EvaluationMy chosen brief for my media coursework consisted of creating a promotional package for a film.

This included a film trailer/ short film, ancillary tasks; poster for the film as well as front page of a film magazine or review depending on whether choosing to make a trailer or short film. The research I

collected as well as the planning and production process to create this work can be seen throughout my blog.

Before starting the production of my promotional package, I researched into different genres, trailer and short films to enable me to begin starting the basis of A2 work.

‘ To evaluate means to measure or estimate the nature, quality, ability, extent, or significance of The last hurdle ’

After having completed vast amounts of research and planning, and creating my three media products I will now evaluate the outcome of my horror film trailer, poster and magazine front cover by

discussing the highs and lows that I have faced, and also, I will be explaining what my target audience thought of the final products.

Codes and conventions are the staples of any media text. They hold everything together and define what the text actually is. When analysing existing media texts, for magazines, posters and trailers, I was able to pick out and recognise the codes and conventions that were attached to each type of

media. These analysis's allowed me to become familiar with the appropriate codes and conventions and made it easier to transport them over to my own three media texts.

The Questions in which I will be evaluating are based around are the following;

1. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE,DEVELOP OR CHALLANGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

2. HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE COMBINATION OF YOUR MAIN PRODUCT AND ANCILLARY TEXTS?

3. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?

4. HOW DID YOU USE MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH, PLANNING AND EVALUATION STAGES?

Q1- In what ways does your media product use,

develop or challenge forms and conventions of

real media products?

Challenging the conventions: The ways in which my media product perhaps challenged the typical conventions of a horror film trailer would be by that it does not include a stereotypical ‘voice over’ to which maybe heard within well known famous trailers within the film industry we see currently in this day and age. With having a voice over it gives the audience an insight to what the film includes but I felt my trailer had enough things within it in order to convey the basis of the film without giving away the plot, which I felt worked well just having non digetic and digetic sound instead of a voice over as they can often be seen by the audience as ‘cheesy’ if not expressed the right way. I also feel within my research I found out that not many ‘horror’ genres have voice over's within there trailers but are often more popular within action films and rom-coms.

I know what Real conventions are and some of these real examples may have juxtaposed my own ideas and creativity.

Following conventions of real media products:Characters in Horror Films: There’s always a lead character, like in normal films, but these are often the only remaining survivors. Often the killer has a certain way in how they kill, like their trademark, it could either be the weapon they use or how they kill them, such as in Jeepers Creepers, the victims eyes are normally removed. Normally the outcome/ending of the film is where the good guy (i.e. the victim) defeats the killer, so it’s good against evil. More modern horror films tend to graphic violence or bloody gore, while late ones were often more following the gothic/horror genre, such as Frankenstein and old traditional vampire films.Things you are likely to see in a horror film which follow the traditional codes and conventions:

An introduction to a typically normal day to day lifestyle.A bizarre/unknown mysterious death.The credits would fit into the theme of horror, by using a creepy font, and odd movement depending on the film and how modern it is.The majority of the characters would be quite young, most likely to be teenagers showing their vulnerability and naivety.If there are teenagers, it’s normally an American film so there would normally be a typical American teenage couple, i.e a ‘jock’ and a head cheerleader, most likely to be blonde.Mysterious unknown phone calls from the killer.Attempts at heroism, often from the teenage boys would be unsuccessful.Led to believe that the main character/victim would die, they would normally overcome the killer miraculously.

I feel I have stuck and followed the typical conventions within my film trailer especially researching into real media products such as paranormal activity ,scream and the grudge

Looking further into forms and conventions of horror films/trailers, I found that horror trailers don’t often follow a narrative. Although the actual film will follow a narrative, the trailer of it doesn’t as it would give too

much away. Narrative theorist Tzvetan Todorov states that most films follow a narrative theory. However, I am able to see elements of Todorov’s theory within my trailer such as clearly for the purpose of my media product

I am not able to reveal who is killed, therefore the possibility for new equilibrium is very short for impact.

Todorov’s Theory

Todorov’s narrative structure states that the narrative of a film should go:-A disruption- A recognition

- An attempt to repair the disruption - A return to equilibrium- New equilibrium.

My horror trailer follows: equilibrium, disruption, recognition, disruption

.Before I created our horror trailer, I decided to research existing films, posters and magazines so that I was aware of the typical conventions within real media products.

.I watched a range of trailers and analysed them these included, the grudge, scream, paranormal activity and the unleashed. In which I uploaded them from YouTube onto my blog. I also looked at analysed various film posters and magazine front covers. I felt this was a necessary way to be able to help me in producing my film trailer and ancillary tasks to the best of my ability.

