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Sunday 27 March 2011

Evaluation Question 1

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

The title of the film which i have created is FLASHBACK i felt this name was suitable as the man charecter has flashbacks from previous experiences and his troubled past comes back to haunt him, this therefore would be a name that would be a good depiction of the film i was looking to create.

For my location one of my classmates offered to let me film in their house which is a large 17th century mansion which was a very suitbale location which would look similar to the abandoned hotel which i had looking to use however i could not find one therefore this was the only option for me.


Costumes and props were a small task which i had to overcome, firstly i had thought about buying clothes for the film however i found peices of clothing that would be suitbale for the shoot and therefore used them and changed them slightly so that it looked more realistic. In terms of props i hardly used any, however i placed things like pictures into it so that it looked a little bit more realistic and so that it did not look like we had just created a scene.


Camerawork and editing were the main peices that i had to work on. In terms of camera work i filmed it whilst two class mates would feature in the main roles, this was an organised process which aloud us to get the filming done quickly and move onto the more demanding editing. In terms of editing i used Coral video studio which is an editing software, initially i had to learn how to edit however following this i found the editing process alot easier however i had to edit a large number of shots which was a timely process.


Title font and style were created on Adobe Photoshop were i played around with different edits on different fonts until i found a combination that i felt worked well and i used this for my magazine cover and poster however i was unable to transfer it across to the editing software for the film therefore i had to create another one on coral. In terms of the main fonts for all the texts i used the same throughout being Lucida Fax but on the poster for the credits i used a different font which followed the conventions of a typical poster.


Genre and how the opening suggests it was hard to create however i done it by firstly using a caption "One Man" this sets the tone for the rest of the trailer as it is a very different caption that wouldnt really be used for a comedy film.

How characters are introduced varys i do not really have an introduction for each i tend just to introduce them into the shots whilst they are acting as part of the real film, however for stephen the introduction would be him discovering the area around him and acting as though he had been there before.

In terms of using, developing and challenging the conventions of a magazine cover or poster i would say rather than challenging them i stuck to using them as in my poster i used the same layout and fonts as a typical poster would have and magazine cover i used many similar conventions but altered some so that they were unique to my magazine giving me a USP(unique selling point) I stuck with the mastheads being the same and dates prices barcodes being in the same position but instead of having very little gaps i had one large dark space so that it looks as though the main charecter stephen is looking into the darkness, or the unknown giving a sense of anticipation.


Above are my nine images which i feel depict my film in the best light starting with the title telling you what the film is, followed by the location of the film being a freinds large house, i then have an image of the killer in the dark so that his face cannot be seen, i then have the image which i used for the front of my magazine and for the poster, i also have a little teaser for when it will start, i then return to the killer, followed by the main charecter assessing the surroundings, i then have the punchline "revists a past life" followed by one last image that is shown at the start of the trailer to show that it is genuine.

Saturday 26 March 2011

Evaluation Question 2

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

The combination of my main product being the teaser trailer and the ancillary texts being a magazine cover and a movie poster gel together very well, i feel that i have used a good combination in all three to show similarities so that when the audience look at all three products they can tell what film it is linked to and they can easily understand what the film is about its genre etc.

I feel that my teaser trailer is the key to the success of the other two peices if the trailer is a success then the magazine cover and poster will look after themselves therefore i spent large amounts of time working on them so that they were of such a good standard that they get very good viewing audiences. This therefore meant making it valuable to all audiences which meant i would have to incorporate the preferences of different potential customers and this meant carrying out research and apapting the trailer accordingly.

























Above are my ancillary texts which are the final peices however they are not in the best quality due to issues of transfering JPEGs in school. However i feel that they are a good reflection of what the film is about and they are produced in a way that can eb very eye catching and therefore attract the customers to want to learn more about the film itself and therefore go through the promotional channles of next watching the trailer and then film. I feel together with the film both peices are of good quality and give a good representation of the film and allow for the customers to learn more when they watch the film rather than just supplying them with the plot in the trailer.

I feel there could be slight changes to the peices for example changing the picture on them so that people can see other aspects of the film however being a small production i need just one image so that people can see this image and instively know that the image has come from the film flashback as the remember it from the film poster or a horror magazine that they had read. However with a film such as saw people will instinctively know the face of the clown as they had seen it many times before in the films so they would be able to use different images to attract the custom.

I tried to portray stephen in the magazine cover and poster shot as though he had heard an abnormal noise behind him and took the shot of him as he looked round to assess the situation. I feel this links well with the trailer as in the trailer we see the murderer running around behind him trying to creep up on stephen getting closer and closer as the film moves on. Therefore the main image for these pages reflects that at one of these points he hears the murderer but wont be able to see him as he would have run into one of the rooms behind him.

Friday 25 March 2011

Evaluation Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?


For me audience feedback has been a great help in understanding what i have done well and where i havent succeeded as much this therefore allows me to adapt my work so that i can acheive the best results possible and this was hard to acheive without hearing the opinions of my potential final customers therefore they have aided in the creation of the three peices.


Not only did they assess my trailer but they also gave me help in creating the magazine cover and poster and told me what they felt looked good, appealing and what they felt could be adapted to make it that much more successful for the future.


Below are the results of my questionairre:


What do you think about the magazine cover?
What do you feel about it compared to a market leader such as Empire?


