Ancilliary tasks: Poster

Times Up Trailer: Final

Ancilliary tasks: Magazine Cover

Final copy:

How did you use new media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages? Evaluation Task 4

YOUTUBE

In planning our trailer, we used YouTube to research other examples of Psychological thrillers. We did this for a number of reasons. The first was to research how a trailer is structured, and to notice conventions that stereotypically appear throughout trailers. The second was to gain inspiration for our trailer, as well as the themes and characters that we were to use within it. YouTube played a large role in the creation of our trailer, as it allowed us to ensure that our trailer was original, while at the same time following the generic conventions of the genre and appearing to be as professional looking as possible.

We also used YouTube after we had finished our trailer to post the video online. This was useful as it allowed us to show the trailer to audiences and receive feedback. By having the video on YouTube, this also meant that it could be posted to social media sites such as Facebook and Tumblr. This allowed us to reach a wider audience, and therefore our audience feedback is more varied. This is also useful as due to YouTube stars such as Zoella, Danisnotonfire and AmazingPhil becoming popular icons to many people, there has been a proliferation in the audience of YouTube. This means that our trailer will reach more people as many more people are signed up and have YouTube accounts.

FACEBOOK

We used Facebook when we were planning our trailer, as it allowed us to communicate in a fast, simple manner.  We set up a group chat with each member of our group, therefore allowing us to send and share messages and images efficiently. This was useful in the planning of our trailer as it meant that we could organize filming dates and deal with responsibilities in a quick and simple manner. This was effective in the planning of our product.
 We also used facebook for audience feedback. We did this by posting our trailer onto the social media site and asking the people who we are friends with on Facebook to comment their opinions of the trailer. This helped us know how we could improve our trailer, as we were getting opinions of people who weren't seeing our product as someone who knows the topic of media, simply as a consumer. This adds a sense of realism to our feedback, as our peers would judge our trailer as they would judge any other trailer that came on in a cinema or any other social media.

BLOGGER

We used blogger when planning and creating our media texts, as it was a place where we could keep a documentation of the work that we had done. Whenever we created a piece of work or planning, we would take pictures and upload them to our blog, and the same when we typed up our script and shotlist. This meant that all of the work that we had created to date was uploaded to our blog, and therefore it was all in one place and we could not easily lose any of our work. We also posted our finished film, poster and magazine cover to our blogs, in order for them all to be located in one place.
Also, blogger has a feature that allows a user to change the date of a published post. This enabled me to move my posts so that they were in chronological order, especially with the four individual evaluation tasks. This helped in the planning of our products as it allowed us to keep posts of the same topic, such as planning, together and therefore made them easier to look up and find.
Blogger also uses technological convergence, as it has an app avaliable on both the Apple store and google play for android.

PHONE
Within the planning and creation of our media text, phones played a large role. Due to technological convergence, mobile phones can be used for much more than just making phone calls and sending text messages. Now there are cameras, apps and internet connections, making mobile phones much more versatile.  The first way we used our phones was to use text messaging and other instant messaging apps such as Kik and Facebook to communicate with other members of our group. This allowed us to plan our trailer much more efficiently, as if we had an idea, we didn't have to wait until we next saw the members of our group to pass on the message. This also helped in gaining audience feedback for our film, as we could use messages to send the link to our trailer to our peers and ask them for feedback.

Another way that we used our phones was for taking photos. We did this for a number of reasons. If we had an image that we wanted to upload onto our blogs, for example our shot lists or costume plans, we could take a picture on our phones, and then sent them to ourselves on Facebook, or even used the blogger application to directly upload them. We also used our cameras to take pictures of our costumes and send them to the other members of our group for approval, or even taking pictures to use on our ancillary tasks.
The use of mobile phones has helped us a great amount in the creation of our media text, as it has allowed us to plan and form ideas with other members of our group in a quick and simple manner, without having to turn on our computers.

VIDEO CAMERA AND TRIPOD

We used a Panasonic HD video camera to ensure that our production was of the absolute best quality that it could be. By using a HD camera, the picture of our trailer was made much clearer and of a higher definition. This made our trailer appear to be much more professional and of a higher standard than if we were to use a regular camera. This also means that there will be less blur or distortion in the footage that we have captured, as it is of a much higher quality.
We used a mixture of hand held camera and using the tripod in our trailer to create a variety of effects. By using the tripod, we ensured that our shots were steady. We used the versatile and changeable heights of the tripod to change the angle of the shot, for example making the tripod taller and tilting the camera down to create a high angle shot. We used this in the footage that appeared towards the beginning of the trailer to show a sense of calm and equilibrium.
When filming the footage for the second half of the trailer, we decided to use handheld camera techniques. This means that the camera is not as stable and perfectly framed as it would be if a tripod was used. In one particular shot, the main protagonist is running through a dark room. Rather than having a stationary shot with the camera on a tripod, we decided to use a hand held tracking shot to create a more natural effect. This also meant that the camera was shaky, which connoted chaos or anarchy.

