Evaluation

Our Evaluation from sarah pierce on Vimeo.

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

We used YouTube to help identify the conventions of a horror trailer so that we could use and challenge this in our own horror trailers. We studied trailers similar to our own and looked at what all of these trailers held in common. We found that mainly there was a lot of use of vulnerable girls, an antagonist and a victim. Other conventions were screaming, concealed antagonist and shots used in the evening. We noticed lighting was particularly important in the trailers therefore decided to focus on this the most. We felt that the darker shots were very effective as it made people want to see more and come closer to the screen this is why we darkened our shots, using colour corrector so that we could give the same convention. We also used a concealed antagonist, his face is never shown and we feel that this makes it even more sinister and horrifying and again keeps in with the conventions of a horror. Instead of just copying other trailers we wanted to adjust these ideas to our own and hopefully not just change them but make them better. We aspired to pick and mix bits from trailers to make the best trailer with the best parts. We feel that we have done this particularly well with the way in which our shots get faster and so does the music creating tension. This is a good effect and leaves a lasting effect on the audience where they want more or wish that some of the shots were longer. 

Our film poster uses many of the forms and conventions seen in real film posters, in fact we based our film poster on the one of the film ‘Sorority Row’ as seen on our blog on our powerpoint presentation. We felt that to make our poster effective and to convey real media conventions we had to use shots that were striking and terrifying. This is so the audience would be able to associate the conventions of a horror with our poster. We decided to use two types of pictures one from the past experiences of the girls and the other pictures of the girls being tortured. This is to show the contrast of both pictures and to give the illusion that they have been watched. We felt that the dark-moss background effect allowed our poster to convey better media conventions, through using photoshop which real media products are made on, to capture better quality images. The dark moss effect captivates a more dark, sinister look associating it with a real horror trailer. The burnt out film strips made the poster look more professional in that we didn't just copy and paste basic images we modified images to fit in with the conventions based around horror themes.

The text involved had to be considered carefully so that it looked effective and similar to the ones seen in real media products. We used a quote from the Sun newspaper, following the conventions of many media products this is so the audience is able to associate good publicity with a good film. The title Reunion had to stand out , like in most film posters. This is so the audience remembers the title and want to see the film in cinemas. The tag-line is something that we incorporated from the poster Prom Night, as seen in our powerpoint presentation, we believe that this was an exciting tag-line adding to the conventions seen in most media posters. The institution of information was vitally important, however because it is generally so small it was hard to study other film posters to use the same context. We felt that our institution of informations looks realistic and like the ones seen in real posters. We had to use a certificate as this is necessary for our target audience, as ordered by the BBFC a certificate has to be given, we rated ours a 15. 

Our magazine front cover uses and develops the forms in which are seen in real media texts. From analyzing professional magazines such as Empire and Total Films, we were able to convey the same layout which they presented. It is important to study these texts so that we are able to capture the same level of professionalism they portray. We incorporated the forms and conventions that are associated with Empire and Total Films in that we used a large bold heading for the front title which made it stand out. It was important to think of a magazine name which stood out and could be seen on the front cover of a real magazine. We feel that Boss creates a definite impact onto the reader and is direct. We chose red because this was a convention used in Empire which we believed was successful. In order to make our magazine convey the real conventions of a magazine front cover, we had to include bar codes, an issue number, date and website. This makes the magazine front appear more professional to our target audience. These are all conventions seen in real magazines. We decided to use a red border around our film title, Reunion. This is so the audience are able to better recognize the title and want to see it in cinemas. 

We used a large font for ‘Imogen Hunt’ as we feel it is important to include the actresses name so people can associate her name with the film. The way Imogen is standing, however, isn't a typical convention you might see on a magazine front cover, challenging the stereotypes. In most you will see the actors in costume or in a scene from the film. We decided to make our actress in more of a model shot, yet still making her look how she did in the film: hair messed and looking frightened. This is so the audience can see what type of film Reunion will be. Because Imogen was more of a model then an actress we decided to use her in similar shots to Megan Fox and Kristen Stewart which is seen on our blog site showing strong female characters in a posing figure similar to how Imogen is. We decided to use the quote line ‘The Queen Of Horror” to portray a better image, that our film has been publicly recognized, similar to how other films are creating their success. We chose to use ‘Boss’ Top 20 Movie Stars’ as it made the magazine look more effective as small extras like this are often included in real magazines, following the conventions.  

