2. In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions
of real media products?
3. FILM POSTER…CONVENTIONS
To make sure I understood what conventions to follow
when creating my film poster, I did research on film
poster codes and conventions and I made myself a list
of what type of things I need to follow when creating
my poster. I then uploaded a list of the codes and
conventions onto my blog as a guideline for me to
follow; as shown on the image below is a screenshot of
my blog.
4. The first convention I wanted to make sure I included when producing my Film
Poster was the movie title. This is a necessary item I needed to include on my
poster, this is so that my audience will know what my product is called. It creates
my films brand or ‘identity’ so to make this extra special, so for a start the title of
my film had to be good to make it eye catching to my audience, yet also I had to
do my best to make my font look different to other fonts, but also looks good and
stand out. This is very important also as I want people to notice it, my poster will
be displayed on billboards, local shops and outside cinemas.
FILM POSTER… FILM TITLE
When I created this font on Adobe Photoshop I did not want to make things to
difficult for myself as the outcome may not be as professional as I want it to
look. So to give it that eerie look I found a basic font, but I smudged the letters
on the font to make it looks spooky. After doing this I then had to decide the
colour of my font, I tried out many colours such as red as this represents blood,
but when I tried a dusty white colour it worked out much better and looked
better with my main image on the page.
5. FILM POSTER… IMAGE
When creating my film poster, I
have used another typical
convention of films posters, this
convention is the ‘image’. On my
poster it includes all the stars from
the trailer, the two teenager boys
and the antagonist. I took this
photo myself which I then edited
using Adobe Photoshop. I
darkened the edges of the image
and blended it into the black
background. Due to the darkness
of the photo and the mysterious
person wearing a mask in the
background, it makes it clear that
my film poster is part of the horror
genre.
6. FILM POSTER… TAG LINE & RELEASE DATE
Next, I followed yet another
convention, on my film poster I have
included a tagline, the tagline used
on my film poster is ‘Home Sweet
Home’ my group colleagues and I
decided to use this for our products
as the whole story is about a person
or thing which breaks into homes.
We think this will persuade our
audience to watch our film as they
will want to find out whether it
really is… home sweet home. I have
followed another convention as the
word ‘sweet’ is in red and represents
the colour of blood in the horror
genre.
The next convention I have used
on my film poster is the ‘release
date’. Most film posters and trailers
will have release dates on their
products, this is to let the audience
know when their film is going to be
out. I have placed my release date
at the top of my poster just
underneath the tagline as it is
visible to read and easy to find so
that my audience will deliberately
be able to see it when viewing my
film poster.
7. FILM POSTER… OTHER CONVENTIONS
The next convention I followed when producing my film poster was a
billing block. Most film posters have these billings blocks as it informs
the audience who has done what when creating their product. I
decided to make my text on my billing block white, this is because it
looks extremely affective on a plain, black background. I placed my
billing block at the bottom of the page, this is because it is not as
important as the film name or the image on the poster, it is not one of
the conventions I want my audience to notice first. I have also included
my production company logos on my film poster, when researching
other film posters, for instance, on ‘the strangers’ poster, they also
include their production company’s on their all of their products.
8. FILM POSTER… OTHER CONVENTIONS
I have also included other conventions of film posters within my poster, for
example, I have included the stars/actors names who are in the film trailer I have
produced. This is to give poster more of a professional look, I do understand
however that actors names can be a big seller as people may really like the
person from another film and will want to see them in the new film being
advertised.
I have also included social networking links on my poster, this is so that people
know where to view my trailer, or poster or magazine online, also to find out
more information about my products and potentially, tweet about us via twitter
for example by @TheIntruderFilm. The last convention I have used when creating
my film poster is the ‘Inspired by True Events’ text. I have used this as it will scare
the audience and will persuade them to come and see my film even more.
9. MAGAZINE COVER…CONVENTIONS
To make sure I understood what conventions to follow when creating my magazine cover, I did
research on film magazines codes and conventions and I made myself a list of what type of things
I need to follow when creating my poster. I then uploaded a list of the codes and conventions
onto my blog as a guideline for me to follow; as shown on the images below are all of the
conventions that are used when producing a magazine cover.
