Evaluation

Evaluation

Harry Pickford

In what ways does your media

product use, develop or

challenge forms and conventions

of real media products?

For my media project I decided to produce the film trailer option rather than a music video. I decided this as it gives me more freedom and to be able to incorporate more of my own ideas rather than what may be lyrically scripted in a song. I felt without researching current professional videos my trailer would turn out to look and feel very amateurish therefore spent weeks looking into other trailers just to build ideas for my own.

Rather than specifically choosing a niche genre for my film such as horror/ comedy/ gangster, I decided to create a film on an event with a feel of a drama that incurs a thriller plot. This is very much the feel of other typical British films and I felt that this way I could make a unique trailer of that to the rest of my peers. I also created a digi pack which consisted of a poster and the front of a fictional magazine cover. I performed this by conventionally sticking to an intertextuality theme whereby the products as a whole had a similar appearance and feel.

I will be aiming my film to quite a broad audience which defeats the chance of

aiming it at specific groups (such as the film ‘Bullet Boy’ – from research who solely

based their film on urban, youth, black, male gang culture with a unique selling

feature such as hit selling, media stricken music star of that time and background)

although this can be effective I feel I would be unable to find a strong enough specific group of people who would find interest in

my film. As I had completed lots of research into

film trailers and digi packs, for the actual project of my own I wanted to still

incorporate these conventions but develop them to create my own unique versions.

With my products they still conventionally work in the sense of the trailer has the

same main stages within the trailers such as TODOROV’s theory of narrative although I have incorporated elements which I have not even seen before to try and challenge

and develop. The poster and magazine cover very much stick to the conventions of

the products out there today all though perceive a twist with my own unique

designs.

POSTERThis is the poster for my film ‘Looking for Alice’. The reason I called my film this is that throughout the trailer there is a sense of something missing and that the main character in the film is looking for someone. The audience has greater knowledge of this when the image of a baby is shown from the perspective of the character. From this I looked at different names in which I could call the trailer but after feedback from peers I decided on the name. I feel the name works well in trying to achieve a professional, conventional film as it does not sound to cheesy and could easily fit along side films already on the market.

I experimented on several different appearances of the poster and finally finished with the design on the right. It is vital that the poster both links well with the poster as well as trying to show a positive and intriguing presentation of the film. I decided to stick with the original colour image due to the fact the sky in good condition also I liked the colour of the rock which the character is sitting on. Due to this I used as my colour scheme for the for the rest of the elements on the page. I found a match with the brown shade of the rock to use for the title of the film.

I have used two different fonts for the poster which I have found to be conventionally a very common feature. The title to the film is usually in a large font to dominate the page so that this is seen first. The font colour for this text is the darkest on the page therefore is looked at first. The title font and the 3 main characters is a font which I have used in all 3 of my created products. The reason for this is it is a very elegant font which is how I am trying to create a weak character after looking for a lost child which I am trying to portray. I have placed the brown title over a replica white version to create a shadowing effect to appear bolder and also with the shadow facing the same direction as the actor, everything is facing the same direction and looks as though it is looking that way.

For the credits at the bottom of the page, I located a professional font from the website ‘dafont’. From this I was able to replicate current

professional posters which is vital to achieve my aim of professional looking products. I included another common

feature of the coming soon in a bold font as well as the star rating which matches the colour of the inner item of

clothing worn by the main character to collectively link the whole product.

MAGAZINE COVERThis is the front cover of the fictional film magazine which I have created. I decided upon a simple name for my magazine to fulfil the duty of what the product will do. ‘Review’ suggests that it will be looking back and literally ‘reviewing’ new, mainly British films. The appearance of the title took a while as I originally created a basic version but in order to keep to conventional magazine headers their titles had more evolved into a logo. As of this I decided to border the font as well as including a 3D effect. From this I could include the key information again shown over all professional covers for their company. Throughout my products I have tried to use and develop conventions rather than try to challenge them. The image used is the same of that used in the poster to try and keep a recognition for the photo. Again I have used the same colour scheme from my poster to continue with my intertextuality links. From research I found that magazines colour schemes often became dependent upon their chosen front cover main story. They often incorporate their main colours to link with their magazine. I have tried to use this effect by continuing the brown colour from the rocks as well as the misty blue colour which can be seen on the main character.

Again staying with conventions to create a professional appearance I have added the common features to the magazine covers which I have researched. As you can see the banner at the top including some features to the magazine and 4 other splashes of what can be found inside along with the professional selling features such as the barcode and price.

Bar the heading the film title is the second largest font on the page. Conventionally this makes people look directly to the magazine title and then can relate to the main selling point of the image used. As the magazine will be produced after my 2 other products will be produced the image should begin to take attention of the eye as again she is looking away and makes you want to know if the mystery will be solved.