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

we felt that the combination of our ancillary tasks with our trailer was very effective, we spent a lot of time considering how we would plan these out and what we would include in them to make them suitable for our target audience. We felt that the poster worked especially well with the film as the title Reunion on our poster was in a similar font as in the film with the same colours. This we felt connected them, and made them more interesting. We included more exclusive shots in the poster which weren't in the trailer and put happy shots of them underneath the negatives, this we felt also worked well as it caught their attention and worked with the trailer to give them more shocking images that made them want to watch it more. We felt that our trailer was much more interesting with a poster and that it would boost sales as it acts as an advertisement to attract more of our target audience. We also felt that with our catchy tag line "a night to die for' added to this and worked well with the trailer as all the scenes in it are also set of a night. We created our magazine just after our teaser trailer, as the film is not out yet and to have an exclusive interview with one of the stars in it we thought would work well for out trailer. This is because it will create a buzz around are trailer and will encourage people to read it and be more interested and involved in the oncoming film. To also be interviewed by a good magazine and be on the front cover also illustrates that it is rated the best oncoming movie as only a selected view make the front cover. This will persuade more people to watch it as they will be satisfied that it is worth seeing by its already good ratings and a must see by Boss magazine.  

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Initially, for audience feedback, we created a questionnaire so that we could establish what it was our target audience wanted to see in a typical horror trailer. We handed this out to a selection of our target audience. We saw that many that filled it in were ranged from 15-29 which we thought was good and useful when classifying our trailer. Our magazine and poster also got great audience feedback, many when looking at the poster liked the way we used negatives and thought that the composition of our shots on their worked well togther. Our magazine created attention by the way in which we used our typography our target audience though that it was eye catching and knew instantly that they were interviewing a star from a horror film. Lastly they liked the way we kept our title of our magazine simple as they noticed that each week it would be the same therefore it can not look like a horror theme, although had to tie in with everything around it which it did. We also looked at a range of films with similar story lines to ours, using  the Pearl & Dean website to establish what types of people; age, class and gender would be most interested in this type of film. We discovered the typical target audience for Reunion would be 15-24 year olds of both genders. When asked ‘What have we learnt from audience feedback’ after watching our finalized trailer the majority of our audience was impressed. We also felt that we have learnt what conventions must be in place in our trailer to 'wow' and attract an audience, for example, you need quick rapid pace shots to intrigue them and make them eager for more. That is why at the end of our trailer we have included coming soon, and after a short pause an effective shot of a victim being violently grabbed, this affected many people who watched our trailer and truly gripped their attention. 

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

The construction of the trailer entailed the majority use of new media technology. This included use of Final Cut Pro this is for the main construction of the trailer itself. Once the footage had been filmed we had to transfer it from the camera onto the computer and execute it using Final Cut Pro when using it at first it seemed a bit tricky and hard to get used to but after using it consistently it became easier to manage. We put flashes in between shots using the dip to colour effect changing the colour to white, we felt that this was effective as it made the shots look even quicker and made people want to come closer to the screen. We also used it to change the contrast and colour on some of the shots so that they were all near enough black and white and to make them look even more darker. We did this as we felt that the shots needed to be dark for a horror and that they must be around the same level we did not want to include some colour and some not as we felt that this would confuse the audience on what time it was. Photo Shop was used for the poster and magazine front cover, again this was hard to become familiar with considering we had never previously used it, but with consistent use and help from fellow workers we got used to it eventually. We used various effects using Photo Shop we felt that the most effective was the way in which we used our background on our horror poster. This is because we put paint on paper and scanned it in, to create a worn down effect, we enhanced this by making three different layers on top of each other and changing the colour of each to ash, grey and brown. This gave a good solid and errie background to work on for our poster. 

