Thursday, 29 March 2012
Friday, 9 March 2012
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
These screen shots show the protagonist running away which is a typical convention we see in horror. The audience could feel that as she is the 'final girl' and trying to escape she will be tortured if she does not get away which creates tension . The lighting in 'The Last House on the Left' is quite low key which gives it a more eerie and creepy feel. This was something we found hard to edit as the sky didn't look as realistic when we tried to change the levels.
These are screen shots from our trailer and the other from Saw ll. They both depict bright lights in the centre of the frame. This emulates a horror feel as it is a dark setting and it draws your attention as the lights are very bright. It also gives a feeling that someone is looking for someone/something in particular.
Grave Encounters uses a similar shot to our trailer which is a horror convention. Using point of view shot makes you feel your in 'the eyes of the monster' which is a successful convention within horror and makes the audience feel on edge and unsettled. The lighting in each screen shot I have shown is low key and is also a typical horror convention as we associate the dark with fear. By including a long corridor/hallway makes the audience scared and on edge as you feel something is at the end of it.
These shots from our trailer 'Abandoned' and 'Halloween (1978) show establishing shots which is conventional in trailers. Both shots look like they are isolated buildings/houses which are a typical horror setting. In the screen shot from Halloween, it is very dark which connotes fear and loneliness. Whereas, in our trailer it is quite light, this is something we wish we could of altered but I still feel it is quite scary as the building is very creepy and as it is light, it shows that no one is there to help whoever is in trouble.
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Web 2.0...
Years ago people had to research out of books from libraries, however, modern technology now lets us find information at home. Web 2.0 is a term to describe new and advanced technology. Using Web 2.0 allows low budget film makers like us to browse and collect information from websites such as Blogger, Flickr, YouTube and Google. Through the use of Web 2.0 it has been very easy to research and make my main products.
Flickr- Flickr is very popular, it is a website where you can share personal photographs and videos. Flickr is very easy and quick to annote your work as you could add notes to different parts of the image you would like to write about. This then gave me a good idea on making my magazine cover and my poster. I feel Flickr is a great way to share images and is a more creative way of evaluating your work.
Blogger- This is the programme that we put our coursework on. It allows you to edit your blog so it shows the genre you are studying. It is also very easy to use and is very clear, you can go back and edit certain posts whenever you like. When writing posts, you can change the font, size and colour. You can also add images and videos to it as it is linked to YouTube. I feel using a blog is a fun way to present your work rather than lots of paper, this just shows how much technology has changed.
Google- Google is a worldwide search engine which was very useful. I used Google throughout my coursework as it was the best way to collect research and information on previous media products. 
Adobe Photo Shop- Photo Shop is a graphics editing programme which came in very useful when making my ancillary texts (magazine cover and poster). As I have Photo Shop at home I was familiar with it and found it very easy to use. It allowed me to edit my photographs I had taken and add text, it has a lot of effects that I could use to make the text more effective.
Apple Mac- The Apple Mac was the most useful and important technology for our post production and probably the whole project. We used an Apple Mac to create our teaser trailer on by using Final Cut Pro. Within the programme it allowed us to capture all of our footage and then store it, then to put it in the time line and edit it. Every person in our group found it hard to use at the beginning but we soon got used to it and found it easier to use the longer we spent on it. Adding and deleting certain parts of our clips were very easy and made it easier to experiment with footage. The Apple Macs also had a programme called Garage Band, this is a music composition software where we could record voices or you could create original sounds. We found this very easy to use. As well as that, you can use Live Type. Live Type is a programme where you can create titles, within this programme you can change the colour of the font, the effects and much more, also, it is quite easy to use and easy to export to your trailer.
Iphone 4S- I used my Iphone to contact other members in our group when we were filming and meeting to organise our shoots etc.
