Question Four

Question Three - What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Although there wasn't large amounts of audience feedback gained throughout the process of creating these products, I still learnt a lot from what we did get.

Firstly, the poster, which I uploaded onto facebook and shared around to people in our target audience, received very positive comments. Everyone stated that it was very good, looked professional and loved the effects used. The only change was to alter how the face on the left blended in as it didn't seem to go with the rest of the poster. I understood this and made the changes straight away, consequently making the final outcome far better. This part of the poster was a very last minute touch and so didn't have as much time spent on it as the rest, which is probably why it was one of the weaker elements.

Next, the magazine cover, which I again uploaded onto facebook. This received lots of positive feedback and most said they thought it was actually a real cover. But then some commented that there were also issues with the clarity of the text, especially the red writing against the back ground. Again, I changed this straight away and it made a massive difference. I think this was because when the image was exported to a jpeg, it decreased the quality slightly, and also, I think viewing the image on different computers and screens also made a difference.

Lastly the trailer, which we showed a variation of people, not just those in our target audience, to get more of a wide response. The majority of this was positive but there were some comments on the quality of the video. Now although we were aiming to have a decreased quality to emphasize the handheld camera effect, and also to highlight parts of the storyline, the final outcome was not actually the quality we had expected. I think, when the footage was imported into our editing software, the quality was decreased right at the very beginning, and then further decreased once exported. Also, once exported, I think the quality was even further decreased when converted to the correct file format.

Overall, there are a number of things I have learnt:

• Spend the right amount of time on each part of the task so as not to have any areas lacking, which thus decrease the impact of the final outcome.
• Experiment with exporting image files and find the best one before I decide on the final product and just stick to one.
• Ensure clarity throughout aswell as consistency
• Experiment with exporting and importing to get the best quality
• Take extra care and time by keeping up regular checks and self-evaluation --> increasing the positive effect of the final product.

Question Two

Question One

Question 1 evaluation from broganmain

Evaluation Questions

1. How did you use new media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?
2. How effective is the combination of your main product and your ancillary texts?

3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

4. In what ways does your media product(s) use develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

FINAL COVER + CHANGES

Audience Feedback for Magazine Cover

I generally received great feedback for the magazine cover, everybody seemed to like it and I had other comments saying that people had thought it was a real cover which was great to hear.

The main thing I have found is that people were saying some of the red text is difficult to read, especially under the mast head and the main coverline, this is something I will alter to aid the audience when reading because they will be put off if they are struggling to read a part of the cover.

Magazine Cover Creation - Step by Step

Mock-Up of Magazine Cover

This is the basic mock up of my magazine cover. I would like to include all the typical codes and conventions of a magazine, while still making my particular one unique in the hope to attract a wider audience and fanbase.

Conventions of a Magazine Cover

• Masthead - Placed at the top, large, eye-catching, creates brand identity, makes audience instantly recognise it
• Coverlines - Stories - placed left and right, main feature article in a larger font in the middle
• Header/Footer Bar - Block of colour at the top and bottom to advertise
• Main Image - A picture of one or more people, direct mode of address, usually just one image, head and shoulders shot or long shot
• Puff - Shape to advertise exclusive content or free product
• Bar code - Includes the prices, issue number, website usually
• Slogan/Tagline - explains content, makes it stand out, makes reader wonder and want to know more
• Variety of Fonts - Makes the coverlines more interesting and differ from each other
• Colour pallete - Only uses 2 or 3 colours to create a house style

The main function of a magazine cover is to sell the magazine and so are deliberately made eye-catching, interesting, bold and brightly coloured to attract attention. The cover will usually also try to create a loyal audience/relationship by maintaining a house style making the cover instantly recognisable for it's audience.

Magazine Cover Analysis - Total Film

Magazine analysis from broganmain

Also as well as what I have analysed here, there is a definite brand identity. Firstly through the colour scheme, which is mostly blue, white and red. Blue is the colour of the sea and sky and is often related depth and stability, it is also a masculine colour and so attracts the male audience (the majority of the audience for this type of magazine) and can also symbolise wisdom and confidence. At the same time, blue is also a cold colour and can appear mysterious and eerie, which I think is what they are trying to do here to reflect themes from the film. White, as mentioned before, is the colour of purity and innocence and in contrast with black, usually has positive connotations, but can also come across creepy when used in the right context. Red connotes danger, evil, death, blood and gore.

Another thing that reflects the brand identity is the typography and in this case there is a range of fonts used in a range of sizes, this is done to highlight how important each thing is, e.g. the most important thing will be the biggest to attract the attention first.

FINAL POSTER + CHANGES

Audience Feedback - Poster

 Overall I received generally good comments very quickly with only a few stating minor changes that could be made.

I will attempt to act upon this comment by altering the mask part of the image to try and make it blend in as it had also been mentioned  previously. But this was the best comment I received and the exact response I was hoping for.

