Evaluation 1

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

 

I have researched into many films trailers such as 'Fish Tank' and 'Cyber bullying'. In each trailer they use the title within the beginning of the trailer and then in the end they would show the release date. I thought id add the release date into the trailer so that it catches the readers eye so they become more interested in watching the new film. The font that I have used for both the title and release date is white, bold and clear. Which stands out on a black background. I have chosen this font as it fits nicely with our particular genre. Below shows a print screen of our title.

Our film trailer was based on a school student. This meant that we decided to film most of our clips within the school area. Any other trailers would film in and out of school to show as many different locations. But within our film trailer we wanted to make sure that it was unique. Below is a print screen of one of the clips. It shows two students (one which is the main character). Both of them arguing but in the mis en scene you can see the shot was located within school due to the computers and school work in the clip.

 

I think that my media production however breaks the convention of the use of costume and props. This is because in most media productions where they have include teenage bullying their characters are in school uniform. However in our trailer we didn't decide to stick to a dress code as we have based our students on sixth formers.

Within my film trailer I think that we had defiantly developed our camera angles. This is because due to our low grade last year we thought that we would use more creative transitions, camera work and editing. When we edited our trailer we use many fades in and fades out. However I also had chance to include a split screen. The reason for using this split screen was so that we were able to see to different characters within one shot. This was so we were able to see the clip from different point of views.  


 
 

Evaluation question 2

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

http://prezi.com/s0rsqut2jpax/present/?auth_key=121sjd3&follow=sya8ne70ua0s

Evaluation 4

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

The three main programmes that I used within my media coursework was Final Cut, Garage Band and Photoshop. Within last years coursework I had used these programmes which meant that I had more knowledge on how to use them for this year. I think my knowledge on these programmes had defiantly developed as I was able to use more effects on Final cut. For example fade in and fade out. When I created the film poster and magazine I was able to use the programme Photoshop. Where I was able to adjust the brightness and add effects and also add text. However when I did use Photoshop I did find it fairly difficult as the layout was totally different on the Apple Macs. This meant that I was able to gain more knowledge on how to use this programme and where the tools were.
I have used many programmes within this coursework such as Blogger. On here I was able to add texts, videos of trailers, research, and images. After constructing my trailer I used online socialising websites such as YouTube and Facebook. I used this so I was able to receive feedback on our film trailer.

 

 

Reseach on 'cyberbullying' trailer

Music ideas for our new trailer

As we couldn't use music that had already been made by artists we have made our own music. To do this I have used Garage Band.This piece of software allows you to create music using the different instruments and notes provided. It was fairly easy using this and it meant that I was able to create the music within the first few lessons during the time period of filming. To create this I have used the different instruments and dragged them onto the tracks. Here I was able to arrange the music in the composition I wanted. I think the music I have made works well with the storyline. However some of it could be seen as too repetitive. But again we wanted to make sure that it fit our chosen genre.

Plot idea for new trailer

Everything was going great for sixth form student Sahmeek until one day someone finds out her secret that she is gay. Sahmeek comes from an Islamic background which is why she had kept this secret. She confronts her friend Sara who was the only person who knew her secret. From this point she starts being bullied by people she though were here friends and she gets cyberbullied also. Once the bullying gets too much for Sahmeek she is faced with the option of the long process of counselling or ending her life. What will she do?

Title ideas

As we now have a new storyline for our film trailer, as a group we have discussed different title ideas that could fit the storyline. These are some of our ideas:

Unexpected

Complex                /

In a moment

Kept secret           //////

Betrayed

Complications     //

Misunderstood  //

After collecting audience feedback we have decided that 'Kept Secret' would be the best name for our trailer. This relates to our trailer as it is about a girl who is keeping something secret. It also doesn't give the story line away too much.