YouTube- I used YouTube throughout my coursework, mainly for research and planning. From this website I could look at existing horror trailers that I could add to my blog, I then could analyse the trailer and gain knowledge of horror conventions. Our finished teaser trailer was uploaded to YouTube, as it is a worldwide website it is one of the best sources of gaining feedback as people can either 'like' or 'dislike' the video or even comment on it. This was played to our media class through YouTube which helped with our audience feedback.
Digital Camera- I used my Samsung digital camera to take pictures for my ancillary texts. With the pictures I took I put onto a memory stick to upload. This was very easy and quick to do.
Video Camera- A video camera was used to film our footage for our teaser trailer. We found it very easy to use and often used the tripod when we wanted to capture clear and effective shots. Sometimes we shot it hand held as we felt it worked better with the horror genre, it also allowed you to play around with the shots more.
Tuesday, 6 March 2012
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
The distributor's job is to produce a plan so they know their target audience for it to make sure it will be successful. As well as releasing the film the person has to create trailers, posters, billboards, TV ads, cinema ads etc. to get the biggest audience possible. These all target various audiences as people interact with these things in their lifestyle nearly everyday. Releasing the film at a cinema or DVD are the main parts in getting the film recognised.
As it is a very competitive job and each distributor try and top one another and attract more interest to their own film. They need to:
- identifying its audience
- considering why they'd go and see it
- estimating the revenue potential across all the formats of its release
- developing plans and partnerships to build awareness of and interest in the film
- aiming to convert as much interest as possible into cinema visits
- persuading exhibitors
Marketing can differ as it depends on the target audience or the budget that the distribution has. They must also relate the advertising campaign to the age ranges as younger people spend a lot of time on the Internet so they are more likely to see a website advert or even a trailer which is on the Internet. As well as that, word of mouth is also likely to encourage younger people as they sometimes follow trends. However, older people are more likely to read newspapers, magazines or even billboards outside.
Examples of how advertising varies:
< 
Shrek is an american computer animated family film which is certificated U. By looking at the image you can instantly tell that this film is aimed at young children as they have used bright, vibrant colours with random, funny characters.
Shrek is an american computer animated family film which is certificated U. By looking at the image you can instantly tell that this film is aimed at young children as they have used bright, vibrant colours with random, funny characters. > The Hangover is also a american comedy film, but targeting young adults. By looking at the image on the front you can tell straight away it is a comedy by the faces each actor is pulling and how the baby has sunglasses on. You can also tell that the man on the left hand side is the funny character of the film as he is holding the baby and he's wearing similar glasses to it.
< The Notebook is a romantic film as you can tell instantly by looking at the image as the couple are kissing in the reain. It is about a young couple who fall in love during the 1940s. The target audience for this film would be for women.
> Lastly, The Last House on the Left is a horror film and is a remake of the 1972 film. This film targets a young adult audience. The genre is shown from the black background and the isolated house in the centre which are horror conventions.
For our film classification we decided that 15 would be most appropriate. We thought certificate 15 as our trailer, although our trailer features blood and gore we felt that there isn't that much of it. Overall, we thought this would be appropriate as we could work with a lot without having to go over film regulations.
Throughout my advertising I have used an image of one of the girls included in the trailer as well as the title of the film, 'Abandoned'. I feel all three of my products (trailer, magazine and
poster) look professional as they share many relationships. For example-
-A similar image of the main protagonist (looking directly towards the camera in each image to make it more personal and make you feel involved)
-Same style of font for the film title (looks more professional)
-Dark Lighting (gives it more of a horror feel rather than a white background)
-Colour scheme (red, white and black. I feel all these colours look professional together and link with horror)
-Fonts are easy to read (also bold so they would stand out on the shelf in shops)
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| My Magazine Cover |
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| Total Film Magazine |
To help promote my film I created a new magazine that I thought sounded professional, I titled it 'Film Now'. I think this title works well and the way I have styled it on Adobe Photo Shop looks quite similar to other magazine names, for example 'Total Film'.