10. MAGAZINE COVER…MASTHEAD
MAST HEAD
My film magazine followed many codes and
conventions, the first convention I have used is
the MAST HEAD. The magazine I used was
‘Scream’ magazine as I understand this is a well-
known horror branded magazine and thought
that this would fit best into my film genre. As
this is a well-known magazine more people will
be willing to buy it, if it was an unknown
random magazine it would most definitely
receive less purchases. I have also followed a
convention as to put the Mast Head being the
main image on my magazine. I feel that the
MASTHEAD is one of the main feature on a
magazine because when people see the title, if
it well known then people are going to buy it. I
edited the ‘SCREAM’ Masthead on Photoshop
to make it fit in with the rest of my magazine,
but to also so that it fit in with the Intruder text.
I did this by changing it from black and white, to
instead, red with a white outline.
11. MAGAZINE COVER…FILM TITLE
My next magazine convention that I will be looking at is the film
title ‘THE INTRUDER’. I have designed this title on Photoshop, I
have made it purposely bigger than the rest of the text on the
page, yet smaller than the MASTHEAD. I have chosen the colour
red for not only the MASTHEAD, but for the film title text as
well, this is a typical feature from the horror genre as it fits in
with the connotations of blood, and it also looks quite sinister.
I have also added a piece of text next to the film title saying
‘special’ which means that this magazine is an Intruder Special.
I have edited this text in Photoshop also, I have made this text
green firstly, so that it is different to the film title but also so
that it fits in with other parts of the magazine as there are
other conventions in my film magazine that are this colour.
12. MAGAZINE COVER…MAIN IMAGE
Another convention I have followed from
film magazines is that I have used a
Dominant Central Image on my magazine
cover. As shown on the image on the right
is my magazine, the image of the villain
from my trailer is on the main cover of my
magazine, I feel that this will persuade
people to buy my magazine more as it is a
frightening image. I have also not let my
text go over the mask on my image as it
will look bad and will not follow
conventions for a magazine, because
typically, the mast head is always behind
the main image. I found this after doing a
lot research on film magazines.
13. MAGAZINE COVER…COVER LINES & ADVERTISEMENTS
Other conventions within film magazines are cover lines and
advertisements. These are both very important conventions
as these massively influence people to buy the magazine if
they notice that there is something that they can win or
receive within side the magazine, this is why I have used
these conventions. Firstly, to attract the readers attention I
created text on Photoshop ‘the worlds best horror
magazine’ so that if the customers believe this, then they
are going to buy it over any other horror magazine. I used
advertisements such as ‘PLUS!’ at the bottom of my
magazine to inform people what is included in my magazine,
for example, ‘DVD’s, BOOKS, GAMES, COMPETITIONS’ all
sound extremely appealing.
14. MAGAZINE COVER…PRICE, ISSUE NUMBER & WEBSITE
The price of the magazine is a
typical convention, this is
needed on the magazine
cover so that people will
know how much the
magazine is, if it is a
reasonable price then it can
be a key factor to somebody
buying the magazine. I have
also put the euros price on
my magazine as well, this
shows that you are able to
buy my magazine in other
countries too.
The barcode is
always needed on a
magazine cover, I
found this through
doing research on
other film magazines
and found that every
magazine has one.
Having a website of the
magazine on the front cover
is also a typical convention,
when searching through
other scream magazine
cover, every issue had the
scream website on them, I
have put the website in a
slightly different position to
other scream magazine
issues as I feel it fits best
like this on my cover.
15. FILM TRAILER…CONVENTIONS
I did research on film trailer codes and conventions and I made myself a list of what
type of things I need to follow when creating my film trailer. I then uploaded a list of
the codes and conventions onto my blog as a guideline for me to follow; as shown on
the image below is all of the conventions that are used when producing a film trailer.
16. FILM TRAILER…FILM TITLE
When creating my film trailer, I have used conventions, for example
added my film title at the end of it, I feel this is a big convention as
my audience need to know what the film trailer is called. I created
this text in Adobe Photoshop, my group and I decided that the blood
effect in the background looked really effective, and fit in perfect
with out type of film as it is in the horror genre. We have also added
our film slogan ‘home sweet home’ onto the trailer, so that when
people hear our trailer, they will remember our slogan, and as it is so
easy to remember and catchy, they will remember our trailer more.
17. FILM TRAILER…PRODUCTION LOGOS
I have used other conventions in my film trailer; I have included
conventions such as ‘production logos’ within my trailer. I used
the Intrepid Pictures right at the start of my trailer as it is more
known than ‘LoftLight Productions’, this is because if LoftLight
productions was at the start of the trailer, then people may not
take as much interest into it. The LoftLight production logos was
made by us drawing on a box, and lighting a match across the
box so that ‘LoftLight Productions’ is just visible to see, we think
that this is really effective.