Gaining Audience Feedback

I decided that to get audience feedback on my products, I would upload them to facebook as social networking is so popular especially within my target audience. This would be the best way to achieve the most and best feedback and so I will upload each part of the promotional package to facebook and then post the comments from that, and my final input/decisions.

Creating my Poster - Step by Step

Horror film poster from broganmain

Poster Mock-Up

This is the basic mock-up I planned for my poster. I wanted to have a picture of the main character in the foreground and maybe one other or a silhouette in the background and make it poor quality with a "video recording" overlay to make it look like it has come from somebody's rubbish handheld video recorder. Then I will feature the typical conventions of a poster such as the title, review comments and institutional information.

Photoshoot

I have shown a select few of the images from the photoshoot with the lead actor from the film. I will use two of these, one for the poster and one for the magazine cover. For the poster, I would like to use a photo that looks like it has come from a still of the film whereas for the magazine I would like to use an image of the actor looking directly at the camera.

Fonts/Typography

I have done some research into fonts used on posters and have realised that they should play a part in reflecting the atmosphere of the film. I have decided that the majority of my writing shall be white which will reflect the innocence of the main characters in the film and show the purity of the kids, and in turn emphasising the severity of the danger. I will then put some parts in red, representing the danger in the film.

I will use a mixture of these fonts:









This first one (above), will be used for the main title and therefore the logo for the film. This font gives off a destructive/distorted look which implies disruption and something going wrong.












Secondly, for some of the extra text on the poster such as comments I will use this typewriter font which has an old, battered, messy effect again connoting disruption and disorder.








Again for the extra text I will use this simple font, merely just because of it's plain, easy to read look which will make the text clear and concise for the audience.









Lastly, I will use this final font for the institutional information which will go at the bottom of the poster. This fits with the codes of a real poster as it allows me to use both large and smaller letters (all letters appear uppercase, but when actually used with capitals, the capital letters are much larger than the lowercase). Conventionally, a real poster would have the names in larger letters than the rest and this font was specifically designed to do that.

Poster Style Model

Although I wanted to design and create something unique, I still researched into existing products to find a style model.

I eventually found this poster, which is the closest to what I wanted to create but still very different.

For my poster, I wanted to emphasise the feeling of unknown while still showing important elements of the film such as the handheld camera effect.

Conventions of a Film Poster

Must be:

• eye catching and captivating for the audience
• clear to the audience what the genre is
• designed to attract the biggest possible audience

Should have:

• Focal picture of main situation/charactrs
• Eye-catching large font for the title
• Tagline
• Key info - release date/"coming soon"/age certificate
• Reviews
• Institutional information

Horror images =
- dark environment
- suggestion of death or fear
- blood and gore
- bodies
- distress
- weapons/masks
- graveyards/churches

Horror Poster Analysis - Mirrors

• The main image shows a face emerging from the darkness which is either screaming or in shock and her eyes are widening with fear which suggests that there is something terrible going on or something is doing something awful to her - there is an obvious severe threat nearby. There is also a red tint smeared on her face which connotes blood, gore and violence.
• Because the background is black and this takes up the majority of the poster, the whole poster gives off a feeling and connotations (with the colour black) of fear and the unknown and also danger, evil and death.
• The title is in red which also has the same connotations and has a clever enigma within it by putting one R back to front as if it is being reflected in a mirror.. this leaves the audience wondering why mirrors have such a big significance as they are just a familiar everyday object.
• By writing the name of the actor above the title, this also attracts people to the film who will recognise him e.g. his fans or people who have seen him in the other successful films. This will make them want to see him again, especially if the previous were very good.
• The above is the same as the writing at the top which will attract the fans and audience of that film to this new film.

Horror Poster Analysis - The Woman in Black

• Central focus is the woman dressed in black - in conjunction with the film's title. You can't see her face and so she emits a feeling of unknown and leaves the audience with an enigma, wondering why she is so significant.
• It seems like there are ghosts surrounding her  which connotes innocence and along with the tagline underneath the woman, it implies that something bad is happening to the children and it won't stop. This makes the audience sympathise and will encourage them to watch as they will want to know what happens.
• The background/setting appears to be quite desolate which gives the feeling of isolation and solitude which will create an eerie atmosphere and the implications that someone is far out from civilisation, unable to gain help.
• The tagline is again, mysterious and leaves the audience wondering what it means and want to know more.
• The text is written in white which connotes innocence and purity which differs from the rest of the poster but adds to the mysterious effect and makes you wonder who is innocent and maybe everything is not as it first seems.
• Also, at the top they have written the name of a famous actor. This will attract a wide audience as this actor is known as the main actor from a very popular and successful series of films so people will recognise him and want to see him in something new.

