Evaluation By Melissa Murray

1.) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media

products? Print product – Film poster.

I used many conventions of real media products when creating my print product of a film poster . To do so I first had to research into my chosen genre, which is horror. I researched into many psychological horrors such as, Gothika and Hide and seek. These are the main conventions I found in my research.•One main Image, eye catching, eye contact to the audience. Large that covers most of the poster. Bold in colour. Covers the primary optical area, follows the route of the eye. •Title, bold font, contrasting colour to the darker image. •Credits in small print, in a light un eye catching colour, Directors writers producers distributers ECT.•Logos of the distributers and other production companies involved.

The next slide, shows how I applied these conventions to my product.

Before I created my product I analysed many real media products, so I could combine the conventions into my own product.

The strangers Poster, a real media product.

My film poster, conventional of a real media product.

The film poster follows the route of the eye, the first part the audience see, is the dark black corner, the black back ground is a typical convention of a horror film. It creates mystery, the black shadowy corners are were the evil lies, the dark is coming from behind her, she is crawling out of the dark, co nonoting she is the villain coming out of the dark areas. In horrors the terror happens at night or in the dark. Many other real products of horror film posters have dark backgrounds, shadows or edges.

Along the route of the eye, the main part of the image is her face, the eyes are positioned exactly along the route of the eye, this means that when the viewers eye is viewing this picture the viewers Eyes will be directly drawn into looking directly into the villains (Isla’s) eye, this will connect the audience to the poster. It also creates an uncomfortable effect on the viewer the eyes are darkened and the cold stare is harsh, the black and red makeup make her look psychotic and evil. Many horror films, have scary images, with darkened eyes. The face of the girl stands out in this picture as it’s bright white. The white face has connotations of ghosts, and heaven. As we have chosen more of a psychological horror the ghost like face gives it more sinister effect then that of gore.

Her body is in a curved shape, trapping the audience into her body. The audience can’t look away from her. Her whole body takes the poster up which has connotations of power.

As the audience looks at the image, the image has been edited in a way to show the girl in two halves. Chiaroscuro lighting gives her shadows all over her right side, the left side and her left arm has a bright shine. This shows the good side of her at the start of the film as a normal innocent girl. The conventional good v evil is portrayed in many horror images, so I decided to follow this convention.

The position she is in, is a crawling position is it un human like, her crawling position is un natural, psychological horrors are about super natural. So the position I shot the picture has many connotations of animal like qualities. This goes against society norms, so this isn’t a typical position the audience would expect. Which will grab the audiences attention.

I choose black and red colours as my main colours as they are the most typical conventions of horror. Red connoting power and death.

We wrapped a red shall over her shoulders so it would show her power. The shall is loose and draping along the floor. The red is a dark strong colour that is bold enough to grab the audiences attention. Red also has connotations of death, desire and love. As she is the villain the red connotes her killer instinct.

The way I have edited the photograph shows two sides to the image. The shadowing effect, has cast a darker side on her right side. This has created a chiaroscuro effect. This portrays the good vs. evil. Her character at the beginning of our film is a normal girl, the left hand connotes this. By the end of the film we recognise the once innocent girl as the villain the right hand dominant side portrays this.

I made my poster landscape as it is conventional for posters to be both landscape and portrait. I thought landscape best fitted my photograph. I also think it looks more intimidating and dominant as the landscape allowed the character to look like she's crawling right up to the camera.

The camera shot I used was that of a eye line match close up. I wanted this spersific shot as I wanted the audience to directly look into her eyes. The firs thing someone is drawn to is eye contact. Eye contact is very powerful.

Subverting the conventions of real media products.

•I have not used a tag line in my poster, as I wanted the main focus to be purely on the image. I thought my image was strong enough to attract my audience. Through colour, and picture quality.•My poster also uses a convention of “coming soon” Instead of a exact release date seen in many posters. This would be one of the first posters released for the film as many versions may be released for the same film. •I produced my poster as the first poster that is released from the promotional package. I did not feel that it was a necessity to use a tag line, which would be used in a later poster. I wanted my audience to first be captured by the title and main image that would then become identifiable, when later posters are released. Keeping my audience engaged and wanting more. This may spur my audience on to research more into the up coming film, making them anticipate the release of the film more, generating a bigger audience.

Second print product – Film magazine coverSimilar to that of my film poster, I conducted film magazine research after collecting conventions I applied these conventions to my print product.