.I found a range of conventions in each trailer I analysed including;-horror trailers feature more disequilibrium than equilibrium-an attractive vulnerable female character-an eerie soundtrack which compliments the shots-fast, sharp edits towards the end-A scary cliff hanger to finish the trailer

All of which I feel within my trailer I tried my best to stick to these conventions in order to have a successful end product.

Typical Horror Poster Conventions

-A member of the cast, or prop from the film on the main central image of the poster mostly being a main character either the victim or the villain within horror posters.-. A bold, prominent title.-- Tagline from the trailer- Special effects such as black and white image.- Release date and website.- red text- Credits at the bottom- age ratingIn order for me to make my product of a horror film poster appear professional and authentic I followed these conventions

Here I looked into a real film poster ‘Mirrors’ to which helped me with ideas into the construction of my own film poster as I feel the conventions used within this poster would be most appropriate when using them within mine for example these similar

conventions include...

The title of the films name in a bold font with a strong simplistic colour in order for it to stand out and make it known that this is the film title

The release date; this is a must when creating a film poster as it enables the audience to see when they can go to watch the film once its realised in cinemas

A strong central image which is used to real catch the audiences attention without this it would create as much interest and wouldn't make a poster stand out as much and with an interesting image it can create intrigue into who the person is within the film and what they want

With colours and font styles I feel it gives a real insight to what style the genre may be for example the conventions within horrors tend to have a dark image with usually the person that's perhaps haunted on the central image this is to create mystery and suspense at who it is.Another connotation which occurs within font the writing is usually black, white or red these connote a sense of fear,death,blood which relates back to the horror film.

Here is my finished film poster to which I feel I have followed the conventions of a horror

film poster efficiently and effectively.

Studio Ident: Here Is the studio ident I made to which Is a necessary when making a film and including within the products made. It enables the audience if its a popular studio ident an insight into what style of film they can expect this to be as some studio idents show similar styles of genre

A tagline: is the one piece of written information usually used on a film poster to give an insight into the film but not giving to much away by just using a line to express this. They tend to create intrigue by either asking the audience a question to think about or making a statement about the film. With mine ‘one friend turns terrifying’ I am giving my target audience a fact about the film whilst still not giving to much away because this will enable the audience to query which friend is it and what do they do in order for them to turn terrifying

Film title: I have used a ‘horror’ font from the font site ‘fontspace’ I feel I analysed various of fonts enabling me to get the right one in the end which is most appropriate for my film genre and style. By having my writing in the colour white of ‘oppression’ it creates a professional yet not a ‘cheesy’ look for example if I used a bright green colour it wouldn't of worked as effectively

The conventions to which I followed when researching real film magazines such as empire I have included

within my own in order to make it have a professional look about it, these included...

Title of film magazine set behind the girl is a convention typically used with popular magazines such as empire as we as an audience should gather from the style and the main title what it says anyway so it does not matter if the central image is in front. I wanted to follow this typical convention to make mine appear as ‘real’ magazine also by using the name ‘Cinematic’ in a bold black font with a white outline gives it a profession finish and noticeable to what the magazine is.

A sticker is another typical convention that may be seen within film magazines although this may take up space within the front page however this usually includes information on top which makes it stand out.

Within the strap line at the top this often with film magazines include different films names of what is currently in cinemas and most popular within that time.

Date of issue and the prise of the magazine is an essential when producing a magazine at it helps the buyer to see how much it is and by knowing the issue date they can keep up with being in the no if its a new issue if they have previously bought one before they can see this by the date. These two things are usually in a smaller print unless on offer as you don't want the buyer to be controlled into buying it just because of the price you want them to be intrigued with everything else

In Conclusion to this question…

Overall, I feel in terms of both my trailer and anciallry taskes that I have used and developed conventions of real media products.

I also believe that my horror trailer challenged some conventions which is always risky to do because when following conventions you know it will always work and be as affective when done the right way

Q2-How effective is the combination of your main

product and ancillary texts?

As a part of my coursework I had to produce a trailer as well as two ancillary tasks. The two ancillary tasks were created to advertise and promote the trailer and eventual film. When all three are

combined demonstrating a marketing campaign for the film itself. It is very important for new films to have enigma and effective advertising I feel I have done this successfully.

The combination of both my main product and ancillary tasks is vital in keeping a house style image, mixing it up confuses the consumer and doesn't maintain the genre’s aesthetics. I feel that all three

of my products follow a specific theme or have something within all three to identify there promoting the same film for example the font of the film title.

