My final media products

Evaluation question 4 - How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I will be using a program named powerpoint to answer this question.

First slide:
research and planning, for this stage of my media coursework i used such programs as blogger, paint and YouTube. I used blogger as a way to store and plan my ideas and research, this allowed me to have a safe place to store my research and also an effective way to be able to look back and reflect when planning the rest of my work. I used paint to be able to print screen many things such as magazine front covers, potential fonts and also show progress in how I was planning. Paint allowed me to store the print screens and save them to be able to upload them to my blog. YouTube was a massive technology that was used throughout every stage of my media coursework. I used it in my research and planning to allow me to look at previous trailers to be able to pick out and identify typical media conventions that I would be able to use within my media product to be able to make it of a high standard and to make it look professional.

Second slide:

Within my construction the main media technologies I used were premier pro, adobe Photoshop, paint and Microsoft word. Premier pro was the main media technology which I used to be able to construct my teaser trailer, this was where paint and Microsoft came into help as with these media technologies I was able to print screen, save and upload construction progress shots onto my blog to be able to show the audience how exactly they were constructed. Adobe Photoshop was used heavily for my magazine front cover and movie poster. This is as Photoshop offers a higher range of effects and skill which made my ancillary tasks look professional and of a high standard. This also helped to improve my continuity. I found adobe premier pro and adobe Photoshop particularly hard to use as I had to teach myself how to use them as I progressed through the project. 

Third slide:

The main media technologies I used to help me make my evaluation consisted heavily on blogger, premier pro, paint and YouTube. Blogger allowed me to use it as a canvas in allowing me to present my evaluation in different and interesting ways.  Premier pro allowed me to be able to present my audience feedback in a different way by using clips of their voices to go over the top of the pictures and also allowed me to be able to do a voiceover of my own to explain how the feedback has helped me. YouTube was a massive help which allowed me to upload these evaluations as videos to be able to embed into my blog as an interesting and different way to present my evaluation. I used paint and Microsoft in the same way as in allowing me to take print screens of things such as my power points and construct them so that I was able to convert them to a slideshow video on YouTube.

Evaluation question 3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

in the first video i showed clips that i had received from friends and acquatences. Throughout this media product i have been very dependent on audience feedback to be able to judge how effective my products are. From audience feedback i have found that is it very useful in recieveing personal prefrence and seeing how people can percieve things differently. I have learnt that audience feedback is crucial in being able to develop the forms and conventions of media products when making them. From my audience feeback i found i was lacking in continuity within my main task and ancillary tasks from colour schemes to the font of text used. I also found that the pictures i wanted to use within my ancillary tasks may not have been as suitable and acceptable as i had previously thought they were which i have now replaced and received more positive feedback from when asking again.
Within my audience feedback i also tried to stick to asking people within my target audience as this allowed me to see how people of the relevant age group and type percieved my media products. i believed that this would be more beneficial to me and my media products as these are the type of people i would be aiming my products at.This helped me immensly is seeing how to link the products and properly engage the audience by drawing them into my products.
Asking for audience feedback also helped me to learn if the messages, hints motifs and conevtions in my work were clear enough to allow the audicne to pick up on them process them and recognise the spoof horror genre and also be able to follow the story line. At first i found my messages to be unclear but through the use of audience feedback it has shown me where my fualts lied so i could easily correct and improve thhem
this is what i believe i have learnt from my audience feedback and also how i believed it has helped me to improve and consturct my work in a high quialut and orefessional manner.

Evaluation question 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

I will be using a program named 'powerpoint' as a slideshow to answer this question.

first slide: I believe that my two ancillary tasks work very efficiently together in allowing the audience in be able to distinguish the genre of my teaser trailer. My main task includes the conventional character(s) and the typical spoof horror narrative portrayed  through mixed aspects of comedy and horror. Also i believe that the fact that my main character is within the same age range as my target audience creates a link between the text and the audience.

