Evaluation task 4 - How did I use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?

In this post I will be uploading particular photos that I took during the planning stages of my product, as well as using photos or screenshots of media technologies that I used throughout the research, filming and evaluation stages. 

Media devices

HD Camera and Tripod

Panasonic HD camera

Tripod

As you can see in the two images above, I used a Panasonic HD camera to film my product, as well as a tripod in order to assist in giving a steady shot when required. We used the camera as a part of the filming process, as well as the evaluation process as we had to re-film one particular shot in the trailer which the audience didn't like in the first draft. The tripod was used in order to help give us a steady shot, it was helpful because it was quite small - making it easier to have a steady shot when filming in compact areas (such as the detectives office for example). As a result of our research and planning stages, I learnt that we had to use a range of different shots in order to keep the trailer interesting for the audience, and we made sure we did this with the camera - for example sometimes we used a handheld camera shot and other times we used the tripod for a mid shot or long shot.


Voice recorder

Voice recorder

We used the voice recorder to film several news reports which were read by one of the members of our group. Once we done this, we used all of the recordings and overlapped while the images of newspaper articles of the killer were being presented on the screen in the trailer - this is how we used the voice recorder as a part of the production stage of the trailer. As a result of the research I completed by looking at real-life trailers - I established it was crucially important to have a voiceover in the trailer as it was a very common convention of the thriller genre. It is also very important in explaining the narrative to the audience and this is why we decided we had to use one in our product.


iPhone

In the image on the right of the second notice board we designed, you will notice the pictures of the 'crime scenes' around the map. These were taken with my iPhone as a part of the pre-production planning. We went round as a group and took photos of particular areas around St. Neots that we thought we could use as crime scenes in the trailer, as the focus on these victims is crucial at the beginning of the trailer. I also used my iPhone to access Blogger to read comments from teachers on how to improve aspects of my product, and I also used my phone to access Facebook messaging which was very important in discussing research, scheduling meetings, planning our film pitch and keeping each other up to date on the progress of the product. Below is a screenshot of the group chat on Facebook with an example of keeping each other up to date with the progress of the product.

Social media websites

YouTube

YouTube logo

YouTube is a form of social media that I used most frequently. I would access YouTube using either my iPhone, the school computers or the MacBooks. I used YouTube in the research, planning and evaluation stages of my product. I used it for research in order to view popular real life thriller trailers so I could make note on the different conventions and stereotypes often found in these trailers to help me when I came to make my thriller trailer. I used it in the planning process also, as when I made notes on the conventions etc from the trailers I watched on YouTube. I then planned how I would use these conventions in my product, using evidence from research I had gathered from YouTube to support my ideas. I also used YouTube in the evaluation process of my product, as after we had finished making adjustments to the first draft of the trailer, we then uploaded the final finished copy onto YouTube in order to allow a global audience to view it. This would allow us to gain feedback from peers (as they are in the target audience for this film) as we would ask them to view it and respond to us with feedback. 

Blogger

Another social media website I used for the different stages of my product production was Blogger. I accessed Blogger using either my iPhone or the school computers in order to help me with my product. Below are screenshots of posts I produced to assist me in the research, planning and evaluation stages of my product:

Researching conventions of thriller trailers

Pre-production planning 

Evaluating the product

These screenshots present how I used Blogger to share my research into thriller trailers, how I planned on creating my own product, and how I was able to evaluate my product using peers and make alterations. Using Blogger allowed me to share my ideas, as well as present feedback as evidence of how I changed my trailer after the first draft. As a result of my media coursework last year, I learnt that using Blogger throughout the different stages of my production would be very beneficial. This is why I made sure to use Blogger throughout in order to achieve a better end product.

