Evaluation - Question 4

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?


We used many media platforms, mostly the Internet to find videos, audio links, articles and images to research, plan and observe existing similar media products which helped us gain a greater understanding of what works well, what attracts which audience and the different conventions of the various platforms, whether it be a trailer, front cover for a magazine or a film poster.
To make our trailer we used imovie HD which allowed us to edit and add text and music to our footage. This was crucial because the addition of text to our trailer allowed us to get across to the audience our USP which is that the film is based on a true story. The addition of music was essential because the combination of sound and imagery/footage allowed us to create atmosphere and establish the correct genre. We used freeplaymusic.com to find a soundtrack for our trailer which gave us a range of genres and sub genres to choose from. This allowed us to find non-copyright music which gave us the sound we were looking for.
We used Adobe photoshop CS3 to edit our film magazine front cover and teaser poster and this allowed for a wide range of adjustments such as croping images, grayscaling them, manipulating the colour schemes etc. This meant that we could establish the notion of slasher horror through colour or the lack of colour. It also allowed us to be selective with generic colours if you like, such as reds, connoting evil, blood and gore; or the colour black connoting darkness, loneliness and death.
Throughout the coursework as a group we had to learn ways in which to overcome faulty technology and other issues. For example, the network that we used at college had failed to save our work a few times which hindered our progress ,however, we used portable USB devices as a solution which also allowed us to work from home and other location. Additionally, the website blogger.com failed to work on many ocassion which meant that we needed to find a way to get on with our work in the meantime and so we wrote what we were going to post on a word document so that we could copy and paste it into a post when available.
To evaluate our work we used facebook and twitter as platforms for our audience to gain information and coments on it. This was effective as these website are very popular and they reach out not only to the target audience but to a range of ages, genders and cultures. We also interviewed people who had watched the trailer or observed the poster or front cover. From these interviews we gained praise for our products and constructive criticism on how to improve our work. This was effective because it allowed us tolisten to feedback and reflect on comment bad or good. This is essential for large film companies such as Warner Bros. or MGM because it provides them with key information on how their audience want them to produce films which will then help them in the future when making later films.

Also used: Twitter, youtube and facebook

Evaluation - Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

This is an example of one of the interview that we did regarding audience feedback and we were happy to here the praise and the constructive criticism as it let us know where we went right or wrong. This interview in particular is good because the person we interview talks of the comparison that our trailer has with existing slasher horror trailer, which shows that the audience can see that there are clearly generic conventions displayed. He also talks of the good use of Adobe photoshop, commenting on the excellent attention to detail and comparing the grayscale we used to the Blair witch project.

Evaluation - Question 2

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

I feel that our teaser trailer and teaser film poster compliment each other well. With the poster being displayed a year before the films release and the teaser trailer being released well before the theatrical trailer and the film itself. We felt that it was important for both media platforms to be consistent with each other and so both the trailer and poster have the same tease, which is to withhold the killers face.

Additionally, we found that both of these media platforms were easy to promote through viral marketing using facebook and twitter to reach out to a worldwide audience. I feel that because the teaser trailer is short this allows the audience to identify without giving to much narrative away.

This means that the audience will be keen to discover further information surrounding the media product. This will lead to word of mouth promotion and the target audience is likely to visit the promotional facebook and twitter pages and watch the trailer on youtube. Therefore, when the poster and magazine are released, there will be an established audience that will already have some knowledge of the product and so the audience begins to familiarise with the masked killer.

Evaluation - Question 1

In what way does my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

After researching teaser trailers and observing the conventions in comparison to that of theatrical trailers, we decided which conventions we wanted to use and which conventions we wanted to challenge. In the existing teaser trailer that I observed some chose to use a voice over, whereas others didn't. For example, the teaser trailer for The Last Airbender included a voice over which helped explain narrative, whereas the teaser for A Nightmare on Elm Streetdidn't use a voice over at all, just a soundtrack. In our trailer we opted not to use a voice over as we didn't want to reveal too much of the narrative and we felt that it would not be as effective or necessary. This is because we feel the purpose of a teaser trailer is simply to tease and to get the title of the product 'out there' an hope that people begin to promote the product through word of mouth.
When observing existing trailers we thought about what the tease was in each one and we realised in the Nightmare on Elm Street trailer that the tease was that we didn't see Freddy Kruger's scared face. This makes the audience want to see his face even more and this is something we wanted to replicate in our trailer. For example when our protagonist/ the killer takes a note off the wall, we arranged the lighting so that we could not see his facial features. The only time we see a glimpse of the mask is when the camera rotates around the killer and so this is our tease and a convention we used from an existing trailer.