(picture of poster, magazine and trailer)

second slide: I used a level of continuity across all three of my media products. I believe this has helped to make it effective as it is being promoted as though it is a real media product. This means that the mise en scene and conotation of the style in which i have made my magazine, poster and trailer in consistent to the audience leading it to be effective. This can be seen through the colour scheme of our products, such colours as whites, deep reds and blacks and also the text used. I have continuoulsy used the same type of font across the two ancillary tasks to conote to the audience that these are promoting the same film, thus increasing the effectiveness. 

third slide: I have used continuity in all three by the appearance of the main character across all three tasks he is dressed in the same clothing with the same hairstyle and makeup. I also believe the mix in gender across all three media products makes a binary opposition within the prodcuts creating a very interesting and intrifuing feel to the audience, making the audiences drawn in to my product. The binary opposition of the gender confusion is further increased by the fact our actor still has very manly features. This is such things as a beard, further continued by the fact that our actor has muscly arms and also short hair.

fourth slide: Another aspect that i believe makes my two ancillary tasks and my main task effective is the consistent promps and motifs used to hint the genre used. With our main product and movie poster both following aspects of the film 'Insideous' this creates and effective spoof genre. This consistency conotes to the reader the horror aspects as they can clearly see the fim we are creating an almost 'parody' of which then also brings the comedy aspects in at the same time

FOR ALL THESE REASONS I BELIEVE THAT THIS IS WHAT MAKES THE COMBINATIONS OF MY MAIN PRODUCT AND ANCILLARY TASKS EFFECTIVE THE THE TARGET AUDIENCE.

Evaluation question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

for this evaluation question I will answering it in written form.

The product i have produced uses forms and conventions of existing spoof horror films, and also joint conventions from both horror films and comedy films. I believe it has used forms and conventions as through the research and planning i had conducted i used what i had learnt to be able to plan and layout the media products that i have produced. I have done this by sticking to pre-exisiting conventions of spoof horrors such as 'scary movie' which i researched and also scream. Although scream is not strictly a 'spoof horror' genre it contains many conventions and aspects of such which i found through research i had conducted. Although the horror is seen to shine more strongly through.

The storyline to our teaser trailer is rather conventional to the spoof horror genre as it contains aspects from pre exsiting horror films to which we have included as a theme to ours. However we have made it fit our genre by adding comedy aspects to the pre existing themes. The horror film we have used to base our spoof around is 'Insidious' hence our name 'Insideofrus'. We have previously planned to base our horror film on The blair witch project however we found this as a challenge as we would not be allowed to appear in our own film but we would need to self record like a home made documentory. This would not leave us with much free room for the types of camera shots and movements we could use.
In our teaser trailer it sticks to conventions by using probs and motifs to hint to the audience of the type of genre. We found this to be a typical convention when researching into teaser trailers. i believe we done this by adding 'from the makers of scary movie and scream' at the beginning of our trailer, we also included 'Best spoof horror since the scary movie sequels' as you can see from my snapshot below.



 Also a main convention which our trailer has developed is the use of a soundtrack playing throughout the trailer. At first we used the jaw theme tune, however we recieved audience feedback that this may give the trailer a much too 'horror' theme. This allowed us to change it to something much more light hearted but still with a horror aspect. We found the use of a sound track to be a very popular and typical convention across all genre of teaser trailer.

I believe that my media products challenges and develops forms and conventions of real media products as the genre that me and my partner picked was a fairly uncommon and a real challenge to produce. Together through making this me and my partner was made to challenge both horror conventions and genre as well as the comedy conventions and genre as we had to make both the different genres work together in harmony. through the use of having to challenge and develop conventions of real media we learnt alot whilst doing it and hope that we have made a teaser trailer which does spoof horror as a genre justice. As well as challenging types of genres we was also challenging conventions of gender within a film. We included a male dresses as a female within our teaser trailer to bring a very strong comedy aspect to the trailer, this is something not commonly found within films, and especially spoof horrors. This meant we had to be very careful about how we made the character look and behave to really put across the 'mixed gender' aspect.

