Final Poster

Evaluation Question 4

Image 1 - Blogger - Blogger was extremely useful to me throughout and I much preferred using this internet site than actually writing it out. Writing what I have written on my blog would have posed problems such as difficulty to edit e.g. if something in the middle needs to added then you would have to cross out your work and write it up again, whereas with Blogger easy edits can be made and I don’t have to worry about the scruffiness of my handwriting.

One major advantage of using Blogger was its ability to easily add video’s and pictures to the write up and embed them within the text. This is a real benefit because this meant that my work could give actual examples which therefore would enable the examiner to see the effort put in. Another huge advantage to using Blogger was its excellent ease to structure your work well with pictures below and formatted around the text. The tidy structure adds professionalism to the write up making it look like a more sophisticated and well thought out piece of work.

Image 2 - Facebook - Facebook proved and excellent source of feedback from friends and family as I was able to upload my pictures and filming that I had used and from then they could look at these products and give their view on suitable images for my ancillary tasks and what/what not to include in my teaser trailer. Below are some of the comments I received from one of the images I uploaded onto Facebook.

Image 3 - Corel Video Studio – The reason I don’t specify which version Corel Video Studio I used is because I used 2. One was Corel Video Studio X2 which was the software on the school computers and the other software I used was an updated version of this (Corel Video Studio X4) which I had on my laptop at home so I could work on my project outside school hours. Corel Studio was easy to use after a short while of getting used to the software and I was able to easily cut and edit my film appropriately. Cutting and editing weren’t the only tools I used when using Corel, I used special text effects for my title, provided on the X4 version and adding special effects such as lightening or darkening a scene were used to improve on my teaser trailer. Overall the software was very easy to use and without it I would have struggled, both versions had their benefits but in the end I found the X4 version much better because of its advancements and its improvements in general areas, for example a larger variety of special effects for both text and filming.

Image 4 - Photoshop – CS5 – This software programme proved to be very useful and unlike with Corel Video Studio I had worked with Photoshop in the previous year so I was already familiar with the editing tools and how I could use them to my advantage. I enjoyed using Photoshop very much and I would say the most difficult piece of editing was for the title of my magazine where I used the “Wind” effect tool to create a white, faded backdrop for enhancing my title. I used the software for both ancillary tasks adding mostly just text to the poster and adding more effects to the magazine. The real advantage, although indirect, was that I had previous experience with the software so using tools such as the wind effect tool and the clone stamp tool were very simple and required less thought.

Image 5 - Google – Google was the search engine I used to find exactly what I needed by typing key words into the search engine and finding some really valuable information. Google is a quick and easy way to find information and research, for example when I forgot a URL of a reccomended website I was able to tpye OCR MEDIA into google I was able to track down the webpage I was searching for Get Ahead OCR Media

Image 6 - Soundcloud – Soundcloud is a webpage I signed up to after my teacher recommended it to me. The site allowed me to do one main thing and that was to upload a voice recording or sound that I had made and then allowed me to use the file created from here and embed it within my blog. This helped me in particular with evaluation question 3 where I voice recorded feedback of my media products uploaded it to Soundcloud then embedded the created file onto my blog.

Image 7 - Webcam Companion 3 – Webcam allowed me to do what I did with Soundcloud but in a more advanced style. What Webcam Companion 3 allowed me to do was video the feedback given from my friend using sound and video (mp4) rather than just a sound (mp3). This contributed thoroughly to my evaluation question 3.

Image 8 - Youtube – What YouTube granted me was a easy and extremely helpful site where I could view and research as many teaser trailers as I wanted for free. The main videos from this site I watched were horror movie trailers in doing research for my teaser trailer looking out for specific codes and conventions from the trailer. I also hoped for the best when I typed into YouTube’ search engine – media A2 student’s teaser trailer and found several student trailer I could analyse. The real advantage of analysing a student’s trailer is that you can relate to it with the lower quality cameras and the considerably lower budget. From researching both student and professional teaser trailers I could identify any codes and conventions I needed to follow and any mistakes made or anything that I should try and avoid in the film making process.

