A2 Evaluation

1.       In what ways does your product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My main product uses and develops thriller trailer conventions. One of the ways it does this is to show the protagonist, and not the main antagonist (secondary antagonists are shown to provide enigma codes). The protagonist is shown to be extraordinary, through the events shown in the trailer (investigating murders, fighting off people almost twice her size). Because it is a thriller trailer, there are not any ‘scares’ and comedic moments, which helps set the films tone as something serious and to an extent realistic, which is what most thriller's tend to do with their narratives, unless it uses future technology or ideas. As well as this, the trailer gives information about the film, such as release date, title and tagline. Although some of my feedback believe that 'too much' of the story, much of this is in the beginning of the narrative, taking place before much of the main plot, and so does not challenge trailer conventions.
My narrative sticks to the conventions of a thriller film, particularly the conspiracy Thriller sub-genre. The conspiracy is the main part of the trailer, but is not spoiled (the audience knows there is a conspiracy but does not know why).The main reason for this is because of spoilers: trailers do not give away the ending of a film, otherwise the audience would not see the film. This is a convention I have definitely used, and the trailer does not use any part of the end narrative, much of it being either early on in the film or flashbacks to explain character.
 If I were to redo this trailer, I would change the opening sequences to show more of an introduction to Alex (the main character), which is more in keeping with certain trailers, which means that my end product challenges certain conventions. This introduction to Alex could have been clips of her doing investigations, and at award ceremonies etc, although it would not have been feasible to stage all of this

The ancillary tasks also used and developed conventions. The magazine cover features the protagonist in a specially shot pose for the cover. Although my cover shows her looking at some evidence, on a single coloured background, there are variations, in mainstream magazines, such as the character staring out of the page, or the background being a scene from the film. The colour was chosen because grey is a fairly moody/serious colour, but it also makes foreground objects stand out more than black. A red or yellow background would have made the film seem more light-hearted, and so the use of grey shows that the film is meant to be serious. The pose where a character is looking at a prop is one of the most common, however. As well as this, there is a top banner advertising another magazine feature, as well as other films featured in the magazine. All the main product details, such as issue, date and price are on the cover, and also use typical conventions, as the title of almost every magazine is near the top, below either a banner of part of the background image. This is done so that the title stands out in newspaper shelves and so would make little sense to challenge this convention. The title chosen uses the convention of being related to the subject it covers, as a spotlight is often used on stage or by actors, and also 'putting the spotlight on something' means looking at it in more depth, which is what most magazines do to the cover film/feature.
If I were to change anything, I would either have Alex in a different pose, or add in a secondary character (likely the editor) and have a secondary cover featuring different characters, which aren't the main villains. While some films use magazine covers to 'reveal' their villain/hero's look (many of the EMPIRE ones, such as Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Dark Knight and Rises), although that is because these characters are cultural icons, while the identity of the Message's villain is one of the key enigma codes. 


The Poster could be seen as a typical character poster, detailing a sole character, on a single coloured background, with something to describe them. While some posters use a quote, many (including my poster) use a description of the character, in this case 'A Brilliant Mind', which is a convention I decided to use, as it helped the audience to understand the character more. Like many character posters/banners, it is quite minimalist, and so works to intrigue the audience without giving the plot (ie key location, narrative detail) away. The colour was chosen because it is a serious colour, and shows the film is not light-hearted, as well as giving a link to the magazine front cover. The name and release date is given, which is one of the main features of a poster, as it is used to advertise a film close to its release date or during its theatrical run, especially character posters.
If I were to do this again, I would use images of other major characters, such as the two police officers and the editor, as well as Alex, or create other character posters to symbolise their relationships with each other. However, I would not put any of the villains on the cover, as that is one of the films enigma codes.

2.       How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?

There are many ways in which the Message trailer is linked to the magazine cover and poster.

Firstly all three feature Charli (as Alex Davidson) and she is the sole character in the magazine and poster, although the poses are different.

All three feature the title, and the poster and the trailer use similar font for it, which was done to show that the film being marketed is the same, and to keep consistency through marketing tools. The font is also reminiscent of a type-writer which is often associated with thrillers and conspiracies, due to their use before computers were publicly available. The magazine would have a house style and so would not use the same logo, however, but the title font on it is still similar to that on the trailer/poster. The remaining text on the trailer is used to describe Charli's character, as the words a 'brilliant mind' appear on both, as character posters normally have a description or short quote about the character, and quote demonstrates how her character is seen or portrayed in the film, and is not seen differently to different people. The effectiveness would not be as great if the same character was described in different ways, as this may confuse the audience. The date and film studio appear in both the trailer and on the poster, while the date of the magazine is earlier in the year. This is however very common, and films will normally have a cover a few months before release, either new information or the big reveal. It also means that the promotional trailer and poster would be released at the same time, as release dates may change, or the information may not be known. However, it may also be that this one element is simple to edit, and is also something which is key, as different dates would confuse an audience, lower it's effectiveness and therefore how many people would watch the film. The background colour's on the magazine cover and the poster are the same, which provides another link, as well as emphasising the tone (light hearted or comedies would have lighter backgrounds. Thrillers tend to be dark). This was mainly done to show the tone, but also because of recognisability, as certain colours may be associated with films (AVATAR and blue, The Expendable's and yellow for instance), and so using a grey colour that wasn't metallic would likely stick in the mind of the target audience (for instance grey was also used for marketing 'Taken' another thriller)

While all three share common links, they can all be viewed as individual products, rather than just Photoshopping a still from the trailer, new specially shot images are used.
From the feedback I have gained on all three products, I would say that the combination is effective.

