Dear Moderator,

Welcome to my A2 Media Blog, on here you will find my three productions pieces. My main production piece and the two ancillary texts. I hope you enjoy what you see. to navigate around my blog to the right of the page has the names of each post or you can scroll to the bottom of the page and see 'older posts'.

Thank you

Final Magazine Front Cover

Final Film Poster

Final Horror Film Trailer - Scratching the Surface

Evaluation Question 2

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

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 1 - Film Trailer

How does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Film trailer

At the beginning of a trailer you generally see the production companies known first, I decided to challenge this convention by putting the age appropriate warning to ensure that my trailer was attracting the right audience and I was successful in the audience viewing was my target audience. Without the viewer’s being aware of this certain scenes within a film maybe inappropriate for particular ages so having this at the beginning of my trailer was essential although there was nothing to harmful within my trailer.

Production companies

The production companies I found are a typical convention that is featured within the film trailer. Whether this was positioned at the beginning or the end of the trailer. I found a mixture of trailers that used them in these ways, I decided to put it at the end so the audience were able to see who had made the trailer as well as the names of particular stars that are within the film that they may not have recognised during the trailer. Also having the production company announced could give me a pre-audience which would help with the overall profits and viewings of my film.

Establishing the shot

Most trailers I found that I watched begin with the setting that the majority of the film is shot in this is so the audience could get an understanding of what activity could happen as well as working out the storyline based on the initial setting they have been shown. I decided to use this because I was to give the audience a snippet of where all the scenes will be filmed so I took a shot of a house. This is a family home that suggests children live there which is another clue to what could happen within the film.

Sound

The sound throughout a horror film trailer typically uses dramatic tones to create that intense atmosphere throughout the trailer. I made sure that this convention was featured within my trailer by including low drones and high pitched scrapes as well as bangs that linked to different things that happen during the trailer. Dialogue was used within the trailer which was also another convention that I generally found in other successful trailers, it broke up with different scenes building up to a climax and giving insights to what is happening between the characters. The sound that I have used during my trailer I wanted to make an impact on the effectiveness that it hit the audience, so if they were a bang it was loud and unexpected. 

Place and setting

Already speaking in the establishing shot I wanted to create the setting feeling where the audience knew where it would all take place. On seeing particular rooms in the house with limited amount of space to view each room gives that sense of mystery as most of the shots are filmed close up of the characters. Also on showing one setting could let the audience suggest whether this would be the only place filmed during the trailer. 

Duration

Looking at other film trailer I noticed they were generally between 1.30mins to 2mins I felt this was a sufficient amount of time to include what was needed to be within a trailer. I felt having any trailer longer than this time may drag on and could bore the audience, making sure that I fitted with this convention and making sure my trailer was between this time allowed me to put snippets of the film into the trailer to not give so much away as well as giving them enough information to show off the actual film.

Mise en scene

Throughout the film trailer there are typical conventions like the use of props, how it is edited and the different lighting used during the trailer that makes up the production. Not many props were used during the film of the trailer, when the children were playing in the garden a football and bicycles were used which is typical toys that young children play with.  The lighting throughout was quite dark low key lighting due to that face that I wanted to stick with the typical conventions of the horror genre although natural lighting was used during the scenes of the children outdoors. The editing throughout a film trailer conventional shows small snippets of the film that would grab the interest of the audience; I wanted to maintain this convention within my trailer to ensure that I keep my viewers interested throughout the duration of my trailer. 

Evaluation Question 1 - Film Poster

Evaluation Question 1 - Magazine Front Cover

How are you ensuring continuality of fonts and colours between the magazine, trailer and poster?

Annotations of still images - Film Trailer

Film Poster Draft 4

Film Poster Draft 3

Film Poster Draft 2

Film Poster Draft 1

Analysis of Film Posters

Audience Feedback Poster

After asking my peers and a few members of staff for feedback on my poster they have gave my ways that i need to improve and particular conventions that i have included that are effective to make my poster look realistic.

- Most people that i have asked mentioned about the image, as the character is so pale she stands out too much and looks odd against the darker background. Maybe making the image more contrasted by bringing the contrast higher and the brightness darker.

- Also another thing people were saying about the image is that the poster doesn't look as effective because the same image is being used as what is on the film magazine. I'm thinking of changing the image anyway to something that i positioned more in the centre of the poster.

