Evaluation of 3 A2 media productions

Evaluation of 3 A2 media productions

By Jake ThorneBy Jake Thorne

Planning evaluationPlanning evaluation

◊ When producing my film trailer for my A2 media portfolio, I found that the planning proved the most irritating & difficult part, as I had several problems, with my memory stick braking, which meant I lost all my planning work, which took a lot of time to re-do, which obviously set me back a lot of time, in which I could have been filming/editing. Also I had a bit of problem when choosing a title for my film as I had decided on several different title, only to find that they were copyrighted, so I could not use these, so when I created my survey monkey questionnaire I had a question, on which title my audience would prefer, and most people chose Blood ‘n’ Bone, so I went with this. One part of my planning that I had to re-do, but was not to taxing was the evaluation of the 3 film trailers, posters & magazine front covers, this was because I owned the three magazine front covers & have read them several time & deconstructed them quite a few time before so I found this easy. The three film trailers was also very simple, as I own all three films on DVD so it was simple as I just had to go on special feature & I could watch the trailers as many time as I like & pause them wherever I wanted. The same was true with the posters apart from the Trainspotting poster, but it was easy to find that poster on the internet & it was also fairly easy to deconstruct.

◊ When producing my film trailer for my A2 media portfolio, I found that the planning proved the most irritating & difficult part, as I had several problems, with my memory stick braking, which meant I lost all my planning work, which took a lot of time to re-do, which obviously set me back a lot of time, in which I could have been filming/editing. Also I had a bit of problem when choosing a title for my film as I had decided on several different title, only to find that they were copyrighted, so I could not use these, so when I created my survey monkey questionnaire I had a question, on which title my audience would prefer, and most people chose Blood ‘n’ Bone, so I went with this. One part of my planning that I had to re-do, but was not to taxing was the evaluation of the 3 film trailers, posters & magazine front covers, this was because I owned the three magazine front covers & have read them several time & deconstructed them quite a few time before so I found this easy. The three film trailers was also very simple, as I own all three films on DVD so it was simple as I just had to go on special feature & I could watch the trailers as many time as I like & pause them wherever I wanted. The same was true with the posters apart from the Trainspotting poster, but it was easy to find that poster on the internet & it was also fairly easy to deconstruct.

Trailer evaluationTrailer evaluation◊ After completing my film trailer, overall I am very

pleased with how it has turned out, as in my opinion it look far better than I expected. Filming the scenes for it did have several setback however, due to the loss of my planning work, which meant that I riskily had to film it with just the storyboard & no script, which means that there is a lot of improvisation, which considering, the people I was using in my film are not actors, was brilliant, they all did a great job. After finally starting to film It was not greatly hard, and I got the filming done in about 2 weeks (it would have been done quicker, but the weather was not permitting for several days). There was a problem when filming though, as on the last day of filming, it started getting dark very quickly as it was winter, and as I was supposed to film the final scene of Tim shooting a gun, it was pitch black, but after initially panicking, we came up with a great idea, of using the car headlights on full beam as a source of light, this worked out perfectly, as it gave the final shots a kind of gritting, scary feeling, which is exactly the kind of atmosphere I wanted to create.

◊ After completing my film trailer, overall I am very pleased with how it has turned out, as in my opinion it look far better than I expected. Filming the scenes for it did have several setback however, due to the loss of my planning work, which meant that I riskily had to film it with just the storyboard & no script, which means that there is a lot of improvisation, which considering, the people I was using in my film are not actors, was brilliant, they all did a great job. After finally starting to film It was not greatly hard, and I got the filming done in about 2 weeks (it would have been done quicker, but the weather was not permitting for several days). There was a problem when filming though, as on the last day of filming, it started getting dark very quickly as it was winter, and as I was supposed to film the final scene of Tim shooting a gun, it was pitch black, but after initially panicking, we came up with a great idea, of using the car headlights on full beam as a source of light, this worked out perfectly, as it gave the final shots a kind of gritting, scary feeling, which is exactly the kind of atmosphere I wanted to create.

