A2 Media Blog

I decided to film, edit and fully create an evaluation with a story behind it. I wanted my evaluation to be very creative. The filming process was carried out to show a journey to the cimema. which is ideal for theme of this coursework. The filming shows me on a journey in the strees, on the way to see a film. Throughout this journey, I answer my evaluation questions.

Step one: Filming
Step two: Creating a base video. The video below shows the filming and starter editing that i carried out for my evaluation.I would use this video as a starting point for my evaluation.

Step three: Answering the questions.
These are my evaluation questions typed up and answered.

Question one: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Research was a vital part of my coursework. Carrying out tasks such as analysis of trailers, posters and magazines, creating mood boards and gathering general images of the texts and visual examples of the trailer allowed me to fully go in depth to recognise each element of the product and texts. In terms of trailer research, I paid great attention to detail. For example the effects used on the inter titles, I found a number of horror trailers that had used an easing out effect on the inter titles, which was at a slow pace, after looking over many trailers, this was the case for a lot and as the effect was common and popular, therefore this would be one element which I would consider using in my own work. As well as this, I noticed that the length of shots typically got shorter throughout a trailer, which has an effect of building up tension and excitement for the audience. Shot types were also an important factor, and through research and viewings of trailers I found the most common shot type was of a close up or extreme close up.
This was also the case when researching the two other texts, posters and magazines of a horror genre. These close/extreme close up are commonly used to only give a minimum amount away to the audience, allowing questions to build up in their mind.

Throughout my trailer the codes and conventions of the horror genre are presented in many ways, some apparent, whilst some not so obvious. For example, we used shadow figures throughout the trailer, which kept the antagonist’s identity unknown, the shadows and use of dark lighting throughout the trailer as a whole are a typical horror convention, and it adds mystery and suspicion to the shots. Locations were also a key element of conventions of a horror genre. Locations included the street, and various rooms in the house as well as the garden.
Props throughout the trailer included, a knife, a phone and here you can see the prop of a red cup, Which was used to create an identity for the audience type. Most people of our target audience understand That a red cup signifies partying and drinking, this prop is famously used in many other teen films and horrors such as sorority row.

Our filming took place at night, in darkness, some with natural lighting and some with spotlights to add emphasis to a certain object or the character.
A great example of our lighting and how we paid attention to detail on this aspect is shown here. The Protagonist is making her way up the stairs, however, they audience may not automatically notice the sharp, spike looking shadows on the wall, which can detect her walking up to danger.
Close up shots are a vital convention of horror, they show close, intense reactions of characters, and because the audience is limited and cannot see the whole face for example, they can only see certain aspects which represent a terrified facial expression.

Props throughout the trailer included a knife, a phone and red cups, which were purposely used to create an identity for the audience type. Most people of our target audience understand that a red cup signifies partying and drinking, this prop is famously used in many other teen films and horrors such as sorority row.

