Sunday, 20 December 2009
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Monday, 14 December 2009
evaluation Part 4

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Document/video/mp3 hosting/ upload sites such as youtube, idrive.com and archive.org
We could not have been so efficient in the production process without the internet. As me and my partner live a distance from each other, we sometimes had to work from two different locations and send accross work we did individually and criticise each others work and put new ideas towards them, which at the end of the day actually made our coursework excellent quality and hopefully a good grade.
Blogger itself
This enables us to share both the print products and the written work so we both work together. Bloggers comment application also provides an excellent service to get audience feedback from anyone accross the globe.
Search engines and probably specific sites such as Wikipedia, imdb, guardian, BBC, amazon.co.uk, play.com
Search engines provide us both with a powerful tool to find new material and useful sources we can use to help us develop new ideas etc. Wikipedia provided us with useful material into the history of horror films and also with facts and figures of how much films such as Friday the 13th made at the box office as did imdb.com.
Photoshop
This was the software I used to develop my ancillary tasks. To begin with my knowledge of this software was not familiar. But as I gave it a head on approach, my skills began to develop with my work.
imovie 06, final cut express 4, Sony Vegas
We used a number of video editing software, as you can see we used Imovie 6, we only used final cut express 4 for a little bit and then also Sony Vegas.
Here is an example of what Sony Vegas looks like...
Sony Vegas provided us with better technology to give the production a less 'amateur' feel. For example more flexibility with the fade in and fade out transitions. We could put more impressive editing into the project as me and my partner are much more experienced with Sony Vegas, for example, in our product we,ve got the Freeze frame at the beginning, allowing us to stop part of the film in order to focus on a creepy face using a close up shot.
We ve mainly stuck to a linear narrative combined with parallel editing to create a powerful order of events with some suprise quick shots completely out of the blue to surprise the audience and get them excited.
iDVD 06
audio software - Video Copilot
The audio software we used for the project was 'Pro scores', this was alot of audio clips royalty and copyright free which then we put into the product and edited to make them unique and more effective on the clips.
portable digital audio recorder
We kept a few podcasts to let people know how we were getting on with production using a recording device installed in my partners mobile phone, we then sent this to the mac computers using Bluetooth connectivity.
DV camcorders
Obviously we couldnt have done the project without the sony camcorders provided. Im familiar with these camcorders as with other technologies I have used for this project because I used them for my AS production. The SONY DV camera we used, isn't a professional piece of equipment, but as we are amateurs it was suitable and straight forward to use.
Scanner
The scanner came in use for getting written work up on my blog.
Macs
The Mac computers we used suited the type of production very well, as they are more high tech and have more upto date technologies such as bluetooth, as compared to other computers around the school.
Social networking sites for getting audience feedback.
I placed the final cut on my facebook profile, making it visible to 324 people and we got some good feedback...
George Needham - 'Looks pretty god damn sweet Toby'.
Aswell as 3 likes.
And several other comments.
New technologies such as digital technologies have allowed small British film production companies to create quite a name for themselves. It has also allowed us to gather much feedback from various age groups, especially by embedding our trailer on facebook. New technologies especially the internet has allowed us to market our film for free. Obviously we could not afford to pay for advertising and like companies in the real industry that only have small budgets, the internet has opened up many more advantages for them to make successes out of their productions without spending big budgets. Big blockbusters have the funds to use media campaigns such as magazine covers and tvs ads (above the line marketing) however small companies such as WarpX can compete with this using websites and they may not be able to afford magazines campaigns but they can re-create their own budgeted version using e-newsletters and message campaigns.
Evaluation Part 3
The target audience : The audience for our media product would be people aged from 15 to 24. We attracted our audience by the content of the film, although 'illegal' until 18 alcohol is praised upon by the youth, aswell as sex and violence, these things attract the attention of the audience and keep them drawn in. Also attracting our audience is made easier as we have used similar aged characters to our target audience. The mise-en-scene we used specifically interests the audience e.g sex, violence and alcohol. Not only do we try to attract a young target audience in the teaser trailer, but also in the ancillary tasks aswell, for example the magazine cover would be that off a magazine thats readers of a young age or people who specifically by the magazine because they are into the latest films e.g Empire.