The negative effect also used on the images of them being tortured is effective as it shows the contrast and enhances their facial expressions making it even more horrific. Overall we were very pleased from the outcome of our poster and magazine by using Photo Shop and felt that if any changes were to be made it would be the image on the magazine front cover; only because we felt towards the end a action shot of her in the film may have been more effective and appealing, although we did recognize that magazine front covers do not always use a image from the film. Garage Band was used for the construction of our music for the trailer. We had to use this because of copyright issues meaning we could not use music from other sources such as YouTube. We found this difficult at first but after playing around with it and seeking help from teachers we eventually managed to complete a soundtrack for our trailer.  We used many templates from Garage Band and put them on top of each other, we then mixed up some of the notes to make them our own and also changed the tempo at times and put voice over’s from the footage. We felt it was effective as we got the music to get faster as the shots got faster and we felt that the music truly fitted the footage once we had aligned it up and made sure that each bit fitted each clip. When we had to film we found it strange getting used to the camera itself and the tripod again after not have using it in a while, however this was not long lasted as we pretty much got the hang of it straight away again. Fortunately in our group of three we all held our strengths in areas which others didn’t which came in really handy. For example one of us knew they were better at filming and another knew she was better at editing. 

In the planning and research for our trailer we used various technologies for instance we used pages to print out storyboard templates and to create our script which was very handy as it showed us how they should be laid out, and what should be included. We also used a program on the Macs called Inspiration, which helped us to create mind maps to illustrate what a horror trailer is and the difference between a teaser and a theatrical trailer. We felt that this was effective as it made our blog more creative and eye appealing and was an easier way to explain what they were. We decided to make it even more creative by creating a power point presentation on our props, locations and actors. This made it more interesting to an audience however blogger did not accept these files therefore we had to improvise and screen grab each page in order to made it an image to put on to the blog, so that it still presented itself as a power point presentation. When analyzing horror trailers we used links so that the reader can know what we were looking at and we also used images from the film on our blog to create a visual effect again to make our blog more presentable. We used spider diagram to present all our ideas and graphs used on Excel to show the results of our questionnaire sent out to establish our target audience and what they were looking for. We feel that overall we have used numerous amounts of techniques’ and more to make our blog presentable and exiting to an audience and have gained much experience by doing so. 

Lastly in our evaluating stage we have used visuals before of our poster and magazine, which were produced on Photo Shop so that when we wrote about it they knew what we meant. We also decided to evaluate our poster and magazine separately and have talked about aspects of it in this overall evaluation. This is because we wanted people to be able to look at it clearly before the read it and so that they can read and scroll back up to our work. We used a voice over and our title Reunion to create this evaluation as we wanted to make it more personal and show our creativity, we have also included a write up of it below in case of any complications or if we cannot be heard. 

Bloopers and Deleted Scenes

Recordings of what people thought of our trailer

Analysis of Our Poster

Analysis of our Horror Poster:

‘The best horror film of the year' This I feel is effective for my poster as it helps target my audience as it will encourage them that it is a worth seeing. It is also effective because it has been endorsed this by a well known newspaper 'The Sun'. I feel that the five stars enhances this and acts as a visual guide that is associated with high standards.  

I feel that my title ‘Reunion’ is effective as it contrasts with the background, and makes it stand out more. I like the dark red outline, as this is a colour associated with Horrors. I feel that it is strong and bold, which is what I wanted for I wanted an audience to look at my poster and be able to remember the name, and for it to stand out.

I feel that our tagline ‘A Night To Die For’ is effective as it draws an audience further and adds something chilling to the poster. It is used to also persuade an audience to watch the film, this is because it suggests that it is worth watching and ties in with a theme of death in horrors. I feel that the dark red colour and black stroke makes it stand out and links in with the themes of horrors, as the red links with the theme of death and gore.

I feel that ‘Coming Soon’ is also effective as it leaves an audience in suspense I feel that by using this it will act as a waiting line in which an audience can no linger wait to go see it. I feel that maybe this will also attract an audience, especially with the bold red and black stroke on the outside that make it even more intriguing and associated with a horror.

