Updated Diary

Project Diary

	Project Target	Target Reached	Comments
September
	Introduction – to introduce the whole project in detail and outline who we are and our aims.	Yes
	Holiday Homework – To Research the topic of horror in detail and show our findings.	Yes
Meeting	This was our first ever meeting, where we were all introduced and discussed our very first ideas relatIing back to everything we had researched.
October
	Initial Ideas – An outline of our first original ideas as a group.	Yes
	Logo Drafts – sketches of what we are hoping to achieve with our Logo, its vital as it represents us.	Yes
	Logo Research - Research into the progression of logos throughout the years and how that can help us when designing ours.	Yes
	Production Name/Logo – To come up with a production name and to start creating ideas for our logo, which represents us.	Yes	We had an initial design that was finished in October, however when updating it in January we improved it.
	Treatment – This is an overall synopsis of our film, detailing everything from the name to the synopsis itself.	Yes	This was our first detailed plan of our film.
	Storyboard – We have several different versions of our storyboard that have all been shown, as well as our final piece.	Yes	We have changed and adapted our storyboard to suit our final teaser trailer.
	Shooting Script – This was essential as it detailed everything in the order in which we would be shooting on the day.	Yes	Was planned according to our storyboard.
	Poster Ideas – This was just a simple sketch to suit the storyboard at the time, for our different variations we are using different poster ideas.	Yes	We have loads of shots which were taken on the day of shooting although we will be practising more shots at a later date.
	Audience demographic – This is where we have detailed our audience and whom we expect to specifically come and see our film.	Yes	We had split our demographic down into detail. Although we planned to add mood boards in January.
	Audience research – This is where we have asked people questions about the horror genre and used their answers to make decisions about our teaser.	Yes	This was used to help plan our whole teaser.
	Audience research Response – this is looking through the response which we have had and using that to help our project as a whole.	Yes	We used our research to the best of our ability by assessing what has been said.
	Textual Analysis of a teaser trailer –This is assessing the conventions and looking for things that we might be able to include.	Yes	Each person will have to have completed that by November.
	Textual Analysis of a Poster – This is for what is commonly used in posters so that we understand what we are aiming for.	Yes	These should be completed by December the latest/
	Textual Analysis of a Magazine feature – This will be the one that we have to research the least as we have all had experience creating magazines beforehand although we will have to relate them to our project and our genre.	Yes	These will have to be done by November
	Initial Feature Research – We will have to look into more than one cover to understand it more.	Yes	We all will have a better understanding.
	Poster Designs – Sketches of our design which we intednt to have	Yes	Not all of them have been carried out as we have found one we really like.
	Inspirational Shots – Throughout our research we have found shots which have been inspirational for different reasons which is why we have blogged them.	Yes	This will be updated throughout our whole research process.
	Costume ideas – This is our ideas for each characters costume throughout the teaser trailer.	Yes	This will be updated in the production section.
	Make –up – This is our intended make up.	Yes	There are lots of shots of our actual make up on the day of filming that will be updated within the PRO.
	Props – We went shopping for all our props and also some inspiration.	Yes	We had many ideas although within the shop which can be assessed.
	Eqipment – We have collected all of the equipment we will be potentially using and decided to find out about them.	Yes
	Lighting practise – We got to know the lights and how they benefitted us.	Yes	This was very beneficial to our teaser.
November
	iPhone Practise – this was a practise filmed on an iPhone with very low quality.	Yes	This gave us time to practise our order of shots.
	Shot Practise – this was using the correct equipment in college	Yes	This gave us time to work with the equipment.
	Roles of the Actors – Selecting the actors we need and the characters that they will be playing.	Yes	Actors also get to have their own opinion in how to portray our character.
	Shot Practise photographs – This is illustrating what we done on the day and how we worked.	Yes	This is evidence of us working and how we adapted when using the equipment
	Shot Explanation – This goes through each shot which we have practised and would like to use and explains them so that we understand why we are using them.	Yes
	Possible sound – This was created in Garageband that was not in relation to our trailer, so the timing was off.	Yes	This was good to get a small understanding of the sound and also plan what our final piece would be.
	Age Certificate – this was helping to certify our film and gain a better knowledge of the BBFC	Yes	This was effective as it helped us with what to include and what to omit.
December
	Filming Experience – we will let you know how the filming went and the pros and cons about the day.	Yes	This we filmed so that we wouldn’t hopefully miss anything out and we were getting bored of writing.
	Make-Up and Costume- Showing how everything turned out on the day	Yes	Most things went to plan.
	Shooting Photographs- Again showing how everything worked out on the day.	Yes	These are very representative of our day.
	Props and Equipment – An explanation of how they were used on the day	Yes	Shows you how we put them to use and also allowed us to show our skills development.
	Feature Magazine – how the day helped other aspects of our project	Yes
	Poster – how the day and the experience helped certain areas of our project we didn’t expect it to.	Yes
January
	Software – This will show you how much we have developed as a team.	Yes	We have shown past and present and they are pretty different.
	Locations – We have used lots of different places that we would like to show.	Yes	There is a variety in all of the places although some were better.
February
	Rough Cut	Yes	We have spent a long time playing with all of the possibilities of editing after creating our rough cut which shows minimal editing at a very early stage.
March
	Final Teaser	Yes	This shows our final project
	Final Film Poster	Yes	This shows our final project
	Final Magazine Feature	Yes	This shows our final project
	Evaluation Question 1	Yes	We have evaluated our conventions which have been used throughout the campaign.
	Evaluation Question 2	Yes	We have evaluated the combination of all of the products within the campaign
	Evaluation Question 3	Yes	We have evaluated all of the feedback given by our audience
	Evaluation Question 4	Yes	We have evaluated the use of media technologies throughout the project.

