Evaluation Question 4: How Did You Use Media Technologies In The Construction & Research, Planning & Evaluation Stages?

Evaluation Question 3: What Have You Learned From Your Audience Feedback?

From my audience feedback, I was able to tailor my products to the interests of my target group. This allowed me to create a film poster, magazine cover, and trailer which my intended group felt was of high quality. To see how the audience feedback helped me during the construction process, click on the links below:
The Construction Of My Film Poster Aided Through Audience Feedback
The Construction Of My Magazine Cover Aided Through Audience Feedback
The Construction Of My Trailer- 1st Draft- Aided Through Audience Feedback
The Construction Of My Trailer-2nd Draft- Aided Through Audience Feedback
The Construction Of My Trailer-3rd Draft- Aided Through Audience Feedback
The Construction Of My Trailer- 4th & Final Draft- Aided Through Audience Feedback

Evaluation Question 2: How Effective Is The Combination Of Your Main Product & Ancillary Texts?

How effective is the combination of your main product & ancillary texts?

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Evaluation Question 1: In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms & Conventions Of Real Media Products?

Marketing our Trailer, Film Posters & Magazine Covers

 Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKCa8vl4_rc&feature=youtu.be


We uploaded our trailer onto youtube as it is a good social platform to promote our film becuase it is used by our target group on a daily basis. Moreover, all film trailers are uploaded onto youtube where people can comment freely giving their views and opinions about the trailer. We feel that the comments we receive will be useful if we were to produce another trailer in the furture. Also, as this is a public website, individuals outside of our intended audience group can give us their views too.

 Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003708185260&sk=wall

Facebook is a huge platform where one can instantly advertise to millions of people around the world. The global scale allows us to promote our film trailer to intended audiences in many countries. Our group felt that advertising our trailer on Facebook will interest people to watch the trailer and give feedback. Nearly all films create Facebook pages for their films where they include extra information on casts and provide sneak peaks into the fimlimg process such as bloopers. We feel that by following this trend, we are able to raise good awareness of our film trailer.

 Twitter:  http://twitter.com/#!/thelastlaugha2

Twitter is the latest craze amongst our intended audience who use it, and Facebook, to share their pictures and views. It has become a norm for some people who use it to follow their favourite celebrities and other people. We felt that it would make sense to set up a twitter account where we would be able to update the followers about our trailer. By adding pictures of our magazine covers and film posters, we were able to market our media texts to our target group.                                        

The Last Laugh Trailer- Fourth & Final Draft

 

This is the final draft of our trailer. We adhered to the feedback from our target group and chose the none diegetic sound they had voted for. This makes our trailer more likely to appeal to the audience as it reflects their likes. We also added lots of shots towards the end to build up a crescendo sequence. The fast pace of the sequence visual creates confusion, builds tension and reflects the turmoil of Nina for the audience. We also added a scene after the title as after analysing existing trailers, we found that a scare right at the end is a common feature of horror trailers. Our audience felt this was effective in shattering Todorov's new equilibrium at the end of the trailer. We added a 'coming soon' card and ending credits as they are a convention of trailers. Our target audience felt that our trailer was now industry standard as a result of the combination of unique tone cards, tense non diegetic sound, a range of shots, and a clear narrative.

The Last Laugh Trailer- Third Draft

 This is the third draft of our trailer. We added non diegetic sound to the remaining parts of the trailer as our audience had suggested. We showed them two different trailers, as we had two different soundtracks and we were unsure which one to use. It was a unanimous vote that the soundtrack on this trailer was far too dramatic and was not effective for our slasher trailer. The felt that the sound in Kirby's scene did not create a sinsiter tone, it was quite comical and slapstick. We added a scene after the title to increase the duration but our audience still felt that the trailer was short. They suggested we add the crescendo sequence to elongate the trailer.

The Last Laugh Trailer- Second Draft

The Last Laugh Trailer- Second Draft

After working on the improvements suggested by our target audience, we added relevent effects to the tone cards which gave them an illuminating look. We darkened down the scene when Buffy is alone to indicate to the audience that the trailer has shifted towards the moment of disequilibrium. The non diegetic sound from the beginning of the trailer till the tone card 'From the Directors  of Scream' coneys the period of equilibrium.We also darkened Kirby's scene to create a sinister and threatening atmosphere.We added 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' camera shot music to our snaphot sequence which displays the corpses of Kirby and Tatum. Our traget audience thought this was effective in putting them on edge and depicting the sadistic nature of the villain. However, they still felt that there should be something else in the trailer towards the final scenes to build back the tension as currently the trailer loses its pace towards the end. The non- diegetic sound must also be added they said.