FINAL TRAILER

Editing

I am using Final Cut Pro to edit my trailer.

The image above is an example of the software in action (although not directly from my trailer, this is taken from the web).

This software is new to me so I have taken the time to use online tutorials to assist my use of this and to improve the outcome of my trailer. I have now learnt about effects and transitions which will make both the video and the audio of the trailer better, and also how to put effects on the text used in the trailer. Another thing I have learnt about is how to trim clips to piece them together, and keyboard shortcuts which will make this easier and quicker for me. By the end of this process I am now much more knowledgeable and confident in using this software.

Soundtrack and Sound Effects

I did some research into use of soundtrack in horror trailers and decided that for my trailer, which is a psychological horror and so has an eerie, mysterious, feeling of unknown to it, this should be reflected in the soundtrack. Although there should still be increased tension/suspense throughout the trailer and so this should also be in conjunction with what we hear from the soundtrack. I wanted to use something that also seemed very mysterious but instead of using a piece of music, I wanted to use a track which seemed as if it didn't quite fit together properly, with very strange sounding parts to it which would heighten the feeling of unknown and disruption.

To get this, I went to a royalty-free music website, http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/ and put in the criteria I was looking for. After trying a few different tracks I decided that one called The House of Leaves best fit what I was trying to do.

This track was described as "A simple harp refrain plays a child?s melody, but is torn apart by discordant screeching noises, thumps, growls, and mechanical noises." This seemed to completely fit what I was trying to do with the soundtrack and so seemed like the best choice.

Also, I downloaded some potential sound effects we could use from a site I located, http://www.soundjay.com/. I downloaded a range of effects just in case I decided I should use them such as camera sound effects e.g. focusing, tape loading and also other effects such as typing because I knew I wanted to use a typing effect for the text.

Second Filming

After reworking our plans to make them more suitable, a second day of filming was scheduled in which the remaining parts of the footage were filmed. This meant we can now start editing the footage.

Although, before we could start editing, we had to go through all the available footage we had. After doing this, we decided we should again, slightly alter the current storyboard just to fit with the footage we did have, but doing this allowed us time to add in where we would put our inter-titles and other interventions such as production company logos which would help when putting the trailer together.

New Storyboard

New storyboard from broganmain

After our first day of filming I have altered the story board to fit better with the new plan.

Filming Day 1

I have included a slide show of images to show camera use and some evidence of the day.

This day was mostly spent at the school location but also the other two main locations.
After filming today, when we watched back the footage we came to the decision that the school sections were a wrong choice and we would cut this part from the trailer. These parts did not build enough tension that we desired to keep the audience gripped and so we had to rethink some of our plans.

Location Tests

In addition to the images I have previously uploaded, before filming any shots for our trailer, we went to some of the locations to do some test shots. This would give us a good idea of how we can apply our plan to the actual filming and also practical thing such as where to place the tripod, good routes etc.

Questions to keep in mind...

Why would someone want to go and watch our film?
Shaun and I believe our film will challenge the conventions of standard horror films and give an edge to it that will create an assortment of scenes that will mange to scare the audience, make them tense, havean air of mystery about them and most of all to make them jump out of their seats. Our film would not only challenge conventionsof horror films but it would also take different genres and add them into the film as a secondary focus point for the audience to get their heads round. We think we could havetwo genres link together such as romance and horror and make them work to make the audience feel mixed reactions to what is happening on screen.
What is the Unique Selling Point of the trailer?
the unique selling point of our trailer is the breaking of conventions and the fact that it is all filmed with hand-held and easiley available cameras. All of our trailer footage was filmed with a large handheld camera and a small one which gives the effect of amateurs recording their footage, this works because all of our characters are school students and they wouldnt necessarily have the funds for proper equipment so its quite authentic in that sense. We are breaking conventions of horror film trailers because we are wanting to show diversity and we think by having our scarier footage at the beginning we can entice and intrigue the watcher.

Plan for our first filming day

We have picked a day to carry out the filming for our trailer during the half term holidays which means that all our characters will be available for the whole day not just school hours.

Date: Friday 2nd November

If we need to shoot some other footage we have an extra day on Sunday 4th november.

We are going to meet at 10am thursday morning to plan the days activities. Our actors will arrive to meet us at 11am at the school car park.

Locations: The three main locations used will be The School, River and Abandoned House. We will shoot our first footage at the school where we will need to cover the interviews, including characters and our clips of a pan shot around a table in the middle of the quad in school.
This should take a couple of hours and then we will head down to the abandoned house where we can start to film some of our more scary shots including characters reactions to noises to incorporate this into the trailer. Preferably we would like to film this footage in the dark as the nights are getting earlier but we need time to get our footage from the river as well.
After we have got the footage from the Abondoned House we will have a break for lunch and head into town to grab a bite to eat.
As it is startig to get darker we will head down to the river and get the rest of the footage we need such as most of our scary and jumpy clips that will scare our audience. We need the darkness for this because the effect of the dark on the camera will create mystery and suspension in the trailer.

