2. In what way does your
media product use,
develop or challenge
forms and conventions
of real media?
3. My media products all take on and use conventions but also When establishing which target audience my products would be aimed at i
develop and challenge conventions in different ways. From knew that the target audience had already been established. It was
producing my products this way I believe this is why my end established when choosing the genre of my trailer. Therefore my target
products are similar but unique in different ways and this is audience would be people who enjoy watching films with a genre of thriller or
what sets them apart from general media products that you drama. However i knew that the age of my target audience would be an
see in the typical film market today. important factor. Once again this then took me back to my research and i
looked at different thriller and british genre trailers and the most conventional
For my products i produced a film trailer, magazine cover and trailers all had certificate 15 and 18 age restrictions. This also made sense as a
poster. Before beginning designing my products i did a lot of thriller film wouldn’t be good if it was open to all age ranges as it would make
research into different key elements of the different products. the trailer less realistic. For example you cant include thrilling violent dramatic
From this i hoped to produce good looking professional scenes for younger ages it just would not work. This was also the case with
products. But, i also wanted my products to be unique and british drama films as the main convention of a british drama film was to have a
stand out without making them available to a niche audience as storyline that people could relate to and understand the difficult situations that
this would decrease popularity of my products.The way in are set in these film types. As a conclusion i rated my film as certificate 18. My
which i did this through research was looking at multiple film reasons for this was i wanted to make my trailer unique by making it longer
trailers, magazine covers and posters and made a description than usual trailers to give the audience a better sense of the storyline. This is
of different elements from each product i liked then once this the unconventional element of my trailer and from this i thought that a
was done i began to plan how i would incorporate these younger age range would have a worse attention span than a more mature late
elements into my products. teens audience who would be able to watch my trailer in a mature manner and
be able to be interested but keep concentration as my trailer was longer than
When designing my film trailer i looked into many different conventional trailers.
conventions of film trailers already on the market and thought
how i could use these conventions to produce a professional Once my target audience was established and filming was finished i found a
looking trailer. I to start with i looked at genre and cam to the backing song that would be suitable for my trailer. Ialreay knew i wanted a
conclusion that i wanted my trailer to be about a thriller but song for the backing of my trailer as this was a very typical convention used
to make my trailer unique i tried to make it different but in a in a lot of film trailers today. I found it from my actual inspiration for my film
conventional way. This is when i come up with the idea of it trailer storyline. The song is F.E.A.R by Ian Brown i thought it was perfect as
being a thriller/drama style trailer. My reasons for this was my lyrically everything fitted in with the name of the trailer F.E.A.r as all the
film is going to be british made and the most popular genre of lyrics in the song begun with F,E,A and R. This worked well with my target
british film was drama, but i also wanted it to be popular. This audience as it was a more mature song with less of a chart feeling about it
lead me to looking at some of the top films ever made and the that a younger audience prefer. Also i knew that an older more interlectual
most popular genre there was thriller. This then lead me to audience would notice the link between the name of my trailer and the backing
design a trailer with a thriller/drama feel to it. The way in track and would be able to relate them to the storyline and also to the name
which this links to conventions is because these genres alway of my film. However my backing track did not follow a conventional backing
use typical conventions when produced, so therefore when track as many of them rase in tempo as the trailer becomes more intense
producing my trailer i used these conventions to make it look where as the track i had chosen has an on going repetitive beat, but this fitted
professional. into my storyline as it was about a boy that gets bullied every day of his life.
This could then link to the beat as symbolising the ongoing day to day bullying
my main character was going through.
4. My magazine cover follows conventions in different ways but also different elements of my cover are also
unconventional to show this i have got my magazine product a conventional well known product at the bottom of this
slide and at the top is a less known unconventional cover. to show how i have used conventions i am going to compare
my product to both the other products and show different similarities in my product with the other two.
As you can see i have shown different similarities with the conventional and unconventional covers by circling them.
One conventional aspect of my magazine i the bold magazine name. This is important as viewers know what the name
of the magazine is so next time they can buy it easily as they will know the magazine from its name. Also this is
conventional so people will be more enticed into buying it as i feel that with the market being so well established
buyers will know what they look for in a magazine. My point is that it would be hard to design a magazine for a niche
target audience that would fit into such a competitive market. Therefore when producing my magazine i had to take
this into consideration. That is why i wanted to make a conventional looking magazine but also with unconventional
elements to make it stand out from other magazines.
Another conventional aspect of my magazine cover is to have the main character as the centre piece of the cover. As
you can see both the conventional and even unconventional magazine use this effect to get the buyers attention. I
found this out through research of different magazine covers. I felt that without doing the research i would not be
able to have a good finished product that looked professional.
