The student created a film poster, magazine cover, and teaser trailer as part of a media evaluation project. The poster aimed to draw attention to the film's risky storyline about alcohol and drug addiction using striking colors and imagery. The magazine cover advertised the film and winter preview using typical conventions like the title in bold font. The teaser trailer gave viewers a sense of the film's plot about a character who abuses substances through suspenseful clips and words on screen. Audience feedback confirmed the effectiveness of drawing attention but also provided suggestions for improvements.

1. Evaluation for my media products By Florence Tallett

2. What was the aim of my poster? The aim of the film poster was to create high impact upon viewers, drawing the attention to the film and perhaps persuading readers to watch it. I also wanted to suggest the risky storyline of the film aswell as portraying the dangers behind alcohol and drug addiction.

3. In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge forms or conventions of real media products? My media product has used typical conventions of a movie poster, by using striking and contrasting colours which are noticeable and attention-grabbing. When researching standard movie posters I noticed many used a colour scheme which helped the poster to become more visible and appealing. I have used this typical convention by making my colour scheme black and red. The black background enhances the other colours on the poster and the red writing could symbolise the dangers involved in drink and drugs. Many typical movie posters use slogans which often become famous quotes from the movie. I decided to use a slogan at the top of the poster, relating to the colour scheme and giving the poster that extra edge. The slogan reads ‘It’s just a bit of fun…isn’t it?’ The use of a rhetorical question has a high impact and is doubly effective because the obvious answer is yes, it is just a bit of fun, however a harmless piece of fun can lead to addiction. Whilst researching film posters I noticed that many of them used a whole image as the background. I have developed this convention by using a striking and bold image in the centre of the magazine, which is bound to capture the reader’s attention and make the poster more noticeable. I believe that the poster I invented for my film moves away from the standard media representation of a film poster which commonly lists the actors and informs the viewers about the content of the film. For example, when researching film posters for my media product, many of the typical war films commonly announce that it is a story of ‘courage and heroism.’ My poster develops this by not being explicit. At first the viewer may assume that my product is a warning against alcohol addiction, but in fact it is an advertisement for a film. This will grab the audience’s attention onto the poster, who will then realise that it is not an advertisement, but a film based on around the subject of alcohol and drug abuse.

4. What was the aim of my magazine? The aim of my magazine front cover was to grab the audience’s attention and persuade them to buy the magazine, aswell as advertising my film.

5. In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge forms or conventions of real media products? Whilst researching typical movie magazines, I noticed many standard conventions which media products use. I have used and developed some on these conventions on my own magazine. The magazine’s name is in big, bold font across the top of the magazine cover, making it clearly visible and standout. The word ‘future’ is written inside the large ‘F’ meaning the words could fit better on the page and acting as a sort of logo for the magazine. Because of this, regular readers will recognise the magazine, where as others will be able to clearly read the title of the magazine. The list of films down the side of the cover is another typical convention of movie magazines. This gives additional advertising to the films, whilst giving extra inside information to the readers. I have specifically chosen the colour scheme of white and grey to represent winter, as this is a winter addition and the phrase ‘Massive Winter Preview’ is written boldly in the right hand corner. This phrase also indicates that there will be extensive comment on forth coming films and that these will be in the forms of previews and not just reviews of older films.

6. I have used a high impact photograph of the leading actor on the front cover of my product. The characters facial expression is slightly brooding and moody, but at the same time mysteriously attractive, perhaps catching the fancy of a female fan base. The colour scheme also reflects the characters facial expressions; white and grey for his moody appearance and red for his striking side. Whilst researching movie magazines, I noticed that many crammed alot of information onto the cover, making it look crowded and confusing. I challenged these conventions by purposely arranging the texts and images so they look simple and straightforward. This risks confusing the readers and losing impact. image image

7. What was the aim of my teaser trailer? The aim of my teaser trailer was to give the viewer a flavour of what the actual film is about, to provide an indication of the age group that it would appeal to and to use snap shots that would attract the target audience’s attention and interest.