I feel that we adopted some technical conventions, such as the use of rapid shot which are often found in teaser trailer.  This doesn't give the audience a chance to understand narrative and allows us to withhold just enough information to keep the audience interested and willing to search for the film on the internet where they will come across our facebook and twitter accounts, so this links in the different media platforms well.  We decided to challenge generic conventions, for example we used specific shots like the 360 degree panning shot of the protagonist which celebrates and amplifies his power which hasn't been seen in other slasher horror films. 

For our Film Poster we decided to use a close-up much like the one in the Friday 13th teaser poster.  We felt that close-ups bring the audience closer to the audience and it allows for attention to detail.  We also made sure that the title was in large font. This doesn't strictly follow conventions of a teaser poster, as we see in the Friday 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street teaser poster where the main focus is on the character.  The reason we did not follow this convention is because the 2 films I mentioned are pre existing and well known which allows them to leave out the title and still be recognisable, whereas our film is new and so we needed to get the title 'out there' and expose it to the target audience.

I terms of our film magazine front cover, I feel that we followed the conventions in respect to the position of the title.  Our title is positioned in the largest font at the top of the page, much like the title for EMPIRE magazine and Fangoria magazine.  This gives the audience a clear indication of what the magazine is about and for regular readers it is easily recognisable.  One convention that we didn't follow was the use of freebies and competitions which is another method of intising the audience to purchase the magazine.  The reason we didn't do this is because we are a new release and we don't have the demands of a big magazine publisher such as EMPIRE.

Questionnaire

1. Name three things you enjoyed about the teaser trailer
.
.
.

2. Did you think our killer was convincing?

3. Why?

4. Did you notice any conventional aspects of a slasher horror movie trailer?

5. What were they?

6. Was our victim convincing?

7. Did the length of the trailer have any impact on your viewing?

8. What did you think about the pace of the trailer?

9. Was the narrative clear?

10. Would you want to go and watch this movie in the cinema?

New and Improved Film Magazine Front Cover

Final Film Poster

Final Film Poster Ideas

Production Logo Ideas - Filmworks

Links to Group Members Blogs

http://obsessedmovie09.blogspot.com/

http://missaisha2u.blogspot.com/

Flat Plan to Front Cover

Music - Soundtrack for Trailer

When it comes to the music for trailer, one of the group member used garage band to make a soundtrack. This soundtrack didn't quite flow and give the right atmosphere that we wanted for the trailer. We found that the music didn't reflect the genre that we were trying to promote.

Therefore we looked for non-copyright music on freeplaymusic.com which provided us with the soundtrack that we felt gave us the correct feeling and promoted the genre. Firstly we chose a horror instrumental which we thought was ok but we felt that it made the protagonist in the film seem angelic when we actually wanted the music to show that he is psychopathic and obsessed. After having another look for a different soundtrack we ended up going with a Hard Rock instrumental which gave us the earing feeling we want along with giving the trailer an edge.

Film Poster Ideas

Magazine Front Cover Comparison

As you can see, I have used observed some of the conventions used in the EMPIRE magazine front cover, on the left, to create my magazine front cover, on the right. firstly, the picture I have used resembles the jokers pose in the existing front cover and the lighting used is similar. The title is also written in a similar style to the word 'EMPIRE' with the only difference being that the layers are arranged differently, with the existing front cover having the title font behind the image and me putting the font in front of the image. Additionally I made sure that the advertisement of our film was made clear through the use of different style and sized font, which is also apparant on the existing front cover. I formated my front cover similarly in various other ways such as placing the barcodee in the bottom left hand corner and using a circle to write inside which highlights the information you are providing.

Stages of the Magazine Front Cover

The original image

Image with black & white adjustment


Image with black & white adjustment and shadow/highlight adjustment


Image with black and white, shadow/highlight and curves adjustments

The finished magazine complete with title, barcode and magazine information

Making The Magazine Front Cover

After researching different existing magazines and looking at their front covers I decided to start making one for the groups film. I looked at all the pictures I had taken and chose one to use for the front cover of our magazine.


Firstly, I altered my images using some of the adjustments on Photoshop CS3. these adjustments included using black & white, shadow/highlight and curves in an attempt to create different effects like mystery, fear and horror.

When using the adjustments, my main aim was to have a dark side and bright side to the image, resulting in only half of the mask being visible. The other reason I wanted to effectively blackout one side is because it will provide a nice surface to write key magazine information on.

After this, I attempted to replicate what I had observed in my magazine research of EMPIRE magazine by placing the title of our magazine, Film Extreme, at the top of the image in an impact font. I used an impact font because I felt that it stands out and is clear to read.

