Note To Moderator

Dear Moderator,

I worked in a group with Charlotte Wells – Candidate number: 7202

My brief was to create a promotional package for the release of a new film, including a trailer, poster and a website.

Charlotte and I worked together on most aspects of this project; however we did split the responsibilities in some areas.  During the project I was responsible for, making the newspaper and writing the story, the animatronic storyboards, sourced some locations, the news report for the trailer, the bloody handprint for our poster and the cast page of the website.

We worked separately on our evaluation.

Please use the labels to easily navigate my blog.  

Nicole Margetts – Candidate Number: 2243

Trailer (Final)

Ancillary Tasks (Final)

Ancillary Task 1. - Poster

 

 

 

Ancillary Task 2. - Website

http://edgyn69.wix.com/websitefortrailer

Evaluation Questions (Final)

Question 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a real media product?

 

 

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

 

 

Question 3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

 

 

 

Question 4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

 

 

Update 43

I believe I have finished my evaluation questions and I am happy with them. I will ask miss for feedback now and see what she thinks.

Now I will go through my blog and make sure everything is okay (named and labelled properly).

Evaluation Question 2. (draft 3)

Evaluation Question 1. (Draft 4)

Mrs D

Well done for improving Question 1. It seems strange that you talk about the c and cs of a trailer and then move to your ancillary tasks. Get rid of the ancillary tasks at this point. The theory is good and the visuals match well to what you are saying. To improve, lower the volume of the sound when you are talking as it becomes difficult to hear (this is when you are talking about the use of sound). when talking about text it is just a blank screen. Well done you are nearly there.

Update 42

I have finished the video for question 1. tonight and uploaded it earlier. I have also gone through and updated question 3.

I have also put up the second draft of question 2. It now has more detail and is no longer just 54 seconds long.

Tomorrow I will get feedback from Miss Dobbs and make any changes I need to based on that.

Evaluation Question 2. (Draft 2)

Evaluation Question 1. (Draft 3)

Evaluation Question 1. (Script - Adding even more!)

The highlighted parts represent editing I have made to the script throughout

(It does not include the new section about the website)

 

Hello and welcome to question 1. of my evaluation. Question 1 asks 'In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a real media product?'

In this I will be discussing and giving evidence for where I have and haven't used, developed and challenged the forms of a real media product.

So first things first, what is the purpose of a trailer? The purpose of a trailer is to begin to advertise a future film. To establish the characters and the narrative a little bit. To let the audience know the genre and co create hype.

A trailer also uses the enigma code. This refers to the little hooks trailers employ to set up an ambiguous mystery and catch the audience.

On the screen now are my 3 media products. On the left is my poster and on the right my trailer and a screenshot of my website. We will begin by talking about the trailer.

My trailer and the 'Willow Creek' trailer are similar in many ways. They both have first person shooting and a lot of both trailers take place in the wood.

The first main difference between the trailers is the fact that my killer is a human whereas theirs is Bigfoot. So in some ways here you could say that they are challenging the conventions of a horror film and I am not.

However my killer is not the conventional killer either. He is quite young and lanky whereas killers in horror films are typically either masked or big 'scary' looking men who fit the stereotype of what we as a society are taught to fear and keep away from.

In some ways this makes our killer scarier because he could be anybody you walk past on the street and you wouldn't know because he's not the stereotype you are taught to fear.

The woods in both of these trailers match the conventions of a horror film because they are isolated and dark. This makes the setting a little bit scarier because they can't 'see' what’s coming and they also can't escape or get help.

We have used quite a few point of view (POV) shots which helps the audience to connect to the character more because they feel like they are in the situation of the character.

Historically POV shots show the killer and/or monsters POV, however more recently they have been from the POV of the protagonists.

We have also done a few 'hand-held' camera shots. These mean that its not always clear to the audience what’s going on creating a little more intrigue.

The music in our trailer is very important because it helps to set the scene and build up the tension. We have used a couple of non-diegetic sounds in regards to the scream and the news reporter voice over.

The pace of the music can impact on the trailer because it helps to build tension with the clips you are seeing. However if the music was flat and had no build then the footage doesn't impact nearly as much.