Changes

Unfortunately the clips we had already filmed for our trailer wasn't as good as we expected. We also had trouble scheduling times for myself and my group to film as well as relying on people to help us film our film trailer.
But as a group our final decision was to re-film and create a new story line where we could include students from our Media class. Myself and my group also wanted to improve our coursework so that we could achieve the highest grade possible. As a group we discussed storyline ideas, costumes, props, setting, camera angles and characters.  This meant that we would   scrap our original idea and start from scratch. 
During our media lesson we then created our new story line. This trailer would be based on a young girl who had got bullied by her so call 'true friends' who bullied her for her race. We then see at the end of the trailer her grabbing the scissors. This then leaves the story on a cliff hanger leaving the audience to wonder if the young girl committed suicide.
I thought this idea was fairly basic which meant that we could include more interesting ideas. Myself and my group wanted to base our story line on a true story.  When watching back at last years coursework we lost marks on the wind so within my trailer I wanted to make sure that I filmed in suitable weather conditions.
The location that we decided to film was and this was a very quiet area which suited our specific genre. We also filmed within our school because our trailer was based around childhood.
When recording our trailer we decided to refilm a few clips a number of times so that we knew that our filming was at a high standard and that we could achieve the highest grade possible. Within our trailer we used casual clothes and natural makeup. I think that our trailer was filmed fairly well but I think when it came to editing we had struggled to put the clips together as their was many parts which we needed to cut because it was very jumpy. But after having the knowledge of last year it meant that we were able to think of more creative ideas.

Film Poster design

Within my group we discussed the conventions of a film poster. We then decided that we would design our own film poster. I had drawn out some images that I decided that we would use for example an image of our main character croutched down onto the floor reading the texts messages. This would instantly tell the audience even from looking at the film poster that the film is based on a 'Drama'. It would also give an idea of what the story is about and you could clearly see that the film is based on a true stories as the theme of this trailer is 'bullying'. 

Film Poster and magazine

Final trailer

Audio

After editing our trailer I decided to create my own music which could be included. The programme which i had to use to create our own music was Garage Band. When using Garage Band their were a number of different sounds which you was able to combine together to create our own music for our film opening.
After watching romance films which related to our own.  It then gave myself and my group many ideas of how to create our own music. During the lesson we agreed on making sure that the music related to our genre which was 'romance/comedy'. This meant that we needed more instrumental music.
When creating our music we had to make sure that it fit with our filming time. Before saving our final film opening we are going to add the music to our film. This is so we are able to play our trailer while hearing our music in the background.
After creating our own music for our film opening I got some reviews from my own family and friends. The feedback which i collected was;

Feedback:
'' Very creative music which fits in with the type of genre of your film''
'' I think the music will fit in very well with the romance trailer. I think an improvement that you could make is maybe making the music a bit longer so that it fits more in with the filming time''.

Below is a printscreen of the programme Garage Band. On the side of the screen it is showing the different vocals, instruments and fx. When we had decided which music clip we wanted to use we would drag it onto the timeline and combined it in with the music. The problems we had during creating our music was that we had alot of gaps so we needed to fill them in. We chose many different vocals, instruments and fx to meet our genre which was social realism. Our film starts off with a slow tempo and then it builds up during the climax. It then builds up to a really fast tempo which builds up throughout the whole of the media production. I think myself and my group completed the music successfully because we all had ideas of how to relate our music to the genre which is 'romance'. Overal our music lasts for 2 minutes which runs through the whole of the trailer.

Peer assessment on my own Blog

Peer Assessment of my blog

This task was all about assessing each other's blogs and giving back positive feedback and constructive criticism.

Kayleigh assessed my blog and gave me the following comments: 

• For my research and planning, she said that it was Basic/Good, as not all of my research is complete and up to date yet as I still have to do some more research into trailers with a similar genre. 

• For my research into similar products and potential target audience I got a Good. 

• For my level of care and ICT in the presentation of research and planning I got a Good, as not all of my blog is text, I've added some relevant pictures and YouTube clips too.

Sharing on Social Networking websites

Once I completed my final trailer. I had uploaded it to social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube. I was then able to receive feedback from a large audience. This then gave me time to improve any conventions within my film trailer. I was also able to see what people liked within my film trailer. I was given good feedback from Lauren aged 18 " Very good film trailer. The  story was clear. For improvements I think maybe you could of included bullying quotes. Which would then make your point more clearer about bullying." The other comment that we got from Elizabeth aged 13 "Excellent trailer. For improvements I think you should make sure that your filming is more steady. Maybe try using a tripod to make the shots more still.

Personally I think that the feedback did help as we are now able to improve our film trailer before the deadline. This will also help us as we will know exactly what our target audience are looking for.

Overall I feel happy with our film trailer but I think that with the feedback that we were given. I think we should try and make sure that these improvements are completed by the deadline. I think we should personally try and change some shots. So then myself and my group are able to achieve the highest grade possible.