Project Meetings/Updates

UPDATE 1- 30th September 2011
We each had our own intentions and ideas which we wanted to share, alongside our definite wants and dislikes, we had to eliminate any ideas which was not to the groups taste and we had to progress into an idea which we all equally liked and thought would be best effective, by relating back to our homework we would be using conventions and already be on a good path.  We then Began this Meeting schedule to keep on top of things and created a project diary which we will updating along the whole process, updating and changing things when necessary and work through until all of the boxes are yes.


UPDATE 2 - 15th October 2011

We have got off to a good start, but we still have a lot more work to be done. As a group we have assessed all of our posts so far and we have defined ourselves as a company. Our base has been created and we now have to think more about detail and create a schedule which means that we will be able to finish on time and to then get the best mark possible. We have also updated the Project diary.

UPDATE 3 - 11th November 2011

We have potentially done everything that we have set out to do so far, our meeting looked over our blog and started some of the posts which we hadn't intended to do yet such as Costume as we linked it with make-up. We still have to touch up some of our posts and its essential that we get practicing what we are planning on doing. We finialised several posts and updated the diary within this meeting.

UPDATE 4 - 2nd December 2011

we are very close to filming, although we held a meeting in order to see that we are prepared. We have gone through the shooting script alongside the storyboard and we have planned our day in advance. We know that not all things go to plan but its good to have something to stick to and we are not ultimately ready to go and film. We have been updating our blog with things that can effect the filming up until now.

UPDATE 5 - 12th December 2011

We have seen our footage and been working with it although we have all come to dislike some of our shots which means that some of the final storyboard has been adapated. We are thinking about changing our idea completely and making it much more simple and giving nothing away. We are working on all three of our projects and we are having so many different ideas which we will just have to try out.

UPDATE 6 - 15th January 2012

We have created our rough cut and we are getting used to the playing around with the filters and effects. None of our group has used final Cut pro before so we have been learning loads of new skills and developing our understanding. We held a meeting in order to stop testing and start creating our final version which we had to decide on. eventually we didn't change our storyboard and we stuck with our more complex idea which we will be better off with.

UPDATE 7 - 19th February 2012

We have now completed our Final Teaser Trailer and have a round soundtrack which we still need to adapt to our visuals although our main focus's now are our poster followed by our Magazine Feature front page. We have several images although we are meeting for the purpose of possibly taking some more pictures giving us wider possibilities. 

UPDATE 8 - 6th March 2012

The Final touches need to be added to our final Magazine Feature, although we have now began our evaluation question 1. We have split the question four ways evenly so that we are all able to give a collaborative input into each of the evaluation points.

UPDATE 9 - 12th March 2012

We have finished our question 1 and we have begun our question 4, leaving question 2 and 3 for when we have gathered enough feedback which will help evaluate or work. We have split all the questions and are not far from finishing.

UPDAT 10 - 28th March 2012

We are in the final stages of our Question 3 which is the last of the 4 questions to be completed, we are looking through all of our posts to ensure that everything has been finalised and we only have 2 days left to check over everything.

Evaluation Question 4

Q4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Each of the stages of our project relate completely to theory of 'Hanging Around, Messing About, Geeking Out' this theory explains the stages based on the 'digital natives' meaning the young generation  and how they are almost becoming subconscious to the growing dependency on technology as we are using it more and more every day. Some of the most productive experiences come when hanging around and messing about.

Peace/ John - Hanging Around. 

Through out this project, many media technologies were the source in which we have fully taken advantage of in order to produce a successful trailer. We have used many forms of media technology in order to upload, post, edit and for research. Without the use of media technology, this project would not be possible and we wouldn’t have been as successful. As Moore’s law explains technologies are improving at exponential rates, meaning technology is evolving approximately every two years, for example, processors are becoming smaller but double their performance. This shows that we are potentially becoming more capable in producing better quality products with the more advanced technology available to us.