In terms of magazines, my research was also in great depth, layouts such as the left third, the use of only three typefaces and colours as well as the importance of an image which has been discussed a great deal in the research process. In terms of the poster, I have gathered that the image is the most significant element as it is the only direct link between the film and the audience. It gives the audience an insight into what the film is about with only one shot that would be iconic for the film as a whole. By researching I could then use these forms and conventions and develop them in my own way. My magazine has three typefaces and three colours, one central image which is a feature to the film, a masthead that dominates the top of my cover, a selling line and the typical forms such as barcode, website and issue number. I had moments through the process of creating my magazine to challenge these forms and conventions that I researched, however when testing them out, for example, changing the layout, the changes would not look as effective.This was also the case for the poster. I used all codes and conventions that were of my knowledge from my in depth research, and developed them by focusing them around the feature of my film. Although I attempted to challenge them, overall the final products looked better when I used and developed the forms and conventions of real media products rather than challenge.~
Question two: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
For A promotional package for a film to be successful, it is essential that all the elements in the package link directly to each other. My promotional package interlinks throughout from my trailer, poster and magazine cover. Firstly I ensured I had the same type of images running throughout my promotional package. When I had created my final trailer, I moved on to the construction of my magazine cover, at this point I knew I needed to have a photography session and take additional images to the ones my group and I took collectively at the filming of the trailer.
I used the same girl that was the main character of the film. By taking and using these images for my magazine cover and poster, it allowed my film to have an icon and identity which was the main character.If someone saw our main character on a poster or a magazine cover, she would automatically be associated with my film disconnected. Similar shot types, such as close up shots have been a great focus, I ensured all images I took and used were very similar.I used many media technologies throughout my coursework, in the research, planning, construction and evaluation stages.
Blogger is a website where I posted all my coursework, I uploading images, videos, designed my background and posts specifically to how I wanted. This website was open to the public, so I could constantly get opinions and thoughts on work at any time. It was very easy to navigate through, I could edit posts and come back to them at a later time if I wanted to improve or add additional information was very convenient.
I used Google and Google images as well as YouTube to research into trailers, magazines and posters, this was very useful, without it my research would be minimum and I would have struggled to find particular products of the horror genre.
Animoto was used as an image presentation to present general findings of magazines and posters. Prezi was a great way to present my work on blogger, instead of just typing up each blog post, I used this presentation technique which has a main feature of zooming in and out of the presentation, I found I could upload videos and images easily to prezi and create designs. This was a creative way to present my work.
Facebook, and messenger applications on mobile such as BBM and WhatApp were extremely useful when carrying out my audience research. For planning of my product and texts I used software and technologies such as Photoshop, photoscape, both of which were used for photo editing. I used adobe premier pro and movie maker for the making of all videos made throughout my coursework and my trailer.

Therefore using similar images allows a direct link for my main product and ancillary texts. Additionally, I used the same style of hair and makeup within the image for the poster and magazine cover, the main point of both images is the eye, which is what the audience would look at first. This can also act as an identity and U.S.P for the film as a whole, because the eye plays a very large part in all three products. The same props such as the knife have been used. As well as colours, where I used white red and blue on the magazine cover, and white and red on my poster. Allowing the colour schemes match. Overall these elements have been carefully considered to interlink with one another through the three different products, which makes it very effective.
If I had a bright colour scheme for the magazine and a dark colour scheme within the trailer and poster, it would not be effective at all, as the audience may not gather the links between them and they may be led to believe that it’s a different film that’s featured in the magazine.

Question Three: What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
Audience feedback is one of the most important parts of this coursework. I carried out a great deal of feedback sessions, not only in discussing my final products, but also discussing my edited images, when I needed to make a decision for what to use on my ancillary texts. I took advantage of my access to social media and various platforms when carrying out the feedback.
I used methods such as facebook, inbox and photo commenting. Mobile Instant messaging such as Blackberry messenger and Whatsapp applications, and finally a visual and audio video which I produced. All three of these methods are extremely different and diverse from one another.
The method of facebook, allows everyone on the social networking site to have their opinion, whilst those who don’t have that particular social network membership can set their opinion via their mobile, which is quick easy and gives me the results I need.
The audio and visual video I created was a method used to steer away from technology, those who are not very familiar with my other methods of feedback, would be happy to have a conversed feedback of my work. Therefore none was excluded, as all three methods were very different from each other. I purposely asked my audiences to be very critical as well as giving their automatic opinion. Many did this well and this was extremely helpful for me to understand how successful my work was.
I learnt a great deal through my audience feedback during the coursework as a whole. Firstly in terms of the feedback I received for my images, the audience overall seemed to like images two, three and five. I took this into consideration and the image I used for my magazine cover was image two. I took my audiences view point into consideration rather than choosing a random image I thought was best.
Receiving audience feedback for my overall product and texts helped me to understand other opinions and points of view. Some, who had no in depth knowledge of media, gave me opinions and criticisms that were so simple and this allowed me to view my products in a different light. For example some suggested I used too many different typeface colours, although I may be following a convention, my audience seemed to criticise this. Overall the audience feedback helped me understand simple elements that I could have changed to improve my products.