18. FILM TRAILER…EDITING AND SHOTS
Editing and shots are both very important conventions of any film trailer, if these two
conventions aren’t correctly done then the film trailer will unfortunately not work.
The editing my group and I have done in our trailer works, for example we have
flashing images of the ‘villain’ within my trailer, and the non-digetic sound in the
background matches the quick flashing image perfectly. For example the two images
are the flashing images that appear within the trailer.
To make things seem as spooky as
possible, I have also had to make sure
that the shots I have taken are right,
for example on the next slide shows
different shots from our trailer that
had to be recorded a few times to
make sure that they were perfect.
This is because the shots are huge
conventions, and if the shots aren't
very good then it will show in the
trailer.
19. FILM TRAILER… SHOTS
Shown around this text are screenshots from my
trailer, these images are the shots that took time to
make sure that they worked properly, it proves how
vital it is to make sure that the film trailer
conventions need to work, if they don’t then the
trailer will not work.
20. How effective is the combination of your main
product and ancillary texts?
21. The billing block is an area in which I have combined my media products and
ancillary texts. The billing block was used to show who has done what in the overall
production of our work. I created the billing in Adobe Photoshop, I downloaded a
text font that is called ‘Steel Tongs’ and I opened it in Photoshop, I was then able to
create professional billing block in any colour that I wished to use for all of the
sections of my products that it was needed in. Once this text was completed it was
inserted into both myself and my groups trailer and also inserted into my film
poster. I kept the billing block the exact same on both products, for example ;both
the same colour; white. Shown on the images below is the billing block in my
trailer and also on my poster.
22. When doing research I found that it is rare to change the text font throughout
your products, when creating the tagline I kept it the same throughout my trailer
and movie poster. This is so that when my audience see The Intruders tagline
‘home sweet home’ they will recognise it instantly due to its unique font, and
the fact the word ‘sweet’ happens to be red. I created it in this way to make it
more appealing, I chose the colour red as it has connotations of blood and when
discussed as a group, we decided this work best.
23. As spoken about previously, I understand that it is extremely rare to change the font title
throughout all media products. However, when producing my media products, I have edited the
font I have used so that It looks better with different products. For example, when using the
typical red font that I have used in the film trailer and magazine cover, I have changed the way it
looks when producing my film poster. I took inspiration from the strangers poster as their title is
in lowercase, when creating mine I also put mine in lowercase. Doing this did not make it look as
good as I hoped, so I smudged the text slightly to make it look slightly spookier and changed the
font colour to white, to make my poster. I feel that doing this it looks much better on my poster
compared to the red text, yet the red text looked much better on my magazine cover and in the
trailer. However, I have kept the word ‘the’ smaller and kept it above the word ‘intruder’ on all
products which will hopefully be recognised by my audience.
24. What have you learned from your
audience feedback?
QUESTIONNAIRE
RESULTS
PADLET
FRIENDS
25. I have learnt many things from my audience feedback, I have been given positive
and negative feedback, the first feedback I have been given are through a
Questionnaire that I created when I first started research and planning. I used the
website ‘google docs’ to create this, it let me create my own online questionnaire
and people were then able to answer it. I felt that this type of feedback was useful
as I was not entirely sure what trailer genre I was going to produce, but after going
through this process it helped me to choose. I was also able to find out information
such as ‘What noises do you think would best suit a horror film?’ and due to the
feedback I was then able to find out what noises where voted best, in this case it
was ‘Children’s laughter and Bangs’ so because I was able to find this out, I was then
able to use this information and potentially include in my trailer.
26. PADLET was another website that I used to gain more feedback from my audience.
This website allows you to create your very own ‘wall’ and anything onto it which
people are then able to comment on. I used PADLET to upload my first drafts of my
ancillary products so that people could view and leave their comments of either
positive or negative feedback about my products. As shown below this text is my film
poster, I gained all positive feedback, only other type of comment I received was a
friend telling me something I could possibly do to improve it.
27. As spoken about on the previous slide, this website allows me to
create my very own wall, as shown below this text is my film
magazine, once again I gained mostly positive feedback, however I
did receive one slightly negative comment saying ‘I do not like
where the movie strip is’ which I am grateful for, this is because if
all of the comments are positive then I would have had no room
for improvements. Due to me receiving this comment I was then
able to do something about it and produce a better, more
professional looking magazine cover.