Programmes

Final Cut Pro

Another media technology I used frequently was the Final Cut Pro on the Apple Mac computer. I used this all throughout the creating of the product through the use of Final Cut Pro. The Apple Mac computer allowed me to access this programme whereas the other media suite computers didn't. Through the use the Apple Mac I was able to download the footage off the camera we used, as well as download images we took and voice recordings. Then, I would use Final Cut Pro to import all of that media into the project that I created. Final Cut Pro allowed me to move all the shots in order, cut them so they are as short as possible to improve the flow of the trailer, add transitions, include sound effects and music and add titles as well as my film title and production company logo. This all was crucial in the making of a good quality trailer for my psychological thriller film. Below is the Apple Mac computer (left) and the Final Cut Pro logo (right).

 






















Photoshop

This is another important programme that I used to help me create my ancillary tasks. I used it on the computers in our computer suite in order to design my film poster and film magazine cover. I would import images using a memory stick, or by saving images to my computer files after sending them to my Gmail. These images would then be opened up in Photoshop an put together to form my ancillary tasks. Photoshop allowed me to crop images precisely using the different lasso tools, it allowed me to insert text and special effects to that text (i.e. inner or outer glow), I could edit imported images (i.e. overlap them, change the saturation of the images, fade images etc). Photoshop was very useful in allowing me to produce good quality. Once I had completed these ancillary tasks, I was able to save them as a JPEG file so that I could save and share my products on my blog. 

Evaluation task 3 - What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

In this post I will be presenting the audience feedback that we got, both for the first draft and the second draft of our product. The audience feedback that we gained for our first draft was taken after we viewed the trailer to a number of classmates, before they then gave us feedback and suggested areas for improvement. We also presented the trailer to a professional who produces trailers - and he also gave us suggestions for improvement. I will present this feedback, as well as the changes we made to the trailer in correspondence to the feedback. Then lastly, I will present a pie chart which shows the audience feedback from the final draft. This audience feedback is a simple rating out of 5 among 10 people that fit into the target audience of our product.

As presented on my blog earlier in the year, this is the audience feedback that we gained both from our classmates and the trailers professional:

Positives:

• The overlapping voiceovers of news reports while the newspaper articles were being presented on screen
• Good music and sound choices
• The end of the trailer was very good and fitted the genre well - leaving questions on what happens to the main character in the narrative

Negatives:

• Some shots were too long and therefore need to be cut down
• Some of the titles were too far apart - meaning that the audience forgot information being presented to them
• The first shot of the radio was poor as you could tell it was a school setting

After receiving this feedback from our first draft, we made the following changes:

Firstly, we cut some of the shots down on Final Cut Pro in order to improve the flow and speed of the trailer as it is a typical convention of thriller genre trailers that the shots and cuts are faced paced. We also then needed to bring the titles closer together - for example; 'YOU - CAN'T - RUN - FOREVER'. Between each of these words there were shots of the trailer and these went on for a little too long, meaning the audience forgot what the titles said by the time the next one came along. We cut some of these shots down using the blade tool or removed some for the shots in order to reduce the amount of time between the titles. We also needed to re-film the radio shot using the Panasonic HD camera in order to make it look more like it is in a home setting - as it is meant to be the main character who is listening to the radio, and we hadn't properly considered mise-en-scene when filming it the first time around. Although it wasn't mentioned by the class, it was also apparent to me that some of the titles need fades as they appear and disappear off the screen too quickly and in an unappealing way.

Below is evidence of these changes:  

Above is the shot of the radio - which had to be changed as you can tell it was not in a home setting

However, this shot is the one we used after w had re-filmed it which you can tell is clearly in a home setting

This screenshot presents how I used the blade tool on Final Cut Pro to make some of the shots before title screens shorter - in order to improve the flow and speed of the trailer.

These two images present how I used a fade effect, to make the text disappear off the screen in a more appealing way.