In regards to my ancillary task of having to produce a magazine front cover i followed the main convention of having a main character within the centre of the cover. I also included many typical conventions of a front cover such as articles relevant to the film and also having articles which are just additional information to draw audiences in. I included a masthead, skyline, a big magazine title and also a barcode which are all forms and conventions of real media products that i have developed in my media products.

My second ancillary task included making a movie poster to promote my film. I believe i had followed the main conventions of a movie poster by having a background picture including character(s) included in the film and my magazine contains a picture of the main character 'Rus' as a close up of his face. I also had a clear colour scheme which is a usual convention, within this convention i also used colours typical to that of a horror film poster e.g. black, reds, greys and whites.  I also included a quote from a newspaper or magazine which is found to be a typical convention to which i have formed and developed for my media product.

Final Draft

construction of magazine poster

Here shows the first snapshot of my magazine front cover, already it can be shown that i have added a background picture of the actor looking over his shoulder at the audience, it is also shown that he is wearing the same dressing gown as he is in the teaser trailer to show continuity, so the audience can tell that they're all from the same film. Also this shows that i have added a barcode as this is a typical convention of a magazine front cover, not much editing and progress has been made yet as I am still unsure of the layout of my front cover. However i have included a magazine title being 'FILM COUNTY' this title will be clear in showing the audience that is it infact a movie magazine, showing it must be promoting a new film.

This screenshot shows a considerable amount of progress on the front cover as you can see i have added 5 golden stars and quoted it by the times to denote to the audience that it has been 'rated' by a well known newspaper which would draw the audience into the front cover leading them to be intrigued and interested. I also found this to be a very typical convention of magazine front covers when in the stage of my research and planning. This research and planning helped me when setting out the layout of my front cover and it showed my typical conventions which make the front cover look real and professional and the annotation of the front cover allowed me to see which aspects drew the audience in, for example this allowed me to know how and where to place the movie to allow the readers to get drawn by it, this is why i placed it within the centre of the magazine going along and over the top of the main actor.

In this screenshot the progress i have made can be seen by the text above the title 'INSIDEOFRUS' which reads 'FROM THE MAKERS OF SCARY MOVIE' 'DIMENSION FILM PRESENTS..' which would draw the audience in by allowing the readers to have some information on the film as scary is a well known movie which is also a spoof so they would be able to guess this film would follow the same genre. At the bottom it states 'EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH DANIEL RADCLIFFE' which would be used to further draw the audience in, also it helps as a typical convention to make the magazine look like a typical sterotyped magazine cover. In the top right hand corner there is also text which reads '10 reasons why this was voted best mag of 2013' this just adds extra text and information to allow the reader to get drawn it and to allow my front cover to look professional and typical.

After my the first draft of my magazine front cover i asked for audience feedback to see if i needed to make any changes. I decided to show the magazine to people who would be part of my specific target audience as i believed this would help me most, with this in mind i set up a group within my sixthform block to be able to get idea's
From one girl named Isabel Mandry i received the feedback that 'so far it looks good and you can tell that it is a movie magazine because of the title and newspaper quotes,  however i believe it would look better if there was more text and information present on the magazine front cover'
I also received further feedback from a boy named James who commented on the size of the barcode and how he believed it would look better if it was made considerable smaller.

This then shows a progress screenshot of me editing my magazine, as you can see i have taken audience feedback into account and made the barcode considerably smaller which i must agree looks more professional, also i have added much more text to the magazine to give it more depth and texture, this allows more conventions to be shown.

As you can see here, this is the final piece that i have produced. Many more quotes have been added such as 'scarily funny' by mel brooks and more information within the movie. I took my audience feedback into account and this is what i have produced.

Final movie poster

Construction of final movie poster/Audience feedback

Here is a screenshot of the first draft of my movie poster, but after conducting audience research I found that there was many problems which I needed to correct. From an acquaintance named Matt Chapman I received audience feedback of which he informed me that through my movie poster and magazine cover there was lacking in continuity as the fonts were different so he advised that i should go back and change them which would make them more professional as the posters would match.

