Media Evaluation

Shaun Owens

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

For my A2 project I have been asked to create a movie trailer, film poster and a magazine front cover showing the film. My media products follow most conventions found in the horror genre of film, I know this as I have carried out prior research into horror before commencing with the production of my media products.

My media products use, develop and challenge current forms and conventions of real products in all of my media products of the trailer, poster and magazine. For the name of the film, our group decided on the name Intruder for the title which would be featured in all media products I have created. We began the decision making on the name when brainstorming possible ideas that suited the style of film with a villain breaking into a house. We decided on Intruder as we believed it most suited the genre and gave an edge into the film when hearing the title ‘Intruder’ straight away giving that someone has intruded into a house and even gives an edgy angle to it. My poster uses, develops and challenges conventions of media products firstly with the title I have used which is Intruder. I have kept my poster relatively simple in the layout. As I have explained in my mock ups I kept to a basic sketch of where certain features of my poster would be featured.

Movie Poster

The title of my poster has Perpetua MT light text. I have inserted a text and once it is in place I flipped the text 180` so that the top half of the text mirrored the bottom half of the text. This is an effective style as in my research I noticed several film titles that have used this and with the image they have used it looks very effective in drawing people to the poster. I also chose to use this mirrored affect as it links in with drips of blood going from the top half being white going into the bottom half which is of a blood red text mirroring the top half showing another side to the text. My main tile section challenges conventions also with the positioning of my title.

I have place in dead in the centre of my poster were as I have found the high percentage of movie posters place their title three quarters of the way down In the poster. I wanted to place my main title in the middle as it is where the person would look first followed by the next main image which in this case would be the intruder. Having my text centred it made room for other sections of the poster to be brought in at a larger size e.g. images. I tested having the title near the bottom but it did not look that professional in the sense that it left no room for my images I would be using for my poster.

Another convention my media product uses is the Billing block. This is used in both my poster and also the trailer. The billing block has been used to give credit to people who were involved in this production. The billing block sets out different categories of the production such as producers, directors and writers. We have used this billing block as it is what is used in real productions and also their media products such as movie posters. Our billing block includes everyone that as involved in the production from casting to directing it. All of these roles were for filled by our group members. As you can see from the example to the right we have followed this convention of the billing block from a blockbuster film to our own.

Another convention used for my poster is the date. This is used in real media productions and is used to show when the film’s release date is. I used existing conventions using numbering to show the date instead of using words. Having numbers was more of an advantage as it made the space for the date shorter which makes up more room for my poster.

Another convention is the use of a website link. I have used this convention as every recently released production will either have a website or if not the film company’s website. I have used this with ‘WWW.THEINTRUDER.CO.UK’.

The next convention I have developed is the use of social media links. I found this effective to a movie company as the use of this will get the film and any information out to its audience through social media sites such as Facebook, twitter and YouTube. When designing my poster and inserted these entire social media site with the correct name of our film name.

I have used another convention of including a tag line in my poster. Through researching other horror posters I came across the use of tag lines in every poster. This was important to use in my media product as it is a hook to audience if a clever quote is to be used for this. In my media product I have used “Home Sweet Home”. This clever quote is short but also effective relating back to a house where our trailer is based at. This quote is often used when describing a house so I believe this is a great benefit to my poster.

Images were another convention I challenged in my products. I have taken two images for my poster one on top of the other. I challenged the conventions of the stranger’s poster which was released in Spain. I took this and went on to develop it to make it my own product which I believe I have done effectively. I have positioned the protagonist on the top of the two main characters with the protagonist looking straight into to camera with the two teenagers looking out to the distance.

My next media product I have created is the movie trailer with conventions. In our trailer we produced a voice over to introduce the trailer. To do this and make it effective we created a script for someone to read out making the broadcast sound like a radio broadcast, this was followed up by our group having a teacher from another class read this message out while we recorded the speech. We challenged this convention by putting out own version of a radio broadcast to it. The next convention we challenged in our production was the variety of shots we produced. The first area of shots would be a slow pan. This initial shot was used for the Maghull sign in which we based the trailer off showing its initial location. We also used a pan when shooting the scenery and housing estate which we would then go onto shoot the interior house scenes from. We progressed on to use more up close shots when the trailer moved to an inside location of the interior house scenes.