 Now, I will present the audience feedback we gained after the final draft was presented to 10 people I know that fit into our target audience. We wanted to gain this information to see if our product had improved since the first daft, by getting the opinion of 10 people that fit the target audience. Below is a pie chart presenting this information:

I asked 10 people that I know who fit the target audience for our product (18-25 year old males) to rate the quality of the trailer for it's final draft, compared to real-life products on a rating of 1-5 (1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest). As you can see from the pie chart, 5 of the people that we asked gave us a 4/5 rating, making it the most popular rating. 3 people said 5/5 and 2 people said 3/5 - nobody gave us a 1 or 2 out of 5. This is a positive reaction from the audience and we are happy with the result. This presents the positive alterations we made to our trailer as people were a lot more satisfied with the second result. Half of the people we asked gave it a 4/5 rating, and a further 3 more people gave it a 5/5 rating which we are very pleased with. 

What have I learnt from audience feedback?

The audience feedback that our trailer gained was very helpful in creating the second draft. Having an audience outside of our production group was very helpful as it allowed us to see feedback from a different point of view. We might've liked something from our product that looked good to us, however the audience viewed it and didn't like it - this would encourage us to change it. One example being the shot of the radio in our trailer seen below.

This shot was one that we had identified as a potential issue with our trailer however we decided against changing it until we received audience feedback. When we presented the trailer to our classmates they also identified this as something that needs to be changed, as mise-en-scene was not considered enough when filming this. It was pointed out that it doesn't look like a home setting, and this encouraged us to re-film it. I learnt from audience feedback that it is always useful to get a second opinion. We may have liked our product a lot because we managed to see it develop over the weeks we spent editing it, however as the audience views it, they may not share the same opinion when they compare it to other finished products. That's why it is always very important to get audience feedback on a  first draft before making adjustments to a final draft.

Another example of something the audience spotted was that some shots were far too long for a trailer. To us, the shots seemed as if they were of a good pace, however the audience didn't share this opinion and they pointed out that they were too long compared to real-life products. This again helped us notice that our product wasn't ready to be published as a final draft yet because some of the shots were on the screen for too long. This is something we wouldn't have spotted without audience feedback. It was also made apparent to us that the time between titles that appeared on the screen in the trailer were too long - this meant they forgot what information was being presented to them by the time the next title came up. Again, this is something we wouldn't have spotted as we knew which titles were going to come up next as we had watched the trailer plenty of times over. However, for an audience that is watching the trailer for the first time; it was different for them. 

Overall, I feel as if the use of audience feedback was very helpful in the production of our trailer. Audience feedback helped us pick out areas for improvement in our trailer that we hadn't of spotted ourselves - this made for a better end result. I have learnt therefore that audience feedback is crucial in the making of a trailer, especially when the audience is one of the target audience as you can make it more appealing to the right type of people. I have also learnt from audience feedback that it is always important to get a second opinion of people who are not involved in the production of the trailer as they will be honest, and will be more helpful in picking out areas for improvement that we had failed to spot.

 

Evaluation Task 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

This is the voice over evaluating the effectiveness of my marketing campaign for my film. Discussing synergistic features between my trailer, poster and film magazine and how they combine to create an effective marketing campaign.

Below is the link for the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFTgZ82gKPY

Evaluation Task 1 - In what way does my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The film title

The title of my film as seen in the top left image 'Deranged' is typical for a thriller genre film title for many reasons. Our film is a story based around a psychopath who chases down a girl that he tried to kill in the past. So, for our film title we wanted to use a word that was a synonym of the word "psychopath". Examples of some of the words we considered were 'psycho' 'crazy' 'insane' 'disturbed' and 'deranged'. We felt as if Deranged sounded the best for our film and was most fitting to the genre. We wanted a one-word title as this is a stereotypical convention of thriller genre films, examples of real life media products with this convention include: 'Se7en' 'Saw' 'inception' and 'Momento'. A one-word title such as 'Deranged' will create a chilling feel for the audience and will allow the audience to create assumptions based on the narrative of the film. The title is in a sharp/pointy font type which we found on cooltext.com and it is called 'Animated Glow'. We chose this text and removed the glow in order to give it a transparent background so we could use it for our trailer and our ancillary tasks. We chose this font because it looks as if it the word 'Deranged' has been carved using a knife, which is the assumption that we wanted to give the audience. An example of a thriller film with a similar convention would be the film 'I Saw the Devil'. The poster for this film is seen below. As you can see, the text on this poster for the name of the title also looks as if it has been carved or scratched into the poster - giving the same sort of effect on the audience. We also decided to use a silver / metallic colour for our title as it works well with the sharp font type to present the connotation to the audience that the psycho's weapon of choice is a knife, this form of connotation is also a feature of thriller films. 

