A2 Media Evaluation

1. A2 MEDIA
EVALUATION
A2 UNIT G324
Candidate Name
Candidate Number
Centre Name
Centre Number
Ellis Blunden
The Leigh Academy
61101

2. In what ways do your media products use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?
Title: The title on my film poster uses typical forms and conventions that real film posters would use. This is because I’ve
positioned it at the very top of the poster in a noticeable place, using very large font so it stands out from he rest of the writing
and catches my audiences eyes. In addition my title follows conventions that would be used in a romantic drama film poster as it
is stylised in a very elegant curly, flowing font which I chose specifically to match my genre as it gives a light hearted, loving feel
and resembles a very neat romantic hand writing typically used in romantic dramas. I chose for the title to be in white font so that
it would have a very clear contrast from the dark black background; this was to help it stand out clearly from the poster and so
advertised the name of my film to its full potential.
Tagline: The tagline develops conventions because of the way I’ve positioned it in the top corner of my poster in a small block
whereas typically the tagline would be placed across the poster most likely in the centre. This also challenges conventions as it
follows straight on from the title of the film, whereas typically they would be placed apart on the poster - I chose to position the
tagline and title together so that the audience could easily associated them with each other and I felt like the tagline flowed on
nicely from the title. In addition I have continuity by keeping using the same font as I did with the title so that they compliment
each other and look aesthetically pleasing. The curly, soft font gives the correct intended feel for a romantic drama film.
Image: The image I used in my film poster reinforces some conventions that a real film magazine would use as it shows the two
main characters in full central focus occupying the majority of the space on the poster. The image uses forms and conventions
that real romantic drama film trailers would use due to the position which the two characters are in, they are in a loving embrace
and the this gives off a warm and romantic feel which is what we expect to see on a romantic film poster. The image also
develops some aspects of the conventions as their is a lot of lighting around the side and behind the characters, I felt this made
my poster look more aesthetically pleasing and would make the audience engage with the poster and film more.
Actors Names: The actors names were positioned along the bottom of the poster on either side of the actor. I feel this develops
upon conventions of real film posters as many choose to have actors names placed along the top of their poster. I opted to not
place them at the top as I felt that the title would be better positioned their and would get more recognition from my audience; I
felt like the actors names were a less important part of the poster and so weren’t necessary at the top. I still feel that they work
effectively being placed at the bottom and due to the dark image they are placed against they stand out very bold and clearly in
the white font for my audience to read. I again kept continuity by having the actors names printed in the same style font that the
title and tagline were used, to ensure my poster is effective and to reinforce the romantic genre.
Billing Block: The billing block uses typical conventions we see in real film posters as they are almost always placed along the
bottom of the poster, this is because they tend to be less important for the audience to see and don’t need to be as eye
catching. However it is a good part to include on the poster so that production, actors and crew get recognition and to advertise
the film as a whole. The billing block was written in the same colour font as the rest of the writing on the poster, this was to
ensure everything worked well and looked effective together and also because the white was the best colour to contrast from the
dark coloured background. The font for the billing block was slightly different as all billing blocks tend to be written in the same
long, square, squashed font - so to follow conventions I opted to change my style of font and make the writing very small and
narrow.
Colour Scheme: I think that my colour scheme used throughout the poster uses typical conventions of real romantic drama film
posters as I have stuck with dark, pale colours with a small amount of bright lights around the actors to show that they are the
focus and to also emphasise a warm and loving film. I also feel that the darkness of the colours used helps to make all the
writing on the poster contrast to become very eye catching which is what is needed for a film poster to be successful when
advertising.

