Q4: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

In order to present our work we mostly used Blogger. However was also used Youtube and social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Using Blogger meant we could post images, links, videos and also written work. Some of the images we posted on Blogger included mocks ups, our draft and comleted storyboards and examples of other horror films film poster such as One Missed Call. This is our youtube page http://www.youtube.com/user/ScreamCityProduction which we used to enable us to upload our pratice shots, screen recording film poster and various other videos. At first using youtube was very challenging. This is because at times it wasn't allowing us to upload our videos. However, after using youtube more frequently we were able to solve this problem. 

This is one of the first videos that we uploaded onto Youtube. The purpose of this video is to improve our knowledge of how to make an effective teaser trailer as well as improving our understanding of Final Cut Pro. An advantage of doing this earlier in the course meant that we could explore other options and use whether or not they'll be useful when it comes to making our horror teaser trailer. Without using Youtube we couldn't have been able to upload all our work, do research on other horror teaser trailers and spot what usually occurs in a horror teaser trailer.

Some of the horror films that we watched online and on Blue-Ray for inspiration were Halloween, A Nightmare On Elm Street and One Missed Call. The advantage of having so many ways to watch these films meant we could just simply choose which one we prefered. For example watching any of these films on Blu-Ray meant there would be greater definition, as opposed to watching it on DVD. Even though all these horror films inspired us the one that truly stood out the most was One Missed Call. This is because it's similar to what we orginally had planned for our horror teaser trailer, so as a group we felt that it would be benficial to do more research on this film. These two websites helped  us to do more research on this film. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Missed_Call_(2008_film) and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479968/

By using the internet it allowed us to do numerous things such as doing research on horror films, target audience, film industry, tutorials and comparing how long most horror teaser trailers last for, seeing as how we felt it would be more suitable if our horror teaser trailer lasted no longer than a minute. Some of the earlier videos we done include a lighting tutorials video which Dominic demonstrates on how to use. During the video he shows how to turn the Kino flo diva light 100 on and off and how to rotate it which he describes as making it more accessible and easy. Additionally, he also speaks about how to adjust the height of the Kina flo diva light 100. This again highlights our ability to practice with the equipment.

 

As well as making tutorials we also recorded many other videos. Here is a video of Ms Robertson demonstrating on how to apply fake blood. Although we didn't use any fake blood in our teaser trailer thanks to Ms's demonstration we have now learnt another important skill. Moreover, in the video you also see someone else demonstrating how easy and quick it is to apply fake blood.  

During the production stage we felt it was essential to do practice test shots. This is because, in order to feel prepared  for when it was finally time to film our actual horror teaser trailer we wanted to experience what it was like and whether there was any pressure. At times we weren't able to upload some of our videos onto youtube because of the colleges computer network, or do any research on horror films due to there being blocked sites. However, we were able to find a solution to this problem. At first we found it difficult to assemble the tripod without the aid of our teacher. This is because we wasn't familiar with using it. Thankfully as we began to frequently use the tripod we started to get more familiar with it and no longer experienced any more problems.  

As a group we came up with plenty of ideas, and in the end we created a storyboard so that we could struture the scenes of our teaser trailer.  As you can see we have many scenes in our storyboard and drawing the storyboard was pretty much straightforward. This is because we already knew what should and shouldn't feature in a storyboard due to looking at various examples, so this in a sence gave us a massive advantage. This is a random example of a storyboard we looked at http://www.fuse-studio.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/storyboard-3.jpg then after we looked at a horror film storyboard http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4054/4300035814_e36190b34c_z.jpg?zz=1

  

Here is another example we put together of some of the ideas we came up with. As you can see there's a phone in each mock up. This is because seeing as how our teaser trailer is based on a phone, we felt it was vital that the audience should be able to notice this on our film poster. 

This is a scene from our storyboard when we were shooting our teaser trailer at the studio. In actual fact we lost this scene which sadly highlights some of the problems groups such as us face. However, because we filmed a lot of scenes it evetually resulted in losing this scene being an advantage for our teaser trailer. Following health and safety rules while at the stuido was extremly important. This required us to follow rules such as no running around with equipment or running with props. This is because it was very important that no one got injured, or damaged any of the equipment. Additionally, another advantage we had was experiencing no problem with setting up the lighting. This was benefical because it meant we didn't have to waste any time on trying to fix it.  