The poster is there to grab the audiences attention and perhaps persuade them to find out more about the film, likewise in combination with this the magazine is there to advertise the film with

more background and information about the film itself and other typical conventions within a film magazine.

Both of the ancillary tasks drag the attention towards the trailer. The trailer presents a very ominous view of the film which creates more tension and suspicion within the storyline, both the magazine

and poster help to create this effect

Within my research I noticed in the branding of different products used to promote the film they will include something symbolic to link them together whether its the same colours and fonts or the same title logo, this gives the audience a proper insight that they are linked together for example below I identified that the ‘saw’ film within the poster and website they both have the same title of the film font exactly the same to make the audience know that these belong to the same film product. The same appears within the James Bond poster and website each identify the actor within plus the identifier of the ‘007’ ident.

The Ancillary Task: Film poster and how it promotes my film

Within my film poster I feel it is effective in the promotion of my film combined with my trailer and film magazine as it features the same girl throughout all three. My film poster is effective by creating intrigue towards the target audience by not seeing the girls face although with her hood up this is iconic throughout my tasks so the audience will be able to relate to the film knowing this is combined within my three products. As well as this the positioning of the girl and the setting within this poster relates to a scene within my trailer of her walking down that corridor she is standing in. Another thing in which is included also within my main product and the poster is the release date of the film which is an important feature as it enables the audience to know when they can go and watch the film. The age rating certificate is also essential as it allows the audience to know what ages its appropriate for which may establish its target audience. I have included the age rating on the film poster as well as my trailer so combined the audience clearly can see that this is not a film which is aimed at young children.

The Ancillary Task: Film magazine and how it promotes my film

By the main character being on the front of the film Magazine: Her character promotes both the film and her as an actress. My main character features in the trailer most predominantly, so when the audience see the trailer, she will be the biggest signifier in association to the film. By having her on the front of the magazine, as you can see on the right, when the audience see her face they will automatically get a sense of recognition. This character features in most scenes throughout which is why she is used to promote the film with appearing on the magazine front cover and film poster.

Q3- What have you leaned from your audience feedback?

I was able to receive feedback back through...

.Devising a film night where my class presented there trailers and short films to friends, peers and teachers.Uploading my trailer to Facebook

.Uploading to YouTube .Being shown to a AS level class

Film night: Thursday 7th March

Our film night was at 3:30 in our teachers room and as some of the groups were having trouble combining there music and film together as a whole they were unfortunately unable to show there end product. However 'the show

must go on' and the other groups including myself who had got there films and trailers sorted were able to show them off

We all gathered together at 3:30 the end of the school day and one by one go up and get our film up for the audience who came to watch who included several media teachers and our fellow sixth form peers. Before we showed a film the person whose turn it was would give out there questionnaire out to the audience then once

the film or trailer had been shown everyone had a few minutes before the next film to fill them out. I think by having the film night was a really good way for us all to see each others trailers and films to give each other especially with our class criticism and feedback. This film night indeed helped me know what the target audience felt about my film with not just the questionnaire but with there initial reactions to the film when watching it and for comments people verbally told me which was all good.

1) Are you male or female?..........2) How old are you?.............3) What is your favourite genre of film?.................Why?...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................4) Does this trailer live up to stereotypical genre style?Yes/NoHow?.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................5) What would you rate the trailer out of 5?

Why?................................................................................................................................................................................ 

6) How could the trailer be better?.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

7) Would you go and watch this film in the cinema after watching the trailer?Yes/NoWhy?................................................................................................................................................................................ 

8) What do you think of the editing?Very good/good/satisfactory/poorWhy?................................................................................................................................................................................ 

9) What do you think of the sound?Very good/good/satisfactory/poorWhy?.......................................................................................................................................................................................... 

10) Does the trailer give the plot of the film away?Yes/NoWhy?.................................................

The questions in which were included within my questionnaires were the following...

Questionnaire feedback

Here you can see that once I had uploaded my film to YouTube, I shared the link to my page on the social networking site Facebook. I did this to get feedback from facebook friends to see what

they thought about my trailer as you can see by the comments I had some very good opinions on how people felt about my product which I was very please to see as know that the hard work

In which I had put in had paid off with people saying they enjoyed it and want to see the film

Here you can see I have uploaded my finished product of a film trailer to YouTube. I did this as this is a worldwide popular site in which people upload there videos so they can let anyone see them and see how

many hits they get an the higher the hits the more popular it is seen. For this reason I knew this was the right site to get feedback from also by seeing how many people have viewed my trailer as you can see

below I have already had 214 people see my trailer on YouTube alone this means people have watched my trailer which increases popularity on the film in which would happen with a real media product also

Overall I feel that through showing my trailer in different ways its enabled me to receive various feedback and criticisms mostly involving people of a late teenage

age which is the target audience for my film I knew by targeting it at this age I would be able to convey it more as most younger generation on people are on

social networking sites where I could easily receive feedback from.