From my research i also gained great knowledge that the different had lines had a big effect on whether people
purchase the magazine or not. My reasons for this is that if a magazine had poor headlines that didn’t interest people
they wouldn’t be as popular or as successful as magazines that did have good headlines. Therefore from this is knew
that for my magazine to have a professional look i had to use this information to produce a good quality product.
From my digipack research i found that between all products audiences could link them together through connection
of different elements so that they knew that each the film trailer and poster are all for the same film. This technique
is used in every conventional set of products throughout films of today. I then knew that from this to get a
professional look in my products i would have to use these connections and make my products conventional. The way
way in which i included this technique between my poster and magazine is that i used the same style of font and red
effect so the audience could make that link. This is so that they knew the two products are for my film trailer. I also
used the same red and white colour scheme in my cover and poster.
However to make an unconventional twist in my magazine i kept it very minimalistic and simple this was because i
wanted to make my magazine cover different from the conventional type to make it stand out, but i still wanted it to
have a conventional feel to it. I feel i achieved this by including basic essentials such as the barcode and basically
explaining what viewers can expect to find in this magazine
5. When creating my poster i thought that to get a quality professional look to it i had to carry out research and follow
conventions in order to achieve this. From my research i learned that basically all film posters are very simplistic but
also very effective. Although many of them are effective in different way they all use same technique to get viewers
attention and try to make them interested into wanting to watch there film they are advertising. I learned this
through looking at different elements of conventional film posters and taking different elements and then incorporating
them into my poster.
The most important convention of general film posters of today are the back ground picture being the centrepiece of
the poster. From this i felt when designing my poster i would have to get the best possible poster that would not
attract my target audience but get there interest and almost get them guessing as to what happens in the film. I felt
i achieved this through the photo i used as the audience wonder who the character is and what he is going to do with
the weapon in his hand. Also the dark background gives it a sense of dark atmosphere as if something will happen.
I have also included basic essentials which some posters choose to not use but i think this is important as i didn’t
include on of them in my trailer. One of which is the age certificate which gives it a professional feel about the
poster. Another essential is the actors names and people who were included in the producing of the film. This is also a
very popular convention used in many film posters made today as i learned this through my research. The COMING
SOON is also very important when designing as it follows conventions of many film posters of today and i feel without
this the poster wouldn’t be as effective.
Another convention that my magazine follows is to have the film name as the main attraction after the photo attracts
viewers. The way in which i have created this effect is by having the film name very bold to attract viewers eyes as
this essential when people look at a poster. I have also followed the same colour scheme and font a the magazine so
they can be linked between the two as endorsing the same film, because if this is not achieved then both the
products will not look professional or conventional.
I have also included quotes to get the audience thinking about the film and maybe for them to try and link as to what
its about this effect is conventional and a lot of posters use this same technique. The quotes i use were to represent
and try and give the audience a different aspect as to the deffenition of fear. I did this by coming up for a word for
each letter and from this i got “ forget everything and remember - for everything a reason”. I believe that this gets
the audience thinking and intrigued as to what is meant by these quotes. This also favours my target audience as only
a more mature older age group would find this interesting compared to a younger teen generation.
As a conclusion to my products i believe that they do follow conventions and i have used this to try and make my
products look as professionally made as possible but, i have also developed conventions to make my products unique in
a way that make them slightly unconventional but they still have the feel and appearance of conventional products.
6. Propp’s theory of
narratives.
This theory was developed by Vladmir Propp, based on the work of the Russian Formalists. Propp
used Russian Folktales as the basis for his theory but it can be applied to all types of fiction as well
as many movies. The basic premise is that there are several basic archtypes that appear in alot of
films, and that they all play very similar roles.
These characters are:
• The Hero - who is seeking something
• The Villan - who tries to stop the hero from achieving his goal
• The Donor - who gives the Hero an item of power
• The Helper - Who aids the Hero
• The Princess - This could be a person or thing, which acts as an award for the hero
• The Dispatcher - Who sends the hero on his Journey
• The Father - Who rewards the Hero
From looking at this theory i think my trailer does not follow conventions in terms of this theory and is
unconventional compared to this theory and other narrative theories.
7. How effective is the
combination of your real
product and ancillary
texts?
8. I believe that the effectiveness of my main product (film trailer) and the ancillary texts (magazine cover, poster) is one of the most important
elements to think about when making my products. In order for them to be effective i used different techniques to not only attract my target
audience but also that the audience should look at the three products without reading into anything and know that they were all made for the
same purpose, which was to promote the film i come up with which was F.E.A.r. Through this each the main product and ancillary texts should be
able to link together if this was not achieved within my products they wouldn’t be effective and look professional.