The image manipulation software we used was Photoshop. By using Photoshop it enabled us to create our film poster, horror magazine and other mock ups which we did in order to explore our ideas. All of us were familiar with using Photoshop as we had to make a college magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread at AS level. The skills we learnt through doing that allowed us to achieve what we wanted to with regards to our film poster and magazine. Additionally, if any of us wanted more help with using Photoshop we could always just use youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__KkSu248OU as well as asking our peers. When aiming to follow magazine conventions we mostly used Google to do our reseach. Some of the conventions we found were: There's usuallly a masthead, barcode, selling line, coverlines, lots of pictures, and different colours. Heres an example of some of the convetions in our horror magazine.

The editing software we used to make our teaser trailer was Final Cut Pro. By using Final Cut Pro it enabled us to edit our teaser trailer effectively, and organise our footage in a professional way. One of the aims we had for using Final Cut Pro was that all of us should get involved regardless of whether we had little experience of using it. In order to make the best teaser trailer possible we commented on what should and shouldn't be included, as a way getting rid of footage that wasn't needed in order to not make our teaser trailer lengthy, as I'm sure the majority of other groups done. One of the targets we had was to make our teaser trailer under a minute. This is because after we done our research, thanks to Google, we found that most horror teaser trailers such as Saw 3D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg0go2b3ekY, Insidious http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfxpvRRpyzE and Final Destination 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU625g_Lh_k were all under a minute. Additionally, some of the video techniques we used were cuts, fades, captions and transitions.

Some of the media technologies and social networking sites we used for marketing our horror teaser trailer were Youtube, Facebook, Blackberry and Twitter. This is because we noticed that the vast majority of our target audience use these sites on a daily basis due to it being so popular, so we felt it was essential to spread the word on these sites. Moreover we also noticed that word of mouth was common with our target audience so this was another advantage we felt we had. By using Facebook to distribute our horror teaser trailer this meant we would receive quick feedback on some of the strengths and weakness of our teaser trailer. It also meant we could compare videos to identify any competition, and once again our target audience use Facebook so this resulted in it being suitable to distribute our teaser trailer on this site. Furthermore, we also used Twitter and Blackberry to distribute our teaser trailer. As a stated earlier our target audience use these sites so this would allow us to get quick feedback, but also then we would be able to compare which site was more reliable and easier in terms of getting peoples opinions. Lastly, using Youtube to distribute our teaser trailer enabled us to recieve comments from other Youtube users. This once again highlights the advantage of using media technologies such as Youtube to distribute teaser trailers.  

Q3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

This is some of the feedback we got regarding our film poster. In order to get peoples response we uploaded the poster onto facebook. This is because we felt Facebook is a very popular social networking site which the majority of our target audience use on a daily basis. As well as the majority of our target audience using Facebook they also use Twitter which also allowed us to get feedback. As they are both popular this would enable us to see which site allowed us to gather the most response. One of the comments we got regarding our film poster was that it looks live, which is slang for really good. Also, another comment that stood to us the most was that it looks like a horror advertisement. The fact that they were able to identify our products genre  being horror shows that it looks scary and also shows how well the colours go together in order to achieve that.

We also inboxed our target audience on Facebook and this was another way of getting quick feedback. As you can see they liked how the colours used go well together, which is what we were trying to achieve. Additionally, they also like how the colour scheme is appropriate for the horror genre, which is why she thinks it's good. As well as seeing what our target audience liked about our film poser, we also wanted to know what they disliked or if there could be an improvements. She felt there wasn't really any improvements that could be made.

We noticed that we were getting quicker responses through inboxing people on Facebook so we felt using this way to get people's opinions was much better. As you can see the person we asked what they liked most about our film poster said, she liked how everything is positioned and that the layout is balanced.







This time we wanted to see what our target audience liked and disliked about our horror magazine, through inboxing them on Facebook. We asked her what she liked the most about our horror magazine and she thought it was really good. She also added how she liked the font title and the blood drips. This shows that she was able to identify the conventions of our horror magazine. We wanted to know whether any improvements could be made and she responded by saying we could possibly change the colour in the font to a a flat colour not so gradient. Having negative feedback is always a good thing, because it means there's something that we can always improve on in order to make our work better, which is something we'll be much more careful with in the future. This shows we're able to use a negative feedback to our advantage.




 As you can see we again wanted to know what people liked and disliked about our horror magazine. She felt that the background needs to blend more into the man's face (mask). This is another negative feedback that we would improve on if we had to tackle this project again. Apart from the one criticism she felt that everything else was fine.