I jotted down notes of the feedback, which we then used when editig the rough cut.
An example of audience feedback for us was 'The begining clips need to edited down as they are a bit too slow', 'the clips dont work very well as a sequence'. We took the feedback very seriously as it means alot to us, as its external views and opinions not biased by us.
Audience feedback is very important as it provided us with external views and opinions which is crucial for us to develop forms and conventions that attract are target audience, as we got feedback from people who fit the criteria as the target audience.

We also got feedback from professionals who can provide excellent points that helped us to develop are product and also to make use of the clips we shot in a more
effective way.
I am very pleased with my Final Cut, alot of effort has been put into this project and its been a rollacoaster. However obviously there is some bad points, such as some of the clips could may be shortened down a bit more and the trailer itself could have a bit shorter.
We provided a quick narrative that didnt give the story away however it makes the audience want to see it. Throughout the film there is much intertextuality as it conatains many refernces to other films. We editing it with different clips so its starts off with equilibrium however with a couple of jump cuts in and then towards the end of the trailer it enters a state of complete disequilibrium. We also put in a couple of freeze frames just to give the audience a break and let them experience a little equilibrium and then dive straight back into disequilibrium to get there hearts racing.
The sound we used also is very important and influences many of the clips. One of the main feedbacks was that we dont have much digetic sound, however this was always the plan, as of course we used a bit especially at the beginning but you notice how it sounds a bit quiet because the cameras dont really pick up the noise very well, however with non- digetic sound in the background and which gets louder as the trailer goes on its provides a tempo throught the production which takes the audience with it.


Evaluation Part 2
We spent a huge amount of time conducting research and producing the production and ancillary tasks. It was very important to us to tie the film and the ancillary tasks together as they could be used as a marketing campaign for the film, just like it would if it were a real industry product. Looking at the magazine cover, you can see how they all relate to form one big product which would easily attract our target audience. To get them to relate, we used simple but effective signifiers such as they red writing.
Ive also used stills from the actual production, so for example, you spot the poster on a bus stop, you go into a shop you see the magazine front cover, you go home you switch on the television and you see the trailer which hopefully added together creates a powerful marketing strategy which gets your target audience to see the film.
THE MAGAZINE FRONT COVER : There is two main colours I used in the magazine front cover, red and white, this is becuase I want the cover to connote to the audience that the red connotes the genre of slasher to the audience and that the white refers to a mental hospital, where there is padded white walls. This could then be used to connote to the audience that the basic storyline is that somebody who is mentally ill or somebody's go on the kill. There is also some pictures edited onto the main picture showing the cast, this is basically just to show the inside contents of the magazine, a common code of the real movie magazines such as Empire. There is also an offer on the front to encourage the target market to buy the magazine, the free poster inside not only merchandise its good advertising and as teenagers stereotypically and usually do put posters up on there bedroom walls, this could be used to promote the movie because it provides word of mouth adveristing, there friends see it and tell other people about it.
THE POSTER : The poster was edited many times, as each time there was something missing. I used photoshop whilst my partner used another software from home in order to create a better poster. The poster relates too the forms and conventions of the real media products as it contains many of there features.


