All film posters I have selected, all have a similar theme. Each of them, contain and image which focuses on one thing, then the rest of the image is darkened and becomes clear apart from the additional text. This is what I wish to create with my own Film Poster. From these posters I have discovered that I need to add clear text, date of release and a billing block to my own image to create a realistic film poster.

All of the exsisting magazine covers I have researched all share a similar pattern, most magazine covers want to be clear, however are created to stand out. All of these magazine covers I have chosen display a cover with no more than four colours. This makes text clear in comparison to the photograph and easier to read. A good choice of colour also helps to make the text stand out from the rest of the page, yet still manages to make the image a focus too.  Each magazine also displays a smaller sized text on each side of the image whereas the masthead and main storyline is shown bigger than all other text on the cover. Colours other than black and white are often used to highlight certain words or phrases also. From this researched I have also learned that I need to have a barcode on my own magazine cover, aswell as article information, a good choice of colours and clear text. 

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

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

To research a few years ago, people would have to find their information out of books from libraries, but in more recent times modern technology now lets us find information in the comfort of our own homes, now faster that ever. Web 2.0 is a term to describe the new and advanced technology. Using this, allows low budget film makers like us to browse and collect information from websites in example sites such as youtube and blogger.

Here are the following technologies I have used throughout the process of construction, research, planning and evaluation;

Blogger; This is the programme we use most frequently to add and update our coursework on. It is very good in terms of creating and re-editing posts, at any point you may go back and continue with something you've already posted. Using blogger you may also personalize your own blog and also edit posts in terms of picture and text alignment, font colour and size and ability to add photography, moving image and links to other sites and pages.

Google; By using a worldwide search engine such as Google, I have been able to research exsisting distribution products such as magazine covers, film posters and other forms of advertisement already used and created within the film industry.

Youtube; By using youtube I have been able to research exsisting trailers for films helping me to identify horror conventions needed to be re-created in our own trailer. Youtube has also enabled me to add videos to my blog thoughout my coursework unit and it has also helped us evaluate audience feedback and see how successful our trailers have been on the site. When posted on Youtube people are able to 'like' or 'dislike' videos such as our own and are also then able to share or 'favourite' the video.

Adobe Photoshop; By using photoshop I have been able to edit my own photos using different tools and effects and also re-create film poster and magazine covers efficiently. (Ancillary tasks) It also enables you to combine text and image enabling us to create our newspaper used in our trailer to a realistic standard.

Canon EOS; Using my Digital SLR I was able to take pictures for the ancillary tasks.

Video Camera; Using a video camera we were able to create our footage. We often used a tripod aswell to create a steady scene, but also we used it handheld too. This was to create a typical 'horror convention'. We found the video camera is to use.

Apple Mac; By using the Apple Mac we have been able to capture our footage from the video camera and transferred our desired clips to Final Cut Pro , where we have spent the majority of our time creating and editing our horror trailer. Although at first we found the programme quite difficult to work with, the more and more time we spent using it, the easier it became. Adding, capturing and cross fades were the easiest tools to master within the programme. The Apple Mac also had installed on it a programme named Garage Band, here you could create any type of music with a choice of beats or instruments. You could also record sounds such as your own voices. During our editing time, we only used this programme to create 'booms' and 'bangs' for our trailer. During editing we have also come across a programme named 'Live Type' here we could edit titles for our trailer and also add different effects and modes. We all found this quite easy to use from the beggining.

Final Cut Pro

As the most important media technology throughout the construction of our horror trailer, different techniques and tools helped us to create the effects we wanted for our own trailers. 

Using the 'pen tool' (1st from bottom) we were able to select points from different video clips to 'fade in' or 'fade out' of the video. By doing this we were also able to create cross fades throughout frames.

By using the 'razor tool' we were able to cut clips in appropriate places for our trailer. This also was beneficial when we wanted to create flashes and pauses between frames and images.

Using final cut pro, we were also able to adjust the contrast and lighting of our frames as well as adjusting certain colours and also the speed and transition effects of each clip.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Positive Feedback: From our audience feedback, we learnt that many people had been impressed by our choice of location and thought it fitted well as a horror convention. The idea of the newspaper also went down well with our audience, some comments including 'really professional and more realistic', the idea of the return of the repressed also caught our audience's eye. Through audience feedback we have also recognised the comments suggesting the build up was shown at its best through the montage of clips closer to the end of the trailer. Another positive comment we recieved was about the point of view shots through the fence watching the protagonist running. Our audience research also came through positive about the repetition of clips, such as the candles and also the 'hand held' camera footage.

Thing to be improved on: From our audience feedback we have learnt that our choice of music could have been better. Many of the comments we receieved suggested that the music was more suited to the 'action' film genre. In some of the settings throughout the trailer were said to be too light and would have been better to have less light and a darker environment. The scene with the protagonist running away from the building many have suggested to be too much.

Overall, I think the effort of finding a good location was well worth it, as we got most of our positive comments came from our location. Although some people had suggested that some of the outside settings could have been darkened, mostly people seemed impressed by the darkness and lighting in the other shots, such as the spotlighting and candle light. Considering mise-en-scene, most comments were good on this topic, although some said that the ouiji board scene could be improved as they did not know what they were meant to read, or whether the actions were supposed to be meaningful in any way. On the topic of soundtrack, the frequency on improvable comments about this were high. Although the audience agreed the 'booms' worked well with the clips the main soundrack they believe to be better suited in an action film.