MAC AND FINAL CUT PRO

We used Final Cut Pro on the Apple Mac computer system to edit our trailer. This was useful as this is a more advanced software that is not available on a typical PC computer or laptop. Final Cut Pro is a more professional editing software, meaning that our trailer was of a better quality. On this software, cutting and moving clips is simple, meaning that there were little or no complications in learning to use it. This also meant that we could spend more time on adding special effects to our trailer, rather than focusing on learning how to edit it.
Final Cut Pro also has a variety of texts, transitions, and image and sound manipulation settings that are easy to use. An example of this is the colour fix setting, in which you can edit the darkness or brightness of a clip. This was useful in the production of our trailer as it allowed us to make scenes that we filmed in broad daylight appear to be dark, as if they were filmed at night. This added the effect to the trailer of eeriness, as stereotypically situations are more scary if they happen at nighttime, as there is a universal fear of the dark and the unknown.

What have you learn from your audience feedback? Evaluation Task 3

1. Are the characters portrayed well? 
-I definitely think that the bad guy was creepy and the main character was good, but she doesn't speak 
-I think that the evil  character is portrayed well but the main girl could be played better
-yes
 
2. Does the mask work well to cover the killer's identity?
-You can't tell who the killer is and it makes him scary!  
-Yes, it gave me chills!!
-yup

3. Does the progression through the trailer work?
-Well it is easy to know because the beat kicks in and the trailer gets faster 
-yup 
-It builds up to a good pace without confusing the audience so yes 
  
4. Do you think the music fits the psychological/thriller genre well? (This includes the beats when titles appear etc.)
-yeah, the music was cool 
-Yes!! 
-yeep 

5. Does the editing fit what you'd expect in this genre?
-its hard for me to tell what the editing was personally, but the dark effects work for the genre 
-I like how the pace is used, but some of the transitions seem a bit unecesary 
-yeep 

6. Do you understand the plot line from what is shown?
-Yes, I liked how the girl has to outlive 12 hours to know if she's going to survive 
-I think so, killer is hunting people and gives them 12 hours to live?  
-I think so! Yep

7. If this was in the cinema, would you watch it?
-I might do, but I'm not keen on thrillers 
-If I liked this genre of film then yes
-If I liked horror movies, yeah
 
8. What did you like the most?
-i really liked the killer! It's hard to tell who the person is and I'd hate to be hunted by them! 
-The antagonist was very scary, I really liked the mask! 
-from about 0:38 to 0:45, the chase bits. Excitement and tension was good  

9. What didn't you like?
-I think the beginning scenes with the girl and mother were meaningless and I think the killer should only be shown at the end 
-I think the main actress seemed a little too old, if she was played by someone younger I feel it would be much scarier 
-Maybe the voice that the 'killer' had? It felt a little out of place  

10. Did the trailer work overall?
-I really like the trailer I think it works well and I wish I could make awesome trailers like this!
-YES! I really liked it, it looked professional
-Yeppp!

OTHER FEEDBACK:

"it was good, definitely gave me a chill down spine, um... constructive criticism add some music that gives supences, yeah........"

What have I learned from my audience feedback? 

By creating the questionnaire that we used to collect our audience feedback, this meant that we could then keep our results in a simple and organized manner, making it easier to evaluate the responses that we received.  For example, question 7 was, "If this was in the cinema, would you watch it?" This question gained a variety of responses but mostly positive. Most people responded saying that if they enjoyed this type of film, then they would go and see it in the cinemas. This helped in the post production of our film as we knew whether the trailer appeared as professional and effective, or whether we should adapt the editing to make it appear more appropriate for cinema showings. It is thanks to the questionnaire that we created that we were able to specifically identify the answers to this question, and adapt our trailer to this feedback.

My audience feedback has helped to shape the way in which my film trailer was constructed. For example, we asked our peers for their opinion on the plain white mask that we originally planned to use. The majority of the people that we asked said that the mask appeared as too cliched, and so we took this feedback and changed the mask to make it appear as more scary. Once we had painted the mask, we then asked people to give us feedback on how it now looked, including our media teachers. The majority agreed that it was now much scarier, and fit the mood of the trailer that we had planned much better than the white mask.

Another question that we asked was, "What didn't you like?" This allowed our audience to be critical, and give us some feedback as to what they thought we could change or improve on. This helped us as it allowed us to see what parts of our trailer the audience felt were out of place or did not quite work. An example of this is the voiceover of the antagonist character. One person who completed our questionnaire said that the voiceover felt out of place, and took away from the mood of the trailer. In the initial creation of our trailer, we used two distortion effects on Final Cut Pro, alien and phone, to make the voice ambiguous. However, due to this comment and another saying that the words that the voice says cannot be heard, we changed this so there was only one effect, which was alien. This allowed us to give a sense of ambiguity, as the audience cannot tell whether the voice is male or female.


