2. In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
A trailer is a prescriptive form of which the codes and conventions have to remain fairly balanced
in order for the audience to recognise and identify it as a trailer. The typical trailer requires a
mixture of shots, varying in length and speed, along with inter-titles, fast paced editing, a
voiceover and a dramatic score to generate the feeling of suspense and tension.
I had the challenge of making a hybrid trailer in combination with the genre of a documentary. It
was hard to merge both genres as I had to think about the codes and conventions that both
include and differ on.
At first I made the rookie mistake of making a trailer build up followed by a documentary extract
featuring interviews with the cast. However, I made a small mind map to visualise the frame of my
trailer and realised that I didn’t use any inter-titles nor did I make it concise and fast paced for a
trailer. Therefore I matched the shots to the beat of the score, included clearer voiceovers and
made quick, short shots overlap parts of the interviews making it not only look but feel like a
trailer, building on suspense throughout.
In addition, I took the opportunity to film scenes of my trailer in New York as it relates to the idea
that skating is an international sport and America is one of the major cities that supports this way
of life, providing skate facilities and shops.
3. How effective is the combination of the main product
and the ancillary texts?
My ancillary products both mimic my trailer as the fonts are the same and both the poster
and the magazine front cover outline the storyline.
I think that the magazine front cover is almost identical to that of what the designers at
‘Little White Lies’ would of made. I tried to aim for a very artistic, surreal look that would not
only fit with my film and present it in a new light but appeal to my target audience and draw
their attention to it.
From feedback people have said that both my poster and magazine front cover look very
interesting and are very eye catching. In addition, they are both pleasant to look at and
they could tell what the film was going to be about or involve.
Both of my ancillary products are have a similar layout, in the sense that they look very
urban, and a contrasting colour scheme that relates to the skater community as most
skaters personalise their skates with graffiti art or bold use of colour.
4. Different posters The title is bold and
and magazine stands out among
everything on the poster
covers that drawing your instant
attention to it.
influenced my
design
The colours
mimic a ‘beach
boy’ look as
well as the sun
and the sea of
the The background
setting, Californi image is of a
a, relating back palm tree which
to the coincides with the
skateboarders surfing element
history of of the film.
surfing
The main
shot is of a
skater in
action and
The tag line
he looks
suggests that this
fueled with
is the very first
adrenaline
film of its kind
and about
something new
that’s uprising.
5. Comments
from
reviews that
relate the
surfers
The title is feelings
bold, black and is when
in two parts; tackling a
lower case and wave on this
capitals. This scale.
symbolizes the
wave and how it
progresses from The background is
something small of a giant wave
to a ‘giant’. and brings to life
the scale and size
of this monster as
it is contrasted to
a height of a
surfer.
Shows that this
is a big
production as
its opening a
world famous
film festival.
The
actors
(surfers)
The production
titles are introduced
summarizing the
sponsors and
directors.
6. The main
image is of the The title is
tightrope black, simple
walker. The and bold
image is against the
miniature background.
compared to
rest of the
poster and the
empty space
emphasizes
the fall he The comment
could take if he from one of the
makes one reviewers
mistake. relates to what
the ‘man on
wire’ is feeling.
The production titles The
give an insight into background
the sponsors. makes the man
look as if he is
on top of the
world and the
distance
between him
and the floor.
7. The month of
the issue along
The title of the with the date
magazine. and the price of
the magazine.
The title of Quentin
Tarantino’s and
Robert Rodriguez’s
new horror edition
featuring two
films, one by each
director. The title
itself looks as if
someone wrote it
with blood due to
the colour and
smudges.
The names of the two
films; ‘Planet Terror’
and ‘Death Proof’
Other features and
articles that are going to
be in this version of the
magazine.
8. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
The majority of the people that watched my
film really enjoyed the build up sequence at
the beginning and end as they thought it
helped to build tension and anticipation to
see what's going to happen.
They said that it was interesting to watch
as I had a variety of shots and as its not a
mainstream type of genre
9. How did you use media technologies in the
construction and research, planning and evaluation
stages?
For my trailer I used a small handheld HDV camera along with a tripod and microphone. I
found these really easy to use as I have had experience handling the equipment last year
when making an opening for a film in AS media. For most of my establishing shots I used a
tripod to get a smooth shot, however, most of my footage I chose to record hand held
especially when following the action to create and represent a sense adrenaline.
I edited my footage and turned it into a trailer with the use of a Mac and Final Cut Express
HD. Yet again I was familiar with how to use this editing software from last year so I found
it easy to cut the clips, make a countdown sequence/montage build up to the music and
add any necessary titles or effects. Furthermore, this year I developed my knowledge of
the program and found out how to create markers, fade in and out the sound or even
distort it.
For my ancillary products I used a SLR camera to capture the shots I needed and found
that it was the best piece of equipment to capture a clear action shot. I've never used this
camera before so I kept it on an automatic setting. For the editing process I used Adobe
Photoshop CS3. I’ve never used Photoshop so I found it pretty hard at first as you have to
work in layers but after a few attempts I got used to it and found it easy to use.