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◊ My media products mostly follows the conventions & form of the gangster film genre, as it has four main characters - like most of the Guy Ritchie gangster films, which it is important to follow, as my film is a British gangster film, it needs to follow the British gangster genre, as this is a big market, and a product must please the target audience in order to sell. It also follows the gangster genre, by having scenes of violence, drug deals & guns, which after analyzing the trailer I have is an important part the the gangster genre and will appeal to my target audience.

◊ My trailer does however challenge the genre slightly as the start of it is in black & white, which none of the gangster films I have looked at are in, but I think I could have improved on is by having the whole of my trailer in black & white, as although this would mean it completely challenges the conventions of the gangster genre, this would make the trailer look a lot better & also make the trailer fit together a lot better, as currently half of the trailer is in colour & follows the gangster convention of being in colour, it would feel more ‘real’ & would mean the whole trailer would challenge the gangster convention of being in colour, which would work as a unique selling point & attract more people to it.

◊ My media products mostly follows the conventions & form of the gangster film genre, as it has four main characters - like most of the Guy Ritchie gangster films, which it is important to follow, as my film is a British gangster film, it needs to follow the British gangster genre, as this is a big market, and a product must please the target audience in order to sell. It also follows the gangster genre, by having scenes of violence, drug deals & guns, which after analyzing the trailer I have is an important part the the gangster genre and will appeal to my target audience.

◊ My trailer does however challenge the genre slightly as the start of it is in black & white, which none of the gangster films I have looked at are in, but I think I could have improved on is by having the whole of my trailer in black & white, as although this would mean it completely challenges the conventions of the gangster genre, this would make the trailer look a lot better & also make the trailer fit together a lot better, as currently half of the trailer is in colour & follows the gangster convention of being in colour, it would feel more ‘real’ & would mean the whole trailer would challenge the gangster convention of being in colour, which would work as a unique selling point & attract more people to it.

Magazine front cover evaluationMagazine front cover evaluation◊ To summarise my final copy of my magazine front

cover, I would say that I ma fairly pleased with how it has turned out as it follow the main conventions of a film magazine front cover – large central image that overlaps the title, a big bold title, that will catch the readers eye, sub stories & teasers, bold, large font main story & a barcode & price. Altogether I think that this front cover works very well with the three main colours – red, black & white & think that contrast between these three work very well in terms, with the image, the background & the font. I did however take me a long time to reach this stage & the copies that I had before my final one, I thought were not very good at all. The images on the front of them were too small – so I had to make my final copies main image bigger, which was not a very difficult task. Also the editing on the other copies was very poor, so I have rectified this, by filling the background in & adding a gradient layer as well, so give a blending effect between red & grey.

◊ To summarise my final copy of my magazine front cover, I would say that I ma fairly pleased with how it has turned out as it follow the main conventions of a film magazine front cover – large central image that overlaps the title, a big bold title, that will catch the readers eye, sub stories & teasers, bold, large font main story & a barcode & price. Altogether I think that this front cover works very well with the three main colours – red, black & white & think that contrast between these three work very well in terms, with the image, the background & the font. I did however take me a long time to reach this stage & the copies that I had before my final one, I thought were not very good at all. The images on the front of them were too small – so I had to make my final copies main image bigger, which was not a very difficult task. Also the editing on the other copies was very poor, so I have rectified this, by filling the background in & adding a gradient layer as well, so give a blending effect between red & grey.

◊ My front magazine front cover does not challenge any conventions & follows most of the forms of the film magazine genre as it has a bold title, eye catching main story & anchoring main picture to go with the main story, as well as having several smaller sub stories. It also has a price, issue number & barcode which are three main conventions & all magazine front covers, have these. Also it follows the conventions by using three main colours – red, black & white & the text I have used incorporates this, and I think I have found a good mix between these colours.

◊ One convention that possibly is broken however is the fact that the background does not have a shot of a street or cityscape, which a lot of film magazine front covers have behind a main image, I think if I were to create another film magazine front cover I would include an establishing shot of a cityscape.