I mainly based my magazine on 'Total Film' as I really liked the layout of this. I decided to use a similar shot to the Total Film magazine as I liked how he was looking at the camera to draw the audience in and make them feel more involved. Keeping to the magazine conventions I added a 'FREE BATMAN POSTER' in the top right hand corner to hopefully attract more of the audience. I darkened a side of my face on Photo Shop as I thought it looked scarier. The house colours I chose were red, white and black like Total Films colours as I thought this worked well and my image had a tint of red in it.
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| My Poster |
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| Mirrors Poster |
To help promote my film I had to also make a horror poster. A lot of inspiration from my poster came from the film 'Mirrors'. For my poster I used a close up and slightly blurred the image by choosing 'Wind' on Photo Shop. I thought this created a really good effect like the victim had seen something and was about to run away, I feel the image in 'Mirrors' gives the same impression. I kept my poster quite simple as I think it looks more effective and may lead the audience into wanting to know more about the film.
Monday, 5 March 2012
What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
The feedback from our horror trailer was mixed. All members of our A2 media class watched our trailer and each one responded to us, suggesting ways of helping us improve the trailer so we could hopefully make it scarier. They also told us what they thought was good about the trailer which was productive as it made us more confident. To do this they all had a piece of paper and had to write good and bad points and rate it out of 10. Overall, the majority voted our trailer 8/10. It was very important to get feedback as we were keen to make our trailer really interesting to the audience and any feedback helps distributors to decide what to keep in their trailer or what to take away.
Soundtrack
Soundtrack
- Our viewers thought that the music for the second half of the trailer sounded almost like action genre instead of horror and it was too upbeat and didn't really fit the story we were trying to tell.
- Some said they liked the bang nearer to the end of the trailer where the final girl hit the wall.
- Nearly all of our audience thought that our location/setting was very good and creepy. I feel that the time and effort we put in seeking the location was well worth it.
- One person said that they thought the final girl was running for too long, also someone else thought that we could have made the shot darker on Final Cut Pro and this would have made it much more scary. However, our audience did like the angle at which we took the shot, from behind the fence, as it made them feel like someone was watching her.
- A lot of people liked the candle shots and how they kept flashing back, they commented that it helped to create a creepy atmosphere.
- Most of our audience also liked our Ouija board shot as they thought it was quite spooky, however, some felt that they could not read what we were trying to spell.
- Most of our viewers thought that the pace of our trailer worked well and it was likened to most professional trailers.
- Everyone really liked our newspaper shots as they again, thought it looked professional and realistic. Also they linked these to the 'Return of the Repressed' by bringing up what had happened in the past.
- Some of our viewers also liked the fast, short shots nearer the end of the trailer, however, others thought that some shots were too random and looked out of place.
- They also liked the repetition of the candle shots.
- Some people were not sure if our inter titles worked or not as they were quite hard to read, but they did like the final title at the end as there was a banging sound at the same time. They did like how the title was the red as this colour connotes blood and gore which we included in this trailer.
Paranormal Activity Trailer Analysis
Paranormal Activity
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| Hand Held |
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| High Angle Shot |
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| Shot Of The Audiences Reaction |
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| Quote From Bloody-Discusting |
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| Introduced To The Third Character |
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| Still Camera, Eye Level |
The beginning shot of this trailer shows masses of people queueing for the film and in the cinema. This automatically breaks trailer conventions as its focus is on the audiences perception of the film instead of the actual film. Typography, which is a conventional element, is placed over the top to give the audience an indication to where the screening is set. Non-diegetic sound is added whilst the people are queueing to give it a horror feel. The camera is then at eye level with the viewers to show the audience watching the film. It then fades to an establishing shot of a couple in a house, this is the shot that tells us the narrative of the film as the man says "My girlfriend Katie thinks that theres something in the house" which automatically makes her the victim in this film. As this is at a high angle it connotes vulnerability to the 'paranormal phenomena'. Also, it could suggest that she is powerless over the demon. When the woman whispers "somethings here" and "I feel it breathing on me" this juxtaposes the bang within the next shot, which makes the audience jump as there is a sudden change of volume. This is conventional for horror trailers as it adds suspense and hopes to frighten the audience in order for them to go watch it at the cinema. Throughout the trailer there are shots that keep showing the audiences reaction to show the viewers how scary the film actually is. The colour green is used in these shots as the camera is in night mode. In the middle of the trailer there is a quote saying "'PARANORMAL ACTIVITY' IS OF THE SCARIEST MOVIES OF ALL TIME" by Bloody-Disgusting.com. Having a quote in a trailer is a conventional element as it shows the film is popular and could make the audience want to watch it more. Nearer to the end of the trailer we are introduced to the third character of the film who seems to be a specialist of the situation they are in. The man is shown to be 'The Helper', which is one of the seven character types which Propp made. However, Propps theory was that 'The Helper' normally aids the hero but in this situation there is no hero. There are then a couple of shots afterwards of the woman rocking backwards and forth. Here she has gone from 'The Victim' to 'The Villian' and as this happens the pace of the trailer increases a lot. At the end of the trailer non-diegetic sounds are added of a gun firing when the man is thrown at the camera to make it more scarier.