When analysing posters we noticed that they have small usually white print at the bottom with the production companies, editors and who starred in the film. We have included this in ours, as we want to show that it is a proper horror poster and that we have included everything a poster should have; making it look professional.

We have also included a classification sticker, underneath the credits, this is because we need to target an audience and when looking at the Pearl and Dean website we realised that many 15-24’s watch horrors the most this is why we have decided to classify ours at a 15.

I feel that the use of a negatives to show our collage of pictures if effective as we can show more shots without overcrowding it, persuading an audience to watch. I feel that this was useful as without this we would have had to pick one very strong image and it may have been harder with one to persuade someone to watch it.

I like the way that there are happy pictures beneath of them before with their friends and how it contrasts to more oppressed horrific scenes of them scared, hurt and tied up. I feel that this is a good effect and shows to the audience the extremes of the pictures. I also like the fact that the after pictures are in a inverted effect this i feel truly shows the emotion and extremity of their situation. 

I feel that the use of our background is very effective as I used a few layers of paint that I scanned in and put on top of each other. I then changed the colours to create different ash and brown colours. This was to give an eerie effect and an old effect to the negatives. I feel that it gives the effect that they have been torn by the background and are deteriorating, just like the victims are.

Analysis of Our Magazine Front Cover

Evaluation of our above magazine cover:

I feel that are tag line underneath works well with the title, and I feel makes it more persuasive, as it suggests that we are the ‘Boss of all movies’. I feel that this will entice a reader to buy it and makes it more interesting and exiting. I feel that is effective the way it is is white as although it is in a smaller text it makes it stand out and eye catching.

I feel that the bold, red title of our magazine is eye catching and stands out. I feel that the name ‘Boss’ is strong as well and shows that we are a good magazine striving to be the best! I feel that the word also is relevant to a magazine for example Empire; it needs to be bold and stand out and I feel that our title does this.

I like the way that our barcode is in the corner and does not cover up any of our image. I feel that this is important as it is not the focus point of the magazine and should be kept away from the focus point. I also feel that the way we have extended the border around the barcode to put in the date, issue and price is also effective as it saves room and shows that these are also conventions of magazine front covers and that we have used them.

Strong, bold image of the celebrity, this is the focus point and will make people want to pick it up by recognising her. I feel that it is effective as she has a worrying and scared look on her face and her hair is a little bit messed a like in the trailer. She also looks vulnerable and the way she's looking back makes it look as if she's always worrying and looking over her shoulder in case someones coming. We also duplicated a layer of her and moved it over to create a shadow by colouring it in black and changing the opacity level. We though that this was effective as it made her look as she was actually in the background and not like a cut out.

Background colour is am image of a concrete wall in which we changed the contrasting levels to make it darker to fit in with the horror theme. I feel that this is effective as it gives an eerie effect especially in the way that we have used dark patches and changed the opacity to make it look like shadows. This I feel gives a dark effect associated with horrors and seems as if someone is over powering and over shadowing her.

I Feel that the use of ‘Plus’ is effective as it suggests that that is not all. That the buyer is getting much more for the price and that they should buy it as its worth it. I feel that the yellow colour used is also effective as this is also a horror colour and I feel works well with the other colours of black, white an red.

‘The queen of horror’ excites the reader as it shows that she is the best for that genre. I feel that this will entice people to read her interview inside as she is branded the best. The font used is also in a horror like theme this I feel adds to the horror theme and goes with the other fonts and typography on the magazine.

Her name is one of the biggest fonts, it stands out, I feel that this is because she is recognised as a star, therefore people will want to see her name in bold, and it must stand out. We also felt that the font style an colour worked well for we put the white outline of 'Hunt' in the inside which we felt gave a better effect. I feel that the contrasting colours of each of her name in the white and black makes it stand out more and gives a great effect that really stands out and reaches an audience.

I feel that the red box around the name of the movie makes it stand out and makes the typography more interesting. I feel that this is needed for we want people to remember and recognise the name so that we can widen our target audience and attract more people.

