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

Here is all three pieces of my work all together, here is my film trailer;

my film trailer from Kyran Davies on Vimeo.

Here is my film magazine front cover and my film poster.





The positives I think work well together with all three pieces of my work are;

• The link between the film poster and the magazine front cover work well so when the audience See's them both they can see the relation between them.
• The magazine front cover, the poster and the trailer all contain action in them so if the audience saw all three together at the same time then they would see the action between them.
• The colour pallet between all three are very dark and dull colours, this could show that the subject matter for this film is very dark and mellow but the gun in the poster and magazine front cover show action, with the trailer the action in the trailer shows that they will be exciting for the audience.

Although there are some positives to my work, there are also some negatives to my work, here are some negatives;

• The character in the magazine front cover and the film poster does not star in the trailer, this is a negative because the target audience will be expecting to see this character in the trailer and he does not appear.
• Another negative I have received is that the character in the film poster and magazine front cover is not in the centre of the page, so therefore the character is not important in the film, this may confuse the audience because therefore this character does not look important and this may lead to him being irrelevant in the film.

Over all I believe the combination between all three pieces of my work do work well together but there are some downsides because the character that features in the poster and magazine cover are not in the trailer. This may confuse the audience because they will be expecting to see this character in my trailer and therefore will be disappointed.

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

I have used media technologies all throughout my work, ranging from editing software (Corel) to Adobe After Effects. These technologies have helped me through my work at the construction and researching, planning and evaluation. The technologies I have used at the construction and researching stage are;

• Dictaphone
• Digital cameras
• After Effects (Special effects)
• Adobe Photoshop
• Internet
• Mobile phone.

Digital Cameras

In order to film my trailer I must use a digital camera in order to help me shoot my trailer, because the footage is digital this means I was able to delete unwanted footage to save space on the cameras storage in order to shoot more footage which I needed. I was also able to use the LCD screen to preview my footage to make sure that it was acceptable to edit. These digital cameras then plugged straight into the computer via USB so I could click and drag footage files onto my computer to use in the editing software

Adobe After Effects

Adobe after effects is a professional standard special effects editing software which is used in the film industry, this is the software which enabled me to create my title sequences for my trailer and also add the strobe lighting effect for some of my trailer footage. I self taught myself how to use this software so now I am very experimental on creating title sequences. This technology helped my with my production because this enabled me to create the titles which is necessary for my trailer to look high quality and like the industry standard trailers.

Internet

The internet allowed me to research and watch trailer on the internet of thriller trailers that had already been made, this meant that I was able to look at the codes and conventions of their trailers ad put this into my own trailer, this was key for me to watch these trailers. The internet also allowed me to google information about theorists in the media, this was key if I was to learn techniques that I should put into my trailer.

The media technologies that helped me with the planning and evaluation are;

• Questionnaires
• Internet
• Telephone
• Email
• Facebook

Telephone

The telephone has helped me during the planning stage because this important for me to ring my actors to let them know where they have to be and what date to meet in order to do filming, this was key to getting the best out of my actors else I would look like a director who does not know what he is doing therefore they will not act as well as they should. This was also key to making sure everyone is bringing the right props for the job and to make sure they are wearing the right costumes.

Questionaires

The questionaire helped me for my evaluation stage because this enabled me to post an online questionaire that the internet audience's could fill out, I put my link onto the questionaire so that they could watch my trailer and see my poster and magazine front cover on the internet, they then filled out the questionaire and i got the results from this.

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

My media product develops the real media texts rather then challenges them. My media product replicates the film trailers that are already out there. My trailer was based on the same story line as the film "Hitcher" so I analysed as to what their trailer features and replicated this for my trailer but not exactly the same way. This would show that I have not challenged the forms of real media texts but I believed that I have developed them.

Here is a video of me answering the question



Here is the summary of the video

The codes and conventions I have used to develop the real media products are;

• Chase scenes
• Violence
• Scary looking characters.
• Police officers
• Tense music
• Weapons
• Scenes of normality
• Quick paced action

All of these codes and conventions are what you would expect to see in a thriller film trailer, this is exactly what is in my film trailer and ancillary tasks, here is some evidence of this;

Chase scenes

Here is a snap shot of one of the characters running through the wooded area from what no-one knows, this is a 10 second sequence in my trailer and therefore this fits in with the codes and conventions of a thriller trailer because as in the trailer from the film "Hitcher" you can see a character running away from something, this matches what I have done in my trailer, this shows I have developed what "Hitcher" has done and I have developed this in my own way.

Scary looking characters

Here the audience can see one of the characters about to kill another character in the bathroom, this will give the audience a chill feeling when they watch this because this character is wearing a mask so you can not see his face, you do not even get a hint from the film that this character has died, In the trailer for "Hitcher" you see the bad character not wearing a mask so the audience can see what he looks like, I have developed this by using a mask so the audience can not see this characters face and therefore making the film scary.