For our planning and research, we have chosen to stick with Blogger, a free and online blog-publishing service that allows private or multi-user blogs to upload and share contents. We are all familiar to this website as all of us have used it before during our AS project, which makes Blogger ideal for uploading  and presenting our project work. We believe that sticking with Blogger can give us an advantage because we are all familiarised with the website and this allowed us to present our production much clearer and effectively than using a website that we have not come across before. We’ve also kept in minds that it is very important of us to keep out work presented clearly and effectively, keeping the work attractive and at its highest standards, therefore it is always best to keep to those that we are most experienced in when we have a limited amount of time.

Blogger is very effective and easy to use plus Blogger is very well known and famously used worldwide. What was interesting was that Blogger had updated to become more attractive, effective and even more practical. There are now more templates, design and most importantly, the layout. Blogger’s update has now made everything of its service more human friendly. For example, when creating a new post, the boarder is much bigger and the new utility layout is much more effective. This makes life much easier because everything is spread out including the space for where we publish our work as shown below. This means we can see more of our work as we edit our post and everything is not cramped together which means a less chance for mistakes to happen and a better presentation.

Old Blogger Layout

 New Blogger Layout

The internet plays a very important role on this planet, without it, technology is limited. The internet is worldwide, interactive, massive, in used everyday, available non-stop, and available to us to take advantage. In order for us to gather information for the project we’ve used the internet to gather our research, and to be précised we’ve used a mixture of website such as ‘Google’ and ‘Youtube’ which has allowed us to find images, make-up tutorials, Photoshop effects and brushes, and many more. Google was very important because we’ve collected many images of film posters, which we’ve merged together to form a moodboard to help us plan out our ideas towards our final film poster.  We’ve also done the same when planning for our final magazine front cover and with the help of these images; it gave us the potential to produce an effective and successful film poster and magazine front cover.  Youtube was also very significant since we didn’t have any lessons on make-up, we had no skills in make-up design therefore we’ve taken advantage of Youtube, which is a video-sharing website where we can view, share, comment and upload videos. Form Youtube, we’ve found many useful make-up tutorial that has help us experiment and gain experience to prepare us when it comes to our filming. We have made a couple videos that we’ve uploaded to our Youtube channel so that it can be linked to our blog,  for example, we’ve uploaded the trailer itself, we added a couple of different shots and angel to demonstrate the different shots that were used in our trailer, our initial soundtrack, filming experience and our audience research.

We’ve also used ‘Survey Monkey’ which is a free website that enables users to create their own web-survey and we have used this for our audience research to gather direct opinions from friends and families, other students and even teachers. From using this service, we have collected details on the audience’s interest to help us successful achieve when attracting their attention to our products. We’ve even used other devices such as out phones for our audience research to gather their opinions, for instance, Text Messages and Video record which is shown in our ‘PRE: Audience Research’.

We have been inspired by a film called ‘Dread’ (2010) a horror film directed by Anthony DiBlasi, which is about a couple of students doing a project on greatest fear and character named Quaid had experienced his parents  murdered by an axe murderer as a child. He later on turns this project anticlockwise, where kidnaps Cheryl and locks her in a room with a huge piece of beef. Cheryl, who is editing the project, was abused by her father as a girl, and her father was a butcher which gave her the phobia of meat.  Our team have all seen this film and I, personally have seen this via live TV on channel Film4. Some of our team members have watched this film in cinema and others may have watched it on their iPhone(s) or others.

 Ryan - Messing About 

Before we began filming for our teaser trailer, we went through many practice sessions. We did test shots for dollying, crabbing, tracking, steady cam...etc whether that be on our own cameras or college cameras. We also familiarised setting up tripods and other equipment to save time when the filming day came and also to be aware of any safety rules. The most important thing we practiced was lighting. We went through many experiments with different lighting and angles to see the different outcomes of each one. Lighting is one of, if not the most important elements when filming, especially for a horror related film. 

When handling the camera and its technologies, the most important aspect was getting the focus on point whilst moving the camera at the same time. It was also very important to count in and out when shooting footage so that the actors/actresses knew when to begin acting and when to end. Also, it sometimes takes a moment to begin filming, therefore if you pressed the record button and began shooting the scene instantly, there is a possibility you may miss a second or two at the start. 

 Eilish - Geeking out

Here is a video of the uses of Final Cut Pro, we initially created a rough cut which was simply an order of shots according to our storyboard. which is the line that you see at the bottom of the screen. As you can see in the video, there are loads of different effects which you can add to your visuals to create the best effect possible. Final Cut Pro is a very simple software, once you understand how to import your footage, cut it to how you want and compose it in the order you want you have the basic outline for you to actually start editing. There is the option of adding text, transitions and all different types of effects. The only negative comment would be rendering which is also shown in the video. Once you have changed the length of a shot or added a filter to it, in order for you to see the outcome you have to render which can take a little while depending on what you are rendering. Once you have added filters/effects to your chosen shot you are also able to edit them pretty easily, you can edit or even delete by clicking on the shot itself. As none of our team were accustom to Final cut Pro and how it worked, one person took charge of actually editing while consulting with the other team members. 

