My A level evaluation of my Horror trailer 'Wychall lane' and my ancillary products.

1. My Evaluation
By Louis Flanagan

2. Questions
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real media products?
2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary
texts?
3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research,
planning and evaluation stages?

3. Q1
In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?

4. In the beginning…
In the beginning of my project I exercised various trailer ideas and genres that I
could act upon such as action, thriller, horror even comedy. Originally I wanted to
make a mystery film about a kidnaping and looked into trailers like ‘Prisoners’ and
‘Stranger Things’. I also originally wanted a sci-fi aspect to my trailer but after
further thought i decided it would be creepy to keep the trailer grounded and real.
After researching more into various trailer and also looking into the idea of sub
genre I decided I would aim for a primary horror genre with a sub genre of mystery
due to the idea of a kidnapping I was aiming for. I choice his as mystery films always
proved to be very interesting and enjoyable to watch and horror trailer had a lot of
interesting conventions that I wanted to play with. I pitched these ideas to a focus
group of target audiences which went well and encouraged me to carry on with
this idea but also offered interesting and valuable feedback for me.
The plot of my trailer is about one kidnapping of a boy named Daniel and his
sisters story in trying to get him back after a mysterious letter appears to her and
her friends asking them to come to Wychall Lane to get him back.

5. Genre Conventions - Horror
In the researching phases of my project I looked into the various conventions of horror/mystery trailers to see
how they use their techniques to effect audiences and present certain ideas and feelings. This influenced me
and gave me a lot of ideas for my own trailer.
I then went further to look into what specific conventions the Horror genre used, this allowed me to focus on
what I would need to use in my trailer to follow other horror trailers and make it effective in the same way. This
helped me appeal directly to my target audience when I applied them to my trailer and ancillaries. An example
of this is the use of a point of view shot and shaky cam as they added a lot of tension and feeling of panic to the
trailer also they helped to involve the audience in the trailer. This also applied to my magazine and poster as I
used direct address to involve the audience and also added smoke to present a mysterious and creepy idea that
would link to my trailer and my overall genre.
I analysed existing horror and mystery trailers and
posters so I could make comparisons between my
own products and ensure that what I was doing would
be realistic and therefore effective. An example of this
is the Assassins creed Movie poster as although this is
not a horror film it contains a lot of mystery and I
thought the poster could defiantly give off the horror
feel and the good vs evil aspect of the genre.
www.imdb.com/title/tt2094766/

6. Trailer Influences – Stranger Things
‘Stranger Things’ was the first big influence to my trailer. The show is
about a young boy who disappears and his mother, a police chief, and
his friends, must confront terrifying forces in order to get him back. The
show mixes various genres expertly and used horror and mystery to
create a very entertaining trailer. The trailer hints to a bigger being
without really showing us what it is and I wanted that for my trailer as I
showed my cast running away from something we don’t see leaving
that hint and mystery.
In the trailer there are a lot
of fast pace cuts towards
the end which give the
trailer a high intensity
feeling and also projects
panic, dread an fear linking
it to the horror aspect. I
followed this same idea in
my own trailer using quick
cuts between scenes of
running to give off that
feeling of panic and terror.
I also borrowed other aspects of
this trailer such as a scene
showing the disappearance of
the boy. This was something I
used in my own trailer as it gave
clear understanding of the films
plot and the motivations of the
main group (to get Daniel back).
This got the audience onto the
side of the group and showed
us the reason for the characters
determination.

7. Trailer Influences - Taken
Taken is a very well known films about a man and his
mission to get back his daughter after she is kidnapped
during a trip in Paris. Because of this I felt the trailer
would be a great influence on my own project. The
trailer firstly presented the family dynamic to me and I
felt this elevated the drama and determination of the
main character and I wanted to follow this aspect and so
made the female protagonist the boys sister.
The Taken trailer often cuts
back to the event where his
daughter as taken presenting
different scenes of her hiding
and this shot showing her
being taken. I did this at the
start of my trailer showing
when ‘Daniel’ was taken and
then cut to scenes of him
being punched etc to
constantly convey the
emergency of the situation
and the danger he is in.
There where some smaller
aspects and conventions that
this trailer inspired such as a
voice over of the main character
as a way of explaining the basic
plot as well as the heart beat
that I used at the start of my
trailer as a way of portraying
tension and the panic of a
certain character. This
heartbeat is used during the
end credits of this trailer.