TODOROV's Theory of narrativeTODOROV’s theory suggests that conventional narratives are structured

in five different stages. I feel that I am able to link this theory towards my project to show all 5 steps as it is only a film trailer I do not plan on giving the whole plot away. However I have been able to identify 4 of the 5 stages as shown below.With my trailer there is certainly a ‘recognition that there has been a disruption of the equilibrium’. I have shown this when we first realise that the main character’s child is missing and to show her life is spiralling out of control from the stress of loss.

There is an ‘attempt to repair the disruption’ when the main character is in a changed scene and seen running in slow motion as though she has improved clues of where her child may be.

There is often ‘reinstatement of the equilibrium’ with the use of flashbacks of looking at the picture of the missing child.

Finally the ‘disruption of the equilibrium by some action’ during the final scene where the character ends up in a barn and someone is seen to be watching her with the final cut of turning around without giving any of the plot away.

Propp's Theory of narrative

The second theory which I can use to evaluate my work is Vladimir Propp's theory of narrative. He suggested that the characters take on the role of narrative ‘spheres of action’ or functions.

He discovered seven different character types:

- Hero (usually male, restores narrative equilibrium often centre of villains attention, also often invariably central character)

- Villain (usually creates narrative disruption)

- Donor (gives hero something (object, advice) to help the resolution of narrative)

- Helper (aids hero in task of restoring equilibrium)

- Princess (often victim)

- Dispatcher (sends hero on their task)

- False Hero (appears to be good but revealed at narratives end – to be bad)

How effective is the

combination of your main

product and ancillary texts?

With the main product being my film trailer it is vital that the ancillary texts, being the poster and magazine cover, intertextuality combine and work together. Again from research on current professional products I have seen how collectively, their digi packs all link together. The way that they do this is through elements such as the colour scheme, font, images used as well as text about the film in order to promote it.

The reasons why the intertextuality is vitally incorporated is basically to boost the popularity of the product but being able to identify each individual product from one other hopefully by simple factors such as the colour or the font. From this it is vital that not only do they all link together but also uniquely gain there own appearance to stand out from the rest.

Specifically with my own products I have made sure the images used become a main factor to the combination and the intertextuality. Images are proven to be the greatest way of remembering things so because of this I will be using one image throughout. In order to stop the appearance of duplication I have used different effects on the images for the different products. Although I have done this I have kept the same appearance and layout.

I have allocated my own specific font which I downloaded from the site DaFont. The reason I found a new font is that I wanted to make it stand out and become unique. I tried to make it so when people see the font they automatically think of my film. Due to the unique elegant font I feel this will produce the best way of finding the links between the products. I have found this when creating the magazine cover as I used a specific font for the magazine but when talking about the film I used the font which I have through out and straightway it makes you think to the other products.

Obviously as the poster and magazine cover are used to promote the film, it is vital that they link together as much as possible. Another factor is that that the aesthetics of the image must be identical. I have continued this theme throughout by using the same dress code as well as the setting. With the video I am able to express much more than with pictures therefore the covers had to have a picture symbolising what the trailer did. Therefore the image of the girl looking shows that she is missing something.

same font used throughout

Trailer Footage Trailer Titles

PosterMagazine Cover

same image

m.e.s (clothing)m.e.s (clothing)

colour scheme

same names used on credits

same character

What have you learned

from your audience

feedback?

In order to improve to try and reach the goal of the perfect professional looking array of products it is vital to incorporate the use of audience feedback. This helped me a lot during my planning stages as I was able to make changes which looking back drastically

improved my products.

At first with my trailer I was spending too long on specific camera angles and I had failed to pick up on actually how quickly professional trailer change camera angles in their trailers. I had tend to stay on specific events for too long in the same position and because of this it gives a tendency for the audience concentration to wander as they gradually get bored and begin to look away. As my trailer itself does not give much away as it is, it is vital that I try to keep the audience intrigued at all times. From this I created many more different angles and made sure that I did not stay in one position for at most more than 5 seconds.

Also with my trailer I was often told that I needed to include dialogue into it. With feedback it does not always come as positive but some time negative as I feel I am not to use it. Although people may feel it is vital part, I wanted to make my trailer unique as often professional trailers do include some form of speech. I felt that the actions could speak the words and when finished I felt it give enough information to make you want to know what happens but not too much which is often the case with trailers today and the whole plot is given away.

Originally my poster was quite basic and I was informed of this factor. Looking back this is

certainly a good input of audience feedback as from it I introduced credits to the page and the actors/actresses involved in the film. From

this it has certainly created a more professional appearance to the poster.

