Evaluation

Ben Murphy

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products?

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

For my media product, I produced my own film trailer. I carried out several bits of research in which I studied trailers, posters and magazines covers that relate to my chosen genre. The genre that I decided to focus on was ‘horror’/’thriller’. I decided to go with this genre as I believe that it is the best way for me to produce a high quality trailer. My reasoning for this is because I have seen several low budget horror films which have become very successful due to the way in which they are filmed. An example of this would be the first ‘Paranormal Activity’ movie. Paranormal Activity did well in the film market due to word of mouth and because of this it wasn’t advertised massively. I felt that I could make my trailer extremely effective with very simple equipment whilst producing a horror film trailer.

Before I produced my film trailer, I had to decide who my target audience was and what age range they would most likely be. My target audience would have to be older teenagers and adults due to my trailer being categorised as a horror/thriller. The age range that my film trailer would best suit would be anywhere from age 16 and above. This would mainly be because my film trailer builds lots of suspense and gives the audience an idea of what is happening to the victim. However my trailer does not contain any gore and because of this the recommended age for my target audience is age 16 and above.

When producing my film trailer I have made sure that it has followed general forms of conventions that the majority of horror films follow. One of these conventions that my horror film trailer follows is the technique of building suspense right up until the end of the trailer. The end of my trailer also follows general conventions because it ends on a note where the audience will want to watch more and see what happens to the victim as the trailer never actually lets you know what has happened or who the villain of the film is.

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

For my media product, I have also had to produce a poster and magazine cover that relate to my horror trailer. My poster and magazine cover are very similar in what images they use and I have kept the images simple by using a close up image of a sharp thorn bush; hence this resembles the name of my film, ‘Thorn’. This fits with conventions that the average horror film will follow. By using an image such as a thorn bush, I am not giving away any part of the story in my film and therefore it makes my target audience want to watch the film trailer as they would like to discover what the film is about.

The use of the thorn bush image throughout my products is unconventional as it does not let the audience know what my film is about and it doesn’t tell a story. However, the use of this image regularly means that my target audience will straight away be able to relate my poster and magazine cover to the actual film trailer as the title of my film is named after what the image is of. One convention that I have followed by using this image is that the image symbolises what the film is about. The image of a thorn bush that I have used shows a very sharp thorn and this can be used to show pain, death and disruption. This is related to what my film trailer is trying to show as it is about a victim being hunted down by another person who is trying to kill them. My film trailer is about danger and the image of the thorn bush shows danger and threat.

I have used the same colour for my fonts within all of my design products and this relates to my colour scheme which I have kept simple by keeping it to black and white based and by doing this it represents a horror film in which is dull, depressing and scary.

When it comes to ‘Narrative’, there are to main theories concerning how films and film trailers are structured when using general conventions. These two theories are called ‘Todorov’s Theory’ and ‘Propp’s Theory’.

Todorov’s Theory

Todorov proposed a basic structure for all narratives. He stated that films and programmes begin with an equilibrium, a calm period. Then agents of disruption cause disequilibrium, a period of unsettlement and disquiet. This is then followed by a renewed state of peace and harmony for the protagonists and a new equilibrium brings the chaos to an end. The simplest form of narrative (sometimes referred to as ‘Classic’ or ‘Hollywood’ narrative).

Propp’s TheoryVladimir Propp’s theory was formed in the early twentieth Century. He studies Russian fairytales and discovered that in stories there were always 8 types of characters evident. These are: the hero, the villain, the donor, the dispatcher, the false hero, the helper, the princess and her father. He did not state these characters were all separate people e.g. the provider could also be the helper. There are only 8 different character types and only 31 things they ever do. Once you have identified the character type (e.g., the hero) it’s easy to guess what they will do (save the maiden, defeat the villain, marry the maiden or whatever) because each character has a SPHERE OF ACTION. This is easily relatable to films and programmes today.

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

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary

texts?

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

For my media product, I have had to combine several features in order to make my whole product fit together smoothly. I have had to choose a font in which I would use in on the majority of the products that I have produced throughout this process. The font that I eventually chose was chosen by my target audience in a voting poll and it was named ‘erthquake’. My target audience chose this font because they thought that it was bold, scary and unique and because of this it fit perfectly with my chosen genre of horror. The title of my film and choice of images helped the audience to easily put together my poster and magazine cover with my film trailer. The image that I have used constantly throughout the process of creating my product relates to the name of my film ‘Thorn’; hence the main image that I have used throughout is the picture of a sharp thorn bush. Due to the regular use of the same fonts and images within my created products, my target audience can easily make links from my poster to my magazine cover to my film trailer.

