1. A2 Media Coursework Final Evaluation Thomas Dransfield

2. Film Teaser Trailer Viral Marketing Campaign Website Home Page Marketing Posters

3. outline of conventions used Throughout the creation of my advanced media portfolio, I used many existing conventions. I used these because, theoretically, it would make the products more authentic. There are a variety of conventions that change for the product being made. Below is an outline of the conventions I used for each product and also the existing conventions I challenged to make our products unique. Teaser Trailer Most trailers have a structure about them. Tzvetan Todorovsuggested that a trailer is made up of four stages. The first stage is the Equilibrium which shows the audience a scenario of peace and normality. There may be characters involved which portray this normality by living a typical life that the audience can relate to. The next stage involves an Agent of Change. This is where someone or something interrupts the scenario, changing peace into fear and chaos. The third stage of Todorov’s theory follows on from the previous. It is known as the Disruption. It is here that the chaos is focused on, placing characters in danger and perhaps causing mass destruction. This leads on to the final stage, New Equilibrium. Main characters will find a means of stopping the agent of change, rescuing themselves and others from the danger they are in. This will result in the ceasing of the disruption, and a new sense of normality created. My teaser trailer, however, did not follow this structure. I decided to challenge this convention and create a trailer that was unique and unorthodox. The trailer was in the form of a news broadcast, set at the location of a college in which the characters Jasmine and Sophie Harper attended. The trailer consists of a reporter describing the situation and showing a ransom video released to the Prime Minister. The trailer was described by our audience as realistic and believable. I intended to obtain this result as it shows that the trailer itself is viral. The structure of my trailer cannot be compared to Todorov’s theory. I challenged this convention which made my teaser trailer unique because it did not follow the typical structure. I do no think this disadvantages my trailer, in fact I think it is far more interesting due to its viral nature. Question 1

4. outline of conventions used Laura Mulvey created a theory called the ‘male gaze’. She discussed that the audience takes the view of the heterosexual man, and sees women in cinema as objects worthy of desire or punishment. Our teaser trailer conforms to this convention. We use voyeurism, which is where the viewer sees women as worthy of punishment which involves violence. We use this because the two girls in the trailer are tied to chairs and are beaten by the male kidnapper. The use of voyeurism is also evident at the end of the teaser trailer, where on kidnapper pulls a knife on the two girls. Again, this shows that the two girls are to be punished at the mercy of the male kidnappers. The knife can also be seen as a phallic symbol, emphasising the power the men have over the girls. On the other hand, we challenged Carol Clover’s theory of the ‘final girl’. Clover states that there is one girl who survives at the end of films and shows great courage and bravery in order to escape. We do not use one girl in our teaser trailer; we use two which already challenges her theory. Also, in the teaser trailer, the girls express fear instead of courage, again challenging Clover’s theory. Sufficient camerawork was required to construct the teaser trailer. Due to the nature of the video, we were unable to use a variety of camera angles. The news broadcast consisted of a tracking shot and a close-up shot. The broadcast was filmed as if it was live so using a variety of camera angles was not possible. A news report would not contain these anyway, so if we were to, then the filming would not look authentic. In the ransom video, there was one fixed shot; a medium-shot. I wanted to film this scene as from a handheld camera, to increase authenticity. Several camera angles would not be used in real circumstances so we did not use them here, as we felt realism was of the utmost importance in order to produce a viral campaign. Question 1

5. outline of conventions used Posters The posters were designed as missing posters, advertising the abduction of the two daughters of the Prime Minister. These designs add to the viral element of the campaign because they are realistic and continue the story that the Prime Minister’s daughters have been abducted. Like traditional missing posters, the two I designed include a large picture, a description of the girls and large text to grab the attention of the reader. Also, there is contact information at the bottom of the poster. The phone number will direct a caller to the Metropolitan Police Missing Persons Department (this is pretend and manned by the production company). The web address leads a viewer to the Metropolitan Police Missing Persons website, (this, again, is pretend). There is a great amount of film posters around and because of this, audiences tend to walk passively by. There is not many missing posters, so people are more likely to stop and read to gain information. Only then will they realise the poster is advertising the film and by that point, the interest should have been gained. District 9 used a similar approach to advertising with posters. The production company created posters outlining areas for humans or non-humans only. This means of advertising does not directly promote the film, but draws the interest of the audience by advertising in an unconventional way. I did this also and I think it is very effective. Question 1

6. outline of conventions used There is a great amount of film posters around and because of this, audiences tend to walk passively by. There is not many missing posters, so people are more likely to stop and read to gain information. Only then will they realise the poster is advertising the film and by that point, the interest should have been gained. Website The final element of my viral marketing campaign was the home page of a website. I wanted to move away from a conventional website because I wanted to continue the viral aspect. I therefore decided to create a Police missing persons website. I felt this was fitting with the plot of my film and made good use of the viral element. I used a Metropolitan Police missing persons website for inspiration. I followed closely the conventions used there such as the Metropolitan Police logo, use of contact details and pictures of those missing. Instead of pictures though, I used the missing posters I created. I also uploaded part of the teaser trailer onto the home page. I uploaded the ransom video which shows the two girls after being abducted. This adds extra media to the website to make it more interesting for the viewer. I used false links to other pages of the website such as ‘missing persons in other areas’. These were influenced by the original Police website. There is a large amount of text on the home page which also challenges conventions. Having a lot of text would usually put of a viewer as they would not want to read it all. However, in the case of my website, the idea is new and realistic. With a viewer, it will work in one of two ways. Question 1