Trailer

Our first shot type is the medium close up which was a well-used shot type as all shots were inside the space was restricted so a medium close up was an ideal size for shot as it still left room for movement in shot. We moved on to capture aspects of the house such as shots of the kitchen sink dripping water with a close up to gather the whole motion of the tap dripping. Another shot we challenged and used in our production was an over the shoulder shot going into a shaky cam.

This shot was from the intruder’s perspective when he was standing behind the teenage boy who shows him turning to look behind him and then going straight into a shaky cam affect when the character notices the intruder. I found this type of shot to be interesting to incorporate into our production because it made the camera work look more realistic and seem as the intruder to be up close with the teenagers

Another way in which my media trailer challenges a real media product would be its location, when scouting locations pre-production we wanted to use establishing outdoor shots of scenery to establish the interior shots would be away from a city and in a rural location. Interior shots were filmed from a group members house were all interior shots were filmed. This being we wanted to have a film inside were aspects from other films researched such as paranormal activity were creepy and abnormal things happen when a central protagonist enters the story plot.

Music is the next section when we challenged conventional uses of music and changed the style of it. When researching into current movie trailers of the horror genre we all found the use of earey music with a chilling edge of creepiness to the them such as Insidious ‘tip toe through the tulips’ song which when listened to instantly makes you think of the film and its series of films. This style of creepy music with high pitched audio challenges current media products and we have challenged this by using a similar audio clip through half the trailer which like the real media product gives a creepy feel when listening to it. Researching into horror trailers we noticed certain aspects about cuts in the production of the trailers. These tend to be fast paced and close to the end climax with an action packed scene. This would be something we would use and challenge for conventions when filming and later editing the clips on the Macs with iMovie.

To build up the story we had to tell a plot and show action sections that would appeal to the target audience. Dark editing was another area we used for our trailer when later on in the trailer the story becomes more intense with added action scenes so with these, this dark editing makes the scene look more darker in the sense of scare quality was essential to be managed as if the clips were edited incorrectly and made to look too bright then this would not appeal to the target audience and also leave viewers confused on why colours have changed from dark colours to a sudden bright change. This style of editing has been seen I a lot of my research on new trailers such as the marked ones, Devils Due and Repentance which all use this style of editing.

Another section like my poster media product is the billing block which is important to use as it would show the people involved in our production of our trailer. Using this convention made our production even more like the real thing because it would be used in the film industry giving credit to the main people in the production.

The next section in which our trailer uses media conventions is the use of title frames. We have used fived title frames to add to the developing story being told. These sections would break up the trailer through text being shown on screen. The images on this slide show all the title frames we have included to the trailer. The frames are also linked to the viewer asking them what would you do if your home became your worst nightmare? The text was edited through Photoshop with a rugged aged affect giving it a creepy shadow with the text. We changed the colour to the last frame which was Nightmare to give a bold ending to these title frames with the link of blood through the blood red colouring in the text.

The intruder title would follow at the end of the trailer which connects with the title frames with the colouring of red and whites.

My last ancillary media product is my movie magazine. For this section I used all sections of develop challenge and used forms and conventions of media products. I researched into many magazines in my chosen genre of horror. I wanted to research into horror magazines rather than conventional film magazines such as Total film as I wanted my magazine to follow the conventions of our trailer with horror so I believe keeping it within this genre will make it more affective.

Researching into many magazines such as Fangoria which instantly gives away the horror genre just by its title giving it a unique selling point and something I wanted to incorporate into my magazine.

Movie Magazine

The next area of my magazine is the masthead of my magazine. I chose a bold text that would stand out from the rest of the text on the front cover. The main masthead is a dark red with a white shadowing outline giving it a bolder 3D effect.

My magazine front cover challenges current media conventions through the use of imagery in my front cover. I have used one main image which helps to make the front cover more eye catching with its bold image being dark and being so large it will catch readers attention. I have developed the images through the use of Adobe Photoshop to edit the images from a raw image into the finished product it is in the magazine front cover.