Overall I liked this type of feedback as it helped
me to receive fast, positive and negative
feedback for improvements which has helped me
to make minor changes to my work to give it that
much more professional and better quality look.
28. Another method of audience feedback that I used was asking my friends to view
my products which I then received honest opinions. I showed a number of friend
from my school all of my products, they gave me both positive and negative
comments, telling me what was really good about my products and what needing
improving slightly which I found to be extremely useful. The first product I tested
out was my film poster. I received positive comments, for example ‘it looks really
professional, I like the masked man in the background as it identifies clearly
which genre you film is from’ which I thought was really good. Next I also
received negative comments for example ‘billing block looks professional, but I
need to make it my own’ which I really understood as the billing block was not my
own as it was I found from the internet. My solution to this was that I
downloaded the correct text font and then created my own billing block in Adobe
Photoshop. Shown Below is the before and after of my billing block;
29. I then went through the exact same process with my Film Magazine Cover where I
receive once again both positive and negative comments. I printed off copies of my
magazine cover which I then gave to my friends and they said to me what they liked
and informed me on areas where I could improve my product. The type of comments
used where ‘Overall a very good magazine, look very realistic’ which I was happy with
but I was still hoping for negative feedback so that I could make it better. So I then
asked more friends from my class and I finally receive some slightly negative comments
on it which has helped me to improve the final outcome. The comment was ‘I feel that
the mast head should be made bigger, also the film cuts should be moved so that they
are more visible’ also ‘Looks extremely professional, but it needs more advertisements
or cover lines on it’. With these comments I then opened my magazine in Adobe
Photoshop and made the appropriate
changes to my magazine cover. For
example, I have added the ‘PLUS’ at
the bottom of my finished magazine
as it makes it much more appealing
to magazine buyers, as when you
look at the first magazine, it doesn’t
really grab enough of your attention
as it doesn’t tell you anything you
can win etc.
30. This leaves me to my main product, the trailer. Myself, and my group were all
extremely nervous when showing this product as this was the product that we
spent most time on. I did not want to show it to any other students younger in the
school I decided to just show it to students 18+, as all of my classmates are this
age I thought it was appropriate to ask them. So, after showing my classmates my
final product their overall opinions of it were super, they really liked it. However,
they thought the sound was slightly jumpy, this was no major problem for me as I
was able to fix this right away. The only other thing was, was that at the end of
question that I have asked there is no question mark, this was no big problem and
took literally minutes to fix. Overall I am extremely happy with my end product
and I would not been able to have produced the work that I have without all of
the feedback that I have received.
Shown below is the text before and after my group corrected it;
31. How did you use new media technologies in the
construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
32. When undergoing this whole project, myself, and the rest of my group aimed
to use as many new different media products as we can, this is so we can
illustrate how vast technology is getting and how many new types of media
products there are that are available for us to use. I have used many media
technologies, some being software on a computer and some being hardware.
The type of technologies I have used are, IMovie, Adobe Photoshop, PADLET,
YOUTUBE, Blogger, Camera and Tripod and Microsoft Office.
33. The first type of media software that I have used throughout my whole project is
Microsoft Office. This was used through the research and planning of my work, the
software's that I used were Microsoft word, PowerPoint, Excel and Publisher. I have
used Microsoft word for research and planning, I have been able to write up any
work to do with this project and saved it all in files, especially with unfinished work, I
will save it and finish it off when I have to time before post it onto my blog, this keeps
all of my work safe and I know exactly where it is. I have used PowerPoint to create
this Evaluation for my work. It is easy to use and I feel that I have produce a creative
yet, formal piece of work for the end of my media project. I have also used Excel
when putting together my questionnaire results charts, this was also extremely
useful, as it was easy to use, then all I then had to do was upload these charts onto
my blog, yet I was also able to save my work in files. I used Microsoft Publisher to
create my mock ups for my Poster and Magazine, this was also easy to use and was a
more creative way of making a mock-up instead of just drawing one on paper.
Shown on the next page is an example of what I used this software for;
34. Shown above is an image of why I have
used Microsoft publisher, it lets me create
my mock ups for my magazine front cover
and film poster, it is very easy and simple
to use and I will carry on using this
throughout the rest of my life.
Shown below this text is an image of the
software Microsoft Word. I use this every
single day as it is extremely useful and I
feel that it is more useful than any other
software. An example of why I have used
it is, as shown below, to paste my print
screens of my questionnaire results
graphs from the excel software onto
word, I am then able to crop the screen
shot and then save it as an images then
upload it to my blog.