3. In what ways do your media products use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?
Skyline: The skyline on my magazine cover uses all the conventions of a real magazine cover, it is positioned horizontally along the very top of the
cover and it gives the information that is expected from a cover line, a short line that tells you something a little extra that will be in the magazine. I
chose a bold font to make it stand out and be eye catching for the audience, and I also selected a purple font as I felt that this was the best colour to
contrast from the image.
Title: The title also uses conventions of a real cover, it is positioned just below the skyline and is printed in really big and bold font to stand out from
everything else and so it is noticeably the magazine title. I chose to have my title printed in white as it stood out the clearest and I thought it would be
really eye catching.
Image: The image develops the forms and conventions of real film magazine covers as it still uses the two main characters from the film which we
would expect to see as they now become associated with that movie. However the positioning of the two actors isn't quite how we’d expect them to
be as it is a medium close up shot with their heads appearing in the centre of the cover - they fill up the entire cover when normally there is a
background behind the characters; I did this because I didn’t feel a background was necessary and I thought that having the actors over the whole
cover would make them the biggest focus and nothing would be able to take away from that. I also feel that the positioning of the actors shows their
intimacy and loving relationship as a couple which is the kind of feel we would expect from this genre of film presented on the magazine.
Main Cover Line: The main cover line reinforces conventions of real magazine covers as it is positioned slightly below the centre of the magazine
and printed horizontally across the whole width of the cover. In addition it is printed in bigger font than the cover lines, which ensures that it looks like
the main cover line and is the most important information out of them. The main cover line also works as anchor text to link together the image along
with the film, this follows typical conventions and helps to make my magazine cover and overall campaign successful. I chose to have the main
cover line in purple to remain consistent with the colour of the skyline and this was also the best colour to contrast against the colour in the image.
Cover Lines: The cover lines reinforce conventions of real magazine covers as they are positioned along both sides of the cover in the centre, the
cover lines appear smaller than the main cover line which shows they smaller pieces of information about the magazine on them compared to the
main cover line. The cover lines were also printed in purple to keep the continuity and to make sure they look like they work well with the other
pieces of writing on the cover. Although I feel that the colour of the cover lines makes them slightly harder to read due to the colours on the
background it was the best option I could choose. The cover lines were written in a bold square font as I felt that the important information would be
read clearly form this font and look effective and professional on the cover.
Puff: I included a puff n my magazine cover which follows conventions that are used on real magazine covers, puffs are included to present a small
exciting extra that is in the magazine. The puff is expected to stand out from the cover as if it is ‘puffing out’ and it is meant to contrast from the rest
of the information on the cover. To ensure my puff worked well on my cover I selected a circle shape with spikes around the outside as I felt this
would be an eye catching choice and also fitted in with the spikes that were coming off of the title. I made the puff a light pink colour as this worked
well with the rest of the colours on the cover but also showed a clear contrast from everything else, this ensured that it stood out and was eye
catching. The font within the puff was written in white to contrast clearly from the pink background it was on and I felt this would be the most
successfully colour to use to allow the puffs information to stand out - the font was also written in the same style as the cover lines to remain
consistent and to make sure everything worked well together.
Barcode: The barcode reinforces forms and conventions of real magazine covers as a lot of magazines tend to have their barcode positioned in the
bottom right hand corner, to keep it away from the information and images printed on the cover - so this is why I decided to place mine where it is.
The barcode also includes the date of issue, issue number and the price which uses conventions as that is what is expected to be shown
somewhere on the magazine around the barcode area as it remains separate from the film information the magazine is presenting.
Colour Scheme:The colour scheme uses conventions of real magazine covers as their is a consistent colour scheme running throughout and the
pastel colours help to portray the romantic drama genre that my film is. I remained consistent with a purple and white theme, with a small amount of
pink which worked successfully and contrasted nicely. The image has pale basic colour so that the writing can stand out from it, the colours within
the image - grey, white and khaki, compliment the colours of the text surrounding it.

4. In what ways do your media products use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?
My film trailer starts off with an establishing shot, the type of shot
reinforces conventions that are used in real media products.
Establishing shots are used to show the audience a location which
helps to convey the atmosphere of the trailer, in my film we chose to
do an establishing shot of the field as this is where the first scene
takes place and is where the two main characters meet so it is of
great significance to the storyline. When choosing the location we
were filming we purposefully selected to have the tree, bench and
bush in the frame to make the shot look more interesting and effective
rather than just an empty field. In addition my film trailer uses real
media product conventions by including happy, upbeat, cheerful
music playing from the beginning throughout the first half of the trailer
- this type of music is typical of romantic films as they are expected to
be happy and light hearted, the music also helps to depict the mood
of the film to the audience.
This frame shows another shot from our trailer, this is a long / medium
shot as the actors start from further away showing their whole body
and then they walk towards the camera. The camera is positioned
lower than eye level so that when the actors get nearer to the camera
it focuses on their hand hold - signifying the development in their
relationship. The close positioning of the characters shows that they
get on and have a close bond which contrasts to scenes shown
further on in the trailer where they are positioned apart. Long shots
aren’t typically used in real romantic films as they often use medium
or close up shots to show couples intimacy and close bond - however
we chose to challenge this and I feel that this shot was very effective
and worked well within the trailer.

