My Evaluation

Q: In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and codes and conventions of real media products?

Throughout the duration of creating our horror film trailer, Dean and I have acknowledged codes and conventions throughout and specifically made sure that we carried out a lot of research before going on to creating our final production. In our trailer we haven’t challenged them to an extent as we didn’t want to risk making our trailer to a bad standard. We used the common convention of having our trailer consist mainly of males and also having our killer as a male. This is key as it doesn’t confuse our target audience and also makes the trailer more believable and professional looking. The image below is a still image that is cut out from our horror film trailer. This is a shot of the killer approaching the front door of the house that they are inflicting pain on. I picked this shot out for a number of reasons as it doesn’t challenge codes and conventions in anyway, it follows them very specifically. As the killer is approaching the door, you don’t see their face through the glass as they are wearing a hood covering the majority of their face. This is a very popular code and convention in horror films as the killer is hiding his identity. This is a common occurrence in a lot of horror films as they build up suspense about who the killer actually is. For example you see this in the film trailer of Carver, a horror film which I studied closely whilst researching in to making a horror film trailer.//www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMilpd7y6. The use of darkness in Carver also ties in with my horror film trailer as we try to use the darkness to its full effect as it creates a scary and uneasy atmosphere and makes you watch over your shoulder a great deal. The use of darkness also provides the audience with a sense of mystery, as the killer in this picture is wearing dark overalls to hide their identity; it makes the audience speculate as they are guessing and want to know who the killer is.



The two ancillary tasks that Dean and I had to create along with our horror film trailer involved codes and conventions. The codes and conventions played a pivotal part in the production of these. We focused a lot of our attention specifically on the use of font and colour for our magazine front cover, looking specifically at existing media texts such as “Empire” film magazine for inspiration and guidance in to helping us to create the best production we possibly could. As media practitioners, it was key that we focussed a lot on colour, font and our sell lines as they are the main ingredients that make a magazine key to how successful it is and how successful it is in selling. For the colour of my magazine, I researched a lot over “Google images” to have a lot of backgrounds that currently exist in media magazines, for example http://www.slashfilm.com/wp/wp-content/images/harrypotter6empire.jpg . This was a great inspiration for a background as it created a very spooky effect that fitted in perfectly with my horror film trailer. With the font that we wanted to use as you can see in the magazine front cover, yellow and white, it blends in very nicely with the background and most important of all, it is very readable to the audience and also very eye-catching. The image placement fits in with normal codes and conventions as it dominates the page and it would be the first thing the audience see when they first glance at my film magazine front cover. With my film poster, we had less codes and conventions to follow but took more inspiration from existing media texts as they helped us gain more information about what is required in a horror film poster. As you can see in our film poster, the image is very dark and spooky creating a dark and spooky effect, which relates to our main characters in our trailer. In this poster we again followed the normal set of codes and conventions. We placed our main image at the centre of the page and with the help of existing media texts, we knew where to the other information that was needed on our film poster. I wasn’t at all tempted to challenge codes and conventions as I thought that it might tamper with our poster and not make it stand out. I was inspired by the originality of other film posters I had come across as they looked real and had a purpose and you knew what they were trying to show and represent to the audience.