The Information age means that Digital Technology is essential to the young, the old and everyone among today’s Society, at home and at work; at least that is what expected. Many people don’t realise there are people who are limited to the Digital Technology they are able to access and others are non-existent and are unknown to this new Information Age. Depending on the surroundings of an Individual would decide for them how much access is available. The Impact of this huge divide from all different walks of life, also how much the Digital Divide has enhanced change in the society? As stated, the Digital Divide is the difference between people and their availability to Information and Communication Technologies, referring to the Internet also. The Digital divide creates economical and social consequences, how far these go is debated thoroughly. The Digital Divide is debated constantly, which means that it’s hard to section off the problems and put them to different peoples, which contrasts to the reasons why it exists. Some countries are information rich such as the UK and then there are countries which are information poor such as somalia who are unable to advance along with those who are able. 

But what is Digital?
Digital is the storage of information with the use of codes and numbers. In reference to media, the technologies which we are working with are ultimately surrounded by codes. With the use of numbers its all or nothing, with 1 being all and 0 being nothing, there are 256 colours which all have their own code to create the transition from the taking the image onto uploading it on this blog as evidence of our work. As we are working with loads of numbers there are calculations constantly taking place which we are subconscious to.

In terms of our media coursework, we have had the privilege of working with some of the more advanced technologies which has implemented our outcome immensely. Without being the age we are and within the generation in which we are, we have grown up and have a head start when it comes to some of the new technologies although there are things that we have to learn and become accustom to in order for us to use the technologies effectively. We were able to create our work using a mac and we were then able to share it also on a mac. From taking a single picture and editing it, we were then able to share it with hundreds of people on a social networking site such as www.facebook.com  for them to view our work. We are also able to share them on websites such as www.youtube.com which is also a  worldwide website meaning that people around the world are able to view our work.

We, as a country are transferring from push technologies to pull technologies. A few years ago, we only had Analog radio, Newspapers and VHS video players which have been transformed into Sky Boxes, DVD players and the Internet which means that we are now able to select what we are watching and reading about. This might have a negative impact as if we created a VHS then it would be the only option on the video although we wouldn't be able to show as many people al over the world. The negative with using the internet is that not everyone is interested and they can easily just dismiss it or never even see it at all although its there for people to see. 

Evaluation Question 3

Q3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Ryan - Youtube: Trailer 


We posted our teaser trailer onto YouTube for audience feedback. We clearly stated in the video's information box what the plot of our film is and that we our media students:

"Woe Is me follows a man tortured by his past, and obsessed with peoples fears sets up a project to test the behaviour of those who have to face them. Students are under the impression that they needs to be interviewed for a documentary which he is planning and are also unaware of is the fact that he is compulsive and psychotic. What will be the outcome?

We are A level students who have filmed this as part of our coursework to complete our Alevel."





Ryan - Facebook: Trailer, Magazine, Poster

We all posted our Trailer, Poster and Magazine Cover onto Social Networking sites, such as Facebook. After doing so, we received different comments. From this feedback, for the trailer many people said they liked our shots and felt the captions did not fit in as well.

The magazine cover had a very mixed feedback response. Many people liked the magazine cover, however, the only negative response would have been for the crack effect on the left hand side and the background colour. However, we decided to stick with this background to add continuity within our three media products.

The poster also had very positive feedback, many people said it looked good visually and followed the use of real media product conventions. The only negative feedback for the poster would be the 'COMING SOON' text felt out of theme and that the script font was hard to read.

Eilish
Here is some of the feedback which we have been given, some of the main feedback has come back from Facebook: 

The Main points which we have been given in relation to our Film poster  is that it is great how it is however we have been given suggestions such as adding a blood tear drop and also about sizing some of the text which we have included.

 Our teaser trailer didn't get as much feedback as i hoped for although we have have some feedback such as the font not being relevant and suiting the rest of the trailer which is something that we could improve if we were to begin again. There is a hidden meaning which was possibly hidden too much, we could have included a shot which expressed the idea being that the film is old fashioned, classical and refers to shakespeare. 

There was also a comparison to Saw which is something that we were hoping for, this means that we have portrayed something effectively for people to gain the correct understanding of our teaser trailer and the concept that we are trying to put across.

With our Magazine Feature, several people have liked the image which is proof enough that they like our product although only some have commented. The main constructive criticism we have been given would be about the text colour and possibly making it more evident. 

Taking on the feedback which we have been given about the color font. Originally the text was a middle brown, we have tried several different colours which have been shown below. None of the colours suit the rest of the colours from the initial image which is why we have remained with our initial colour. 

Audience response Peace

Survey Monkey

1. Do you watch Teaser Trailers and do you find them useful?

100% of people we surveyed do watch teaser trailers, which only highlights how essential the teaser trailer is for a film. This means that we decided not  to give too much away as we can easily sway our viewers into deciding not to watch it or encourage them to watch it; the balance has to be correct. The survey has also been useful to the majority of people asked because the producers have kept the correct balance and only enhanced the chance of the viewer going to see the film at a later date. This balance which keeps being mentioned is not actually set in stone and often relies on personal opinion which only makes it harder. Therefore this encouraged us to make our trailer less narrative and more ambiguous, so that the audience are less aware of what is really going on,  therefore messing with their psychological awarenesses.

