2. Question One
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real
media products?
My media product develops various existing forms from other media products in many aspects. To
start with, my media product used the form conventionally seen within trailers of the green audiences
screen.
In addition to this, we then used the production logos and animations we had made on LiveType and
AfterEffects at the start of the trailer as it was a convention we had seen used within our research and
planning which added to the realism of the product. Furthermore, I would say that the use of score
which changes in the middle of the trailer is a common convention used which we adopted into our
own trailer in order to lure the audience into a false sense of security in which they are then surprised
when the darker soundtrack kicks in, heightening the attention.
3. I also used text inserts I made on Aftereffects between the shots and takes to ensure the
audience was aware of the story-line. Furthermore I would say that the shots and camera
angles used are typical of those in real media products as they are a variety of mid, over
the shoulder, long shots and shot/reverse shots. The use of editing is similar to those of
real media products, for example the straight-cuts which fasten and become more
frequent towards the end of the trailer is a typical convention used to fasten the pace of
the product whilst adding to the suspense of the plot. My favourite part of the trailer is
the over the shoulder mirror take, which is a convention we mirrored from other media
products as we had seen it used various times within our chosen horror genre before –
although we challenged the convention in a way as we added a negative effect to the
dead friends face when she is reflected in the mirror – as seen below in the film The
Omen (2006)
4. The inserts I created on LiveType were inspired by those I had seen on various horror film
trailers within my research. I first created the smoke screen background on after effects and
then used this as a basis for my LiveType text. I created the text for each insert using the same
font ‘Trajan pro’ as I had seen used in other text screens used within popular horror film
trailers, such as here filmed in the horror film trailer for Carrie. I think this font with some
extra spacing worked particularly well because it is clear to read at a glance however still has a
certain formal and severe look to it.
In addition to this, our trailer uses other aspects of already existing media products as it
incorporates a long take towards the end of the clip as seen within the ‘Conjuring’ trailer in
order to heighten the suspense and tension leading up to the final moment of the last fright –
in this case we used the long take of the actress walking into the room until she releases the
girl is behind her. Here we also re-use the mirror motif within our trailer. Furthermore, our
use of soundtrack was a carefully chosen piece we made sure was royalty free which made our
work original and distinct.
5. This is my final magazine cover. I used a variety of
fonts and text styles for this cover as I thought it
helped emphasised important areas of interest in the
cover such as the exclusive interview and ‘oscar
special’. Furthermore I thought that the use of
alternative fonts worked well as inspired by the
Empire Dark Knight cover, which uses either the
green or white text in the way I used the red or
white. In addition to this my use of tag-lines and a
website address was a convention I seen featured in
the majority of film magazine covers as a whole not
just for the specific horror genre.
This is my film poster text. The use of two tag-lines is a
technique I had seen used within various other media
products such as the Sinister theatrical poster, however
I challenged this convention by using the second
tagline in an extremely small font as though it appears
as a subliminal message whilst hinting about some of
the re-occuring films within the film such as betrayal
and revenge. The use of this second tag line also proves
to serve the same purpose as it does within the Sinister
trailer as it helps hint at the plot of the film also
without baring all too explicitly.
6. Question Two
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
I would say that as a combination my main product and ancillary texts work
effectively at a glance. Subtle details such as the frequent use of similar fonts- such
as my staple ‘Trajan Pro’ worked well to create a sense of continuity between the
products. The similarity within the slashed out texts for the film title in the cover,
poster and final credit all works well in providing a recurring image of the film
name, whilst the repetition of the font/colour/size would effectively stick in the
audiences mind for them to memorise the film name. In addition to this, I would
say that the frequent use of close-ups of the dead friends face effectively adds to the
motif of death and revenge whilst being haunting to the audience – I used similar
camera angles and shots for both the magazine cover and poster, whilst within the
trailer a similar close-up of the actresses face is used as she appears in the mirror.
Despite this, I would argue that I could have made a further effort to make the
ancillary texts look more similar to the final main product by creating a more
blue/white hue to the poster and magazine image, as this is the colour film used
within the trailer on top of the footage. This continuity between the pieces is crucial
for creating an effective product on a whole as it portrays a sense of professionalism
and realism to our tested audiences.
7. Question Three
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
For my audience feedback I made a questionnaire for a sample of 10 students
opinions of our trailer, magazine cover and poster.
1) What would you rate the trailer out of 10?
2) Did you think the trailer looked professional if so what made it
look realistic?
3) What would you rate my poster and magazine out of 10?
4) Would you be enticed to go and see the film?
5) Overall what areas of improvement would there be for all the
pieces?
9. • In response to my questions, the response was varied.
Question Two: “ The camera shots and angles gave the appearance of
professional filming which made the trailer look more realistic” to “The
transitions and straight-cuts, and variation within scene lengths allowed the
trailer to fasten towards the end and climax of the trailer as often seen within
real trailers, giving a professional finish” whilst some argued that the trailer
did not look that professional due to the “amateur acting that jeopardised the
realism”.