8. Film trailer Development
In the opening scene I depicted a chase scene where the character ‘Daniel’ is kidnapped this scene
presented the main goal of the protagonists and also placed the audience right at the centre of
the action with no context as of yet. This offers a dazed and confused feeling to the audience
which would mirror the feelings of Daniel. This also makes that character seem more real than if
he and the event was just mentioned in passing. This was filmed in a woodland which is a trope of
many horror trailers.
After the opening scene I began with a voice over of the character ‘Sarah’ explaining the situation
acting as a way of explaining the plot to the audience. While this was happening I gave glimpses into
clips which linked to what she was saying. The screenshot here is shown when the voice over says
“Kidnapped by a madman” this shows the audience that the character who has taken Daniel is the
madman in question and also shows he is mentally disfigured and so is seen as crazy. Other clips
shown during this initial voice over includes scenes of torture such as this man punching Daniel
presenting to the audience that Daniel was kidnapped and that he is Sarah's brother as she firstly
states “my brother was taken”.
As the voice over continues Sarah refers to a letter she was sent, during this the trailer shows the
letter being delivered and a female person reading and reacting to it. Due to Sarah referring to this
letter the audience will confidently be able to see hat this character is Sarah introducing them to how
she got involved in this situation but also showing the start of her battle to get Daniel back. The voice
over says “now he haunts me, torturing me with a let” this helps the audience understand that this
letter was from the kidnapper and so leads them to question why he sent it ad also what the letter
says adding to the mystery of the letter. Here I used a low angle shot in order for the audience t see
the horror and shock on Sarah's face to emphasize her distraught and also her relationship to Daniel.

9. Film trailer Development
After a intertitle I show the audience what the letter says. I depicts a focus pull on the letter and have
it surrounded in darkness. This was to show the dark atmosphere and the fear that it represents. The
voice over at this point states, “offering a chance to get him back”. This shows that Sarah has been
given a glimmer of hope and the opportunity to get her brother back. She also states that she knows
this is a trap and so adds the feeling of determination she ha towards this goal. The killer sending this
letter also shows how unstable he is that he would offer this chance to her.
After the voice over is finished I introduce the audience to the group that is helping Sarah as they
discuss what they are about to do. This is done to show not only that Sarah has enlisted help in the
situation but also show her dominance over the group as they show their mixed opinions n the situation
and Sarah takes command stating that they will do it themselves. I use a mixture of shots during this
such as this close up of my actor Harry as he say “what if he is” referring to what if it is the kidnapper
that sent the letter. This close up shows the realisation of the situation they find themselves in.
The final section of my trailer is the action segment consisting of fast cuts between scenes depicting
the main group running and being chased by something. This adds a lot of tension and panic to the
scenes. Inter cut between these are some scenes of the Kidnapper getting ready such as putting his
hood up and taking out a knife. I did this to hint that it is the killer that is chasing them without
actually showing him doing it leading to further curiosity t why he isn’t shown. During this I use a
fast bae drumming sound which is played through out the trailer gradually getting quicker. This
shows the build up of tension but also relates to the heart beat we hear at the start.

10. Film poster influences
I initially researched into horror film posters so I could look for similarities and
common conventions to incorporate them into my own poster, These 3 posters were
some that I initially looked into and I found that a lot of them used a primary image
of a main character whether this be the protagonist such as the ‘Don’t Breathe’
poser of the antagonist like ‘The Shining’ poster. All of these posters used a dark
colour scheme with mainly a black background so that all the focus is on the
character shown. These posters didn’t have much to them other than the expected
titles and credits. This simplicity is something I used in my own poster as it gave the
feel of the audience being isolated with that character and the dark atmosphere
presented a feeling of evil or fear encroaching in on you.
IT Poster:
When creating my poster I knew that I wanted to convey a good vs evil aspect by having both protagonist and
antagonist in the poster together. When researching various posters I found that the poster from the most
recent ‘IT’ movie did this well s the young by in a yellow rain coat projected an innocence to the audience
showing this child to be an example of good and the clowns arm in the background shrouded in darkness
projected evil and fear especially as a lot of people (including myself) find clowns scary.
The title of the film is clearly seen in red also conveying the same features as the red balloon such as danger
all helping to convey the horror genre. This also stands out on the black background making it clear to
audiences. The font is also unique giving the appearance of blood or scratches. This was a large inspiration for
my own title typography as I used a red font that looked scratched in order to make it stand out and project
the feeling of danger. Like previous posters the colour scheme was dark meaning the primary colours used
such as red and yellow would stand out and due to the connotations of these colours acted as a way to show
good and evil.

