A2 level Evaluation

Was your Production an effective piece?

• The main strength of our trailer is the location we chose (see image above). It is really powerful and it contributed to the effective production that we made.

• I was really pleased with the way the idea of using first person and third person worked. One of the main characters was holding a camera so at selected parts of the film we used footage from the handheld camera. This adds to the realism and fits with narrative. It worked really well in editing because we were able to give the characters perspective and create some good close ups. It allowed us to create a range of camera shots.

• From start to finish we learnt a lot about filming and how to create an effective piece. To start with our script lacked detail and we had to re-think, what was actually possible in the location and possible with the filming equipment that we had. After adding more detail to the script we knew exactly what everyone had to say and what shots we wanted to shoot. The second shoot was a lot more successful it was just a case of going back to the location again to film some small clips that we needed. In the end we were able to create an effective piece but it was a good learning curve.

• We worked well as a group, especially when it came to ideas and the narrative or initial idea for the film was effective. • There are some strict conventions that apply to horror trailers and we managed to conform to nearly all of them. The conventions are

strict because they are proven to work and the objective of all horror films is to make the audience scared. For example the way horror trailers start off slow and then get scarier and quicker as they went on and we achieved this. This happened in all five of the horror trailers that I researched.

• How effective our trailer is can be applied to David Morley’s Audience Reception Theory the preferred reading of the text is the audience will want to go and see the full length film and be intrigued but the oppositional reading would be that it is disturbing and not a very good film so they wont want to watch the full length film.

• Overall our trailer evolved in to an effective trailer it has moments of tension, moments when the audience can see things the characters cant, some jumpy parts and good music which added to the tension.

How did you use new media technologies in the construction stage?

• We used Adobe premiere pro to edit our footage. Before this project I didn't have any experience of using premiere pro so I learnt a lot about how to use the program and all it’s functions. It was an effective tool, It allowed us to cut and take bits out of footage that we didn't want and piece them together. We were able to edit the sound separately and include horror music. It also included a range of video transitions that we used, dip dissolve, cross dissolve etc. It was easy to import the footage we wanted and include it in our production. We could slow down or speed up and parts of the footage this was useful as we realised that we needed to cut some of our footage down in time without loosing parts of it.

• We used YouTube to find a piece of horror music. We then file converted the clip using an online file converter to mp3 so that we could include it in our production.

• To shoot our footage we used new Sony HD camcorders along with a tripod. This allowed us to transfer our footage straight to the computer, we didn't have to use tapes like older camcorders and it was a lot more efficient and the footage was better in quality. The camera also allowed us to take images as well as video so we used it to take some of the images for our ancillary tasks. It was simple and really easy to use.

• I used Dafont for the construction of my ancillary tasks. This allowed me to access a huge range of fonts. The fonts on Dafont aren't conventional they are more elaborate in their design compared to default fonts in Photoshop. This was good for my film magazine and poster as it allows you to stylise the product more rather than just using normal fonts.

• I used Photoshop in the construction of my ancillary task . As I used Photoshop before as AS level it was easy to remind myself of how to use it and explore the variety of options as to how to edit the texts.

How did you use new media technologies in the research stage?

• I used YouTube to research film trailers and analyse them. YouTube was really useful as is allowed me to access a huge number of trailers. I was able to use these trailers to establish conventions which we used in our trailer. They gave us inspiration as to what we were going to do and helped us come up with an idea. It also allowed me to upload my trailer to YouTube and then embed it on to.

• I used Google images to search for film posters and magazines that I could analyse to give me inspiration.

• I was then able to share my research through blogger. Blogger was a particularly useful tool as it allowed me to collate all my research and have it all in one area.

How did you use new media technologies in the planning stage?

• I needed a way of uploading our story board to blogger and the most effective way of doing this was by using Scribd. We had to scan in our hand drawn story board and then upload the pages to Scribd. It was easy to upload the pages and then embed it into blogger.

• To Upload our script all we had to do was copy and paste text on to a blog post using blogger.

• We used Facebook as a way to organise the filming and getting everyone together. We did this by creating events on Facebook. It was the easiest way of co-ordinating everyone organise.

How did you use new media technologies in the Evaluation stage?

• I used Prezi to present my answer to the question ‘In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?’. It was really good visual and alternative way of presenting my evaluation.

• I created a directors commentary by filming.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

• Charlie a year 11 media student said: ‘The fading between the words coming up on the screen give the whole production look a lot more professional. They have used the usual colours of a traditional horror film (black, white) these give the connotations of death and darkness which make the trailer a lot more eerie. They have utilised the camera shots well using low angled shots close ups and other types to make it more professional. The base sound track they have used works well with the trailer as it builds up the tension that the viewer might feel and will give them the need to go and watch the whole thing. The only thing I would say they need to improve is the use of more sounds to make it more dramatic for the viewer so they really would want to go and see it.’