• Cover lines advertising the features inside.•Contrasting colours and size of fonts.•Quotations •One image ,large and eye catching.•Smaller images, showing other features of the magazines, or that of other films being advertised.•Banner at the bottom of the product. •Colour scheme, colours that contrast against each other. •Tag lines at the top of the page.•Bar codes, price, website. •Catchy Title, bold font. Mast head at the top of the page the largest font on the page. •Short cover lines. Sexual connotations.

Mast head positioned at the top of the page. Conventional to real media products as its positioned at the top so it follows the route of the eye The white bold font stands out on the page. White goes with the other colours so they stand out, black and white contrast against each other. The white matches the mise on scene of the photograph, making it more visually pleasing to the viewer. Mast heads are conventionally written in bold capital letters so they are the biggest words on the page. This shows the importance of the title, so it makes the magazine easily recognisable.

Tag line, at the top of the page above the mast head. It some the magazine up, giving the audience a over view of the contents inside. Intensifiers such as “Ultimate” are used to give the magazine positive connotations, this will enhance the sale of the magazine. Worlds like NEW are written in capitals so they stand out. Using words like New shows the magazine is contemporary and up to date. These words are conventionally used on the front of magazines as the audience want to be reading content they haven't seen before.

The website is positioned underneath the mast head. The website is a typical convention it is featured on the cover, so that fans of the magazine can visit it also people can go to the website to subscribe to the magazine monthly. The price of the magazine is also positioned next to the website. These are for the audience once they have chosen to buy the magazine it isn’t to grab the viewers attention, this is why I kept the writing small.

3 small photographs I have taken. White borders to make them stand out. They are promoting different films that are featured inside. This teases the audience giving them more of a insight into what's inside. They are overlapped so they don't take up to much cover line space. Overlapping makes it look like there's more on offer. Cramming them together.

“Hottest” I wrote in bright red, as red has connotations of being hot. Words like “Hottest” are intensifiers they make the features look good. I used bold word art to make the top line stand out, conventionally cover line stories vary in size and colours so each word or line stands out. I wrote 2010 in big bold black writing to show the audience that the magazine is current and modern.

I decided to only have three main cover lines of the magazine, as the magazine covers I researched mainly had 3 cover stories they were not over crowded with features. Which makes them easy to read.

The right side of the photo is her dark side, blood down her arm, dark eyes more visually on the right side , this shows the evil side. I decided not to put any cover lines on this side for this reason. Arrows prompting the audience

to read inside the magazine, visual prompting!

The main cover line “Adulree” over laps the image, showing that they are connected. The white writing , is bold enough to stand out, also compliments the white in the mast head. The Hot is written in capitals and red to stand out.

I researched real media products so I could extract ideas and conventions to create my own product. I analysed many magazines to give me a idea of layouts, images colours and styles they use to create

a real magazine.

After I had researched some real media products I took some of the conventions I have found and applied them to my own media product. I wanted to create my product to resemble a real media product as close as possible. This includes, taking conventions all typical conventions.

Total film magazine has the bar code positioned in the bottom right hand corner. The bar code is a convention of a magazine cover, it is not a feature that is used to attract a buyer. I also decided to feature it in the bottom right corner. I decided to position it portrait which is another conventional way of doing so. I did this so I could have a banner at the bottom of my magazine.

Photos of other films, that are featured inside the magazine. They attract fans of the films being featured. I decided to position my photos at the bottom of the page, as I included a tag line along the very top above the mast head.

Tag line- More information about the magazine. Near the top, as that is where the route of the eye falls first. Sets the opinion of the viewer straight away.

Tag line at the top of the page, similar to the real product, capitals used to make the words stand out.

One main image, girl is

sexualised short skirt revealing

clothing, targeting males. I subverted this I didn't want my

image to be sexualised as I

wanted my villain to be received as

fearful. On the right hand,

blood is dripping from her hand, suggesting a

horrors film. The right side is the powerful side, I took this idea

and applied it to my models right

arm.

Quotations used on the front, giving someone creditable there opinion will influence the reader to buy the magazine, the black writing is small, and the font is simple giving it the effect of the person who said the quote had written it.

Capital letters, bold font for the mast head. Conventional to a real media product.

Website and price under the mast head. Small writing for the audience’s use.

Arrows used to tease the audience to read inside the magazine. Total film magazine also uses this technique.

Text box filled yellow, this is a convention that many magazines used. Black and yellow stand out against each other.