2. Do you think that films with the genre of Horror rely more on teaser trailers/trailers than other genres?

The Majority of people we asked have said that horror do rely more on teaser trailers because of the use of unknown actors and because horror needs to draw the attention of the audience more and create suspense. Although it was suggested that the genre of comedy relies more as horror films are able to use posters as an alternative. This response lead us to put emphasis on the attraction of our magazine, as it compliments the teaser.

3. What is it specifically that you enjoy or dislike about horrors in general and why?

There have been suggestions such as unusual story lines, the psychological effect it has and the whole pace of a trailer are what the viewers look forward to  and enjoy about the genre of Horror. There was also mentions of some conventions such as final girl and typical traits which are found throughout films. The use of special effects and make up also mean that people enjoy the visual effect of the film. This means by including some conventions of horror films, and using visual effects such as make up we are more likely to attract a bigger audience. This was affective for our teaser as it meant emphasis on the make up of the actors in our teaser and the emphasis on psychological effects in the we use in our teaser sounds. 

4. What would you expect to see in most horror films and do you think its effective?

 Some of the audience responded in their comments that the idea of unknown actors made teaser more exciting because it gave the teaser more of a "twist" to it. The mention of unknown actors is in our favour, as we will be using unknown actors which mean that there isn't as much of an impact if we were to be comparing ourselves to famous actors. People also expect weird situations which means that storylines can be as  exaggerated as possible, with a common victim seen in every horror film. The effectiveness of the horror films relate back to sound, lighting and editing which is where our input will take over and hopefully improve its effectiveness.

5. If you dislike horrors but saw a teaser trailer which interested you, would you automatically go and watch the film?

Depending on whether you are really interested in all genres it seems that those who watch films on a regular basis would definitely be willing to see the film which is the majority of those asked, although over half said that it was a maybe. The fact that nobody said no means that we also have the opportunity to persuade anyone to come and watch the film even those who dislike the genre horror as long as they are interested in the trailer.

6. Have modern horror films changed that much more than older horror films?

The responses where mixed from this question as some suggested that old horror films were boring as they were black and white and not as entertaining as modern films, although the other view is that the use of camera work and editing back in old horror films were both really effective at scaring the audience and there is the argument that a lot of modern horror films are based on old horror films with the change in the amount of blood and gore which is used. This is an interesting response as its down to personal opinion which is hard to please everyone and entertain everyone.

7. Do you prefer watching horror films at home or in the cinema and why?\

This question depends a lot on whether you enjoy horror films as much, some suggest that being at home you are able to lock yourself away and know that you are safe although, some suggest  the cinema as it makes you feel that you are leaving it behind when leaving. With most people suggesting that they prefer watching horror films with friends it shows that horror as a genre is effective as we prepare ourselves to watching it. There is a percentage of people who will go to the cinema, and there is a minority of people  buying DVD's or renting to watch at home which means there is profit in it either way. 

Analysis of the Survey John

Overall we found that our audience prefer to watch trailers before watching the actual movie piece, this made it even more clear that we were on the right track of making a teaser, similar to this it also gave us the idea to present the teaser with an non linear narrative making it ambiguous for the audience and harder for the audience to make out what is going on.

We were confident with the fact that we had unknown actors because the audience we are aiming at preferred this compared to having a teaser with well known actors, because its enhances the idea of the moving having a twist to it. We have learn that our audience like the idea of being surprised and shocked when it comes to teasers, as it encourages them to watch the whole media piece and it increases interest.

We also learnt that our use of sepia would be some what effective to the audience as it takes them back to the way old horror films used to be, although some audience felt that the classical use of black and white was boring, there were still other factors that contributed to why teasers in the past were so successful.

We were also confident at the fact that the audience opinion of horror could change based on the horror teaser that is presented to them. This idea was particularly seen in those who are not interested in the horror genre but if presented with a good teaser their minds could change.

Evaluation Question 2

Q2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Eilish - Continuity


Our Main aim from the very beginning was based heavily on establishing continuity, we found that by looking at certain fonts or even certain colours on a film poster we were able to associate them to films or trailers which we have seen. Saw is a good example of this, and is also very similar to numerous conventions which we use throughout each of our individual products. 

Throughout our planning and research stages we spoke to loads of different people about what they expect to see in a horror film and things that they like and dislike, one thing which we didn't mention was consistency as we felt that it comes naturally when marketing a product. Brand identity is how big companies manage to make so much money and help sell products which may not even be needed, only wanted because of the society we have grown into. Having a certain product for its name could be a bigger reason for buying something as its a necessity. We, being a non existent brand according to the rest of the world have had to try and find our feet in promoting our product without the use of brand Identity.There are different types of media which can help and aid us in our promotion, the main media being the Internet. By sharing our products online we are hopefully creating the brand identity it would need for us to actually sell well in the actually distribution to the film following this small teaser trailer. There is a theory called uses and Gratification theory which as a concept looks at the way people accept media and whether they choose what type of media impacts them and why. How conscious we are of the media and how we choose to perceive it is down to everyones personal opinion although applied to our campaign, using a constant growing media which is able to impact the world subconsciously or not is probably the best way to do it. 

