The document discusses how various media technologies were used at different stages of creating a trailer, magazine cover, and poster for a horror film project. In the planning stage, websites like YouTube and IMDB were used to research trailers and find influential horror films. GarageBand was used to edit music for the trailer, and Final Cut Pro was used to adjust footage contrasts. Blogger and Flickr were used to evaluate works and get feedback, which informed changes like re-shooting scenes in the trailer. Focus groups and screenings provided useful feedback that led to improvements.

1. Evaluation Part 3
How did you use media technologies in the
construction and research, planning and evaluation
stages?

2. In the research and planning section I used a variety of
different new media Internet sites such as You Tube
and IMDB. I found these helpful as they allowed me
not only to look at trailers for many films but they also
suggested a variety of different films to me. I feel that
trailers that influenced my product the most were:
Woman in Black, 30 Days of Night and Don’t Be
Afraid of the Dark. I think that these were most
influential due to their psychosocial and action horror
sub--genres and the slightly artistic portrayal of each
trailer, often conveyed through eerie yet parallel music.

3. We found the action sequence in 30 Days of Night trailer to
be highly influential in our own action sequences using fast
montage and a variety of different expressionist angles to
create a thrilling piece of footage. Woman in Black worked on
a different level and was influential in how it created suspense
and suggested that it could lead to something more gruesome.
This in particular was something that we really wanted to
capture in our trailer, and researching this film adapted our
vision of The Hanging Tree. If we achieved this then we our
idea of creating a certificate 12 trailer for a 15 film would not
only be possible but would also lead to a greater audience as it
would be able to be shown more widely. Watching the Don’t
Be Afraid of the Dark trailer condensed this vision. It was
inspirational in its style of shooting; we particularly liked the
longer winding shots scene in this trailer as a way of creating
suspense, as well as the innocence seen in their main
character.

4. Through out the construction process of the trailer, magazine cover
and poster, I also used a variety of different new media technologies.
I used Garage Band, to make the music sound spooky, re-toning it so
that it was off pitch as well as slowing down the track to create an
eerie feeling, I then enhanced this feeling by using the echo effects to
give the idea of deja-vu, these sound effects were used throughout the
entire trailer to create a continuity. In Final Cut Pro I adjusted the
contrast of the footage to create a sharper and more highly shadowed
effect, I think that this worked particularly well in the tent scene,
before Nicole goes missing, as it creates an ominous feeling. I also
reversed the some of the footage in the speed and duration settings,
this was used to give the effect of the ivy moving up the leg of the
victim.

5. To complete my blog, I finally used different media technologies
to evaluate my products. At this stage Blogger and Flickr were
vitally important. I used both of these sites to review and analyze
both my work and that of others. Flickr in particular was useful in
analyzing images such as posters and magazine covers, using the
notes feature so that the image itself could still be seen as a whole
while I could also make in-depth notes on specific elements of the
image. Analyzing posters such as Sleepy Hollow and Sweeny Todd.
On my blog I evaluated a variety of different videos, and kept track
of all my Flickr analysis. I also created some charts on Microsoft
Excel, as results of different surveys carried out, I then proceeded
to export them as images and evaluate them on Blogger. I found
this useful as all of my information was then in the same place
making it easily accessible and showing the evolution of my
thoughts – and response to audience feedback - as I progressed
through the project.

6. We also found the focus group and evaluation screenings to be
particularly useful. With the focus group feedback leading us to
change our trailer. After feed back saying that our trailer made
some audience members feel sick due to the amount of panning
used we went out and re-shot some of the searching sequences, as
well as shooting a more dramatic and exhilarating ending. This
was commented on during the evaluation screening as an
interesting new concept which made the trailer more exciting.