- Someone also said that the positioning of the text and the fonts and colours used look really effective and make the poster look like a professional piece. As well as this comments on the bottom text were also positive of the way it was written and the white colour used against the black background makes it stand out more.

- Put the classification of what the film is to make audiences aware of the age limit that the film is to ensure that the right target audience is being reached.

After taking into consideration of the feedback that i got from my peers it enabled me to improve my poster to make sure it was to my best standard and i was happy with the final production piece. A few changes have been made to the poster which i am really pleased about and the different things that the audience told me to change i have done and in my opinion made the poster look better.

I decided to change the image completely on the poster, as i had edited this in Pixlr i felt it stood out more against the dark background and focused more on the main character. As i cut out the character i blurred slightly round the outside of the image to make it blend in more with the poster. Although the character isn't making direct address it is still effective with her looking over the character creating that mystery of what she is looking at. As i have made the image smaller of the character this meant i had more space on the right side of my poster that was blank. I decided to add is another claw effect and slightly moved it onto the poster, i felt as well as others that i asked about it whether it looked good. 

Also one of the feedback responses was that i needed to add on the classification of my film to make the audience aware of the age limit of the film, after looking at similar products of film posters they positioned theirs next to the production cast at the bottom of the page this is what i decided to do to stick with the typical conventions of a film poster. 

Editing images & Being creative - Film Poster

Distribution of my film magazine

Analysis of technology used in editing - Final Cut

Risk Assessment - Film Trailer

Film Title Credits

Film title credits from elliea2media

Implementing Feedback - Film Trailer

Implementing Feedback

Research into similar products

Typical conventions of a film trailer:
- Hand held camera causing the 'shaky camera' effect.
- Screams and loud unexpected noises.
- Close up shots of the characters.
- Showing the best bits of the films to attract the viewers.
- Intense build up indicating a frightful moment coming up.
- Use of dialogue.
- Protagonist.
- Dark lighting.
- Scenes set in typical domestic areas. E.g House, hospital.
- Battle fo good and evil.
- Disruption of normality.

Paranormal Activity 3

Looking into similar products that already exist i have found it very useful when picking out the conventions that have been included and typically what to expect in a horror film trailer. As my horror trailer is based on paranormal and unknown activity i thought this was an interesting trailer to analyse and pick out different conventions that i could possibly use in my trailer. 

Camera Work
At the beginning of the trailer a hand held camcorder is being used, you can tell this because of the 'shaky camera' effect. For the way it was being film at the start made the feeling it was home filming for memories of the children's childhood which is why the camera effect worked well in the section. Throughout the trailer there is a variety of different camera shots, including close up, medium long shots, panning and high angle shots. For horror films this is typical conventions that are found with using a wide variety of different shots to create different effects and feelings towards the audience. For example, in this trailer a close up is used purely to scare the audience and is used in an unexpected way accompanied by loud sound effects. As horror is out their to scare people are create the feeling of uncertainty this enables this atmosphere to be created using the different camera shots. Reflections are used during the bathroom scene in the trailer which allows the effect of the silhouette being created in the corner.

Sound
Throughout the film trailer there is a mixture of both digetic and non-digetic sounds. As the camera is filming the children the sound is filled with their laughter and dialogue between the characters. When it gets to the more intense scenes of the trailer the sounds seem to change to unrealistic sounds but are put in place to make the activity scare the audience and possibly make them jump. Screams are used a lot throughout as well, for example when the girl is dragged from the bedroom she screams over the top of the looped music.

Mise-en-scene
The costumes of each of the characters are very normal and what you would see typical families were. On the children they are seen in shorts and skirts with jumpers and t-shirts. As the lighting changes in the trailer towards the end it is hard to work out what the costumes are. The silhouette at the end is clearly dressed in dark clothing to ensure that it is just a silhouette that is seen on the camera with the dark lights.
The lighting throughout the film trailer changes as it goes through. At the beginning of the trailer natural lighting is used as it is set in a normal back garden, the scenes that are filmed in the house seem to have low key lighting as its not bright and vivid on the characters. As the scary sections start the lighting changes to being very dark, night lights are used during the bedroom scene. Although the scenes filmed in the natural light because of the editing effects you can tell some of this has been taken away.
The setting and props that are used throughout the trailer are very realistic. As the trailer is based around a house the props used are what you would typically find in a house. As the first section of the trailer is filmed in the back garden a trampoline is used which is filmed with the children using it. A variety of rooms are used during the trailer including the bedroom, playroom and bathroom. Having the the production filmed in a house makes a more haunted feeling that links well to the paranormal activity that will be happening.
The facial expressions, positioning and body language are only really seen on the children. Their facial expressions and body language of them is still very innocent which shows to the audience that they are just normal children and leaves that sense of mystery of what will happen to them.

