How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
First of all, Joey and I did some basic research into horror movies using the internet. We used iTunes Horror Movies to look at horror movie trailers and increase our knowledge of typical conventions used in them. I believe this helped us a lot in the construction of our trailer as we got to look at horror movies from the past, present and future and use that to make ours appeal to the future generation. Using the internet made our research and planning a lot easier.
To begin filming Joey and I decided we would use his own camera and tripod so that we weren't stuck with the responsibility of someone elses. This made it a lot easier to film as we already knew everything about that specific camera and no more time was needed to learn about it. After filming, we used iMovie HD to do the editing. This gave us the chance to make our trailer look more professional and detailed by adding in titles, music and pictures. Due to our research we knew roughly what we wanted our trailer to look like and iMovie let us do this. Before this task, I had never used iMovie before, so it was all very new to me. Thankfully Joey has had previous experience in this piece of software so he taught me a lot. At first, we just messed about whilst editing. It gave us the chance to see what the trailer would like with and without certain shots, with different length shots and different amounts of shots. The purpose of this was to see what worked best. Whilst doing this, we realised short quick shots worked to build the tension in the trailer which was a convention we saw in other horror movie trailers. I found iMovie the best way to edit our trailer. It did everything and more to help make our trailer look exactly how we wanted it to look.
In terms of our Movie poster and Magazine cover we used Adobe Photoshop to create the perfect poster and magazine cover. During our research we looked at many magazines and movie posters. Before this task, I had used Photoshop before so I found this task a lot easier than the editing of the trailer. I also knew how to use DaFont.com to download fonts and use them in Photoshop. Although I was confident using Photoshop, there were some things I was not sure on doing. Things like adding emphasis on certain parts of the images without it looking fake was very hard for me but after a lot of trial and error with the opacity it worked very well.
Whilst making my blog, I was worried about making it varied in terms of the ways I communicate with the viewer (i.e. presentations, videos, posts). I am very proud of my blog as I managed to use websites that I had not preivously used such as Prezi.com and Slideshare.com. I personally found using these websites very hard but managed to overcome this difficulty and persevere.
Friday 17 December 2010
Evaluation Question 3:
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Joey and I collected feedback in a couple different ways:
We received feedback for our trailer, movie poster and magazine cover when we thought we had finished them all. The majority of people we spoke to were people within our target audience (teens or horror fanatics) so this helped us make our campaign appeal more to our target audience.
Changes were made after feedback was taken and now on our facebook page, people have said that the poster, trailer and magazine cover looks a lot like a real campaign and the horror genre is really obvious. Our audience feedback gave us a chance to understand what they think of what when they think of horror films and incorporate that into our campaign. Things included colours of titles, images and professionalism.
Charlie Ward was a main part of our audience feedback as he looks at our trailer in a way professional way. His feedback was very positive. His only critique was to emphasise the shock of the titling. This we did with a white flash. Our music also increased the shock and tension and the audience have said the music is a very important part of our trailer and ours makes our trailer a lot more tense and horrific.
Joey and I collected feedback in a couple different ways:
- Facebook group
- Video commentary (Audience Feedback)
- Asking people in person
We received feedback for our trailer, movie poster and magazine cover when we thought we had finished them all. The majority of people we spoke to were people within our target audience (teens or horror fanatics) so this helped us make our campaign appeal more to our target audience.
Changes were made after feedback was taken and now on our facebook page, people have said that the poster, trailer and magazine cover looks a lot like a real campaign and the horror genre is really obvious. Our audience feedback gave us a chance to understand what they think of what when they think of horror films and incorporate that into our campaign. Things included colours of titles, images and professionalism.
Charlie Ward was a main part of our audience feedback as he looks at our trailer in a way professional way. His feedback was very positive. His only critique was to emphasise the shock of the titling. This we did with a white flash. Our music also increased the shock and tension and the audience have said the music is a very important part of our trailer and ours makes our trailer a lot more tense and horrific.
Evaluation Question 2:
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
To promote our new horror movie, Joey and I created many different ways of getting it out and seen by our peers and the public.
To promote our new horror movie, Joey and I created many different ways of getting it out and seen by our peers and the public.
Marketing campaign
View more presentations from jessicajazz.
Recognition of genre:
After people watched our trailer, they said the genre of the film was really obvious. This was the main aim of the trailer and to attract our target audience. According to our target audience, our movie poster and magazine cover also represent the horror genre.
Internet:
Using websites such as Facebook and Youtube made our campaign more accessible to our peers. We found it the easiest way to get our campaign seen as most teenagers use the internet these days and teens are our target audience.
To promote our campaign, we wanted to find something unique about our trailer to use. Our Unique Selling Point is that it is set in a theatre. We also used the fact that our trailer is very British. Using these facts gave us the chance to reach out to a wider audience; not only those that like horror movies but people that are interested in drama and especially British drama. In terms of our trailer being British, it is very similar to Danny Boyle's 'Shallow Grave'. The pace is very similar and the shots we used are very similar. You can notice the film is British from the trailer, just like you can with ours.
