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

1) Film poster2) Film magazine front cover3) Film trailer

Film poster

The film poster that I have created relates well to the action genre as it features many common conventions that are within other action film posters. I used the search engine google to find example of similar existing products. This allowed me to identify the common conventions of the genre. I found that a close up shot of the characters face is common place throughout action film posters, in particular fight film posters. This is used to connote the characters emotions for example anger. I also found that lighting around the characters face tended to be dark and often shaded the side of their face. This is effective as it gives the characters a sense of mystery as you can’t see their full picture. Furthermore it gives them a sense of danger as they are lurking in the shadows. In most film posters the movie title is bold and stands out from the rest of the page. I believe this is even more so in the action genre. In many similar existing products that I have researched I noticed that the title test seems to almost jump out at you, this is an extremely effective as it grabs the audience’s attention. To follow this convention I made me made my text metallic and also added a blue flare to make the text stand out more. The tagline on the top of my film poster is a short statement which relates well to the action genre as it is to the point and decisive.

http://www.slideshare.net/molly0026/a2-media-evaluation-3606951

Convention of existing action film posters

Bold title which stands out from the rest of the background The Tagline is short and to the point, it is usually located on the top of the poster There is often shading around the characters faces indicating a sense of danger. The background tends to be dark or black creating a more menacing environment The release date is often of a large font size and located in at the bottom of the poster The actors names a tend to be located above the film title and have either the same or

similar font type

Film magazine front cover

The magazine front cover that I have created follows many common conventions of the genre and media type. I used the search engine google to research into existing products and find the common features. I found out that the masthead of the magazine is the largest size text on the page and takes up around a ¼ of the page. The font type used for the masthead is the same throughout all the magazines. This is used to reinforce the magazines image/name. Furthermore it may result in people recognising the name and therefore they may purchase the magazine as it has a sense of history and credibility. The main image takes up either all or the majority of the page. This is important as it directly shows the audience what the magazine if focused on, it reinforces the main cover line. The main cover line tends to be the second largest piece of text on the page, which reinforces its importance. Furthermore the font type tends to have something different for example a different font style or a shattering affects this acts to grab the audience’s attention. The cover lines are generally much smaller than the main cover line and are spread around the main image. This focuses the audience’s attention of the main cover line which is important as it is the main feature. Most magazines have to use two main colours in their colour scheme I have chosen to use black and white as this creates a simple and aesthetically pleasing image.

Tagline: the tagline is short and to the point which relates well to the genre furthermore the statement which is said is strong and assertive further relating to the genre. The space between each individual letter has been spread out.

Title: the title has a metallic texture which contrasts well with the background. I also added a flare to above the letter “C” which acts to draw attention to the text furthermore it makes the text more aesthetically appealing. The text is typed in Xirod font which is a bold dominant text font. All these features act to draw the audience’s attention towards the text.

Shading: The shading around the characters faces is used to create a sense of mystery about the characters as you don’t get their full picture. Furthermore, it also acts to create a sense of danger.

Metallic background: the metallic background which is visible in the top right is used to reinforce the action genre. It relates well to the genre as it quite masculine. It is also used to resemble a cage like environment relating to the film itself.

Image: the photo used was taken in a portrait which matches the conventions of other existing products. This allows my product to be relatable to the audience.

Conventions of existing action film magazine front covers

The magazine masthead is clearly visible at the top of the page and it also tends to be in a different front from the rest of the page. It has a large font size and often around a ¼ of the page.