Q: How effective is the combination of the main product and texts?
When beginning the whole process of filming our horror film trailer, I was convinced that our ancillary tasks, which were to create a horror film poster and magazine front cover related to our trailer, would form a fantastic promotional package as they would blend in very well together and produce a brilliant production of media. The key for the trailer, magazine and poster to be a successful trio was for my target audience to play a defining role in determining how good our productions actually were. They had a big influence. The film poster was created in order to attract our audience. Our magazine was then created giving more specific detail about the film itself and trying to attract more and more of our target audience. From this, we started the production of filming and editing our film trailer. I feel after completing all these tasks, our three productions combine brilliantly as they are all sending out the same message which is to watch our film. The two ancillary pieces closely link in together very well there are the pivotal weapons that are advertising my horror film trailer. This is the front cover of my film magazine. This forms one part of my promotional package. The use of the main image and the ‘spooky, mysterious’ background blend in very well to create an eerie atmosphere and tone. The uses of the main image draws the audience’s attention very sharply as they see the blood on the face of the victim in my horror film trailer and see the knife point on his face. The image of the knife makes the audience feel on edge and uneasy as they see the blood on the victim’s face and therefore assumes that the knife is the weapon that caused the blood wound. The audience would then be drawn to the use of the sell lines on the left hand side of the magazine front cover, especially the sell line, “UNSEEN SHOTS OF THE NEW SAW VI SET!!” The use of the bright and attractive yellow fonts along with the quote being in bold block capital letters suggest that this sell line differs to the rest as I want the reader to gaze upon that sell line first as it is the most important and ties in with the main image being presented. The Lansbury drive sign is using a similar technique as the bold red font highlights the reader’s attention and it immediately sticks out to the reader. It has a dominating presence. Another technique I used is the promotional offer highlighted in the red bubble which offers readers the chance to go and see paranormal activity premiere. The promotional offer of seeing paranormal activity premiere was a good idea as it was a movie that was dominating the news and cinema worlds due to its reviews about being a film that “you shouldn’t watch on your own”. Seeing as it’s also a horror film, it will appeal very well to my kind of target audience that I want interested in ‘Lansbury Drive’. This magazine front cover plays a vital part in my ‘promotional package’ as it lets the audience divulge more information about the film itself.

My film poster was created ideally to attract my target audience in to taking an interest in my horror film. Seeing film posters’ being advertised all over your local town/city and your local newspaper or shop would make you take an interest in them. When you first glance at my film poster you detect the dark and ghostly type of theme as my poster is very effective in its use of darkness and eeriness. You can’t help but firstly notice the image used and the font that is placed in front of it. The image is of the masked killer in their overalls in a dark alley. This heightens the audience’s tension as this is a very spooky and dark image. The font used for the name of the film is in a very spooky font. It suits the genre of horror perfectly as it has the right characteristics such as the black font with the glow behind it. Above the image of the killer you have the strap line which gives the audience the slightest insight in to the reasoning for the main image. The three actor’s names at the top of the film poster were appropriately placed in a bold white font against the dark background to draw in the audience and show clearly who is in my film. The use of the white font blends in terrifically with the black background as it is easily readable and also has a ghostly effect about it.
I feel these three pieces form the perfect ‘promotional package’ for our audience as it gives them everything they need in order to know whether they want to see the film our not. The film studios involved in producing my film may also play a lesser role as viewers may associate “dimension films” with the “Scream” movies therefore strengthening their desire to watch the film seeing as dimension films have created great films in the past and continue to do so today. The trailer gives you 2-3 minutes to watch specific scenes that are in the film that we think will entice the audience further to go to watch our horror film. The trailer gives you the urge to go and see more as it shows 2-3 minutes of pure gripping visual excitement. The horror film magazine gives our audience who look reading a chance to read up on our upcoming venture and to decide for themselves whether they want to watch it or not. It gives in depth information about the film as a whole, but not dispersing the whole narrative of the trailer as that would just ruin the viewing as that is the most fun and exciting part.

Q: What have you learned from your audience feedback?
The age range of our target audience is 18-35, however this may vary by a few years. The gender of our audience will be profoundly male, although we will explore the female film scene in future issues, so we should create a small unique female fan base.
When getting feedback from the target audience, I put together a focus group in order to find out all their opinions and so forth. After my audience had watched my trailer back and seen the ancillary tasks they had a lot of positive comments to give and also had some queries about some of the editing and also gave their own opinions on how to maybe improve some of the shots. Here are some of the people in my target audience and this is what they said upon viewing my media coursework. Dean and I also put our horror film trailer on YouTube so we could get commentary back from everyone that watched it seeing as the majority of people who will watch it will fit in with our age bracket of our target audience. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOxV1--Diys . Once you have viewed the trailer you can see the comments below it showing evidence of audience feedback towards our trailer.

