Media evaluation question 1

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

2. Influences for our media
product
Here I have given three examples of films and their movie posters that my group and I
researched in order to gain some ideas for our own original film trailer, poster and magazine.
Like all three of these films, our own film is presented as a quirky type of drama. Our main
character is seen to be slightly different from other characters, and our main focus is on this
individual character, as is the main focus for each of these films.
The use of the primary colours keeps the posters all very similar, yet makes them all unique
when compared with any other film poster. The simple font for the title, helps draw the
attention to the film, and is legible. No fancy writing to draw away from the simplicity of the
film itself.

3. Our film poster
Here is our film poster. In the centre of
the poster is large photo of our two
main protagonists. Like each of these
posters that our own is influenced by,
One or more characters are included to
give a hint about who the film is based
around. To convey the difference in
characters, we ensured that the photo
we used showed the two characters
different emotions. The use of the two
'thought bubble' graphics helps the
audience see the characters'
differences.
My group and I used the same font
throughout the title, and also in the
actors names at the bottom of the
poster. Consistent use of font is shown
in each of the influential posters, so we
didn’t want to go far from this
convention. Although being smaller
than the title, they still stand out and
are bold enough to be seen from afar.
Reviews are also very common, and
they give the audience a hint at what
the film will be like, to engage the
audience.
Film Poster Conventions
•The Poster must be eye catching-It has to captivate the audience and keep them
intrigued.
•There must be a focal point/focal picture that will draw the audience in.
•The title should be displayed in a large size and in a font that is easy to recognise
later in the distribution process.
•The title really needs to define what genre the film is.
•There should be an indication of when the film will be released. A 'Coming
Soon' or a specific date.
•A Billing Block should be shown at the bottom of the poster.
•Reviews can also be shown to give the audience an indication of how other
people have viewed the film.

4. Use of Shots
When planning out the individual shots that we were to film for our trailer, we looked closely at the film Submarine
and also 500 Days of Summer, and their trailers for inspiration. At the beginning of each trailer, the camera
introduces the characters, but with their backs to the audience. This is used to create a sense of mystery about who
the character in the shot is. We decided to introduce our protagonist in this way as it showed the characters
simplicity, but also shows the character as being someone who likes to sit on their own, showing their personality as
being slightly quirky and different.
Zoe-Grace Submarine 500 Days of Summer
Another shot that we really liked was the shot of the two characters in ‘500
Days of Summer’ towards the beginning of the trailer. It creates the idea of a
relationship, which became much clearer throughout the rest of the trailer.
Zoe-Grace500 Days of Summer
In our teaser trailer, the shot of two
characters holding hands is shown
towards the end. When watching
the trailer, you realise that the
female holding our male protagonist
Ethan’s hand is someone that has
not been introduced yet. This causes
the audience to question who this
other girl is, and because we placed
it at the end, they audience would
have to wait until the film release.

5. Titles
Just like in Submarine, the main title of the film is shown at the end of the trailer. Our own film title is shown in
the same colours as every other bit of text shown in the trailer, from actors names to the introduction to the film.
The yellow that is used, is also featured in every product to create an identity that the audience will recognise.
Just as the introduction does, our film title is ‘typed’ onto the screen. The idea of the title looking as if it is being
typed relates to the modern teenager, and also relates back to our character, who is shown on her laptop in the
trailer.
The introduction to the trailer in Submarine, is typed out with the sound going along as the words
show up on the screen. My group and I all thought that this was really interesting, and wanted to
do something similar to this. In the end we introduced our film by explaining that the directors of
this film directed another well known film (that we made up) in order to make the film look more
interesting, and catch the audience straight away.

6. Company Ident
During our research into company Idents, My group and I found
that one Ident was used in 2 out of the three main film trailers
that we had used as influence.
This is the Ident that is featured in the trailer for the film
'Nowhere Boy‘ and also in the trailer for ‘Submarine’.
In the ‘Nowhere Boy’ trailer, it only lasts for a very short
amount of time, and only appears 0.23 seconds in to the trailer.
Underneath the image is the company name, and looking at the
image, you can see that it relates well to the company because
it looks similar to the letter 'W'.
Here is the Ident that my group and I created to appear in our
teaser trailer. After researching to find out about other Idents that
we thought would link well to our own, we found that Idents
featured in trailers of a more independent style, worked better. As
our own film is an independent film, we wanted to stick to a very
simple design.
These Idents only last for a couple of seconds, and our main aim
was to make the company name as clear as it could be. We also
decided that using a blue background would work well with the
colour palette of our trailer which consists of a large amount of
blue, so this was our outcome. Along side this Ident, we also
included our voice over speaking the company name to make it
stand out and make the audience aware of the name for future
film trailers.

7. Magazine influence
When looking for a film magazine that would be suitable when looking at influence for our own, Total Film was
the one that would most likely feature our film in an article or large page spread. It is a Uk based film magazine,
that is published 13 times a year. It offers cinema, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews and features.
Each main convention featured on the cover of Total Film, we ensured that we featured on our own magazine
cover. After trying several times to edit the title of ‘Total Film’ my group and I decided to create our own
magazine brand.
The main title of the magazine is in the largest font that is shown on the cover. It tells the person viewing the
magazine immediately what its name is. We chose the colour white, just as Total Film has. It stands out nicely
against the coloured background, yet doesn't draw too much attention away from other aspects of the cover.
The title of the featured film is shown to give the reader an indication of the main focus in the magazine if they
do not recognise the character in the middle., and we used the same font that is used in our poster. It is shown
in a large font that can be seen, however not too large that it draws away from the title of the magazine.
The white in used in the rest of the text colour creates a contrast to the darker background making it stand out
more.
The main focal point of this magazine cover is the figure in the middle. A large image that draws the eye is a key
feature in any film magazine. We chose a quirky photo of our main character ‘Zoe-Grace’.