Police officers

Here you can see a police officer walking through the victims house searching for clues about the murder that has just happened, you never see the detective's face fully in this trailer, so the audience are left guessing if they can string clues between the police and the killer, this makes the viewer want to go see this film to see if they are correct, in the trailer for the film "Hitcher" you see the police officers face so you know who they are, my piece develops real media products by not showing you the officers face so you are left questioning what he looks like.

My work develops real media product by;

• Chase scenes - You are never shown what the characters is running from so this keeps the audience guessing unlike "Hitcher"
• Scary looking characters - The killer wears a mask so the audience does not see who the killer is in the trailer, this will then keep the viewer guessing.
• Police officers - You do not see the officers face during the trailer, this will keep you guessing if the link between the killer and the bad character are the same or if they are not, this will invite them to see the film to see if they are correct or not, this develops the real media texts such as "Hitcher"

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

From getting feedback from my film this has helped me become aware of the things that I need to consider if I was going to do a task like this in the future, I have asked my target audience what they believe my strong points are and also what my weakest points are, this has helped me because this person was my target audience and therefore their opinion counts more than anybody else out their.

My target audience was a male, in their early 20's who likes to go out with their friends and spend a bit of spare money. This is the exact group of people I have asked for my audience feedback.

From my audience feedback, I have learnt that;

• In the future I would need to show more of a relationship between the magazine front cover and the poster with the film trailer itself. This will then link all three together and give the audience a clear idea of what message I am giving the audience.
•  Show more scenes from the story line itself so that the audience can get a clear idea of what the film is about.
• Show more action scenes then just one of the characters running through a wooded area, such as show a car chase happening or some characters having a fight, this will excite the audience further.

Although there were some points that I needed to work on, there was also some points that I was told was really strong for my work, such as;

• The scenes where I combine some trailer footage mixed with a black screen to give an strobe light effect to my trailer was a success because this wanted the audience to really focus what was happening in my sequence.
• The trailer is quick paced which keeps the audience on their toes as they watch my trailer, this also does not make the audience bored when they watch my trailer because their is a cut nearly every second.
• The relationship between the magazine front cover and the film poster is perfect because you use the same image this shows a clear relationship and therefore when the audience sees both of these together they can see the relationship.

These are the things I have learnt from my audience feedback and if I was to re-do this years work I would definitely make sure that these points were taken into consideration, my target audience was happy with the way that my work has turned out and they said "they look forward to seeing my film in the cinemas shortly". 

Audience Feedback

I asked my target audience what they thought of my trailer and ancillary tasks on the whole and asked them to give me feedback on what the good points are and what I could possibly do to make them better. I asked them because they are my target audience and then this will give me important feed back because they are my target audience, my idea is aimed at them and so therefore I need feedback.

I have asked my twin brother Rhys to ask for his feed back about my work, the good points he said are;

• The trailer is quick paced so there is a lot of action in the short space of time which would match the genre for that trailer.
• The trailer flows together nicely which would mean that the trailer is well edited.
• The poster and magazine front cover both show their relation which would would be key to get us to see that they are matched.

I then asked him what improvements he would make for my work, this is what he said;

• Make the trailer longer so that the we get more of a story from the trailer, rather than action sequences. 
• With the magazine front cover, I would need to add more details to make the magazine look real, for example adding a price to the cover or a pull out that would be inside the cover. 

I have also asked my older brother who is in his early 20's, so he is my perfect target audience. Here is what he said about my work, the good points are;

• The trailer contained scenes of action which would draw me in as the viewer.
• The film looks like a good film for a night out with all of my friends.
• The scene when the character is being killed and you get quick shots of black in-between this means that I want to see this scene in the film because I would love to see what happens next.
• The poster and the magazine are similar which would show me that they are related and therefore if I saw both at different times then I would understand that they are related.

I also asked him what I could do to my work so that I can make these adjustments in the future, this is what he said;

• Try showing shots of the car at high speeds to show the audience that this film is fast paced and contains more action scenes then a character running.
• Make the text on the magazine front cover and the poster more appealing to us as the audience, possibly using more street fonts.

Over all from my audience feedback, my audience liked the relationship between the film magazine front cover and the poster, they also liked the fast paced scenes in the film by creating a strobe effect with the footage. The points that I would consider if I was going to create my work again in the future would be too add more action scenes then just a character running, also to show the relationship between the trailer and both, magazine front cover and poster, this will then link all three pieces of work.

Professional Audience feedback

For my professional feedback 2 ex-students were invited into our class to give feedback, one of these students has set up his own production company and has currently produced a music band and helped them make their first music video, the second student has made a documentary for a company out in Thailand.