Planetary Productions is our Production company which we have established is a versatile company which do not only focus on the genre of horror but include all different types of genres which has been represented through our Production logo and its adaptation of the design to suite the film being produced. The company logo is used in the trailer and the poster, however its not used on our Magazine which might be something to improve on and could potentially enhance the identity of the brand. Our company would be that very similar to the Paranormal Activity production as it uses a small budget and is able to create something which will have a big impact. Although 'Woe Is Me,' as a brand is very british, its a Psychological film with a hint of slasher. Its the film that the Saw audience are able to move onto now that Saw is over. We are targeting an audience which are seeking what was missing from The Hills have Eyes and those who were horrified by hostel. 

'Woe Is Me' is the name of our film and it connotes a very classical tone as its referring back to an ancient time of Shakespeare which again defines the identity of the film being British. The actual words of woe is me mean 'poor me' which round up our whole product as its completely victim led. The title is only the highlight of the victims impact, although we decided from a very early stage that in order to maintain all of the tension and the mystery surrounding the film that we would not show the Killer at any stage throughout the whole campaign which is why the one singular shot of the killer is of his feet alone and are walking towards a door which only tenses the tension and adds to the mystery which is exactly what we wanted. 

Characters- Peace 
In order for us to be effective we have to be consistent which we have maintained through firstly our actress, she is focused on heavily in the trailer and is in both images for the poster and the magazine however, some of the characteristics of a horror film would be seen through a 'Final Girl'. Our actress has only some traits of a final girl as she is female, caucasian and has a light hair colour which is almost blonde but with some red in which all suit the conventions. Instead of being the final girl, our actress is more similar to the 'Girl Next Door' as she has not actually done anything wrong as she is not slutty, rude or arrogant nor does she cause any offence which means that she has a likeable presence which will ultimately make the audience sympathise for her as they are more likely than not able to relate to someone similar they know. This teaser trailer campaign is very similar to the SAW franchise as we reveal a second victim within the teaser leaving the audience with the questions of Why is she there? Are there any more people? SAW is about a group of people who are psychologically (slasher) tortured similarly to our film however our teaser indicates a stronger lead role and only have implements of the genre slasher. 


Similarly to character of Annie in Friday the 13th, our victim has no real reason as to why she was chosen, none of it is her fault. Although most victims who are female and typically girl next door haven't done anything for anyone to dislike them however they have done something for people to actually like them which is something that we would rethink if we were doing this project again. We would have included our character doing something good or cute in order for the audience to like her and then feel more sorry for the victim. Generally, our female victim is similar to those in See No Evil, The Hills have Eyes as the women are in the wrong place at the wrong time or decide to do something silly which results in a huge pressure and impact (the killer) seeking to kill them. 



















Another positive aspect continued would be our font. In order to determine synergy we have kept our font the same throughout each of the products. The font Zapfino which is a very old-fashioned italic style of writing has been kept and displayed on each of the products. Although the layout and the positioning could be more consistent, we have layered the writing in both the Film poster and the magazine but not in the trailer which could be a room for improvement. We have also used a section of our film poster without the text, but with the colour remaining as the background to our captions within the teaser which is a way of connecting the two. The background image was taken from my cheek which has a filter on highlighting my freckles which actually connotes innocence. The character from the play is in fact innocent however when the background of our slogan 'Forced to face your Fears…' it could be seen as quite a malicious thing as even if she wasn't innocent then she would still have to face her fears ad she is being forced to.

Sepia Explanation- John

Another aspect commonly shown with our text is a sepia colour or tint which we have maintained throughout the whole teaser trailer and both other pieces. The reasoning behind using sepia links back to our old fashioned name and font style ensuring that the classical tone is used throughout. Our visuals however are very modern as during the teaser trailer we see a video camera and a CCTV shot which is a way of appealing to todays audience which confused some people when watching the teaser trailer. One improvement would be to be more consistent with the match of old vs new throughout all 3 pieces instead of being on the trailer alone. This is what we would use as our USP (Unique Selling Point) not many films which are produced today really highlight and respect old films, there are countless remakes which keep storylines and concepts although they have all been transformed to suite todays audience. Our film is modern and it uses the technologies which surround us today, although it appreciates older eras such as the elizabethan times when shakespeare was in his prime, as well as old cinemas which is something that is not seen before.