There is always one dominant picture which takes up the majority of the page however House colours are used extensively for example black and green, yellow and white etc. The main cover line stands out clearly from the rest of the page it is always larger in size and

is often in a different font type The cover lines are positioned around the main image and tend to be in a small font size The barcode is usually positioned in either the bottom left or right corner

Film trailer

The film trailer that I have created features many common conventions of other existing products. I used the well-known video streaming site YouTube to research other existing film trailers. I found several examples that related to the idea that I had in mind such as blood and bone, district 13 and unleashed. I found the trailer for the film unleashed to be particularly useful as it also related to my films storyline. I discovered that action film trailers consist of fast paced edits, which acts to grab the audience’s attention and gives an exhilarating experience. I also found that during the end of the trailer there is a build up to a climatic ending or a cliff hanger to keep the audiences wanting to know what is going to happen. The dialogue within the trailers of this genre is short and to the point. This is effective as it imprints a message to the audience for example in the trailer of unleashed we hear the main antagonist shout “kill him” this is dominant and assertive message which grabs the audience’s attention. Voice over narration is used extensively within this genre as it helps inform the audience on what is going on. Inter titles are used throughout the film trailers and often consist of short statement which reinforce the plot and ideas associated with the film. On screen graphics are commonly used within trailers of this genre in particular 3D text. This is effective as the text is actually within the footage rather than being overlaid. This creates a greater impression on the audience.

Masthead: I have positioned the masthead in the top centre of the page which matches the convention of existing products. I also greatly increased the font size to ensure it filled up good percentage of the page. The font type that I used was called “Hunger games” which is a fairly unique font type. Furthermore it is easily recognisable as it is quite bold. The text can also be related to the film hunger games further reinforcing the action stereotype.

Image: I have only used one image in the front cover as I believe it will fully focus the audience’s attention on the main cover line. The image itself takes up around ¾ of the page which reinforces its importance.

Cover lines: I have positioned the cover lines around the main image to keep the attention focused on the main cover line. Furthermore, it creates a more well organised and structured appearance. The cover line text becomes progressively smaller with each sentence this is a common feature within most magazines.

Background: I chose to use a metallic texture as the background as this relates well to the action genre in particular the fighting aspect of the genre. The metallic texture connotes masculinity and danger. The metallic texture also relates to the title of the film CAGED.

Barcode: The barcode is featured on the front cover of almost every magazine. Therefore, this is an essential convention to have on my magazine as it makes it more relatable to existing products.

Conventions of existing action film trailers

The duration is under 3 minutes The lighting is dark and gloomy reinforcing the sense of danger and mystery Fast paced edits usually between 1-2 seconds Flash, fade and cut-off transitions are primarily used Many different shots are used from various angles Each shot has a lot of action within it and relates to a key point within the films plot Stock phrases used throughout such as “coming soon” The dialogue is short and assertive for example “Kill him” The music is often fast paced and relates to the epic genre Sound effects are used throughout in particular in scenes were fighting or action is carried

out

Film trailer

The trailer opens with the main antagonist “Katayo” saying “I own you” this is extremely effective as it is a strong assertive statement and therefore grabs the audience’s attention, Furthermore it gives the audience and idea of what the film is about.

Including the main producer at the beginning of the trailer is a common convention throughout film trailers. I therefore decided to incorporate this feature within my trailer to keep it conventional and therefore relatable to the audience. I used the metallic background within all of my inter titles to keep continuity and a matching image throughout.

The title of the film is shown 24 seconds into the trailer. This is useful as the clips before this build up an idea in the audiences head about the plot and also whether or not it appeals to them. The title allows people to remember the film as they may want to watch it later or once it is released. Furthermore, the font type is the same as my ancillary texts which creates a house style and therefore a relatable image. When the title appears I added a locking sound effect this is effective as it relates to the title for example they are locked in.

This clip depicts a character about to be shot in the head. However I decided to black out the screen when the gunshot is heard. I believe this is effective as the audience do not know whether the character has actually been shot, instead they make their own assumptions of what happened. This allows the audience to have their own subjective view and therefore becoming a more active audience.

During the ending of the trailer I have added 3 inter titles, the first of which is above. The use of this common convention is very effective as it implies ideas about the plot and also characteristics of the characters. For example the above inter title suggests that the character is violent, not sociable and has had a hard life. The text has also been narrated in a deep voice which is a common convention

other relating trailers. As the narrator speaks the words are appear, this is effective as it helps imprint the message into the audiences mind. The text also increases in size with the beat of the song. This is effective as the text seems to jump at the audience and therefore reinforces its importance.