Total Film front cover has 4 feature stories on the front, I decided to use a similar amount. I used3 main features. I thought three stood out more not over crowding the page.

My cover lines featured different side font for the heading and smaller fonts for the subheadings. I changed between colours to make certain words stand out. E.g. 2010 is written in bold black to show it was a current feature. Using different colours and fonts is a main convention as it draws the readers attention to the magazine.

Horror film trailer “Adultree” In a small group, we made a film trailer for our psychological horror film called “Adultree.” We had

found many conventions of horror trailers from previous research that we conducted. Together we produced story boards and plans to combine all the conventions we had found of real media. These are the conventions we found that were typical of trailers and how we used them.

- Equilibrium at the start of the trailers. - Fast pace editing, getting more built up as the trailer nears the end to the climax. Many shots,

montage of shots, the use of quick black outs to speed the trailer up. - Voice over's and titles to engages the audience, reveal some narrative, or to get the audience

thinking in a active manner. - Music usually non digetic, fast pace, e.g. foot steps, piano music getting faster and scenes get

faster. Bangs wind and other sinister music. - Isolated area, establishing shots. - Mise en scene, old large houses. Props, blood knifes. - Juxta position music, e.g. soft music as scenes get more violent .- Dull, low key lighting. - Close up, of villains victims create fear for the audience by speacial effects or camera shots. - -Screams.- -Point of view shots, the audience in the victims position.

Conventions applied to our film trailer

• Equilibrium at the start of our trailer, before the tension builds.

Start – Using a 360 degree pan to show equilibrium at the start of the film. Before the Dis equilibrium starts. The 360 degree creates a rounded shape connoting a tight family bond.

Low key, dull lighting typical convention. This scene of the mother having a affair. The start of the problem. Clear difference between the high key lighting from the happy scene that starts the trailer.

Shot, fading to black. Speeds the trailer up, passing of time. Scene change. Connotes trouble, typical convention.

A slow tilt up, from feet up of the dead father, connotations of power and dominance. His face typical of horror conventions pale, darkened eyes he looks dead. The effect on him is a light glow, dull colours. Life less. Provoking fear in the audience as the shot ends in a close up of face. Typical convention of a man being shown in a dominant way, in a horror.

Point of view shot getting attacked by the villain of the film. Makes the audience part of the drama. Gives the effect they are getting attacked themselves.

Media Institutions

If my film was to be produced and distributed into the real world then it would be with a independent film studio would produce it rather then that of a major Hollywood conglomerate like Warner bros. This is due to the film being English where there is not as much money to fund films and also to do with the narrative behind the piece as a twisted horror, it conveys our artistic vision rather then what a major conglomerate would like to reinforce into society. Our film would be produced by distributers such as Rollercoaster Films (UK) Or if in America The Weinstein company. These are independent distributors, as our film would be small budget compared to other major films. Independent films can be distinguished by their content, my film would use more viral advertisement and “word of mouth” promotion as a small budget film.

2.) How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

These are my print products, my film poster and my film magazine front cover that I have created to be used in the same media package to promote our film “Aultree.”

I think my products together as a promotional package are very effective e. As each product would be seen separately released over time up to the release of the film the products have to combine together as a promotional package,.

-Both products use the same character. -They both have sinister images, with the same make up and facial expressions.

-Both images are staring into the camera.-I also have used the same font colour white for the title of the film on both print products. -On both products I have used the same colour schemes. Black, white and red conventional colours of a horror genre that tie the product in to make it easily recognisable. - In our film we have used the same clothing that has been used on the cover of the magazine. We had “Isla” wearing the white dress in the trailer. We also had “Isla” crawling in the same position in the trailer that she is recreating in the poster. It is almost like a still shot taken from the trailer. This continuity is very effective for a audience as it will remind them that this is the same film that they want to go and watch fully promoting the film. - I could have improved my package if I had used the exact same font style for that of my magazine and of my poster. I also could of used the actors names to grab the audience in on both the products.

3.) What have you learnt from audience feed back?

http://fs20.formsite.com/MelissaMurrayMedia/form945362227/index.html

To collect audience feed back I used, www.formsite.com to create a questionnaire that I could email to people to participate in feed back, to evaluate my products. The link below is that of my questionnaire that I sent out to 5 people.

