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

Evaluation: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

In the above video, i talk about the effectiveness of the combination of the three products; main film, film poster and the magazine review.

As well as including similar, shared conventions between the three tasks, we also included conventions from real products for each product to make them more effective individually as well as combined.

For example; in the film poster you can see we have used many conventions similar to that of the film 'Shawshank Redemption,' a film that features crime; like our film does too.

As you can see in the above image, the common conventions between this poster and our film are;
 - The tag line is at the top centre of the poster as this is a little insight into the film to intrigue the audience to make them want to go and watch the film. It is therefore in a colour that stands our against the background; as is ours.
 - The image used relates to the film well and so we chose to have one large image as our background as well which clearly related to our film plot.
 - Next in this poster you see the actors names, however, in our film we have chosen not to include these because our actors are not famous and so it seemed slightly irrelevant to include them there. Our actors names are included in the credits at the bottom though.
 - The title is below the actors and so shown to be of less importance in this poster but in our film poster the title is of main importance because the audience wouldn't relate to the actors and it would not draw them in.
 - All of the credits and company logos are then at the bottom of the poster in the typical, recognised poster font. This looks very professional to the audience and so they will have good expectations of the film.
 - The important information such as the release date is at the bottom in a different colour to stand out, like ours is too.

In the magazine review:
 - We chose to do a left-hand side page review out of a magazine; which in turn shaped where we would place elements of the review and also the borders had to show this by having the border not carry on and go up the right-hand side of the page as this is not shown on the left pages; as you can see below.

 - You can also see the lay out is in columns like we have used as this is a recognisable convention to magazine articles.

 - They both use the well known star rating which gives the reader the general idea for the verdict of the film at a glance.

 - Important information is separated using dark, thick bands; as on our review.

 - Some details are in different colours to make them highly visible; we have used red/brown fonts in our review to do this.

 - The image gives a reflection of the film, this review shows a romance; ours shows he is fed up. It also includes a small caption to give a more insightful view to the film.

In our film a few of the many conventions you will find similar to real media products are as follows:

 - Soundtrack effects; soft music to portray romance, harsh, dramatic music when the climax is and a circus type soundtrack at the start for a mysterious feel to the film.

 - Slow editing to portray romance.

 - Romantic location of the park, in the sun. Weather was a large factor of our film as it portrayed the right atmosphere and mood for each scene; as is used in quite a few films, even music videos; such as in JoJo 'Too Little Too Late' where the rain represents her emotions of being upset.

 - Purposely chosen girly clothing with pretty pinks for the innocent wife and black jumpers and suits for the evil, murderous husband.

Therefore you can see not only have we linked our products together effectively but we have also ensured they realte to other similar media products. 

Evaluation: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Audience feedback proves very useful after making a film because your target audience will often notice small details which are actually mistakes and we can then act upon this and rectify the problem, possibly re-shooting in order to please the audience. Feedback will also give us an idea of whether our audience understand our film or if shots need to be added in to help with this.

Our actor playing the ploice detective coming out of the police station before the shot of him at the cemetary was an example of where we added a shot in to make it clearer to our audience who the character was and why he was there as this was something that had been pointed out to us.

We were also informed that the foley sounds in the office gave them the wrong impression about the husband as it sounded like he was in a busy office but you could only see him there and so it was suggested we turned them down and maybe raise them slightly when the door of the office opened; alluding to people being in other offices off the corridor.

Over this scene we had the directors names as well which we were advised against as they should be at the end and just the cast names at the start of the short. It was also commented on that the font was too small and thin and so we changed this for our final film. We had the crew members on rolling credits at the end as we found this was a popular convention for short films.

In the scene where David leaves his office it was noticed that there was a lot of shaky cam and so we also re-shot this scene to eliminate this and it provided a better and nearer location to film at. We were then able to try a lot more shots out with this scene and so it broke the scene up and didnt look as long and boring as the previous attempt at that scene.

In the rough cut we got a little carried away with foley sounds at the table scene where there is no actual visual movement of cutlery clanging but you could hear it and so we removed these and used the original sound recordings from the shoot.

In the original rough cut there is a crane shot included which we had to re-shoot the whole scene for as when we followed David back down to the ground it looks as if the camera jerks as if it hits the floor which was noticed in the feedback we had from our media peers.

All of these changes we made from our rough cut to the final film proved worthwhile as we ended up wiht a much more professional looking film and it was a lot more relatable to the target audience as we aske dthem and they now claimed they understood the parts which were slightly confusing beforehand. We also had comments back saying they could relate to the character, David, and felt like their own life wa pretty much like his with the monotonous job and home lifestyle, day in day out and could understand how he would be drove to this. Hearing this from our target audience after the changes made it seem successful and so we were all pleased wiht the final product at the end.