About Time

 

 

About Time

 

Summary:

"At the age of 21, Tim Lake (Domhnall Gleeson) discovers he can travel in time... The night after another unsatisfactory New Year party, Tim's father (Bill Nighy) tells his son that the men in his family have always had the ability to travel through time. Tim can't change history, but he can change what happens and has happened in his own life-so he decides to make his world a better place...by getting a girlfriend. Sadly, that turns out not to be as easy as you might think. Moving from the Cornwall coast to London to train as a lawyer, Tim finally meets the beautiful but insecure Mary (Rachel McAdams). They fall in love, then an unfortunate time-travel incident means he's never met her at all. So they meet for the first time again-and again-but finally, after a lot of cunning time-traveling, he wins her heart. Tim then uses his power to create the perfect romantic proposal, to save his wedding from the worst best-man speeches, to save his best friend from professional disaster and to get his pregnant wife to the hospital in time for the birth of their daughter, despite a nasty traffic jam outside Abbey Road. But as his unusual life progresses, Tim finds out that his unique gift can't save him from the sorrows and ups and downs that affect all families, everywhere. There are great limits to what time travel can achieve, and it can be dangerous too. "

 

 

Personally I think this trailer we could  mostly relate to. This is because our trailer involves going back in time. Myself and my group would like to create a trailer using similar conventions. Such as the beginning of the trailer it includes big white text on a red background. The red represents romance.  Also the audio is instrumental which I think would be best for our trailer. As the audience will automatically assume it is a romance due to the music. I think this trailer we will refer back to so we will be able to think of a number of different ideas. 

 

Age Ratings

The age rating that I have chosen for my film trailer is a PG. This is because our film is based on bullying which is targeted for all different ages.

Animatic

This post I will be writing about our anamatics. The reason for creating an animatic was to basically show the layout of our film opening. It shows sketches of our characters and the setting. However when filming we did change our setting as we didn't film in these specific locations. We had to make some changes as we were starting to run out of time to get our filming done for our trailer. We had a few problems within our group with filming schedules and relying on other people. Despite this, we haven't made too many drastic changes.

Conventions of a film trailer

Usually within the first part of trailers it will clearly show the institutions. They show the film production logo so that it creates an idea of the type of film the trailer is trying to sell. For example 'Dreamworks'. People will instantly know that they have a big reputation of creating family friendly films. The film title is in every trailer so you know what film it is that you want to watch. Sometimes they add the title in the end of the trailer so that you are more likely to remember it. As an audience they always have an idea of what the genre is and roughly have an idea of what the film is about. For example in the Hangover we have an idea that it is a comedy due to the font, colouring, and backdrop that they use. 

The film trailer that I watched was Kick Ass and the titles that they used looked comedic and bright colours were used. Whereas some horror films would have a black background and then white font which clearly shows it is based on a horror. 

Another key feature would be the music. By using the music it gives the audience an idea of what the genre and what the film trailer is about. Voice overs are mostly used in some film trailers and this is important to use because it would guide the audience throughout the film. The voice can be used on top of the footage. The voiceover can also be from sections of a dialogue. 

In every trailer they would use name captions and the captions that they use are either director names, producers names, quotes from the film and the release date. Personally I think that it is important to include the producers and directors name because some people may have a favourite producer. Which means that they will be more inspired to watch the film trailer.
Usually a film trailer would be rougly 1 minute 30 or up to 2 minutes long. But if it is a horror trailer it would be 10 seconds shorter this is because they wouldn't give too much away of the storyline. They also don't show as many titles. 
We watched many romance trailers so it gave us an idea of the duration of trailers. This then gave us an idea of how long our trailer needed to be. The time that myself and my group decided was 1 minute and 50 seconds. 
For our trailer we decided that we were going to have our title of our film which is 'Love The Second Time Round' then we were going to show each clip and then in between our clips we were going to show tag lines. Which would hint the story line to our audience. Sticking to the conventions of a trailer we were going to also include the character names, producers and directors. Also the release date will also need to be included within our film trailer. 

Conventions of a film trailer

Conventions of a Romantic Comedy

 

Using the Internet I have done some research into the conventions for a romantic comedy. Research said that the story line would be based on a typical boy who meets a girl. Then the end of the film it would show that they are in a happy relationship. But as I am completing a trailer I would show the relationship they had before and then the audience wouldn't know whether or whether not the relationship grows further.  The trailer would  also include a voice over explaining the characters and the story line. The reason for this is so that the audience know who is starring within the new film that is about to be released. They may also have certain favourites which may interest them to watch the film. Also another convention would be the trailer would be centered around a female character, the film is seen from her point of view.

Film Magazine Conventions v

Film magazine conventions: 

Image; This should reflect the audience and the style of the magazine. The main image is usually a mid-shot and the image is usually based on what the film is about. The image usually is the main character from the film. 