The intruder title I have used for my magazine front cover is the exact same layout and positioning as found in my movie poster I have also created. I will challenge this media convention of carrying the text on through to different media products in my magazine which is seen here in my front cover. The text layout is still reversed.

Another section of the title is the tag line I created to accompany the title of the front cover mains story. For the tag line I used a quote saying “Are you really safe at home?” followed with “We go behind the scenes of the new hit” coming from the magazines perspective.

Modern magazines have used well recognised social Medias to attract more people to their website. I have used this convention of including social media to link to the magazines name along with social media logos such as Facebook & Twitter. I believe this makes my product look more like the real thing. I wanted to include social media links down to the fact that all Medias now a days will include these links in a way of attracting audiences that use such social media sites as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

The black screen shot shown below is my social medias used in the front cover, these include the twitter bird logo and the ‘F’ logo for Facebook.

The next section to my movie magazine is the use of the Magazine date, magazines website, price and barcodes. The first section of my magazine is the issue date, this is a part I wanted to include as other sections like the website, it is a little added extra feature but makes the magazine seem more real as this date is a well-used feature to magazines as it sets out what date it was issued on.

Like my other ancillary product I have included the magazine’s website. This feature like the social media links will bring extra customers to view the link on different platforms. This was a large feature to include because throughout all my research on movie magazines this was seen in every front cover.

The last feature was price and barcode, firstly pricing I have priced my magazine at £3.99. Many movie magazines are set at a higher price e.g. £4.99-£6.99 but to be more competitive and still attract my target audience I set mine at £3.99 a price that is reasonable for a teenage market. I set my pricing in the same text as used in my front cover and also placed it on top of the barcode to make it more legible for anyone reading it. The last section barcode has been used to allow more efficient purchasing when scanning the magazine. All products will have this barcode and has been used for many reasons.

Firstly is the look of it, if it was not to be used then my magazine would not be able to be scanned when being purchased. Secondly it makes the overall look of my magazine more professional having it. I have placed it at the bottom of my front cover with the price on top of it. I believe using this convention makes my product look more like the real thing because I have recognised all magazine front covers I researched into have used a barcode so was necessary for me to carry this feature out into my movie magazine front cover.

Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

My main product and ancillary are effective with each other for many purposes. The first one is text styling. My group’s trailer has used a text for the tile Intruder which I have kept the same for my two ancillary products. Research told me that it is rare for a film to change to its text style when broadcasting the film through other Medias like movie magazines and social media. So to act on this I have kept the text the same throughout all three types of media products to manage the continuity of my films style of film.

Perpetua MT was used in all three which I know makes the film look more realistic to a real film because changing the style of text in other styles would be confusing for the audience as it would look like different film all together if a different text was to be used. I have also kept the styling of the text the same in both of my ancillary products with the two layers of text with the bottom layer being flipped to be upside down which is also included in my movie magazine front cover. Using this same style will make my products easier to recognise through different types of media and more professional looking because it is unlikely for a branded film series to change their text on their products.

The billing block is another area of media products I have combined both main products and ancillary texts. This area was key to giving credit to those who were involved with the overall production. This was devolved in Adobe Photoshop for all the different sections that needed to be mentioned in it. Once complete it was inserted into our trailer at the end. Finally I have inserted it into my poster. I have placed this at the base of my poster where the space was available to put text of this size here.

Image is another area for my media products. From my main media product the trailer I was inspired for the style of photography to be used to use for my ancillary products. I was inspired by the dark cuts we have used in our trailer and the edgy shots of the teenagers who are scared in these scenes. So to build on this I have used images to act on this showing the two teenagers with frightened looks on their faces. This I believe is effective for my poster as I have also inserted the Intruders face in the background of it adding a sense of creepiness to it.

Question 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I have learnt from my audience feedback received many things. The first way is the constructive criticism I have received from peer’s feedback. I printed versions of my poster out and gave it out to friends and also random people when they had spare time. The second way of giving it to strangers was a better and more reliable as they do not know me and would not feel bad if they found something wrong with it to criticise it.

I would use this criticism to build and change my products to better my work in the long term. I also gave it to my family members as a lot of my family work in the media world so would obviously have a good knowledge of such products as this poster, I received both good and bad feedback but however I do not see this to be bad feedback as it will eventually be corrected and turn into my final product.

