Evaluation on ancillary products

Evaluation on ancillary products

By Sean Beddows

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

Here we have a typical film magazine front cover. Having a main image in front of the ‘EMPIRE’ logo is something that nearly all ‘EMPIRE’ magazines do. Followed by strap lines with the main focus still on the image which conventionally looks into the camera.

Initially this was the image I was going to use for my film magazine. As I began to work with this image to create a film poster conforming to typical film magazine conventions was hard as she was not looking at the camera and was lay on the floor. After feedback from a group of media students I decided not to use this image.

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

I wanted to keep my film poster simple whilst following similar film posters to keep within conventions of a film poster. Using a clear image and clear text meant that I was keeping my film poster simple. Whilst making my film poster a constantly used other examples such as ‘THE EXORCISM OF SMILE ROSE’ to keep my poster on track.

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

Conventions of a film poster: -To be eye catching/captivating. -To have a focal picture that will be intriguing. To display a large title that is easily spread. -Suggestion of the film genre. -Use a tagline. -Coming soon or release date. -Famous actors/actresses used as a focal point. I chose to follow these contentions as my film is a thriller and using conventions that are proven to be effective through research I decided not to push too hard on the boundaries as I wanted my film to conform to classic conventions to be easy to understand and receive.

Conventions of a magazine front cover: -The magazine name is clearly stated. -The cover has to be noticeable to the audience. -Famous actors/actresses used as a focal point. -Images on the front cover target a certain audience. -Graphics and colour used to create a mood for the magazine. -Price and bar code are displayed. As I wanted to follow the conventions I decided to use ‘EMPIRE’ as the magazine has a good identity and using ‘EMPIRE’ to layer my vocal point made it look realistic.

What kind of media institute might distribute your media product and

why? In my opinion my media product would be released in cinemas. My film does not offer any steps forward. It would be a one off film that may appear of television at a later date. Other films such a scream who have the iconic mask may be able to franchise and make as much money as they can from the film including parody's. As my media product would be a low budget product with no real iconic symbol I would struggle to see my film as a big seller. More of a low budget film aired at local cinemas.

One thing which I would use to promote my film would be the green coat. As the main character is always wearing a green coat it would seem obvious to use this green coat as an marketing tool. With the ‘Broken’ text on the back this could advertise my low budget film and make a profit at the same time.

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

I used audience feedback to find out from my target audience if my product and ancillary text were

combined successfully. My audience suggested that the same use of text and image allowed my product and ancillary text to be combined successfully. In my

opinion all of my products link together with a strong sense of image and text.

Putting all of my products on Facebook and asking for feedback and then posting a question asking how well my products work together as a whole allowed me to find out what the audience of my film think.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Audience feedback is a must. Without this you can not be sure that your product is represented in the right way. This allows your audience to have their own opinion on your product. This also gives them the opportunity to influence your product. Utilising facebook allowed easy access to comments that people have made. It also makes it easy for the audience to become interactive with my products and feel like they are a part of the process.

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and

research, planning and evaluation stages?

-www.seanbeddowsa2.blogspot.com -paint.net -www.facebook.com -www.youtube.com -Audacity -Microsoft

All of these new media technologies allowed me to construct a strong media product.

Paint.net Paint.net was really helpful as it allowed me to edit my images to create a good quality film poster. Being able to erase the background of the image meant I could use the girl as an individual image. I could then layer her over the ‘EMPIRE’ logo.

Microsoft word Using such a simple format allowed me to move image and text to create my front cover for my magazine and my film poster.

Audacity

This programme allowed me to manipulate sound to create the reoccurring tapping sound in my trailer.

YouTube

Using YouTube allowed me to upload a video onto a strong digital platform only to then post the link onto another strong digital platform. Facebook. This meant utilising different digital platforms

Blogspot.com Using blogspot for my planning and research allowed me to work in craniological order. Also putting my evaluation on Blogspot through slide-share allows me to keep all of my work on one digital platform.

how does your media product represent particular social groups?

My product represents young females aged between 15-21 in a vulnerable way. As a female is the only person we see in my product the audience will automatically have their own assumptions about her as she is the main character in the film. She is seen to be isolated and is the main focus of the film. This may represent her as lonely. The strong story line instantly gives her sympathy. Her social group is middle class. Being a late teenage she is seen to be weak whilst maintaining a pretty appearance.

What has influenced my product? When researching film posters and magazine front covers I found that I needed something to use as a basic plan. This film poster and magazine front cover were particularly inspiring as they have useful layouts.

This film magazine is simple but effective. I like the way the girl is looking into the camera and is the focus of the page.

I like the blue tint and the simplicity of poster. It is all symmetrical, this is something i hoped to achieve in my film poster.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb8xyzdu5zs

I really admired this film trailer as the dark lighting and strong sound effects appealed to me.

How did you attract/address your audience?

Having a target audience from the age of 15 upwards means that my target audience is close to my own age group so attracting them was something that became common sense to me. It seemed obvious to use a character who was the same age group and also same gender. As my target audience is girl from them age of 15 upwards I wanted to use a main character that the audience could relate to.

I had to make sure that the clothes the main character was wearing fitted into her role. As my audience is women from the age of 15 upwards i needed to make sure the main character dressed to fit that age group. I wanted the women to relate to my main character.

What do I feel did not work in this process?

To the left is my first draft compared to my final product on the right. My first draft felt too much like a book front cover not a film poster. I needed to change the colour and add a date to the poster to make is more realistic.

In my opinion I had a strong layout but I needed to layer my magazine and add more text to make it seem more realistic. Using text such as “turn to page 5” is not normally on a magazine front cover. Small details like this meant my film magazine needed to be improved.