11. Film poster influences
Assassins Creed Movie:
Another big influence was the Assassins creed poster as although this isn’t the
same genre of film I was looking for I saw ways to develop it to follow the
conventions of horror that I had researched. I was mainly interested in the main
images of the poster where the characters are back to back to each other. I thought
I could change this into one character being my villain and the other character
being my female protagonist Sarah as a way of showing the good vs evil aspect I
was looking for.
Originally I liked the use of a half light and half dark colour scheme and thought I
could implement this however after doing so I didn’t feel it was very realistic of the
horror genre and so liked the idea of poster consuming the characters in darkness
and so I wanted to do this. But to add the mystery aspect of my film I instead used
smoke in the background to add this mysterious and hidden effect.

12. Film poster influences
Almost immediately after analysing the ‘Assassins Creed’ poster I
mocked up a sketch of how I would implement this idea into my
own poster. As stated I changed the characters to show the hero
and villain of my story and the title to the originally title idea I had
of having it as a street sign. My final poster whilst looking a bit
more professional still follows this primary layout with the added
conventions I didn’t put on the sketch such as credits and ratings.
Wychall Lane
A couple people told me they didn’t
like to title and so I set about looking
into different fonts and eventually
found this ‘True Lies’ font. I used this
on all of my products in order to
create synergy and a clear brand.

13. Film poster influences
To get a better sense of what my sketch
poster would look like I used images online
to create this concept poster. the man in the
chair will represent the brother (Daniel
Clark) played be Harvey. I choice to add the
character of Daniel to show the audience
what the goal is for the characters. However
I later scrapped this idea as I though it would
be too much for what I wanted and the
photos I took for this section didn’t look as
professional or good quality as the main
images.
I then created two drafts of my poster to see
which one my target audience preferred this
is the second draft. The second poster
includes the two character image showing
the audience the good Vs. evil aspect of my
trailer. I’ve included various conventions that
I have found across real media texts, such as
ratings, age classification, production logo,
main film title (including typography) and
credits, which are the same as the credits in
my trailer.
My final design I similar to my draft as I
only changed the conventions around the
main image such as changing the title font
to the new one I had found, I added
quotations from reviews above the 5 star
ratings, I also removed the age rating as I
didn’t see this on any poster I looked at
and so didn’t see it as a convention. In its
place I added a website and hash tag
linking it to a wider marketing campaign.
Overall I am very proud of this poster as I
feel it follows a lot of conventions.

15. Film Magazine Influences
This is my Empire magazine cover that I created for my product
and personally I do like it. I have took influence from a few
different Empire Magazine covers as shown. The main cover line is
common in all covers as it consists of a bold, clear typography that
follows the house style of the magazine and I feel I have followed
this also including a tag line that was inspired by the force awakens
cover, my tagline reads 'the official exclusive on the cult
phenomenon' and I also added 'an exclusive interview with the
director' which offers a bit of extra content for the readers.
I used the classic mast head that Empire uses and
followed the conventions of having the main cover
image overlap the mast head. Additionally my
cover lines just consist of other films that the
magazine will feature like Han Solo and Venom in a
layout that was influenced by the Mummy cover as
I liked the '+' symbol that it used as well as where
the text was positioned.
In order to reduce the amount of negative space on the left side
of my cover I used a pug to advertise a special addition to the
magazine, this was inspired by the Rouge One covers as they used
a yellow circle to advertise additional content which stood out to
me as a reader and so I implemented this exactly in my own cover
which additionally influenced me to add some yellow to my cover
in the pluses to direct the audiences to the additional content, the
bottom of which was also inspired by this magazine cover.

