2. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR
MEDIA PRODUCT USE,
DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE
FORMS AND CONVENTIONS
OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?
3. I was inspired to film in
documentary style, after
watching several films such as
"La Haine", that belong to the
social/realist/drama genre.
"Bamako" and "Girlhood" were
quite inspiring. Like in "Bamako",
in my trailer I use a set of
rhetorical questions, in order to
establish my narrative. The
second part of the question,
marks the beginning of the
disequilibrium. As in "Girlhood", I
started with the title of the
distribution company, and
finished with an image that
reinforced the title of the trailer
"Mind the Gap", so I had a shot of
the protagonist waiting to catch
a train in the DSLR station, which
5. In terms of presenting the title of
the trailer, I deviated quite a lot.
Instead of using a black screen, I
used a shot were the protagonist
was watching the sign on the TV.
I did this, because I wanted to
keep the narrative subtle and
give a significance in the phrase
"Mind the Gap".
The trailer for the movie
"Timbuktu", also inspired me in
terms of sound. The trailer
hardly uses any dialogue, and
leaves the story flow in the
trailer.This creates a really
beautiful effect that leaves the
viewer building assumptions on
what he/she sees, rather on what
they hear. Also, it creates
emotion and atmosphere.
Moreover, the song I picked is
relevant with my trailer, they
6. As in the 3d trailer for "Sin City:
A Dame to kill for", the first shot
after the company logo dissolves,
is a tilt that extends up to the
skyline of London. I did this for
two reasons. Firstly, to establish
location and give the viewer a
clear hint where the "film" is
taking place. Secondly, because
except from a social drama, this
is an urban drama as well. The
city is a central character to the
plot. The city symbolizes the
dreams, hopes and desires of the
protagonist that turn sour when
reality hits.
Also, to reinforce the "reality"
and establish it as the norm, I
tried to maintain a certain pace
to the trailer, so it raises enigmas
on what will happen next.
7. My prime inspiration for the film poster, was the poster from the film
"Fruitvale Station", so I used a photo taken at the station where me
and my crew filmed the DSLR scene. The station, is important to the
trailer, because it symbolizes the passage between London and those
outside it. Also, it fits with the title of the trailer, which refers to the
above symbolism. Yet, I preferred to give a more "artsy" outlook to
the poster, in order to be more visually striking.
For the magazine cover I was inspired by the way "Time Out" lays its
titles. Also, to reinforce the "London" setting, the photoshoot took
place in the London streets and not in a studio. Also, I did not use a
conventional still shot and preferred to add some movement in order
to look more spontaneous. Yet, I followed some basic conventions
such as adding a barcode and the price of the magazine.
9. HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE
COMBINATION OF YOUR
MAIN PRODUCT AND
ANCILLARY TEXTS?The trailer and the ancillary texts, are all made in order to be linked
with each other.
All three products are referencing the title which is "Mind the Gap".
The photos used for the magazine cover and the film poster, are shot
in locations which also appear in the trailer.
In all three products the focal subject is the protagonist.
In the film poster, the train station links with the title "Mind the Gap",
which is a sign associated with the train stations of London.
As I mentioned before, London is a main "character" in the trailer and
everything in the project must point out towards it, so for the
magazine cover I used a Hoxton Street, where you can clearly see the
London skyline in the background.
10. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED
FROM YOUR AUDIENCE
FEEDBACK?
The feedback was generally positive, so I did not have to do major
amendments on my project. However, I really enjoyed the discussion I
had with others for my trailer’s themes. Yet, since I decided to
distribute printed questionnaires, It took some time to short out the
date. But, I preferred to do it this way because the response rates
were higher than other methods such as social media or survey
monkey. This was because I would get people on spot to complete
them, instead of waiting for them to find out on the internet.
11. HOW DID YOU USE MEDIA
TECHNOLOGIES IN THE
CONSTRUCTION AND
RESEARCH, PLANNING AND
EVALUATION STAGES?
12. RESEARCH AND PLANNING:
I researched previous blogs and courseworks on blogger and WordPress,
which I found quite satisfactory and inspired me on how to lay down my
work on the blog. I found WordPress to be way superior to blogger and the
design was more sophisticated.
YouTube and IMBD were essential to the whole research and planning stage.
By using those two major media platforms, I gained an extended access in
information and materials that inspired me on how to construct my final
coursework.
I used PowerPoint, to summarize my research and planning documents, in
an easy and accessible manner. Also apart from organization benefits,
PowerPoint is also more interactive since you can add media in it, to make it
look more complete.
I used word to construct questioners and write down essential information
about the production.
I also used Befunky.com to construct the company Logo. I found this website
13. CONSTRUCTION:
Camera: Me and my crew used a JVC GY-HM600 ProHD Camera to shoot the
trailer. The camera was quite good, since it was really easy to be used as a
handheld camera and in generally was quite simple to handle. Also, because
we did not used any artificial light, we still managed to get superb shots by
using this camera. Most importantly, we still managed to maintain the focus
and stability in each shot, which would be a major problem if using other
digital cameras.
Editing: Initially, I tried to edit with Premier Pro. This program was terrible,
since it kept on crushing and aborting all the footage. So, I ended up using
Final Cut. The program wasn’t any better since it took quite a while to load
all the footage and I experience some problems adding other media i.e.
sound, images(company Logo) etc…However, since I had no other choice I
did the best I could using this program. Yet, one positive feature of this
program is that it is quite simple to use.
Ancillary tasks: I used Befunky.com to edit the pictures which was nice and
simple. Yet, I experienced difficulties on achieving the right font for the
letters and I could not edit the picture’s dimensions.
I took the pictures with a Sony A58 camera, which was simple to use, but the
stabilizer was really inferior for a digital camera, thus having some trouble to
get the focus right.
14. EVALUATION:
Word was used in order to construct questionnaires relating on my
trailer and distribute them to my audience for immediate completion.
After shorting out the data, I used PowerPoint to lay down my
audience’s feedback. Also, I used an IPhone 5s to get some
testimonies on camera.
For writing down the evaluation questions, I used PowerPoint,
because it’s free and looks more organised and easier to navigate
than other programs such as Prezi.