I learnt a great deal through my audience feedback during the coursework as a whole. Firstly in terms of the feedback I received for my images, the audience overall seemed to like images two, three and five. I took this into consideration and the image I used for my magazine cover was image two. I took my audiences view point into consideration rather than choosing a random image I thought was best.
Receiving audience feedback for my overall product and texts helped me to understand other opinions and points of view. Some, who had no in depth knowledge of media, gave me opinions and criticisms that were so simple and this allowed me to view my products in a different light. For example some suggested I used too many different typeface colours, although I may be following a convention, my audience seemed to criticise this. Overall the audience feedback helped me understand simple elements that I could have changed to improve my products.

Question four: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research,planning and evaluation stages?
I used many media technologies throughout my coursework, in the research, planning, construction and evaluation stages.
Blogger is a website where I posted all my coursework, I uploading images, videos, designed my background and posts specifically to how I wanted. This website was open to the public, so I could constantly get opinions and thoughts on work at any time. It was very easy to navigate through, I could edit posts and come back to them at a later time if I wanted to improve or add additional information was very convenient.
I used Google and Google images as well as YouTube to research into trailers, magazines and posters, this was very useful, without it my research would be minimum and I would have struggled to find particular products of the horror genre.
Animoto was used as an image presentation to present general findings of magazines and posters. Prezi was a great way to present my work on blogger, instead of just typing up each blog post, I used this presentation technique which has a main feature of zooming in and out of the presentation, I found I could upload videos and images easily to prezi and create designs. This was a creative way to present my work.
Facebook, and messenger applications on mobile such as BBM and WhatApp were extremely useful when carrying out my audience research. For planning of my product and texts I used software and technologies such as Photoshop, photoscape, both of which were used for photo editing. I used adobe premier pro and movie maker for the making of all videos made throughout my coursework and my trailer.

Step four: Editing text into the video and general editing. The print screens below show some of the stages of the process of creating the video evaluation. I used movie maker as it was the only software i had full acsess too at that moment. I constantly had to save and publish the video work over from the new published draft. i did this around 6 times.

I purposly wanted the video to be livey and engergetic. Some past evaluations i have seen and done are not as creative as this, most use voice overs to present their evaluations. However in my opinion this would be boring. I kept it livey to keep the audience intrested and always be alert throughout the video. which is essential and answers and images would pop up throughout at random times, suprising the viewer. This will become clearer when the final evaluation has been made.

When I completed my magazine I wanted to compare my own work to another horror poster that has been in the market. I chose to compare my work with a movie called Prom night. I chose this because it has the same target audience as my film and would fit into the same categories of film. Looking at the posters side by side is quite effective as it will allow me to consider the similarities and differences of a real film poster and the one I have created. It is evident to say that my film poster has the correct codes and conventions such as the credits, title, tagline, certificate, main image and institutional logos. I have noticed that some film posters do not include all these elements, but I wanted my work to look as realistic as possible, therefore added all the elements of a film poster that I knew of from the research I had previously carried out.

That is one of the visual differences from my work and the prom night poster. My work has all elements recognised on a film poster; however the prom night poster does not show the certificate. A similarity of the two is that there is a central image which is the main attraction of the whole poster. The image is the first element that grabs the audience’s attention; it also sets the genre and idea that the film wants to give off. Having an image such as a girl holding a flower in bright garden would not create an idea, atmosphere or any suspense for the film at all. The close up shots adds emphasis and creates questions and realisation in the audiences mind. For example the prom night poster has a close up of a girls face at a slanted angle, her eyes are covers with a crown (automatically we can distinguish she’s the prom queen, in relation to the title) we cannot see her eyes, which makes it hard for the audience to see her full expression, however her mouth is open is shows us a great deal of emotion, along with the colours used, blue is a very cold colour, almost as if the character is dead there is no life left in her. Close up shots are very useful and effective especially when used for a horror film poster as they can give away allot in only one image, aspect such as lighting, shot type, angle, colours, costume, props all allow the audience to gather immediate information in one go.

Overall I am very happy with my poster, seeing it next to one that has been in the market and has been a successful film, I am able to distinguish similarities and differences, I believe my poster fits all codes and conventions and fulfils purposes such as attracting the audience’s attention, creating suspense and questions.