The document discusses the process of creating promotional materials for a film project including a teaser trailer, poster, and magazine cover. It describes analyzing existing examples to understand conventions of the genre. Feedback was gathered from an audience who felt the locations and visuals matched the crime genre. Some elements like the magazine cover background could be improved. Overall, technology played an important role in research, production, and editing the final materials.

1. We obviously wanted our poster to look as real as possible. So we had to analise a number of poster in order to become familiar with the genre. The vantage point poster was one I particularly liked and I wanted to use some of the conventions it follows and also develop them. We used pictures to help display some of the wealth that featured in the film. We wanted it to appear discreetly in the background as it does in the Vantage Point poster.

2. We placed the main character in the centre of the poster to help shoe his roll and importance. We also used a saturation effect on the two characters in the background, so the main character stood out more.We not only wanted to stick to the conventions of a magazine cover but we also wanted to make it different, so it stood out but was also still clearly a magazine cover. We wanted our magazine name to stand out. So we made it central on the page and also red. We chose red as it is generally associated with films.

3. We thought the use of pictures is very important. So we made the main feature large and relatively central

4. We also incorporated free features as many magazines do and used eye catching labels such as ‘Plus’I think we have effectively used our main product and ancillary text to convey our genre. The poster helps to compliment the trailer. We used the same characters for every product and used other pictures that represent the crime genre.We also stuck to used to same font style for our title in all three products. This helped to create some unity between the pieces and would allow the audience to easily identify our products.

5. We wanted our film brand to be easily recognisable in all of our products. So we insisted on using the same font for our title to create unity and a relationship between all products.Although we knew it was crucial we used all of our own pictures, it wasn’t possible in the case of the poster. We wanted to represent wealth in the poster and so we used images of great value. It would have been impossible to actually collect our own images of these items as many of them cost over £100,000. such images include:

6. We noticed that location played a major part in the Crime genre. So we wanted to use a location that represents wealth and also helps to compliment our story.Location ShotsFilm Shots

7. Audience Feedback

8. Questions AskedFor us to find out whether this media product really worked, we felt we needed to ask our audience what they thought. The questions we asked them were:Which genre do you feel our teaser trailer represents?Do you feel the locations picked for the teaser trailer worked?Do you feel the poster works well with the rest of the products?Do you think our magazine cover can challenge over magazines?Does our overall project challenge the codes and conventions of an established media product?

9. FeedbackThe feedback was very positive, everyone who watched the trailer could easily identify that the genre was gangster.They also felt that the location chosen to film our teaser trailer (canary wharf) really helped the trailer look like a gangster product.The audience thought the magazine cover looked exciting and realistic, they thought the background was really eye-catching and that the merged pictures made the poster look like a serious movie.They also felt the magazine cover looked good but felt that the background needed improving.We were also told that the name of the film ‘double or nothing’ and the font it was in were both really eye-catching. The audience said it really helped the product look realistic.

10. What we have learned from our audience feedbackOur audience feedback has shown us that it is hard to compete with other media products. We felt that the magazine cover looked very good, but when we analysed our audience feedback it showed us that it looked a little bland and needed brightening up.We have also learnt that the background of a magazine cover or a poster plays a major part on identifying the codes and conventions of a media product.We have learnt that the title of a product (double or nothing) is very important. The audience told us it helped the film look more realistic and really linked with the poker side of the film.

11. Media Technologies

12. Technology We UsedComputer’sImac computer’sHandheld Video CameraStills camera

13. Technology We Used - ResearchTechnology has played a major role in the whole creation of this media product.We first used technology when we were researching specific teaser trailers, posters and magazine covers. This was done by using the Internet. We analysed a range of media products of the gangster genre (Lock, stock and two smoking barrels, Rise of the footsoldier and Casino royale). We felt this would help inspire us to make a better media product.

14. The technology in the filming and stills photo stage helped us create a high quality product. We tried to make sure that the equipment used was a good quality so our product would look realistic. When filming we used a tripod at all times to keep the camera still and focused.We made adjustments on the stills camera to suit the lighting and shadowing, when taking the picture.Technology We Used – Practical Stage

15. Technology We Used – Editing StageThe technology we used in this stage was very important. All the practical work we did needed to be edited.We edited our teaser trailer on the imac computers, using the ‘imovie software’. Imovie allowed us to add music, special effects, transitions and text to our teaser trailer. This helped it look much more professional and realistic. When taking photo’s we used the software ‘Adobe Photoshop’. Photoshop helped us in so many ways, It added special effects, text, backgrounds and logos to our poster and magazine cover. When taking photo’s we had to think ahead and make the editing stage easier for ourselves. One example of this is when we took pictures for our poster and magazine cover. All the pictures were taken on a white background, so it would be easier to edit and help the picture look a higher quality.

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