Profile of Protagonist

Personal Profile: Peter grew up in a small town called Highland grove. He was one of many as he has 6 other brothers and sisters. His mother didn’t know she was pregnant with him until it was too late to get rid of him, so he was a mistake, according to his mother. So whilst she was pregnant with him she drank and smoked everyday without fail. As a result of that Peter was born with a mental illness called sadistissonia – meaning that he had no control over his mental and physical reactions to anger and sadness. The doctors told his mother that it could trigger off at any stage of his life. Due to his illness he didn’t get the attention and love from his mother like the rest of his brothers and sisters. Instead he was isolated and withdrawn from his nuclear family as well as society. There was only one thing that made Peter happy and that was a gym skipping rope. He treasured that skipping rope because it was the first thing his first crush ever brought for him when he was 15, right before she died. She was murdered by a famous serial killer who kidnapped her. She was the only one that Peter ever cared about. Since the incident, Peter developed an obsession towards famous serial killers; he searched most of the brutal killings online, most of them happened to be local. He began to take pleasure in the stories as he read them online, he somehow found comfort in knowing the reasons why they killed innocents. He then became envious of all the killers appearing on the news and headlines. Not realising that the incident had triggered his illness, he read the latest story of a boy killing the whole of his class year just to become famous, using a bow and arrow from the story robin hood. He then began to think about what weapon he could use to do these killings that was easy to get hold of in high school. He then remembered the rope that was given to him by his crush, and decided that that was the best weapon to use to kill students in his year. After his first killing Peter then became obsessed with the adrenaline he felt when committing these killings, on his last victim, he made sure that he fell asleep next to her, in order to get caught in the act. When he was asked ‘why did he commit all these murders?’ He declared “I was giving them the excitement and scandal they secretly craved”

Magazine Research

Before making the magazine front cover, I thought that it would be wise to research some film magazines and take time to look at the mis-en-scene, the position of the text on the cover, typography and other key elements. I first looked at a popular horror film magazine called Fangoria, which is probably americas biggest horror film magazine. I noticed that the front covers of this magazine were extremely gory and bloody and I felt that it was very 'in your face' which is constant throughout their front covers on each issue.

I went on to look at EMPIRE magazine, a much broader minded film magazine which promotes a wider range of film genres and provides the reader with extensive film reviews, news and interviews. I found that the layout of the front cover was similar in ways to that of Fangoria, however, i thought that the style they used was different from the typography to the framing and lighting. I felt that empires lighting was a lot more artificial and there was a lot more attention to detail for the models on the cover.

Still Images

A Series of Still Images

We took a series of still images when we were out shooting our trailer. These images were for the film poster and film magazine and so we took most of the images on a white background so that when it came to editing in photoshop, it would be easier to cut out the model if necessary. We wanted to take as many photos as possible so that we would have a lot of material to work with when we were editing and so we took some photos of the protagonist and some of the antagonists and a few of the props. Here are the images we took:

Voiceover Analysis

During our research and planning I decided to do some research on a common factorof some trailers, and that is the voiceover. I looked at a series of different trailers both theatrical and teasers and analysed the voiceovers and the effect it had on the trailer.

Results

Pandorum

• Male voiceover
• A science fiction horror genre which was accompanied by a low toned, serious voiceover
• The voiceover asks rhetorical questions such as "What if you awoke with no more?", "what if the world you knew was gone?". This engages the audience because it is as if it is asking the audience directly.
• It also makes you want to know the answer to the questions
• The seriousness of the voice reinforces the genre

Paris

• Male voiceover
• Romantic comedy accompanied by a calm, steady voiceover
• Voiceover is based around the main character
• Gives clues to the narrative
• Talks of the multiculture in Paris
• Promotes the film becasue it makes us want to understand & get to know the character the voiceover is referring to

Surrogates

• Female voiceover - breaking conventions
• Computer generated, robot like tone
• Explains the main points of the narrative
• Talks about USP - surrogacy, murder
• Sets the tone for rest of trailer and film
• Tone changes once the voiceover finishes

The Boys are Back

• Male voiceover
• Low toned voiceover
• Praises main character, " dedicated family man", " devoted husband"
• Sets the tone for trailer
• Enforces opinion on audience of characters
• We get an insight into the narrative
• The voiceover stops at a point that makes the audience want to know what happens next

The Goods

• Comedy film accompanied by a excitable yet still low serious voiceover
• Voicover speaks as if he is making a really important anouncement
• Gives us the basis of the narrative
• Short, rapid speech draws in the audience and doesn't give them time to loose concentration