A scream is quite conventional of a horror film so we aren't really breaking any major barriers there but it can also be quite disturbing for some people.

Quite frequently in horror films we see the colours black and red because they are dark and link to things like evil, blood and danger. We have also used these colourings in the texts we have used. This iconography helps the audience to make the connection quite early on that it is a horror film.

By using text in our trailer we were able to get information across quickly and effectively. Text also helps to anchor the narrative.

When we first started with our trailer it didn’t seem much like a trailer and more like a short film. When editing it we had to keep in mind that trailers and films have different conventions and we tried not to stray too much towards a film type feel.

Typically films are chronological whereas trailers don’t have to be. Ours starts at the beginning of the story but as we get towards the middle we start to jumble up the storyline. This helps the audience to distinguish that this is defiantly a trailer and not a film.

One thing we have that majorly challenges the conventions of a horror trailer or film is the fact that none of our protagonists survive. The film is set up to simply tell their story. There are no real 'hero's' in this.

In some ways this makes it scarier because it connects a little more with real life because not everything is black and white and not every crime is solved.

In every horror movie there is a battle between good and evil. And typically the hero always wins because we as a society want everything to have a nice and neat happily ever after. There are very few films that actually challenge this.

Our trailer does because although its not a game and no one really wins, evil still comes out on top because he's not stopped or caught making him more scary because he could still be out there.

 

Now we will move on to the poster and I will be comparing it with the poster from 'Paranormal Activity 4'. This poster is what we based our style off of when designing this version.

By having one of the girls as the main feature on the poster we are immediately connecting the two products.

The image is set in the woods which is our main location and shows her looking scared. This connects to the Paranormal Activity poster because they have also used their main location, which is the house and they also have a female as the main subject.

If our poster simply had the image of the girl then it would probably be considered as a thriller rather than a horror. However the bloody hand print connects it more to the horror genre. This is because blood is typically associated with horror.

Another thing that connects our poster to the horror genre is the text. Throughout our products we have used the same red, glowing text, usually on a black or really dark background. As I said earlier this red and black colour scheme is immediately connected to horror.

One thing we have done that develops the conventions of a real horror poster is the date. We have played on the fact that a lot of people are superstitious and believe 13 is an unlucky number. Although the 13/13/13 is not a real date it would create an air of suspense about when this film will actually be a reality.

For us this is also a little bit of a joke because obviously a full feature length film of this is never going to exits!

Now moving onto our website, I am going to be using the My Amityville horror website for the comparisons in this section.

The layouts of the websites are quite similar in that they both have the trailer on the top right hand side and there are reviews down the left hand side. However where our website spreads out across multiple pages the My Amityville horror is one single page.

 

On our website we have continued to use the colour scheme we have established in our other products, therefore continuing with the house style and representation of the horror genre.

After the main page of the website we have a page in which we show us creating the trailer and then following that the cast of the trailer. Although a cast list is quite common on a website, pictures of production are not but they help to give the website a more personal touch.

 

We have also added some music to the website to help create an atmosphere when people are scrolling through the pages. This also helps to make the website a little more interesting because if it had no sound it would have nothing to make it stand out from other trailers.

 

On the bottom of the website we have featured our logo that is also seen in our trailer. Having our logo here helps us to advertise the institution and also helps people to link the products and further advertising the film.

So I hope that has shown how throughout the products I have used, developed and challenged the forms of a real media product. Thank You for watching.

Update 41

Based on the feedback from Miss Dobbs and the notes I made in Update 38 last night I have edited evaluation question 3. I have tried to make it more to the point. and corrected the its to it's. I have changed the wording in areas and added in the target audience ages.

I am now going to work on evaluation question 1. First I need to finish editing the final section of the script. Then I will need to record the final section about the website from the script update and also any new lines I add into the old sections. I will then edit these into my video.

Update 40 - Feedback from Miss Dobbs

This Feedback has come from the past couple of days so regarding some of the feedback I have already made updates whereas with others I have not.

Question 1.

