Evaluation!

EVALUATION QUESTION 1

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

forms and conventions of real media products?

Kerry McGranaghanAndHayley Banks

The research we did was necessary to understand the conventions of a successful horror trailer, we had to study existing trailers which promoted the trailer in the right way. The two horror trailers we focused on was Pan’s Labyrinth and Insidious, however, for comparison we also researched an antithesis; Dinner for Schmucks which is a comedy. We chose to do an opposite trailer to make the horror conventions more obvious, and to evaluate how an audience would recognize them.

While studying both teaser and full length trailers we discovered that the instant difference between the horror and comedy trailers is the mis-en-scene. Even just from the posters we can see that Insidious’ themes will only be dark and dramatic, where as in slight contrast Pan’s Labyrinth portrays a slight crease of light, symbolising there is a battle between the horror themes and a happy ending. Yet in complete comparison Dinner for Schmucks is light and the close up emotions portrayed by the faces possibly symbolising the theatrical happy and sad masks shows that the film is a hybrid of humour and drama.

Traditional horror conventions we noticed were:•Dark desolate scenery•Children are often associated as a link between the paranormal•Film title was at the end•No credits shown to make the film seem more realistic•Ugly imagery and props•Speed of clips matched the audio•Silence can be key•The story line follows the same path indicated by our research on Todrov;s narrative of equilibrium to disequilibrium then left at the climax.

Used: The conventions we choose to conform to was those of the dark mis-en-scene, the fast paced edits and flashing images really enhanced our trailer.Developed: The convention that we developed was the use of a family relationship being the setting, but filmed as a documentary by the older sister.Challenged: We challenged the convention that dialogue was needed in the trailer, instead we rely on the clips and music to inform the audience. We also challenge the use of actors and producers names in the trailer, in using new actors and not promoting them in the credits it will make the trailer seem more authentic.

TRAILERS

MAGAZINE COVERSimilarities: The similarities between these to magazines is the importance of layout, they both include what other articles are inside, clear information and typography and the iconic photo from the film.

Differences: The contrast of colours,; ENTERTAINMENT is obviously a lighter and humours magazine represented by its block fonts and “sunny day” colouring. Where as FANGORIA uses gothic typography and dark outlines to represent that it is a specific genre of magazine. The main difference we believe has a huge impact on the magazine is the importance of the films name, The Hangover is considerably smaller than Insidious whichcreate a completely different effect.

Our magazine cover is presented through EMPIRE, we chose EMPIRE because it is the most successful film magazine around and therefore our film will gather a lot of attention. We chose to edit the title by mirroring as a reflection to symbolise the link with the film and the demonic possession through mirrors, we also gave EMPIRE a stain glass shiny effect to enhance the link of mirrors.We made sure that the use of layers was effective and complimented the cover, eg. We did not cover the main title only the reflection but the title of the film takes priority over the photography,We kept the colour scheme as only 4 colours, red, white, yellow and black. This is because it makes specific elements of the cover standout such as the red is what the audience in drawn to first and then they notice the less important information . This colour scheme is also connected with horror trailers.We were also sure to include the legal requirements that must be visible on a magazine such as the date and price.

Used: After looking at dozens of magazine covers we decided to use the traditional positioning of Title at the top, combined with large image, and lesser information at the bottom. We chose to conform to this because it is the easiest format for a viewer to comprehend because it is linear.Developed: We developed on the separation of the typography such as FANGORIA demonstrates that there is other films being advertised in the 35mm wheel.Challenge:d We challenged however the use of photography, instead of just one image we explored the use of combining two, we found this effective for the audience to understand the link between the girl and the mirror.

FILM POSTERThe use of a film poster is to advertise to a percentage of the audience that perhaps may not be able to access the media advertisements, so posters can be arranges in public places for the world to see. The Insidious poster is very interesting, especially with the use of location and typography. The darkened shirt makes it easy for the text to be read and the positions of the upside-down title suggests evil and destruction are going to be elements of the film. There is also reference to pathetic fallacy which enhances the tension of the poster.