Sunday, 4 March 2012
The Last House On The Left Trailer Analysis
The Last House On The Left.
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| Establishing Shot |
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| Two Shot |
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| High Angle Shot |
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| Crane Shot |
In this horror film, the setting is at an isolated house which means there are no other houses near by to help them when things begin to go wrong in the film, we know that this house is in the middle of no where at the beginning of the trailer as there is a sign that says 'Lake ends in the road'. Isolated houses are conventional of horror films as it is harder for the characters to escape and be saved if in danger.
At the beginning of the trailer we also see an establishing shot of them driving, the camera tilts upwards so we can follow the car. We hear dialogue at the beginning too, the man says "Are we there yet? Its the last house on the left". This is so we know where they are going. Throughout the trailer, there are a lot of close ups and mid shots that focus on Mary, this is so the audience know that she is the main character in the film. Also, we see her driving her family to the house, this also implies that she is the protagonist. At the beginning of the trailer the editing is quite slow and the transitions used are mostly dissolves, they are soft which shows that there is a calm atmosphere at this point. Soft music is also played in the background to help. Sound effects and non-diegetic music have been used as the tension builds up, cuts have been used between frames as it is quicker and shows that a lot of events happen towards the end of the film. After the main action has happened it shows the villians walking to the nearest house (which happens to be Marys) in the rain at night which suggests danger as most things happen at night time as its more scarier, a High angle shot is used so we see the sign post in the foreground that we saw earlier at the beginning of the trailer. When the villians arrive to Marys house we hear tense music in the background as the characters explain their situation. A lot of diegetic sounds are used in the background of the trailer such as, gun shots, knives, things breaking etc, this is used to create more drama to the trailer. When Marys parents find her lying on the porch non-diegetic music begins, the song is 'Sweet Child of Mine' but sung by a woman instead of Guns and Roses. This is quite unusual as its quite slow and contrasts to whats happening in the trailer. On the other hand, the lyrics are relevant to the plot. There is an intense part of the trailer where the villians realise they are at the Marys home. A close up is used to show his shocked facial expression and a eyeline match is used afterwards to show the picture of Mary that is stuck on the fridge, the camera then zooms in. When Mary's parents find her lying on the porch outside ambient lighting is used. A crane shot has been used a lot in the quick shots and it is repeated several times of Mary lying in the lake. This shows the audience that she is dead, but because it is repeated a lot it could suggest she may still be alive even though she got shot. The main colours in the trailer are blue and black, black being a conventional colour to use in horror as it represents danger. I think the blue is used a lot to show the importance of water in this film.
Friday, 2 March 2012
The differences between a teaser trailer and a main theatrical trailer.
A theatrical trailer - A theatrical trailer is a preview of a film that is going to be released in the cinema in the future. It contains a lot of scenes from the film that will give a hint of the story line to hopefully persuade the audience to go watch it. The series of shots from the trailer may not appear in the order in the film. A theatrical trailer lasts longer than a teaser trailer, it lasts about two and a half minutes.