I Saw the Devil poster

Fonts and colours of titles

As seen in the top middle and top right images, we used a font similar to Ariel for the titles, and we also made each of the titles white with a black background. This is the most common use of titles in the thriller genre to have white text on a black background. One example would be in the trailer for Lucy:

Title screen in Lucy

 They use a similar font to ours, as well as having a white font with a black background. Also, the titles that appear on our screen fade on and off using a black fade which is also present in many thriller films, Lucy included. The titles in our trailer are also presented in the centre of the screen as seen in the images on my 9 frames. This is also very common with thriller genre trailers. The text as you will notice is also all in capital letters, with some key words in the titles being bold. This is because we wanted to present the importance of the text by making it capital letters and we wanted to ensure the audience noticed key information i.e. HE'S BACK // FOR THE ONE THAT ESCAPED. This is key information that we want the audience to focus on as it is crucial in the understanding of the narrative. As you can see with the titles in the Lucy trailer, they are also in capital letters and this is used in nearly all film trailers, not just those of thriller genre. It magnifies the importance of the text.

Editing and special effects

As you can see in the top-right image of the collage, we used a 'fade to black' fade for all of the text when it appears on the screen. This was to make the text appear in a more appealing way for the audience. Otherwise, the text would just appear on the screen and it would look very poorly edited. We didn't just do this with text however, a 'fade to black' fade was used to separate all of the shots before the music built up and the action shots in the trailer started appearing. This is when white flashes were used between shots in order to make the trailer more exciting and gripping as the action starts to occur. This is a common convention of trailers, as they often start with slow cuts and black fades between shots when the narrative / back story is being presented in the trailer, before then using white flashes and faster paced cuts when the music becomes more intense. As you can see in the middle-right image, this is an example of when we used the white flash - however this was near the beginning of the trailer when the images of the killer's victims were being presented to the audience. We did this as well as insert a 'camera flash' sound effect in order to give the audience the impression that the detective had taken these photos at the crime scene. As well as the black fades and white fades we also used fast paced cuts and these are a very common convention in a thriller film trailer. This is because the film needs to appear exciting and 'thrilling' for the audience - they need to be drawn to it. The use of fast cuts and black fades or white flashes will help do this as they will help the transition of one shot to another occur more smoothly and appealing for the audience. 

One prime example of a real life product the uses these features is the Inception trailer. As with our trailer; this one also uses black fades a lot at the beginning of the trailer to break up text and to separate shots, and then it uses much faster paced cuts in-time with the build up of the music. Below is the link for this trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66TuSJo4dZM


Settings

As you can see in the POV shot in the middle-left image on the collage, the main character is seen in her home. This is one of the few locations that we decided to present in our trailer. The settings we chose to use included: the home of the main character, the office of the detective (protagonist), outside the mental institution and a dark alley. The mental institution and the dark alley were only used for one shot but they were used to good effect in the trailer. The shot outside the mental institution was to assist the understanding of the audience as they see the antagonist pick up his mask - this ensures the audience know who the antagonist is and how he found the mask - assisting with understanding of the narrative. The dark alley was used on a few occasions to break up title screens and for the audience to see the antagonist walking in the dark which creates a chilling feel for the audience as they know by then that he is coming after the girl, who is seen in the trailer as being at home. The home scene was used frequently as was the detectives office. These two settings are crucial to the narrative and it is important that we used them a lot in our trailer. Both the main character and the psychopath are seen in her home, which counter-types the stereotypical representation of a person's home being their 'safe place'. When the psychopath is seen in the girl's home it creates an element of fear / suspense among the audience as they become aware that the deranged killer has broken into the girl's place of safety. 

