2. In our teaser trailer we used a variety of conventions which
enabled us to finish our teaser trailer to a professional standard.
As we were researching teaser trailers we paid close attention to
viral marketing, We looked at how viral marketing was used to
promote the District 9 film. We felt that when viral marketing is
done well, It is an effective way to attract viewers to watch the
film which is being promoted, Therefore we decided to incorporate
viral marketing into our website. Our website takes the form of a
news page , displaying details of a young girl called Sarah who has
gone missing. The website does not directly mention that it is in
fact advertisement for the film which may give viewers the
impression that Sarah is really missing, Giving them a much more
powerful experience when they watch the film. Viral marketing has
also been used on the social networking site Facebook as a page has
been made for Sarah along with various friends of hers, each
putting their own message of support on her page to show that they
are worried about her. This alsogives the audience the opportunity
to interact and aid with the discovery of finding out what has
happened to Sarah. In turn increasing their interest in the
film.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?
3. Another convention which we used in the filming of our
teaser trailer is the characters we used. All the characters we
used are quite stereotypical of what you would expect from a
classic Horror movie. The stalker is a shady middle aged man and
The victim is a 15 year old teenage girl. We adhered to these
stereotypes because we felt that if we deferred away from them ,
then our film may become confusing for our audience.
We have challenged the conventional presentation of a teaser
trailer by giving our audience the feeling that they are in the
position of both Sarah and the Stalker. To create this effect used
a range of camera angles to show what is happening through their
eyes ,using a handheld video camera for some of the scenes to help
give the audience the feeling that they are in the position of
Sarah. An example of this is used in the scene where Sarah is
running away from the Stalker. This is something that we had seen
done in a similar way in films such as The Blair Witch Project and
we felt that it looked effective and would help our audience
understand how terrified Sarah would be and it would make them feel
sympathy towards her as no one should have to go through that sort
of situation.
4. Another convention we used was costumes. The victim, Sarah
Basset, was dressed in light clothing which signifies innocence.
The stalker was dressed in black clothing signifying evil. We
decided that it was important to pay attention to the clothing that
each character was wearing because we wanted the audience to be
able to instantly recognise who was the good character and who was
the bad character. The light clothing choice for Sarah shows that
she is innocent and pure. Therefore, the audience will feel strong
levels of anger towards the stalker who is trying to take this away
from Sarah.
Another aspect that we paid close attention to whilst filming our
trailer was Laura Mulveys Male Gazetheory. In her theory Mulvey
looked at how mainstream cinema is often portrayed from a
heterosexual perspective. This was important for us as we wanted to
show certain scenes from the stalkers perspective to present his
motives and thoughts to the audience.
5. I think that the combination of our main product and
ancillary texts are very effective. I feel that all three of our
media pieces link well together and add to the experience the
audience get whilst watching the film. All three pieces have
meaning behind them and they contribute to the realism which we
were trying to create. The poster reflects how the stalker knew
every detail about Sarah without her realising. It helps the
audience to understand that Sarah is just and innocent teenage girl
and she didnt ask to be followed. The poster alone doesnt give the
audience a very clear idea as to what they can expect from the film
, but together with the trailer and the website it is very powerful
in adding meaning and emotion to the film.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary
texts?
6.
7. I am pleased with how the website has turned out. I feel
that it combines well with our teaser trailer and poster. The
website is the website for a local newspaper from Sarahs home town,
displaying an article about how she has gone missing. This helps to
make our trailer more viral. It will increase the experience
viewers get whilst watching the film as they may believe that the
film is based on a true story. This is something which I had seen
being similarly used in the marketing for the Dark knight film . It
increases the realism you experience whilst watching the film ,
this is important for our film because we want the viewers to put
themselves in the position of Sarah and understand how she might be
feeling and what she is going through.
8.
9. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Audience feedback has been vital throughout the production process
of our teaser trailer and ancillary texts.
We used audience feedback in the forms of questionnaires, video
responses and through social networking sites such as
Facebook.
Before we came up with our idea we submitted a questionnaire to our
target audience to discover what they expect from a teaser trailer.
Alongside this questionnaire we showed them videos of other teaser
trailers and they could then tell us which ones they liked and why.
Doing this was very helpful as it gave us an idea into which
conventions we could use within our teaser trailer .Our target
audience told us they liked the effect that using a handheld camera
gave in shooting some scenes within a film , examples of how this
has been used in films are The blair witch project and
Cloverfield.
From our pre-production feedback we also found out that internet
safety is something which is on the minds of many people within our
target audience, this inspired us with the main story of our
film.
10. Throughout the production of our teaser trailer we felt
that it was important to get feedback throughout to make sure that
we were producing something which was of a professional standard
and which would appeal o our target audience. We filmed ourselves
explaining our idea to a group of people within our target audience
and we filmed the responses to our ideas and work so far. About
half way through our filming , it was clear from audience feedback
that our filming was not of a high enough standard to which you
would expect from a teaser trailer and the main idea was confusing
for viewers. Therefore we decided the best thing we could do was to
scrap our idea and the filming we had already done and start again.
We spoke to our target audience about potential new ideas and got
their opinions on which one would be most appealing for them. We
also filmed them giving us on ideas on what we should include in
our teaser trailer. Changing our idea turned out to be a good thing
and we have been able to produce something better suited for our
target audience and of a much higher quality.
11.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbwKIIwaZ9w&feature=player_embedded
This is a video of the feedback we received for our second idea,
However throughout the completion of our second idea audience
feedback showed us that it was still not up to the standard that we
desired therefore we decided to change our idea. And we are glad we
did. We feel that our piece is much better for it and as a result
of our constant audience feedback we have produce something which
is professional and to the standard we were striving
for.
12. How did you use new media technologies in the construction
and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Throughout the project I have used new technology to help me
complete the work to a professional standard.
We used YouTube to find examples of existing teaser trailers.
YouTube was also used to upload our trailer to the internet. I had
not used the uploading side of YouTube before doing this project,
but I found it very easy to use.
We used Imageshack to upload our images to the media departments
blogging site.
13. Serif movieplus was used to help us edit the footage we had
and to turn it into our teaser trailer. I had not used it before
but after a while of using it I soon learnt different ways I could
edit my footage and I learnt about the different transitions that I
could use to break my footage up and produce a professional looking
teaser trailer.
I used Macromedia Dreamweaver to create the website. I had used
this program before but only on a basic level so I have improved my
skills a lot and am now fairly confident on my ability to produce a
website to a high standard.