Risk Assessments

Risk+assessment+form from broganmain

BBFC Estimate

We are hoping to classify our film at either 12 or 15. This is because we are doing a psychological horror and so violence and gore is kept to the viewer's imagination. Also there is not frequent use of strong language or dangerous behaviour.

BBFC Guidelines

We did some research into BBFC to find out about certificating our film. This is a requirement by law for every film made. This can have a positive impact on the film as it can mean that our target audience are able to go and see the film but this could have the opposite effect if the certificate is too high for our target audience, meaning the film would barely get any audience. We thought by classifying our film, we could make a confirmed decision at our target audience before filming the trailer. We looked through every classification from the BBFC to see where our film would fit in.

U

• Stands for Universal and should be suitable for viewers over four.
• Very mild language is allowed e.g. 'damn' and 'hell' and occasionally  'bugger' and 'bloody' when justified.
• Kissing/cuddling and references to sexual intercourse may be made but no obvious focus on sexual behaviour, language or innuendo.
• May include brief fight scenes or moments of danger but  resolved quickly with a reassuring outcome. Any scary scenes or moments of emotional stress/threat would be balanced out by reassuring elements such as comic interludes or music. "Baddie" characters may carry weapons but there will be no emphasis on this.
• Not usually any reference to illegal drugs or drug misuse unless there is a very clear anti-drug message. 
• Not all U films are for children but will generally contain messages about loyalty, honesty and friendship. It will normally have a happy ending and the overall tone should be one of reassurance. 

PG

• Stands for Parental Guidance meaning suitable for general viewing but may be unsuitable for very young children. Watching should be down to parent's discretion.
• Mildly bad language in a PG such as 'shit' or 'son of a bitch' but the context and delivery are important, the language will not be used aggresively and there will not be too much of it.
• Sex references are acceptable as long as they are lacking in detail although it may be allowed if a child is unlikely to understand the reference.
• No detail of violence e.g. if blood is shown you would not see much of how the injury was inflicted. Violence is more acceptable in historical or fantasy settings. In horror, jumpy moments and scary scenes are allowed but if the sequences have significant or realistic violence, horror or threat then it must not be prolonged.
• Potentially dangerous behaviour which might be copied by children is usually not acceptable especially not if it looks safe or fun. Easily accessible weapons such as knives will not be glamorised or focussed on.
• There may be passing references to illegal drugs or drug misuse, but no strong focus. These are especially acceptable if there is a clear anti-drug message.

12 and 12A

·         The 12 certificate is just for video, DVD and Blu-ray and 12A is just for cinema.

·         12A means that anyone 12 or over can go and see the film unaccompanied. The A stands for ‘accompanied’ so children under 12 can see the film when accompanied by an adult.

·         May be strong language but it must be infrequent and not masses of aggressive use and there can be use of moderate language. Aggressive discriminatory language is unlikely to be passed at this certificate.

·         Sex can be briefly and discreetly portrayed and some mild verbal references but not frequent crude references. Can be nudity but only briefly.

·         Moderate violence is allowed and gory moments may be permitted if justified. Action sequences and weapons may be present and may be long fight scenes.

·         Moderate physical and psychological threat or horror is permitted as long As there are no frequent sequences.

·         Hanging, suicide and self-harm may be present but not dwell on detail.

·         Infrequent sight of drugs misuse but the portrayal must not be glamorised.

 

15 

·      Potentially a great deal of strong language but continued or aggressive use of the strongest terms will not be passed at 15.

·    May be racist, homophobic and other discriminatory language especially if the work is exploring themes related to this but must not endorse it.

·    Sexual activity can be portrayed as long as there is no strong or graphic detail. May be quite long and involve nudity and movement. Can be strong verbal references.

·    Violence may be strong but strong gory images are not acceptable.

·     Most horror films are rated 15 with strong threat and menace as long as it is not sadistic or sexualised.

·     Drug taking may be shown but not promoted.

·     Dangerous behaviour which could be easily copied such as hanging, suicide and self harm is not likely to be dwelled on.

 

18

• At this rating, no theme is prohibited. By law, adults have the right to choose their own entertainment and so it is possible that some themes may even be offensive to adults.
• There is no limit to usage of strong and extreme language. Could be used aggressively, directly and frequently.
• There may be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory language and there may be themes which directly explore this.
• There can be strong and detailed portrayals of sex and there are no constraints to nudity in a sexual and non-sexual context.
• Violence can be strong and detailed and may dwell on the infliction of pain and injury.
• Strong horror works containing gore and/or sustained threat or menace is usually passed as 18.
• Drug taking may be shown but the work must not promote or encourage drug misuse.