• Good use of split screen
• Better if the images reflected what you were saying
• Music = vague
• Editing of trailer needs to be mentioned - purpose of a trailer - enigma code - what have you done to meet this - establishes the characters and a little bit of the narrative (as well as genre but you have already done this well) - Mention the text in the trailer more (allows you to get across information more quickly, it anchors the narrative) - structure, doesn't have to be in chronilogical order (Where does your trailer start?) - Need to mention our logo

Question 2.

• Good links to genre
• Vague - only really looks breifly at the subject
• 'How' does it
• Need to talk about how text creates a house narrative

Question 3.

• The footage we shot was good
• Very text heavy
• Start by saying who your target audience is
• The reactions belong to the people' (add ')
• Include quotes and ideas
• Cut it down - prioritise
• LESS WAFFLING!!!
• Have the trailer section first
• Change the its to it's
• What have you learnt from the video - link to the importance of institution.
• Be consise

Update 39

Over the course of the day I have edited evaluation questions 1. and 3. However because question 3 is updated on a Prezi it automatically updates the slideshow anywhere its featured. Because of this I haven't done a secondary post as it would look as though I am posting the same show twice. So instead here's a list of updates I did:

• Changed the order of subjects from poster - trailer - website to trailer - poster - website. This makes the whole show flow slightly better
• Originally I had the show and at the end a list of things I had learnt from audience feedback. However I have now tried to integrate the points into the rest of the show so it feels less disconnected but have still let the list at the end just to define it a but more.
• I have added a LOT more detail to the Prezi as a whole, including more quotes and screenshots from my audience feedback.
• I have also made it so that when there is a video the Prezi zooms in slightly further to make video viewing clearer
• I have tried to explain our reasons for taking the audience feedback on board for example when I talk about the audience not understanding what exactly was going on at first so changing our trailer as they suggested to help them understand.
• When writing I tried to get across the information in a concise way whilst still giving enough information so that the presentation wouldn't get boring. 

I still need to change a couple of typo's/spelling mistakes and also add a tad more information into the website section. I also need to link it to where I have mentioned it in the slogan section of the 'Trailer' feedback. I also feel as if I could possibly link it back to the question even more.

I then moved on to work on question 1. I have finished up the first section about the trailer and have now also done the second section regarding the Poster. All that is left now is the website section and a brief conclusion. Unfortunately I was unable to finish them tonight as it got to late.

Also tomorrow I plan to work on question 2. I hope to add more detail as at the moment it is quite vague being only 54 seconds long however I believe it has some good links to genre. I also want to talk about 'HOW' it creates intrigue, etc.

Evaluation Question 1. (Draft 2)

Evaluation Question 1. (Draft 1)

Evaluation Question 2. (Draft 1)

PUSH PLAY!!!!

Update 38

I have finished evaluation questions 3 and 4. I have almost finished question 1 and will be posting that later today. I currently haven't started question 2 but hope to have that uploaded by the end of the day also.

Today I have worked on the script for question 1 a little bit more so that I can really finish the question tonight. I have also written a bit more about why I am going to be doing the video for question 1 in this style.

Evaluation Question 1. (Script - adding more)

In this I have added in the second section of the script. This is the section referring to the poster. 

Hello and welcome to question 1. of my evaluation. Question 1 asks 'In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a real media product?'

In this I will be discussing and giving evidence for where I have and haven't used, developed and challenged the forms of a real media product.

On the screen now are my 3 media products. On the left is my poster and on the right my trailer and a screenshot of my website. We will begin by talking about the trailer.

My trailer and the 'Willow Creek' trailer are similar in many ways. They both have first person shooting and a lot of both trailers take place in the wood.

The first main difference between the trailers is the fact that my killer is a human whereas theirs is Bigfoot. So in someways here you could say that they are challenging the convetions of a horror film and I am not.

However my killer is not the convetional killer either. He is quite young and lanky whereas killers in horror films are typically either masked or big 'scary' looking men who fit the stereotype of what we as a society are taught to fear and keep away from.

In some ways this makes our killer scarier because he could be anybody you walk past on the street and you wouldn't know because he's not the stereotype you are taught to fear.