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

Today, we have got the advantage of having new technologies to use to enable us to achieve the highest standard of products; whereas in the past it has been much harder for producers to create a film and if any mistakes were made at any point they wouldn't have the opportunity to 'undo' it for instance; which makes a dramatic difference at each stage.

Blogger: Is a new technology we have benefited from having the opportunity to use because it is a stylish presentation tool and easily accessible. Blogger is also easily editable; meaning any mistakes are not set in stone and you do not have to re-do all of your work. Having your work stored on blogger means it is not going to get lost or damaged like it may do if it was on lots of different paper files. In contrast to paper files, blogger allows multi-media options such as video clips which would be impossible to put onto paper. There are options on blogger to enable effective communication between groups and to 'share' which is helpful because you don't all have to get together in the group to discuss or share ideas for example.


Scribd: Using Scribd we were able to share our treatment on there so that the whole group could access it from anywhere and could then give feedback if we needed to. It is a very quick and easy way to share work and download it onto your own blog. 

DivShare: Allowed us to host our audio treatment and feedback on the site, again within minutes, and then download it onto our blogs in minutes with no hassle of any tapes which we would have to physically copy and keep safe years ago.

StoryBoard Quick: This was a fast and easy way for us to be able to gain an idea of how our film would flow and what shots may look like. Digitally it is easily changeable as well at any point throughout the process; unlike if we were to draw it all out on paper; which would also be highly time consuming.

Final Draft AV: This software, again, saved a lot of time and also has automatic format of fonts.

Sony HD cameras: These proved very useful on location as we were able to watch back the footage we had just filmed to check which shots needed re-shooting there and then. It also meant we could see the framing for the shot whilst filming. The HD gave the footage higher quality to make the films look as professional as possible. As well, by being able to put our footage straight onto the Apple Macs it meant we were able to cut bits up, change the orders, and re-do this as many times as we wanted fairly quickly, in comparison to how it used to be. Before this modern technology was available, footage would literally have been cut up and then if you did it in the wrong place or wanted to change it later on it would be impossible and this way parts of the film could easily get damaged or lost which is highly unlikely when doing it all digitally.

Final Cut: allows non-linear, non-destructive editing which supports not having to actually physically cut the actual tape up and so the editing is constantly changeable. This means you can be experimental with your work as many times as you like in order to get the best result. It also allows effects and transitions to be used to make the film flowing and not look choppy how they may have looked more in the past.  

 YouTube: Being able to upload feedback videos and our actual films to YouTube was very quick and easy to do, it is also good free exhibition. This means by putting our film on YouTube we will be able to get feedback from other people from all over the world as well which is very useful for a wider audience feedback in a very short period of time. To gain feedback from so many people from all different places in the world would have been impossible years ago or would have been very expensive and time consuming.

Alongside YouTube, we also used Facebook: We hosted our poster on FaceBook which again gave us the opportunity of collecting worldwide feedback, one comment made was from America for example. This also allowed good communication between the group without having to be with each other to see the product and give our opinion which made the process quicker and easier. 

Sountrack Pro: was useful for the editing stage of our film and we could pick out suitable music and sound effcts to match each clip whilst we could watch the film at the same time to match them properly. 

QuarkXPress: allowed us to create the magazine review to be of similar standard to similar professional products. 

PhotoShop: was hihgly useful when creating the poster, especially as one member of our group had a lot of experience of using it already. We took pictures of the actors individually and were able to PhotoShop these together to gain the finished product after a few adjustments which have been previously mentioned. PhotoShop is highly professional, quick and experimental again which are always good advantages.

FInal film Poster with second change

This poster has the same changes as the last one except the title writing has been kept fancy but without having the tail of the letters flick out. It is also bolder so that it is easier to read from afar and looks less like a signature. I like this poster because it gives both genres of our film without giving too much of the plot away. It shows this mix of genres through the tag-line being both romantic and thriller hints, the background pictures used are also quite a romantic setting but mysterious and thriller-like with their expressions. The title does this as well by the fancier writing being more romantic, however having the crow on it and the rest of the title in a harsher font it makes it romantic whilst putting the thriller thoughts predominantly in your mind.  

Film Poster after audience feedback

 In this poster we have made the alterations recommended by our audience feedback.

As you can see, the man is now wearing a suit; which has actually been 'Photoshopped' onto him as we were very happy with his stance and facial expression.

The title writing has been changed into the whole of it as the harsh bold writing, still on two levels though, and included a sinister crow to allude to the evil happenings.

The female character has also been made slightly more black and white to make this more obvious and effective.