16. Film Magazine Influences
When starting my magazine I had a image in mind of how it would look. I aimed for a simplistic design as
this is common for a lo of Empire magazines and so I had a cover image of the villain surrounded in back.
This allowed me a lot of space for cover lines and pug’s.
I only used the villain as I thought this was the most recognisable character from my trailer and poster and
though using him I created some synergy and it would be more recognisable that if I had just used another
cast member wearing normal clothes. This also helps link to my horror genre due to him clearly being a
menacing person. I followed a lot of conventions such as cover lines, cover title, masthead, pug etc and kept
an effective and consistent colour scheme.
From this initial draft from my final products not a
lot changed. This is because I had all the key
conventions already put in and it was just about
adding and touching things up to ensure they
looked more professional. This included adding
some more cover lines to fill up the negative
space and lines between each cover line so
audiences knew when one stopped and the other
began. I additionally added a bar code which puts
the magazine into reality.
The most notable change to my magazine is the
added smoke rising up. This was quite a late
addition to my magazine and t was primarily to
add some more synergy so that this related to my
trailer and poster which both include a lot of
make. This also adds mystery suggesting there is
more to see beneath the surface.

17. Challenging Representation
I decided that my main protagonist would be female, as women are not conventionally
placed in these type of roles in films. Such as my protagonist Sarah who is seen as
determined, strong willed and more than capable to take charge over her male friends. These
characteristics of a strong female lead are shown through out my trailer such as the voice
over where she states that she will do everything she can to get her brother back and the
scene out side where she takes charge of the group telling them what they are going to do. I
did this to subvert the female stereotype we often see and follow the current movements in
film to give females more primary roles.
In my trailer I have challenge stereotypes again by essentially swapping the stereotypical
roles of men and women. As I have talked about I chose to have my main protagonist and
hero of the story a Female. She ha a goal of saving her brother from a mad man who
kidnaped him. Her brother has taken the stereotypical female role of the damsel in
distressed. This gives a fresh feel to my trailer that doesn’t feel forced and is presented as
normal rather than shouting t the audience about female equality and power.
However this doesn’t mean I have diminished the male role as is a pet hate of mine as many
films when presenting a female protagonist feel they have to make the male characters
foolish or weak in comparison. I haven’t done this in my trailer and instead shown male
characters to have different personalities for example the left character is shown to question
whether they should do this and instead phone the police showing him to be scared and
maybe quite innocent whilst the character on the left is shown to be strong willed and
determined that this is the kidnapper they are after.

18. BBFC Rating
After looking into each of the BBFC certificates I decided I wanted to make my film a 15 rated movie as this would mean I could use
slight more mature content without having to find ways of going too graphic or violent with my trailer. I researched other certificates
given to other horror movies so I could understand how they addressed their target audiences and a lot of films I looked into were
either an 18 o 15 rating so I knew that I was following the trend of a lot of these types of films.
Due to this rating my film could potentially include:
• Moderate strong language.
• Various uses of mild language
• Strong violence
Due to the age of my characters being 16 to 17 I know that they would naturally swear when reacting to things especially in a Horror
genre and so to create a realistic feel I knew my film would include this type of language meaning a 15 rating would be suitable. Also
this would mean audiences seeing the film would be a similar age to my characters meaning they would be able to relate to them a
lot more and gain more of an effect from the film as they would be able to picture themselves. Due to my trailer containing glimpses
of violence particularly between the kidnapper and the brother ‘Daniel’ I knew that there would be a strong presence of violence, as
is the case with a lot of movies. In order to et the fear of a horror movie this violence would have to be quite strong and a 15 rated
movie would allow me to do that.

19. Q2
How effective is the
combination of your main
product and ancillary
texts?

20. Branding – Character Representation
I believe there is a clear sense of branding running through my trailer and two ancillary products. As the same characters, particularly
the villain, are seen as the main focus of each aspect of my project. They clearly represent a dark and serious atmosphere through
their facial expressions which is consistent through each product. As the main conflict of the film is seen as a classic good vs evil story
line I wanted to convey this idea though each product showing both protagonist and antagonist in my poster back to back to show the
conflict and also using my antagonist in the magazine relating it to my poster with this notable and recognisable character that
screams bad guy.
In the trailer it is clear that Sarah is a strong willed
and determined person as she is insistent on getting
her brother back no matter the cost. This is shown
through various parts of my trailer such as the
dialogue outside the school and through the voice
over. I wanted t also show this in my ancillary and so
had her positioned in serious way without
sexualising her like many posters do to their female
characters.
I additionally created a brand through my title as I used the film name in each
product to create synergy and a brand. To do this I inserted this typography in
both my trailer and poster to link them however, when it came to my
magazine a lot of Empire covers use there own font on the cover lines and so
I followed this dynamic instead creating a brand through colour as the main
title was in red and so I used a lot of red in my cover such as the mast head
and header cover lines.