5. In what ways do your media products use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?
This close up shot follows forms and conventions of real film trailers as close
ups are often used to portray intense emotion - which is the reason we
selected this style of shot as we wanted to show the female characters
sadness and heartbreak as she was crying. However we could have opted for
a long shot to show the characters loneliness and isolation after breaking up
from her relationship. Also during this shot we used a voice over which again
uses conventions of real film trailers, the voice over helps to tell part of the
story to the audience which may not be able to be shown within the few short
minutes of the trailer and keeps the trailer flowing. In my trailer we opted for a
voice over to explain why the girl was so emotional without having to show
different shots of the male kissing a different female an then our main female
finding out which could have made the trailer over complicated and taken
away from the effectiveness of the role of two main characters. At this point in
the trailer a fade transition was used to transition into this shot, a fade is
typical of real romantic drama film trailers and we used it to signify the change
of atmosphere and mood. In addition to convey the change of the trailers
atmosphere we used a different song to contrast from the upbeat track played
throughout the first half of the trailer. The second song follows forms and
conventions that would be used in real romantic drama films as when the
drama happens the music is used to help emphasise this and so we opted for
a sad, sombre, more dramatic track for the second half of the trailer.
This shot is a medium shot of the two main characters arguing and fighting,
they were placed on either side of the frame purposefully to show the distance
that has come between them. The amount of space surrounding them
suggests that they are both now isolated from each other and on their own.
This reinforces typical conventions used by real romantic drama films as when
drama occurs longer viewed shots are used to show the distance and
difficulties they are facing which contrasts from the closer up shots where the
characters would be positioned closer together.

6. In what ways do your media products use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?
Another close up was used to show the very front of the car just before it hits the
dog. Close ups follows the conventions that we would expect to see in real romantic
drama films as close ups are used to show both drama and to signify the importance
of something - the car is an important part of the trailer as its the reason for the dog
becoming injured and is also partly responsible for the couple possibly reconciling at
the end of the trailer. This shot is followed by another fade transition into a black
screen - the fade transition uses conventions that real romantic drama films would
use. We used the fade into black for a number of reasons, one was to show the fact
that the trailer had come to a very dark point in the story, secondly it was to help
show the pass of time between the dog being hit by the car and then the dog being
taken into a vets in the next shot, and finally we chose to have a black screen so
that we could include the sound effects of the car screeching followed very closely
by the dog whimpering so that our audience could understand that the car had come
to a stop suddenly and that the dog was injured.
The next shot is a medium shot which is follows conventions of real film trailers. The
shot is filmed at a slight high angle which suggests that the female character and
even the dog are the more vulnerable characters, whereas the male character
appears to be a lot stronger as he is standing up with only his bottom half of his
body in the shot and he is turning towards the door to leave - this is to suggest the
male is moving on from the relationship and doesn’t feel he can do anything to fix
it.The female looks up to the male in a pitiful way before standing up to his level to
ask the main to wait, this uses conventions as most romantic drama films always
resolve the drama and one of the individuals in the relationship makes the decision
to sort out their problems and give each other another chance where they then go
on to have a very happy and loving relationship - which is how we intended our
audience to picture the ending as we left it on a cliffhanger so the audience could
have a think about it themselves and become engaged with the trailer/film. By
ending the trailer on a cliffhanger it creates suspense for the audience and also
makes them want to see the film as they have unanswered questions and want to
know what happens after the cliffhanger - it is typical for real trailers to use
cliffhangers to draw in a big audience and so by including this in my trailer I have
used conventions.

7. In what ways do your media products use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?
At the end of my trailer I used a black background to present the
title of the film, I placed the title at the end of the trailer so that the
audience would have to watch the whole trailer to find out the
name of the film and so would keep them engaged and also I feel
it will then stick with my audience more as it will be one of the last
things they see. In addition I included the tagline of my film so that
the audience have something catchy to remember the film by and
if they see that tagline they can then associate it with the film. I
used a plain background with bright white text so they contrasted
clearly and the writing stood out. By doing this I have used forms
and conventions which are used in real film trailers. I challenged
conventions by not including my main actors names on a black
background at the end of the trailer, I chose not to do this as I
didn’t feel it was relevant or would add anything extra to the trailer;
in addition some teaser trailers don’t include the name of their
actors but main trailers do and since my product is only a teaser
trailer I chose not to include the actors names.
In addition after the title I used another black background to add in
writing stating when the film would be coming to cinemas. This
uses forms and conventions that real film trailers use as they put
the date of release at the end so that their audience know when
they can see the full film. I opted for a different font on this frame
as I found that real film trailers tend to use a very bold, defining,
simple font for this piece of writing to contrast from the rest of the
writing that has been shown.