During this scene I have added a sound effect that is common within many action movie trailers. The fog horn sound effect is used extensively in film trailers. Its use reinforces the importance of a moment for example a death or a key point in the plot. In my trailer I have used this before the deaths of “Zekrim’s” enemies.

The final inter title uses the common stock phrase “Coming soon” this is effective as it allows the audience to relate the trailer to other existing example and therefore may be more likely to watch it. The release date below informs the audience on when the film will be available at cinemas. This acts as both informative and also builds up hype. The website link and face book links allows people to stay tuned with recent information regarding the movie and therefore keep active. The institutions at the bottom left and right allow the audience to see who were involved in the making of the film. This is beneficial as these names have a lot of credibility and history associated with them making people more likely to watch.

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary text.

The two ancillary texts that I have created along with my main product work well together to create a realistic image that audiences may associate with existing products. The action genre conventions that are present within my media products reflect those of other relating products. The two products that I created in conjunction with my film trailer are a film poster and magazine front cover. The title of the film “CAGED” is typed in the same text “Xirod” within all of my media products. This is effective as it keeps continuity throughout the products and also acts to create an iconic symbol which can be related immediately to my product. The same two characters are used

on both ancillary texts. This is effective as it reinforces the roles of the characters within the diagesis. Furthermore, it also indicates to the audience who’s playing who and also what their role is within the plot. I have noticed this convention being used within many relating products that I have researched. The background of all 3 of my media products is the same metallic texture. This is effective as it creates continuity between the products and also acts to create a relatable image that the audience can use to relate all 3 of my products with one another. The purpose of all 3 of my products is to promote my film and I believe they have done this to good effect.

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

The target audience for product is males between the ages of 15 and 30 as I believe the genre of my film appeals to this group more so than others. I also found information to support this through researching other existing products and finding out who they aim their products at.

To gain audience feedback I created a series of questionnaires for each of both ancillary texts and film trailer. The questions were simple as the subject just simply ticked the box they thought was most fitting. I also created another questionnaire for the more in-depth questions as I was aware that some people may not have the time to answer in detail. I created bar charts of the more important questions to show the in a clearer format.

Film poster

Drama Action Sci-Fi Horror0

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After looking at my poster which genre do you think it represents?

Series 1

From these results I gathered that most people understood the genre that I was trying to represent however a few individuals did not. This could be due to a number of factors for example as people have their own subjective view so therefore interpret thing in their own way. However I believe that some of the features that I added to the poster may have given the wrong representation. The blue flare above the letter “C” may have lead people to believe that the poster is representing the sci-fi genre as this is a common convention within the genre. Furthermore, the fact that one of the characters is looking over the shoulder of the other could be misrepresented with the horror genre.

Metalic text Shading around the characters

faces

Image Tagline0

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What feature of the poster did you find most ef-fective?

Series 1

From these results I concluded that the metallic text was the most effective feature of the page. I would agree with these results as the text is both aesthetically pleasing and also acts to connote the action genre. The shadowing around the faces was the second most effective. I asked one of the participants why they thought this was the most effective. They told me it gave the characters a sense of mystery and made them intrigued and wanting to watch the film. However the image was the least effective. I believe this was a result due to the lighting of the shot. Adding a colour correction would benefit the image by giving it a more conventional appearance.

Film magazine front cover

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Do the cover lines work well together or do they take away attention from the main cover

line?

Series 1

From the results on the bar chart I believe that my cover lines were effective as 80% of participant believed that they worked well. However, 2 individuals thought that the cover lines were okay which are still positive results but, not the best outcome that could have been achieved. I am greatly pleased with these results as it shows they were effective in my product.

0-15 15-30 30-45 45+0

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Which age group do you think the magazine is aimed at?

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As we can see from the chart above the target age group of my product is clear to the audience as 100% of participants got the age group right. This shows that my planning and research was beneficial as it created a product which was easily relatable to the target audience.

Film trailer

Cut-off Fade Flash Cross- fade0

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Which editing transition did you find most effec-tive?

