Evaluation: Question 4

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

During all stages of the of our media coursework we used media technologies to enhance the presentation and construction of our media product. The use of media technology was vital in the planning of our media production. In the initial stages of planning, when location scouting we would use an iPhone4S to take pictures of the locations that we wanted to investigate to see if they would be suitable for our production. These images could then be sent to other members of the team so the suitability of the location could discussed immediately, to avoid wasting precious time during the planning stage. During the location scouting stage of planning we also used Cannon 600D DSLR camera to capture high quality images that, that could be used in later stages of planning such as during focus group, meetings, blogs and on the Facebook page that we later set up to allow us to gather information from our target on audience and make vital creative decisions during the planning stage. The Facebook page allowed us to set up online polls and discussion forums as well as communicate with the target audience during the construction of our media product when extras where needed for filming, the site allowed us to contact large amounts of people at one time and to great some coverage of the final product before it was even released.  The site also allowed us the gain vital audience feedback at each stage and discuss with that they thought were positive and negative about the ideas that we pitched to them,  additionally allowing us to keep in touch with other members of the team, during all stages to discuss ideas quickly, on both the trailer and ancillary tasks. Furthermore the Cannon 600D wasn’t just successful in the location scouting images, but allowed us to film our trailer to a high quality (1080p) to allow our production to have a professional quality, instead of the production being a poor quality. Other equipment used during the filming of the production included Tri- pods to allows us to capture footage especially during scenes of conversation to keep to camera steady and create fluid shots that could be placed well within the final trailer. Glide tracks and steady frames where used during action scene filming and car scenes when the object was on the move, to reduce to shake and make to footage look more professional. During the planning and research stage of our production, YouTube allowed us to research into codes and conventions of the psychological thriller genre including existing media products that we could gather ideas from for our own production, such the Eagle Eye trailer. YouTube was also used during the planning stage for beneficial tutorials to help with camera techniques and lighting when shooting on location. The final production is also placed on YouTube to gather audience feedback through comments and allow maximum audience coverage as; it can be accessed across the world. Within the first week the trailer gained over 1,000 views and 20 subscribers to the channel, this site also allowed us to view daily views and gather statistics on where people are finding the trailer from. Blogger and Prezi allow me to present my planning, research and final productions in a professional format, instead of conventional text. Blogger allowed me to keep an organised record of all stages of the production and present my work to the targeted audience in the same way that we used Facebook, as I also had surveys that allowed me to gather feedback from the focus group, and to make creative decisions during planning and construction stages. Final Cut Pro was used in the editing of the trailer, this software is used to make the editing of the trailer look professional and to allow effects to be added to make the trailer have the same conventions and codes as existing media products and create a seamless effect that made the product look of a professional standard and bring all of the footage and audio that we has gathered together. 

 

Evaluation: Question 3

1.       What have you learned from audience feedback?

We initially made a YouTube account to promote our media product and gather a wider audience viewing platform. From this site we gathered audience feedback through the comments that people left, including one by Jon Marren who suggested that “ Can there actually be a film for this?.” Additionally other comments where giving us critical feedback, such as that from Leonkitsune suggesting perhaps that the trailer is not suitable for audiences as it suggests on the preview screen at the beginning of the trailer. This critical feedback allowed us to perhaps looking into ratings and certificates for the trailer and how these occur as these where something that we hadn’t researched during our planning, this is something we could initially look at in the future and ensure that we look at all aspects of the trailer in great detail during the planning and research stages. The account also additionally allowed us to view statistics of sources of viewing of the site and the trailer, and understand more about the targeted audience, this could be influential when reaching targeted audiences in the future and understand how sites such as YouTube work and how our product can be pitched to a wider audience for maximum viewing. Furthermore the Facebook page we set up to help gather feedback from our targeted audience. The final production and individual tasks were put up on the site. This allowed us to gather feedback on our production quickly, initially only family and friends saw the trailer, however after the trailer had been shared on other Facebook pages and Twitter the trailer gained more views and Feedback, including a worldwide audience feedback from America, who asked when the movie release date was in the US, as they thought this was a trailer for a real movie. Once it was explained to them that it was just four coursework they said that the trailer looked very professional and said that if there was a movie for this trailer that they would pay to watch it a cinema. Through the use of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube alone we gathered over 1,000 views in the first week of the video going live. The use of these sites allowed us to understand how pitching our product on multi-platform allows us to gain maximum viewing, and understand how target audiences are viewing our media product and existing media products and understand how these sites can be multi-functional and used to gather feedback that can be used when evaluating our product and looking a future products and how they should be constructed, to fit in with current trends in viewing trailer for films. Furthermore we also used emails to ask people involved in the main production, what they thought of the final production after they had been involved in the construction of it. We sent copies of the production the local council who we leased with the gather permission to film in a local car park for some of the action scenes in the trailer, as they were owned by the council and we needed permission to film. The copies sent to the council where passed via email to people who were involved in the media industry and said they would happily comment on our production and give us feedback on what we could improve on in future products. Feedback from Mark Nutkins and independent film maker who has worked on Hollywood films upon viewing the trailer gave both positive and negative feedback , say that the trailer was of good quality and look professional, comparing that it was created by people of a young age with low budget equipment, however they suggested that the quality if the sound should be improved especially when being viewed on table devices, as this is vital as our targeted audience largely view are product on mobile devices such as tablets and smart phones on the go. He also suggested during the camera angles should be used to establish each character as the trailer, only used a small number of camera angles. This allowed me to understand the importance of camera angles and how they can be used in the narrative to give more emphasis of characters mood and authority.