Evaluation Part 1
In the trailer we contain many intertextual references, such as halloween, jennifers body and black christmas. We also use a common code used by many horror films production teams in there trailers which is a Linear narrative, for example, in the black christmas trailer, the story is roughly told chronologically.
We ve also used quiet a sophisticated piece of editing software ' Sony Vegas ' allowing us to look less amateur by using visual effects. We ve also used similar techniques of successful low budget horrors such as match on action shots.
Throughout the project I have researched many trailers to find out just what makes a good teaser trailer. By viewing about thirty and making notes on them, you begin to spot similarities between them and a general theme, the forms and conventions seem to have a general code in the horror film teaser trailer industry.
Our media product develops forms and conventions of real media products such as the scene of the stabbing, when one character(sophie- Rosie)stabs another(theo-Matt) the stabbing involves some quite graphic detail e.g coughing up blood, this could be seen as forms and conventions of real media products such as the film ' Dressed to Kill' or other slashers such as 'Scream' and 'Halloween'.
The type of media institution that would distribute our media product would be a small indie company because of course we ourselves are just beginners and could not afford to even try and attract one of the big 5 conglomerates, our best and cheapest option would be to go to an indie company e.g Icon Film Productions.
Editing
The editing style we chose for our teaser trailer relates to the forms and conventions of real media products greatly. We felt we needed to edit it this way to give it a less amateur look and feel to our audience. We've also used similar shot types to those real media products use in their trailers, for example, close up shots to show expressions/emotions of the characters, these shots can be very useful in teaser trailers, as it provides anchorage for the point you want to get accross to the audience when you have little time to do it. Another shot type we've used would be a tracking/POV shot, this connotes to the audience along with the digetic and non digetic sound that someone is being approached in order to be attacked, especially with the pace the camera is going at.
Cinematography
We used many different shot types to give the each shot what it needed to give the audience the feeling we wanted to. We had to shoot and re-shoot almost all the shots as we didnt always get them right and also if we didnt notice the shot was wrong we have no other shots to choose from and it takes alot of effort to get the cast together as people have other things to be doing in there spare time. We used many close up shots as these are a form and convention of many teaster trailers for horror/slasher films.
Lighting
We use a variety of lighting types in shots for our trailer, to create all sorts of connotation, denotation and anchorage to show the audience whats the films all about. The two main types of lighing we use in the product are low-key, which is a much more pronounced shadows and dramatic contrasts and colour FX(mainly used in our rough cut) such as cold and blueish lighting, quite dark so it connotes a sense of cold emotion.
Characters
The characters choice was very important to us for creating the right forms and conventions of real media products but also challenging them. Instead of having a brunette female as the antagonist instead of the conventional blonde, busty, sexually active female. We challenged the real codes and conventions by mixing things up a bit, we want our production to be different, to stand out as we're not a big budget film we need something cheap and effective to make it stand out and attract an audience following. We have also chosen characters in the same social class group and age to the target audience as they can relate themselves to the film. The audience for our media product would be people aged from 15 to 24. We used methods of attracting our audience by the content of the film, although 'illegal' until 18 alcohol is praised upon by the youth, aswell as sex and violence, these things attract the attention of the audience and keep them drawn in.
Representations
We represented many of the productions features using stereoptypes of which everyone can relate to, e.g young people binge drinking. We tryed to represent things as obviously as possible however in such a short amount of time we can only connote representations to the audience through fast paced shorts montage of clips not denote apart from anchoring the point thats its at a party and theres going to be killings involving alot of graphic violence using mise-en-scene and other useful materials such as fake blood.
Mode of address/language(especially for print products)
We mainly stuck to language which was simple and easy to understand, aswell as bold words because the target audience isn't well educated, upper class intellectuals, its lower class people who are a broader more common market and we felt the need to use a common code of language for them to be attracted to the marketing campaign.
Narrative
Propp, was a Russian formalist scholar who analyzed the basic plot components of Russian folk tales to identify their simplest irreducible narrative elements. His theory is now used in media eduction. By breaking storys down into there simplest forms as we did with our project, you can arrive a typology to its narrative structure, this included the following...
ABSENTATION, INTERDICTION, VIOLATION of INTERDICTION, RECONNAISSANCE, DELIVERY, TRICKERY, COMPLICITY, VILLAINY and LACK, MEDIATION, BEGINNING COUNTER-ACTION, DEPARTURE, FIRST FUNCTION OF THE DONOR, HERO'S REACTION, RECEIPT OF A MAGICAL AGENT, GUIDANCE and many more.
Propp also came up with what virtually all films have in them, with their characters...The 7 broad character types... The villain The donor The (magical) helper The princess The dispatcher The hero or victim/seeker hero [False hero]
More info from the source is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Propp
Layout(Print)
The layouts of my print products relate very much to real media products. I have written mainly about these in my audience feedback section of my evaluation. I researched through alot of magazines and posters to spot the general forms and conventions of these.
Titles
The titles were used to connect with the audience through point blank communication. For example, we used effective ways to interact with the audience for example, 'YOU'RE INVITED TO A PARTY' 'YOU WILL NEVER FORGET'.
Soundtrack

We used a product which is completely royalty free from a software company called 'Videocopilot'. The product we used was 'Pro-scores' http://www.videocopilot.net/products/proscores/
Accents
The accents of the cast in the digetic sound is very important as they match the target audience and therefore will attract them, they specifically dont speak formal 'proper' upper class English as the audience would simply not feel connected with the characters and therefore would share no similarities and interests.