Image 9 – Panasonic S50 Video Camera - To compile all my film material I used the Panasonic S50 which proved to be reliable in use. I was a little disappointed initially when I saw my filming footage having an improved mental image of what it would turn out like in my head but I think that my expectations were exceedingly high considering I had never really watched an amateur movie whereas HD movies seem to be the norm in the present day. The real advantage of using the Panasonic S50 however was that not only was it easy to handle and very reliable but it wasn't a tricky gadget to use in that all was required was to hit the record button and then the stop button. It took me a couple of minutes and a brief panic to find the charging slot but this was not a major issue.

Image 10 – Nikon D60 Picture Camera - Then there was the Nikon D60 used for picture taking for the ancillary tasks. I found this a very successful task in that in one period I got all my pictures taken how I wanted them and they came out brilliantly. The camera was very practical in that it was of a high standard yet it wasn't too tricky to use.

Evaluation question 3

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Below is a short clip filmed by my laptops webcam programme and the first clip is of one of my main characters from my teaser trailer, Ellier, the young, dark girl.

The clip is of me, the interviewer, asking her questions on how she prepared for acting the role of a scary,disturbed girl.

The second clip is another interview, however this video footage is collecting feedback rather than posing question on acting and performances. The questions are directed at the Teaser trailer and both ancillary tasks and the feedback is recieved Below is the feedback I recieved from a critic (one of my friends who is a media student attending another school).

Evaluation Question 2

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

Line 1 - (Trailer - Poster) - This line is indicating the haunted male character - in both products we can see that the character is chilled, frightened and this tells the audience who has the balance of the power and that is the younger girl. In both media products to add emphasis to who has the balance of power we can see that his shirt is ripped showing clear signs of who is the dominant force.

Line 2+5 - (Trailer - Magazine/Poster) - Line 2 is the link between the Poster and the Teaser caption and this shot represents simlilar aspects to Line one where we can see that the girl ulimately is in control over the male character. Both also have aspects of low key lighting which is conventional is horror movies and although the poster doesn't look as if its dark the main body of the picture where the character is standing is and the lighting here was controlled in the same way as it was in the film caption, by using the blinds/curtains to allow x amount of light in. 

Line 5 is the link between the magazine and the teaser and the key similarities here are the darkness of the costumes. The girl is clearly dressed in all black in the magazine with a black necklace, black eyeliner/makeup and black clothing emphasising the gothicness and darkness of the girl and this is the same in caption from the teaser trailer although harder to see.  

Line 3 - (Trailer - Poster) - Line 3 isn't actually like the other lines where key similarities are presented, however it does show how using the title differently can still be as effective. In the poster the title is the same but instead of using text I used pink lipstick and I feel from feedback given it works well. The title is used differently in the film where I used special text effects to show off the title.

Line 4 - (Trailer - Magazine) Line 4 is of the girl and in both images she is clearly showing of her scariness, gothicness and darkness. These are 3 aspects I wanted the girl to carry and as the main villain these 3 aspects are conventional of any villain in a horror movie. Both shots are also extreme close ups and they are really good to emphasise the horror of the girl. By using an extreme close up we can see the details of her face more - the detriated eye liner and make up and devilish look about her, looking as if she wants to cause some pain and so by using these close up shots you understand more and gain more detail from the image than if she were far away in the distance looking on.

Line 6 - (Trailer - Magazine) - Line 6 comprises of the significance of the two titles being similar. You can clearly see that the font and the colour (a faded white colour) of both the "Ready Or Not" titles are the same. The importance of this is highly signficant as now the audience can relate the Magazine to the Film by just looking at the title therefore promotions are boosted. In my case this relation between the Magazine and the teaser are essentiall as the poster and magazine are fairly different to each other, especially as I decided to use different characters in the different ancillary tasks.