I have leant from my feedback that what I would do differently with the production on my film trailer would to not add a ‘cheesy’ font for ‘the oppression’

title name however I learnt from the audience feedback that even by working alone on this project I was able to do just as good a job of my product as fellow

pupils did when working in pairs. I also learnt from the feedback that I know how music can carry and go along side well within my trailer and I know the

stereotypical horror style of shots, lighting and characters. A criticism was in fact the dialogue of the accent used by the character speaking as they are brought up

in Birmingham they have the stereotypical ‘brummy’ accent in which the audience felt this wasn't a good side of the film however I feel that's something which made the film give a sense of realism towards it and which my audience could relate to

What I've learnt from my feedback...

Q4- How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning

and evaluation stages

Research

Google is what is most used throughout everything through my research and evaluation stages as its the

main source of information on the internet and accesses social networking and editing sites

When researching existing real horror film trailer I used YouTube to access them

I then used Microsoft PowerPoint where I would take print screens from the

YouTube clip and analyse them

Microsoft Publisher is the main programme I used when creating my film poster, film magazine front cover and analysing different real film posters and comparing them

The social networking site facebook is where I uploaded my trailer for feedback

PlanningWhen planning the production of ‘The Oppression’ I used various platforms of

media technology...

I used this Nikon camera of my friends to take pictures of possible central images for my film poster and film magazine as I knew with using a better camera it would give a more professional look towards the picture. However once capturing the shots I wanted I then uploaded them and edited through Photoshop.

Windows movie maker: I used this to edit the sound and music and to get it to work inconjunxion with my film as originally I had trouble saving my film as a whole complete with the sound so had transfer it to this programme in order to do so.

With using this site it enabled me to not just stick to simple fonts which you may find on Microsoft programmes this enabled me to get more creative fonts which worked my effectively within my film poster and magazine front cover

ConstructionHD camcorder with using this equipment it allowed me to capture the footage for the scene within my trailer quick and effectively. Although these are not professional video camera it does not enable me to get the best of quality like a real film trailer might have but with the limited resource I feel I still used it to the best of its ability. Although it was a problem with

limited supply of them within the media department in my class we had to share them equally so wouldn't always for definite get to use them on the days we wanted but this

problem I worked around. When having the tripod with it it enabled more still shots to be in place as the stand would be able to film a scene without having to hold the camera

physically in your hand. I used the tripod within the oujie board scene within my trailer where as I was behind the camera for the other scenes for this I was included as an actor

Adobe Premiere Elements 9, this is the software used to edit my film trailer in enabled me to crop footage I had right down with edits and transitions which made my film trailer more effective. I also used this to import my sound to and although whilst saving the film with the sound I had trouble with as it wouldn't save as a whole so had to do via movie maker instead.

I have used blogger throughout my coursework construction and have continued using it to show my evaluation. With blogger its allowed me to

keep a record of all my research and the process of my trailer and ancillary tasks.

I have used Prezi as a platform to express research within my blog and analysing my own trailer through it. I feel with using this site to present something is quite hard if not knowing how to work it however as I have previously used this site within my AS foundation blog I felt more confident with using it this year within my advanced portfolio

Slideshare is a way in which I have used to present this evaluation as its an effective way in order to clearly present something on and it a quick and effective way in order for people to go through a presentation such as this with ease.

Presenting research

As you can see I have used a variety of media technologies throughout the entire production process and I have developed a greater understanding of the technologies I used as time went on and the construction took shape.

To conclude I really feel my skills within media have greatly gained throughout this years coursework process and the work in which I have been able to produce this year in comparison to what I have done throughout my media journey from GCSE level I can see I have come along way with being confident in trying different sites in order to help me either edit pictures or sound etc. This year with producing my film trailer and ancillary tasks I have learnt a lot more than I use to know especially with the technology side which will help me in the future also. Overall I feel I tried my almost very best and put all my effort into my film trailer which ended up successful with the edits and sound together, also with having researched a lot into horror films I feel this gave me knowledge then to have similar conventions within my film products in order for them to be a success and look professional, although I would have changed a few things within my process such as perhaps if I had got more footage to link the scenes together and flow more I could of made my trailer into a short film but I am pleased and happy with the trailer ‘The Oppression’ and my end process with complete ancillary tasks, film poster and film magazine front cover.