Masthead; This is usually a big bold text which is at the top of the page. It usually reads the words 'Empire' or 'Vogue'. This usually gives an idea of who the target audience are.

Buzz words; This is usually words that catch the audiences eye and will make them want to buy the magazine.
Anchorage text; The text that overlaps the image to tell what the story will involve, this could be a quote taken from an interview.
Banner; Gives overall information about the magazine and what will be found inside.
Barcode, date, issue date; This is needed in every film magazine

Case Study:

An example of a film magazine would be ‘Empire’. The magazine is issued every month by Bauer Consumer Media. It was first published in 1989. It has been published in many countries such as Australia, Britain, Turkey, Russia and Portugal. However in Britain it is the biggest selling magazine. 

Story Board

Character profiles

Tom was born in 1995 and grew up living in the countryside. He likes to spend his time boxing. In 2014 he met Louise online and asked to take her out on a date. This date turned into many more and they soon fell into a long time relationship. They enjoyed taking long walks together in the countryside and having romantic evenings. 

Full name: Thomas Barton

Nickname: Tom

Gender: Male 

Age: 18

Birthday: 19/12/1995

Place of birth: Kent

Lives: in the country side

Language spoken: English

Height: 6ft

Hair colour: Brown

Eye colour: brown  

Likes/ hobbies: Boxing

Dislikes:

Font options

 Title 1

 Title 2

 Title 3

 Title 4

 Title 5

 Title 6

 Title 7

After watching many romance trailers, we focused on titles. This is because we wanted to see what font designs they used. They mostly used text which had the handwritten effect.

Using Final Cut we was then able to explore a number of different fonts and then see which title suited our film trailer. After we had selected a few we was then able to ask our target audience which title they prefered the most. We was then able to take a vote using a tally to see what most people liked the most.

Beckie (aged 18): I much prefered title 4

Lauren (aged 18) I much prefered title 1

Peer Assessment by Lauren Tillett

As a class we were asked to partner up with someone and get feedback from
I like how the visual language is placed all the way through this. This draws attention to the individual posts. There is lots of detail explaining, but maybe talk about 'why' and 'how' things work together.
Maybe add some trailer/video examples.
Well done Louise!

Trailers based on romance/comedy

Locations, costumes and Prop ideas

I researched many ideas for locations, costumes and props to give us many ideas on what we could use within our film trailer.
I watched many romance films such as 'The Vow', 'Dear John' and 'About Time' These are all trailers which include romantic locations which we could use for our own. For example I had the idea of using an ice rink so that we could show a number of different shots. Also I was thinking that we could film near the Christmas tree to show the special occasions and all the memories they share. The other location I thought we could use was inside a house so we could show that the young couple are in love, they live together, their type of character.
We also thought about the costumes. We thought that we would dress the main characters in winter clothing and summer clothing. To show the different seasons and how they are still madly in love with one another as the years went on. We also thought that we could dress the young woman in a red dress, this would represent romance. The man would also wear a suit and tie to show that his dressed smart for the date.
The props that we are planning to use are flowers, candles and proposal ring. The reason why we chose these props is because these are the most common props used in romance films.

How to make a successful film poster

During todays lesson we had chance to create our own film poster. The film that i decided to base my poster on was The Hangover.
Before I created the poster I researched conventions of a film poster. I found that in most film posters it included images of the stars, star rating, directors, when the film is out in cinemas, the title and any tag lines. As this film is comedy i decided to use funny pictures from the film. The title is bold which is eye catching and would attract large audiences. I have also included the star rating as this gives the audience an idea of whether they would want to see the film or not. This is because if the star rating was below 3 it means that they wouldn't be so keen on watching this. Also some people like to see what stars are in films as they may have particular favourites.
The tag line for this film would be 'A night that will never be forgotton..' This gives an idea of what the film is about and what the audience should expect from it. I also researched many different fonts which are used in other comedy films and they are mainly black and bold. This is so it attracts large audiences and the people who enjoy comedy films will watch this.

Film posters

Title ideas

As a group we thought of some different title ideas. We are going to ask for some feedback on these titles to see which will be a popular title for our film trailer. We wanted to choose a title which didn't give too much information on what the trailer would be about.  