This is evidence of the limitations of a teaser trailer and how we were unable to connect all of the dots and explain everything completely as it would ruin  the whole teaser campaign. To some members of our audience it may entice them into coming and seeing the film resulting in all of their questions answered, however some may feel that the teaser doesn't work. There was also not enough to to develop our second character within the teaser although this might have enhanced the mystery and only help tease the audience, it would depend on your personal opinion.

We began our project by making the teaser trailer although it was the last of the 3 to be completed. Once we had filmed it almost became a hardship to actually complete it as it was a very big task and was almost intimidating, this could be why as a team we find the teaser the least effective. As we were creating the 3 at one time, it was much easier to turn our attention to the film poster and feature magazine as it was a shorter and possibly more creative task. The fact that we hadn't made a video before and we still had to get used to the software was also a deterrent for us not to work on the teaser. As there was so many options we spent numerous weeks coming up with new ideas and concepts that we could implement to our teaser as it was so varied, it was almost problematic as we had so many options. Another reason we find it least effective could be that we lost critical distance with the trailer as it became so familiar. Eventually we stuck with our original storyboard minus a few changes throughout so we were essentially brainstorming for no reason except to see how far we could go to adapt it. Overall is the biggest part of the campaign and it is effective, although we have learnt from experience and may have done things better.

The most effective we feel is our film poster, it was one of our original and initial ideas which meant that after completion it was satisfying to see it alongside others and still looking professional. As we have two members of our team who were very creative and were able to use photoshop very well. that might be a possibility as to why we enjoyed creating the poster most as we had a bigger range of skills. With our teaser, one member took lead role however even they had to learn new skills based around a whole new software meaning it was more effort. The order in which we created them in had an impact on our preferences certainly, however it might not have with all of our audience.


Ryan - Cross Media Promotions

When producing our media products we had to take into account how they would look on different media platforms. We uploaded our trailer to YouTube to see how it looked via the internet. This also allowed us to see how our trailer looked through smart phone devices as we could access the trailer through YouTube.

We also used social networking sites such as Facebook to promote our media products. This not only helped with our audience feedback but also helped us see how our products looked via smart phones and computers.

 

We decided to print off an A3 copy of our film poster and an A4 copy of our magazine cover to see how they would look in print form. We placed our poster on the wall in our media classroom next to professional film posters to see whether or not it was noticeably different to the professional ones. We also took photographs of our magazine cover next to other film magazine covers to compare to the professional magazines.

Evaluation Question 1

Q1. In what Ways does your media product, use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Magazine - John
Teaser - Peace
Poster - Ryan
Horror - Eilish

John- Magazine Conventions

From the layout of our magazine front cover compared to the examples given below, you can see that we’ve tried to use as many conventions of real media products as we could. Some of the conventions we have used include such things as having the main image of a mid-shot, positioned on the line of the rule of thirds, similar to the Empire magazines featuring Avatar and Harry Potter as shown above, which enables us enough space on the left to display the other components. This follows the convention of having the main subject in the middle of the page looking out at the reader, used to catch the attention. Another convention that we have used is that we have placed most of our features on the left, where we’ve reserved the Puff, the coverlines and the barcode with date. This is a commonly used magazine convention, but it is only evident with the examples that I have given, whereas in other magazine front covers, the coverlines are even balanced on both sides. However, I personally prefer this layout since the main attraction is the main image because it it’s the biggest component of the page and comes first in the priority, then follows the coverline and so on. This is why the coverline are positioned to the left so they are working together; constantly informing the potential reader with the magazine’s special as they scan down the page. This means that we have strictly followed the conventions of the example given, however, the editors of those magazine may have not followed the conventions of a real media product; magazine front cover, but they may have developed the convention where they have bent the pre-existing convection slightly.

Another convention that we have followed is the puff, but we have not used an ordinary design puff but something more interesting. For example, you can see in the Empire magazines featuring Avatar and Hellboy 2 the both have a puff that is more or less a sticker. The purpose of a puff is to attract the audience with a selling point. Here, we have made our trailer the selling point of the puff, and we’ve also made it the second most attracting point. Instead of using a simple shape such as a circle, we’ve use a glass crack effect using our downloaded Photoshop brushes. As you can see, our puff is much more interesting and eye catching compared to the examples given. This is because it’s unusually, new and different from the others which make it independent whereas the other magazines would have similar puff which means they’re no longer new to the audience, however, our puff is new and at a whole new level therefore makes it more interesting than the others. We’ve taught outside the box meaning we haven’t strictly followed the conventions but instead we’ve developed the rule and improve on the pre-existing convection slightly. This can help in catching the attention of the potential reader when scanning a magazine rack. 

Other convention that we have taken into account is the barcode. Every magazine must have a barcode otherwise it would an invalid magazine, in other words; fake. Retailers use a Barcode register the magazine quickly during its purchase and almost every magazine has their barcode on the front as shown by the examples given. However, the magazine featuring Kick-Ass does not have a barcode visible on its front cover meaning it is either invalid or the barcode is available on the back instead. We have chosen to follow the convention and displayed the barcode on the magazine’s front cover. This is the obvious logic this can help indicating the potential reader that this product is valid, when scanning a magazine rack. Therefore we have strictly followed the conventions of real media products.