Evaluation question 1

Evaluation Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film trailers)


Below is my 9 frame "Art of the Title Sequence" where the 9 frames obtained as still images from the trailer represent the teaser trailer as a whole. Below is the 9 frames and an analysis of each one

Frame 1 – Frame 1 is the title of the film. The title has to be used effectively in the teaser trailer because the title is one of the main forms of promoting the film. When people see the title of the film, in the newspaper for example, and what the teaser needs to have done is made a clear establishment that the title “Ready or Not” will be instantly associated with the trailer, in other words there needs to be a clear link of the film to its title.
The title is actually used differently in the film and in the ancillary tasks, because with the poster the title is used within the photo i.e. its self formed from the picture and no text or software is used to make it (the title is the lipstick drawn on to the mirror as shown below. This is different in the teaser trailer as I used a special text effect called “Lorem Ipsum” where the text flashes when it appears and then disappears. I feel this text effect worked a lot better than just a simple fade-in/fade-out effect.

With the colour of the text a black backdrop is used with flashing white text, these two colours the black clearly portrays darkness and horror which are key aspects of my film and the white represents absence and in some cultures like the Asian culture it represents death. Absence and death again are two key aspects of my film. But it wasn’t just the representativeness that directed me to choose black and white but it was how both the colour agree with each other and really work together well creating a dark mood which I was looking to present.

Frame 2 – Frame 2 is the location of my filming, it is a 19th century (parts of the house are also early 20th century) household located in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire.

This house in particular was perfect for my filming as it was old, spooky, and looked fairly run-down in parts and carried conventions of houses usually seen in horror films. For example below(left) is the picture of the house I used and below(right) is a picture of the house used in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, you can see similar characteristics such as size and its age.

The outside was never actually shown in the film however I did plan for an establishing shot to be used, although I never included it in my film. Below is the establishing shot that I shot but never made it into my teaser trailer, this is because it was hard to get the body of the house in because of bushes in the way and because of its width.

Although the outside of the house was never used the inside was. The locations of the teaser included the basement/cellar area, the main house and the corridor. These 3 areas were all instrumental in the making of my film. The cellar and the house were similar in that they were old and fitted the conventions of a horror movie.
Below are pictures of the corridor and the cellar.
 The corridor

The Cellar

 

 Frame 3 - In this frame I will be talking about the materials and costumes used in the production of my teaser trailer and ancillary tasks.
To begin with, materials. Firstly I used mascara, eyeliner and other makeup items to dress up the female character. The makeup used enhanced the scariness of the girl and I feel without these materials the girl would look very ordinary and would not contribute to the horror genre as the girl alone would not scare the audience. An image below shows the different makeup items I used on the girl to make her more scary.

Secondly there was Costumes. The costumes were a significant part of both my film and ancillary tasks. I feel that costumes really gave my actor and actress character and a convetonal horror image. For the male actor I used an old shirt which I ripped up and smeared ketchup on. Then I let the shirt dry so it was easier to wear without making a mess. Below is a picture of the shirt once finished. By adding the ketchup and the tears it gave the male character a roughed up look which again conventonally fitted my horror teaser.

The females costume was more simple. It consisted of dominantly black to give the girl a gothic, disturbed and darkened image. A picture of her costume is shown below.The conventions of the female character match the conventions of the teaser itself expressing both darkness and

A prop is an object used in a film or in my case a trailer used to enhance and add character to a performance. In my case I have used props such as a baseball bat, a baby doll and a torch, and all 3 items were used for 3 very different reasons. 

Firstly the baseball bat was used in a scene where the male character was seemingly scared and preparing himself for the wrath the girl is about to bring. I decided to use the baseball bat to add effect and show that the character was scared. What the baseball bat showed was that the male character was using it as a form of protection sharing with the audience that there is need for this protection and it leaves them asking protection from what? In what form? Will the male overcome the female character?

