VE V I LC O M I N G S

MEDIA A2: EVALUATIONBY CLAIRE WALSH

In what ways does your media products use, develop or

challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

HORROR TRAILER:

INFLUENCEShttps://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=177699107624848594#editor/target=post;postID=6269446558321107295;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=29;src=postname

‘MAMA’

This trailer influenced me in terms of characters and particular frames/camera work. There are two children in this movie that look possessed due to their ‘mama’ who died and continues to ‘haunt them, there is also a ‘Mother figure’ in this that gets terrored by both the children and the black figure (Mama). Similarly to this horror, I have included two children that become possessed by the father, who the mother earlier killed due to his evil ways. In addition, the ‘Mother figure’ in mine, also becomes the victim of the paranormal events like in ‘MAMA’. There are particular frames in my trailer that link in with frames from the ‘MAMA’ trailer. One of these frames is whereby my two young characters are possessed and turn around to look at the ‘Mother figure’; one of them with an evil expression and the other with a devilish smile. This is an idea that came from part of the ‘MAMA’ trailer, I thought having each child look evil gave their characters a powerful persona, however in addition I thought – much like the MAMA trailer – having them together in the frame created a bigger sense of power, almost as though two powers have come together to form a much larger, dominant one.

Another idea I included was have the dark figure in the background. I thought it added a sense of mystery and fear of the ‘unknown’. The idea that the viewers can see the face of this character nor who he is or why he’s there would make them feel uncomfortable.

HORROR TRAILER:

INFLUENCESCONTINUED…

‘HIDE AND SEEK’https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=177699107624848594#editor/target=post;postID=8989513053356757001;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=36;src=postname

The ‘Hide and Seek’ trailer influenced me in terms of camera angles, setting and editing. In this trailer the little girl is in the park on both the roundabout and the swing, the weather looks cold and the park looks dull. Similarly, I set part of my trailer in a park that lacked variation of colour, and I shot it on a cold day. There is an extreme long shot of the little girl on the swing and the mom watching her, along with a high angle of the girl on the roundabout (I have analysed these frames on my blog http://clairewalsh1234.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/blog-post_9.html )I used an extreme long shot in my trailer whereby the girls are playing on the swing and the mom is watching; I felt this captured both the setting and the happiness of them three as a family. I then used a high angle of the little girl on the swing smiling; the high angle almost suggested there was something much more powerful than this little girl however, the laughter and smile from the girl suggested she was oblivious to it, which could be seen as a stereotypical young girl.

POSTER:

I tried to keep my title simple but effective. Originally I was going to have the ‘V’ upright and without the grey ‘V’ behind it, but as I had the commonly used font ‘Times New Roman’ I thought I had to do something different to make it more intriguing. The ‘V’ in the background gives a ‘shaky’ look and looks rather ghostly; this could link in with the paranormal element in the trailer. The spaces between the letters could connote to emptiness, and the fact the ‘monster’ has no heart or soul – he is an ‘empty’ being.

I took many pictures of my mom to try to get the right one, these are all on my blog http://clairewalsh1234.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/blog-post.html Originally I was going to use a different image, however when showing my draft poster to my teacher and peers they suggested I use a photo like this instead to convey more emotion.

Originally I was going to have the face clear so you could see who/what it is. As I was playing around with my poster I decided to change the transparency and when doing that I found it created a much better impact due to the fact the audience cannot entirely make out what it is.

MAGAZINE:

I have used the same title as the poster with the ‘edgy V’ in the background so both the magazine and poster clearly link. When researching other magazines, a lot of them had ‘preview’ underneath the movie title so this seemed a legit thing to do. ‘Summer 2014’ also links with the poster but in addition, reminds the audience when it is coming out.

Two heads seemed better than one when I was creating my magazine; the idea of having to of them makes the magazine more superior as it’s almost like two bodies are forming one creating a ‘powerful’ vibe. I made both face’s white with dark eyes to emphasise the fact they are evil and to really part them from ‘normal’ children, which again emphasises that they are of a different ‘species’

As I knew I was going to make my magazine ‘Empire’ I researched a lot of ‘Empire’ magazines and found a lot of them had the price, date and URL in-between the M; a tag line at the top and a tag line at the bottom. The price, date and URL in-between the ‘M’ fills up the empty space making the magazine look more full; I wanted mu magazine to look full so my audience feels it would be worth buying. The tagline ‘The worlds biggest movie magazine’ is a huge statement to make, not only does it make the magazine itself seem really popular, it also conveys that my audience can trust that this magazine will be good.