35. The website ‘www.youtube.com’ allowed me to do
tremendous amounts of research for my project. I
looked at all types of trailers, then when I decided
which genre I was able to look for nearly every horror
trailer there is on the web through this one search
engine. I found it extremely useful, I was also able to
paste videos from YouTube onto one of my blog posts,
then analyse that video. I was also able to find
inspiration for not only trailer ideas, but music as well. I
could find out what type of noises or soundtracks
worked well In what trailer and I could download it and
use it in my own trailer. I was also able to use YouTube
to look at Viral Marketing Campaign ads which I was
then able to write about within my blog research. Last
but not least, I have used YouTube as a free and easy
way to upload my trailer for the whole world to see, a
friend from my group use their account to upload it
which currently has over 16,000 followers which is
great as it will get us noticed faster than a newly
created user. This allowed us to gather peoples
thoughts and opinions of our trailer which we were
then able to add or change to the trailer to improve it.
Shown below is a screen shot of my trailer.
36. Like last year, I have created my own ‘wall’ using the PADLET website. This has been
extremely useful to me as it lets me gain feedback from people on my products that I
upload onto it. As shown on the images below; I am able to upload and share my wall
with all of my friends and people in my class. They will then be able to comment on
my walls for free without even setting up an account, and are able to give me both
positive and negative feedback if required on what ever I decide to post. In this case
it was my magazine cover and poster. Shown below are my padlet walls;
37. Another software that I have used throughout this course is Adobe Photoshop, it has
helped me to create my ancillary products; Magazine Cover and Film Poster. I have
been able to upload images that I have taken, which I can then upload them onto this
software and it lets me professionally edit and change the image to what I wish it to
look like for example, the image my need brightening, or even darkening to give it
more an eerie look, this is what I did with my film poster. With my poster, I wanted to
darken all edges of the image and give it a vignette effect, I was able to do this by
using the Photoshop tools, I was able to say how much of the edges I wanted to be
darkened and how much by, this I believe has given my poster a much better look.
The reason I knew how to do all of this editing is because I used it last year as well as
part of my AS Level Media Coursework, so that experience and practice has helped
me to produce what I have done in this project. I would not have been able to
produce the work I have produced without Photoshop, as the outcomes from
Magazine and Poster are to a standard that I am extremely happy with. Shown on the
next page is an example of when I have used the Photoshop Software.
38. I have used Photoshop in various ways as explained on the previous slide,
however, this is one of the main tools I have used throughout this process. It
is called the ‘magnetic lasso tool’. This tool enables me to cut around an
image professional and get rid of the background behind it, which as shown
above, I am then then able to cope and paste that image onto a new page,
which is how I create my magazine image.
39. IMovie is another software that I have used throughout the construction of my
project. At the start of the year however, I used windows media player, this was to
try out what it was like doing basic editing, therefor when the time came to
produce my film trailer on IMovie, things seemed simpler as this type of software
wasn’t unfamiliar with me. We practised editing on a conversation between to
friends, using over the shoulder shots switching from both points of view of the
conversation which worked really well. Even though myself and the rest of my
group had this editing practice at the start of the year, we found it difficult when
trying to make our movie trailer look professional and seem realistic, even though
we had all of the right tools and practice we had a struggle. It was only when we
started adding more clips into it, and more sounds that’s when things eventually
starting fitting in place and worked, and myself and the rest of my group are all
happy with out overall trailer.
40. When producing our trailer, posters and
magazine covers, we where able to acquire
high standard camera and tripod
equipment from Shaun’s dad; Shaun is
apart of my group; this is due to him being
a photographer and he kindly let us borrow
his equipment. This type of equipment is
called hardware. The tripod was used to
balance the camera on so that no clips that
were shot or photos that were taken were
either blurry or shaky, this made them look
much more professional. The camera, once
again is a high quality camera and because
of this, the clip that were shot and photos
that were taken turned out to be extremely
good quality and everything was produced
to a very high standard.
41. For the past 2 years, going through AS to A-Level, helping me through my
journey, Blogger is the main site that has been used to help me achieve and post
all of my work that I do, onto my own blog. Out of any other type of website like
this, this is probably the best to use, it has let me post all of my research,
planning and production work on it and nothing has ever happened to it, all of
my work has always stayed in one place, it has been extremely reliable and easy
to use and I will continue using it throughout the future when planning things
and typing up documents or reports as I feel that it is extremely useful and
anybody can use it.