The Last Laugh Trailer- First Draft

The Last Laugh- First Draft

 This is the first draft of our trailer. Here we have only added the soundtrack for the the first scene as we were still in the process of creating the soundtrack for the latter scenes. The editing is simple and there is no effects on the tone cards.We are in the still in the process of muting the background sound in the latter scenes. We asked our target audience for suggestions and they said that the duration of the trailer should increase as most trailers are usually 1:30 seconds. They could not give many suggestions as the trailer was not fully complet as the music was yet to be added and the effects on the tone cards.

Filming the Trailer

This are the images we took whilst filming our trailer. We experiemented with lighting and in the end used a torch light to film the majority of our trailer as we all unanimously preferred the 'spotlight' effect which made the characters look quite pale. Furthermore, as our film fits the slasher subgenre, we decided to film in the night to create an eerie atmosphere. Like all filming processes, we went through ups and downs with trying to get the perfect shots. The scenes with Tatum soaking her head in the water required careful planning as once her hair was wet, we would not be able to film that scene again and make it appear as if she's about to go into the water the first time. Luckily, we managed to get it right the first time. We realised how many shots are needed just to create a ninety second trailer as by the end, we had lots of hours of filming to cut. There were also many scenes we shot which did not make it to the trailer such as the knife in the sink scene. Although we wanted to keep all the scenes, we had to compromise with some scenes which really weren't all that necessary. However, this just meant that the best shots and scenes were in the trailer so we were relieved knowing that our trailer was high in quality. We did not know what soundtrack we would be using for the trailer and I feel that it would have been useful if we did because that would have enabled us to match beat of the music with our shots.

The Making of my Poster

5th and Final Draft

After acting upon the suggestions and opinions given by my target group, I have made the credits, date and title bright and increased the size of the "L's" in "LAST LAUGH". I showed my target group the poster and they unanimously voted that draft 5 was better than draft 4. Thus, this is the final draft of my film poster. I feel that this poster depicts a slasher horror film and correlates with the trailer too.

4th Draft

I have decided to make my poster darker so that there is not as much red in the background. Following the suggestions made by my target group, I have made the "L's" the same size as "LAST LAUGH" aswell. After doing this, I decided to show all 30 individuals, which I had broken down into groups of 10 when showing my earlier drafts, the poster and we put this poster next to the "Friday the 13th" poster and marked the similarities and differences. The target group then looked back at the earlier drafts and came to a collective conclusion that the "L's" in "LAST LAUGH" should be bigger. Moreover, the title, credits, and date is not quite visible so they suggested that I make it brighter, especially the date as it is very faint.

3rd Draft

Taking the feedback from my target group on board, I decided to experiment with the font size so I made "THE" smaller which follows the style of the "Friday the 13th" film poster too. As a result, the focus is on "LAST LAUGH". Furthermore, I have added a space between each word which allows the glow effect to be much more visible and it gives it a sharp appearance linking back to the knife weapon used in the trailer. I asked 10 different individuals from my target group once more to find out their opinions and if my poster appeared "industry standard". They felt that the poster should be much more dark so that only the villain stands out from the darkness. Additionally they felt that the "L's" should be the same size as "LAST LAUGH"

 2nd Draft

After adhering to the advice given by my target group, I have cropped the poster which means that the gap between the image and the title also decreased. I have moved the strapline "WHO WILL HAVE" a bit down because I felt it was not very visible. After this, I asked 10 different people from my target group if they felt my poster was a conventional horror film poster. They felt that the title was quite simple despite the font style so I should experiment with the font size.

1st Draft

This is the first draft of my film poster. I got my inspiration from the "Friday the 13th" poster below thus my image is located in the centre too. I edited the image so that the sky is tainted with red to create a 'blood' effect which conforms to the slasher sub genre. I downloaded the "28 Days Later/28 Weeks Later" font as I felt that it appropriately depicted the gruesome nature of the plot. To get the opinion of my target group, I asked 10 people from the ages of 15-21 and they felt that the poster's length was very long. Also, that there was too much of a gap between the title and the image. They suggested that I crop the poster so that the key image of the villain is clear and eye catching.

