Evaluation 4

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

Most of the technology which has enabled me to create my magazine front cover, poster and trailer i am familiar with, yet because i had to create a film trailer as well, i was put up against software which i have never used before and i felt were quite challenging.

I am familiar with photoshop, so the creating of my cover and poster wasn't to hard. Yet some bits were very tricky to achieve such as having a blood splat over her face but still able to see the protagonist face, having the focal picture on the cover being coloured in yet the background desaturated. I had to learn a technique called 'Layer Mask' which enables me to bring a picture from behind another forward, which gave me the effect of the blooded face.

I have used Blogger for my AS level, so i know how to function it well. I had some difficulties on how to upload videos and how to embed a link. Once i found out it wasn't as difficult as i thought it was, but sometimes finding the links on Youtube for the trailers wasn't easy to find.

I have used Youtube before to find certain videos, finding the trailers i needed wasn't very difficult. I have never had a Youtube account before, and it was hard to upload my video and get a link for blogger, but other than that it was easy to use.

Premier Elements wasn't familiar with me, but it didn't take long to pick up the aspects of it, it wasn't hard as i knew what i wanted from looking at different trailers. The use of fade in and fade outs, jump cuts and polarising some of the frames, effectively created a more horrific effect. Sometimes i was stuck with it rendering, as sometimes it kept coming up with error, but it didn't take too long to sort out. Also trying to figure out how to take the digested sound within the shot out and put the music i created in it's place.

Fruity loops had to have been the hardest to use, it was very useful as it contained different instruments and enabled me to come up with rhythms. I used this alongside Audacity as i created a bar of music in Fruity Loops and put them all together in Audacity. Fruity Loops was great to work with once i got the hang of it, the ability to change tempo the pitch of each individual instrument, like creating my trailer, from watching trailers i had a rough idea of what sound track to had, and once my film trailer footage was completed it was easy to work off it.

Audacity enabled me to finish off the music, refine it to make it sound smoother and ran through sufficently. In Fruity Loops the pitch could only go so high and so low, but with audacity i had more variety between the pitch, i could also layer it with other rhythms i created so one piece could flow nicely from one to another. At the near end of my trailer there is a section of music as though it is going backwards which i thought was rather effective and i couldn't do it in Fruity Loops but i was able to do it Audacity.

Overall i couldn't use one Software with out the other, they all managed to help me to create my media products effectively and i am pleased with what i have achieved. It has helped me with research as i was able to go on Google and Youtube to research the layout of poster/Magazine frontcovers and the functions they poses to hopefully achieve a successful piece, and with Youtube the ability to find trailers to help me construct an idea for my trailer. With the planning i created a mindmap of ideas from the trailers i had watched with a moodboard, also i created a moodboard of various pictures to help me think in depth what a horror movie consists of.

Evaluation 3

' What have you learned from your audience feedback?'


The response from my audience feedback was very helpful, as i know my strong points about each product and the downfalls. The overall was positive which has shown that the target audience has been hit and what i wanted to achieve has been done successfully.
My audience ranges to 16-25, i originally chose this age range as this tends to be the typical age of wanting to watch a horror/thriller movie, other age ranges would be put off.
It is like an ordinary film, but i feel the trailer does pull people in as it shows like a normal horror, but if you saw the actual film it wouldn't be quite would you thought.

I didn't want a questionnaire as i feel people wouldn't be able to express there full feelings towards each product properly and it would be narrowed down, i told them loosely questions like 'If this product works, why?' 'Does this appeal to you?' 'What could be improved?'


Feedback:

Poster: The positive feedback i got from people was
-The layout of the poster was effective
- The colours were vibrant yet disturbing
- The focal photo intriguing as you are not sure what has happened to the girl
- A couple of people had said it did look like a poster as it had the 'functions' such as the credits at the bottom.

I had a comment saying they weren't appealed by the poster as they had no idea of what it was about.


Magazine:
Unfortuately the magazine front cover wasn't as successful as the poster, some had said that it didn't look like a magazine, yet more like a poster. Some had stated that the photo should have been moved up a little higher. Yet on the other hand they had said i had a good understanding of making a magazine cover and the use of article titles were appealing.

Trailer:

There was a lot of positive feedback for the trailer, such as the music was well fitted with the genre and had actually scared them. Some had said it was intriguing and would go to the cinema to watch it.
The use of scenery and clothing was appropriate with the genre especially the graveyard as it emphasises

Evaluation 2

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

Throughout my products there is a sense of similarity between the three.

With my magazine and poster i've used red significantly, not only for it being a horror movie but to lead the eye through each one, i feel these two are very effective as you can see the technique through both, plus the composition is the same as i have positioned the focal points on the right hand side, this immediately shows a link to both. Though the magazine front cover does to me stand out like a sore thumb, with the trailer and poster they typically portray a terrifying atmosphere with the music in the trailer and use of special effects and a picture with 'blood' upon the focal point both equally reflect a horror genre.

Yet the front cover doesn't appear to be scary, yet i had a thought that there could be a good reason why i have choosen to do it this way. Sight&Sound tend to review in an intellectual style which appeals audiences to read behind the actors/actresses/directors feelings and intentions on the movie. The use of a young person instead of a usual older person appearing on the front cover could suggest that the people who create movies are ultering so that a normal person can create a movie which appeals to everyone, instead of you typical big name director creating your gruesome expensive horror movie. Also instead of having the front cover being bloody like my poster, having it plain and normal may suggest that this magazine is going to see the other side of the creation of the movie, behind the scenes of what makes this movie significant to be choosen by Sight&Sound to be reviewed and what's so important to have a younger director.

I feel that they are all effective in there own individual way, even though the front cover doesn't obviously show that it's promoting a horror movie, from it being completely different it sort of stands out more suggesting that people are more keen onto why it isn't the same as the trailer and poster.

I think if i were to re-do my magazine frontcover i would have the title of the movie in the typeface which i originally created for my poster and trailer to atleast give it some of a link between them. Having it on the frontcover in large would immediately draw the eye, but have the rest of the text in another typceface to make the title stand out more, i would change the focal point as well, making the frontcover more appealing, possibly a closer view point from midwaist up. Giving a more intense feel as though it's personnal as we are going to explore the intention of the director.