Film Poster without rating included

After receiving some feedback on our poster the decision we made was to try taking the 5-star rating off because even though it may entice the audience, it was not seen as a film poster convention but was part of the conventions of a magazine review and so was irrelevant for on the poster.

We had feedback that the different colouration of the words 'love' and 'you' in the tag-line was very effective as it then said 'Love you' as well which is very relevant to the plot of the film.

There was a majority agreement that the man should be wearing a shirt like he is in the film so that it gives the right first impressions.

Finally, we were advised to change the font of the fancy writing part of the title as it may be hard to read from afar and may just be discarded by the potential audience and thought of as a signature for instance. It also gives the illusion that the 'Us Do Part' is of more importance, however this is not true to our film.

Film Poster

This was our first attempt at our film poster, produced using Photoshop' and it included the two main characters, dressed similar to how they would be in the film. We included a tag-line at the top to give a little teaser for the audience to make them want to watch the film. We included a 5-star review next to again interest the audience.The image we had for the background is the two main characters in the sunny park setting for the romantic element and the deathly stare of the male character supported by the mysterious two pictures of the female and one in black and white with slight bruising around her eye to create the psychological element. Our title also went with both genres because the fancy writing is fairly romantic and the bold, solid writing supports the thriller side because it is harsh and not forgiving. We decided to stick with the generic font for the usual credits to the actors and supporting companies because it is what is recognisable and associated with most film posters from carrying out the research into them. The release date was always noticed to be at the bottom of the posters and so this is where we decided ours would go and we also took the convention of having the date a different colour and so we had the year in red, which matches the thriller and romance conventions as well as our logo.

Film Poster Research

Below is a film poster for the psychological thriller 'Shutter Island.' This shows a layout of the film's tag line at the top of the poster which gives the audience a little hint into the film and draws them in to make them want to watch the film to find out more about it. The background is two pictures merged into each other; they are both dark images which gives the thriller film effect, especially with only half of the man's face being lit up by the flame; representative of the genre of the film.

The next main text we see is the main actor's name which is of importance as it is above the actual title of the film and is there to draw the audience in to watch it because they may like the actor and have seen previous films with them in. The title is then seen and is in blood red font which is made to look slightly 'blood-stained' around the bottom of text; to link the psychological thriller genre. The only other piece of information in red on this poster is the month it will be released and so both of these stand out. The actors and company names below the film title are in the generic film poster font. 

'Saw' is another psychological thriller and we can see that it is a much brighter poster which makes the harsh blood stained floor and arm stand out. It also emphasises the title of the film which is quite large and has strikes through it to hint to what the film may be like; harsh and cutting; not for the faint-hearted.It does not include a tag-line like the last film, this may intrigue the audience more or may put them off as every one's interpretation of a film is different and so they may want a hint before they decide to spend their money on it. However, it does include the generic writing of actors and production team and company logos at the bottom of the poster.

A slightly less thriller genre film and more of the romantic genre is the film 'Twilight.' Here you can see the tag-line towards the top of the poster again, giving the audience a little insight into the plot. The background image is of two of the main characters looking quite intimate together giving the feel of romance, however again it is mostly only half of their faces shown which can make it look mysterious. The title for this film is done in what could be considered a moonlight font showing the twinkles off it like you would see of stars at midnight and the 'g' is also swirly and so quite romantic. However, the idea of it being midnight and starry can also be scary as everything looks worse in the dark. This is supported by the picture being lighted by a bright, moon-light like lighting. The release date is the only other piece of information included on this poster and so is bold and important on here too. The actors names may not be included because they are already very famous and so it is not required or the actors may be the complete opposite and very unknown; both can have advantages such as it is nice to see fresh and up-coming actors but it is also nice to watch actors you have seen in films previously and enjoyed. 

A very romantic film is 'Dear John' and as you can see straight away the couple are sat cuddled up together on a nice sunny beach area which brings the romance straight away. The actors names are at the top of the screen to show the importance and recognition and so may lure the audience in this way too. There is then a caption telling us it is from the author of the notebook and so if people have seen that film and enjoyed it that will encourage them to go and see this film too. The title is below this in a larger font and all of the writing is done in a white/yellow colour to resemble innocence of the young couple, happiness and romance. Directly below the title is the tag-line to again, intrigue the audience. Below this is the generic recognition of the film companies and actors and within this they have included the release date in a larger and white font at the bottom left.

In our film poster i think we would include a tag-line as it seems a common convention to use and may make our film a little more explained before the audience see the film. We will also keep the generics of the actors and companies associated with the film at the bottom and the title just above. The image for the background will give a hint of both the romantic genre and thriller because it could be sunny but a mysterious picture of the two main actors.