Inspiration for Poster

This is a typical slasher film poster and I will be referring to it throughout the production of my poster. I feel the central long shot image with the slight low angle shot depicts the villain as an incredibly powerful character. The trees in the background create a sense of entrapment and I prefer the image being of the villain than the hero/heroine as it heightens the fear for the audience. They can expect to witness gruesome action as indicated by the inclusion of the chainsaw. There is not much writing on the poster to divert the attention from the focus image. The strapline "WELCOME TO CRYSTAL LAKE" is simple infont style and size. The title and date are in the same blood red colour which is appropriate for a slaher horror film. For my poster, I would like to create a similar product, where the image is striking and not much writing around the poster. I would like to use the photoshop software to experiment with the font styles and the background image. Overall, I would like to create a simple slasher style poster which focuses on the power and sadistic nature of the villain to create fear in the audience.

The Making of my Magazine Cover

5th and Final Draft

Taking the feedback from my target group on board, I added the glow and wind effects to the film title. I also enlarged the Empire tagline "MOVIES' BIGGEST YEAR EVER!" After showing my magazine cover to all my target group, they agreed that it was complete and looked like a conventional horror Empire edition.

4th Draft

After adhering to the advice given to me from my target group, I added "ESSENTIAL 2012 PREVIEW!" to the bottom right hand corner and enlarged the font from "THE LAST LAUGH". I replaced "2 COVERS TO COLLECT" with "MOVIES' BIGGEST YEAR EVER!" as I felt that it is more conventional. I then asked 10 different individuals from my target group about their opinion on my magazine cover. They felt that the film title should have the same effect as the title on the poster did. This would aloow continuity.

3rd Draft

This is my 3rd draft. I got my inspiration from the "SAW" cover below thus my image is placed in the centre. At first I had decided to use an extreme close up shot of the villain but it looked peculiar as the eyes were not visible. I then took a close up shot of the mask and found that it looked better with the text on the magazine cover. The black background makes a good contrast with the white mask thus making the mask stand out. The shadow effect on the mask was created through the Adobe Photoshop software and the green and red colour was added to aid the green colour theme. I asked 10 individuals from my target group from the ages of 15-21 to give me suggestions and any feedback. They felt that the right hand side was quite empty so I should try to add something there. They all decided that the font of the film name should be made larger and the tag line "2 COVERS TO COLLECT" should be enlarged and it could be replaced with something else.

2nd Draft

In my second draft I have experimented with different styles to see how they appear on the page.

1st Draft

This is the first draft of my magazine cover. I have used the photoshop software to edit the image and have chosen a green colour theme similar to the "SAW" Empire cover. The effect on the title "THE LAST LAUGH" is the same as on my poster as I wanted to create continuity between both media texts.

Inspiration for Magazine Cover

This is a typical Empire horror magazine cover and I will be referring to it throughout the production of my magazine cover. I feel that the extreme close up shot of the villain is eye catching and direct eye contact creates intense fear. There is not much writing around the cover as the focus is on the image. Similar to the "Friday the 13th" poster, I prefer the image being of the villain than the hero/heroine as I believe that evoking fear in the readers through the image will make them more likely to buy the magazine rather than through a powerless female protagonist. For my magazine cover, I would like to create a similar product where there is not much text to divert the attention from the focus image. I would like to use a striking image, preferably a close up shot or extreme close up shot of the mask where I will edit it using the Adobe Photoshop software to create mist/shadows. Overall, I would like to create a simple Empire horror magazine cover which focuses on the power and sadistic nature of the villain to engross the readers.

Image chosen for my Poster

This is the image I will be using for my film poster. The image is at a slight low angle and through the medium long shot, the knife is visible. I decided to position the villain in front of the tree so that the branches were visible in the sky. The sharpness of the branches assists my slasher style poster creating a sinister look. I will edit the image so that the sky is tainted with blood red and the face is much more visible and eye catching. I want to create a poster similar to "The Texas Chainsaw Massacare" poster, "Friday the 13th" poster and "Jeepers Creepers" poster which is why I have chosen this image.

Image chosen for Magazine Cover

 

I have chosen this image for my magazine cover as I feel that an image of the villain is effective in heightening the anticipation for the audiences and readers through the natural desire to find out who is behind the mask. The mask paradigm links this film to other films like "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Scream", "Friday the 13th" and "Halloween" which should increase the popularity. I will edit the image so that it is ann extreme close up and the pink cheeks are blood red. The blood stains will be more visible and I will use shadows and other darkening effects to give the image a sinister appearance.

Photo Shoot for Magazine Cover and Poster

Our group decided to have a photoshoot where we would experiment with different camera shots, lighting and props to create striking images which we could later use in our magazine covers and film posters. This allowed us to plan and think about our posters and magazine covers even before we had begun making them which was useful.

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