Strong words such as ‘exclusive’ makes the reader feel that it is limited and that it is one of a kind. This therefore is a persuasive technique to entice an audience. I feel that the way we have also used this in yellow which is another colour associated with horrors makes it stand our further and truly shows that it is a great interview and worth reading and watching.

Analysis of Magazine Covers

Our Teaser Trailer: Reunion

Script

Screenplay: Reunion

[1:1] INT. OFFICE/STUDY-MID DAY

Someone is sending out emails to four girls inviting them to a school reunion

[1.2] INT. BLACKMOORE SCHOOL HALL- EVENING

A shot of four pictures are on the projection screen cut to the girls in the hall looking up in shock, and noticing that they are the only ones there. Quick close up shots of each picture cut to them still looking and then the lights turn off all of a sudden.

ANNIE KINGSTON

“THIS IS SO WEIRD”

[1.3] INT. PHOTOGRAPHY DARK ROOM, BLACKMOORE SCHOOL-EVENING

The antagonist is developing pictures of the girls stroking a particular picture of Annie, showing they have been watched.

[SOME SAY YOU NEVER FORGET YOUR FIRST LOVE]

[1.4] INT. PHOTOGRAPHY DARK ROOM, BLACKMOORE SCHOOL- EVENING

Annie is crouched under one of the tables in the photography dark room waiting in anguish

1.5] INT. SCHOOL TOILETS, BLACKMOORE SCHOOL- EVENING

Stacey is doing her make up in the toilets whilst the girls are in the hall, unaware that someone else is also in the toilets

[1.6] INT. PHOTOGRAPHY DARK ROOM, BLACKMOORE SCHOOL- EVENING

Annie is crouched under one of the tables in the photography dark room while the antagonist slowly walks past her

[1.7] INT. SCHOOL TOILETS, BLACKMOORE SCHOOL- EVENING

Stacey is doing her make up in the toilets whilst the girls are in the hall, unaware that someone else is also in the toilets, the door of the cubical behind her slowly starts to open as she turns around in shock to see who it is.

[BUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN LOVE TURNS INTO OBSESSION]

[1.8] INT. ELEVATOR, BLACKMOORE SCHOOL-EVENING

Sarah runs into one of the lifts to escape the antagonist who is chasing her

[1.9] INT. CORRIDOR, BLACKMOORE SCHOOL-EVENING

Annie is running away from the antagonist but looks behind incase her friends are nearby who she has been separated from

[2.0] INT. STAIRCASE, BLACKMOORE SCHOOL- EVENING

Sarah is frantically running trying to get away from the antagonist you see her fall down the stairs because of this in a dramatic way

[2.1] INT. HALL, BLACKMOORE SCHOOL-EVENING

Ellie is hiding underneath the stage by the steps as the antagonist begins to approach her, she is waiting in fear

[2.2] INT. CORRIDOOR, BLACKMOORE SCHOOL- EVENING

Annie is desperately trying to escape from the antagonist in the corridor to find somewhere to hide

[2.3] INT. HALL, BLACKMOORE SCHOOL- EVENING

Point of view from Ellie hiding under the stage a hand comes down and she is grabbed viciously by the antagonist

[2.4] INT. HALL, BLACMOORE SCHOOL-EVENING

Sarah has been locked in a trap door under the stage of the hall and desperately tries to climb out of it

[2.5] INT.LIBRARY, BLACKMOORE SCHOOL- EVENING

Sarah is grabbed from beneath a table viciously as she is hiding from the antagonist

[2.6] INT. CLASSROOM, BLACKMOORE SCHOOL-EVENING

Annie locks herself in one of the side office which is separated with a glass window

[2.7] INT. CORRIDOOR, BLACKMOORE SCHOOL-EVENING

Ellie hears someone coming fearing it in the antagonist she hides behind the door as he then slams it open, almost hitting her

[2.8] INT. CLASSROOM, BLACKMOORE SCHOOL- EVENING

The antagonist picks up a chair to smash it against the window to get to Annie

[THEY ALWAYS SAID LOVE HURTS]

[NOW IT KILLS]

[REUNION]