The problems people found with my magazine cover originally was that the

image was identical to that in the poster. As I wanted to keep the intertextuality I decided to edit the effects of the picture

to work better with the colours of the magazine. From several other stages of

the feedback it has proven the right idea and that it has enhanced the cover a

great deal. This is another factor I found from the use of feedback.

Often, like with this case, feedback can be used just to prompt a change and an

alternative can be achieved which alternately could turn out to be a lot

better. From looking back at my products I can see how the feedback has helped

me and it has shown how a fresh eye look on your work provides much more effective feedback than that of my self

who is constantly looking at it when producing it.

- The magazine which I had created appeared to dissimilar to that genre of my film. I had used electrical blue colours which portrayed quite a sci-fi appearance and because of this I felt change was needed.

New colour scheme applied to front cover also to provide better link between products.

- Spelling Mistakes, I was pulled up on a few spelling mistakes from my main products.

because of this they have been changed which also will provide an increased professional

appearance as type error’s although easily occurred are often identified from

thorough proof reading.

After Final Feedback

MAGAZINE COVER PROGRESSIONS

In a clearer sense here are

the developments

which I have made down to the feedback

which I was given,

beginning at the top left

hand corner to the bottom right as the

final product.

Final

POSTER PROGRESSIONS

Again the progression of my film poster from the feedback that I had received from my

peers. As you can see it benefited greatly as the first two images effects seemed out of

place because of how the original setting was in such good colour. The improvements are

shown through the images from the title positioning to the size of the official rating and

the credits shown on the page.

How did you use media

technologies in the construction of the research,

planning and evaluation

stages?

A main component to the production of the project is the use of different technologies. Whether this be the software which I used both at sixth form and home, as well as the hardware to physically take the photos and video the footage for the trailer. .

Over the next few slides I will show the different media technology which I used in the construction of research,

planning and evaluation stages.

TRAILER

Research –

Internet

- Trailer addict

- Blogger

- DaFont

Planning –

Software

- Pinnacle Studios 12

Hardware

- Video Camera

Evaluation –

Software

- Microsoft PowerPoint

Internet

- Vimeo

- Slideshare

POSTER & MAGZAINE COVER

Research –

Internet

- DaFont

- Search Engines

Planning –

Software

- Macromedia Fireworks

Hardware

- Digital Camera

Trailer AddictDuring the research stage into the actual production of the trailer I spent a lot of time researching current professional trailers to gain ideas and inspiration and to get a feel for the conventions which I was to follow. Trailer addict allowed me to both watch the trailers and easily embed them on to my blog to show this.

DaFontDafont enabled me to download as many fonts that I wished for free of use. This helped me during my production as I was able to create and submit my unique project to my own taste. I was able to allocate fonts which were more suited to a broader sense magazine cover as well as find a suitable font for my film trailer and poster which was much more elegant and specific.

Search EnginesDuring my research I spent a lot of time looking for current posters and magazine covers. In the end this benefited my work drastically as I was able to follow conventions and produce professional looking products.

Vimeo / SlideShareOnce my trailer had been produced I was able to upload to my blog by using the site Vimeo. It increased the time by using this site and from this was able to embed onto my blog where my work had been scheduled.

During the evaluation stage I was able to upload PowerPoint presentations such as this again to my blog. Another quick and easy form to do so from the media technologies out there today.

Macromedia FireworksAgain a very helpful programme which played a major role in the production of my products. I was able to change settings of images and the actual construction of where all the elements are positioned on the page. This advanced form of software increased the chance of me being able to construct professional looking products.

Pinnacle StudiosPinnacle Studios has been the programme which I have used to edit my film trailer. I have found no problems with the use of this software which has made it very easy for me to create the trailer which I have originally intended. The positives with Pinnacle firstly is its ease of use, I could easily upload my footage from my camera directly in to enable the editing to begin. The footage which is captured becomes sub divided into specific take categories. It then made it much easier to drag and drop the specific clip that i wanted. Once in I was able to change the length of the clip, the speed that I wanted it at, the music to be played in the background, the visual effects of the image and also the way it appeared through different fading techniques. The programme works with layers and the layout makes it easy to complete all of these different areas. Also as I had previously chosen a specific font I was able to upload this and use within the software. This made it much easier for me to provide a more professional looking

trailer as I could make the fonts appear when I wanted them to rather than as a set picture.

Hardware Video Camera – Digital Camera

In order to actually record the footage the video and digital cameras were used to make this possible. With the advancement in media technologies it made it much easier to produce this with the easy transform to the computers and into the allocated software.