I also received further audience feedback from a work colleague Louise Deacon who saw problems with the picture i had used. She believed that the picture didn't match the type of genre and also believed that the main actor looked as though he was asleep so it didn't look very professional. So she recommended that I used a close up picture of his face instead it would look more intriguing to the audience. 

From the audience feedback I had received within my second draft i decided to change the picture to a closeup of the actors face as like louise has said it would make the readers more connected in the poster and more intrigued. I asked the actor to model in a shocked head on shot to give comedic aspects but also to show to the audience that not everything is completely fine and all how it seems which gives the horror aspects. In this screenshot it is also showing how i was able to edit out the actors spots from the poster just to make the poster look more professional and high quality.

This screenshot shows how i have changed the font and colour of the text at the bottom which reads 'FROM THE MAKERS OF SCARY MOVIE AND SCREAM' i made them read and also gave them an inside and outside glow effect to give them a horror looking theme, this also made them match my 'INSIDEOFRUS' text and the text of the movie poster just to show continuity. I also changed the 'COMING SPRING 2014' to the same text. I made the 'coming' and 'spring' a white colour while making the 'spring' and red colour so that it would mimic the colour scheme of the INSIDEOFRUS colours.

This shows the finished product of my movie poster, on this screenshot i had changed the top text which reads 'ITS NOT THE HOUSE THATS HAUNTED' 'IS ANYTHING HAUNTED????' to a deep red colour to match the colour scheme of the poster and to also connote to the audience that something may not be right, or all as it seems.

third draft

construction of teaser trailer

At the sart of the third construction of my movie trailer i had decided to strip the trailer back to the opening preview screen, i kept this as i believe it makes the trailer more believable and professional as a trailer, also in my audience feedback i had recieved that this was a good point of our trailer as it is a typical convention. Also by this point i has added text which reads 'FROM THE MAKERS OF SCARY MOVIE AND SCREAM'. I put a fade to black effect and a cross dissolve effect on the pictures to make the transition run smoother.

In this screenshot i am showing how i have added a quote which reads 'BEST HORROR SPOOF SINCE THE SCARY MOVIE SEQUELS'. I made this quote on behappy.me. Me and my partner made and included this quote as we had found from our research that quotes from magazines and newspapers was a typical convention of a movie poster and believed this would make ours more professional and effective as a teaser trailer. I added this quote by importing it from my files, dragging it on to the editing pannel and adjusting the length of time it remained on the screen.

I then screenshot this to show the progress i had made. Within this screenshot it can be shown that i have added a clip of my filming to the trailer including a midshot of the main actor. Beneath this clip you can see I have added two recording clips. I used these recording clips as a voiceover within my trailer which say 'best horror movie since the scary movie sequels' beneath the quote which reads the same thing, i believe this would add excitment to the audience and draw them in, the other recording says 'A documentory about a bo...girl who thinks they're not entirely alone' This hints to audience the underlying story to my trailer, also revealing the genre of the trailer. I had also added more animated text which reads 'HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH FOR RUS' this creates a tense atmophere to the audience but also included with the clips it creates a sense of humor to portray to the audience the spoof angle. 

In this clip the progress i had made is adding a new clip which reveals more about the movie and the spoof horror aspect, it carries on from the previous clip. I believed by showing a clip and then allowing a screen of text to be shown through the middle would draw the audience in, also giving a spoof horror feel, from my audience i also found this was a typical convention so i believed it would be effective towards the audience.
I believe it creates a very intentive and interesting mise en scene about the trailer using this as there is both horror and comedy conventions

In this progress shot I have added a new piece of text which reads 'COMING SOON, HALLOWEEN' I believe this would be effective in furthering the point that this is a teaser trailer to the audience, creating a very prefessional, effective and higher quality mise en scene to the audience.
I also added a very comedic clip to the trailer of the main actor being possesed in bed but then hearing a loud bang and falling out of the bed, I believe that this would be very effective in connoting to the audience of the horror spoof angle as this clip holds both horror and comedic conevntions. At the end of this clip i also included a black ou effect so that the transition between this clip and the following clip i would be using would flow very smoothly together.