[COMING SOON]

[2.9] INT. CLASSROOM, BLACKMOORE SCHOOL- EVENING

Stacey is hiding in one of the classrooms behind a curtain when all of a sudden the antagonist comes up behind her dragging her away

Storyboard

Target Audience Pearl and Dean (Paranormal Activity)

We also done research on the BBFC looking at cases on films that caused an outrage and looking at the classification ratings so that we knew what to classify our film under. We decided to classify it a 15 as we felt that our trailer being a horror would show some strong violence and language, and aggression that would not be suitable for under 15's.We also decided to classify it a 15 so that we could attract a bigger audience for if we classified it an 18 and had stronger scenes others that were younger would not be able to see it therefore downloads and copyright may become a problem in this case. 

The above screen shot is from the Pearl and Dean website this helps us to identify when creating our poster and trailer what audience we are trying to target. It shows what age, gender and class might watch a horror alike what we are planning to make. On looking at this it shows that 55% of 15-24 watch horrors therefore when it comes to classifying my horror trailer I feel that a 15 certificate would be the best, as then we can apply to a wider range. It shows also that more women than men by 2% watch this. 51& of women enjoys this sort of horror than men. This I feel is good for I know that we are attracting both sexes and that they will not be thrown away from a horror just because maybe its all women or men. Lastly it shows that the class that mostly targeted is C1, this shows that lower middle class workers are attracted to this sort of horror the most. These are small business owners, managers and supervisors, however they do attract a much wider range of class to therefore we will be targeting skilled workers as well.

Target Audience Pearl and Dean (Saw 1 )

The Pearl and Dean website allows us to see the target audience, which Saw is trying to attract. Through using categories of age, gender and class shows us a wider range of a target audience in that their are alternating factors to who the film is aiming to attract, it is not just one or the other but all three go into account. The age group shows that the majority of the viewers are 15-24 (60%). This fits in the certificate of the film being a 15, and that why the ages below show 0%. The target age group has been set at teenagers and young adults due to their young impressionable minds on the films, they are less likely to be disturbed by the film or find it offensive. The target gender is male being at 67%, this is because men are typically more attracted to horrors. Even though in our trailer it may attract females because of the all girl cast, because of the male attraction to horrors, our idea will be successful in that both genders will be attracted to the film by the trailer. According to demographics on the Pearl and Dean website class C1 make up the majority of the audience followed by DE, with the percentage of 42% and 30%.

Target audience Pearl and Dean (Drag me to Hell)

The above screenshot from the Pearl and Dean website will help us when targeting an audience. This is because it shows what type of people and ages may watch horror films. Firstly when looking at the age groups it shows that the majority of 57% that watch horrors like this are 15-24. Taking this into consideration when coming to planning and creating our own horror, we would make sure that we give it maybe a 15 rating so that it also appeals to this age segment. Horrors in general target a small percentage more of men to women, as shown above women that watch this is 41% although men are 59%. This is helpful as when coming to our trailer we know that we need to use both male and female roles to attract both sexes, it also shows that men are not thrown of watching a horror even if the main character is a woman. It also explores that the class that watch Horrors are generally DE and C2. This means that mostly semi-skilled to skilled manual workers watch Horrors. However a proportion from each class segment do watch it so we would be targeting all. This may effect our choice of location of where to film as some Horrors such as One missed call, are in wealthy areas with big houses. However others are in streets and maybe don’t even show houses and everyday living. This will help us with ours as I feel a everyday middle class will attract the majority of these classes and will shock an audience more.

Final Idea

Our final idea is that there is a boy, five years previously that really wants this girl, Imogen. However, this cannot be and she tells him this. This makes him even more obsessive about her, and he starts to stalk her and take pictures of her. It is not till five years after that he finally accepts she will never be his therefore he decides that she should die instead. He creates a fake reunion inviting imogen and her friends back to school little do they know it will be filled with horrors as he is out to kill them all and wreck havoc in Imogen's life before killing her.

Planning of our Trailer Presentation & Initial Horror Ideas

The difference between a Teaser and a Theatrical trailer?