Hi Moderator

Hi moderator this is my A2 media blog where I have documented the progress of my three products, magazine, poster and trailer. I have used a lot of technology and a wide range of audience feedback to present my work and get a broad range of ideas. I hope you like my blog, ENJOY!

Research and planning: final film trailer

Here is our film trailer which we have now finished, we have worked together to produce this. Working together on sound and editing. Cinematography was my role and mis en scene was sadias role. For the sound and editing we worked together and made decisions that we both thought would work. 

Research and planning: magazine complete

This is my final film magazine, again I have used the clown I decided to use him again because it makes the film seem more creepy than if I had the other two characters on the front because their outfits are only basic and they have no physical cuts in the trailer from the clown so we couldn't make them look as though they had been attacked. Again you can see "WE MEET AGAIN" on the front of the magazine because it is that months special so it needs to stand out to the audience. As you can see there is a lot of red, which I decided to do because red is stereotypical in the horror genre. Many of the cover lines are based on horror films because if someone is buying that issue of "SHOWCASE" they are likely to be into horror films, behind all of the font / cover lines are drop shadows to stop the magazine from looking flat. 

Research and planning: film poster complete

This is my final poster design. It has the clown on because it is introducing you to the villain and he looks creepy, whilst not giving away too much about the film which I like. I kept the font on the poster and the magazine the same because that is the identity of the film and looks professional rather than using different fonts and styles which could potentially look weird. I have used a dark background and clouds which will portray a dark atmosphere which is in the film. Rather than saying coming this summer I put coming this halloween because it fits in that period of the year better and is more suited. At the bottom of the poster you can see the film credits which are on all professional film posters.

Evaluation: Question four - How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Evaluation: Question three - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

This Voice thread speaks about how I used audience feedback to shape my project and how it helped me make many major decisions.

• The initial audience interviews were helpful because they helped us build a basis and gather ideas. For example the answers provided suggested that dark colours such as black and red are stereotypical and connotate horror. We were also told that our audience thinks that a male villain is scarier than a female villain. The research was also useful because we weren't sure where the best place to post our trailer would be so that our audience would find it and view it but the interviews told us that Youtube would be the best platform.

• Next we used questionnaires to gather research, we did this because they allow you to ask close ended and sometimes open ended questions to the audience and gather statistics which I did using powerpoint. The questions were similar to the video interviews but covered more people much quicker. The questionnaires also gave us an idea about what name idea to go for. 

• The final way and in my opinion best way that I got audience feedback was through social media where I poster the film names for feedback and my magazine poster. I did this because the amount of people from within our target audience that use social media is huge so the response rate was quite high. 

Evaluation: Question two - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?

CLICK HERE TO VIEW MY EVALUATION QUESTION TWO

To answer question two I used a wesbite called Newhive where I have used screenshots and wrote about what each image was, but to back up this Newhive I used Voice thread to develop on my points and go into much more detail.

Evaluation: Question one - In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions on real media products?

Here is a PowerPoint I making using Microsoft PowerPoint which I then uploaded to Slideshare so that you can read and analyse my use, develop and challenge aspects as well as the Voice thread which is below where I go into further detail about my work.

Research and planning: working on sound in my trailer

Here are some screenshots that I have taken to show my progress through adding and editing the sound in our trailer, I have had to match up the sound with the mouth movements and add sound to add tension, for example when we are first introduced to the clown there is a deep sound which tells the audience that the clown brings bad news. As well as this I had to put sound over several clips at a time, for example when the news flash comes on we cut back to the scene where it happened whilst the news presenter is still talking, this is so that we don't have one long scene which isn't what you expect to see in a horror trailer they should be short and snappy which is what it is now. 

Research and planning: production logo choice

This is my production logo, I decided to choose " THRONE PICTURES" because it has connotations of being the best and sounds superior, I used a light tool on Photoshop to make the middle more bright than the edges to stop it looking flat, this is also why I decided to put the spark of light on because it is subtle but has a good effect, rather than a crown which I was initially considering but now I think that would look cheap.

