark water and saw. The connection having a male actor will also emphasis the appeal for males in the story line way.


1. Who is your target audience? Primarily Males ages 18-35 who love thought provoking movies such as inception.


2. Where is your target audience located? The UK as the BBFC guidelines are what my film will be based on. It won't have any materials that would offend other cultures, however different places have different rating systems on what they find acceptable.


3. Is the group primarily male or female? Male- there is a higher percentage of males who prefer sci fi films such as inception. And also films such as hostel and saw, males find more entertaining and less scary/gory then females stereotypically.


5. What do they do for a living? Mainly students. But also they would usually not be married without children. Enjoy computers, cars and star wars. They would mostly have creative, hands on jobs and have a high IQ and enjoy films with a twist and doesnt display the obvious.


6. What level of education do they have? Most would enjoy school and love learning and have a clear guide of what they want to do and a good attention span- linking with the thought provoking and film that makes you think stereotype.

7. What kind of lifestyle do they lead? Sociable, very educated with a high interest in latest films, gadgets etc with a love for horrors they wouldnt really enjoy rom-coms or soppy films.

8. What are their special interests or hobbies? Hands on jobs, reading detective books, kept up to dates with what is going on in the world around them. They would also enjoy playing games on the computer.

Planning of Teaser Trailer

To consider every aspect of my teaser trailer a lot of planning must be conducted. After brainstorming several ideas and thinking up different settings and story lines.
After depicting what was the best and most realistic story lines this is a break down I have come up with that covers many aspects to allow me to have a clear view of how my piece is going.

Taking inspiration from dark, haunting trailers such as Frozen and Hostel I have picked out similar conventions and brainstormed ideas based on a psychological thriller.

These ideas have come about from location viewing, story lines that work well with the equipment I have however it is still a rough outline and during the process may alter slightly.

Visions.
Title- Wired – this is due to the thought of electrical/scientific equipment/ investigations.
Genre- psychological thriller
Target audience- 18-35 years who enjoy psychology, deep thinking independent films
Style- gritty looking, nothing to glamorous on camera creating a sense of kidnap, torture and danger.

Here below is a series on images, inter-titles and other music videos that has helped inspire ideas and create an overall look.










Plot summary
Teaser trailers do not intend to create a flowing, obvious story line it is simply a hint to what is to come creating a sense of genre and the use on inter-titles sometimes help give an overview of the plot.
The overview I have come to is this. A young male age 19-20 goes missing with no trace of murder or anything else just disappears. The rest of the film consists of bodies of other people similarly been taken used for scientific experiments and torture to see how the human body reacts. More and more happens throughout to create suspense and struggle to get away. A shrine to him throughout with many close up stalker like images and videos strung throughout to create a sense of being watched and researched.

Narrative
The trailer will hopefully begin with the sense of someone missing, a odd figure surrounded in this shrine to him and images, headlines presenting to the male that no one knows where he is or where to look so a sense of being stuck is given. Then the trailer will build with quicker shots of escape, torture and scientific equipment and end with the shrine being destroyed or the candles blown out to symbolise the end.

Re-visiting storyboard

When looking at other trailers, a typical convention of them had the production company advertised at the start only for a few seconds. I have created my own brand name and have kept it simple by simply having "A muddle box production" in white on a black background to then use a cross disolve transition to a different typography of it- cracked being the most likely at the moment to set the horror genre theme straight away similar to the typography in trailers such as "Hostel"

In these shots, I will use a photo collage of the actor with headlines such that post questions such as Murder?, What happened? Missing. Itll then have a transition into a candle being lit in front of this collage that the criminal has collected and created to then appear as a sort of shrine.

For this shot I want to try to create a spot light on the victims face of them having been tied up and this being all you can see so that it begins the trailer of slowly still asking questions.

For my middle section of the trailer, I want to use quick shots one after the other to build tension and keep viewers entertained this will be achieved by quick editing with effective shots. I have already played around with shots outside using water and the actor throwing it back up as a hint into torture or attempt of murder via drowning. The shots I did as practice have worked effectively and I will upload these as development towards my final trailer. The second image is just a hand trying to escape from being tied up. Simple but effective.

These shots are other ones I have thought of that I dont have to record much off to give a sense of what is going on. Tbere is a person being tied up and dragged by their feet. Then a display of tools and electrical equipment the criminal is using in his experiment.

Again, these are just quickly drawn, quickly thought of attempts to keep pace in the middle fast. There is a shot of seeing someone being wired and also another shot from the outside "drowning" shots.