One of the techniques i used throughout my products was keeping the same design of my film name which was F.E.A.r. the way in which i did this
was through each product every time the film name was on one i was to be the same throughout all of them with the F,E and A all being capital
and the r to be not capital. This way the audience would take one look at the film name and know that each product was promoting the same
thing which in this case was the film F.E.A.r.
Another element that was important but made my ancillary texts effective was using the same font and effects in them. This was shown through
using the same font in both so that they were easily recognisable so people could associate this font with the product i am trying to promote. Not
only does this allow the audience to do this but it also makes them link the two products together which is the effect i needed to achieve
otherwise it would be pointless in creating the ancillary texts.
I also used the main character throughout the main product and both ancillary texts. This also allowed my audience to look at all my products and
make a link between the three so they could then look at them and all once again know that they were all endorsing the same film.
The combination of the three all are effective but work in different ways. In my main product i needed to create a tense atmosphere throughout
the running of it. The way in which i created this effect was to give a short story as to what happens in the film through using different camera
shots and character speech int he shots that give away little hints to the audience as to explain what is going on in the trailer. I created this
through planning a script before making my main product, although i wanted to keep the script short as i felt that text, subheadings, camera shots
combined with my sound track would give a better sense of tension rather than have to much talking from the characters as actions speak louder
than words and this i feel works in my main product.
My ancillary texts also use different techniques in which to attract viewers and also to endorse the main product. My magazine uses subheadings
that talks about how the film is a “new and exclusive release” and also that they have “interviews with the cast of F.E.A.r”. This automatically
makes the audience think that the film must be good as all these quotes are being written about it. The poster uses different techniques to this as
it uses its quotes to get the viewer intrigued as to what the film is about and also that it is good through having the 5 stars in the background.
From this the audience automatically think if it is rated 5 stars then the film is definitely worth looking into and even going to watch it.
As a combination of them all (main products and ancillary texts) they are all effective but in different ways, but because there is a link that is
able to be made between the three they are all there for the same purpose which is to endorse the film F.E.A.r. The different ways in which they
are affective are as follows: The trailer (main products) uses building tenseness and getting the audience to want to know more about the film. The
magazine (ancillary text) in a sense boasts about the film and how good it is therefore the audience then believe that it will be a good film. Lastly
the poster (ancillary text) uses a technique of getting the audience interested about the film. These three combined i think leads to and overall
effective linked three products.
9. As you can see same fonts and colour schemes used so a link could be made easily from products for more effective product.
11. Audience feedback had a big effect on my final products and i learned a lot of different things through the feedback of many
different elements in my research, planning and producing of my final products. I felt that in order to achieve a quality array of
professional looking products i would have to take on board all audience feedback the use this to build upon my products and
end up with better looking quality products.
When designing my film trailer the first thing needed was to complete research and to establish who my target audience would
be. From this i decided to ask over one hundred people aged around 17 - 20 what there favourite genre of film was. This
resulted in me choosing thriller as the genre of my film but in order to give it a professional British film feel i wanted to include
drama as well. Also with most of the people i asked being 17-20 years old i thought it would makes sense to make my film aimed
a people of 18 years old and older. Without this audience feedback i wouldn’t even be able to establish what the most popular
genre would be or what target audience my film would be for. Then once these factors were established and completed my first
cut of my trailer i then got more audience feedback. From this i realised that my trailer was far from finished as from this
feedback i realised that it didn’t look up to an audiences standards of being professionally made so then from this i improved
upon my product by including basic subheadings, cropping down the backing track and also including the film name and more
effects to give it a more professional appealing look to my target audience. From this i produced my final cut and then from this
i got more feedback that they didn’t know which character was which and also some text could be used as they felt not enough
of a tense atmosphere was built up throughout the trailer. Then from this feedback it lead to my final cut where eventually the
feedback i received was positive feedback, which if it wasn’t for this feedback i believe my main product would not be half as
effective as it would without the my audience feedback.
Audience feedback also played a big part on my other finished products which were my magazine cover and also my poster.
When i had finished my magazine cover i decided to get feedback and then would decide on whether or not to improve it or
leave it as it is depending on the feedback i received. On the magazine the feedback was average but mainly it was that it
didn’t look very professional and it needed more structure to it. Therefore from this feedback i decided to improve on my
magazine cover and totally changed the design as you will be able to see on the next slide. With my poster i had the same idea
that on the basis of the audience feedback i would decide whether or not to improve it. As you can see once again i decided to
improve upon my poster product again. My reason for this was because from the audience feedback they were saying that it
was to minimalistic and not enough emphasis on the film title. From this i decided to radically change my design and ended up
with a totally different poster than originally planned.