The Synopsis

Our film is based on a young boy, Peter, who has always had difficulty fitting in with children his own age. He is fifteen and has never really had any friends. He spends most of his time at home on his computer and is fascinated by famous killers such as the Camden Ripper and the West's.
Peter longs to be noticed, but for all the wrong reasons. He wants his name to be known across the world and he believes the only way of doing so is by committing a mass killing at his school. Peter watches his victims over a number of days, analyzing their every move and planning his attack. he is careful and secretive as he does not want his plan to be unveiled before the killings take place. He invites his selected victim to an 'Award Ceremony' in the gym of his school where he plans to carry out the attack.
First to arrive is Sarah, a pretty and popular girl from his year group, who has dressed up for the occasion. As the enters the room the lights go off revealing Peter who emerges from the shadows. He repeatedly beats and tortures her with a basketball before hanging her from a gym rope. We are left with an image of a basketball bouncing across the gym, covered in blood.
Peter's other victims are found dead one by one across his school. They take place in the space of a week, and still Peter hasn't been found out. It isn't until his last victim is dead that he waits for the school to open the next day and is inevitably caught. He falls asleep next to his victim, covered in blood. When they discover him the next day, he seems pleased to be caught and is finally happy, now that everybody knows his name.Our film is based on a young boy, Peter, who has always had difficulty fitting in with children his own age. He is fifteen and has never really had any friends. He spends most of his time at home on his computer and is fascinated by famous killers such as the Camden Ripper and the West's. Peter longs to be noticed, but for all the wrong reasons. He wants his name to be known across the world and he believes the only way of doing so is by committing a mass killing at his school. Peter watches his victims over a number of days, analyzing their every move and planning his attack. he is careful and secretive as he does not want his plan to be unveiled before the killings take place. He invites his selected victim to an 'Award Ceremony' in the gym of his school where he plans to carry out the attack.First to arrive is Sarah, a pretty and popular girl from his year group, who has dressed up for the occasion. As the enters the room the lights go off revealing Peter who emerges from the shadows. He repeatedly beats and tortures her with a basketball before hanging her from a gym rope. We are left with an image of a basketball bouncing across the gym, covered in blood. Peter's other victims are found dead one by one across his school. They take place in the space of a week, and still Peter hasn't been found out. It isn't until his last victim is dead that he waits for the school to open the next day and is inevitably caught. He falls asleep next to his victim, covered in blood. When they discover him the next day, he seems pleased to be caught and is finally happy, now that everybody knows his name.

Slasher Horror Teaser Trailer Research

I researched many teaser film trailers such as Nightmare on Elm Street, Tron, Star Trek, Spiderman.  We researched both theatrical trailer and teaser trailer. My idea of teaser trailers is that they are high concept and they highlight  the USP and as is suggested in the name it teases the audience. For example,the transformers trailer doesn't just shows a shadow of a robot and this makes you want to see what the robot looks like.  Additionally, in the Friday 13th teaser trailer, the face of Freddie Kruger scared is not shown which teases the audience  

Research into Teaser and Theatrical Film Posters

Friday 13th Posters

A Nightmare on Elm Street Posters

Teaser Film Poster Research

After finding the narrative, I began researching different teaser film poster campaigns. I looked at many teasers posters including the Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday 13th. I looked at these posters and also looked at theatrical posters for the same films to compare and distinguish the main differences. I suppose my main aim was to realise what makes teaser poster a teaser poster as apposed to a theatrical poster. Therefore I came up with the commonalities of killers in teaser posters; when doing this I took into consideration mis-en-scene, costume, facial expression, lighting, body language, camera angles etc. With this insight I hope to use my knowledge gained to produce my own teaser poster.

Link to Commonalities of Killers in Teaser Posters

Research and Planning

Research and Planning

I was in charge of the research and planning for my group with input and suggestions from group members. In class we have been looking at the functions and features of teaser trailers, analysing voiceovers, writing trailer treatments and distinguishing the main differences between teasers and theatrical trailers. I had the idea for the USP of our film to be that it was based on a local real life events and so I researched local killers and looked to see which real life event could be easily converted into a slasher horror film. I also looked at John Duffy and David Mulcahy and the Camden ripper, who was obsessed with pornography and as a result murdered three women in 2002. I then researched the location for the setting of the teaser trailer(Royal College Street), the reason I chose this setting is because it was street that the camden ripper lived on. The reason we decided not to use this event or any of the others as a narrative was because we wanted more of a teen based narrative.

After further discussion with the group, and some mind-mapping of ideas, a group member suggested that we base our film on a novel that she had read. the novel was called We Need to Talk About Kevin and is about a school massacre. We felt that we could convert this narrative into a teen based slasher horror and decided to use it.

Original Ideas