This scene mirrors the start shot yet we see the actor trying to break away. Then again we are shown the shrine with the candle yet the candle is being blown out. This slows down the trailer bringing it to an end yet still asking questions.

Collage of inspiration

Through my research I have put together a collage of images that give a similar feel to what I would like to achieve within the same genre. These have been screen grabbed via youtube from music videos and trailers.

Voice over research

After two of my favourite teaser trailers being Remember me- where the actor uses his voice from the film as a narrative for the trailer and 500 days of summer- where instead of inter titles a male voice is spoken over the top to create the narrative, I looked into voice overs to see if they worked with horror/thriller genres.

Short sentences seem to be used continuously moving the narrative swiftly on. In 500 days of summer it doesn't give to much away but creates a narrative which really suits the independent quirky love film.

Why I feel a voice over is good to use, is that is captures the audiences attention where you can but pictures/shots to words to create a overall image and idea of what the film is about. However, in watching thriller trailers, this is never present it is diagetic sounds from the scenes used as sound effects to enhance the genre. I think using effects on the inter titles will help reiterate the intended genre without taking focus away from what they are watching. This is where music is very important in supporting the inter-titles and helping it all flow together.

Intertitles

I looked at the Hostel trailer for their use of inter titles as this is a trailer I found with the biggest link to the genre and theme I have tried to create. By looking at hostel I have analysed the overall teaser trailer to pick out any extra conventions I may have missed that helps create a overall feel. And also a step by step analysis looking at inter title use and camera angles.



The overall feel I get throughout is that of static and ambience. The whole tone of the music and lighting makes it feel tense and unknown with the attempt to make the viewer feel uncomfortable and on edge. The tension and build up on the viewer of shots and sounds also helps to create this. The establishing shot of the male strapped to the chair is accompanied by flickering lights to make the shot quick and capture the viewers’ attention as they have to work out what is going on. It also has static sound around the room making it seem scientific or experimental with this body attached hostage to a chair. All of these fall into typical conventions of a horror. The fact that it is set in a secluded area raise tension and suspense and a sense of distress from the leading character in this clip furthers the fear factor of a viewer.

The camera shots seem to move swiftly from establishing the setting, slowly revealing the equipment and setting to the viewer to move into rapid, up close shots giving every detail of really what is going on and helping to build the tension and suspense and fear of viewers.

Hostel and intertitles

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Audience Questionnaire

Along side the viewing and asking to say words that associated with what they were seeing in the trailer, I asked them to complete a questionnaire in which I have analysed and here are two i made into graphs as I found the music and genre link successful and it useful to know the audiences view on inter titles so that the overall piece stayed fluent, fast and interesting.

Audience questionnaire

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Audience initial feedback

After viewing the opening of my trailer and the ruff cut so far, I asked 15 males and females ages 17-21 for their initial thoughts on on genre, narrative etc and my trailer. This is a powerpoint i have put together.

Audience initial feedback

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Ruff Cut

This was my initial plan of ideas without sound.
I feel some of the clips are to dark and this is something I will look at when it comes to my next ruff cut.




Also there are no inter titles as of yet. When asking audience for feedback, the most useful thing I taken from it is that they didn't like the distorted scene at the end.
Jade Freeman said
" I like the overall idea, and the story line attempting to come through yet I feel the shots are to slow and there needs to be something in the middle to speed them up. I don't think as of yet it really flows but its a good starting point. I also think that the end could be a bit tidier as I don't think the distortion really works or is effective it looks a bit random along with the rest of your trailer.

Naming my film

This is part of a survey I have handed out to a selection of my target audience. I have taken the section that looks mainly at naming my film.

This will take you around 5 minutes to complete. It is all research for my media A2 level to create a teaser trailer along with two ancillary products.

My initial idea I want to achieve is not to give to much away in the teaser but enough for it to appeal to 18-35 year olds

I am going to film a missing person that has been taken and is now tied up with electrical experiment equipment. You see him struggling to get free and machinary involved as well as signs of torture.

4. Which name most appeals to you as a title for the film based on the specification given?

Static
Capture
Electric vibe
Wired
De-activate


on asking 34 people to fill in the questionnaire, it has helped me with other aspects of my film and into research to what the intended audience want. Consequently, Wired and Static coming out on top.
I like both of these as they are short and to the point and both relate to science and experiments which are closely linked to my film.

I think WIRED will be my final choice as I feel this relates to the theme and the concept I have tried to create of someone being wired to machines, tied up whilst being taken and psychology being involved which could relate to the way we are wired up- is everything a biological cause?

First shots practice

Lighting candle





Blowing candle out



Failed attempt