In this screenshot it is showing how i added a new clip of the main actor partaking in a ouija board, I believe this would be effective to the audience as it holds a very strong horror convention which would be brought to the movie, but the way that the actor is acting brings the comedy convention which creates a clear mise en scene to the trailer for the audience. I also added a fade to black effect between the two clips so that the transition of the trailer would flow smoothly and efficiently making it professional and high quality. 





In this progress shot it shows how i have added a extra clip which shows the main character hidden in the bedroom wrapped in a quilt which shows him spinning his head round in a possesd like way. This connotes to the character that is it a clip from later on in the film which causes a tense and intruiging mise en scene to the trailer, the way the character is dressed and the body language of the character holds the comedic elements for this shot.

In this progress shot it shows how i have added an extra clip to my trailer, which is a fairly long clip and i believed because of the conventions of this clip that if perfectly fits the end of the trailer. It includes the camera crew entering the room and looking around the room for 'Rus'. He can't be seen until the final shot where he is standing looking possesed within a corner which shows the horror conventions of my teaser trailer.

Within this progress shot you can see that i have added two sound effects which offer a very sharp sudden noise, one which you would expect to hear within a movie trailer. I added these by copying the link from youtube and then using a youtube to mp3 converter to convert the sound and download the file. I them imported these sound effects into premier pro and cut them down and placed them where i deemed appropriate, i placed them where 'Rus' is revealed in the last shot and also the clip where 'Rus' is wrapped in a quilt cover acting possessed, i believed that this would bring comedic aspects to the trailer.

Within this progress shot you can see that i have added an underlying constant theme tune which would be played for the duration of the trailer. I made the volume of the theme tune which is an instrumental to a james bond song, I used this as i believed it wouldn't be completely serious and may be able to bring a comedic aspect to the trailer as well as creating a tense atmosphere. I made the soundtrack quiet so that it wouldn't clash with the voice recording and the sound effects i had previously mentioned.

In my last progress screenshot the progress i made was a text screen which reads 'INSIDEOFRUS' which is the name of my film, I did this as from my previous research i found this to be a typical convention across all film trailers. I believed this would make it look more professional and it would inform the audience of the name. I also put a blur in blur out effect as well as a black out effect on the title screen to give the title texture and to show skill so it didn't look so simple.

second draft

construction of my movie poster



I used photoshop to construct my movie poster, within this screen shot it shows how i added the title 'INSIDEOFRUS' to the picture, however i have not managed to delete the background of it yet.

Within this screenshot it shows how i managed to delete the background of the title and position it at the bottom of the movie poster, I did this as I think that the title of the film being at the bottom of the poster is a normal convention of film posters.

Although it is unclear within this screenshot it shows how i added 'FROM THE MAKERS OF SCARY MOVIE AND SCREAM' i did this as i see it as being a typical convention of movie posters and also i thought by writing films such as scream and scary movie it would convey the genre of the movie to the audience incase they were unclear, they would know what to expect from the movie.

within this screenshot it's clear to see that I have changed the font, i changed it for that fact that i didnt think it fit or suited the genre i am promoting and also it was very hard to see onto of the background. Aswell as changing the font i also added a 'COMING SOON' at the bottom underneath the title as it allows the audience to be drawn in to the movie poster and i also from my research see it as being a typical convention of a movie poster.



within this screen shot i added a quote which includes the words 'LEFT ME SHAKING IN PURE TERROR' with five stars below the quote, i believe that this would make the movie poster to seem more believable and professional as it is a typical convention of many horror film movie posters

This is the final shot of the construction of my movie poster, in this shot it shows how i moved the 'FROM THE MAKERS OF...' to the bottom of the poster underneath the coming soon, also i decided to change the quote so it said 'GOING WHERE NO MOVIE HAS GONE BEFORE' as i thought the other quote would convey the movie poster as more of a horror film rather than the spoof horror of which i am trying to convey. I also decided to add text at the top which say's 'its not the house thats haunted, is anything haunted?' i beleieved this would be humorus to the audience and also it would portray a spoof horror type genre.