We also used Twitter, another social networking site, to get people's opinions about our horror teaser trailer. Some of them believe it was really good, sick, great as you can see in the picture on the left. As well as getting people's opinions some also retweeted our teaser trailer in order to get more people to give us feedback. This highlights the advantage of using Twitter, as it's much harder to get people to share your work on facebook.

We also got a response from another Youtube user who actually liked our teaser trailer especially the bit at the end. However, because we only received one youtube comment, out of the three social networking sites we used to get feedback. Youtube was the most ineffective.














Audience feedback on film poster and horror magazine

Overall, based on the feedback we received we learnt that we could have made a more effective product by possibly changing the colour in the font to a flat colour not so gradient and making the background blend more into the mask. If we had more time to tackle this project again then based on the feedback we received these are some of the changes we most likely would make. However, it's pretty clear that we received more positive feedback than negative on our film poster and horror magazine, which is what we were trying to achieve. People were also able to identify our products genre being horror, and explain what they liked most about it.

Audience feedback on teaser trailer 


So far we have 159 views for our teaser trailer and four likes from other Youtube users which shows how popular it is. One of the things people were able to notice from our teaser trailer is that it's based on a phone, as the majority of them liked the concept. Another thing people liked about our teaser trailer was the suspense at the end, as we leave the viewer wanting to know more. This is something we worked hard to achieve because we didn't want to reveal to much. Although our teaser trailer was really popular with our target audience, we learnt that some felt it would've been even better if our teaser trailer was a little bit shorter. If we  had more time to tackle this project again then that's something we would try and achieve.

Q2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Throughout the pre-production of the teaser trailer, poster and magazine front cover, we had a theme or image that we held in our heads that when marketing, advertising and distributing media products there has to be a certain level of continuity throughout. We had to think about how we could integrate our three products to work with each other and create a story to the audience, also we had to make sure that the continuity of our products where shown throughout in order to create a professional piece of production that would resemble a big time box office movie.

After discussing colour connotations, we decided on the idea of the colour red being a prominent colour, which features regularly in the horror genre. To incorporate this colour in our product and ancillary text, we questioned where it would be best suited, it was then that we realised that the colour red would be best used for the font.I believe that the combination of our main products is very effective, we kept the same red colour scheme with the Trajan Pro font consistent with our trailer during its captions - our magazine where it has the title of the trailer  at the bottom and our trailer poster.

as you can see here theirs a line that goes through the bottom of the withheld in both the magazine and poster, we were unable to do this when using final cut pro & when we tried using photoshop it lost its quality but apart from that it both uses the same font.

Another way we used the continuity well was in the colours we used in our main products, the colours black & red were used a   tremendous amount of times, we did this because these are the colours that gives the audience that eerie feeling it also represent evil and danger as specially when they are being used together, also allowed the audience to distinguish the genre of our film quite easily, due to colours used you can tell it has to be a horror film, because as i mentioned before these are the colours that are associated with scary things, as you can also see in the Red Riding Hood film poster, the same colour scheme was used as us the black & red 

  

The most evident form of continuity through our main product and ancillary texts was the mask. A mask has a number of connotations as well as purposes that will felt would be ideal for our project, such as it doesn’t reveal the identity of someone or thing. The connotations it comes with are great for horrors as it creates ambiguity and mystery which would add a suspense and fear factor to our audience as the will have a fear of the unknown such as not knowing if the antagonist is an individual or group.

The mask we chose was spooky and creepy looking this would have hopefully had the effect of inflicting an impression on the viewer therefore for creating our identification to the audience. With the identity being created, the audience would now be able to recognise our movie at an instant by linking the mask to the film. This was a technique used by successful horrors like “Halloween”, produced by John Carpenter, grossing $70 million worldwide. “Scream”, directed by Wes Craven, grossing $173 million worldwide. “Friday the 13^th”, directed by Sean S. Cunningham and written by Victor Miller, grossing $39.7 million at the box office in the United States. These are horror films that all used a mask for the antagonist and created a movie identity with.

Q1: In what ways does your media production use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Throughout this project the end goal was to make three media products; a film, poster and magazine front cover. In the build up to the creation of the media texts an illusion of a media institution needed to be conceived, whether it was an indie or a major. So thus as a group we came up with the group name ScreamCity as we felt the connotations with the word “scream” such as fear, was fitting for the horror genre we was about to enter and the word “city” gave a metaphorical meaning for a company structure.