Screenshot from American Psycho

As you can see in this screenshot from the American Psycho trailer; this is another example of how a person is under threat in their own home. This is a countertype used in many thriller films and it gives a strong psychological effect from the film. Lastly, the setting of the main protagonist's office is see frequently in the trailer. This has been done in other films, like in Se7en for example (as seen and discussed below). It is to assist audience's understanding of narrative and characters' roles.

Focus on key characters / how they're introduced

As you can see in the centre image, the focus is on the detective of the film as he tries to work work out what the psycho' next move would be in order to catch him. In this clip, the detective is seen in his office and this is to connote his role as the detective and as a protagonist in the film. This is a common convention in thriller genre films as it is very important to present the key characters in the film to make the narrative easier for the audience to understand. There needs to be a clear distinction between protagonists and antagonists. Another example of a thriller film trailer with a similar shot would be Se7en. Below is a screenshot of two of the main detectives / protagonists in their office:

Se7en screenshot

As you can see in this screenshot, the detective is also holding key information in his hand. It is evidence / pictures taken at the crime scene that he has been investigating. This clearly presents his role as a detective and as a protagonist in the film and this is something we re-created in our trailer. As you can see in the shot of our trailer in the middle image of the collage; our detective is also examining key information of the crime scene. This will allow the audience to create assumptions on the characters involved and they will now understand that the detective is a protagonist.

Use of props

Some of the props that we used are presented in the grid above. We used a mask for the main antagonist which is seen in the middle-left image on the grid, and we also created two notice boards for the detective which are seen in the bottom left and the centre image. For the first notice board (the bottom left image) we used photos of our friends as the supposed victims of the deranged killer, and then stuck them on top of a map of St. Neots - which is where the killer had broken out of the mental institution.We used string and attached them to the images, and then to a specific location in the St. Neots area where they got killed. This was because we wanted to show evidence to the audience that this particular detective was on the case and this is presented through him adding notes and pictures of victims to these notice boards in the trailer. The second notice board took a lot longer to make. For this one, we created several newspaper articles for the victims of the killer, and then we cut out the important information from the articles and stuck them around the second notice board. We took motivation from the film Silence of the Lambs to do this as you can see in the screenshot below:

Newspaper articles in Silence of the Lambs

As you can see, this set up is similar to ours (in the centre image of the collage). This is the sort of thing we wanted to recreate and we did so by making this notice board. As mentioned, another prop we used was a white mask. We selected this particular type of mask as we wanted to make the killer appear emotionless, therefore adding to the affect that this guy is a psychopath when he commits his murders, as it connotes he is emotionless. The white mask is something used in many psychological thrillers and is a stereotypical convention of the thriller genre and this is why we chose to use it. One example of a real life thriller film which uses a white emotionless mask is the film Bruiser as seen in the screenshot below:

Mask used in Bruiser film

World created and world valued

The screenshot from our film in the middle-bottom image of the collage from Deranged is one example of the type of world we created in the trailer. In this scene, the main character is seen running down the stairs as she rushes to lock her front door after spotting the psychopath outside her house. This is just one example of how we created a world of panic, anxiety and fear in the trailer. When the main character runs down the stairs after spotting the psychopath, this is when the music intensifies. The loud orchestral music, along with the fact it is night time, she is home alone and that she is in her considered place of safety, all add up to make the trailer a lot more intense and these factors contribute to created a world of fear. The loud orchestral music and quicker cuts / faster paced movement in a trailer are all general conventions of a thriller genre trailer as the audience needs to be aware of the type of world that the main character finds herself in. These conventions therefore also work together to create a different form of world that is valued in the trailer. When a world of panic, anxiety and fear is created - a world of safety is valued and this is what is presented in our film when the detective calls the main character in the trailer to let her know that he is on his way to help her. The phone call creates a feeling of relief among the audience as safety is valued. 