The woods in both of these trailers match the conventions of a horror film because they are isolated and dark. This makes the setting a little bit scarier because they can't 'see' whats coming and they also can't escape or get help.

We have used quite a few point of view (POV) shots which helps the audience to connect to the character more because they feel like they are in the situation of the charater.

Historically POV shots show the killer and/or monsters POV, however more recently they have been from the POV of the protaginists.

We have also done a few 'hand-held' camera shots. These mean that its not always clear to the audience whats going on creating a little more intrigue.

The music in our trailer is very important because it helps to set the scene and build up the tension. We have used a couple of non-diegetic sounds in regards to the scream and the news reporter voice over.

A scream is quite conventional of a horror film so we aren't really breaking any major barriers there but it can also be quite disturbing for some people.

Quite frequently in horror films we see the colours black and red because they are dark and link to things like evil, blood and danger. We have also used these colourings in the texts we have used. This iconography helps the audience to make the connection quite early on that it is a horror film.

One thing we have that majorly challenges the conventions of a horror trailer or film is the fact that none of our protagonists survive. The film is set up to simply tell their story. There are no real 'hero's' in this.

In someways this makes it scarier because it connects a little more with real life because not everything is black and white and not every crime is solved.

In every horror movie there is a battle between good and evil. And typically the hero always wins because we as a society want everything to have a nice and neat happily ever after. There are very few films that actually challenge this.

Our trailer does because although its not a game and no one really wins, evil still comes out on top because he's not stopped or caught making him more scary because he could still be out there.

Now we will move on to the poster and I will be comparing it with the poster from 'Paranormal Activity 4'. This poster is what we based our style off of when designing this version.

By having one of the girls as the main feature on the poster we are immediately connecting the two products.

The image is set in the woods which is our main location and shows her looking scared. This connects to the Paranormal Activity poster because they have also used their main location, which is the house and they also have a female as the main subject.

If our poster simply had the image of the girl then it would probably be considered as a thriller rather than a horror. However the bloody hand print connects it more to the horror genre. This is because blood is typically associated with horror.

Another thing that connects our poster to the horror genre is the text. Throughout our products we have used the same red, glowing text, usually on a black or really dark background. As I said earlier this red and black colour scheme is immediately connected to horror.

One thing we have done that develops the conventions of a real horror poster is the date. We have played on the fact that a lot of people are superstitious and believe 13 is and unlucky number. Although the 13/13/13 is not a real date it would create an air of suspense about when this film will actually be a reality.

For us this is also a little bit of a joke because obviously a full feature length film of this is never going to exits!

Evaluation Question 3. - What Have You Learned From Your Audience Feedback?

Audience Feedback on Final Trailer

This is a video I made that shows the audiences reactions to the trailers and also features them answering questions about the trailer and what they think about the trailer. This helps us to get an overall evaluation of our trailer.

Evaluation Question 4. (Mark 2) - How Did You Use Media Technologies In The Construction, Research, Planning and Evaluation Stages?

I have made the changes suggested to me by my teacher and edited the music a little bit.

Evaluation Question 1. (Script)

Hello and welcome to question 1. of my evaluation. Question 1 asks 'In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a real media product?'

In this I will be discussing and giving evidence for where I have and haven't used, developed and challenged the forms of a real media product.

On the screen now are my 3 media products. On the left is my poster and on the right my trailer and a screenshot of my website. We will begin by talking about the trailer.

My trailer and the 'Willow Creek' trailer are similar in many ways. They both have first person shooting and a lot of both trailers take place in the wood.

The first main difference between the trailers is the fact that my killer is a human whereas theirs is Bigfoot. So in someways here you could say that they are challenging the convetions of a horror film and I am not.

However my killer is not the convetional killer either. He is quite young and lanky whereas killers in horror films are typically either masked or big 'scary' looking men who fit the stereotype of what we as a society are taught to fear and keep away from.

In some ways this makes our killer scarier because he could be anybody you walk past on the street and you wouldn't know because he's not the stereotype you are taught to fear.

