Evaluation 2

How effective is the combination of my main and ancillary products?

I used synergy across my 3 media texts to help the audience link all my products together. This will help to attract the audience to the film because they will recognise elements such as the characters, fonts and the similar colours, reminding them of the film and making them want to see it.

I also tried to follow the conventions of the psychological thriller genre as well as film trailers themselves. I did this because these features would be instantly recognisable to our target audience of young adults aged between 15 and 25. We decided to make these ages our target audience as our trailer contains complex and emotive features- things that these ages are interested in.

One way in which I've used synergy throughout my media texts is with the font. The font used in our texts is called Franklin Gothic Heavy. We agreed on this font as it very simple and bold which is exactly the look we were going for. The font appears several times in the No More trailer on the titles and inter-titles throughout and credits at the end. On my film poster, the 'No More' text is written in Franklin Gothic Heavy. On my film poster, a lot of the text is written in this font including the characters names and release date. I also decided to use similar colouring in all my media texts as like the font it helps link them all together. I chose the colours white and a deep red. I chose these colours as white connotes innocence and purity whereas re connotes danger. Therefore, connotations of these colours are contrasting which increases the sense of uncertainty that the audience feels as they are unsure what has actually happened. Using the same font and colours throughout my texts is a good technique as it makes the film recognisable to the audience. It also makes my products look all the more professional as they all link together.

Film Poster                                                                                 Magazine Front Cover

                                                                   No More Trailer

Another way in which I have used synergy is by not featuring the antagonist. In all 3 of my media texts I decided to not feature the antagonist. The only shots that remotely feature the antagonist are the shots at the end of the trailer where the audience see the killer taking the flowers from the grave and picking the petals off them. I decided on this because it creates more mystery and uncertainty. Leaving the antagonist out will attract the target audience of the trailer further as it adds complexity and excitement which is appealing to this group of people.

Another way in which I synergised my 3 media products is by featuring information about the characters, cast, crew, etc. This institutional information is conventional in thriller trailers and film posters however not on magazine front covers. I decided to feature it on my poster and in my trailer as it provides the audience with more information. As well as this institutional information, I included a 5 star rating on my film poster. This instantly attracts the audience as it tells them No More is a highly rated film. Another way in which my poster shows that my film is of high quality is the quotes. I included quotes such as 'Spine tingling' and 'Thrill seeking' from well know sources- enhancing the fact that my film is of the best quality possible.

                                                                                                                                                               I also used stereotypical conventions to attract my target audience. One convention I followed was having the main characters featured on my magazine front cover and film poster. I featured both Zac and Stacey on the front of my film poster but only used an image of Zac on my magazine front cover. I decided to use both the characters on my film poster as they both have very different facial expressions. Stacey's expression does not give much away however, it is obvious that she looks serious. This makes the audience question why she looks this way, connoting uncertainty and therefore leaving them intrigued. Zac's facial expression is different from Stacey's as he looks distressed and fearful. Also, these images are front on so directly address the audience. This direct mode of address creates the impression that the characters are asking the audience for help. This will make the audience want to see the film as they will feel more involved. The image on my magazine front cover is of Zac. I chose to only feature him on my magazine front cover as the image I used is very powerful. The image shows Zac with his head in his hand looking extremely vulnerable and emotional. The fact that he is looking away from the audience connotes that he is scared of something or someone as he is not making eye contact or using a direct mode of address. This will make the audience wonder what he is so fearful of, resulting in them watching the whole film. 

Another convention I have followed is the editing technique in my film trailer. There are distinctive editing techniques in thriller trailers which are constructed to create effect. For example, I used fast paced editing towards the end of No More, similar to other thriller trailers such as Before I Go To Sleep and The Perfect Guy, to create a sense of chaos and confusion. This appeals to the target audience as they want to try understand the chaotic uncertainty, meaning they will watch the whole film so they can make sense of it all. Another editing technique used in my trailer and others is the use of black and white shots. In thriller film trailers, such as Girl On The Train, the black and white is used to indicate a flashback. However, in my trailer I decided to feature it on a handful of shots that were not flashbacks. I decided that I liked the idea of not using any flashbacks as my trailer would remain completely ambiguous to the audience and they uncertainty of what actually happened would be enhanced. This will make the audience want to see my film even more, meaning they decide to watch the whole thing.

In conclusion, I believe I have successfully created 3 media texts that are appealing to my target audience. I have synergised my products to ensure that my film is recognisable to the audience and also tried to follow stereotypical conventions of the genre and media text to make my main product appeal to the audience. I believe that my target audience would have an interest in all 3 of my constructed media texts  as well as the No More Instagram page I created- which has also been synergised.

Evalutation 3

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Film Trailer Feedback

Social Media Feedback- One way in which we were able to get feedback from our audience is through the means of Instagram. Instagram was a good way to get feedback on our trailer as it has over 800 millions users which means we could get a wide range of audience feedback.

Above shows some of the comments we received on our Instagram post. Overall, we were pleased with the comments that had been made as they were honest with both positive and negative comments being given. 