As you can see from the next slide audience feedback caused me to radically change my products and i feel that without such
important audience feedback i wouldn't of been able to create products up to this standard. My reason for this is because the
audience are the people you are trying to please and if you don't satisfy there needs or expectations for a product, then the
product wont become successful.
12. As you can see after the 5th mock up the design
takes a dramatic change in layout and style, this
was down to audience feedback.
13. How did you use
technologies in the
construction of your
research, planning and
evaluation stages?
14. Throughout my products i used many different
technologies from search engines on the
internet to hardware to produce pictures and
video clips for the construction products.
Over the next few slides i am going to list
which technologies i used in the different
stages of making my products.
15. General technology used throughout is computer
and laptop.
Research Planning Evaluation
technologies: technologies: technologies:
Internet: Internet: Internet:
Blogger
Google search engine Slideshare Blogger
Blogger Vimeo Slideshare
Slideshare
Trailer websites Hardware:
Digital camera Software:
Software: Digital Video camera Iwork: keynote
Iwork: keynote Memory Stick
Software:
Pinnacle Studios 12
Microsoft powerpoint
2003
Iwork: keynote
Micromedia fireworks CS5
16. I would say that the main technology i have used throughout my portfolio is Blogger. Blogger has allowed me to keep my portfolio online and be
accessed from home school or anywhere with internet connectivity. This made it easy to publish and upload work easily and keep it up to date.
Blogger allowed me to upload photos for research such as magazine and dvd cover research. It also allowed me to use embed codes from other
websites to upload trailers to my blog then make detailed descriptions about them. It also kept my work organised and provides a column at the
right hand side of the blog the enabled me to click hyperlinks and move through my blog easily if i ever needed to look back at research or
planning when developing my products. I was also able to embed slide shows from websites which meant that if i did not have internet connectivity
i could create a powerpoint then upload it to a website then embed it to my blog.
This leads me to explaining about another technology i used which was an internet site called slideshare. With slideshare i had my own account
where i could upload slide shows to the website then embed them into my blog. This meant i could work on research and planning from anywhere
as long as i had a computer and a software that enabled me to create a slide show. This was very helpful as if i didn’t have internet connectivity i
could complete work as a slide show then upload it when i did have access to the internet.
To make the slide shows i used two different softwares which were Iwork keynote and also Microsoft powerpoint. these were mainly used when
creating my evaluation and also story board and digipack. Basically what these technologies allowed me to do was to design slide shows with
different styles and layouts of my choice. This technology was useful because when i didn’t have internet access i could produce a powerpoint then
upload when i had internet access. This is software was important for my research and evaluation side of my portfolio.
Pinnacle studios was probably the second most important technology i used. With this software i developed and produced my Film trailer. It
allowed e to edit all the different video clips and add transactions and different effects to my footage. A small example of my transactions used
was basically to fade in-between clips or photos. An example of the effect i used was in one of the clips i filmed was to dark so i was able to
brighten it up so the audience could have a better picture i was also able to zoom and so much more. Without this technology it would not be
possible to get the professional look i have tried to establish. This software also proved useful in planning as i used this software to create my
animatics.
Along with pinnacle the other very important software i used was Micromedia Fireworks CS5. This software enabled me to edit images and played
a huge part in designing and producing my magazine cover and poster. An example of ho this software worked so well for me was if you look at
the start of my poster and magazine cover then look at the finished product. Every aspect of development was down to this technology allowing
me to design and develop my products and give them a good quality professional look.
Along with all the softwares to help edit my products i used 2 different types of hardware to get the bases of my products. The first i used to
film my video footage was a digital video camera and also to get photos for my other 2 products i used a digital camera these allowed me to
upload my work easily and quickly to a computer. Once again these are very important technologies and without them i would not of been able to
produce the products i did. I also used the camera for planning as i used it to upload photos for my storyboard which was used in planning for my
products.
Many different websites helped me throughout my research and planning of my products once website in particular was google. I used google to
get photos of magazines and dvd covers for my research. I also used there search engine to search for film trailers to embed to my blog for
research. I used google maps to get photos of my locations where i would film my trailer this proved very useful in my planning side of the
products.
17. All in all technology proved of a huge important aspect
of creating my portfolio of work and without technology
i would not be able ho have researched, or even
produced my products.
