Evaluation

Evaluation

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

My main media product produced was a trailer with the genre of romance. I researched and analysed other romantic genre movies of the recent year and wrote down the parts that stood out for me and the conventions that showed me the genre is romance. I broke down the different functions and looked at camera angles, shot, movements, sound, and mes en scene. With my existing knowledge, I recognized how these conventions gave the trailers a romantic touch. I used institution logos at the start to show the audience what institutions are supporting this trailer. This gives the customer some loyalty as they must have seen these institutions in other popular films. I used universal because it is a huge company with fantastic films that it supports. I then introduced the characters so that the audience can get to know them and see their personalities. This is usually done in romance films because the main characters are the most important. For the scenes used, I used two shot to represent the relationship between the characters in the film. This shot is used a lot in other romance trailers as the audience need to see the connection between these people. I used natural lighting to show the purity of their love and to show how emotionally connected it is. The natural sunlight signifies their love more because of the specific colours used and shown. I edited the trailer by using slow motion as it allows the audience to let the characters affection in. The clothing used, is very casual but I made the two main people wear a similar shade of colour to show the connection between them. I used the colours orange, white and red to represent love and signify it more. I also used blue to show the dark side of the relationship love triangle. I used a narrative of the male characters dialogue because I noticed that this was used in other romance trailers to show the story from the male’s point of view. Most women like the see the opposite sex’s point of view because it’s interesting to acknowledge within the romantic genre. In the trailer, the male shows gaze from his view towards the women as males think that they have power over them. I then brought up text to show more detail of to what’s going on in the trailer. It enhances the story line more and I used a mixture of pink and orange because it’s a light colour which connotes love and romance. I then brought up the actors and actresses names to show the audience that they are popular people that have done hit romance movies before so it is sure to not be a disappointment. I then finally brought up the title at the end so that the characters have something to wait for as they would want to know the title of the movie. The title slowly comes at the end in other romance trailers I have analysed which made me want to do it to my own so that it keeps the romantic style. I put the release date the end because it keeps the audience intrigued. The logos of the sponsors of this movie are showed at the end of the trailer in a couple of seconds to show who has supported the trailer and to involve them so people see organisations they recognize them. The only thing i would change is to use different clothing in the trailer to make it look more realistic and so the audience get a better insight on the characters personality by their style. I would also make the natural lighting more visible for the audience to have a clearer view.

In my other media product of a promotional poster for the trailer, I used the same colour scheme as the trailer to show a connection between the two. I used the same font as well which lets the audience know that the poster is made for that specific trailer. I kept the title at the bottom and the end to keep the same style as the trailer and to make the audience look at the poster from top to bottom until they see the trailer. I placed the three main characters in the middle to let the audience know who features in the movie. I made the male narrator give the audience eye contact so they have a connection with him straight away. I made the other two females look in different directions because they don’t know that they are both in a relationship with the same guy. This shows that the audience knows exactly what is going on but the two sisters don’t. I made the image connect to the title so there is some joint within the two. I put the characters names at the top so they are visible to see clearly. I made sure the two characters who are having the affair are wearing the same colours to show what they are guilty of. I put the release date underneath the title so the audience know exactly when the film is coming out.

My final media product was a movie magazine cover advertising the new movie I was creating. I placed the title of the whole magazine at the front because that is where they are always placed. This is to let the audience know what the magazine is called. I used ‘Empire’ because that is the most common magazine used. I then placed the image in the centre to show the same connection between the magazine cover and the promotional poster. I used the same clothing of the characters to show the association between the media products. I then placed the title at the bottom, using the same colours and font to show synergy between all three products. I then placed other text around the sides to let the audience know what other context is in the magazine to persuade them to buy it more. By having the front cover as my movie ‘Playing Duo’, it shows the audience the main topic inside the magazine. The pricing and date of issue is under the title so that the audience know where to look for it as it is the same on majority of the magazines. I placed the bar code at the bottom left because I tried to make it look similar to other magazines I had analysed.

 

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

My trailer that I had produced of ‘Playing Duo’ has a specific house style that I have kept for the promotional poster and magazine cover. I used synergy so that the audience realize that all three are connected. I wanted to use the same house style so that they all look similar. Within the font I tried to create a logo so that when the audience see it they recognize it because of the font style and the shade of colour I used. The image of the characters is obvious for people to recognize the title of the film. When creating all three media products, it is very important to provide a strong continuity between them all. A way I kept continuity is to keep the title ‘Playing Duo’ at the bottom or end of every media product and made sure the title was directly underneath it. I also made sure all three characters were in the main images for three of the media products I had created so that audiences start to notice all their faces together.

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

I used YouTube to watch other romance trailers like ‘Dear John’ and ‘The Last Song’. This showed me the codes and conventions I could use for my own romance trailer. YouTube allowed me to press pause on the trailers and go back to the parts where I wanted to analyse with detail which was beneficial for me. I also used YouTube to search for romantic soundtracks that I could use for my trailer to find the perfect one. This allowed me to listen to different romantic soundtracks that I thought would be the best match for my trailer. I then used my knowledge with the internet to convert the sound track to MP3 so that it would be the correct format for me to upload in my trailer. I used social networking sites to promote my questionnaires to a wide range of audiences so that I could receive different feedback for my research and planning. This is an easy method of gaining feedback as it is a quick and simple method. Most of my feedback would be from random people and therefore there would not be any bias results. I used movie maker to edit my trailer and cut the scenes to what was best for the trailer. I recorded all my scenes by using a digital camera and then transferring them onto my laptop. I then opened them up into ‘Windows Movie Maker’ and then I edited the scenes by using slow motion and fading to give it a better effect and to help the audience realize what genre it is. Movie maker helped me place the scenes to where I wanted them to go and to add in any text which includes the title, actors/actresses names and the release date. I also added in institutions so that my trailer looked professional as possible. I also created my trailer to be the duration of 2 minutes and under as that was the duration of other trailers I analysed. I could also add different effects on clips to make them stand out more. I also added a soundtrack onto the trailer and made parts of the clips have no sound so that the soundtrack over takes it. I then added in a narrative by using a microphone and recording the sound that I wanted. Then I plugged it into my laptop by using the USB cord connected to it and transferring the files onto Windows Movie Maker.

I used Adobe ‘Photoshop’ for my other two products:  Promotional Poster and Magazine Cover. I took two different images which a digital camera but made sure that they both had a connection in the way they looked. I then used the crop tool that Photoshop provided and cropped the excess that I didn't need. I then used the background eraser tool to take of any background of the picture that I didn't need and changed it to the colour I wanted. I then added text on both products and placed it to where I wanted it. I made both media products have synergy so that people could recognize that they were linked. To come together which a template of the magazine cover, I used the search engine ‘Google Images’ to browse some other ‘Empire’ magazines so that I could get an idea of how to create mine. I analysed them carefully and connotations out the points I liked about them. I also used my mobile phone to take pictures of some other movie magazines and posters that I saw so that I could analyse them and create my own media products.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

From my research from audiences, I have learnt that their views are very important as audience demand is what makes the film successful. I wanted to make the trailer, magazine cover and promotional poster something that the audience wanted to see. By creating questionnaire and making focus groups I found out exactly what the audiences expected. I found out within my target audience which are the most important audience that I needed feedback from, I also found out from people that don’t really watch romance genre films. I made several questionnaires for each media product to get detailed answers from different ranges of people. The majority of the outcome was expected however some of it was very unusual to receive. To conclude, audience feedback is very important as it helped me with my final outcome of products and i knew that it was what the audience demanded and expected to see. This shows that majority of the audience were satisfied with my products.