A2 Media Studies Evaluation

G325

A2 Media Evaluation

Candidate Name: Muddassir HussainCandidate Number: 5584

Centre Number: 51627 Link to Blog: http://muddassirhussain5584.blogspot.com/

The Brief

For this part of the course, we were set a number of tasks; however the main tasks were to achieve a completed movie trailer, a magazine front cover and a movie promotional poster.

The magazine and poster must promote the film that we have created.

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

Explore what you learnt from your research:

What are the conventions of movie magazine front covers:

Explore what you learnt from you research :

What are the conventions of movie posters:

From the analysing that I undertook from several magazines, I acknowledged that there are many conventions that magazine producers have to take into account. Producers must effectively construct their product so that it is targeted at their desired demographic. Also they must persuade the audience to purchase their magazine. By this I mean the movie that is of most popularity must appear as the main image. Also there must be sub-headings/extras which relate to the genre of the magazine, so if the magazine was not aimed at a specific genre; the sub-headings would need to coincide with the genre of the main image.

There are many conventions of movie magazine. Firstly, the masthead needs to be of a large font, so that if on a magazine stand, the magazine can stand out amongst other magazines. The main image must cover the majority of the page and the sub headings must reflect the genre which is being portrayed. Moreover, there seems to be an idea that if two sub-headings are used, then it doesn’t convey a large amount of detail, if there is four sub-headings then the information is too much, however if three are used, this is often seen as the sufficient amount. Often, there could be insights to other movies such as snapshots. Also, techniques such as using a High-angle shot or a Low-angle shot depending on what representation the producer wants the main image character to have.

After analysing many posters, I realise that there are many conventions which need to be considered. The poster must promote the movie. In particularly horror movie posters contain reviews from relevant institutions, for example, ‘Empire’, however, to target the movie at a niche demographic, then institutions such as ‘The Sun’ would be more effective.

One key convention is the use of colour, usually the colours on horror posters are black and red, These connote danger and loneliness, whereas the binary opposites of white and blue are less frequent as they connote hope and resurrection.

As you can see, I have modelled the ‘Gorezone’ magazine to an extent.

The masthead is written in a bold red font. This is similar to my production; the red font symbolises a convention of horror movies, as it connotes blood. My masthead is “Final Girl”, refers to Laura Mulvey’s theory which connotes the girl who is left alone to suffer in horror movies.

The use of the selling line, refers to how the magazine compares to others around the world. It is a marketing strategy used by all major institutions, to promote and to market their respective products on a global stage. My selling line “The World’s Most Loved Horror Movie Magazine”

As you can see, I have used a similar two colour scheme for the sub-headings. Also I have used three subheadings. There is an idea when creating magazines, that something portrayed in a group of three has more attractive weight than two, and four is too much.

This is an example of a magazine that I decided to emulate to a certain extent. As you can see, I have outlined the main conventions within movie magazines, and must also highlight that many if not all magazine front covers, tend to follow the trends of the past.

From the analysis of this ‘Empire’ magazine, I decided to copy the film reel element. The movie snapshots allow the audience to gain a prospective idea to what is going to be mentioned within the current issue.

Please click upon the speaker above to hear analysis and comparison

As you can see, the Heartless poster on the left, inspired me to use certain elements of it.

Movie Posters do not often have reviews by major institutions. However I believe that because the horror genre is so niche, The Sun newspaper will emphatically target my movie at the demographic which I originally outlined.

Having done my research into The Sun, I recognised that it sold more than 3 million copies everyday and more than 8 million copies are read the newspaper on a daily basis. Furthermore, my research told me that 61% of the readers are aged between 15-44, 91% of the readers fall under the socio levels of C1, C2, D & E and 58% of the audience is male.

Therefore this suggests that using The Sun to promote my movie, is the perfect thing to do. This is because it targets the demographic which I targeted, although more specifically I targeted 15-24, however, the horror genre is most often viewed by a male audience, therefore the newspaper is ideal. Also, I believe the use of male protagonists is very effective, seen as the demographic for the horror genre is predominately male, it made sense to use a male protagonist, as the male audience can relate to them.

Title of film Costumes and Props

This screenshot is the title of my film. It shows the title with a glinting finish, in front of an horror effect. In relation to horror conventions, I used this because due to the use of blood, to create than sinister

effect.

This screenshot shows the prop that I used. One convention of a horror movie is that knifes are used instead of guns, because it creates more of a scary thought. The costume of the characters is casual, which signifies their youth. Although John is not in a black hoodie, it could still indicate his mischievous character, which is why he is the vulnerable character.

Setting/Location

Camera work and Editing

This screenshot shows the location where my movie trailer is set. Predominately all horror movies are set in a sinister place such as the woods/forest. This is because it creates that sense of loneliness, and puts forward that element of unknown danger.

This is an example of a scene that I copied from ‘The Blair Witch Project’. It was also filmed using a handheld camera, and this scene in particularly appealed to me, as it set the location.

This screenshot shows the process of editing in my movie trailer. I cannot specifically show the ‘Ghosting’ technique that I utilised. However, it creates a effect which seems like someone is blinking or is out of breath. Therefore, this could be a shot suitable for two perspectives – the protagonists or the unknown villain.