Recognition of genre:
After people watched our trailer, they said the genre of the film was really obvious. This was the main aim of the trailer and to attract our target audience. According to our target audience, our movie poster and magazine cover also represent the horror genre.
Internet:
Using websites such as Facebook and Youtube made our campaign more accessible to our peers. We found it the easiest way to get our campaign seen as most teenagers use the internet these days and teens are our target audience.
To promote our campaign, we wanted to find something unique about our trailer to use. Our Unique Selling Point is that it is set in a theatre. We also used the fact that our trailer is very British. Using these facts gave us the chance to reach out to a wider audience; not only those that like horror movies but people that are interested in drama and especially British drama. In terms of our trailer being British, it is very similar to Danny Boyle's 'Shallow Grave'. The pace is very similar and the shots we used are very similar. You can notice the film is British from the trailer, just like you can with ours.
Thursday 16 December 2010
Evaluation Question 1:
In what ways does your media products use, develop or challenge frms and conventions of real media products?
Director's commentary.
Joey and I did a director's commentary where we slowed down our trailer and talked over it, explaining where we used, developed and challenged conventions of real media products.
In many of the horror movie trailers I looked at during my research and planning, there were conventions I knew Joey and I would use such as short, fast paced shots to increase tension, an establishing shot, single lines to establish characters and shocking titles. These are conventions we used to make our trailer resemble many other horror movie trailers.
Usually horror movies are based around teenagers. We stuck to this convention to some extent as our target audience are teens and horror movie fanatics, but we added a Unique Selling Point (USP). Our USP, besides it being set in a theatre, is that we used a significantly younger child in our trailer and in this trailer it shows a clip of him drinking alcohol. This is to signify the increase in underage drinking today. It is also to shock the audience and make them want to see the film as the trailer never really shows what happens to the young boy.
The Magazine Cover.
This Prezi presentation I made shows how we mainly stuck to conventions used on horror movie magazines. I personally felt this was the best way to promote our film and this was proved true from our audience feedback we collected.
The Movie Poster:
I believe our movie poster uses many conventions used in professional horror movie posters such as font, images and production details. When we asked our peers to give feedback on it, they said that our poster really represented a horror movie.
Our trailer really portrays a horror movie. The dark and fast scenes increase the tension and suspense which is what the audience want. It keeps them wanting more and makes them want to go see the film. The thing about horror movie trailers that the audience love is the thrill and fear of it. I feel we have really captured this in our trailer.
Director's commentary.
Joey and I did a director's commentary where we slowed down our trailer and talked over it, explaining where we used, developed and challenged conventions of real media products.
In many of the horror movie trailers I looked at during my research and planning, there were conventions I knew Joey and I would use such as short, fast paced shots to increase tension, an establishing shot, single lines to establish characters and shocking titles. These are conventions we used to make our trailer resemble many other horror movie trailers.
Usually horror movies are based around teenagers. We stuck to this convention to some extent as our target audience are teens and horror movie fanatics, but we added a Unique Selling Point (USP). Our USP, besides it being set in a theatre, is that we used a significantly younger child in our trailer and in this trailer it shows a clip of him drinking alcohol. This is to signify the increase in underage drinking today. It is also to shock the audience and make them want to see the film as the trailer never really shows what happens to the young boy.
The Magazine Cover.
This Prezi presentation I made shows how we mainly stuck to conventions used on horror movie magazines. I personally felt this was the best way to promote our film and this was proved true from our audience feedback we collected.
The Movie Poster:
I believe our movie poster uses many conventions used in professional horror movie posters such as font, images and production details. When we asked our peers to give feedback on it, they said that our poster really represented a horror movie.
Our trailer really portrays a horror movie. The dark and fast scenes increase the tension and suspense which is what the audience want. It keeps them wanting more and makes them want to go see the film. The thing about horror movie trailers that the audience love is the thrill and fear of it. I feel we have really captured this in our trailer.
Wednesday 15 December 2010
Feedback.
This is one of the ways we collected feedback on our magazine cover and film poster. We asked two of our peers (both teens interested in horror which is our target audience) what they thought of the magazine cover and film poster before changes were made. They both gave both positive and critical comments. We used the criticism to make changes to both pieces of work and make it more appealing to people like David and Lowri as they are a part of our target audience.
Monday 13 December 2010
Final Edit.
This is the final edit of our trailer. We took into consideration what Charlie Ward said and what our teachers and peers thought and made our final adjustments. We feel this trailer appeals to our target audience which is mainly teens and horror movie fanatics and with the help from our feedback we received, we believe our trailer looks quite professional and similar to many horror movie trailers out there today.
Charlie Ware.
Charlie Ware used to be a professional editor and we had the privilege of having him come into our lesson and give us some tips on our trailers.
We showed him our recently more edited one (edit number 2) and he gave us a few pointers on how to make it a lot more professional.
These tips were:
We showed him our recently more edited one (edit number 2) and he gave us a few pointers on how to make it a lot more professional.
These tips were:
- High frequency sounds to shock
- Strobe effect or moving on titling
- Perhaps white (for above note)
After these suggestions were made, we made some alterations to our trailer and now we have our final edit.
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