◊ My front magazine front cover does not challenge any conventions & follows most of the forms of the film magazine genre as it has a bold title, eye catching main story & anchoring main picture to go with the main story, as well as having several smaller sub stories. It also has a price, issue number & barcode which are three main conventions & all magazine front covers, have these. Also it follows the conventions by using three main colours – red, black & white & the text I have used incorporates this, and I think I have found a good mix between these colours.

◊ One convention that possibly is broken however is the fact that the background does not have a shot of a street or cityscape, which a lot of film magazine front covers have behind a main image, I think if I were to create another film magazine front cover I would include an establishing shot of a cityscape.

Poster evaluationPoster evaluation◊ After completing my media A2 portfolio, I was very

pleased with my final copy of my poster, as I matches the conventions of film poster – A strong, bold title, that will catch the readers attention, which is also catching & is something the reader will remember, it has a motto/slogan, a bold main image, with a subtle background, but with a bullet hole in it which connotes violence & trouble, which is exactly the kind of feeling I wanted to achieve, a review column, credit, which are very important as readers will want to know if they are big name actors as this will attract a larger audience, the same is true, to see if there is a big name director. When creating my poster I did have a few difficulties as I was completely out of practice with Photoshop & have had very little practice with this program so as first progress with my poster & my magazine front cover was very slow, but towards the end it picked up considerably as I got used to using the program. Another element I would liked to have improved on is the background, as I would have liked to have looked for some better cityscape brushes, but I had to settle for this one as time started to run out.

◊ After completing my media A2 portfolio, I was very pleased with my final copy of my poster, as I matches the conventions of film poster – A strong, bold title, that will catch the readers attention, which is also catching & is something the reader will remember, it has a motto/slogan, a bold main image, with a subtle background, but with a bullet hole in it which connotes violence & trouble, which is exactly the kind of feeling I wanted to achieve, a review column, credit, which are very important as readers will want to know if they are big name actors as this will attract a larger audience, the same is true, to see if there is a big name director. When creating my poster I did have a few difficulties as I was completely out of practice with Photoshop & have had very little practice with this program so as first progress with my poster & my magazine front cover was very slow, but towards the end it picked up considerably as I got used to using the program. Another element I would liked to have improved on is the background, as I would have liked to have looked for some better cityscape brushes, but I had to settle for this one as time started to run out.

◊ My poster follows all the conventions except one of the film poster genre. It follows the conventions of having a big main image of a main character, who is a well known celebrity, which will attract a bigger target audience as fans will want to see a film they are in. It was a bold eye catching simple title, but this is the convention it breaks, as unlike a lot of film posters it is not a one word title so i may not stick as easy in peoples heads, but to counter this I have made it a catchy title, so it will still do this, also I have used this title as after collecting feedback from my target audience, they said that this was their favourite title.. It has credit listing the main actors, director & production companies, people will want to see a brief list of these to see whether they are good actor & directors & good production companies. My poster also contains a slogan which is important as nearly every film poster has a slogan that applies to the film, or is a quote from the film, so I think it was important to follow this convention. Also follow with a lot of gangster film posters I have gone with a cityscape background behind my main image, with a dusky colours which connotes grime, dirtiness and crime, this is enhanced by the bullet hole in the shattered glass effect i have created using brushes in Photoshop. This is important as it connotes violence, and that makes up a large component of gangster films.

◊ My poster follows all the conventions except one of the film poster genre. It follows the conventions of having a big main image of a main character, who is a well known celebrity, which will attract a bigger target audience as fans will want to see a film they are in. It was a bold eye catching simple title, but this is the convention it breaks, as unlike a lot of film posters it is not a one word title so i may not stick as easy in peoples heads, but to counter this I have made it a catchy title, so it will still do this, also I have used this title as after collecting feedback from my target audience, they said that this was their favourite title.. It has credit listing the main actors, director & production companies, people will want to see a brief list of these to see whether they are good actor & directors & good production companies. My poster also contains a slogan which is important as nearly every film poster has a slogan that applies to the film, or is a quote from the film, so I think it was important to follow this convention. Also follow with a lot of gangster film posters I have gone with a cityscape background behind my main image, with a dusky colours which connotes grime, dirtiness and crime, this is enhanced by the bullet hole in the shattered glass effect i have created using brushes in Photoshop. This is important as it connotes violence, and that makes up a large component of gangster films.