This is an example of a teaser and a theatrical trailer from the film 'The Strangers'.
Teaser trailer:
Theatrical trailer:
Wednesday, 29 February 2012
Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
Ideas for our horror trailer
Camera in point of view shots.Night noises to create an atmosphere.
Wind noises.
Newspaper start so the audiencc get a feeling of what the film is about.
Girls maybe disscusing the story they've heard thats gone around college.
Girls then at abandened house.
Girls playing tricks on each other to scare each other.
Heart beats with black flashes to show different scenes.
Titles saying 'I dare you to...' with a voice over.
'Not knowing what you fear'
'When does a dare go too far?'
Wind noises.
Newspaper start so the audiencc get a feeling of what the film is about.
Girls maybe disscusing the story they've heard thats gone around college.
Girls then at abandened house.
Girls playing tricks on each other to scare each other.
Heart beats with black flashes to show different scenes.
Titles saying 'I dare you to...' with a voice over.
'Not knowing what you fear'
'When does a dare go too far?'
Prop and location ideas
Prop Ideas
Tents
Makeup for bruises
Fake blood
Torch
Rope
Ouiji board
Location Ideas
Loddon Airfield
Tents
Makeup for bruises
Fake blood
Torch
Rope
Ouiji board
Location Ideas
Loddon Airfield
Shots we could use in our trailer
Close up of newspapers at beginning of trailer then zoom out.
Girls talking about story at a mid shot.
Behind of the girls at a low angle walking up to the house.
Them sitting around a fire at a mid shot.
Behind shoulder shot of them going into the house.
Pan around room showing old pictures and beer bottles on the floor.
Reaction shots of the girls when things happen to them.
Camera circling 360 degrees around them when doing the Ouiji Board.
Shock moments
At end of trailer have the camera on the floor at a close up of one of the girls then she gets dragged back.
One of the friends jumping out to scare another.
Girls talking about story at a mid shot.
Behind of the girls at a low angle walking up to the house.
Them sitting around a fire at a mid shot.
Behind shoulder shot of them going into the house.
Pan around room showing old pictures and beer bottles on the floor.
Reaction shots of the girls when things happen to them.
Camera circling 360 degrees around them when doing the Ouiji Board.
Shock moments
At end of trailer have the camera on the floor at a close up of one of the girls then she gets dragged back.
One of the friends jumping out to scare another.
Monday, 12 December 2011
Results of our Target Audience research and analysis of them.
All of these previous nine questions we have asked were showing quantitave data where we can recieve a clear percentage where our target audience answered as they could only tick one box. However, we also wanted qualilative data, these questions are for people to go into more depth into their answer.
Our questions we asked were:
What is your favourite horror film and why?
What do you expect in a horror?
What do you expect in a horror trailer?
What element of a horror trailer would influence you to watch the film?
These questions gave us a clear view on what our audience like in horror films and horror trailers. Overall, the most popular answer for their favourite horror film was paranormal activity because of its jumpy moments and the tension is caused. This is what we would like to do most, make people suddenly jump when they wouldn't expect to.
We asked what do people expect in a horror, the most popular answer was for the audience to get fixed on the plot and to be jumped and frightened. They like suspence and scary settings to create an atmosphere.
For our next quesion we asked what they would like to see in a trailer that would possibly influence them to watch it at the cinema. The audience likes suspence and to be lured in within the few minutes the trailer has. Most people thought good trailers were the ones were questions were left unanswered and so they could make their own assumptions, they are the horror films people want to see as they want to know whats going to happen. This shows that we cannot give too much away in our horror trailer as people will know what is going to happen in the end.
For our last question we wanted to know what element of a horror would influence the audience to go watch it. Most people said they like trailers left on a cliff hanger, left asking questions and obviously, whether it scares them or not. I think for our final scene in our trailer we need a sudden part that makes the audience jump as a I feel this is what people our most scared of and creates atmosphere.
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