Production company logo

This is seen in the bottom-right image on the collage and this is a stereotypical convention of any genre film trailers, including thriller genre. We included the production company logo before the actual trailer had started. These are usually always presented either at the beginning or end of a trailer - especially when the film has been produced by a world-widely known production company. We called our production company Prime Films as the word 'prime' symbolises finest or peak quality, which is the sort of connotation that we wanted to give. This is a typical convention and another example of a production company that has also done this is Paramount. Below is our production company logo: 

Our production company logo

We had our production company logo appear in front of a black background as therefore it still fits the typical conventions of a thriller film by utilising dark colours. Another example of a production company logo being presented in this way is in the Saw trailer: 

Production company that produced Saw

As you can see this production company logo has been presented in a similar way to ours, with a black background and the colour silver dominating the main text. 


Release information

Another typical convention of real life trailers that is not presented in my 9 frames above, would be the presentation of the release information of the film. This is always the last shot of the trailer and usually lasts around 3-5 seconds in order for the audience to read the information. Below is a screenshot of this in our production compared to that of a real life one:

As you can see on the left, our also has a whit background, white text and also includes a website for our film, as well as a mention of the production company again with their website. All these features are also found on the Lucy one below and therefore this is another typical convention of a real-life product.

Film magazine cover - finished product

This is the finished version of the magazine cover that I created as a part of our marketing campaign for our product. I tried to follow a lot of the typical conventions of a magazine cover such as:

•  A large masthead at the top of the magazine, with an image slightly overlapping the text
• Coverline - text presenting the contents of the magazine down the side of the cover
• A film reel at the bottom featuring new releases similar to the genre of Deranged
• Bar code
• Magazine price (on a closed fist in the top right of the page)
• Magazine issue number and release of the date (left of the bar code)
• Large images covering most of the page (the Deranged characters) - images and background are blurred which is also a common convention
• Masculine colours (red, black and blue) and limited colours are used which is common. Red and white dominate the colours as well as dark colours such as black and blue.
• Capital letters on all of the text to connote excitement and importance of text
• Images from other films as USP (because there are Hollywood actors in these images - i.e Morgan Freeman, Daniel Craig and Colin Firth)
• A pug (the closed fist in the top right corner that appears to be punching towards the reader with the price on it)
• Punctuation used 'Chances to win some KILLER prizes!' to add excitement
• The website of the magazine is located at the bottom under the film reel
• The magazine tagline 'Britain's most insane mag'   

Deranged poster - finished product

Deranged film poster - click to enlarge image

This is the finished version of the Deranged film poster that I created as a part of our marketing campaign for our product. I tried to follow a lot of the typical conventions of a thriller film poster such as;

• Large title of the film. The title is silver to connote the colour of a knife as it is the killers choice of weapon. The text is sharp/pointy and looks as if it has been engraved into something to give the same connotation.
• A large image from the film making the genre clear. The large blurred image of the mask and the background images of the newspaper articles present the genre. 
• Tag line 'YOU CAN'T RUN FOREVER'
• 18 rated age certificate of the film
• The production company website
• Release date
• Film website
• Quote from a popular magazine Total Film, with a 5-star rating
• Dark colours typical of the genre - black and red are used a lot
• The black splatter of ink is used to suit the background      

All of these conventions I included were ones to make it similar to psychological thriller film posters that I have researched in the past. The one convention that I didn't include was a billing block - however I researched into film posters to see if they were essential and it turns out that they aren't a necessity and I could get away with not using one. I didn't want to use one on this poster because I wanted other information at the bottom of the poster and there wasn't any space for it. If I had included one then there would be too much information at the bottom of the poster which would ruin the effectiveness of it. This is one example of a film poster that doesn't include a billing block and is also simple and effective like mine:

Red Lights poster

Deranged trailer - finished product

Today we made all the final changes and adjustments to our film trailer after the first draft was presented to the class and a movie trailer professional - with suggestions for improvements from both. We have now uploaded the final finished product for our Deranged trailer and the link for that is below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NemKxLvWow