Used: We decided that like most posters we were going to conform by having the protagonist as the centre of the image. We also took from the Insidious poster to include ourselves as producers so that the audience can have something else to judge what genre of film it is.Developed: We developed the use of also using a child as the protagonist but facing away from the camera, we think this creates anonymity and suspense.Challenged: However we challenged the use of only one carefully set up picture, but instead used a multitude of images to give an insight of what is to some in the film.

Our poster is relevant to our film because it is another level of effective advertisement that also contains information the audience needs such as the date it is released and the BBFC rating.The title is bold and demonstrates the difference between light and dark but also the reflection in the mirror which is why the white half of Anna is backwards. Static as the background is considered to be the sign of the paranormal and this thought is enhanced by the heart monitor line. We also included a slogan but we made sure that the text was smaller and less demanding then “ANNA” as to not take the point of focus away, we included a slogan to tick in the audiences mind.

EVALUATION QUESTION 2How effective is the combination of your main products and ancillary texts?

Why it is important for all advertisements to share a link.

We made sure that in each media product we created we had to keep the title of the film very similar, the name will be remembered for the backwards reflective lettering and the colour scheme of black, white and red. We also tried to incorporate the heart beat line in both titles , however we changed the background on the poster because it created a better effect then the animation we used in the trailer, however the similarities are still obvious.

The media industry is very competitive, so the importance of “branding” a production such as the films name or slogan means they can legally copyright it: ©. By copywriting your work it makes it illegal for another party to copy any part of your work, eg: These companies

are branded by there logos, which attracts a wide audience because it represents their

standard.

How they can be created.Our main task is represented by our ancillary texts( poster and magazine cover) effectively by the connections between each of them. Although each piece is suitable for the format it is in attempted to keep the focus of similarities especially in the title: ANNA. What we found was effective was that an audience was able to recognize that the trailer and the poster was linked just by the use of typography, colour schemes and grainy backgrounds. This is important when advertising to keep consistency so that the audience does not get confused.

Evaluation question 3What have you learnt from your

audiences feedback?

We have shown our film trailer to several different audiences that belong to both genders and a wide range of age groups. The majority of the feedback that we received was positive.

“the film trailer was very well put together and I could definitely see that this was a trailer for a horror film”. This quotation from an audience member shows us that we have included traditional horror conventions when creating our trailer so that the audience can clearly see that this film will be a horror film.

“I liked the fact that this film looked really realistic”. We found that our trailer was successful as we were aiming to make the trailer look realistic so that it will have a bigger affect on the audience.

Although the majority of our feedback was positive, there was some criticism to consider.

“the trailer could have included more characters”. We found this criticism to be useful to us as we have learnt that showing only two characters in our trailer may not be enough to make it look interesting, and also that in the future we may need to include more characters in the trailer.

“the trailer was good but it was a bit too long to keep my attention”. We again found this criticism to be very useful as we have now realised that many people do not want to watch a long trailer, so in the future we need to keep the trailer short so that the audience can keep their attention on the trailer.

We surveyed 10 people after watching our film trailer and these were some of the results-(the people were kept anonymous to keep confidentially)

Out of 10, what rating would you give our film trailer?

10987

Was it clear from the trailer that this was a trailer for a horror film?

YesNo

Would you want to see the film from watching the trailer

YesNo

Do you think that this trailer is too long?

YesNo

Age-

1-5

Ages

-11-

14

Ages

-18-

20

Ages

-40-

500

40

80

MaleFemale

EVALUATION QUESTION 4

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

Final Cut Pro

Final Cut Pro was our main use of editing software, we found it so much easier this year to work with it because we had all of last years experiences, we found practically no problems in using it which meant we finished editing a lot faster.

TEXT EDIT

Text Edit was the software we used to create our titles, we experimented a lot in Text Edit because there was such a vast amount of possibilities, however we found it easy to use and in the end decided that a simple form of text with a few layers of movement and texture would be most effective.