"When love goes back in time"

"About love"

"When the past becomes reality"

"Love the second time round"
"Second love" 

Plot of trailer

After thinking of many ideas for our chosen genre (romance). We made our final plot summary and this is about an old couple who are going through a rough time full of arguments.  After arguing for hours the woman decides that the arguments are too much and she feels that they are drifting apart. She then decides that she would like to pack her bags and leave her husband, as she rummages through her wardrobe, an old photo album falls onto the floor. The couple stop and look through the photos saying how in love they used to be and they wish they could go back to that time. We see the pages fly open stopping on certain photos. For example photos from when they have film nights and baking days at home. And also important memories like their first Christmas together and the day they got engaged.  Some of these photos will start playing as a video as a flash back memory. Throughout the trailer we will see different moments in their life both young and old. But as an audience we don’t know whether the couple get back together or not. 

Questionnaire

This is the questionnaire that myself and my group handed to 10 people. We mostly handed this questionnaire to our target audience which was ages from 12-18. With the results we were given back we were able to see what we must include within our media production and also the most popular title suggestion. We was then able to suit our trailer to our certain target audience.

Collage of romance film posters

Above shows film posters of romantic films. It gave me an idea of what I would like my film poster to look like. For every poster showing it clearly shows that the couple have a close relationship and that they are in love. They 

conventions of a film poster

Conventions of a film Poster:

·      It must be eye catching and captivating to the audience

·      Must be a focal picture that draws in to the audience eye

·      The title is displayed in a large, eye catching font

·      It clearly defines the films genre

·      The poster should be designed for big audiences

·      Their could be reviews or titles or films that the company has made

·      Information on production and director company

·      Indication of when the film will be released either a date or ‘coming soon’

Initial ideas for trailer

Promotional package

Our task was to research thriller films for a promotional package.  I have done this so it will help me think of  ideas for my trailer.  Completing this task will help me when I do a promotional package for my trailer as i will know everything that I need to include to promote my film even further. 

The trailer that I researched was The Woman In Black. Within this task I was able to count how many characters that were included, number of settings, number of cuts and number of titles. 

Number of characters -19  

Number of settings -25

Number of cuts -58

Number of titles -4

If I did decide to create a thriller/horror for my trailer this would give me an idea of what I need to include within my trailer.  For example to promote the film they would use and film posters and magazines. This would then advertise the film and persuades people to come and watch it at cinemas. 

Below is an image of the film poster. It clearly shows the actors name in a dark colour and this is to show the audience that the film is based on a thriller. Another convention which is used within the magazine and poster is the title. The title blends in with the dark backround.
The image of the poster and magazine shows the haunted mansion which gives the audience an idea of what the genre is based on.  The magazine clearly shows the image of the main character which is 'Daniel Radcliffe'. In the background their is the face of 'The Woman In Black'. It is very important to have the main characters on the magazine and poster so that the audience know who is starring within the new film that is about to be released.

This is a magazine cover for 'The Woman in Black', the colour that has been used is yellow which an orange outline. I feel this works really well as it makes all of the writing stand out and this will catch the readers eye. This will make the reader more likely to buy the magazine, because the magazine is bright the only dark part of the cover is the background and the close up image of the main character. There are not many conventions on this film magazine such as the bar code, price, other content in magazine, quote. I think that this makes this magazine cover less effective as it doesn't draw the reader in as they don't know what is in the magazine so they may not buy the magazine as they don't what is in the magazine.

Hunger Games: 

The other film that I had researched was the Hunger Games. I had researched into their film magazine and poster. The first one i am going to write about is the film poster. As you can see the colours they use are red and orange. This shows that the film is based on action. This is because the colours represent fire and violence. The text is bold and stands out to their specific target audience. It also has an image of the main character surrounded in fire. They also have a film magazine which clearly shows the magazine name which was 'FILM'. They also have an image of the main character surrounded in bright colours such as yellow and orange. They have a bold title which catches the readers eye. Below the title they have 'the most influential film made in years'. This then interests the audience and persuades the audience to watch it.

I have researched merchandise that they use to promote this film even further. They use posters, magazines, trailers, nail varnish, necklaces, key rings, board games, playing cards, books. This interests the audience and persuades them to buy these items so that they decide to watch this film when it is released in the cinema.

My task during today's lesson was to create a promotional package for a film trailer. Completing this task will help me when I do a promotional package for my trailer as i will know everything that I need to include to promote my film. 

The trailer that I researched was The woman in black film trailer; within this task I was able to count how many characters that were included, number of settings, number of cuts and number of titles. 

Number of characters - 19  

Number of settings - 25

Number of cuts - 58

Number of titles - 4

If I did decide to create a thriller/horror for my trailer this would give me an idea of what I need to include within my trailer.