Another area I have learnt from my audience feedback would be when carrying out a questionnaire to identify my target audience in which I would aim my products at. I asked closed questions to find out straight answers for specific needs I would need to know for example the age group of the person. The first question was male or female and there were more males than females with 70% male and a remaining 30%female. The second question was one of the most important to be asked. I asked what age are you? I wanted to ask this as this because it will tell me exactly what is a popular age range for a trailer to hit a target audience. The most popular out of all age ranges was the 16-20 and this is the range I would be targeting. I selected this range as it is a teenage range and the most likely to go view a horror movie rather than older ages like the 45+ range with no one selecting this age.

We used two main characters who are both teenagers so this would appeal top our audience as well. Another important question I included in my questionnaire was where does the user usually view movie trailers. This would tell me what platforms they would view trailers off. This was important as to hit my target audience I would use the same platforms to promote my groups trailer on. The most popular answer for this out of all options was online through YouTube. This is where we have published our trailer as it is a wide audience that uses it and we can gather people’s opinions through user’s comments.

Question 4: How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I have used new media technologies firstly with my construction stage of my media products. Firstly I used camera software to take the raw image files for my media products. This was done through my Nikon D3X camera. This new media was used effectively as I have a lot of experience when using the camera and its settings to alter the images when taking them.

Blogger was another useful tool that was used in the new media technologies stage. This was a necessary asset to be used as it was where all of our work was to be published from. All coursework would be put on here and could be edited at a later date to add to a certain post. I have found using blogger useful because of its simple layout and its accessibility as it is available on different platforms in which I downloaded onto my smartphone.

Another new technology I have used to create my media product was Adobe Photoshop. This tool was a great benefit to my finished product. I found it easy and was comfortable to use it as I have had prior experience using this software. It was the best package to edit my photos on as using other software’s for it would not be as good as the standard of Photoshop.

I found using this package a great benefit as I had to crop my main two photos down to a size were they would fit in with the size I needed. If Photoshop was not to be used to edit my photos then I believe the images would be of a low quality and not look as high quality as they do now. Overall this software was excellent tool to be used because of its many of options available to alter images which can benefit my images being used as this now meant my images could have more alterations through edits unlike other software that may have been used, so overall this was a beneficial package to use for my images throughout my media products.

IMovie was another new technology myself and our group has used in the editing section of the trailer. This was the section where the raw footage would be cut down and edited to piece together in the needed order of our trailer. This would be performed on the schools Macs in our media class room.

Using this software meant we could edit the clips in a professional editing suite giving the group more of a stronger benefit instead of using alternative editing packages such as Windows Movie Maker. I had little prior experience using IMovie but quickly became well experienced when using it to edit the footage. This screen shot shows the basic layout of the IMovie layout we have used in class.

The next media technology I have used is YouTube. This tool was necessary to publish our finished product online through this online tool to reach a wide audience. We have used this tool to give our audience a know how about or trailer with an added benefit of that we can receive in viewers feedback through online comments left below the video which can help improve and alter our productions for future reference.

The screen shot below shows our actual trailer once we have published online. Our trailer has been received positively I believe because of the amount of views received since publishing it on YouTube and through other social medias like Twitter.

Microsoft office is the next media technology to be used. This was simply a necessary package to use for creating any word document to be uploaded to Blogger. This was beneficially helpful to my products such as blog posts as creating them in Microsoft Word came with spell checker so the chances of publishing any posts on Blogger with misspelled words were to become less likely to happen. To structure the texts correctly this was helpful when completing analysis's of trailers which would include images in between the paragraphs of each other.

Another office product I have used is PowerPoint. I have used this package when creating my evaluation of the A2 Course. Which when finishing polished it through my blog with Slide Share which would allow this document to be inserted onto my blog.

Padlet is another media technology I have used when gathering research on my final media product my poster. Padlet is an online post it note allowing people to leave comments which was helpful for my products when feedback was necessary. On blogger I have linked in the Padlet in a blog post to show my final post for my poster which will receive feedback from people on my final product.

As you can see from this print screen the use of Padlet is effective for collecting feedback with the comments I have received in this software.