The student produced a teaser trailer, poster, and magazine cover for a horror film called "Circus" for a media production assessment. In creating the media texts, the student used conventions from real horror films and trailers to make their teaser trailer appear authentic. They received feedback that said the editing and mise-en-scene were successful but the mystery was not subtle enough and the lighting in one scene needed improvement. The student learned how to use iMovie and Photoshop in constructing the media products and researched conventions online using sites like YouTube and IMDB.

1. Media Evaluation‘Circus’Bethany Marsh

2. For our A Level Media production we worked in a group to produce;A teaser trailer for our media product ‘Circus’.A poster to advertise our film.A magazine cover to further advertise.

3. For our media product we made a teaser trailer for a horror film, ‘Circus’. Throughout the development of our media text we used forms and conventions of real media products, to help us decide what we needed to use to make it appear like a genuine teaser trailer for a horror film. We achieved this through doing research into other horror films, we looked at various trailers such as Saw and Black Swan to help develop it. Using Forms and Conventions of Real Media Products

4. When we looked into other film trailers, we have taken conventions from the ‘Black Swan’ trailer by putting black screen shots in with critical views from magazines and newspapers. Through doing this, it makes the scenes on the teaser trailer break up and also increases the tension of the film trailer. We also used a conventional horror music that we found on iMovie, the software we were using to edit our teaser trailer. Forms and Conventions From Other Film Trailers

5. Throughout the production of our media text, we didn’t aim to challenge the forms and conventions of a horror film. The only challenged convention that may be taken into account is the victim in the media text. The victim is a dark haired girl, whereas looking into other conventional horror films, the victim (if a girl) is usually blonde haired, and portrayed as a ‘bimbo’ persona.Challenging Forms and Conventions of Real Media Products

6. We used traditional forms and conventions of a horror film when addressing the audience. We did this by putting in a screen shot of ‘You’ll never walk alone again...’, which increases the suspense and adrenaline whilst watching the trailer. As the quotations that we use address the audience it seems more personal, and therefore they will accept our message (uses and gratifications model) and go and pay to see the film to see what happens.Forms and Conventions – Addressing the Audience

7. Along with our main media product we also developed a film poster and a magazine cover to advertise the film. Both of the ancillary texts successful incorporate the sinister and horrific genre that we were aiming to achieve. We achieved this in a simple way also, rather than over filling the page with the various characters in our teaser trailer, the main focus point on both the magazine cover and the poster are only the clowns face staring straight forward, therefore making them eye catching and would make the audience watch the trailer, and furthermore become more interested in watching the film. Overall, the effect of the ancillary texts with our main product was very successful and we reached the standard we wanted.The Effect of Main Product and Ancillary Texts

8. Through our audience feedback, a group of students watched our media text gave comments back. From this they told us they thought it was good, however some parts of it they thought the lighting was a bit off. In the last part where the clown says ‘Welcome to the circus’, the students thought that it was too dark lighting and that it should have been more lit up and have a dark contrast alike with the other parts of the trailer. From this, we have learnt that we should have had the same lighting throughout the trailer and have paid more attention to the last part rather than rushing it. However, we have learnt on a plus that we have developed a good horror trailer as the students said that they were scared from it and would also have watched it in the cinema if it was a real film. What I’ve Learnt from Audience Feedback

9. Through our audience feedback we established that one of our strongest parts was the editing. The software was new to us this year, therefore with the audience feedback saying that the editing was one of the strongest parts it shows that we adapted well to the new challenge of software.The mise-en-scene in our trailer was proven to be most successful. We cast our main character well and used facial make-up to enhance the horror genre to scare the audience more. The mise-en-scene represented well with the genre eg- with the forest setting and the dark room.Successful Parts – Audience Feedback

10. One of the most unsuccessful aspects of our media product was how the mystery was portrayed towards the audience. The audience believed that we didn’t make it subtle enough. However as a group we attempted to make the mystery successful therefore caused some disappointment. If we were to do this again, I think we wouldn’t have let as much information into it as the media product we were creating was a ‘teaser trailer’, so we would need to have made it more ‘teaser’ than a conventional film trailer.The feedback also stated that we should have found ‘better fitting location’ however, it was difficult to find a good location due to lack of contacts/access to scarier places.Unsuccessful Parts – Audience Feedback

11. For the construction of our media product we used various media technologies. For A Level we used mac computers, therefore using iMovie to edit the footage and we also used Photoshop to develop our ancillary texts. Before studying media I didn’t know how to use either of these software very well. However, the iMovie was very simple and easy to learn and we all were able to edit parts of the footage. I found the Photoshop development harder as I am not as good with precision and detail, but luckily we had someone who had a good knowledge of the software already therefore able to produce between us successful ancillary texts. Media Technologies – Construction

12. For the research we mainly used the internet to do our research. We did this through various websites, such a youtube, to view other horror film trailers, and we also used IMDB to find out contextual links and further information about other media texts which would relate to ours. Through doing this, the only problem was some false statistics and some trailers were difficult to find online. However most of the research was simple as we were all able to do something towards the researching. Media Technologies - Research

13. For the planning of our media products we used Blogger to track all our progress made. Blogger was a successful site as it was simple and easy to use. The blog posts all tracked in time order and we were all able to use the same blog to combine all of our individual work. The blog was easy to upload videos and print screens. However, when uploading images from other websites was difficult as sometimes it wouldn’t allow it due to using a mac computer. However most of the time the blog was easy to use and showed a gradual progression of our various media products.Media Technologies - Planning