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As expected the flash transitions were seen as the most effective as they are common place within the action genre as they keep up a fast paced and exhilarating atmosphere. However, I used the flash transition in a more tranquil part of my trailer along with the cross fade. This goes against conventions however, from the evidence above it seems to be effective. The cut-off transition is second this is also expected as it keeps the edit dramatic. This is effective to the audience as it reinforces the action genre.

Yes it did Somewhat Not at all0

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Did the lighting of the trailer match the genre of the film?

Series 1

The chart indicates that 50% of the participants felt the lighting was effective however, 30% did not. This could be due to the fact the lighting was quite dark I intended this to connote a sense of mystery and criminality as it is difficult to gather the full picture. However, some people may have misrepresented this with the horror genre as this is a common feature within that genre. This may have led them to seeing the dark lighting as in effective for my genre. This is down to the audiences subjective view point and therefore I do not have control over it however 70% of people felt it was effective in some way and therefore it is partly successful.

Teacher’s feedback

Benefits of the feedback

The feedback has allowed me to determine whether or not my products were successful as media products. From the information that has been gathered I believe that my products were successful as the audience easily related them to existing products. Most people understood the messages I was trying to portray and chose the answer that I wanted. However the ones who didn’t allowed me

to look back on my work and reassess what needs improving. Overall I believe that I received mostly positive feedback which leads me to believe my products were successful.

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

Throughout all of my coursework I have used technologies in creation, communication and editing and evaluation of my work. All the work that I have done both draft and complete has been posted on the well-known blogging site blogger. I have posted work from initial research to final evaluation. This site has been very beneficial as it has allowed both my teachers and I to keep track of my progress. Furthermore, it allows the public and more specifically other students to view my work.

Research and planning

I used the well-known streaming site YouTube to research other existing products. I found many examples which related to my product. This was beneficial as it gave me a wide range of examples to work from and also to pick conventions that I found most effective. The three main trailers that I found to be most effective were District 13, Blood and Bone and Unleashed. The use of YouTube allowed me to print screen shots that I found particularly effective. I then analysed the shots to create a textual analysis. I did this for all three of the examples above. The benefit creating this in-depth analysis is that it allowed me to gain a greater knowledge of how to create an effective trailer. I used the search engine Google to research other existing products relating to my ancillary texts. I found existing example and picked out the convention that I deemed most fitting and effective for my product. I also used Wikipedia to research into the history of film trailers. In the planning of my product I used Microsoft office extensively as it was readily available, easy to use and also reliable. In particular I found Microsoft word to be most effective as it allowed me to easily transfer text directly to blogger. I used the site Prezi to create online presentations of my work as it made my work more presentable and organised. Finally I used the site slide share to present my evaluation in a more accessible format.

Production

To capture the images needed for both my ancillary texts I used a 10.2 megapixel Samsung camera. The main reason for me using this camera was that it was always available for me to use and also it a allowed for great mobility which is important in the particular genre I was filming. The downside however is the image quality isn’t great as there is only 10.2 mega pixels to work with. However, I believe the camera performed well in this task as it produced images that had sufficient lighting and clarity. Professional movie producers use top-end video equipment to record their footage however this is extremely expensive.

To capture the footage for my film trailer I used the same 10.2 megapixel Samsung camera. I found that the camera did not perform as well when recording moving images as it did with still images. I found that the footage was at times blurry. This resulted in me having to retake some footage. I also found that preventing shaky cam was difficult as the camera was fairly small and light meaning that it was hard to keep stable. To counter act this I could have used a tripod to fix the camera into position resulting in less shakiness. On the other hand, there were some benefits of using this camera. The footage that was recorded was darker and gloomier then what was actually seen. This is

beneficial as it matches the conventions of the genre as the action genre in particular fight genre is known to have quite dark and gloomy lighting. Furthermore the mobility of the camera allows me to keep up with the actor’s movement which in a fight films are fast and therefore hard to track.