The woods in both of these trailers match the conventions of a horror film because they are isolated and dark. This makes the setting a little bit scarier because they can't 'see' whats coming and they also can't escape or get help.

We have used quite a few point of view (POV) shots which helps the audience to connect to the character more because they feel like they are in the situation of the charater.

Historically POV shots show the killer and/or monsters POV, however more recently they have been from the POV of the protaginists.

We have also done a few 'hand-held' camera shots. These mean that its not always clear to the audience whats going on creating a little more intrigue.

The music in our trailer is very important because it helps to set the scene and build up the tension. We have used a couple of non-diegetic sounds in regards to the scream and the news reporter voice over.

A scream is quite conventonal of a horror film so we aren't really breaking any major barriers there but it can also be quite disturbing for some people.

Quite frequently in horror films we see the colours black and red because they are dark and link to things like evil, blood and danger. We have also used these colourings in the texts we have used. This iconography helps the audience to make the connection quite early on that it is a horror film.

Planning Evaluation Question 3

'What have you learned from your audience feedback?' For this question I am going to combine the various audience feedbacks sections I have collected throughout the project and discuss how they have made an impact on my final products.

Feedback to use:

• Sections of video from final trailer feedback
• Feedback during the development of the final poster we used
• Feedback on website

This way I have used feeback from all sections and at various stages during development.

Update 37

Last night I managed to get the music onto the website and also began filming and putting together the video for evaluation question 1.

I still need to come up with an idea for and plan question 2. and properly plan the video for question 3. I have edited the video for question 4. a little more but still need to put it through onto YouTube and then upload it onto blogger.

Tonight I am going to upload question 4. and also finish and upload question 1.

Audience Feedback (Poster)

• I love the background
• The photo's are still to happy
• It doesn't feel like it's advertising a horror.

Ancillary Task Website (Draft 10)

This is the draft of the website on which I have added the music so that there is always sound in the background.

http://edgyn69.wix.com/websitefortrailer

Ancillary Task Website (Sound Cloud)

After going back and looking at the music and wix problem we discovered that we would have to add our desired track to a website called 'Sound Cloud'. We have signed up for this and will be uploading the music shortly. The images below show the process of uploading:

Update 36

Yesterday I found a track suitable for the website however when I went onto wix I couldn't find a way to put it on. In todays lesson I will investigate furthur and hopefully be able to put the music on toight.

I got a little footage for audience feedback yesterday but due to exams this prooved difficult. I will continue to get footage when possible throughout the day.

I will also be filming and editing the footage for question 1. based on the plan I made earlier.

Audience Feedback (Website)

• Maybe add some music in the back ground, like something creepy
• Maybe show all of the logo?
• Like the boxes!

Planning Evaluation Question 1

For Question 1. 'In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge form and conventions of  a real media product?' I want to do a video in which I just talk at the camera. I will show my products using a split screen as I discuss and compare them to real media artifacts.

 

This allows me to discuss and compare the products meaning that I am able to go into the depth I would like to. It also allows me to show my understanding of horror film codes and conventions as well as semiotics.

 

Comparing my products to real media artifacts means that I can not just say what I have done to develop and/or challenge form and conventions but I can also show it. The 3 real media artifacts I will be using are 'Willow Creek' (trailer), 'Paranormal Activity 4' (Poster) and 'My Amityville Horror' (Website). All three of these films connect to mine because they are all documentary style films.

Update 35

Charlotte is going to add in the image of our 'Chiller Films' skull brand logo. This help the website connect to the trailer visually and to the poster as we have referenced the name in the section of the writing at the bottom.

Today I am also going to have a look for some sounds we can use on our website. When looking back at other horror websites they frequently have subtle background music. I will be looking for some that connects to our trailer but that is also not identical as it would be to intrusive.

I am going to begin filming for my audience feedback today based on the plan I made earlier on. I will then use this as a reference in question 3. of the evaluation along with other audience feedback we have collected in the past.

Tonight I will be starting to edit the footage I get today and will also be going back to my evaluation question 4. and editiung that as miss suggested and also adding in any new technologies I have used.