8. How effective is the combination of your main product and
ancillary tasks? Why do they work as a campaign?
I feel that my ancillary tasks, especially my film poster and magazine cover, work
effectively together along with my main product to produce a successful campaign.
My poster and magazine cover both use the same brand name for the film and
both have the film name positioned in a clear and noticeable place to maximise
the advertisement and success of the film. Although the font differs on both the
poster and the magazine cover, I chose to do this as the font on the magazine
cover had to be bolder and thicker to contrast from the background and also it
makes the writing more eye catching to appeal to my target audience. Despite this
the colours that I have used on both ancillary tasks compliment each other as I
have stuck to using pastel colours - mostly purples, pinks and a small amount of
green. I feel that these colours work well for my films genre, romantic drama, and
set a warming atmosphere for the film. The font that I used on the film poster I
also chose to use in the film trailer as I wanted the ancillary tasks to appear like
they are linked to the film trailer and by using the font from the film poster it also
follows conventions effectively of the type of font that would be using in romantic
genre films and it gives a light, warm, loving feel for the film. The film trailer
presents the film title and its tag line at the end on top of a black screen, this
shows that my main product and ancillary task work effectively as a campaign as
they all have the same brand name but also the film poster and main product work
really effectively together as they both include the tagline,
which reinforces the film title and tagline so that it catches the attention of my target audience and promotes the film in the best possible and most effective
way. The last frame of my film trailer is a black background with the words ‘coming to cinemas’ written on it, I chose to do this in a bolder font following the
same type of style that was used on the magazine cover - I opted for this style of font as I thought it was very bold and eye catching and would make the
important information contrast clearly from everything else shown. In addition the main product, film poster and magazine cover all include the same two
actors who were casted as the main characters for the film, the continuity of the actors ensures that my campaign follows typical conventions and is
successful and effective - also the consistent use of the two main characters on both the film poster and magazine cover mean that the audience can link
images of the characters back to the film as the pictures are always associated with the film title ‘A Winters Love’.

9. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
We recorded evidence of a selected audiences reaction to our teaser trailer before we asked them five questions about the trailer to
receive feedback for us then to analysis what we had learnt from their feedback. We selected two female who matched our target
audience of 15-25 year old females to see if the trailer appeals to them how we wanted it to, but we also selected two young males
to see if it would or wouldn't appeal to them and to hear their feedback on why they felt that way. The video shows four completely
different reactions ranging from the first audience member who was really engaged with everything that was happening and became
emotionally involved with the trailer especially when the dog got injured - which was unexpected due to the fact this particular
audience member wasn't part of our target audience however this was a good sign as it shows our trailer can also stretch out to a
wider variety of audience members. The second audience member found the whole trailer rather funny and after watching it she
stated that it was because the trailer showed a very cute relationship but also found the fighting part funny. The third audience
member didn't show much of a reaction to the trailer and this could be because the trailer doesn't particularly appeal to him as he
doesn't fit our target audience. The final audience member seemed to be engaged with the whole trailer as she watched intently
showing small smiles throughout the happy sections of our trailer and she seemed to become even more engaged when the trailer
reached the climax.

10. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
What did you find most eye catching in the trailer?
From my audience feedback to this question I found that most of the members of the audience each found a different eye catching moment in the
trailer. I learned that the first few scenes we used at the opening were the best scenes throughout the whole product and this made it the most eye
catching due to the bright colours and light which suggested a cheerful atmosphere and this helped to set the correct mood for the trailer from the
very beginning. In addition I learned from two of my pieces of feedback that the pan shot near the beginning of the film was the most eye catching
moment due to the fact it used a different and unique camera shot which was not used throughout any other parts of the trailer and I also found that
this part was particularly eye catching for the audience as it felt like it was from the point of view of the dog which my audience found very
Do you feel the trailer is typical of a romantic drama?
From the four responses to this question I have learned that my romantic drama teaser trailer is typical of other romantic dramas meaning that it
follows conventions and is how my audience expected the film to be. I noticed that all the responses stated that the reason for it being typical was
because firstly it showed a romantic relationship and the journey this relationship went on from the very first moment they met and secondly the fact
that it included dramatic moments, where things took a different turn which helped to build a climax in our trailer. I feel that the cheerful atmosphere,
along with the bright colours and lighting used at the very start of our trailer throughout the first few opening scenes set the tone of a typical romantic
drama film trailer straight away. In addition I feel that the climax that was included also helped contribute to the fact our trailer was typical to other
romantic dramas, as they always contain action to keep the audience gripped till the very end and to make sure they are focused throughout. The
climax helps to heighten the drama and we followed the conventions of typical romantic dramas by having a change in mood and having some big
event happen, like an affair, which is expected in these genre films. However what is also expected and what also made our film even more typical to
a romantic drama is the possibility of a reconciliation and happy ending at the end of the film and we showed this in our trailer as the female character
asked the male character to wait just as he was about to leave, this suggests to our audience that she might want him back after all but we left it as a
cliff hanger to leave our audience in suspense so that they can be asking themselves questions as to whether they will actually get back together or
not - this helps to keep the audience engaged and focused. Overall I learnt that my film trailer is indeed very typical of other romantic dramas which I
feel means I have succeeded in creating a teaser trailer for this specific genre and it should appeal to my target audience.

11. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
The responses to the second question I asked my audience varied slightly which helped me to learn a lot about what different aspects of my
trailer were good and worked well and what parts weren’t as good and could maybe have been improved upon. Two of my audience
feedback mentioned that a strength of my trailer is the fact that many parts do seem very realistic due to the connection the actors had with
each other which I feel helped to make the trailer engaging. In addition I also learnt that other strengths include the choice of music, I feel as
if my audience liked the tracks that we chose and they fitted well with the intended atmosphere and mood of the trailer and the transition of
music worked well, changing from happy and upbeat to sad and dramatic. I also feel that the music helped to convey the story to my
audience. I also learnt from another audience members feedback that the use of camera shots and angles was of a good level of skill and
variety and was effective in the trailer, I feel this shows that we successfully made the right creative decisions when filming and portrayed
our film through the best possible use of camera shots. I learnt a lot from my audiences feedback on the weaknesses of my trailer as I took
this as constructive criticism, much of the feedback was related to the ending of our trailer surrounding the incident where the dog got hit by
a car as many thought that it wasn’t clear enough and were confused at this point as to what had happened to the dog and whether the dog
was alive or dead. In addition many became confused when the male character brought the dog wrapped up in a blanket to the vets and
then straight after brought the dog running back into the females home - they felt that there wasn’t enough explanation or clear enough
transitions between these shots and everything moved too fast for them to understand. I feel this may be due to the fact that as the creator
and director of the trailer I knew the story very clearly and therefore thought it was simple and assumed that through the action in the frames
that I chose to put together that they would make sense because I could understand them, however from an audience members perspective
I know understand that it does seem more confusing and that more needed to be explained and so to improve when creating other pieces of
work I need to bare in mind how the audience would perceive things. Another weakness that was mentioned was the quality of the audio, I
do in fact feel that the audio was quite poor at times due to the lack of technology we had available to us when filming meaning we didn’t
have a microphone to record sound and we could only deal with the quality of the sound that the camera produced. We did try to overcome

12. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
I learned from the feedback of this question that the sound and music that we picked to be included in our trailer worked really
effectively and was successful and was a big strength of the trailer as whole. All the audience members thought that both
choices of music used throughout the trailer were very good as they both depicted the atmosphere correct atmosphere as the
music at the beginning was described as optimistic, upbeat and happy which was how we had hoped our audience would see
it. In addition the second piece of music we used to show the change in mood and atmosphere worked equally as well as it
again depicted the correct intended mood and atmosphere for that part of the trailer which was quite sombre and emotionally. I
feel that the choice of music helped to convey the story and symbolised when things were going well between the couple and
when they had reached a difficult point in their journey. I found overall the music did work well and how we had hoped it would
work as the audiences feedback was all very positive and in addition some audience members stated that the music helped
them to feel an emotional connection throughout the trailer. The sound effects received mostly positive feedback from three out
of four audience members, I learned from this that my choice in sound effect was successful and helped work with the trailers
action to make the overall product and storyline very effective. I feel that both sound effects that were included in the trailer, the
car screeching and the dog whimpering, were very realistic which worked well with all the action happening within the trailer as
that was also realistic. Despite the positivity from the feedback on the sound effects used during the trailer, there was one
comment in the feedback that made me learn something extra as they felt that the sound effects could have been improved to
help make the story clearer and easier to understand - I feel that if the storyline and shots had made this section of the trailer
clearer then the sound still would have worked well and wouldn’t have needed to be altered, however I’ll take the criticism on
board and if I was to do the project again I would think about experimenting with different sounds and seeing if, when editing,

