How Did You Use Media Technologies In The Construction And Research, Planning And Evaluation Stages?

The use of media technologies have been used throughout our media products mainly within our research, planning and evaluation. We have produced real media conventions from a horror film trailers and other media produces to define ours to be just like a horror trailer. Our media product follow the straightforward conventions within a film trailer such as it introduces the main characters who is going to be in the actual film, and it also distinguishes to the audience clearly the antagonists and protagonists which is also a convention of the Horror Genre. Throughout constructing our media product we shows continutiy from creating a film poster and magazine front cover which reflects upon marketing our product in order to attract our target audience. Trailers are used to advertise the film and to attract the audience with a 'hook' before the film is release so that the audience will want to go and watch the film in cinema.

Firstly when constructing our media project, we needed technology the most, as this involved edits, cuts, sound etc. Our projected included constructing a film poster, magazine front cover, and film trailer. I feel that the technology used for our A2 was better of from the technology used for AS this is because, in AS we used pinnacle studio 12, whereas for A2 we used power director 9. After filming our trailer we had to put it together, this was with the use of power director 9, and we had to cut some of the clips to make them shorter and to enable the overall project flow more efficiently. We also added in transitions and included music instead of a voiceover for the trailer. Constructing our film trailer is the most technology dependant area as a lot of construction was to be made such as editing techniques. However the film poster and magazine cover also included the use of a lot of technology as we had to incorporate similar images along all three projects. The whole of our media project wouldnt have been successful without the use of technology, so was very dependant upon it, in its construction involving camera use, tripod's, and video camera. The camera was useful for our still images for our magazine cover and poster and the video handy camera was useful for our actual film trailer. The tripod enabled us to have more steady shots, insteady of handheld which would have made it more shakey and less useful to our storyline. We used photoshop to help handle the use of images for the ancilliary tasks, this program allowed us to layer photo's over one another if neccessary to give a better impacted outcome.

Our research was produced from the use of internet programs such as Youtube. Furstly I watched video clips such as trailers to research into existing trailers to give ideas for my final piece. Youtuube was a useful tool as it allowed me to gather other peoples idea's from the feedback tool. This allowed us to put other peoples thoughts into consideration. Furthermore, the internet also enabled us to use sites such as google images to help research into different magazine covers and posters to gather a insight to what would be the best for our tasks.

Technology was used a lot in our planning as we had to take different shots to see which would be the best for our ancilliary tasks, this was produced with the use of cameras, we were also able to use handy cameras to film and choose parts of filming for better shots. Other technology programs such as microsoft word, powerpoint and excel also was useful to help produce scripts for the team to follow, graphs and pie charts to show audience feedback in a different form rather than worded. I also used slideshare which was a internet sight which enabled me to upload images, wright about the images, and upload to by blogger, this was a useful technology tool as it gave a different view of findings and information rather than being all simplistic. Email was another source of technology as it allowed us as a group to transfer picures through attachments, as we needed images of one another for identity of job roles.

We finally uploaded all our project including, research, planning, and finally evaluation up to web 2.0 blogspot, this helped us gain user feedback from peers and teachers, which could in theory be our possible audience.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

To firstly make our film trailer appeal to a wider target audience, we decided to produce questionnaires for people to fill in so we could therefore incorportae there answers when producing our film, this would be relative as our trailer would then appeal more so than just using our own ideas.

To gather audiences feedback overall I asked selected people from diufferent age groups and different gender to watch my main product, (my trailer). I firstly got a boy and a girl of the same age group to watch my video to see how there opinions differed. The feedback which I recieved was quite positive as I was told I used various shots/angles/movements, and the sortyline was quite clear, from the use of flashbacks and different lighting techniques, such as high key and low key. The different use of shots such as match on action, high angle, low angle, close up, and medium shots help gather a storyline that matches on a trailer.

The male feedback however was positive but not as much as the females, I personally put this down to the storyline, as it revolves around female emotions, this is because it is a female mental patient living in a institution. There are no male characters in our product so therefore doesnt appeal to males so much. However they do note that they enjoy the use of weapons, blood and gore, it helped build up tension, excitment, and effective as nobody knew who who the patient was going to kill if she was going to kill anybody.

The female feedback was positive completely, as the storyline portrayed many female emotions and hormones, however the way they are expressed are very outrageous. The females also enjoyed the tension built up and stated that this made it a lot more exciting.

From receiving information about peoples views on our media product, this helped me understand my positive points and my negative points, where I could improve next time and what to keep the same. I firstly understand that to produce a much wider audience next time round, include both male and female actors, to make it more appealing to both genders.

How Effective Is The Combination Of Your Main Product And Ancillary Texts?