The use of the thorn bush image means that people will be able to spot any of my products from far away as it is an image that stands out and represents what my horror film is about.

The image of the thorn bush that I have used is a major contributor to my overall product because it doesn’t give away the storyline of what my film is about, however the audience will want to watch the film because the image is a representation of the title of my film ‘Thorn’.

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

Font – ‘erthquake’ which is used throughout.

Font – ‘erthquake’ which is used throughout.

Same background picture which represents the same film.

Similar colour scheme used in both products, e.g. white font text.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

When creating my media product, I have taken my target audiences feedback very seriously as it helps to improve my products for the better because it is what the people that I am creating it for like about the genre.

Throughout my creation of the product I have carried out several voting polls along the way in which I usually asked twenty people from my target audience to select one option from the choices that I give them. The one that each of them decides to choose, should be their favourite choice and therefore when the votes are counted, I will end up with my target audiences overall favourite choice. I would then carry out this by selecting the winning choice and using it within my product that I would be creating.

There are various polls which I have set up throughout my production of my product and these include my choice of film title, slogan and magazine title.

Film Title

“Of the 20 people that I asked, 0 people chose the titles 'Bad Luck' and 'Dejected', making them the least popular choice. 1 person chose 'Bad Luck', 2 people chose 'Bits and Pieces', 2 people chose 'The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday' and 4 people chose 'Splinter'. 'Thorn' gained the most votes gathering 11; hence it was my most popular title out of the choices”.

Film Slogan

“’Oh Yes, There Will Be Blood!’ = 1 vote, ‘Be Afraid... Be Very Afraid’ = 0 votes, ‘We All Go A Little Mad Sometimes’ = 2 votes, ‘Everyone's a Victim’ = 0 votes, ‘Not Today, Not Tomorrow...’ = 3 votes and ‘If It Doesn't Get You, You're Already Dead’ = 14 votes”.

Magazine Title

“From the 20 people that I asked which title they thought was the best for my film magazine, 'Big Seller' and 'Movie Mag' came last with no votes, whilst 'Coming Soon' came fourth with only 2 votes. in third place came 'Front Row' with 4 votes, with 'Word Of Mouth' coming second with 5 votes. But in first place came 'FFF' with 9 votes; hence this title was more popular than the rest and because of this, 'FFF' will be the title of my film magazine”.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Below shows the development of my film poster using the feedback from my target audience:

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Below shows the development of my film magazine cover when using feedback from my target audience:

How did you use media technologies in the construction

and research, planning and evaluation stages?

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

Construction

For the development of my trailer, I have used a program called ‘Pinnacle Studio 12’, which is a program that is used to design and edit movie files. I have used a digital camera to capture my footage which is then edited using Pinnacle Studio 12.

Where the files are stored

Preview of my development progress within Pinnacle

Editing of background sound

Editing of video footage

Transitions can be used

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

Research

In my research I used several websites to produce my research. Google images has helped in in finding several forms of images including film posters and magazine covers. From these images that I would have collected, I would then evaluate them fully deciphering what is conventional and unconventional within them. After evaluating these images, I would then take this information into account when producing my own film poster and magazine cover whilst getting feedback from my target audience along the way. I also had to research film trailers and a website that I used an awful lot for this was http://vimeo.com/ because it is one of the few video sharing websites that is not filtered at my school. I would select my chosen film trailer to evaluate and then embed it onto my blog where I would write about what I like and dislike from viewing the trailer several times. This embedding technique can also be used from www.youtube.com, however I was unable to access this website at my school and therefore I tended to stay away from it.

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

Planning

For the planning of my product, I have used various techniques. I have used a digital camera to take pictures of my storyboard and animatic. I have also used a digital camera to take my location shots in the planning progress and these show where the shooting of the footage will take place. Da Font is a website which I have used to choose fonts in which I have asked my target audience to decide which they think was the best for my film ‘Thorn’. Macromedia Fireworks 8 is a program in which I have developed a company logo which I have used to promote my film trailer.

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

Evaluation

To produce this evaluation I have had to the program ‘Microsoft PowerPoint 2003’. This has helped me to section out my questions in an orderly fashion. I have used several slides for each question in which I have answered each in great detail.

I have used my blog, ‘http://bhsapbenmurphy.blogspot.com’ to gather important poll results from all of my design work. I have used these facts and figures within this evaluation to back up my points.