21. Branding – Mise-en-scene
The use of mise-en-scene was key to creating synergy between my trailer, poster and magazine cover
Costume
The villain of the story has a very consistent and noticeable look through out the
trailer and this is carried on in my ancillaries too. The look is very home made
consisting of a hoodie, leather jacket and notably the face mask used by a lot of
working people. This was to ground the villain and this situation in reality giving the
sense that this is a normal man who Is kidnapping people. This was to convey the
madness he has and also the mask becomes a major part of his outfit due to its white
colour contrasting with the black.
I also wanted to show the realism through the other characters too. I did this through
having them where normal day to day clothing and college lanyard in certain scenes
this was to show that these people where just like the audience, normal people put
into an extraordinary situation. This helps the audience see that they live normal lives
and so helps them be more relatable.
This is a consistent form f branding as their costumes carry over to my ancillary
products too.

22. Branding – Mise-en-scene
Colour Scheme
I also used a consistent colour scheme of red and black; red is used in a lot
of horror films as it has a representation of danger and blood which shows
a gory and violent aspect, whilst Black represents fear, darkness and
mystery. I ensured that there were elements of these colours in all of my
products, using them in the intertitles of my trailer, the typography of my
poster and the masthead and header cover lines of my magazine. Also
through my villains costume which is primarily black.
The use of smoke is another key similarity between all of my products as I
used this as a way to show mystery. This aspect brought each product
together creating a similar atmosphere.
I have shown the red and black colour scheme in key areas of my products
so that were easy to see and stood out. This includes the ratings on my
poster as well as my title on both poster and trailer (including intertitles,
and finally the masthead of my magazine.

23. Applying Theory
Active Audience Theory
I believe many audiences are “active” as they watch films and trailers,
therefore they do not just receive information passively but instead
make sense of messages and will not be influence by the violent
scenes I portrayed. It is for this reason I aimed for a audience 15 and
over as due to the violence and subject of kidnapping audience will
need to be able to handle the serious plot and also not be negatively
affected by the violence and language used.
A well as this, the synergy I have created between my main product
and ancillaries would make the branding more recognisable to active
audiences who are taking in what they are seeing and paying full
attention to the products

24. Overall Branding
Overall, looking at my three products, I think that the branding of Wychall Lane is successful and effective
as they all share similarities and there is consistency between them. I am confident that audiences will be
able to identify the film if they saw any of these products, as the colour scheme, mise-en-scene and
representations of the two characters is clear and consistent, and the genre and tone of my film is also
conveyed through each of the individual products successfully.
All of the above products successfully meet most if not all of the key general conventions that I have
researched from real media texts. I think this contributes greatly in conveying the genre and tone of the
film to my target audience.

25. Q3
What have you learned
from your audience
feedback?

26. Audience Responses Throughout
Throughout my process of making my trailer and ancillaries, I was often receiving target audience feedback so I could contently
improve my work in relation to what my audience wanted to see. As the target audience were the people providing me with
feedback, the final products were designed with them in mind, allowing them to be successful overall.
In the early stages of my project, I had to come up with what I wanted my trailer to be
including the narrative, characters etc. Once I had found an idea I liked and had completed a
lot of research I pitched these ideas to a focus group of my target audience.
The overall feedback was that I had put a lot of research into my genre and the concept I had
was good and interesting. Some of the improvements I was told to consider was to make the
Kidnappers motives more clear and explain why the main group was at the school after him
(this I did through the use of the letter).
I also received some feedback when I created my concept image for my poster.
This was to get a fresh opinion from a member of my target audience. This
feedback helped me gain some vital information that I used on my final poster.
In this feedback I was told that the log didn’t fit the rest of the poster which I
understood as it felt stuck on and didn’t flow with the poster, because of this is
didn’t use this idea in my final piece and instead used a typography which I like.
Additionally when my feedback mentioned that “too much of her face” Is on
show this gave me the smoke idea which I feel is really effective in hiding the
character and adding to the mystery and horror.