Ancillary Task Website (Draft 9)

We have edited the website so that the background image matches our final poster.

Planning For Audience Feedback (Final Trailer)

 This shows the layout of the first section of the video in which the audience will be filmed whilst they watch our trailer. This allows me to see their immediate reaction and feelings to the trailer. This will also be the section in which I subtly introduce the people being interviewed. For this I will have name banners popping up onto the screen.

I will then move on to the question section of the video in which I ask questions and they answer. This question asking allows me to get certain and specific information about our trailer from the point of view of the audience. In this section I will also have some facts popping up at relevant times. 

This is the basic 'name strip' I will be using to identify the people being interviewed. I choose green and yellow because they stand out so you take notice but these shades are also not to 'in your face' they also go nicely with the basic design of the 'fact strip'. 

This is the basic design of the 'fact strip'. I like the colours again because they stand out against the rest of the video and also because they go nicely with the 'name strip' featured above.

Ancillary Task Poster (Draft 15)

Charlotte and I have moved everything up a bit so we could put in the 'white text' at the bottom. It reads:

CHILLER FILMS PRODUCTIONS AND PRODUCTION IN ASSOCIATION WITH MEDIA STUDIES "THE PROJECT" FEATURING: CHARLOTTE WELLS, NICOLE MARGETTS, KATIE COX, STEPHANIE MARGETTS, CHARLOTTE SIMPSON.

This is our final poster.

Auience Feedback (Poster)

• The text on the bottom makes it look like and actual film poster
• Its's nice that it's in white cause it contrasts but still somehow fits
• You've made the edges blend more, its nice and like not so harsh
• The pure black background works on this one!

Audience Feedback (Poster)

• I like this design its simple but effective
• The image is nice she looks really scared
• I like how you've made the hand darker and behind so it's subtle but still there
• The colour of the text sort of matches the hand which is cool
• I like the date it's funny cause 13 is like THE unlucky number!!

Update 34

Tonight I am going to upload the images from todays photoshoot. I am also going to begin editing the second draft of the evaluation question 'how did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?' so that I include any new technologies I have now used, made the changes miss suggested in her post and add some more detail to the video.

I am also going to plan the next evaluation question I am going to do, 'what have you learned from your audience feedback?'

Ancillary Task Poster (Draft 14)

 

Photoshoot for New Poster Idea

Mrs D

I love, love, love your question 4. Fab use of technology to explore your use of technology! The animation works really well. Just a few tweaks - try and add a few more specifics regarding the benefits of using the tech - like youtube - how it is a streaming site and how it allowed you to use viral platform to gain audience feedback etc (think AS exam section B). Check the text at 1.14 mins in - you say you use the technology 'without any other technology'. Does this make sense? Should you also mention the technology used in your eval - reference the product you are using in question 4 etc.

Ancillary Task Poster (Draft 13)

We will be doing a photoshoot tomorrow to replace the image we have taken from our trailer. When putting this poster together we did some editing on the hand to make it darker and not so 'in your face'.

Ancillary Task Poster (Draft 12)

With this poster we were just looking at possibly doing it in the same style as the Paranormal Activity poster shown here:

 

Like this poster we have a main singular photograph. All our writing is at the bottom like in the Paranormal poster.

Final Trailer Feedback - Planning Interviews

Film individual interviews using the following questions:

1. What do you like about the trailer?
2. What do you not like about the trailer?
3. What genre would you say the trailer is?
4. Do you like the distribution logo shown at the beginning?
5. Do you like the text used? Is the font okay? The colour?
6. Do you like the music?
7. Do you feel that the music fits with the trailer?
8. Do you feel like the transitions between frames are good? (explain if necessary)
9. Do you feel the static fits with the over all trailer?
10. What do you think of the 'news reporter' section? (both the footage and the sound)
11. What do you think of the pace of the trailer? Are you bored at all when watching it?
12. If you saw this trailer would you go and see the film?

Question 4 - How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?

Planning Question 4

• What technologies did you use?
• About EVERYTHING!!!!!
• How did you use it
• Do a video
• Has to be a style of video I havn't done before
• Be creative