Evaluation

Hannah Taylor
Media Studies
 In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My film challenges real media conventions as I have chosen not to have the
usual linear narrative, but to use flash backs.

I have seen green screened certificate ratings at the start of many trailers
and decided to have this on mine. I would rate my film a 15 as it follows the
guidelines of being a 15 and also being a horror I think it would suit and
older audience.
I wanted to add a voiceover to the line ‘life will never be the same’ This is
because I wanted Jade the main character to being saying this in her point of
view as it is her life that will never be the same again.
I downloaded different music which would be effective for my horror trailer.
Once I had downloaded these tracks I uploaded them to Garage band
where I played around with different effects to create that scary dramatic
effect I wanted. I then exported this to Final Cut where I linked this to my
trailer clips. The soundtrack starts off slowly and gradually builds into fast
pace synthesized music with added effects to make the audience jump and
on edge.
 At the end of the trailer I put the title in large writing as I wanted that logo to stick
with my audience so whenever they see it they will know what the film is. I chose the
name AWAKEN as I thought it connected with the coma. Then after deciding on the
name I used eye shots in my trailer and on my ancillary tasks.

In the horror trailers I watched on YouTube I found that there was a slow build up at
the start to lots of quick shots nearing the end to create that suspense. This
influenced me to do a similar thing in my trailer, however not follow a linear
sequence like most films.
 Codes and conventions of horror films

Horror Films are unsettling films designed to frighten and panic, cause dread and alarm,
and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale, while
captivating and entertaining us at the same time in a cathartic experience. Horror films
effectively center on the dark side of life, the forbidden, and strange and alarming
events. They deal with our most primal nature and its fears: our nightmares, our
vulnerability, our alienation, our revulsions, our terror of the unknown, our fear of death
and dismemberment, loss of identity, or fear of sexuality. Whatever dark, primitive, and
revolting traits that simultaneously attract and repel us are featured in the horror genre.
Horror films are often combined with science fiction when the menace or monster is
related to a corruption of technology, or when Earth is threatened by aliens.
The fantasy and supernatural film genres are not synonymous with the horror genre,
although thriller films may have some relation when they focus on the revolting and
horrible acts of the killer/madman. Horror films are also known as chillers, scary movies,
spook fests, and the macabre.

On Blog
 One Missed Call

It told the story without giving too much away, which is always important with trailers. 
Thriller films are made to be dark, creepy and make your heart race and ‘One Missed
Call’ does exactly that – Usually using bad weather to create more suspense

How the audience is targeted- The film uses a 'restrictive narrative' (the characters and
the audience know the same), so they are made to believe that they are in that
situation. Cliff hangers are usually used at the end to so the audience are left to
continue the film into reality 

Sound-The main sounds are the creepy ring tone, the background music and screams -
all these together are very effective as it draws attention and immediately gets the
audience hooked.

Cinematography-There are lots of high and low camera angles, also when the phone
rings on the table there is a focus pull as the girls turn round to look. There is a wide
shot as a ghostly person is standing under a bus shelter so the audience are able to see
the traffic as well. 
How effective is the combination of your media product and
ancillary texts?
 Film magazine

My magazine has a large title and slogan to grab the buyer’s attention; I included a
‘FREE hmv gift voucher’ sign on the front to entice my audience to buy it. I have
included a clip from the AWAKEN trailer on the front and the title under it to show
it will be featuring in this magazine and also some other captions of other things
that will be inside. I made a bar code with the magazine title on it for realism, put
the issue number, price and date on small writing as they are vital for magazines.

At the bottom of my magazine I

have chosen to have a free win of
Imax tickets inside but I have used
play on words to combine wii with
win, so to win the tickets it evolves
buying a wii.
 I wanted both my film and ancillary texts to appeal to both sexes of 15 plus. I have
chosen colour’s, images and writing that everyone will feel comfortable with. I think
they work well together
 Poster

The first thing I decided to do for inspiration was to research film posters. This helped
me decide on layout and images. I then chose an image which I thought was eye
catching and would have continuity throughout my media products. This image was
taken from a screen shot of the main character Jade’s eye. I put under lighting beneath
her eye to enhance the shadow and lengthen her eyelashes, making her eye to appear
bigger. I then opened this in to Picasa (which is a photo editing software) and created a
collage which enables me to make posters, DVD covers, magazines, CD covers and so
on. I used the image as the poster background and applied text. The font for the
awaken sign was called ‘chalkduster’ and this was the font I have used throughout my
products to enable the viewer to connect that title with all of my products. This logo
will be easily remembered and eye catching if the audience are used to seeing the
same font.
 What have you learnt from the audience feedback?