27. Trailer Feedback and Changes
In regards to the first draft I personally wasn’t very happy with it and so I was very interested in what feedback I would gain from it.
Personally I didn't feel like it was very professional and it didn’t offer the dramatic and horror climax that I was looking for. The feedback I
gained of my target audience and my tutors helped me be able to create a trailer that I was happy with. These suggestions were mainly
narrative based implying that I needed to develop the story so that it was better conveyed in the trailer to help my audience understand
what was going on.
Feedback I gained:
• Add some sound in the opening scene and maybe shorten
it.
• The sound when Hannah’s character Sarah opens the
letter is too dramatic.
• Needs clearer information regarding what the letter says.
• Could add some intertitles
• Look into conventions of music in trailers.
• Add some credits at the end of the trailer.
Response to feedback:
Based on my recent feedback from my tutor regarding my trailer I
have drastically changed my trailer to meet some of the
requirements sir suggested to me as well as improve on some
issues we both had. One thing that is clearly added to my trailer
is the addition of intertitles to give more context to the plot of
the film, the purpose of this was to improve on the narrative
issue of my trailer which we both thought was present as it was
unclear why they were at the school. In addition to this I
improved the narrative of the trailer by getting rid of the news
report as well as the large dialogue section and replaced it with
one voice over from my main character Sarah. This gave the
audience an informed description of what is happening with
accompanying clips throughout which related to what was being
spoken about.

28. Feedback on Final Trailer
Using social media I have asked members of my
target audience for feedback on my final trailer
so that I can understand the overall response to
the trailer and see if my audience think I am
successful in creating a realistic Horror trailer
which appeals to my target audience.
They are al around the same age group of my
target audience so I was happy to know they
found my trailer t o be enjoyable to watch and
found aspects of my trailer such as the rising
drums effective. Also they find my narrative
easy to follow which is a very good
improvement from my first draft feedback.
The overall feedback I gained was very positive from all my friends family and members of my
target audience. I am very pleased with all my positive feedback for my trailer and that I have
improved greatly from my previous draft. Also that the effects and themes I was trying to portray
was successful such as the intensity of the drums, clear and understandable narrative, smoke
effects and the inter woven clips to build the drama.

29. Poster Feedback and changes
After completing research into to a variety of real media posters and finding influences that I could use. I designed 2 posters that I
liked and asked members of my target audience to chose which poster they liked more and why they like it. I did this using g the
social media messaging site Facebook so I could gain more open responses than if I used a questionnaire. The majority of feedback I
gained offered similar opinions.
The majority of feedback I gained stated they preferred the second poster (the one with both
characters on the front) due to its professional feel and visual links to the genre. based on this I
am going to carry on with that particular poster and try to develop it further.
I was very happy with the feedback I had gained as It helped
me to carry on using the second poste and develop it further
into a poster that I am proud of due to the positive feedback I
had gained.

30. Feedback on Final Poster
I have also asked my target audience for feedback from
my ancillaries such as my movie poster. I think these are
important in creating an overall product and brand
whilst also helping to immerse it all in reality. So I
wanted to know if I was successful in appealing to my
target audience and creating a professional looking
poster.
The feedback I gained was very positive. Mostly the
audience stated that my poster looked realistic and
related well to my genre. Additionally there was a clear
cohesion between all my products and represented
both characters well.
Using social media to collect these responses was very
simple as I used Facebook messenger and What's app to
send the image of my poster to groups of my target
audience. I received replies almost instantly and using
these platforms proved more valuable and effective in
researching my target audience and receiving feedback
like this.

31. Feedback on Final Magazine
The feedback I gained from my final magazine
was great. The target audience mainly responded
saying that the Empire Magazine cover was well
designed and appeared realistic which I was very
happy to hear due to my research into all of the
magazines conventions and designs. The
audience also said that the magazine was
consistent with my other products and the colour
scheme worked to convey my genre and
represent real media texts.
Overall, the feedback from my ancillaries was
very positive and what I wanted to convey to
audiences in thee projects worked and was
successfully picked up on. I was glad to find out
that audiences found my products realistic due to
the successful use of conventions.