Research and planning: magazine update

This is my updated magazine cover, the only thing that I have changed is where I have placed some of the story lines but I have also added to the story lines because it looked a bit bare beforehand. I have moved the oscar story over because it doesn't look as busy on the left side now as opposed to when it had the bubble and the oscar story on the same side. 

Research and planning: film credits on my poster

This is a screenshot taken from my poster it shows the film credits which I did in the font that is always used (steel tongs) I know this through my film poster research. It shows what each person did in our trailer. For example I was the producer of the film and Sadia was the one who wrote the story.

Research and planning: editing our footage

Here are some screenshots showing the iMovie window that we are editing our trailer in. This shows the trailer as it is basically finished, the bottom screenshot shows the original filming which we had to choose from before deciding which clips actually go into our film. The second screenshot shows the clips we chose as they were edited and the transitions that we decided to use. 

Research and planning: script update

Me and Aelish

(Group Laugh Together)

Me- "that was a great party, I need my bed, my legs feel like jelly its a night i'll never forget"

(Start Taking Pictures)

(Start walking home)

Me- "Ooh, I wonder what this place is? shall we go in?"
Aelish- "No there's no need, its getting late"

(Fade Out)

*Next Day*

Me- "Oh god, What happened last night? I feel a mess"

( Laugh Together)
Me- "whatever happened last night, it was probably the best night of our lives!"
Aelish- (reaches out to her phone) "What time is it?" (checks the time on her phone) "Oh guys look we took some pictures, have a look"(I take the phone)
Aelish- "Wait! Wait! whats that in the corner? is that…is that…"
Me- (interrupts) "No don't even think about it, that's stupid"
Aelish- "But…"
Me- (turns away) "No this can't be happening not again"

(strange noises start to occur)

Aelish- "What is that?"
Me- "No! I can't do this again"
Aelish- " do you want to tell me whats going on?"
Me- "Leave me alone"

*Clown appears behind all of them*

(scream together)

(Clown snatches Me)

This is the updated version of the script we had to change it because once we looked at the filming schedule we realised that Elise wash't available to film at the same time as we needed. Therefore the other two actors decided to take on more talking roles.

Research and planning: script

Me, Elise and Aelish

(Group Laugh Together)

Me- "that was a great party, I need my bed, my legs feel like jelly its a night i'll never forget"

(Start Taking Pictures)

(Start walking home)

Aelish- "Ooh, I wonder what this place is? shall we go in?"
Elise- "No there's no need, its getting late"

(Fade Out)

*Next Day*

Aelish- "Oh god, What happened last night? I feel a mess"

(Group Laugh Together)
Me- "whatever happened last night, it was probably the best night of our lives!"
Aelish- (reaches out to her phone) "What time is it?" (checks the time on her phone) "Oh guys look we took some pictures, have a look"
Me- "Wait! Wait! whats that in the corner? is that…is that…"
Elise- (interrupts) "No don't even think about it, that's stupid"
Aelish- "But…"
Elise- (turns away) "No this can't be happening no again"

(strange noises start to occur)

Me- "What is that?"
Elise- "No! I can't do this again"
Aelish- "Hello… does someone want to tell me whats going on?"
Elise- "Leave me alone"

*Clown appears behind all of them*

(Group scream together)

(Clown snatches Elise)

This is the script for our trailer, it is similar to the draft I posted a picture of, it shows what the three actors are saying. 

Research and planning: script ideas

This is a picture that I took on my phone of the script me and Sadia came up with that the actors should follow in our trailer. This is only an initial starting point we plan to go further with this.

Research and planning: filming schedule spreadsheet

This is a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet showing the times of which the actors and the directors can film, based around our college timetables, I stated at the bottom the times when we can film rather than working it out from the times each time we look at it.

Research and planning: test shots for poster

 I like how clear the colours are on the picture but I want it to be slightly further away so its not the same as the magazine cover.

 On the other hand I like how this picture looks darker with the dark sky behind but it's from the same angle as the magazine picture.