Verbal Feedback- We received a lot of verbal feedback on our film trailer from many different people, some of which include friends, family teachers and class mates. I made a note of this verbal feedback given on the notes app on my phone. This is so we did not forget the changes and improvements we needed to make. Below shows some of the verbal feedback we received.

Positive

• Good range of shots
• Good use of camera angles
• Story line fits in well with the genre
• Good start to editing

Negative

• Need to include more video effects
• Improve sound
• Re order shots around to create a more chaotic feel 
• Faster paced editing needed at the end to build up the tension

Questionnaire Feedback- Myself, Abbie and Niall created a short questionnaire about our thriller  film trailer which we got friends and class mates to fill out. We told the group of people filling out our questionnaires to leave them anonymous. This is so we could receive truthful feedback as we thought if people put their names on the questionnaires they might hesitate to give negative feedback as we would know who gave it. We received a wide range of feedback which is seen in the images below.

Changes- We decided to make some changes as result of the audience feedback that we received to try and make our film as good as it could possibly be. Some changes include...

• Lighting- A common convention in thriller films is low key lighting as it creates a sense of fear in the audience. We therefore tried to incorporate it constantly throughout our trailer. However, it was hard to use this element of mise en scene throughout the whole trailer. This is because some of them were so dark they were unclear to the audience. For example, the shots of Detective Marshall trying to solve the case were too dark. At first we thought that we would have to re film all of  these shots with better lighting however, we managed to find a tool on Adobe Photoshop which lifted the lighting slightly, making the image clearer. The image below shows one of the shots of Detective Marshall after we changed the lighting.

• Effects- Many effects appear throughout thriller film trailers to help create a sense of mystery. One criticism we received a few times was that there was not enough effects in our trailer. In our first draft we included effects such as black and white and rewind. We then added in slow motion and the blur effect which appear in the thriller film trailer, Before I Go To Sleep.

Film Poster Feedback

Like our film trailer, I had a lot of feedback on my film poster too. This helped me a lot during the making of my poster as it allowed me to make the changes and improvements needed to.

Positive Feedback

• Good image manipulation
• Good use of colour
• Effective background

Negative Feedback

• The top of the poster looked too empty
• Images could be bigger

Changes

This is what the top of my film poster was like before I changed it. My teachers and class mates all had the same view that the top looked too sparse and could do with re arranging. I definitely agreed with these comments once they had been made and made some slight changes. Below shows the adjustments I made.

This image is how I changed the top of my film poster to improve it. I added in quotes from well known newspapers and magazines to make our film appeal to the audience. I also moved the title, tag line and Daily Mail rating to the centre of the poster to make it stand out even more.

• Another change I made was making the image of Stacey larger. This is because a piece of negative feedback I received was that the images were slightly too small. I decided to make the image of Stacey bigger and leave the mage of Zac as it was. This is because Stacey is the protagonist so it makes sense for her image to be larger than Zac's. I also decided to reduce the opacity of Zac's image. This means that his image is slightly more see through. I did this because Zac is murdered in our trailer so only appeared in the very start, so therefore I thought it made sense that his image was smaller and more transparent than Stacey's.

Final Film Poster

Film Magazine Front Cover

Most of the feedback I received about my magazine front cover was positive so I only had to make marginal changes to it when I received the negative feedback.

Positive Feedback

• Good colour scheme 
• Good layout
• Liked the 'Free poster inside'- entices the reader to buy it

Negative Feedback

• Looks too much like a fashion magazine- needs a cover line

Changes

• My teachers and peers believed that my magazine cover looked a little bit like a fashion magazine cover, which is not the look I was going for. I made changes to the top of my magazine cover to ensure that it looked like a film magazine cover. My first step was moving the magazine name, 'Rating', down. This automatically helped take away from the fashion magazine feel. However, it then looked too empty so I decided to add a cover line which made the whole thing come together as a film magazine front cover.

Final Film Magazine Front Cover

Evaluation 4

How did you use new media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?

iPhone- Our iPhone's were a large part of the construction, research and planning of our film trailer. It was used for many different things in the process of making our trailer. One thing it helped us with was communication. This is because our iPhone's have the latest technology which allowed us to use and download applications such as Facebook Messenger. Myself, Abbie and Niall used Facebook Messenger as a way to communicate with each other outside of school to arrange filming, discuss ideas etc. Another reason why we decided to use our iPhone's is because they are of good quality. This meant that we could take pictures, which would be of high quality, which we have used as evidence of our filming. The good camera quality also allowed us to make vlogs during the construction and planning of our trailer. As well as the above, another way our phones helped us is the Notes app already installed on iPhones. This allowed us to keep track of things that we still needed to do and things that we needed to improve. With the technology on our phones being so advanced, we were able to access the internet which allowed us to use things such as YouTube, Blogger, etc which made our research and planning much easier.