Post-production

The graphics editing programme Adobe Photoshop cs6 was used to edit both my ancillary texts. I found this software to be very effective as is had a wide range of tools to choose from allowing me to create and effective product. The range of tools also allowed me to experiment with different techniques and through the process of trial and error I was able to find the ones best effective for my product. I also used Photoshop during the production of my Foundation Portfolio coursework. This was beneficial as it gave me background knowledge on the software and also a few basic skills. However, to produce my ancillary texts I needed to learn more advanced techniques. YouTube was beneficial for this as it allowed me to search for editing technique tutorials. For example how to add textures onto texts, as seen on the title of my film poster and how to add shadow to the sides of the characters face also seen within the film poster.

During the editing process I used a variety of adobe Photoshop’s features:

Importing JPEG images Adding textures to text Resizing image to scale Lasso tool to crop images increasing the opacity of images to blend them into the background

Film Poster

As you can see here I used a wide range of effects on my title. The Pattern overlay allowed me to add the metallic texture to the text. Whereas both the outer glow and drop shadow helped the texts stand out from the rest of the page. I used the Xirod font type to create a house style

I created the shadow effect on the image by first clicking the brush icon and then reducing its hardness to 0%. I then reduced the opacity to 20% and chose a black foreground.

used the font type Xirod to create house style.

Film trailer

The video editing software Sony Vegas Pro 11 was used to edit the film trailer. I have prior experience with this software as I have been using it for around 2 years to edit gaming related videos. This is beneficial as I was fairly experienced with the software and its tools allowing me to get strait into editing rather than having to learn the basics. When I imported the footage I noticed that there were black bars around the video. This was because my camera did not record in 1280x720 which is the standard YouTube resolution. To fix this problem I right clicked on the clip and went to properties I then unchecked maintain aspect ratio which automatically fit the footage to the 1280x720 resolution. I also found that the clips were slightly blurry once imported into Vegas. To increase clarity I returned to the clips properties and unchecked disable resample. The reason I chose this software over others such as after effects cs6 or final cut pro is because I have prior experience with the software and also because I find the layout to be clear and easily accessible.

During the editing process I used a variety of Sony Vegas’s features:

Importing AVI videos Importing mp3 music and sound effects Creating Inter title texts Transitions: fade, flash and cut off Editing the length of the clips Pan and cropping the footage Editing the speed of the clips using velocity Adding effects such as flash and bump map

used the font type Xirod to create house style.

I softened the edge of the image by first clicking the brush icon and then reducing its hardness to 0%. I then reduced the opacity to 20%. I then brushed around the edge of the image

To reduce blurriness and remove the black bars from the clips I did the following. Right clicked the clip, clicked properties and then unchecked disable resample and maintain aspect ratio.

Conclusion

From the evaluation of both my ancillary texts and main product, I believe that my products both use and develop features and conventions from real media products. I gathered these conventions through extensive research and planning through the use of new technologies. The use of

The entire editing process took place within the time line below. Using layers allowed me to add and alter both sound and video separately. Key framing allowed me to animate the effects that I had added to the clips.

I used (Legacy) text to create the inter titles that are present within the trailer

I used the orange marker to mark key point within both the clips and songs. This allowed me to sync both the clips and sound.

The audio track has a volume slider which allows me to either increase or decrease the intensity of the sound (decibels)

The transitions that I have added can be found between the clips. I changed the length of the transitions by either dragging them further backwards to increase length and further forwards to reduce.

I used the Track FX icon to add an effect to entire layer and therefore affecting all the clips within the layer. This was effective when I added the Bump map/spotlight -up effect as I wanted this to affect all the clips.

The Pan and Crop option was used primarily in syncing as it allowed me to move video/text to the beat of the song. I did this through the use of key framing.

professional editing software’s and techniques helped me create effective products which related to existing examples. The use of audience feedback allowed me to determine whether or not my products were successful and also whether improvements were needed. I believe the 3 products I have created work well together to create an effective and realistic combined image. The purpose of my 3 products was to promote an upcoming film, and I believe they have done this to good effect.