7. outline of conventions used Either the viewer will believe what they are seeing is true, in this case they will believe the Prime Ministers daughters have in fact been kidnapped. They will then read on to gather information and whilst doing so, realise that they are reading about a film. Or the reader will firstly realise that this a film synopsis but will continue to read on due to the new and interesting approach to advertising. Both the storyline and the style of the film website will capture the viewers’ interest. I have challenged the existing conventions of a film website. I have not used large images and exciting words to advertise the film. There is no use of forums or special release videos. There is little reference on the website that a film is being advertised and the sense of realism is continually emphasised. I think that this new method of advertising a film via website will gain interest of the audience and increase popularity and awareness. Question 1

9. All products of the campaign emphasise realism. The trailer is of a news report with the ransom video, the posters are missing posters and the website is the Metropolitan Police missing persons website. All three exist outside of the film and are easily recognised so will better grab the attention of the audience.

10. The film synopsis itself is new to the British film industry. There has not been a film that has focused on the abduction of the Prime Minister’s children. Because of its British background, the British public are far more likely to be interested.

11. The viral marketing campaign does not give too much away. The teaser trailer, posters and website all focus on the abduction of the girls. There is no information given on what happens after the abduction so the audience will be interested to what happens next.

12. By use of market research, I was able to determine what the my target audience thought of my products. The responses I got were very positive and proved that the campaign is effective in grabbing the attention of the viewer.Question 2

13. audience feedback Throughout the process of my advanced portfolio, I carried out a lot of market research. These included paper questionnaires and videoed interviews. Firstly, I designed a questionnaire which can be seen on the blog. The questionnaire was designed to gather information on what the public wanted from a film. They were also asked of what they thought about my original idea. However, that idea is now not in use as a better idea for a viral marketing campaign was produced. Once the products of the portfolio were beginning to be constructed, I did further market research. This time I organised an interview-type questionnaire that was videoed. I showed the products in their early designs to those who took part and asked what they thought of the campaign and what they could offer for us to improve. Again, the feedback was positive, particularly on the concept of the news report. They also offered advice about how to improve the campaign. Several of the interviewees said that I had to be careful when filming the news report. They said that in order for the footage to be believable, it would need to look very realistic. This caused a few problems as I did not have access to any location that would look like a news room. However, I decided to film the news report at the location of a school Sophie and Jasmine Harper attended. After I completed the construction of the products, I carried out further research on the audience. I showed the products that I had produced to 20 people aged between 15-30. I then asked two questions which can be seen to the right. The responses I got were very positive. My target audience thought that the viral marketing campaign was very effective and that it would interest and attract them if they saw the marketing products elsewhere. This feedback indicates that the products prove effective and work in attracting the audience. Question 3

14. audience feedback The second question I asked is whether they thought the viral marketing campaign was new and interesting. It was important that the viral marketing campaign I produced was unique as that was part of its unique selling point. 14 out of the 20 respondents replied ‘Yes’ to this question which shows that the campaign I created was both effective and new to the film industry. Although viral marketing has been used before, there does not seem to be any evidence of a film using viral marketing on such a large scale. My use of it would give the impression that the film will be popular due to the marketing campaign I used. The use of market research is very important because it enables you to understand what the audience want and what interests them. You can also judge the effectiveness of your own marketing campaign by the feedback you get from your target audience. Without the audience research I did, I would not have been able to make an effective range of products. Question 3

15. use of media technologies To make an effective an authentic marketing campaign, several media technologies are required, however some of these were new to me. Camerawork I have been using a camera over the past two year in order to create several productions in media studies. Over this time, I have become more skilled and am now able to use a camera more effectively. Instead of simply videoing, I can now use the camera to shoot footage that will create effect through a variety of camera shots. Examples are panning shot, tracking shot and high and low angle shot. By use of such angles, I was able to create meaning and effect to the frame, for example making one character look more dominant than the other. Serif Movie Plus Again, I have been using this program for some time and am capable of using it. However, I have progressed and am now able to create a far more effective video. I have learnt different uses of joining two videos together such as fading and adjusting sound and contrast to suit the picture. One of the main difficulties was the mise-en-scene for the news broadcast. However after much effort, I was able to insert the banner at the bottom showing time and location. This vastly improved the picture making it clear that the video was a news broadcast. Microsoft Office Publisher I had used this program last year to create my foundation portfolio so already had some experience with using it. I used the program to create the missing posters which were part of my marketing campaign. They were very effective and looked realistic. Question 4

16. use of media technologies Macromedia Dreamweaver This was a program that I had not used before. I found it very difficult to use and it took a great amount of patience in order to get the website right. I had used the Metropolitan Police missing persons website for influence so I was able to create a realistic website. I also added the posters I had designed and linked the ransom video that I created. The home page overall is the weakest product technically because unfortunately it was not a program I was use to. However, with practice I will be able to make much better products that look effective and authentic. << End of Evaluation >> Question 4