The responeses included :
"i feel that it is a different magazine cover that varies largely from those already in the market and targets a niche in the market"
"It is very well designed and has good qualities and is very easy to look at i would definatley buy it"
"i feel compared to a market leader it is not quite there yet, but that is obvious as it has only just been created over time with more knowledge and materials available i feel it has good potential"


  • What do you think of the film poster in terms of a horror film?
  • If walking past this poster would it catch your eye enough to stop and take interest?
I asked these questions to the group as a whole and asked them to discuss it together while i sit out and write notes about what is being discussed. Initially they began talking about the film poster compared to other horrors.
" Compared to horrors such as Saw i would say that it is not in the same league, however we cannot compare it to that due to the large scale and funds they have available therefore i feel for a small budget piece it is very good and an eye catching piece."
"For me i do not feel it has enough horror about it to scare an audience and catch the eye, however to do this i feel all that needs doing is going against the conventions and have the man with the murderer in the background rather than him alone."
"I feel for a small budget it has been well worked and gives the impression the character is looking into the dark with little knowledge of his surroundings and is a good piece"

  • If you were to see this teaser trailer, would you be enticed to go and see the film itself?
The group had this discussion for roughly 5 minutes and some of the results which were found included:
  • "Its a very insightful and typical horror film, but for me to see it, i feel it needs more gore and blood as the trailer did not fulfil this."
  • "Really enjoyed the trailer thought the song was perfect for the trailer and the captions suited the film"
  • "From first look i probably wouldn’t see it however from reading the storyline i would definitely enjoy this type of film as it is one of the characteristics i enjoy"
As shown above i asked a number of questions and got a wide range of answers which was good as it allowed me to understand what i could change and so that i could make my peices as good as possible. I also found it useful as many of the people i asked would be those who would see the film not those who would just look at the piece and have little understanding of the genre. I asked a wide range of people therefore my results gave a wide range of answers which was better than a small number as it gave me more scope to change and therefore better my work rather than just 5 peoples opinions as this may be biased whereas with 25 people there is less chance of pupil bias.

Thursday 24 March 2011

Evaluation Question 4

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


For my production of the film trailer i used vast amounts of media technologies, firstly i used a camcorder to record the trailer itself as shown in the hardware used section it describes the camcorder used. Secondly i used Coral Video Studio which is the film editing software which we used to bring the trailer itself together this was a very useful technology for me.


For the other to peices i used a digital camera which is also described in the hardware used post and i used adobe photoshop for both magazine cover and poster which was very helpful in the creation of both peices.


I have collated a number of images of all the peices of software that i have used in the process of creating my media peices. I have included in this the two peices i used to create the tasks photoshop and coral video studio, but i also included all the peices of software that helped me through this process such as youtube google soundcloud and adobe indesign.



Continually throughout my production i have used different media technologies to support my work so that i could make it the best standard possible. The use of computers and the software is easy to use and allows work to be much easier and more professional.


For my reaserch i would be constantly on youtube looking at trailers and also on google going through film posters and magazine covers picking out the conventions looking at what works well and what i felt i could integrate into my peice. The use of google and youtube were very helpful for me as it was easy to find what i wanted to look at and therefore i could find it instantly and then write down my notes on what would be going in to my peices.


For the construction programmes such as photoshop, coral and indesign were integral to the creation of my film and the ancillary texts. Coral was the programme i used to make my film trailer, however it is not the easiest peice of software to get used to as we had only a limited amount of practise with the software however i looked at videos of the programme and worked out the best ways of editing and how to create titles. This was key for me getting to grips with the programme and making a successful teaser trailer. I then used photoshop to put my magazine cover and poster together. Following all my reaserch i had drawn sketches of what i wanted the two peices to look like and made sure i knew exactly what i needed to do with the software. As i had used photoshop previous i had a good idea of what i was doing so that had little relevance. I worked with indesign for text peices so that they are all the correct sizes and have the same font etc. As with photoshop it is not the best for text peices better for making the images look lifelike therefore with the use of indesign i felt more confidence about the texts and it made me feel more happy about the peices i had created.


For my planning i used technologies such as cameras and computers with the internet so that i could take pictures of peices which i felt would go well with my theme and look at similar peices online so i knew what mine would look like and wether the genre i had chosen was easy to depict. As a result i found it very useful and my planning was a success as i had a good idea of what i wanted to do and knew that the horror genre would be the way for me to go as i could depict it very easily.

Wednesday 23 March 2011

Evaluation Questions

We have been set 4 evaluation questions which can be carried out in any format from video to written through the blog. I am going to look at using different types of media to publish my evaluation points. The questions we have been set are:


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

For this question i am going to be looking at how my magazine compares to current magazines and how i have copied some conventions but changed some so that my magazine has a unique selling point.


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


For this question i am going to look at my trailer, magazine cover and poster compared to thos currently on the market to see where i differ from the huge success' and where i could adjust to compete with the large corporations.


3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
For this i am going to evaluate my user feedback and contruct a plan that could be put in place so that the audience feedback can be used to improve the quality of future peices and how it helps me to understand my peices more effectively.


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


For this question i am going to look at all the new media technologies i have used along the process and evaluate how they have helped in all three stages and how they have improved the process and how effective they have been.


For all these peices i will create a seperate post for each and look to use different types of media to compare and evaluate all sides of my media production.

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