Final Trailer

This is horror trailer for my product and the final edit that I have decided to go with. I have used my research and audience feedback to come up with my storyline as well as to help me figure out what kind of shots I should use, and what would be best when portraying my genre. The non digetic background music as well as the sounds of the flickering lights really add a grotesque and eerie atmosphere to my trailer, as well as the dark use of lighting and minimalistic colour. I feel that with the use of my chapter titles I have portrayed my narrative through the use of text, rather than an actual voice over as I feel it allowed me to draw my audiences attention souly onto my trailer, so that they could determine their own ideas for my overall concept of the narrtive. I did however have some techniqual problems at the end of editing my trailer as the music I used in the ending sequence would'nt fade out at the end of my trailer, so it just keeps playing after the last shot has dissappeared. Even though this is an error I do feel that it does in a way allow me to positively add more of a confusing and mysterious atmosphere to my trailer as it sets the ending mood onto the final outcome of my trailer.

Evaluation

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

When it came to presenting my products it was important that I used specific technologies that would help me to make my work successful in portraying my horror genre.  When it came to the stages of making  my trailer I decided to you Imovie which is a software on Mac’s. The software enabled me to  add in and edit my shots with the use of specific effects that helped me to create such an eerie  trailer for my audience to watch. When making my magazine front cover  and my poster I used Microsoft publisher and Adobe paintshop to input all of my media text and images when making the front cover.  When doing my research and planning I used programmes such as YouTube and Imbd to research into  specific film trailers to analyse for my research. For my feedback I used a written questionnaire and the social network facebook to get feedback from my audience which allowed me to get a range of varied results. For my evaluation I have decided to use Microsoft PowerPoint when displaying my overall results as I felt it portrayed a professional and easily readable presentation. I feel that without  the use of different media technologies my overall product would look or come across as professional and successful as I had hoped, which meant that I really did rely on such technologies to get a good rating out of my products.

Evaluation

 What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Since looking back upon my audience feedback I have tried to concentrate  on the areas that best suited my target audience and what they felt would benefit my product to allow it to come across as successful.  I decided on getting feedback on both my ancillary tasks as well as my trailer in order for me to gain an understanding of how I have done . Since looking at  the feedback from my trailer I have discovered that many people enjoy  tension within a horror trailer and the build up of it is what keeps them interested in watching the film itself, this could be done through the use of fast cutting shots and slow motion to speed up or slow down the time it takes for the reaction to take place on the audience. Looking back on the audience feedback for my magazine front cover I noticed that many people liked the idea of having the chance to win prizes that could be advertised using my product. The use of bold text and images were also essential in order for my audience to notice  my product being advertised. When looking at the research feedback for my poster many people liked the simplicity that I had used within my poster and they liked the idea of no colour to portray mystery. Others said that the less text used on the poster the better as it kept them guess as to what the film may be about,  this allowed me to create my poster whilst adding in tension and atmosphere through the use of minimalistic misenscene. Without my audience feedback I wouldn't really have an idea of what my target audience wanted when it came to making my products and allowing them the chance to be successful and effective.

Evaluation

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

When combining my main product with my ancillary texts I found that they all worked well and effectively together when it came to portraying a professional looking product.  Each of my products focuses on the idea of ‘Light’ and my symbol of a light bulb to emphasis to my target audience the link between my narrative and the genre of a horror within my products. Together my poster allows my viewers to come up with their own idea as to what the narrative may be about,. This then adds more interest to my magazine front cover as my audience will gain a bit more information from the change in picture as a hand is then included within my magazines central image, with the light bulb smashed inside it. I wanted there to be a build up  by the time my audience actually viewed my trailer.  My trailer itself I feel highlights all of the aspects within both my ancillary tasks as I have incorporated the light bulb s as well as the unknown hand to really create an eerie image and atmosphere. I could have used more of a grotesque image such as the idea of adding blood into my trailer, but I didn’t want to give away to much of my narrative to my audience than I needed to so I decided to leave out the aspect of blood. Another feature I chose to leave out was any diegetic speech made by my actors as I wanted to totally engross my audience into the misenscene and atmosphere of the narrative without them getting to attached to any of my characters. I feel that all of my products link well with each other and that I have successfully created a well designed and made element of media that will captivate my audience.

Evaluation

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

When it came to the presentation and misenscene that revolved around the creation of each of my products it was essential that I considered the stereotypical elements that were presented within other forms of media products. The product I created was a horror movie trailer called ‘Light’, which  included a  film poster and magazine front cover  that advertised my product to my potential target audience. Essentially when thinking about my product and deciding what genre to follow  it was important that I understood what went into the process of  designing and researching.  When it came to deciding upon the genre of my product  I wanted to make sure that I inputted the conventions of a horror into my product.

In the process of researching  the conventions of the horror genre  it was important that I gained an understanding of what would allow me to create a successful product , as well as actually designing one and creating it. I feel that overall my product follows the conventions of real media products as it evidently  shows an understanding of what should be expected within the layout and chosen imagery of my misenscene. 