8. In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge forms or conventions of real media products? When researching teaser trailers I noticed that nearly all had open credits. I wanted to add this convention to my media product, however I found it complicated to make the credits look realistic, without copying the credits from a real movie. Many of the teaser trailers I researched used words to help explain the storyline and add suspense. I decided to use this convention in my media product. At first the character is simply walking down the street when the words ‘What if you knew your killer’ came on the screen. I wrote these words purposely so that the audience would think that the character is being followed or chased. There are then continuous short cuts of the character abusing alcohol and drugs. The words ‘but chose to do nothing about it’ then appear on the screen. I wanted the audience to realise that the character is not being chased, but is killing themselves from all the substance abuse, and is therefore their own killer. When researching other teaser trailers, I noticed that many media products use different length of clips to produce suspense and anticipation. My media trailer starts out with long clips of the character sitting on a bench and walking across the road, suggesting an ordinary day. I cut the clips of the drug and alcohol abuse , so that the images came up in quick flashes. This builds tension and suspense and suggests the characters confused and dizzy state of mind. I specifically chose music which was relevant to the theme and genre of the movie. The pace of the music also reflects the fast pace life of the character. The music I chose is also relevant to the target audience (teenagers) as it is a piece of music that some young people would listen too. At the end of my teaser trailer I faded the music to represent the characters drugs fading from his system and lets the audience know the clip is coming to an end. The use of camera angles is also a practical convention. I used various angles to represent emotions, feelings and suspense. I used a close up shot of drugs on a counter so that the audience can immediately recognise the substance is drugs. I used a hand held camera to represent the characters feelings and suggest his instability when taking the drugs.

9. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? My two ancillary tasks are effective when combined with my main product because they reflect the story line by showing alcohol and drugs in a bad light. Both ancillary tasks set the tone for the film trailer because of the images, expressions and colour schemes used. The striking image of the alcohol bottles, the characters moody expression and the dark and cold colours used, help determine the risky and dangerous storyline reflected in the teaser trailer. I designed my poster to look like an advertisement at first glace, until readers look closer and notice it is a poster for a film. I think this effect will replicate the story line and genre of my film. It proposes the dangers and risks involved in drug abuse, aswell as suggests the plot of the film will be risky and exciting. On the front of my movie magazine it quotes ‘Future film takes a sneak preview into the world of Addict Star.’ The magazine approaches the film tangentially by proposing that it will look at the life style and world involving the film star ‘Bernito Adermero,’ rather than reviewing the film directly. This gives added interest to the reader who is likely to be concerned not just with the story line, but with the life and attitudes of its main star. The two ancillary tasks show the character in different lights, and this will give the audience a better chance to get to know the real character.

10. What is the important of audience feedback? Audience feedback confirms whether your judgements were right or wrong and helps you correct your product wherever you went wrong. What have you learnt from your audience feedback? From the audience feedback I have learnt that the words and images used on my poster are striking and grabbed people’s attention. All of the audience agreed that the poster was appealing to a young age group, as drugs and alcohol is something which is often a feature they come across at their age. From my audience feedback I learnt that the white text at the bottom of the image it’s fuzzy and hard to read. I had a problem when uploading the font and wasn’t able to fix it. From my audience feedback I have learnt that girls find the boy on the front of the magazine entices them to buy it. However, they all agreed that the feature box looked slightly out of place and needed the heading of the film above it. Finally, from my audience feedback I learnt that the quick cuts showing drug abuse was a good effect and the music and sound effect added emotion and suspense. However, they thought that the trailer was slightly too short and needed a scene in the middle in which the character is seen taking the drugs in a party or amongst a group of friends.

11. How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? The first piece of technology I came across when constructing my media product was a digital video camera. I was able to use different light effects, colours and timing options. The only problem I found when recording my movie was the shakiness of the camera as I was unable to use a tripod. However, in some clips of my movie, a hand held camera came in useful as it helped create suspension and the feel of a real life documentary. This was suitable as it helped to suggest the feeling that the drugs were taking over the character, aswell as implying his instability when on the drugs. Whilst constructing my three media products I used photo shop and adobe premier to process, cut, digitally enhance my images, and combine them into different forms. I was also able to layer different images on top of each other and experiment with different colour and fonts to find out the most effective combinations with the highest impact. Using Adobe premier also meant I could experiment with cutting clips, adding sound, music and transitions. image

12. When researching typical movie magazines for my media product I used the internet to find different magazine conventions. The websites I find helpful were Wikipedia, Google and traileraddict.com which I was able to download teaser trailers onto my blog. However, its not just new media which came in useful when constructing my media products. I used ‘paint’ when constructing my storyboard as it was the simplest way to draw the images. I used excel spread sheet to complete my questionnaire graphs as it was the simplest way to modify them. When my questionnaire was constructed I was able to contact a wide circulation of people via email, for an easier, quicker and cost free way to get my secondary research.