Another prop I used was the baby doll. This was used to try and portray control and power which the girl has over the male character. This is shown as the doll is used as like a voodoo doll where she is telling him that she will "find him" and "kill him slowly". Like a high angle shot it shows dominance and power.

The final prop I used was the torch, this was used for a completely different reason than the baseball bat and the baby doll. The purpose of the torch was that it was used to cut to the next takes. The torch was flashed in to the camera and as soon as the light from the torch reached the shot of the camera it would switch to the next scene/take. This technique has also been used in the trailer of Friday the 13th where the torch is used consecutively to cut to the next scenes.  

Frame 4 - The 4th frame is about camerawork and editing. In this particular shot it was a point-of-view shot where the camera is held and when walking about with it or in this case down the stairs it acts as a 1st person shot where its as if you are the one walking down the stairs. The effectiveness of this is that it involves the audience and makes it feel like they are the character, they are the person walking down the stairs and it adds to the tension created in that moment. 

The other most effective type of shot I used was an extreme close up of the girl when the light comes on. Furthermore, this shot was enhanced by editing. The editing wasn't however of the clip it was of the soundtrack (saw movie instrumental). By editing the soundtrack I was a able to make the trailer slow down just before the clip when the lights off, then the track would pick up and becuase of the louder, liver noise the clip becomes more scary and that is what the target audience of horror fanatics are looking for, a movie that will scare them. 

Frame 5 - Frame 5 concerns the titles and texts size and font. All pieces of text were a size 80 and the font was Times New Roman. I kept it fairly simple for the text with the font and fairly large size and plain white colour. At the start however for the the few textual references I used an overlay of some dark smoke because I felt it looked a touch too plain. However with the exception of the title where I used a special effect there was once piece of text which I altered from the others and this was the date of which the film is released and this is the image in the frame. For this I used the same font and size but I changed the colour to red. This shows the significance of this paricular textual reference and that is its date of release. This needs to successful as if the audience find the trailer appealing then they want to know when it is and this shot does exactly that. 

Frame 6 - Frame 6 involves the story and how its set up. The story revolves around the two main characters Eleanor and George (the young scary girl and the haunted older male). The trailers aim is to appeal to the audience without giving too much of the story away and my trailer does this by doing what all conventional horror trailers do, and that is to show the build up points, when its just about to become scary and when its very tense. Perhaps followed by 1 key point from the movie but given that, its essential nothing too major is revealed. One way I did this was by seperating the two characters and showing them individually with the exception of one scene nearer the end.

Frame 7 - The next frame is of the male character being haunted by the little girl. One key aspect of this frame and a real convention of horror teaser trailers is that it is pre-dominantly shot in low-key lighting. One way I managed the lighting is by using my curtains. They worked conveniently well as all I had to do was draw them up to make it more light and down to  let in less light. 

My teaser is shot througout in relatively low-key lighting and this is one of many conventions I have followed. I have also followed conventions such as spooky and gloomy locations (with the cellar and the house having similar characteristics of many locaions in horror movies). 

Frame 8 - Frame 8 involves the introduction of characters and in my teaser trailer this is done within seconds with the male character entering the house to the low deep sound of the music. This edited synchronisation of the music track and the entrance of the character who will be haunted my the young female character. George is introduced through the front door of the household. The female character on the other hand is introduced very differently and in a much scarier way. The female is introduced at one of the scary points within my trailer so that the audience are aware that she is the main villain and threat within the trailer and therefore the film. 

Frame 9 - The final frame is of the young girl at the end with one of the props (baby doll) and is singing a rhyme of "Ready or nor, here I come, Im going to find you, and kill you slowly". The nursery rhyme was seen in a handful of teaser trailers that I watched and researched, for example in the teaser trailer of "The Orphan" Esther, the main character, sings a short nursery ryhme at the end and it worked well in that its creepy, so after researching this I decided to add one into mine at the end as a sort of send off. However this did extend my trailer to just over a minute which was unplanned. I initially wanted my trailer to last 45 seconds or so but this was not a major problem.