3.       What have you learned from your audience feedback?

One of the things that I made sure I did was get feedback from my target audience throughout the production stage. For instance, once I had created my first version I asked for feedback and then made changes based upon it. For instance, in the first cut some felt that the death scenes were either too long or too short, depending on the character, and so these scenes were edited accordingly. As well as this, some felt that James' character was not explained properly, and so extra text was added. As well as this, more title screens were added, and an extra scene shot, which took care of any other complaints. 
After creating the second version my audience feedback became more positive, although some constructive criticisms had also been given.

A short comment, only saying that their favourite part was James' speech as Prime Minister

This user also enjoyed the trailer, and stated they would  see the film for the story shown in the trailer

This user has more knowledge in the field, having taken a media course already. While she enjoyed the piece and commented on the good use of editing, she was also able to give some constructive criticisms.

This next user liked the piece but commented on the actors smiling during takes

   

This was the comment left by James, who played the PM. He enjoyed the piece but also commented on some shots and other parts which may not have been perfect.

As well as Facebook, I put the link on Twitter to get more feedback. One of these users, @ITFCAston did give some positive feedback, as well as some constructive criticism's.








These are just a few examples of the feedback received, with the rest being similar to these examples. From this I have found that the trailer was well received but some of the camera shots were not straight, and some felt that there was too much of the story revealed, through the deaths of the five people. However, they would take place before the main narrative and would not be considered spoilers. If remade that part of the trailer could be made clearer. As well as this YouTube allows users to view statistics on their video's

My audience profile listed the main viewer between 18 and 25, and more likely male, which is what these statistics appear to show. 
From both pieces of feedback I have learned that not everything works with all people, for instance, some knew why James' PM was included, most didn't, which is why extra information was added. I also found that my audience research allowed me to create a film that appealed a lot more than it would have done if I had just drafted a story, which shows its importance. I didn't realise how much narrative and back-story was needed until my first set of feedback, which meant that I could adjust the trailer accordingly, without giving away spoilers. Finally, while not everyone gave the same feedback, much of it was similar, and included things which I had not thought of (title cards for back-story), which shows that the audience know what they want, and my target audience wants to understand the characters and their motives, even in the trailers.

4.       How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Different types of technology have been used at all stages of the coursework piece, from planning and research to construction and evaluation. For instance, I have used both Mac’s and Windows 7 PC’s to create my media pieces. The Mac was used primarily to create my main product (trailer) using Final Cut Pro. This enabled me to use layering, add in audio and edit pieces non-destructively. Special effects can also be used. For instance, one scene in the trailer is a news conference with the Prime Minister. To achieve the look, I created a banner in Photoshop and used it as an overlay. After this I removed the background of the actor speaking (it was filmed behind a ‘blue screen’ to make this process easier), and replaced it with a still image of 10 Downing Street. Once all the layers were sorted out it was only a case for moving them into the correct position. This allowed me to make the scene look more realistic than it would have been on a plain background, and make's the sequence look more real in another way: it looks like it is being shown on a TV news network, which is how that kind of shot would be shown. While the picture is static, this does not detract from the effect created, as the viewer would be focussing on James rather than the banner.
As well as this, I could mix in different audio and edit sound levels, which meant that if I had to replace audio, or create a voice-over (which occurred during the flashback shots) it meant that I could line both the audio and video to a frame.

Photoshop was also used to create my ancillary tasks. They were achieved by using the magnetic lasso tool to cut out the main character, before moving this image to a separate layer. Then, I used the background colour tool to change the background. This meant that the object of the cover/poster was the character, and the locations did not give away plot details, and that unwanted parts of the photo could be taken away easily. Then I used Office software to add in any text needed for the poster and magazine cover. By using Microsoft Publisher, rather than Photoshop itself, I could move text more easily, as well as use the 'template's' options which meant that mastheads and other information would automatically be in the correct place, and would not be accidentally be overwritten due to the layers.

Other software used includes ‘Oxelon’ which allowed me to convert my footage to a Final Cut friendly format. This was done as the other alternative was to use a 'director's box' and import using iMovie, which often led to varying results (unwanted visuals such as menu screens or battery meter) 


The internet played a big part in the research and planning stages. For instance, using YouTube to view existing trailers, Blogger was used as a way of creating the coursework portfolio and social networks like Twitter and Facebook to get audience feedback, which was one of major parts of the evaluation stages. YouTube was also used to upload my final trailer. This site was used because it is part of Google, like Blogger, and is the world's biggest streaming site. As well as this, part of the research involved going onto different film magazine websites, like Total Film and EMPIRE, to get past magazine covers, although TF did not have them in a separate section, which is why the post mainly consists of examples from Empire