All three media products; the film poster, film magazine and film trailer, I believe work very well together and portray a traditional horror image, from the use of horror conventions, micro and macro features. I also believe that each product would work well on their own and people would have a strong insight about what genre the film is. The picture portrayed on the film poster and the magazine cover gives the audience a sense of what the film is likely to be based upon, this is because of the creepy white eye contacts along with the pale skin. Ancilliary tasks working alone is very important as together it then makes a stronger package, but together is more important. We firstly started of our project by producing our trailer firstly, which helped us incorporate our film poster and magazine cover successfully, due to having different shots to choose from. The idea of producing our film trailer first allowed us to have a common theme which would run through all three products to show a connection between them. The connection was made through the use of same colours and similar shots, (being able to signify the same character in different shots enabled our products to link up more successfully). From reference to our previous AS coursework we decided to base our colour scheme on our A2 a little brighter to show more clearer images and sense of storyline. It was a lot easier to use the same colour scheme throughout all three products as the genre horror incorporate a more stronger image that relates to one another. As our film is based on a clinical storyline, there is use of soft colours such as soft green and blue, this was useful to us as our setting has these colours included within the walls. Our trailer leaves a question on the audience asking, 'who dies?' and whether they die for a reason, this leaves the audience in suspence to what has happened to the main character and why she wants revenge. This is shown throughout the trailer with the use of flashbacks to her childhood, and her life to the current day. Also the use of anger and frustration the main girl is portraying and her trying to escape from the institution. The image of her running and trying to escape we have carried on to our film poster, as it is a very clear and understandable shot along with the use of headings and rhetorical question. The rhetorical question we have carried as a tagline throughout all three of our products, this is likely to leave the audience asking themselves what will happen next, if revenge is made or is it a mystery? This is something that the audience may want to find an answer to, this involves watching the film to find out the answer. Overall these essentials work well together as it leaves the audience wanting to find out further information, leading them to watching the film which is likely to make the film successful. The use of similar images and tagline throughout all products allows the film to be more noticable for the audience, which helps broadcast it and make it more popular. All elements put together make the project work well together and help show the same themes throughout, leaving the audience wondering what the outcome will be, which I believe is extremely important as this creates bringing more people to watch the film to find out the answer.

Evaluation - In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products?

I first started analysing different media products, focusing on different types of genres, such as musicals, horror, action etc, this was to help give me a brief outline about what genre I wanted to focus on. Due to having a more experience in the horror genre from my AS coursework I decided this would be a better choice. I noticed the sustained use of conventions such as, scary images, blood, weapons, and dull gloomy settings. From this research I incorporated these conventions within my horror trailer, as it helps indicate the genre. I used these conventions in slightly different forms when integrating them within my own media product, as a group we firstly decided to portray a scarier image by using white eye contacts, with pale skin and dark hair, this image specifies a terryfying person out to hurt others as it is not the everyday look a person would wear. Due to our storyline, we couldnt place our setting within a dark gloomy location such as the woods, so therefore we used a school as our location, this was for the reason that our storyline is based on a the upbringing of a young girl and how it has had a major effect on her life, and driven her into a mental institution.

In our film trailer, we decided to use certain shots to reveal what the film is going to be about, however not too much, this is because from audience feedback we found they like the stryline to be 50% proven. The shots we decided to embrace was a shot of a young girl in a park, being left out by other young peers around her, this shot however is in black and white to show previous years, as it is a trailer containing flashbacks.

Our media product uses micro features and conventions of a horror genre upright in many scenes of the film. Firstly our trailer resembles flashbacks of a young girls childhood, and her life today. In our media product, to create a more daunting image and for people to signify what genre our film is, we used close up shots of the main girl, this is because she has creepy eyes, from wearing white eye contacts to portray a more negative and frightening image. We also use shots with the mental patient standing in front of the mirror looking at her appearence, this makes the audience question whether the patient is clear on what her life has tranformed into. Using high angle shots of the young girl in the park isolated from other children, makes the scene unsettling as children are usually put first, however in this case a poor childhood is portrayed. Also when recieving research back from our questionnaires it was outlined that the majority of people prefer fast pace editing when watching film trailers to help build up excitment and tension. This therefore gave us ideas to how to put together our trailer, and because of this it helped us develop skills such as including fast pace editing to help widen our audience.

The mise en scene we combined within our media product, helped us create a residential horror to encourage tension building up for our target audience throughout the trailer. The use of setting and location alongside the behaviour from the main acress (antagonist) helps establish that the situationo takes place in a medical looking environment such as an institution, this location does have connotations of a horror genre, however not so much as a forest. The costume and use of make - up connotes that the girl is in either a hospital or a institution, this is shown by the use of a hospital night gown, bare feet, and very pale skin, the complete image indicates that the genre could well be horror, as a hospital and the behaviour put forward by the actor is very negative.

Barthes enigma code suggests that a text, whether that being television, a film, or a poster, which portrays a mystery to grab the audiences attention, and pose questions onto the audience, for example who murder her? - using this theory as reference to my media product it is clear that our trailer asks the question who is she out to kill?

Our Final Film Poster

Our Final Magazine

Planning: Call Sheets

I produced these call sheets to help me be more organised when filming our trailer. These explain what was needed to be done on each day. On the first day we filmed the scene of the round about at the park which relates back to a lonely childhood and then we film the two nurses having a conversation about the mental patient. We decided to use a shot reverse shot to make this look more effective. We believed that by getting this shot out the way then Charlotte could then help with the rest of the filming. Then on the second day of filming we filmed the main girl Jade, this is where we used several different shots all in the same location but used different scenes from in the school and any different shots and movement. We tryed to include conventions that you may see in other horror films to make it look appealing such as the shot of the close up shot knife in her hand and we filmed a Jade banging her head against a wall looking as though she is crazy in head and by her wearing white eye contacts made her look scary and evil. By planning these calls sheets this would help us know where and when we needed to film.