Media product & ancillary textsMedia product & ancillary texts◊ In my opinion I think that my film poster complements my film trailer

very well as like my trailer it has a gritty, angry/violent feel to it, so it reflects the genre & what the film content very well. I think this is due to the effects I have used like the brushes for the cityscape & bullets hole in the smashed glass, as well as the gradient layers & blurring of the background colours into different shaded layers in Photoshop.

◊ I think the main weakness is my magazine front cover, as although it follows a lot of the convention I think it is missing that gritty, violence feel to it, I think this is due to the fact of the lack of the establishing shot of the city/street in the background & the plainness of the layers & colours in the background. Having said this I have done because I did not want my magazine to look to similar to my poster, but I do think that I could have found other brushes to use in Photoshop.

◊ In my opinion I think that my film poster complements my film trailer very well as like my trailer it has a gritty, angry/violent feel to it, so it reflects the genre & what the film content very well. I think this is due to the effects I have used like the brushes for the cityscape & bullets hole in the smashed glass, as well as the gradient layers & blurring of the background colours into different shaded layers in Photoshop.

◊ I think the main weakness is my magazine front cover, as although it follows a lot of the convention I think it is missing that gritty, violence feel to it, I think this is due to the fact of the lack of the establishing shot of the city/street in the background & the plainness of the layers & colours in the background. Having said this I have done because I did not want my magazine to look to similar to my poster, but I do think that I could have found other brushes to use in Photoshop.

Audience feedbackAudience feedback

◊ After looking at & reviewing my audience feedback I have learnt that a filmed of the same ideas & genre of the one of the product I have made, would be very popular among 14-25 years olds and is something that a lot of people (especially in Britain) would like to see. One of the main attractions & selling point that this target audience like about my product is the fact that it is a British gangster but it has an American twist, which I think is something that people in Britain would like to see, but also it opens the door to the large American market which could bring a large revenues & funding, I have learnt that this is something that my target audience would like to see as on my survey monkey questionnaire, everyone who answered it said they would like to see a British gangster film with an American twist.

◊ After looking at & reviewing my audience feedback I have learnt that a filmed of the same ideas & genre of the one of the product I have made, would be very popular among 14-25 years olds and is something that a lot of people (especially in Britain) would like to see. One of the main attractions & selling point that this target audience like about my product is the fact that it is a British gangster but it has an American twist, which I think is something that people in Britain would like to see, but also it opens the door to the large American market which could bring a large revenues & funding, I have learnt that this is something that my target audience would like to see as on my survey monkey questionnaire, everyone who answered it said they would like to see a British gangster film with an American twist.

New technologiesNew technologies

◊ In the planning & construction of my Media A2 portfolio products I used new technologies in several different ways. The main way was the use of the new Apple MAC computers in the woods browning unit at Bodmin College, this helped & also hindered the progress & development of my portfolio, this was due to the fact that I am not used to the technology of MAC computers & when using them I am out of my comfort zone due to no/little practice with them. They did help in the productions of my product though as the program Photoshop is the best program to use when developing a film poster/ magazine & also for editing images & adding effects/brushes to them.

◊ Another very helpful program on the MAC’s is the program Final cut Pro, which is one of the best programs for editing films & allows you to edit & cut a film to an extremely high quality, it also allows you to add high quality credit sequences & effects into your footage which allows for great continuity editing.

◊ These programs make the gap between the film industry & the audience very small now as they allow anyone to be able to create a film & product package & edit & create the product to a very high quality.

◊ In the planning & construction of my Media A2 portfolio products I used new technologies in several different ways. The main way was the use of the new Apple MAC computers in the woods browning unit at Bodmin College, this helped & also hindered the progress & development of my portfolio, this was due to the fact that I am not used to the technology of MAC computers & when using them I am out of my comfort zone due to no/little practice with them. They did help in the productions of my product though as the program Photoshop is the best program to use when developing a film poster/ magazine & also for editing images & adding effects/brushes to them.