13. What have you learned from your audience feedback?I feel I learnt most from this question in my audience feedback as I was able to hear a variety of audience members opinions on how they feel I
could have improved the trailer and this feedback was coming from people that were and weren’t within my target audience so this gave me a
chance to think about how I could have made the trailer connect with my target audience even more as well as ways to improve to connect to
people that weren’t within my specified target audience so that I could gain a bigger audience. The first thing I learned was that the ending of the
trailer could have possibly had a shot where it showed more of the couples reconciliation which is typical of a romantic drama, to show this I could
have filmed a shot where the couple hugged or kissed briefly just to confirm to my audience that the relationship is going to have a happy ending -
however the argument to this is that then my trailer wouldn’t be left on a cliffhanger and wouldn’t leave the audience with questions to ask as they
would have seen how the problems between the couple were resolved, this could then have disengaged my audience and made them not as
interested in the film. Another improvement I learnt was that the transitions in the second half of the trailer could have been improved to show a
clearer change in time and location,as a result this would have made my trailer clearer and easier for my audience to understand. Also an
improvement suggested during the feedback was that the sound quality of the audio could be improved so that the speech is clearer and not as
crackly at times, from this piece of feedback in particular I learnt hat when filming any piece of media its not all about the action and what you can
see in the frame but the sound/audio is also a really important part to remember and focus on as well and it should be bared in mind when filming,
to improve the audio all I’d need to do is use a microphone when filming to capture the audio and to also listen to my clips back to see if the sound
is of a good enough quality and can be heard clearly and loudly with no background sound interfering. The last improvement suggested was
something that after having my audience feedback session I also agreed with, this was to clarify the scenes involving the dog and car incident and
making it clearer what had actually happened to the dog as when my audience watched the trailer the shots jumped very quickly through different
periods of time and this left my audience a bit puzzled at times to if the dog was alive or not. In addition the shot where the dog is pictured in the
blanket could have been made clearer as some audience members were left wondering whether the dog was actually in the blanket or if it was
something else, also the shots where the male character took the dog into the vets should have been made clearer as it wasn’t obvious where the
male character had taken the dog to especially as straight after the shot where he had entered the vets there was a shot which showed him
entering the females house with the dog fully alive and healthy. To overcome this issue I could have also experimented with different transitions to

14. How did you use media technologies in the research and
planning, construction and evaluation stages?
Digital Media Technologies -
Computer Hardware: For all three stages of this project I had to use a computer hardware. I
used both an apple iMac computer, an apple Macbook Air and an apple Macbook Pro.
During the construction and research stage I started by using the iMac computer and I
found that although it had a lot of storage which would be very useful when storing all the
clips for my trailer as well as all my work for the construction of the trailer, I found this
computer hardware to be slightly slower than I had hoped and it was slightly unreliable
which meant that it wasn’t as effective as other hardwares I had available. So I switched to
using an apple Macbook Air which was a very fast processor and was very reliable, this
enabled me to work very quickly and effectively. In addition the Macbook Air had a better
quality screen and had more up to date applications available for me to use. When creating
my film poster and magazine cover I began using the iMac computers as the screen was a
lot wider and enabled me to have a clearer view of my work however when I realised that
the Macbook Air had a more up to date version of the software I was using I was quick to
switch computers so that I would have the best features and design tools available to me to
use, to help ensure my products were the best they could be. I also found the Macbook Air
easier and more convenient to work on and it met all of my computer hardwares needs.
When we began construction of our trailer I switched to a Macbook Pro which has basically
identically computer hardware to the Macbook Air, it has the same processor and quality
screen but the only difference was it had slightly more storage which was convenient as it
enabled us to store all our footage easily and securely without having to worry about limited
storage space.
Inputs: Inputs concern cables that are used to connect the camera to the computer so that
all the footage filmed can be easily and quickly transferred onto a hardware drive to make
sure it is safely stored ready to be edited. For filming both an iPhone and video camera
were used, we used two different cables to transfer the footage from both devices so that
they could be combined and used together on the same computer.