I have leant that our editing of the trailer was successful as two of the positive comments were about edited effects. He refers to the fade through blacks and the title sequences added in. The use of black and white is something which I hadn’t thought of but it shows that the use of colour was important and added to the horror style. I think the use of sounds is a valid point we could of included some more sounds related to the action, some loud sharp sounds would of been more appropriate, a long with some sound effects such as feet scrapping a long the floor or heavy breathing. Perhaps using a sound kit would of allowed us to explore the use of sound more.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Clare- The background music sets the scene and you anticipate the film will be scary straight away. I enjoyed the way the clips flowed and really kept your attention and made me want to watch more to see what happened next. Overall it felt eerie I would love to find out what happened in the end.

This is some really positive feedback. Again there is a positive referral to the way it is edited as they talk about the flow of the trailer. It is especially good that she felt like she wanted to watch the rest of the film as that is the objective of a trailer.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

• Emma A* in GCSE media- I feel that this trailer was well shot and edited, giving a clear storyline in chronological order which was easy to understand. However areas to improve I think are the font; which I found hard to read. I also think that the opening scene could have been stronger with the characters facing the camera so I could see the characters clearly. I also think that as the location was perfect for the trailer, this could have been used more effectively by making it darker and therefore more sinister and more like a horror trailer.

• I think we could have chosen a simpler font the fact that it is a bit faded does make it harder to read. I agree with her comment on the opening seen we could of shot it better giving a clear view of the character, some close ups or shot reverse shots as they were speaking. The lighting on the location would have been difficult to control as there was a lot of random light beams and pillars but I agree with the comment to about lighting to a certain extent we could have shot some of the scenes in darker areas and used it more effectively.

Here we could have used a stronger font. This font reappears throughout the trailer.

Here Phil the hooded character has his back turned so you cant see him it would have been better if we had shot this differently so all the characters were in view.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

• Poppy A level media student- I thought it was really good i actually got rather scared. I loved the bit when the ghoul thingy walked across the corridor erm negative thingssss i actually cant think of anything.

• I agree with this comment, when the ghoul walks across the corridor I think is our best scene. This again is some really positive feedback.

The ghoul walking across the corridor scene

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

This is my film magazine. For the magazine I wanted to focus on the ghoul. The convention of film magazines is to have one particular character on the cover and this is usually the main character so I wanted to do the same. Using ‘Porce-Lyn’ (ghoul) on the front cover helps create a horror effect. I decided to follow the conventions of Empire magazine as I really like the style and it is the most established film magazine. The idea of the trailer is that Porce-Lyn is hiding in the shadows of the abandoned mental hospital and surrounding her with the greenery and the text it has the same affect like she is about to jump out. I put her head above the Empire heading as it made her seem more powerful. This is a convention of film magazines they quite often have the character in front of the text it help make them dominant. Having the main character as the centre piece of the cover relates to Richard Dyers star theory, a well known star will attract an audience. The jagged Porce-Lyn text relates to the location of our trailer as it is all broken down and jagged.

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

This is my film poster. This combines with our trailer well, again similar to my film poster Porce-Lyn is waiting in the shadows. The background image of the location for our shoot it relates to our trailer in that way. There is also a vulnerability of the characters created in this photo with Porce-Lyn waiting looking at them which we also created in our trailer. The fact that they are stood outside looking at the building gives the feel of anticipation what will happen when they enter. The credits at the bottom of the page are typical of a film poster, I followed this convention and I think the text is effective in helping to create a horror feel. This is down to the font that I chose. The best thing about this poster I think is the misty white effect that I achieved by using a filter it makes it look eerie and adds to the horror look.

How the Three Texts Would Work Together as a Marketing Strategy

The film trailer and the posters would be the first things I would use as advertisement. Put the trailer on in cinemas preferably before horror films as this is the target audience. Putting the trailer on during the adverts of prime time T.V would be good especially during the adverts of films themselves and on the movie channels. The trailer is the main thing in attracting the audience most people will see the trailer before they watch the film I think our trailer makes the audience want to watch the film and there is evidence of this in my feedback, Clare- ‘I would love to find out what happened in the end’. The film poster would need to go up on bill boards, on buses and bus shelters anywhere possible really. I think the big heading on the poster would be eye catching. It would make the audience intrigued to find out what is going to happen to the characters. Once word of mouth has been spread about the film and people have seen the trailer and poster I would then put the empire cover out to promote the film further. A positive review in Empire would attract a lot of people as it is so well respect and renowned. It would also appeal to big film fans as they are the ones most likely to read the magazine. Being on the front cover of empire would mean that it reinforces that it is a good film as Empire focus on the most prestigious and biggest films. The front cover itself it eye catching and bold it would stand out amongst other film magazines.