Sean O’Connor-
Age- 19
Views on media production- Sean had said to me that he really liked the narrative idea of the child witnessing his parents death and coming back to that specific house years later. Seeing as Sean had done a horror film trailer last year I automatically knew he was the best man to ask about the editing stage of my horror film trailer. He really liked the choice of music in the trailer saying that it suited the shots and the storyline. He shared a lot of his problems that he had whilst doing his and helped me overcome any of them that occurred with me. He found the bathroom scene very effective as they are 3 very quick jump cut shots of the killer and his victim, with the victim lying on the bathroom floor trying to cling for life via the sink but died. The only thing he told me that I could improve upon was to cut down on my use of black outs as I do have a lot in the film, especially nearer the first minute of the trailer. He said to look at other ways of producing clear and effective transitions of shots. Sean’s views helped me tremendously as he got a very good grade in media studies and his horror film trailer so I knew that he knew what he was talking about. When Sean viewed both my ancillary tasks, he immediately said that the magazine background was very cleverly put together as it had the misty dark background with the tress and the Lansbury drive sign added in. It gave it a spooky effect. He said to my film poster was very good but could do with a slight bit more detail where the gaps are to make it look even more appealing. Taking all this in to account, Dean and I took his advice and went back over our production work and made some changes such as dealing with the dead black outs and cuts to black in our trailer.

Kyle Bruney
Age- 19

Views on my media production- In Kyle’s words, he said my production was a “sick piece of work”. He liked all of it. Whilst watching the film trailer the only negative he could find was that he wanted to watch more of it. He is in the process of making a music video at the college he goes to at the moment so was intrigued to know more about the stages I went through whilst editing. He said to me that my alley way scene was particularly effective as we see the killer walking slowly towards the camera lifting his hood up and then the trailer stops there. He said that particular scene just made him want to go and see more. He thought the heart beat sound that I had uploaded to the trailer was very effective as it added to the tension and heightened it further. As Kyle is a big fan of horror films, especially slasher films, he watched this trailer very closely a good 3-4 times before giving me his overall opinion. When he viewed my ancillary tasks, he was very impressed with both the images on both the magazine and film poster. The use of the knife and blood in the magazine front cover image makes the film seem that bit scarier to the audience and Kyle said that will make it better as it will be interpreted as a really scary film which will make the audience want to see it.

James O’Leary
Age- 28
View on my media production- I thought I’d ask some who’s older than the original people I’ve talked to about my production so I asked my cousin who’s really in to horror films and he fits in to my target audience range perfectly. Once he viewed the trailer a few times he said he thought it was top class, especially for people who have never worked with this sort of equipment before. He really liked how I ordered the shots so that I wasn’t giving away the plot of the trailer and film. He thought the choice of song was really well thought, especially at the start as the start of the Linkin Park song sounds like a big countdown to something major that’s going to happen. My cousin watches horror film trailers on YouTube a lot and said to me there’s a lot of good things about my trailer. My choice of characters he said was very good and he said it was good that I didn’t challenge codes and conventions but putting any females in acting as a killer because it might not work how I would like it to. He said the chase scenes were filmed well and the transition of shots were effective. His only criticism was the use of the dead black outs and jump cuts to black at the start of the trailer. When James viewed my ancillary pieces he was very impressed how I had managed to get them both looking very good. He said it was obvious that I put a lot of time and effort in to both pieces and that I planned them both very well. He said the sell lines grabbed his attention in the magazine, especially the bright yellow font saying, “unseen shots”. He thought that stood out on the page nicely and that it grabbed the reader’s attention very sharply due to its commanding presence on the page.