32. Q4
How did you use media
technologies in the
construction and research,
planning and evaluation
stages?

33. Research and Planning - Blogger
Blogger was something I used throughout the development of my trailer and ancillaries, it allowed me to
show evidence Of my research and refer back to it when I needed to, using multi media tools like
embedding videos, GIF’s , using hyperlinks etc. As well as this, having all of my research and planning in
one location which allowed me to refer back at a later stage to ensure this information was informing my
products correctly. And to remind myself of the conventions. An example of this is looking back at the shot
list I created to remind myself of some scenes I had filmed and what I needed to do next.
Asa well as this, the archive tool on the right hand side of the blog page chronologically lists all
my previous blog posts. This meant I could easily navigate the site and go back to pas posts with
ease, whilst also displaying all the progress I have made throughout the project.

34. Research and Planning – Editing Software
Movie Plus:
At the beginning of this project we took part in an editing task where we re-edited a
short film. I had never used an editing software at this standard and so I decided to
carry on using Movie Plus for my main project wen editing my own trailer together. I
found this software very easy to use and it contained loads of useful tools for editing
such as transition effects, trimming capability, overlay effects and various editing
capabilities to individual clips.
This helped me understand
how important and effective
editing is to the point that I
have this software on my
personal laptop and plan to
use it after his project.

35. Development of Trailer
Polaroid Optics 40x zoom Camera:
When originally beginning my filming process I was going to use an Polaroid Optics
Camera due to its professional look and know brand make. However when I went to use
this camera I found the quality of the photos and videos I was taking wasn’t up to a
standard that I was happy with even though this camera looked professional. I then
discovered that my own mobile phone, an iPhone 6s, had better quality than this camera
did and so decided I would use that to film and take photos for my project.
iPhone 6S:
I decided to use my iPhone for all my filming as I found the quality was a an excellent
standard and I was able to easily send and share everything I had done on social media
platforms such as Facebook in order to keep in direct contact with my target audience.
This helped me get feedback quickly on work I had complete.

36. Development of Ancillaries
Page Plus:
When editing my ancillaries I used the page plus programme that I had used for my AS level project.
I did this because I was used to the layout of this software and as a result was able to extend my
current knowledge and find new interesting ways of editing images such as using a shadow of the
kidnapper on my magazine cover and playing around with the transparency tool when dealing with
the smoke. I loved using tis software due to its range of editing ability helping me create professional
posters and magazine covers.
iPhone 6S:
I used an iPhone 6S for the photography for both my magazine
cover and film poster. I originally planned to use a different
camera, however I didn’t think the quality was as good as my
phone and using this camera I was also able to edit my photos
straight from the phone. Modern phones such as this have
extremely high camera quality and I was very happy with the
quality of my photographs.

37. Target Audiences Research
When researching into my target audience and receiving
feedback, social media was the quickest and easiest way of
doing so. Instagram allowed me to upload images of my
work for users to provide feedback as well as what's app.
Another easy and instant method of retrieving
target audience feedback was instant messaging
services. One service I used was Facebook
messenger which allowed me to send images, gifs,
videos and audio files to a group of people who
provide almost instant feedback. This allowed us to
talk a lot about my products playing various ideas to
one another due to the open questions I could ask
rather than the closed questions a questionnaire
would have.
This helped me get the most out of my feedback
and constantly get up to date opinions from my
target audience to help me make successful
products.

38. Progression from AS to A Level
In my opinion there has defiantly been a lot of progression from my AS to A
level products. Not only have I become more confident and comfortable with
the software that I used, but I have now combined still and moving products
and am able to adapt my understanding and use of conventions accordingly.
At AS level, I create an indie music magazine called ‘Sound’ Magazine which
incorporated elements of the pop genre too. During the project I learnt how
important conventions are when creating a realistic product. My magazine
was mainly influenced by Q magazine, so I used the conventions I found
during my research such as the left third, cover lines, cover star credit etc. I
also began understanding the basics of Page Plus software.
At A2 I developed my page plus skills further. I found it much easier to edit
and manipulate images and therefore was able to make my images look more
professional. A difference at A2 was dealing with moving images, therefore I
was able t experiment with a range of shot types and looked into new
conventions using them to make a successful trailer.
Overall I am happy with the progress I have made and gained many useful
skills such as editing still and moving images, page plus skills etc and am
proud of the resulting products.