 

Evaluation: Question 2

1.       How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

My ancillary tasks deliberately have discontinuity with the main production and were more focused on the on the personality of the character rather than how the trailer conforms to the codes and conventions of the genre of a psychological/ action thriller as a whole and the format of a trailer. The trailer largely focuses on the narrative of the story behind the character rather than the character themselves, therefore within my ancillary tasks I wanted to show that and focus on the character more. The combination of both the main task and poster and magazine cover works well however there is a clear discontinuity between them. The magazine as seen from my planning and research is largely based on the French movie magazine Premiere and the way that the main character image is the only image present on the cover. The image takes up most of the cover to make it the main focus and to draw all attention to the image; therefore no other images are used unlike other magazines such as Empire and Total Film. The colour scheme for both the ancillary poster and magazine are alike as I wanted them to have a clear continuity between both and represent the character on both. The poster uses only one main image following the codes and conventions of most movie posters, however during my research, I liked to way the Black Swan poster used a central image of the main character using direct mode of address.  I used the same font for both magazine and poster as, the use of Trajan Pro 3 a bold font with a slight cursive effect font allowed me to reflect the personality of the character not only by the body language of the character within the central image but also through the font used.  I used this font and the way that it could is bold and stands out from the page, I wanted this to reflect how the characters personality is strong willed, this is linked to the trailer and how we see him action scenes during the trailer, and how the bold text represents his desire and passion to find the truth. The cursive effect of text reflects how he is sophisticated and of a high class as we see him dresses suites through the trailer. The red and white scheme used throughout the magazine and poster connotes both danger with the read font perhaps suggesting death or suffering and the white suggesting innocence this also reflects on the whole narrative of the characters situation. This red and white theme I decided would be considered as my house theme and would be portrayed in both my ancillary tasks. The deliberate discontinuity was made as the trailer is very dark, this is reflected through the lighting used as well as the characters clothing making the character blend into his surrounding and become part of the narrative as he should within the trailer. However I wanted to put more emphasis on the character as said before therefore the use of bold bright text and more focus on a central image of the character on both the magazine and poster allowed me to do this. On the other hand the trailer as product is represented as modern and wanted this to be continuity that is reflected on all of the products, this is also reflected in the font of both the magazine and poster, with the title font Arial bold used to give it a modern feel and reflect on the meaning of the title its self, with the font looking similar to that used on a computer screen log in and introducing the idea of it reflecting a modern product as the trailer also has on screen text that appears in a similar font. In conclusion the products work well together and have aspects that link them together; however there is clear discontinuity between all of the products to reflects on the creative decision making that was made during planning and research and what I wanted the main focus of the ancillary tasks to be.

Evaluation Question 1

1.       In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

During the initially drafting session with the rest of my team we decided upon the idea of making a psychological thriller, however we wanted to create a trailer with aspects of the action thriller genre and consulted our focus group.  They recommended that we based the trailer around the psychological thriller genre as be didn’t have the facility’s to make realistic action scenes that are seen to be part of the action thriller codes and conventions that we have researched into, and additionally didn’t  have the budgets to facilitate this. Therefore our production is based on the postmodern theory technique called a hybrid, and the idea that our production is a combination of two different genres.

During our have used the codes and conventions of both a psychological thriller and action thriller through the use of low key lighting used throughout, we did this using a sport light, this allowed to create a sense of suspense and darkness behind both the narrative and the character, as well as the reflecting on the villains. This sense of darkness is also created as the male lead wears a suite throughout, the dark clothing perhaps suggest that they have something to hide and allows them to blend in with the narrative. The use of suites and dark clothing also fits in with the of an action thriller and conventions of actions thrillers such as existing media products such as James Bond how the main lead is always smartly dressed, even during action scenes. On the other hand our media product and challenges the conventions and the idea and representation of women as we have a women of high authority within our production that challenges the codes and conventions of most existing products of the same genre, however she is place for the male gaze and is also dressed in a low cut top and skirt that emphasises this theory. However the product also puts emphasis on and follows the conventions of almost all existing media products through Propps theory and the idea that several types of characters within all narrative situations. We have followed this theory though the use of a main protagonist and agonist and the idea that there is always a hero and villain within the narrative. Additionally our products uses hermeneutics codes as first suggested by Barthes and that are conventions of action thrillers through the use of props such as weapons such as guns and documents that signify a preferred reading to the targeted audience, about how this could signify a specific detail within the narrative. The use of uses and gratifications theory allows these props such as weapons used in most action thrillers is used to position the audience into thinking that they are signifiers. Our production challenges, uses or develops codes and conventions as the production is originally based upon a psychological thriller, however after development the products has more codes and conventions of the action thriller genre.

Evaluation Prezi

Production- Ancillary Task 1 Film Magazine Front Cover

Production- Ancillary Task 2 Billboard Poster