Title font and style Genre and how the opening suggests it

This shot shows the effect that I decided to use for my title font. In Photoshop Elements 5.0, there is an option of selected pre-made font styles, having selected a few, I decided that using a ‘Stoke Glow’ effect would be most suitable.

These two shots are a very important element within my trailer. This is because they suggest the genre, which is horror. Many openings of movies suggest the genre, so I decided to use a transition to do this. Red is a colour associated with the horror genre, therefore by doing this it inevitably created immediacy within the trailer, which is required

in horror movies.

Story and how the opening sets up

How characters are introduced

This screenshot shows how the story is built up. The two protagonists were sitting in the living room, when there was a large knock at the door.

The editing in this scene is very important, as the voiceover builds this tension up. The way that the characters react to the instant knock, indicates their innocence.

todorovdisequilibium

Put a screenshot of Tom at the doorThe characters are introduced in this scene. As mentioned previously, the way that they react ot the instant knocking at the door, indicates their innocence. Also, the way that they are dressed, John in a hoodie, could connote that he has a negative personality, where as Michael, in binary terms, would be the preffered opposite as he is slim and has brown hair.

Moreover, the fact that Micheal gets up to open the door, whereas John stays sitting, suggests Micheal’s bravery, and further signifies that he will be the preferred opposite.

Special effects

I used a special effect to close out the trailer. The release date needed to have something unique about it, so I decided to create an effect which flickered from up to down. In the end I believed that it looked quite effective and related to the rest of the trailer.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? The overall aim of my teaser trailer and ancillary texts, was to create a ‘promotional buzz’ among the films target demographic and to launch the film with the highest possible popularity.

For any film of any genre, it is well-known that the distributor is the one responsible for marketing the film and to physically distribute it. In relation to the question, the distributor has three main objectives. These consist of advertising of the film, promoting the film and publicising the film. Another section of the roles is the way in which the front cover of the movie magazine and the promotional poster are distributed around the world, to appeal to the target demographic on a global stage. In order for the film to be recognised as a global phenomenon such as the ‘Saw’ series, all these roles must be carried out by the distribution company.

Below are a selection of films that could potentially take away my films’ audiences in 2011

Please click on the speaker above to hear my response to the question.

As a genre, it is a known fact that at this present time, Horror is currently very active; a text such as Paranormal Activity is one of a few to make over $100 million. Judging by this, there is certainly a genuine interest in the genre. Which suggests to producers like me that getting the release date right is essential as there is potential success for my horror film.

It is very difficult to identify a true rival for my film, however, judging by the release date, I would have to say that ‘Scream 4’, which is due to be released 15th April 2011, would be a very fierce competitor. However, I believe that due to my movie breaking a few conventions of the horror genre, it would perform quite well on the market. My movie, was released in April, therefore, it will not collide with potential rivals in the market. For example, a popular text such as ‘The Roommate’ would be a contender for the awards which are yearly held during December to February – therefore, if my film was to be released within this time frame, my movie may not be so successful. Large distributors can afford to release their films during this period, however the budget of my film would not allow me to project my trailer at the Super Bowl for example. If I was to re-consider the release date, as many film producers have done previously, I would release it during the Halloween time of the year. This is because, the audience want to see new things to frighten them during this time of the year, and also, the time of the year means it would get darker quicker, therefore, symbolising the horror genre completely.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Please click upon the video to view

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research,

planning and evaluation stages? These are some of the new media technologies I have used throughout the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages:

•BloggerThis was the new media technology that I used. It was used to upload my complete portfolio. It is a very simple website to use and I was able to efficiently upload my work. In addition to this, Blogger allows users to type in large amounts of texts and also to upload my final trailer, the movie trailers which I analysed and to upload photo files.

•Search engines such as imdb.com, Wikipedia and Trailer Addict.These are engines which provided me with useful information throughout the planning and research stages. When using the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) I was able to view trailers to get inspiration from other texts. Wikipedia, a powerful information centre allowed me to look at synopsis’ of previous texts in the genre to provide me with stimulus.

•PicnikAlthough I did not utilise this online program, I managed to play around with its features. I believe it is a proven to be success, and if I were to improve my products, i would take some elements from Picnik, for example the effective creation of font styles.

•Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0This was used to create and edit our two ancillary texts. From my AS portfolio, I believe my ability to use this software package is very much improved. I have effectively used techniques such as cloning, and anti-glare in my products.

•Adobe Premier Elements 3.0This was used to create and edit our main product. I feel, as time progressed, I began to grasp various techniques of this rather complex peace of software. In the end, I managed to effectively use cutting, and edit sounds effects to create a cohesion with previous horror texts.

•Audio software such as AudacityThis was particularly useful when it came to editing the diagetic voice over that I used.

•Hand Held camcorders

•Ordinary computers built with Windows XPI think the fact that we used ordinary computers instead of Macs for example, just defines how difficult the process of creating three effective looking products. A problem that I encountered several times, is that whenever I tried to save an Adobe Premier 3.0 file, the system would not allow me to. Therefore, taking these limited and frustrated resources in mind, i believe digital technology supported me to a good extent.

Completed Subsidiary Products

Movie Magazine Movie Poster