This picture is too far away for the poster because I want the audience to feel closer to the villain.

This picture could potentially be the best because I can cut the background away from the villain and he looks creepy, plus the distance / angle work right for a poster image.

These are pictures that could potentially be used for my film poster. 

Research and planning: social media feedback on my magazine

Here are some screenshots from Twitter showing a tweet I posted and the replies I got, I did this to get a wider range of opinions from the feedback I am going to edit my magazine slightly and add more cover lines to make it look more full.

Research and planning: magazine so far

This shows my magazine up to being completed, it shows the progress I took to come to where I am now. There are a lot of cover lines now and you can see how the background has come along as well as the image so it no longer looks flat.

Research and planning: magazine almost complete

Here is my magazine that is basically complete, I made it on photoshop. Using many tools to edit it and create different effects. First of all the masthead which I got to font for from Dafont, then put large across the top to make it stand out. I used the blending options panel to give me the drop shadow. I have also put some coverlines down the sides which are aligned with the title, these give ideas of what are inside my magazine, I also used the blending options panel here to give me drop shadows and make them stand out. For the picture, which I took myself (the villain from my trailer) I used the quick selection tool to cut it away from the background, the used the brightness panel to make it darker to look creepy as it's a horror film. I then selected the face and made it slightly lighter to make it stand out but I tried to keep it subtle. With the background I put a gradient on and then used another tool to distort the gradient and made it look like a cloud / smoke in the background. I used another gradient which was green and dropped the opacity, I did this to add a subtle colour to the picture, for the title "WE MEET AGAIN" I downloaded the font from Dafont, then added a drop shadow and made it red to stick with my colour scheme, then used the paint tool and chose a sharper brush and added a layer underneath to make the title stand out. At the bottom of the page there is the strapline which is similar to the coverlines and shows what's inside, these help the audience know it is a film magazine.

Research and planning: weather checks

Here is a recent weather check, we have to postpone our filming due to snow and the cold weather because it won't create the fight atmosphere and it's too old to get the actors to stand in the park.

Research and planning: editing magazine pictures

Here are some pictures whilst editing the picture for my magazine front cover. To do this I used the brightness and contrast tools to make it darker, I then used the quick selection tool to make the face and make up a bit brighter, I then used the quick selection tool again to remove the background and I finished off with a rubber to get the finer details around the hair.

Research and planning: filming footage

Here is footage of our trailer and what we filmed, this is a shot with the clown hidden watching the other actors walking past. 

Research and planning: film poster progress

Here you can see the progress from where I started my film poster and where I ended up you can see the way the colours in the background has come along and the title getting bigger. I changed the colours based on what I liked and research. Research is also the reason I have the film credits on there.

Research and planning: videos behind the scenes

These are videos that I took and uploaded to my Youtube account, they show me and Sadia doing the mis en scene whilst filming shits with the villain.

Research and planning: photos behind the scenes

    

    

Here are some pictures behind the scenes on our first day whilst filming, we took them to have evidence of both of us doing the cinematography.

Research and planning: test shots for magazine

This picture is too close to the face to use for the cover

Again, this is still slightly too close because I need more room for cover lines.

This medium shot is perfect because we can still see the make up and costume whilst leaving space for cover lines.

I don't like how far away the picture is from the camera, it wouldn't be scary enough.

Again, this picture is too close to use on my magazine with the cover lines around it.

These are pictures that I took to go on the front of my magazine, I plan to use my favourite one on my cover.

Research and planning: make up shots

Here are some pictures that we took when doing the make up for our villain. We decided that to get the best make up we got a friend that we knew who has a background in make up to come and help us. The costume came from the performing arts area within college, which we also organised as a group with them for us to borrow.

Research and planning: movie magazine so far

Here are some screenshots of my magazine so far, I have used photoshop and designed my own magazine cover, with the fonts that I previously posted about, as well as the coverlines that I said I am going to use. The pictures show where I started to what I have so far which is not far from a full cover. I have stuck to a basic colour scheme which connotate the horror genre that I am going for.