Although considering the feedback, our group had decided to keep some elements the same as we believed they worked well with what we were trying to achieve and also brought the feeling of a horror film. I believe we edited our trailer well and the location and also our choice of shots and montages worked well. If we had the chance to start again we have agreed we would have liked to shoot more gore and torture to make the trailer seem more realistic.

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

The job of the distributor is to make sure they pin point their target audience to make sure their potential film will have the chance of becoming successful based on statistics and research. By creating advertisements such as Posters, Billboards, TV advertisements such as teaser trailers and theatrical trailers for cinema showings they are able to target the broadest audience that is possible. The audience these advertisements are aimed at is easy to target as these are methods used to capture people in their everyday lives, all in which are methods to get the film recognised as well as DVD releases post-cinema release. In order to compete against other distribution companies, the distributor has to create a greater interest in their own title. By identifying it's target audience the distributor is able to specifically aim all advertising campaigns are it's expected audience. Other things the distribution will need to do is: Consider why it's audience may wish to see the film, estimate the revenue potential across all the formats of its release, develop plans and partnerships to build awareness and interest in the film itself and to aim to convert as much interest as possible into visits to cinemas. In order to promote my own trailer I have created a magazine cover and a film poster to reach my target audience.











My magazine cover I decided to base on the well known film magazine 'Total Film'. The typical 'Total Film' title is shown with a bold font displaying 'FILM' and 'TOTAL' running through the 'F', which is what I have produced on the right. Something I have discovered alot through magazine research is a cropped banner in the top right hand corner of a magazine cover displaying any special offers. Text on most total film magazines is either displayed on both sides of the magazine or minimal text on one side with a larger headline at the bottom of the cover. This cover combined with the trailer I think works well. The film title 'Abandoned' is displayed as the headline of the magazine and the tag line is also used here, as it is also on the Film Poster. In both of my ancillary tasks (film poster and magazine cover), the images I have chosen do not give anything specific about the film itself, other than it's location as shown in an isolated area the audience may guess through the darkness around the image. Text I have chosen to use for my magazine cover is bold, mostly for clarity, yet I have used more techniques to blur and edit on the film poster, as to make the person observing have to look twice at the poster.
With my own trailer combined with my magazine cover and film poster I believe them to be quite effective.

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

The first image shown is taken from our own trailer 'Abandoned' and the second is taken from the 'House of Wax' trailer from 2005. Here we a bright light in the frame however the rest of the frame appears dark and unpredictable. This follows the conventions of a horror film by created suspense and the thought of something unpredictable happening. A bright light can also signify wanting to find something specific or looking for something you don't particularly want to find.

Here is also a clip taken from the 'House of Wax' trailer. I picked this clip to show the point of view shot we tried to create throughout our trailer. The convention of horror we wanted to show was the idea of being watched. May films of the horror genre often create a similar effect, through a material of some kind, in example; a window, fencing and curtains.

 Here, both screen shots show the protagonist/final girl running, a typical convention of the horror genre. Throughout the trailer this convention makes the audience unaware at what could happen, with the hope of the protagonist will get away from what she fears or whether there is something unpredicted to come. However, in other horror films such as the House of Wax, lighting is usually low key, lit by ambient lighting such as moonlight or artificial lights in a dark environment. In our own trailer this proved to be of a struggle and we didn't manage to get the scene dark enough in comparison to the 'House of Wax' screen shot.



 In these screen shots (taken from Grave Encounters) we see a typical horror convention of a long and dark (low lighted) corridor. This is used in horrors also to create suspense with the idea that you are unaware of what is to come, a feeling the darkness also creates in this situation. The darkness is also a horror convention we associate, with fear and the fear of the unknown.



In these screen shots, the first taken from the 'Case 39' trailer, these both establishing shots show the horror convention of a setting. Here we see two abandoned/isolated buildings. Although we had difficulty altering the lighting on our own trailer, the building still represents fear and somewhere, many may not escape or feel safe in. The 'Case 39' screen shot, the building is surrounded by darkness. Abandoned buildings in horror films often connote a fear or isolation and also recreate the idea of the 'return of the repressed'. Something from the past is seen to return in abandoned buildings and often hold a story that is then discovered throughout a horror film. Which is a similar idea in which we wanted to create. 

In these screen shots the first being from our own trailer, we used candles in a frame to create a low lit room. Ambient lighting being a horror convention is also used to create suspense and tension in a scene as low lighting limits what we can determine in a scene and increases the possibility of danger.

The first screen shot here, is taken from 'The Strangers' trailer. In many horror films, a message is produced in an irregular way to create suspense and fear. In the first screen shot we see 'Hello' written on a window. This is a horror convention used to distract a viewer’s attention from the possibility that something sudden will appear. In our own trailer we used the message to show 'The end is near' to seem eerie to the audience. Camera work used he was often handheld at a canted angle rather than perfectly straight to imply the existence of an unknown person also in the building. Handheld camera work was also used to create distance from the other characters to create a feeling of being followed by another.



Original Photographs

Original Photographs