Evaluation

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

I have followed many common conventions on each of my different media products, due to them being very effective. Firstly, in my trailer, i used a quick transition between the shots to build up tension, and also some slower dissolving transitions for a longer clip. This is a very common convention in horror films. Also, many of the scenes are dark to show the dark mood and atmosphere and also building suspense and mystery.
For my ancillary tasks i researched existing film magazine to see their common layouts and conventions they use which are effective and i used some of these ideas to create my own front cover and poster. I used the same picture for both because i thought that people would relate the two and it would make people remember the advertisement more.

How effective is the combination of your main products and ancillary tasks?

I think that my main product and ancillary tasks work well together, because the two ancillary tasks add an extra part of the story which is not reveiled in the film itself - the haunting woman. They can therefore link it to the storyline already known and understand it much more.
Due to my film trailer being a horror, i linked that idea in with the poster and front cover by adding a simple colour scheme of darker colours, especially on the poster.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I have learnt things i have succeeded on and things i could improve on from my audience in the comments which were made, such as:

- 'It's a bit too dark at the end and i can't see whats going on' - I agreed with that comment but there was a slight reason that it was too dark. It was very difficult to get the right light and it wasn't as noticeable until it was uploaded on to the computer.

- ' I really like it and would definately go and see it in the cinema'

- 'I like the colour scheme on the magazine. It all stands out really well'

Even funny comments like:

-'Woah your sister's creepy' - which of course i'm pleased with as that was what i aimed for.

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

I used as many different media technologies as i could to create all my tasks of my project.

- The internet to do my research and even photo editing - Picnic.com and Photoshop.com and of course Blogspot.com to do my blogging

-Video Recorder to film my footage

- Adobe Premier Pro to edit my footage and create my final trailer

- Publisher to create my magazine front cover

My Final Trailer

It took a lot of time to get my trailer to what i wanted and also short enough. Due to me filming eight minutes of footage, i had a lot of work to do to cut it down to between 30 seconds - 1min 30. At first i managed to cut it down to 2min 55 which was much too big for a teaser trailer. I had to go through it many times to cut out all the extra bits i did not need and make it so it was more mysterious and did not give the storyline away completely.
For my music i used two noncopyrighted CD's.
1) Metamorphosis 6 - Track 26
2) Electric Dreamz - Track 7
So i finally managed to cut it down to 1min 44 which is close enough as i couldn't find anymore i could cut out and still liking it so here it is.

My Magazine Front Cover

I used the picture from my poster to make my magazine front cover because after looking at other magazine covers, i liked that they had used the same images. I also used a simle colour scheme of red, white and black to make it stand out from the dark picture. I used a picture of a film reel to fill the title of the magazine 'Reel', because it is related to the word and i think it was very effective.

Making the title of the main storyline large and in a different font i think it stands out a lot because it is easily linked to the picture on the front. I like having only a few coverlines as it doesn't take up too much of the space and doesn't take the attention away from the main storyline.

Editing My Picture And Final Poster

I wasn't able to make the poster exactly how i draft it as i was unable to get the pictures i needed, therefore i changed it slightly and made it more similar to one of the magazine front covers i looked at.

I used Picnic.com and Photoshop.com to edit the photo in many ways.

I really like how it has turned, as i think it is very mysterious. However i wasn't able to use one effect as i was unable to find anything that looked like the picture was underwater. If i had enough time to change it i would make the title a bit laighter as it is vey hard to see unless you are close to the picture.

Drafts

The other things from the brief I have chosen to do are:

1 A poster for the film

2)A film magazine front cover, featuring the film

To get some inspiration and ideas, i looked at a couple of existing horror posters, to see what designs they used.

The first one i looked at was from the film 'One Missed Call'.

I like it because of the main picture and the title is noticeable, with an extra storyline at the top which stands out but not at much as the picture and title.

The second one i looked at was from the film 'The Eye'.

This is very similar to the other one, but i liked the idea of one main picture and just a title. I think it grabs the attention of the reader and doesn't give much information away about the film itself, which will encourage to find out more about it.

To help decide on my layout for my poster i have drawn out a draft on what i hope it to look like.

This is a similar idea to what i want, however i would like the main picture of the hooded figure to be much bigger and stand out more. Also, i would like the top two pictures to fill up the cut out shapes.

Next i had to look at existing film magazines to see how they put the front together and what is put on it.

The main film magazine i could find was 'Total Film' so i looked at a couple of different issues.

I think that this one is good with the big picture and small amount of colours, but i don't like all the writing taking away the attention from the picture.

I like this front cover, because it has one large main picture from the film with the title of it large to stand out. Also it doesn't have many coverlines so it focuses more on the main story. I like the simple colour scheme used, because i think it is very effective.

I have drawn out some draft ideas of a layout for my magazine front cover.

I like the first one more because it has less going on on the magazine and focuses more on the main picture and coverline.

Planning My Trailer

I have chosen to do a horror trailer, so i have looked at different aspects of horror which are used, such as:

- Haunting

- Death

- Torture

- Blood/Gore

- Strange Characters

- Masks

- Hallucinations

and many more...

Due to only having limited access to props and some technology access, i will not be able to use unrealistic aspects, as i am not able to create any type of CGI.

I have drawn out a storyboard to show all the different clips in the trailer. This is not my original storyboard, as i have made a few changes to my idea.

The music i think would be best is slow, dark and mysterious to add the effect of horror and mystery.

Research

For my research, i watched a few different film trailers and music videos. The films were all horror/thriller as that is what i want to base my trailer on if i picked that option.

The first music video i looked at was Pussycat Dolls - Beep.
I liked it because it swaps between a choreographed dance and extra bits and storyline. It also swaps between all of the characters. And at the beginning it changes the scene to the beat of the music.

The next music video i looked at was Christina Aguilera - Fighter.
I looked at this because of the horror aspect, with dark settings and strange characters. I liked how the characters all moved sharply to add a weird effect and unrealistic movement and also dance related moves. I also liked the little bits of CGI to creat a melting effect of silk and when she is hanging up on the wall.

The first movie trailer i looked at was for Shrooms.
I liked that it started at the beginning with cheerful music and clips of the funny things when taking shrooms, such as a talking cows, and then it cuts into dark clips and music after a girl eats the deadly one and there are a lot of strange characters which are shown only quickly and people being attacked. Then it ends with the title.

The second trailer i looked at was for Haunting in Conneticut.
I thought this was well put together, by starting with clips of the film with the mian character speaking. Then slowly there is eerie sounds used to create a mysterious effect and ending with an off tone piano.

I like all of these different aspects of each, but i would prefer to do a horror movie trailer.