 Trailer

I believe my trailer  presents the narrative of my product clearly and visibly with the use of dark colours and lighting. My target audience aimed  towards my trailer are 15 and above which meant that I needed to consider all aspects of my editing and filming to suit what was expected when creating a product that would interest them, as well as potentially scare them. The narrative that I wanted to establish to my target audience was the idea of a woman being possessed by the energy of the light itself, which relates to what is seen within my trailer and the idea of unknown identity. This form of narrative would usually be categorised under the sub genre of a psychological horror, which was my initial aim when making planning and researching into other horror film trailers. such as many other successful and well known films that I wanted to base my narrative on for example ‘Paranormal activity’  and ‘Blair witch project’. Whilst researching into different  horror film trailers I noticed that the use of fast shot cuts, as well as close ups and zoom in shots were among the most recognised techniques used within many of the most well known horror trailers.

 Firstly the name of my product ‘Light’ was ;I felt ,juxtaposing against the stereotypical expectations of what to expect within the actual name of a horror film. I wanted my target audience to become interested in the possible idea of what my narrative could be especially when it came to my films title.  My aim was to take the psychological emotion experienced  by my audience, in terms of light being a form of safety and reassurance and turn that against my audience by making them fear the unexpected. This therefore allowed me to  challenged other forms of media as not that many recent products have really gone against what the audience expects in terms of the overall portrayal of the narrative. 

Final Work

This is my final finished product of my horror poster. I have incorporated the same main image of the light bulb situated center of the poster which i feel draws attention to it immediatly making the image stand out from the page.The font that I have chosen is still bold yes hazy due to the fuzzed out effect I edited, this I feel adds an errie image within my poster and allowed the mysterious element of my narrative to show through to my target audience. When it came to audience feedback and what they would have expected to see within my horror poster I took into consideration the fact that many people prefered there to be less critics quotes at the bottom of my poster as they felt it made it look to crampted and stuffed. I therefore got rid of a few of my quotes as well as making the top area of my poster smaller without the use of a blank space.Another important feature that needed to be included within my poster was the certified rating of my film. This then allows my audience to determine the level at which the film is rated as legally viewers younger than 15 wouldnt be able to view my film, making my trailer unsuitable for younger viewers.

This is my decided final copy of my magazine front cover. I have included my main masthead, boldly and large so that it immediatly catches my audiences attention. The central image has remained the same since my single draft I did in my ancillary process as I felt it really captured the narrative of my project in terms of my trailer. The smaller coverline is bold with a slight read boarder around it, in order to keep with the theme of a red and black colour scheme. The smaller puffs and plugs are all suited to the genre of my magazine front cover such as advertisments for prizes as well as information on new products. I feel that in keeping with a simplistic use of text has allowed me to still follow more of a stereotypical layout of my magazine cover, as I want to keep my viewers guess as to what my film may be about, rather than reveal to much information. I made sure that I included the bar code which signifys whether or not a product is real and worthy of sale, as well as the issue season and date of release in order to keep my audience up to date.

Audience feedback

Audience feedback

Q: What do you think of the overall layout of the Poster?

·         I thought that the poster was very well laid out, the simplicity and thje little it gave away is important to creating a sense of mystery and a fear of the unknown, essential to any good horror film.

·         Good, Follows the stereotypical movie poster with big picture, fun title, and quotes at the bottom.

·         Organised layout, good use of black and white colouring.

·         Really like the word ‘Light’ and the light bulb which light’s up the page and creates imagery.

·         Clear layout, I like the vague design, suggests a horror film clearly.

·         I like that the image takes up the majority of the poster which fits the generics of a horror poster, the black/ white grayscale effect works really well too.

Q: Do you think the image successfully fits the genre of the poster? And why ?

·         Yes because the lightbulb is dark and mysterious, its apparent mundane nature leave the audience wanting to know more.

·         Yes, as it gives a contrasting idea of what the film might be about as light is normally seenm as a good, safe thing but this poster portrays it as something dark and spooky.

·         The use of black and white creates a spooky atmosphere and there fore illustrates the genre of the film.

·         The use of the light expresses how something or someone in the film may have two sides to them- dark/ light. Hidden characters which light up in certain situations.

·         Yes- eerie and suggestive but without giving too much away.

·         Yes its suitably ambiguous yet fitting to the story too.

Q: In terms of the misenscene what do you think benefits the poster? What could be improved?

·         No real improvements, it was dark and simple, perfect.

·         Simple just like a movie poster should be, having it in black and white is very effective as it personifies the white, bright light.

·         Simplicity and use of black and white as colour would spoil the spooky effect

·         The colour is very simple but effective.

·         Contrast of black and light.

·         The title should maybe be moved to a black part of the background, therefore creating more contrast.

Q: Do you like the choice of text ? The font style? Why?

·         The font for the title is perfect and in keeping with the genre. But the font for the reviews looks a little out of place.

·         Very suitable for the poster as looks as if the title is a dim light.

·         I think the font at the bottom would be perfect if the text were more slightly moved across and spread out.

Audience feed back on facebook

When getting feedback on my final ancillary task for my horror magazine front cover I decided to get feedback from my audience on the networking site of facebook. This I felt gave myself a better chance of getting a variety of different feedbacks. From the feedbacks that I recieved I got a range of different insights into what my target audience liked about my magazine front cover. This allowed me to see that my poster had indeed suited the expectations of my target audience, with many likeing the colours and image I used within my front cover.