Q: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
When going through all the stages of my planning, research and evaluation, I used various different types of media technology such as camera, internet, adobe Photoshop and in order to advance my portfolio further. Existing media texts such as the internet helped me research different types of existing media horror film trailer magazines and film poster that currently exist. This was key in to helping me develop my ancillary tasks. I made use first of all of all the resources I had to my name, such as internet access to the likes of YouTube etc... So I could watch different sorts of existing media horror film trailers to help inspire me. In my research part of my task, I carried out a lot of research in to how to start the process of creating a horror film trailer. I spoke to some my friends from the year above asking them advice about how to begin in order to make a successful piece of media production. I, as a media practitioner, took all advice given to me on board and took these ideas away with me. Before we filmed our actual trailer, we took a variety of practice shots in order we get to grips with how the camera functions properly and so forth. We got to find out the names of certain types of shots and also find out how the camera works exactly.
The blog formed a huge part of our research and planning, as that recorded all the information that I had found in order to help Dean and I create a superb piece of moving media production. Recording all the information I found was a boring process whilst using the programme Fronter, which has access to my school’s website and helps the teacher’s look at our work. Instead, we were given a website called Blogger to use, where we can create our own blog address and make the design of it how we wish it to look like. This made the process more fun and enjoyable as we controlled how well our research and planning would look on our own blogs as they were our own design and gave us that sense of independence knowing that I created my own blog from scratch. http://morrow44.blogspot.com/ this is my blog address so you can view all my research and planning work on here as well as viewing the horror film trailer itself as I have embedded it on to the website. The benefits of the blog are easy, one it makes my work look that more creditable and more interesting to view as people might now want to read my work due to eye catching and colourful design that I used. It makes people actually want to read my work instead of being forced to read it. The set up of the blog is good as, unlike Fronter, I can make my work look much more presentable and readable to everyone and can post images and video’s on their which makes it more visually attractive, unlike Fronter where you can’t use any form of visual evidence to show your work at all.
Whilst in the process of filming our trailer, media technology played a pivotal role in order to make my trailer as successful as it can be. Getting to grips with the video camera wasn’t easy as it was a very complicated piece of technology due to all the different sorts of applications on it. I have had the pleasure of creating media myself whilst on holiday with my friends last year, whilst filming myself coming down a water slide http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/video/video.php?v=1028563450761&subj=1163810648
This helped my creative side as I had never created anything like this before in terms of media. The camera played a big part in the filming of my horror film trailer as it enabled me to learn how to film properly and cut at the appropriate moments when filming. Dean done a lot of the filming due to me being in the horror trailer itself, playing a vital role in how it turns out. The shots I did film however were very effective, especially the shot with the killer walking down the alley way and about to reveal their identity and then the trailer finishes.
When constructing my ancillary tasks we first of all drew them so we could plan how we wanted them to look. When all that was done Dean and I used software called Adobe Photoshop to make our film poster and film magazine front cover. There was loads of different icons and options available to use we didn’t know where to begin. There were tools to change the colour effect and also there was a cropping tool which was very effective as it got rid of any un-necessary image that was in the background. Since year 12, my Photoshop skills have developed massively, with me being able to do a lot more with an image than I previously was able to do. I had a lot more widespread skills to my name such as the colour effects of the image, fonts, headlines etc... When editing our film trailer there were so many different sorts of edit that Dean and I had to have a long discussion in order to know what we were going to use. We used Premiere Pro, software which allows you to edit any visual moving audio clips that you have. When editing, we commonly used Dead Black Outs, Jump cuts, fades, zoom in and out in order to make our trailer look as good as possible. These were very effective as they made our trailer look extremely professional and also very real to life. There were a lot of things you could do with sound on Premiere Pro, such as download sounds and use them, such as heartbeats and wind etc, to heighten the tension in the trailer and put the audience on edge. Premiere Pro was extremely effective in my creation of my trailer as it allowed me to make a load of shots taken be made in to a film which looks very professional and of the highest quality. It allowed me to make some of my shots which had some errors in them look error free, with all the editing being able to cut out some of the mistakes made in filming, such as filming a shot to long, you were able to cut it down to wherever you want it.

Our Horror Film trailer