For my audience feedback I asked if they could write both positive and negative
comments if possible, allowing me to turn the negatives in to positives by reediting my
product/products. I had a lot positive feedback from the audience who viewed my
trailer which I was very happy with. Bellow is some on the feedback from a few 6 th
formers who I presented my trailer too. I also uploaded my trailer on to Facebook for
more feedback and then both my 20 second teaser and 2 minute trailer on to
YouTube.
“If it was real it would make you want to watch it. It was gripping and would appeal to a higher
age group”
“It was really good, gripping and very tense”
“Amazing. It looks like it would most likely freak you out in the early hours of the morning”
“The trailer was very intense. I liked the sound effects and all the different clips used. The horror
was very well shown”
“Intense and gripping from the start, very well edited and very awesome! Well presented”
“Awesome! Would actually like to watch the whole film”
“Well put together and would go see it if it was a film”
“Very scary! It was great and good background music”
“Very good. Good atmosphere and the background music was good”
“Very realistic, the music was very scary and draws in the viewers instantly”
“Very intense, looks very realistic and draws you in through the scary music. It’s very good!!”
 Audience feedback from my poster and
magazine
“I like the colour of the picture on the poster and also the tagline at the top works
really well. Maybe you should enlarge the title”

“I like the image because its really clear and eye catching, it all works together really
well”

“I love the AWAKEN writing on the magazine. It’s got good advertising, a decent price
but I wasn’t sure what the background image was”

“Well arranged layout but the background image is unclear”

I was pleased with the comments. I would like to justify why I chose the image on the
film magazine. I didn’t want to give away to much of the film on the front so I used a
dark image to blend in with the magazine. Also the fact that it’s a horror film, most of
it is left to the audiences imagination, so being unsure about something can be a sign
of panic or nervousness, which effectively works for a horror, so from the image on the
front it is already playing on the audiences mind.
 How did you use media technologies in the construction and
research, planning and evaluation?
I used a proliferation of software’s to achieve a different outcome for all of my tasks
and products.

Google – I used this to research Horror trailers, poster ideas, magazine layouts to
give me some inspiration.

Blogger - This is where I then uploaded every part of my ongoing work such as
screen shots, photos, videos, trailers and so on and wrote about everything.

Final Cut Express – I used this once I had come up with a trailer idea, its where I
loaded my footage on to for editing. This took two attempts as I was unhappy with
my first idea and re planned and filmed again. I also edited my directors
commentary on this program as I found it more sufficient and better quality than
standard film editing software's.

Garage Band – This came in handy for music, sound effects and voiceovers. I
uploaded the soundtracks and layered them for different effects and volume. I
found this easy to use as everything is visibly laid out so I never had to search
through lots of files to find the effect I wanted.
 Picasa – I used this software to create a DVD cover and poster for my trailer. I made the DVD
cover as an extra as I really like being creative and had the software available to do it on. I used
the codes and conventions or real DVD covers to make it as realistic as possible. For example,
the main characters names at the top and the certificate on the side and front of the DVD. I also
put my made up company logo ‘Taylor Productions’ on the back which is used in my trailer.

Photoshop – I used this for another ancillary task which was to make a film magazine.
Photoshop is at high quality compared to the usual photo editing programs enabling me to
produce in superb quality for more realism

PowerPoint – I used this to display my evaluation as well as my directors commentary so a

written version can be uploaded to the blog. I like being able to present my work in writing as
well as in film. I found this great for presentation purposes and its easy to use.

Facebook – This is a social networking site where I uploaded my trailers, it took about 5 minutes
to process the the clips which was pretty quick and then once uploaded I had views from other
friends on Facebook who liked it and left their comments bellow and also some inboxes which I
have print screened and put on to my blog.

YouTube – This is another site I uploaded my trailers to where again they could be viewed from
all over the world being web 2.0 where everyone can be involved and leave their comments and
even create tribute videos. This took 20 minutes to upload which wasn’t to long and I have put a
URL link on to the blog for viewing
 The main tools that I found useful were

Screen grab – This enabled me to take shots of my screen and the programs I was
using to show the stages of progress

Panasonic digital video camera – I used this one after the tape video camera as I found
it was better quality and the film was easier to upload as It didn’t need a cable it only
needed the memory card

Macbook Pro – I am lucky to have my own laptop as this enabled me to work on my

trailer and other ancillary tasks at home. I used final cut express on my laptop and also
Photoshop. This is a high quality machine and uses high quality software enabling
superb quality outcome of work.