POSTER:INFLUENCES

The ‘wrong turn’ is a poster I analysed earlier on in my research;http://clairewalsh1234.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/blog-post_27.html This poster has had a major influence on my own poster, the ‘stressful’ facial expression and the white vest top is something I made sure was in mine. This not only portrays the woman in my poster as the ‘innocent victim’, the light on my character shows detail in her face and chest making the picture seem very life like which could make the viewers feel as though this woman really is feeling like this. In addition to this I edited the picture of my woman to match this one, I altered the contrast so there would be darker areas that almost suggest the woman is being taken by the darkness. I liked the redness

The ‘strangers is another poster I analysed earlier in my research. http://clairewalsh1234.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/blog-post_6831.htmlWhat I found most intriguing about this poster was the title, the font was simple with a slight glow to give it that ‘interesting’ factor. I wanted to do the same with mine, therefore I used Times New Roman font and spaced it out similar to ‘The Strangers’, however as mine was in capitals I didn’t feel the need to make an effect on all of the letters so I chose to alter one to have the ‘interesting factor’.

Both the background and ‘mysterious face caught my eye when I saw the ‘The Woman in Black’ poster. The grey ‘smoke’ like effect was something I thought that would help my poster both because it relates to the paranormal element in my trailer and it gave my poster some light that eventually created life. After I put in the ‘smokey’ element I thought it would be a good idea to include a face coming through it just like this poster. People fear what they do not know, therefore having this face that could not fully be made out seemed a great idea.

MAGAZINE:INFLUENCES

‘Fangoria’ is a horror magazine I analysed earlier in my projecthttp://clairewalsh1234.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/blog-post_3039.htmlWhen looking at horror magazine none of them really caught my eye, however when looking at this one I thought there were some elements that could be used for mine. The dark background, I understand it’s a stereotypical colour for ‘evil’ but having a dark colour in the background makes every other element slightly more dominant. The colours suddenly jump off the page as though they are shouting for help which automatically connotes to fear; it creates a more compact, interesting front cover. I found the hair of the woman rather interesting, therefore when taking pictures of my younger characters I made the taller ones hair quite dull and lifeless. Although that is the opposite to what has been done to this woman’s hair I feel it creates that ‘evil’ effect I was going for.

Although it is not a ‘horror’ magazine, as I was going to have my magazine be ‘Empire’ I thought it was best to look at Empire magazines. When I saw there were two characters on the front cover, my two young characters came to mind straight away. The characters in this look like a team due to the higher one being tilted into the lower one; it almost causes the whole magazine to unite. Similarly, in my magazine I decided to have the higher one put her arms on the lower one’s shoulders to convey that they are too, a team, and a team dominates an individual therefore if an individual was to look at this magazine they might feel the superiority coming from the two little girls. In addition to this I liked the colour change in part of the sentence at the top of the magazine; I decided to have the ‘2014’ in a different colour so the audience will automatically look at it and question ‘What’s happening in 2014?’ therefore causing them to see what is happening.

I really liked the idea of having a ‘sneak peak’ of two magazines at the edge of the page rather than a ‘Pug’ or ‘Puff’ in writing. It adds more images to my magazine so it looks full and worthy of reading.

AUDIENCE:Why I chose this age group and how I attracted them.

I decided my age group was going to be 15; this is due to my questionnaire and research. Once I had done my questionnaire, I had a good idea of what my movie was going to be like and as I had that idea, I began researching movies like that. The movies I researched were horrors such as ‘Hide and Seek’, ‘The strangers’, ‘Paranormal Activity’ etc. Most, if not all, were 15’s so I thought 15 would be a good age for mine also. In addition to this I went on to the BBFC website to read what could be involved in 12/15/18 movies, and ‘15’ seemed to fit my movie trailer better.