15. How did you use media technologies in the research and
planning, construction and evaluation stages?
Software Media Technologies -
Keynote: One of the first software media technologies I used during the research and
planning stage was Keynote, this was used to show all my research and to show
different pieces of analytical work, building up to my own project. Keynote is a very
simple software to use with loads of different features, it enables endless amounts of
writing in a number of slides that can all be formatted in different ways. The software
allows tables, charts, texts, shapes, videos, audio clips and pictures to be inserted
whenever and wherever you wish. The text can be edited in many ways by choosing
from a variety of fonts, colours, sizes, styles, altering the alignment and spacing and
adding in columns and bullet points to create a list. The software also has a unique
feature allowing you to animate your presentation by having transitions between each
slide.
Safari: Safari was used plenty of times through all the stages of the process, firstly it
was used for research so that I could develop my knowledge about typical film
magazines, posters and trailers - the internet allowed me to explore a wide range of
examples which then allowed me to experiment with different ideas when it came
down to my own designs. In addition safari allowed me to find out how to use new and
different software to broaden my knowledge and enable me to use more advanced
softwares and features. Safari also enabled me access to Youtube and Blogger which
were both vital websites I used throughout this process; in addition I was able to
access a website called SlideShare which allows me to share the presentations I
create on Keynote on the internet so they can be displayed on my blog to show my
whole process.
Youtube: Youtube enabled me to see other teaser trailers so that I could understand
how they worked and what sort of conventions hey typical show and include. The
website easily enabled me to narrow down searches that I could select trailers just
from my chosen genre of film so that I could see what conventions are used and how I
could then develop them further in my own work. Besides watching trailers, youtube
also helped me get to grips with new software when I became stuck as there were
many tutorials to show me how to use certain features which helped me create my
film poster, magazine and trailer.

16. How did you use media technologies in the research and
planning, construction and evaluation stages?
Software Media Technologies -
Blogger: Blogger is a website which enabled me to share all my work online in a
neat and organised blog that I could design and layout how I liked. I used blogger
to display all my work that I had completed throughout this process in one place, I
was able to order them in a logical and convenient way for others to see and
could also add labels to group blog posts together if people were only interested
in seeing a certain aspect of my work. In addition using blogger to display my
work meant that I could create blogposts to show how my ideas developed
throughout the process by posting updates and evidence form the very start of
the process right through to when the products were completed. The website is
very easy to get to grips with and allows you to layout blog posts in many way, by
giving you options to change the alignment, size, style, colour and font of text as
well as enabling you to embed pictures, videos, slideshows and links so items
from other websites or from your computer can be shared quickly from your blog.
Photoshop: Photoshop was used during the construction stage of the process; it
was used to create two of my ancillary tasks, the film poster and the magazine
cover. At first I found photoshop quite tricky to use as it includes a lot of advanced
features, but after a while it became pretty straightforward to use and play around
with. When I used photoshop I imported my main images so that they could be
the background and then I imported in pictures of text that I had created on online
websites - however these pictures had a white background on them which
wouldn't be any good against my images, to solve this photoshop has a cut out
tool which allowed me to get rid of the white background completely and my font
stayed the way I wanted it. I was able to use an eraser tool that meant I could
remove anything that I wanted, so I could cut around things in my main image if I
had wanted to. In addition photoshop enabled me to make the fonts I had
imported different colours and thickness so that if I didn’t like the colour that I had
originally imported the font or it didn’t go well with my background I could really
easily and quickly change it and play around with features to see what made it
look best. On top of all of this photoshop enabled me to type out text straight onto
the project I was working on and this also had a range of options to enable me to
change the way the writing looking, such as size, font, style, spacing and colour;
also it enabled me to add shapes to the project and make them any colour I liked
so that I was able to create a puff on my magazine cover to make sure it followed
typical conventions.

