Technology used throughout research and planning and production work

Adobe premiere elements

This was the editing software our group used throughout the production of our trailer. It has allowed us to create a successful and conventional trailer for our genre due to the numerous amounts of tools that it had available. It is clear that this software has helped us as it allowed us to create more appealing lighting for our trailer. This is because it allowed us to use the effect tool and select the effect ‘tint’ which meant that we were able to make the footage darker or lighter if we wished. From this we were able to make the footage darker creating a sense of low key lighting which was a convention for the genre.

Adobe also allowed us to use the conventional transitions which are known in horror trailers such as fade to black and straight cuts. This made our production successful as we were able to select the transitions tool and select ‘dip to black’ to which we selected and then dropped into the timeline where we wanted to move on through the story. By doing this it meant that we were able to make a cohesive piece which would be conventional and appealing to the target audience of this genre.

It also allowed us to speed up the action that was taking place so the clip was on a shorter amount of time to help create the sense of fast paced editing. We achieved this by selecting ‘time stretch’ which therefore allowed us to increase or decrease the time by certain percentages. This therefore allowed our production to be successful as it meant that we could follow a convention such as fast paced editing which would keep the audience gripped and interested in the trailer.

Adobe also made it easier for our group to transfer our production onto YouTube as we were able to save it as a direct file. To which then would save to our computer and would be in the correct format to enter it into YouTube. This therefore was successful as it was quick and easy, allowing more time to be spent on other parts of our production work and meant we were able to display our work on a larger format to gain a larger target audience.

We used this camera and camcorder to record the footage for our trailer and the images my several ancillarys. The camcorder allowed us to create various shots such as hand held, high angle and tracking as it was more light weight and was safe due to the band. This made our production successful as it helped in making the footage seem more realistic and made the trailer more engaging for the audience. Both the camera and the camcorder that we used allowed us to use the grid method which meant we were able to correctly place characters along the eye line view. This helped improve our production and make it more successful as the footage would vary in size/the audience could take in the surroundings and the events that were happening to the characters at the same time.

The tripod allowed us to achieve steadier, cleaner shots and greater footage quality which helped in making it more successful and professional looking. The tripod was also lightweight which made it easier for us to carry around our location and wasn’t an eye sore for when used in our location. Therefore using the tripod made the filing an more relaxed experience. Overall from using the tripod it enabled us to produce better footage than without one and allowed us to show improved camera handling skills within the group.

Word has been a great tool to use throughout my research and planning process as I have been able to display my work in an ordered and correct fashion which would be easily conveyed throughout. The use of word has meant that I have be able to make several grids to help organise myself and group to when we were going to film, take our ancillary photos and the pros and cons of our ideas which has meant that we were fully prepared and aware of what our jobs were. Word also has meant that I have been able to select some varied amount of fonts which are suitable for my genre as it provides a wide range of choice. Overall it is clear that this software has benefitted me as I have become more organised in the research and planning which therefore enabled me to produce a more professional and conventional piece of work.

The use of PowerPoint has been successful as this software is again somewhere I was able to be organised with my work and display it professionally. The use of PowerPoint also made it easier for me to transfer my photographs and written work directly onto my blog as I was able to easily convert it into JPG. This meant I was able to display my work in a variety of different ways e.g. by image which has made my research and planning successful as you are expected to show your work in this way. Overall this software has allowed me to produce organised and structured work which would be read/seen clearly.

Audience Feedback

By using Survey Monkey I was able to send out questionnaires to people who watch horror films to find out the demographic and psychographic of our audience. From there we were able to use characters that they could relate to and events that would interest them. The age of our audience would range from 16-44 so this would allow us to create an engaging, exciting trailer which would appeal to our intended audience.

The method of using padlet worked well in helping me gain the opinions and preferences of my audience easily. It gave me improvements and helped me to identify the features that needed work in order to make my production successful. By using this throughout it meant I could find out what the audience liked and disliked from my products and when I improved what they didn’t like this meant my trailer and ancillary products were more conventional, interesting and appealing to the audience.

By using YouTube was successful as it meant that we could easily export the production from Adobe Premiere Elements straight onto a saved file on the computer and onto YouTube. By being able to do this it has meant that we were able to have an easier way for our audience to view our trailer and somewhere to give us audience feedback on about what they liked and disliked about our production.

Another benefit of YouTube is that it is somewhere where an actual trailer would be located on to help gain views and a larger target audience. From this it would enable us to have a greater experience of what it is like to have a trailer out on the internet. Whilst actually gaining more of a target audience as a larger amount of people were watching our trailer. Overall it is clear that YouTube has been successful as it has meant that it has been easy to show our production work to other people and has allowed us to gain more of an experience when distributing it out on the internet.