One feature of my print texts that I decided to change was the layout of my magazine cover. My original poster is the picture below on the left. However, the people I showed this to all agreed that the images at the bottom of the screen for the three featured films were too large. I then returned to my magazine cover and decided that they were right, and so changed the images so they were in a much smaller scale. My final draft of my poster is below and on the right. This looks much better as the main image can take up more space on the cover, rather than the three less important images using the space. If it wasn't for my audience research, I would not have noticed this problem in the magazine cover. The audience feedback has helped me to notice features and issues within my texts that I did not notice myself.







 

















I also decided to completely rearrange my film magazine cover, as it allowed me to create a more professional text. The original front cover that I created was very cluttered, and looked more like a poster for a film festival than a magazine cover. I asked a few of my peers what their opinion was, and they all agreed that it did not look like a magazine cover. Rather than only changing elements of the cover, I decided to completely restart, and use the same images to  advertise other films on the cover. My second draft of my cover appeared as much more professional, due to the fact that I followed the conventions of magazine covers.

I also made some changes to my poster due to my audience research. While I was creating the poster, I asked my peers and media teachers their opinions on the texts and colours that I used throughout. They advised me to use less red, and change some of my fonts into white. This made my poster look more effective, as it singled the title, "Times Up," as the only font in the red colour, therefore making it contrast against the black background and mostly white text. I kept the red glow around the website link below the main title of the film, as this connotes a hidden sense of danger that is hinted to throughout the entire campaign.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? Evaluation Task 2

I used the mask as a common factor that appears between the three texts I have created. In the trailer, the mask appears few times, and is only used at times of tension or climax, whereas in the poster and magazine cover, I decided to use the masked character as the main focus of the text. I did this by using an image of the masked character reaching for the camera on my poster, and the character looking at our main protagonist on the magazine cover. This draws attention to the mask and creates a sense of mystery, as the audience begin to wonder who the character behind it is. 

I chose to not include the main character, Gabrielle in the film’s poster, but she does appear frequently throughout the trailer and is the main focus of the magazine cover. Gabrielle is wearing casual clothes, a striped t-shirt and jeans. We chose this as it is a very basic outfit, and therefore does not draw attention to Gabrielle. We wanted the character to seem like an average teenaged girl, not too far from the norm. This gives the effect that the killer could hunt anyone, rather than targeting their anger towards a specific type of person. I decided not to include Gabrielle on the film’s poster, as the antagonist is reaching directly for the audience, as if we are seeing through her eyes. This also gives the effect that the antagonist could target anyone.

I also decided to use the “Times Up” logo on all three of my texts, as this is a typical synergistic feature of campaigns such as this. In the trailer, the Time’s up logo appears within the last 20 seconds of the trailer, making it one of the last things that the audience see and therefore will remember it.  On my magazine cover and poster, the Time’s Up logo is towards the bottom of the image, in a colour that contrasts to everything else and therefore making it more noticeable.

In my magazine cover, I tried to give hints to the narrative, as the antagonist is looking directly at Gabrielle. This connotes that they are interested in her, and gives the effect that the antagonist will be attempting to hunt or stalk this character. This connotes a relationship between the two characters as he is solely focused on her, never anybody else. I also used this effect in my poster, as the antagonist’s hand is the main focus, reaching out to the audience. The mask of this character can be seen between two of the fingers, connoting that the character is reaching out to grab something. This uses Barthes’ theory of enigma coding to connote that the character is hunting something, and comes close to obtaining their desire.

Using synergistic features attracts an audience as it means that they will begin to recognise certain features. For example, if a person were to see the trailer for the film in the cinema, and then see the poster advertised on Facebook and then on a magazine cover, they would recognise both the mask and the logo of the film. This allows them to feel knowledgeable, as they will recognise these features.  This will also create a sense of mystery in the audience as the more they see and recognise the mask, the more they will begin to wonder who this character is and why they are hiding their face.

One feature I carried through from my trailer to my print texts is the use of low key lighting. I used this by ensuring that all of my images had a black background, and then using the burn tool and the brush tool on Photoshop to darken the images further, and add shadows. Low key lighting is a convention of the psychological thriller genre, as it adds an effect of fear and mystery to the image. An example of using low key lighting to create mystery and fear appears on the poster for Dead Silence, where the image of a doll has a black background and has been darkened to fade into the shadows.

Overall, I believe my campaign has been successful as I used a range of synergistic features throughout. This is also due to the way that I planned my texts, as I ensured that I had images and logos that I could carry throughout my trailer and print work, as well as ensuring that there was synergy between the three texts. This means that my audience will recognise these features, and will begin to wonder what the film is about, and will want to see the film to have their answers about the characters and narrative answered.  I also ensured that the genre of the film was clear within each text that I created by including conventions of the psychological thriller genre such as low key lighting, a female main character, and the colour scheme of red, white and black.