17. How did you use media technologies in the research and
planning, construction and evaluation stages?
Software Media Technologies -
iMovie: The final piece of software I used during this process was iMovie, which I used in my
construction stage to edit together my teaser trailer. This software was really simple and
effective to use, it enabled me to import all the clips I was using into one place so I could see
the section I had and drag them into the section where I was ordering, trimming and splitting
the trailer. It was simple to order them just by dragging them around each other, to trim the
clips I’d just have to drag either end to where I wanted the clip to start/finish and then to split
the clip into two halves I’ve just have to right click. On iMovie I was also able to speed up or
slow down clips if I needed too and I could also alter the volume of the sound - so clips where
there was no sound needed and there was background noise I muted and then the ones with
audio I could turn up so that it could be hear clearly. In addition iMovie gave me the option of
adding filters to the clips so that if I wish I could have sections of my trailer in black and white
or sepia etc. The software also allowed me to do some colour correction by matching colours
in same frames to colours in other frames that weren’t quite the same due to change of
lighting or camera angle - for example in the field some patches of the grass weren’t as green
as others so I could select a colour from when section of the grass and apply it to the rest.
iMovie also enabled me to use transitions between clips, the only transition I did use in my
trailer besides a cut was a fade, iMovie made this really simple and easy to do by just
dragging the transition to where I wanted it in the sequence and I could change the duration
the fade lasted for. Also I could add plain coloured backgrounds which meant at the end of my
trailer I could insert a black background and add writing over the top - this software had a
limited amount of font to choose from and I couldn’t position it where ever I liked I just had to
select from the positions it offered me and stick with it which was a downside to this software.
However I was still able to use a font that matched my genre of film as well as the font used
on my film poster, I chose a white font to contrast sharply from the black background to make
it eye catching for my audience and in addition to this I added a second black background to
insert writing of when the film would be in cinemas as this is typically shown at the end of
trailers, this time I chose a different font that didn’t match my genre film as it was a lot more
bolder and defined which I think worked well by contrasting agains the other text and it also
helped to link in with the font I had used on my magazine cover. The final feature which I used
on iMovie was the importing of music, I was able to download music tracks off the internet or
use music already on my computer and add them into my trailer, similarly to the video clips I
could order, trim and split the music however I wanted and I could also alter the volume of the
music and make it fade out so that I could combine more than one music track throughout my
trailer. I was able to have more than one sound playing at a time which meant I could have
both music and audio playing or music and sound effects, so I wasn’t limited as to what I
could do with my trailer.

18. How did you use media technologies in the research and
planning, construction and evaluation stages?
Physical Media Technologies -
Video Camera: When in the construction stage of our process I began using physical media technologies,
one of which was a small hand held video camera. The video camera had a long lasting rechargeable
battery which meant we were able to use the video camera in any location we required even if there wasn't a
plug socket to access and this meant that when we went out to shoot shots we weren’t restricted to a short
time limit as the camera lasted long enough for us to film everything we required without having to recharge
again. This video camera also had a memory card included to store all our footage securely, the memory
card had enough space to store the amount of footage we required to film. Using the video camera allowed
us to film a wide variety of different shots and angles and it also enabled us to zoom in and out of shots so
we could get the perfect framing like we had intended. Despite this there were a few negative aspect to
using the video camera, one being the fact that the video camera didn’t come with a tripod which made
filming quite tricky as we had to make sure when holding the camera we remained perfectly still and straight
so not to capture a shaky or crooked shot; the second downside to the camera was the fact that the quality
of the footage was not quite as good as when we tested out footage with an iPhone, this included the quality
of the sound captured as we weren’t able to access a microphone which made audio very hard to pick up
and hear on the video camera.
iPhone 6S: It was decided to use an iPhone in the construction stages when filming our trailer purely down
to the fact that the quality of the footage was much better in my opinion. The iPhone had the same problem
with not having a tripod to ensure the camera remained level and steady, however to overcome this problem
we just made sure we focused when holding the iPhone and filming and kept a very steady hand - we also
made sure to watch each clip back through after filming to check that it was the correcting framing we
wanted and that the shot was nice and clean. Similarly to the video camera the iPhone enabled us to film a
variety of different camera shots and angles as well as allowing us to zoom in and out of a frame, however
the iPhone allowed us to focus on the people or items in the shot more so than the video camera did and
also the audio was slightly better quality on the iPhone than the video camera but yet again we were unable
to have access to a microphone which we could have benefitted from greatly. One major negative aspect of
the iPhone was the very limited storage space it had available for us to film with, however we made sure we
would have enough before going out and filming by clearing up the storage not he device and we had a back
up iPhone ready to use if the storage did become full. The particular iPhone we used had 1334x750-pixel
resolution, a 12 mega pixel camera lens and 16GB of storage space.