BBFC 15;Earlier in my blog I researched what is included in a ‘15’ trailerhttp://clairewalsh1234.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/analysis.htmlThere is also the BBFC link on my blog so any blog viewers can see for themselves or look at other classificationshttp://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification/15

I attracted my audience through shots such as a low angle – this clearly shows the man as a dominant figure and having the camera through the banisters would make the audience feel like they are watching this happen. 15+ would understand that the father is being violent and therefore be more effected by it, under 15’s may not understand as much. I put an older woman on my poster; this would attract an older audience of 15+ because its an age group they are either in or would look up too, and to see this woman looking emotional they would wonder why, whereas a younger age group may be very passive to it.

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

When a movie comes out, it depends on the trailer, magazine, poster and other products to advertise it and persuade people to come and watch it. However, for that to work, the products that are advertising it have to have major elements that are similar so when the audience sees it they know its related to the same movie each time, otherwise the advertising wouldn’t work. In my ancillary products and my main product I have made sure the title ‘Evil Comings’ is the same in each; this makes an automatic connection to all three and forces people to remember the title that’s continuously being shown. The ‘possessed girls’ and the victimised ‘Mother’ are in all three products causing the characters to be recognised and almost become ‘familiar’ to the audience, convincing them they need to see what’s happening with these ‘familiar’ faces they keep seeing. These common factors make all three products unite, metaphorically they are like a team supporting each other. I feel as though due to the fact they are supporting each other and acting as one, the combination of all three are very effective.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Towards the beginning of my research and planning I did a questionnaire to find out different things I should include in my trailer, and how my audience would like my trailer to be.http://clairewalsh1234.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/sound-effects.htmlFrom this I found what my audience expects from my trailer, therefore fitting their needs which would benefit me for when I started to make my trailer. For e.g. I decided my horror would be a ‘paranormal’ one as that was the most popular for the audience I chose, this would then increase the amount of viewers.

QUESTIONNAIRE

TRAILER:When I finished the first cut of my trailer I showed it to both my peers and teacher, they both gave me positive feedback as well as critiques and ways to improve. There were things I thought needed to change or improve when looking at my trailer myself, but having the critiques from my teacher and peers made it clear whether I definitely should change the elements I didn’t like. In addition to this, there were elements my teacher and peers pointed out that I didn’t even think of. For e.g. I originally put eclipses at the end of the words in my trailer, but my teacher advised me to take them away which I did.

POSTER:Originally my poster had a different picture on, however when I showed my peers and teacher it was agreed that I should change it to a photograph that has more emotion to it. Once I had done this I found my poster looked much better, and in addition to this it linked in with my poster influences much more.

MAGAZINE:Once I had finished my magazine draft I showed it to my friends and family; although they liked it, they also had critiques. There was space on my magazine that I thought wouldn’t have much of an impact if I didn’t fill it, however when showing it to my family and friends they told me that it was something that needed to be filled in as it was quite dominant and lowered the quality of the magazine front cover.

How did you use media technologies in the

construction and research, planning and evaluation

stages?

My Blog: http://clairewalsh1234.blogspot.co.uk/ I chose to do my research and planning on a blog as it allowed me to include things such as hyperlinks, videos and images. I could also alter the font size, colour and type to make my blog presentable. When I looked on sights such as ‘freesound.org’ I could put the link into my blog that went straight to the sound I wanted it too. My blog is free for anyone to look at therefore I could get audience feedback at any time.

TRAILER

For my trailer, I used a digital video camera, although the quality of the image was not the best it could be I still managed to capture the shots I wanted, the way I wanted them so overall it was a good piece of technology to use. To edit my trailer I used Movie Plus x6, I enjoyed using this programme and felt it fitted the needs of my trailer.

POSTER & MAGAZINEFor my poster and magazine I used Page Plus; I really enjoyed using this programme. Originally I was using Paint.Net until my teacher introduced me to page plus; page plus seemed quicker and had much more effect etc on it. When deleting the background of something it deleted it much quicker and left me with a smooth edge around my photograph; this not only improved the quality of my photographs but also used less time.