Editing
The editing during the film trailer has been done to a very realistic and effective way. Starting the filming with the children playing innocently and having snippets of the scary silhouette pop up unexpectedly with the lighting and sound changing suddenly. In some of the scenes were the camera is filming the children playing, this has been slowed down into slow motion to emphasise their innocence with the change of sound during this to make the audience feel that it is getting more intense. In the middle of the film trailer the filming is broken up by some text stating when the film will be released which makes the audience aware of the time to expect it to come out. As well as this is says 'Discover, The Secret, Behind the Activity', this leaves the suspense going and creates an atmosphere to the viewers. With this broken up enables to audience to read it properly and not necessarily expect what is coming next although they may have gathered it gets scarier. Having the use of the camera changed, when the children decide to use it in the bathroom and then the silhouette appears in the corner this has been edited by overlapping the shots to make it look like its a ghost.

Duration
The duration of the trailer is what you would find typically to any other trailer. I think this is a good duration as it isn't too long for the audience to get bored and smaller snippets of the film can be put together quicker to make the trailer more intense and leave the audience hanging and wanting more. Although some other trailers are longer I still think this is a suitable time to use for a trailer.

Final Magazine Front Cover

Initial thoughts - Film Trailer

Film Industry Company Structure

It is important when planning anything to have a particular structure which will help guide them do the right route to having a successful product. Without this it is quite easy for the process to be damaged and lose track of what needs to be done. The structure of the film comes from the ownership of the industry who will be producing the film. An example of this is a synergy partnership, they generally produce high production valued films which allows them to produce the the best of everything like marketing.

For me to fully understand and decide how my film will be structured I need to define the different structures that are available. I must take into consideration of my funding and the overall success of the film.

Synergy partnership:

This is used when one specific independent company within the industry cannot achieve what they feel they can do without the support of others. They interact with other organisations who helps with the overall development of the production in order to expand the chances of success. A lot of the time when production and integration is limited, the small funding becomes very beneficial. An example of this is The Inbetweeners film which was a synergy production between Film Four and Bwark Productions.

Conglomerate:

A conglomerate is when different industries merge together to become one and progress together. This usually involves one main company then a few subsidiary companies. you normally find conglomerates to be large and multi-national.

The structure of the films does determine how successful the film, depending on which structure your organisation is and whether the budget is off a certain amount can make the film more popular because of publishing and advertising. As i am a really small independent company and i will be against other high production companies it will be hard for me to achieve high success. Myself, i will be able to produce the trailer, poster and magazine because of the skills i have gained during the media course but will find it quite difficult to distribute my production.

Questionnaire results - Film Trailer

Storyboard - Horror trailer

Film Trailer Brief

To design and create an original film trailer to promote the release of my own production. I will be using my own original content.
My Film trailer is certified as a 15.

Audience Feedback for cover

Film Trailer Questionnaire

Click here to take survey

Here is what questions i asked to a variety of different people all ranging in age and genders. My results will follow to this.

Magazine Front Cover Draft 6

Magazine Front Cover Draft 5

Two favourite image edited

I decided to edit these images for my front cover main image, i felt they linked well with the idea of an innocent young girl but also leaves a mysterous feel towards the audience. The direct address is used in the bottom image which i think is really effective and with the eye as the main focus with the rest in blur draws attention to the eye. The above image has the character looking slightly above the camera, i think this is a really unique position that she is stood in.
I edited both of these images using Pixlr, the tools on there were great and allowed me to create a good image that linked to the genre of the film. Using the focal tool, contrasting, blurs, vibrance and softener i was able to edit both images to the way i wanted them and made them stand out from the rest of the magazine.

When will your film be exhibited in cinemas? Why?

Methods of Distribution

Magazine Front Cover draft 4