Question Four: “I would be enticed to see the film because the end of the
piece leaves you wanting to know what happens after the girls encounter one
another” to “I wouldn’t want to see the trailer as I think the clip could have
given a bit too much away” to “The dramatic score really put me on edge
throughout the trailer, and as I like the horror genre this would make me want
to see it at the cinema as well as the creepy poster”
Question Five: “I think a scarier image should have been used for the poster
whereas I liked the use of image for the magazine cover because it suited the
uses of plugs and cover-lines without being too scary and hard to look at”
10. Question Four
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and
evaluation stages?
IMOVIE/FINAL CUT:
Within my construction of my trailer I used various software's available on the
Apple Macs. I first started off with using iMovie to edit and cut the footage we
used for our original draft. After we had collected our final footage, I continued
to use iMovie for the editing process as I found it accessible within easily
selecting and trimming footage. We then went on to experiment with Final Cut
Pro to broaden our skills and adapt to new, more complex technology. After
successfully creating some clips through Final Cut Pro after a lengthy period of
time, we made the decision to continue using iMovie instead as we found it
more manageable for use, but still used Final Cut when it was needed for more
complex effects such as the jumpy effect within the car crash scene.
11. Question Four
How did you use media technologies in the construction and
research, planning and evaluation stages?
LIVE TYPE / AFTER EFFECTS
For the inserts between the clips, I was responsible for creating the plot details. I
firstly created a smoke screen background on After Effects I used after watching
a tutorial on Youtube. This was a great piece of technology I found with a bit of
direction easy to use and effective in creating a professional finish to the moving
background image. To ensure I used a variety of software and technologies, I
imported the moving background into LiveType and created the text on top,
making sure I stuck to the staple text we had used throughout of ‘Trajan Pro’. I
really liked my use of LiveType because I think the technology enabled me to
create a good looking text as I could easily create a ‘stroke’ and ‘glow’ effect
which worked well against the smoke screen background.
PHOTOSHOP
I used Photoshop for the construction of my magazine front cover and poster.
Photoshop is a software I had the most confidence within working with as I had
used it a lot last year. The skills I collected last year were transferable to those
demanded by this years work so I found it fairly easy to create my own magazine
cover and pick up where I left off with the abilities I attained last year. I used
Photoshop as a technology as I believe It provides a great selection of tools to
enable you to create a realistic media product. I used Photoshop for both
ancillary texts and found I transferred a lot of techniques between the two, such
as colour correction, the clone stamp tool and the selection pen tool to create
various effects. A great use of this technology was the pen tool as it allowed me to
almost re-create the makeup upon the actresses face in ways such as whitening
her skin, enhancing her grey lines and creating dark blood injuries within an
instant.
12. Question Four
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation
stages?
RESEARCH AND PLANNING: PREZI/SLIDESHARE
Within my research and planning I used various technologies to aid the presentation of my work and planning. I most
commonly used Microsoft PowerPoint and Prezi, as I found them pieces of technology I was used to from my
coursework last year. In presenting my work I liked Prezi as it is a new innovative piece of software which enables you
to create animations and a more fluid and sophisticated look to the research you are presenting. Prezi is also good to
use as the templates available create a sense of journey and a pathway to your work which makes it more easy to
comprehend where and how you are advancing on your initial ideas for the construction. Furthermore, I found that
although I often used PowerPoint and then uploaded the work onto Slideshare, as a visual aid I would say that
Slideshare is not that interesting to look at and read, but it can be easily embedded into a wordpress text post unlike
Prezi which I eventually had to hyperlink instead.
AN EXAMPLE OF MY SLIDESHARE
AN EXAMPLE OF MY PREZI
13. Question Four
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research,
planning and evaluation stages?
RESEARCH AND PLANNING: VOKI/ YOUTUBE
I used Voki within my research and presentation of my coursework as a unique way of
presenting information in a way which is still widely accessible. I really liked the use of Voki
for the Actor audition descriptions as I found that it was a better way of displaying short
pieces of information through an animation with an audio narration. I liked my use of Voki
for each of these actors because each was only a few sentences long, whereas I think that if I
had used Voki for large chunks of information it could become a bit tedious to listen to as
the narrative tends to speak rather slowly. I also liked Voki as a technology as it can be
uniquely adjusted according to how you would like it to appear in relation to the topic.
In addition to this I also used Youtube in order to share various pieces of planning and
construction that were of a QuickTime or mp4 format. I have my YouTube channel already,
so I found the proceess of cutting and trimming images fairly familiar, and I enjoy using the
website as a video sharing technology as my other group members and myself could easily
visit the videos and embed them into our own blogs for whatever reason. I also used
YouTube in sharing my auditions for the two actresses we considered using for the film
trailer.