Some other of the conventions we have used but haven’t strictly followed the conventions is the background image. Usually the background image of a magazine front cover is simply plain and singled colour and with gradient as shown in the examples giver such as the one featuring Harry Potter, Avatar and Hellboy 2.  We concluded into having an effective background, similar to the example given below of Empires magazine featuring Kick-Ass, which is where we’ve developed the idea from. So we’ve used the background texts from the poster and we have covered a piece of A4 paper is tea to give a sepia effect to add to the background with the texts. This helps bring out the old fashion and sepia theme that we have based out teaser trailer on. This technically means that we’ve still managed to strictly follow the conventions of a real media product. However, it could still be seen as we’ve developed on this convention if you were to compare our product to the empire magazines featuring Harry Potter, Avatar and Hellboy 2.

Peace - Teaser Conventions

The typical aspects of a horror teaser include, blood, death, murder, antagonists, protagonists, isolated areas, violence, screams of help, storms, monsters, ghosts, evil, and many other aspects that are associated with horror. Our media production has used forms and conventions of real media production by researching different attributes that contribute well in a teaser. For example, the well-known psychological horror movie “Psycho” directed by Alfred Hitchcock became one of the most controversial horror films back in the 1960’s. The conventions used in this film were also used in our teaser trailer. Typically in a teaser the characters are shown to be female, the clip below explains exactly how we used and compared the conventions Psycho uses to create a successful trailer and movie

 The reason why we chose a sepia theme was because of the huge effect it has on the audience. During our research we found that the sepia theme has a way of bringing classical connotations and although it was not  the typical conventions of a horror teaser we decided to challage it instead becasue we felt it would potentially bring a trend that will compliment our teaser as well as our other material, and on a whole as a company, the Planetary Group. The trailer below is a thriller called “white lighting”. This trailer is an example of a sepia theme, although the sepia colour seemed a lot more faded out than our actual trailer, it gives the connotation of something that happened a long time ago. Alongside this it also makes the audience feel engaged as it happened a long time ago giving the audience a curiosity of wanting to know what happened back then.

Ryan - Poster Conventions

Throughout the designing of the poster we tried to use as many conventions of real media products as we could. After researching into other film posters, we came across many that focus around the face or eye(s). Therefore, we used a photograph of our main characters eye as it helps represent vulnerability and fear. We also included an old fashioned font for the title and slogan of our poster. This font is consistent throughout our poster, magazine and trailer to give our products a distinct identity. This follows the use of real media products, such as the "SAW" sequels, which use a distinct text in each product to help the audience identify their products.


Eilish - Horror Conventions

Quoted earlier in our blog, Psyhological horrors "Often related to the mind and effecting people psychologically. It normally reveals a certain evil behind something real which people can relate to such as Paranormal Activity. Often includes things that are not real including thoughts which are far from realistic and almost Supernatural" 

There are several psychological films which we have all been watching throughout the process of our project, just to name a few 

- Psycho

- Shutter Island 

- Blair Witch Project 

- Dread 

- The Human Centipede 

- Drag me to Hell 

- The Orphan 

- Exorcist 

-Insidious 

These have all shown various conventions which we have seen in all sub genres of horror films.

One huge example which a great example and uses many of the conventions we have shown throughout our trailer would be Halloween. Firstly the main convention used would be 'Male Gaze' which is used instantly in the first shot with a point of view shot with a filter which looks similarly to a pair of binoculars. In comparison to our teaser trailer, we have used a CCTV shot which is a high angle shot as if the male would be watching through a computer monitor. There are also conventions such as 'The Girl next door' and characteristics of 'The Final Girl'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljchb1tsLfs


Slow motion is a great effect which is used to create tension and also highlight dramatic irony. Tension is the basis of horror films and often the main thing to actually scare the viewers, which is why we wanted to include it throughout our horror teaser, we repeated a scene which shows the killer slowly progressing towards a door which allows the tension to build while giving more information with the shots in between the killers footsteps. Friday 13th and Priest 3D are two horror films which use slow motion although both being produced in different time periods, they both use it effectively. By having a USP of combining the use of old horror films with the technologies from the modern society which is why having similarities to both eras would only help the combination. 

Dramatic irony is where the audience are aware of what is going to happen but the characters are unaware which is shown in several films giving the film a much more direct experience. We have used dramatic irony in a sense that there is a shot used leading up towards a door although we have progressed the shot and repeated it several times with several shots filling in between which is what will  be happening once the killer has reached the door almost setting up the story and informing the audience. There are several uses of dramatic irony used in The Crazies, its about a breakout of a disease in a small town which means that they are unaware of its full impact although we as an audience have been shown a different perspective which the characters are oblivious too, also shown in Final Destination.

There is also similarities to films such as The Ring and Final Destination such as the use of multiple characters in the teaser which gives a sense that there will be multiple victims.