Feed back from the questionnaire: From my audience feed back I have concluded that overall I had positive feed back, most of the results said that my film poster was successful mainly due to the image. My weakness of the poster was the font, being the size and style. However it had been noted that the “A” and “T” had blood like connotations which is the horror genre coming through. Before I sent out my questionnaire I was un sure whether it would of been more effective if I had made the back ground of my poster white, similar to other products, however from my feedback I am happy that the majority disagreed that the magazine would of been more successful with a white background. The play on words “Adultree” also proved to be striking. This is one persons answers to the following questions. Do you think the play on words in the spelling of "Adultree" is effective ? yes If yes, explain why ? Draws in the audience as they recognise it is not the usual spelling, thus forcibly stop to read the poster etc. This is the exact effect we wanted, we wanted the audience to be attracted by the unusual spelling of the word. Some other weaknesses found in my feed back is that of the husbands characterization, the end of the trailer seemed to be more favourable so the weakness of our trailer seemed to be the beginning. If I was to redo my questionnaire I would of sent it to more people so I had more feedback. I also would of done three separate questionnaires so I could get more detail about each product.

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

Through out the process of my media products from the planning stages to the evaluation I have used a wide range of technologies that have helped advance my products.

Research stage During the research stage I used the internet to carry out research using search engines such as Google, ask jeeves and

the most recent Search engine Bing. I also used You tube so I could collect and collaborate the conventions of real media products through viewing video clips. The search engines helped me to find posters, and magazine to analyse. You tube allowed me to analyse film trailers, such as the Others, Hide and Seek and the Strangers, as well and many other film trailers. I also used the process of embedding the videos onto my website so the examiner can view it easier.

PlanningDuring my planning stages I used Microsoft office word and Microsoft office publisher, I used these to create draft

layouts of my posters and magazine covers. Some drafts I actually created the product and on one I used the principle of thirds to explain my lay out this is the one I used Microsoft office word to do so. I also used Picasa 3 to edit my photo graphs for my main product. It allows me to manipulate images by cropping, shadowing, glow, black and white, straighten, highlight saturate and much more. This was very use full as the photographs I had taken looked alot more of the horror genre after I had shadowed, high lights cropped, so it became eye catching. I also used Paint.NET to change the back ground of my photographs or change colours of certain aspects.

This is one of my images that I edited on Picasa.

One of many images being edited in paint, the back ground is being changed to black to fit our horror genre.

Technologies I have used in the construction of my media products.

- To make our trailer for our film “Aldutree” we had to use many technologies to make it as realistic as possible. - To film our trailer we used a touch screen Sony video camera to capture all our footage. - When the main camera got double booked we used a high quality HD digital camera which we shot our footage

onto. - To create a voice over we used a Long distance microphone, to capture the non digetic music we added to our

piece. - To import and edit our film we used an Apple Mac laptop and edited the film into iMovie we edited the trailer my

selecting what footage we wanted to use, we manipulated the speeds, colours and added transitions. We also cropped added Titles and added some special effects such as making some transitions glow.

- We had to find copy right free music to add to our trailer as we wanted to build as much tension as we could. We used the site www.freesound.org We found bangs, and wind music to really create as much tension as we could.

- I used a logo making site to create a logo for my production company, to put on the bottom of my poster to be part of the credits. I used www.logoyes.com This is a free website that you can create free logos to use for your products.

This is the logo I created on the logo website. To the right is another logo I made on Paint.Net

More technologies I usedTo upload all my main products that I created in publisher I had to print screen, then open the

file on Paint.NET where I had to use paint to save the file as a picture. I had to use Sumo paint which is a online service provider , I used the site to crop the print screen just to upload it on to my website, this was a long process to use and was one of the most difficult parts of creating the blog.

- I created a website to keep track of all my work. At first I used Myblogsite.com which was a free blog site that you can create online. I found that I didn’t like the general set up of the blog as it was difficult to upload onto the site. I decided that I wanted to change, so I used Wetpaint to create a website to store all my blog entries and products onto.

- To create a questionnaire for my audience feed back I have used Form site to create my questionnaire online this is the best way as it is time efficient and very quick to do as the results are collected on the site, so it is easy to summarise findings.

- To embed my pictures onto my questionnaire I had to place my products onto Photo bucket, where you can store pictures on line to get the pictures code to embed onto the questionnaire to make it straight forward for my participants.

- We have also used YouTube to upload our final film trailer onto, I thought this was the most straight forward way to share my work.

This is our film trailer that we have used the site YouTube to upload our film trailer, this was a easy way so we could analyse it, as well as share our work.