◊ Another very helpful program on the MAC’s is the program Final cut Pro, which is one of the best programs for editing films & allows you to edit & cut a film to an extremely high quality, it also allows you to add high quality credit sequences & effects into your footage which allows for great continuity editing.

◊ These programs make the gap between the film industry & the audience very small now as they allow anyone to be able to create a film & product package & edit & create the product to a very high quality.

◊ Another new technology that I used was a hand held film camera (& tripod), that I borrowed from Bodmin College, having technology like this made filming my project a lot easier & although I had no experience with film cameras, it was a skill that I picked up quickly & found simple so shoot the shots I required for my trailer. This also made my filming easier as It meant that i could film other places than around the College, as I was able to rent it out for a week.

◊ This technology being made available to anyone also make the gap between fthe film industry & audience a lot smaller as it means anyone (if they have the right amount of money) can get hold of a film recorder & film footage & get good at it quickly & therefore create high quality film easily.

◊ Another new technology that I used was a hand held film camera (& tripod), that I borrowed from Bodmin College, having technology like this made filming my project a lot easier & although I had no experience with film cameras, it was a skill that I picked up quickly & found simple so shoot the shots I required for my trailer. This also made my filming easier as It meant that i could film other places than around the College, as I was able to rent it out for a week.

◊ This technology being made available to anyone also make the gap between fthe film industry & audience a lot smaller as it means anyone (if they have the right amount of money) can get hold of a film recorder & film footage & get good at it quickly & therefore create high quality film easily.

◊ In terms of using new technology in my planning I did not particularly use any technology that was that ‘new’ as I was just using a PC to write up scripts & use PowerPoint for analysis's etc. As well as drawing costume designs with a pen pencil & paper by hand.

◊ One ‘new’ technology I did use was a still shot camera to take shot of the setting I was going to use as well as images of my main actors for costume idea designs & ideas for my magazine front cover & poster

◊ I also used the internet to find brushes & fonts for my poster & magazine front cover, these are extremely easy to find & can be found by looking on Google or nay search engine & will also be easy for anyone making a film also this simple aspect could also close the gap on the film industry & audience by making it easier to make good looking film posters for trailers/films for new directors/film makers.

◊ In terms of using new technology in my planning I did not particularly use any technology that was that ‘new’ as I was just using a PC to write up scripts & use PowerPoint for analysis's etc. As well as drawing costume designs with a pen pencil & paper by hand.

◊ One ‘new’ technology I did use was a still shot camera to take shot of the setting I was going to use as well as images of my main actors for costume idea designs & ideas for my magazine front cover & poster

◊ I also used the internet to find brushes & fonts for my poster & magazine front cover, these are extremely easy to find & can be found by looking on Google or nay search engine & will also be easy for anyone making a film also this simple aspect could also close the gap on the film industry & audience by making it easier to make good looking film posters for trailers/films for new directors/film makers.

Next time.....Next time.....

◊ If I were to produce a portfolio like this again I would like to do several things differently.

◊ First of all I would get a lot more practice on Apple Mac’s as i think this is essential if you want to produce a good final product, and it is something I did not have when creating my portfolio. Also I would like to get my actor booked on definite dates and film the whole trailer in one weekend so as not to waste time, as I was not as organised as I could have been when filming & organising my shooting dates.

◊ The last aspect that I would improve on is that I would film it in the summer so as to maximise the time that could be spent shooting during g the day, but also to be able to get some amazing shots during the summer sunsets.

◊ To conclude I am quite pleased with how my Media A2 portfolio has turned out.

◊ If I were to produce a portfolio like this again I would like to do several things differently.

◊ First of all I would get a lot more practice on Apple Mac’s as i think this is essential if you want to produce a good final product, and it is something I did not have when creating my portfolio. Also I would like to get my actor booked on definite dates and film the whole trailer in one weekend so as not to waste time, as I was not as organised as I could have been when filming & organising my shooting dates.

◊ The last aspect that I would improve on is that I would film it in the summer so as to maximise the time that could be spent shooting during g the day, but also to be able to get some amazing shots during the summer sunsets.

◊ To conclude I am quite pleased with how my Media A2 portfolio has turned out.