Blogger- Blogger has been a very easy and efficient way of displaying my coursework. It has allowed me to display all of what I needed to display with no trouble at all. I managed to access the website through many different devices such as my laptop, home computer, school computer and mobile phone which made it very easy to add new posts in present time. Also the different 'Publish' and 'Save' buttons helped me very much when dong my research, planning and evaluations as it allowed my to save unfinished work without the post being visible on my blog until the post was completely finished and I clicked the 'Publish' button. Having said this, I am also able to change a blog post even if it has been published. This means that we can make changes to any post very easily.

Adobe Photoshop- Photoshop was a vital part in the construction of my media texts. This is because I used this software to create my film poster, magazine front cover, production company logo and the credits that appear at the end of the No More trailer. To start with, I found Photoshop quite difficult to use as I had never had experience using it before. However, I managed to get my head around it quite quickly as I had the help of my class mates, teachers and the internet. One of the tools I used on Photoshop is the 'T' tool. This allowed me to add in text wherever I wanted to. I would click on the 'T', draw a textbox and then was able to type whatever I wanted. After I had typed the text I was able to change the colour, font, size and positioning according to my vision. The font I chose was 'Franklin Gothic Heavy' as I wanted to create synergy through all of my media texts. Another tool I used on Photoshop was the gradient tool. I used this tool when I was making my magazine front cover. I used this effect on the background as I wanted it to be simple so it didn't draw attention away from the main image however, wanted it to be more interesting than just having one colour. The gradient tool was a perfect way to ensure this vision was achieved. I experimented with a range of colours for the gradient background including blue, white, black and red but my favourite by far was the black and grey, which are the colours I decided on using. Another of the many tools I used on Photoshop was the rubber. I used this to get rid of the original background around the main image to just leave the backgrounds I had created. This took me a while as I had to make sure that I rubbed out the background perfectly to leave the outline of the main image as neat as possible. I changed the rubber to a smaller size and reduced the hardness of the rubber as I got closer to the edges of the image to ensure the image outlines were tidy. 

Adobe Premiere Pro- Adobe Premiere Pro is the editing software that we used to construct our trailer. Unlike Photoshop, I had already had a reasonable amount of experience using this as it is the editing software we used last year for our AS piece. Having said this, it was more complicated than last year as we wanted to expand our editing knowledge so had to spend more time experimenting. The software was very easy to use and allowed us to cut, crop, delete, duplicate and re watch our footage where we wanted without a struggle. Also, this software provided us with several video effects and video transitions. We used these to make our thriller trailer follow conventions of other thriller trailers. Some of these effects include the blur effect, black and white, rewind, dip to black, dip to white and the contrast effect. Premiere Pro also enabled us to add in audio as well as video footage. We were able to add in our music choices and the voice over where we wanted them. We added the sound according to how it fit the placement of our video footage. If we didn't like how it fit then we were able to delete it very easily and put in a different place that fit in better.

Social Media- As I was part of a group during the construction of my thriller trailer, communication between all group members was crucial. Social media allowed us to communicate with each other. One form of social media we used for communication was Facebook Messenger. It is a very simple app to use as all of the team members had lots of experience using this. Another form of social media we used was Instagram. We made an Instagram account so we could post pictures associated with our trailer and receive comments about our trailer to know what is good and what can be improved. Our Instagram page is managed by myself and Abbie, meaning we discuss what we think should be posted and then one of us will take it upon ourselves to upload the image. Social media was the perfect way to appeal to our target audience as the majority of the people who use social media are of the age we are trying to address.













YouTube- YouTube has been a very useful tool in this process. One reason why it has been useful is because it has allowed us to upload our drafts, final piece and vlogs. We then copied the link and posted the link on our blogs so that people are able to view them. Another way in which YouTube has helped me is with my research. I was able to search up other thriller film trailers which helped when I was analysing them as I was able to watch the trailers several times, pausing, playing and rewinding where I needed to. Analysing these trailers helped develop my thoughts and ideas further which also meant that I figured out the conventions I wanted to follow and the ones I wanted to challenge.

Changes

Another change we decided to make was the script. We believed that our trailer didn't have enough speech in it. Our peers and teachers also thought this so for the second draft we decided to add in more dialogue. The up to date script is seen below.

Stacey- That is so funny
Zac- That is so funny
Stacey- Zac?
Zac- I need to go
News reader (voice over)- Zachary Lane, aged 17, was found dead in St Neots School toilets yesterday at 13.24. The investigation is under weigh and the police are doing all they can to ensure they find out what happened
Detective Marshall- The case is closed, it was suicide
Stacey- I will find out who did this
Mrs Lane- I just can't take this anymore

No More- second draft and improvements

https://youtu.be/imuksQQIwlw

We tried to change as many of the criticisms that we got from our first draft for our second draft. Some of the things we changed were...

• Adding in more effects and transitions
• Adding in more footage
• Adding in more dialogue- including the voice over
• Re filming the first scene

Some further improvements that we have been told to make are...

• Re order the shots- this will help create a sense of chaos and uncertainty which is conventional in thriller films such as Gone Girl and Girl On The Train. For example, the trailer makes you think the film will end very differently to how the actually do end.
• Faster paced editing is needed at the end to build up the drama and create suspense.