Evaluation- How did i use Media Technologies In the construction of my media product

I presented the progression and ideas I had for my media products using blogger, i felt it was a good way to show this. Sound cloud and You tube are the websites that i used to upload my music and video clips to then share it onto my blogger account.

In order to film my teaser trailer I used a digital video camera (Panasonic HDC TM900), this provided me with all the options that i needed to execute shots that I intended to use. It was easy to transport around with me when going to different locations to film in. Also it allowed me to film from strange positions for example under the bed. It came with a tri-pod that enabled me to take still shots without wobbling the camera around. The editing software that I used enabled me to cut out scenes that I felt were not as strong as others. It also allowed me to silence the shots in order to play music or voice overs over the top. Also from the editing I was able to zoom or crop shots that did not work. For example in the scene where there was red writing on the mirror was originally too far away for the audience to see what it said, there fore by zooming in made it clear and easy for the audience to see.

The multi-track feature enabled me to cut and arrange the music and sound effects i wanted in my trailer. I was able to mix music and use it where I felt necessary in the teaser trailer. It allowed me to layer shots over the music in the order that it was mean't to be in. A lot of my music came from spotify and youtube. These websites have wide ranges of different music genre and really allowed me to explore my options. 

I used Adobe Photoshop to edit my magazine cover and film poster. It allowed me to cut around the background of the dominant central image and place it onto a back ground of my choosing. I also edited my tag lines and billing to make them to the correct size in conjunction to the rest of my poster. 

Evaluation- What I Learned from my Audience Feedback

Doing a questionnaire is a quick and easy way for the producers of film products to get feedback from their audience. I have also done this to see what I can improve on for my media products.

For my magazine cover the questions that I asked were:
1) Is the cover easily recognisable as being from the horror genre and How?
2) What conventions of the cover contribute to the horror genre and is it realistic compared to existing magazine covers (e.g. Fangoria) Why?
3) What would make you by the magazine and Why?
4) Does the magazine support the teaser trailer and attract your attention? Why and How?
5) What should be changed to benefit the magazine cover? Why?

The feedback I received, was that the magazine cover was strong at reflecting the horror genre and is easily recognisable as being part of the horror genre, at the same time it would only appeal to a certain audience as the image on the front is considered to be relatively scary. The magazine looked realistic and authentic for viewers, at the same time they would have liked to of seen some more cover lines and bolder fonts.

The questionnaire for my Poster:
1) Does the cover represent a spooky and eery feel? Why and How does it make you feel?
2) From the poster would you want to see the film? Why?
3) Does the poster relate to the other media products I have created? How?
4)Does the poster look realistic compared to real film posters?  Why?
5) Is the tagline easy to understand? Why?

The results that i received from this questionnaire is that people liked the poster as it was not too scary and not too much of the film was given away, the tagline could have been improved as some viewers found it confusing to understand, and it needed to be shorter. Since the cover was not too scary it succeeded in creating a spooky, ghostly atmosphere, this was a good result as I wanted the poster to suggest this about the film.

The questionnaire for my teaser trailer:
1)Would the trailer make you want to see the film? Why
2) Is too much of the film given away? How?
3) Can you build a rough storyline from the trailer and understand what is going on? How?
4)Can you tell it is from the supernatural horror genre? Why?

The audience really like the choice of music as it made them feel 'spooked out' and 'frightened', the camera shots contributed to the feelings and emotions of the characters, but at the same time some of the feedback suggested that some of the scenes needed to be slightly more scary.

The feedback from the audience is so important when marketing films, it shows that the producers listen to the audience and try and take their opinions into consideration. For me it helped me to understand what i can do to improve my media products and benefit me in the marketing of my film.

Evaluation- How effective the Outcome of My main product is

The products that I created are as follows: The magazine front cover, film poster and film teaser trailer.

For my magazine cover i looked at all the different genre of magazines that exists already and I followed and designed my own ideas to try and replicate a real life magazine cover. 

For my film poster I researched all the different horror film posters from popular horror films, for example Annabelle, Sinister, The Conjuring and Ouija, I tried to create the same feeling for my poster as these film posters made me feel when i first saw them. 

For my film teaser trailer, I spent many hours filming and editing until it looked right, I explored a range of different shots like close-ups, medium close-ups, Long shots, Establishing shots, tracking shots, low angle shots and high angle shots. By using these shots creates a different feel for the audience for example a close-up allows you to whiteness the characters emotions and you feel what they feel, this compared to a long shot where you see the characters body movement. These shots are chosen depending on the sort of atmosphere you are trying to get across to the audience. I tried to experiment with many different shots to see which worked to my benefit and which didn't. Putting the camera into manual focus meant that i could control what of the scene was in focus and what wasn't, this benefited me as i could draw the attention of the audience onto the character that was important in that scene. 

I also did many low angle shots of the father to try and exaggerate his dominance over the rest of the family further into the trailer, close-ups of the meant the audience can see his angry and suspicious ora. 

In my poster I used real conventions of film posters, this includes the main title, dominant central image, names of actor and the billing. Conventions like reviews can be used but they are not crucial when it comes to creating a poster. The release date on my poster is the Fall, this is a popular time for horror films to be released in the cinema from the research i did i found this information. In the billing I used real crew members from other popular horror films, this adds to the realistic feel of the poster. The tagline for my poster is that same that i used on my trailer, it is suspenseful and engaging yet it does not give too much of the film away to the audience. By having the same tagline in the teaser trailer as the poster means that the audience associate the media products together, therefore making the film recognisable and hence more popular. 

Evaluation- How my Media Product uses, challenges or develops forms and conventions of real media products

As part of a marketing campaign I had to create a magazine front cover to advertise my film as the main product. In terms of the conventions of magazine cover I did extensive research into all different magazine covers and i compared them to other genre of magazines. For example mainstream magazine covers in comparison to independent magazine covers. The cover is dependent on the type of audience the magazine is targeting.

A mainstream film magazine cover:

An independent film magazine cover:

As a result of doing all the research that I did on the magazine conventions and how they effected the target audience, i discovered that the magazine that i would do would be an independent film fan magazine specialising in the horror genre. 

By using real forms and conventions of existing media products gave my magazine, poster and trailer a realistic feel to them. It also allowed me to clearly show the audience that i was targeting exactly what the messages of my media products were.

On my magazine cover I included a dominant central image of a character in my trailer. Like fangoria magazine the character on the front is scary and eye catching. The masthead is in a large font. It also includes tag lines of other films the magazine promotes. Barcodes and the issue number are key conventions in making the cover seem as realistic as possible as they exist on all real covers. Other conventions like banners and main cover lines contribute to the realistic element of my products.

The first image is the central image for my magazine and the second image i have uploaded is an example of a fangoria magazine cover. 

Through out my blog you can see the amount of extensive research i have done into creating the most successful and realistic media product that i could. The research benefited me in many ways and widened my knowledge of the film and media industry and their marketing techniques.

Evaluation- Introduction

As a result of creating different media products, I have learnt and explored different ways of marketing and creating forms of media. By doing research into making a my products as realistic as possible has allowed me to see how real life media products are produced and distributed for example by looking and many different film posters and magazine covers, resulted in me gaining knowledge into the way companies have created this form of media. I have learnt what the conventions of a successful film poster and magazine cover has consisted of. In my evaluation I will be explaining further into why i have chosen to make the decisions i made and how they have changed the outcome of my media products.

Finished Teaser Trailer

Finished Film Poster