Evaluation Question 4

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

Photoshop was the main thing that allowed me to make both of my point products. This helped me to make my products look aesthetically pleasing and also made them look professional. Photoshop allowed me to made use of tools such as brushes, hue/saturation, brightness/contrast as well as many other. I also used Photoshop for constructing my layout for my products; I did this by using rulers. I was also able to edit my final photos in here using the magic wand tool and the desaturated tool.

Final cut pro enabled me to create my trailer and edit it together piece by piece to achieve a professional looking trailer. I now know how to cut down shot, fade in and out of shots, make shots blink and many other transitions between them.

iMacs allowed me to access all of the programs needed to complete this task, even though I have only got access to this at college and not at home, the fact that they were so useful meant I could complete my work.

Photo booth has allowed me to review my feedback as I got everyone to do a short video on what they thought of my products, also it allowed me to assess my own products and make videos of myself regarding the progress of my products.

PowerPoint allowed a different way of showing my progress rather than just posting something I could put photos in and edit different styles of text to make my work look better and ultimately easier to read and use.

Prezi proved to be very useful as it has unlimited depth and was very convenient to use, It lets me create my ideas and then make a mind map to show possible outcomes. It allowed me to import videos and pictures so that I could compare and contrast them.

YouTube has allowed me to upload my final trailer and get feedback that way. It has also allowed me to put videos on of me asking people what they think of my products. Also I could look at other professional trailers through this and then compare to my own.

Blogger has made it easy to be organised and keep on top of work. It has a useful; display and is easy to navigate around; this was a must in the progression of my work.

Grab tool has made showing the progression of my work step by step easy because it allowed me to just take a selection of what I was working on and save it with just a click of the mouse.

Dafont.com is the most useful website for getting fonts that I wanted to use and also for researching what range of fonts are out there. It has helped my products look professional.

Still cameras have benefited both of the print products that I created because it allowed me to take an effective looking photo to use for my front cover. I learned how to use the focus on the camera for extra effect also.

HD Video Camera’s allowed me to record my final trailer, taking my ideas and actually putting them into action, I used the HD one because I wanted a clearer view on what I was making. 

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 3: What have you learnt from you audience feedback?

From my audience research I took all of the comments I received into consideration. This then allowed me to make positive changes towards my products. The main criticism was that certain things on my products that were quite important didn’t stand out enough and I found that people were sometimes missing the point of the actual products. I had to lighten the image behind all of my text on my magazine because it was overpowering the text. Also they suggested to somehow making the text stand out more so I have now put a drop shadow on them so that they stand out off the page more. Also about the poster they suggested to make the blood stand out more on the hands so I desaturated the hands and made the blood a brighter red so that this was more apparent to the audience who were looking at the products.

I also got video comment off my classmates, they all said that the products fit well together and there was a good continuity in them, they just feel that there wasn’t that much detail on them, I decided not to take this into action because I feel like I didn’t want too much on my products and that I wanted a professional look to them, this was achieved by leaving what I had done, and tweaking little things like lining everything up straight which hadn’t been done beforehand.

I then got some feedback off people at home who I showed the rough cut of my trailer too, they were all very constructive yet they said that the SFX I had put in didn’t quite match to what the video was playing. After tweaking these they approved more. They also said that one of the logo’s wasn’t very strong, so I again tweaked this to make it look more professional and to finish it off. 

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 2 - how effective is the combination of your main and ancillary products?

My film campaign consisted of 3 products which were a trailer, poster and a magazine cover. Through developing them there was continuity in these three products which made them have a professional look to them.

My three products have each got a unique USP. But together as a whole the link with each other and have significant continuity.

In my trailer I feel that my USP is the camera shots which emphasise the acting on screen. The shots that I used created suspense in fear within the audience which is what I was aiming for with my horror trailer. Although some of the shots within my trailer can be seen in other professional products, I feel that I have staged the majority of the shots well and that they have a big effect on the audience and also ultimately help to identify the chosen genre, making it more of an experience for the viewer.

Magazine cover.

Like in my trailer my magazine follows in the same direction as it features the protagonist who is also in my trailer. This shows continuity. Also I feel like the type of shot I decided to use for my magazine was unique as it is just of the eyes of the protagonist which gives a sense of mystery which is tense.

Arguably my sell lines within my magazine are a unique selling point as they are offering free posters, which I think is very professional and also lets the audience get involved.

Poster.

My poster again features my protagonist but yet again in a different light, she has appeared in all 3 of my products yet in each one she is not the same pose or the same clothing she is always looking different or a different part of her body is on show, That in itself is a USP as it Is rarely seen in professional products.

I think the film distributor would use social networking sites to promote the film as the age range for my film is 16-24, this was found out from my preliminary audience research task. Another thing that could be used is poster campaigns around busy shopping centre and outside on billboards and such. 

Evaluation Question 1

Evaluation Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Print Products

Poster

Throughout my research I looked back at a range of posters they were all similar to what I wanted mine to look like. I chose them  because the films they advertised have a similar genre to my own therefore they all had similar features. I feel that my poster benefited a lot from looking at these because my posters are now looking professional just like the actual professional products.

I challenged the forms and conventions of real media products by choosing a font that wasn’t straight forward and plain yet still linked in with the horror genre, I did some font research for my chosen genre, which was horror. I then played around a bit and eventually decide upon this one because I think it had a professional look to it and also it grabbed the audience’s attention. This is what effect professional products have therefore this is why I tried to replicate that.

I went with the colour schemes used in professional products on my poster because reds, black and white are all key signifiers to the horror genre and I wanted my audience to recognise that.

I also went with the typical layout for my poster so that my audience could see clearly want I wanted to be seen first which was the image. The image is of blooded hands, which obviously links to the horror genre, just like in professional products the image is one of the key things to tell the audience what genre this is going to be. I also developed on the layout by researching into what fonts go into the credits at the bottom of the page; this again follows the typical style that a professional product would do.

 Magazine Cover.

I also looked at some magazine covers which were professional products; again I referred back to them to get thoughts and ideas for what I could put onto my product to make it look more professional.

I researched into the layout quite a lot and I figured that I was going to go with the layout that a typical professional magazine cover would go with, my sell lines weren’t too big and there weren’t many of them therefore it made the image and title the main focus point. This worked best for me because both my image and my title show off the genre most in this particular product.

I made my mast head the most appealing part to this just like in professional products because it is one of the first things the audience see’s, I challenged the typical forms and conventions by making the text a grungy text which shows the genre more because I feel like the font I have chosen is professional looking yet shows the genre specifically.

I challenged the forms and convention again by using image I used because isn’t the typical image that professional products would use as it fills the whole cover with one colour which is linked in to the main image. This is unique and I think this will be looked at as something unique by the audience.

Trailer.

At the very start of my trailer I use one of the green screen’s used in professional trailers. I think this gives my product a start of being professional looking before the trailer has actually begun. I also have my own logo which is used at the start which also is professional because I can then use it in my other products and it makes them all link together and become a proper film campaign that looks professional.

After looking at other trailers to get some inspiration for my own I decided that the right thing to do was to have a range of shots, angled and intertitle within my trailer, I did this because after looking at other trailer this is what they all involved.