With the corporate identity done the media products had to appear as authentic. The only way this would have been achieved is if we had followed the everyday conventions embodied in these products, as a group we feel we have achieved this.

TRAILER

The purpose of a movie teaser trailer is to not give away the plot of the film but at the same time give the viewer a concept of what the film is about with the additional function of making the potential audience aware of the film’s release. The successive trailers like theatrical, will trying to influence the potential audience to watch the film unlike the teaser.

So before we started work on our teaser trailer, we did a research into current teaser trailers on the market and it was then that we knew it would be a complex feat to achieve such as the job to create enough of a visual story in a short period of time (30-60 seconds). Due to the digital era we are in, it was the most likely to gain the most audience attention opposed to the print products which meant that more time would have to be dedicated towards it and therefore making it the most difficult of the three products.

MAGAZINE

The creation of the magazine front cover was the second of the media products we tackled. When creating the magazine front cover, as a group, we had a past experience dealing with a magazine project so we all felt competent and decided it was best to stick with the general conventions of a magazine, the most evident – the layout of the front cover.

Although from our textual analyses for movie magazine front covers we learnt that there was variations in magazine presentation, However these variations were not drastic and the basic rules still applied so we were able to extract those elements that would be found in a normal magazine and were able to apply these conventions with our work.

The convention we were able to develop was the design of the masthead, such magazines like Empire have a bold and clear distinct font and usually have a signature colour - Empire have red. We have used the convention of the masthead by making it bold and visible at the top, however we have not got a signature colour instead we have mixed the colours black and white this is an example of how we have developed a convention.

We felt that our target audience/intended target audience for this movie magazine would be regular movie watchers with no particular specific genre this meant that are audience would be mass and not niche. The title “Box Office” keeps the film genre broad and connotes that the magazine will be featuring future successful films that the reader might want to know about.

Even though the movie magazine is not niche we decided to make it a “horror edition”which would specify are audience down for the sole purpose of promoting the film. The colour red can connote many different things. Depending on the situation, it could give the audience a sense of passion, or love. However, in other circumstances it can have much more sinister connotations. We decided to use this convention and therefore chose a red colour scheme for the sinister purpose. The blood splatter coverlines accentuate to the horror theme.

When taking the photographs for the magazine front cover, we all thought very hard about continuity and how the audience would be able to link the front cover to the film. For this reason, we decided to incorporate the mask of the antagonist, this would allow the audience to make a link but still remain unsure about the antagonist/s, generating to hype about the film.

POSTER

The creation of the film poster was the first of the media products we attempted to do; from studying posters in our textual analyses, we agreed that a poster could be the most basic of the products to make, however it does also remain as one of the most vital components to promoting a film.

Prior to the final poster we had a lot of ideas of what we wanted the poster to look like as you can see from the drafts, but as you know a hand drawn image/idea is very hard to replicate on Photoshop so we decided to digitalised the rough drafts and make them into official drafts which can be seen on the blog. This gave us a clearer vision on what the poster could look like and helped us on our final design, there are also similarities between drafts and actual official film posters.

In regards to conventions, we feel as though we followed the general conventions set by film posters, except from the page orientation. Our film poster is a landscape orientation whereas as the conventional posters are portrait.This may have handicapped us but we feel it was a good decision as in the distribution of the film poster most modes of advertising to the general public offer the wide landscape canvas which will give us maximum coverage e.g buses, underground, billboard, cinema windows.

We did however keep to the conventions that would enhance the illusion of authentication and the chances of having an attention grabbing poster such as the film notes appearing at the bottom of the poster, like all official posters we have studied during the coursework, we even included the same steel tongs font used by the media institutions. The position of the film title varies on every poster and is due to preferences but usually the title is low down just above the film notes so again you could say we challenged another convention but the red font colour was notorious in the horror genre and definitely applied with the convention. Similar to most posters our film poster is a medium close up; making the subject appear large and dominate also the prop of a phone reveals a little about the content of the film such as other films may have a weapon. The inclusion of a mask is also a convention that is frequently used giving the feeling of the unknown which would add to the spooky, mysterious fear factor of the poster.

In summary to this question, we would say that there was a mixture in the use, development and challenging of the conventions in our media product which created a unique blend which appeared authentic opposed to a random make up. In regards to that we are happy with how we dealt with developing, challenging and using the conventions on our media products.

Behind the Scenes

Official Teaser Trailer

Magazine