These students watched my trailer and I asked them to summarize my trailer and ancillary tasks into 2 categories, I asked that they write down the good parts and they also write down any improvements that I should make to my film trailer. The good points are;

• The scene when the character is running away from the car has a strobe effect, so they audience can only just see what is happening because of this, they liked this because this matches the professional trailers, this also builds suspense for the audience because they are questioning what will happen next.
• They also liked the title sequences for the film trailer, in their words "they have never seen anything like it", I asked them what this means and they said that they were surprised to see such high quality titles for a students film trailer.
• The last thing that they said they liked about the film trailer is that the trailer shows the story line of the film very well without giving too much information, they said that the trailer shows tons of action which would invite them to go and see the film.

Although I asked for some good points about my trailer, I asked them for some points to improve on, these are the points that they suggested to me;

• The music that is played over the top seems to be too mellow for the trailer, they offered me another sound track that is more up-beat and it fits the trailer better then the original.
• They also offered that I changed the titles round so the name of the film appears then some more of the trailer and then the rest of the titles, this will look more professional and also will give more tension to the film. 

From taking their points into consideration I have made the adjustments that they suggested and I believe that with their help this has made the trailer become more successful in what my trailer set out to achieve. I am very happy with my trailer and my ancillary tasks. 

What is the BBFC?

The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) is a independent film certification in the UK, they are run by the film industry who will classify your film of an age rating, any film that wants to be shown in the cinema must get this certificate from the BBFC with their film classification on. They were set up in 1912 to regulate films. The certificates given are based on age ratings, these age ratings are;  U, PG, 12A, 12, 15, 18, 18R .

• U - This means that anyone can watch this film of any age from a new born to the oldest living person. These films mean that they contain hints of sexual activity, like riding off into the sunset. They contain no violence or swearing because a little child could be watching this, These films are usually fairy tale stories.
• PG - This means Parental guidance, this means that for a person under the age of 12 they must have a person over the age of 18 with them to watch this film. The reason there is PG is because the films contain more violence, sexual references and swearing in the film then a U rated film.
• 12A - This means that this film has more sexual references, swearing and violence then the average 12 but not enough to become a 15 rated film, the "A" shows the viewer that this film is near the same context as a 15 film.
• 12 - This means that anyone who is above the age of 12 can watch this film. These films contain maybe a kiss and a hint of the act of sex. They may contain some blood and swearing but still not enough to become a 15.
• 15 - This means anyone who is above 15 can watch this film, these films would usually contain all the aspects which a 18 film would have but there would be no heavy swearing or too much gore for the viewer to feel un-comforatable watching, but non the less the film would still contain these aspects which make up the 18.
• 18 - This means that anyone who is above 18 can watch this film, these usually contain films with heavy referances to ; Sex, swearing, violence and gore. The BBFC would classify this film as an 18 because they would believe that someone who is under 18 would not "handle" the film.
• 18R - This means an 18 film but is "R" rated, this means that this film is based around sex, unlike the 18 classification the film relies heavily on sex and that is the main genre for the film. The rating of the "R" shows the viewer that the film relies on sex and is still an 18.

If I was to classify my trailer I would give the trailer a rating of 15, this is because my trailer will excite the audience with the violence and gore, this will be too much to get the certification of a 12A but there will be no sex scenes,sexual references or heavy swearing. This is why my trailer will be given the certification of 15.

From researching the BBFC and looking at their classifications, I have learnt that they are independent and funded from the film business. They also have classifications to restrict viewers from watching certain films, this is key because this will affect the audience watching your film and also your target audience.

The finished Trailer.

I have finished my trailer and the trailer is now on vimeo ready for the world to watch. Here is the embeded trailer from Vimeo.



my film trailer from Kyran Davies on Vimeo.

My over-view of the trailer is that I created a sucessful trailer which makes the audience tense and creates suspense. I created my own titles for the trailer which meant that i was able to use titiles because i created them myself. I am very happy with my trailer.

My finished Film poster

This is my finished film poster, I have used the same image from the magazine front cover because this will show the connection to the audience that both the magazine front cover and the film poster are related, this will get more awarness to the audience that my work is related to the trailer and therefore they will want to go and see my film.

Here is my Film poster

As you can see I have gone for a more teaser poster look rather than have a film poster, the reason this poster is a teaser trailer is because there are no production credits on the poster and the date of released is not mentioned, the audience can only guess that the film is being released soon into the cinemas, this will make sure that they look out for my film and the release date that the film will be released. This will be perfect along my magazine front cover because the film magazine will have more information about my film which they can read about.

My finished Magazine front cover

This is my finished magazine front cover, This magazine front cover has many componments on it which are usually resembled with proffesional magazine front covers, I believe that my magazine front cover resembles the profesional magazine covers and I am very happy with my work.

Here is my magazine front cover

As you can see, there are many aspects on my magazine front cover that would resemble professional magazine front covers, such as;

• The main film title
• Barcode
• Film magazine name
• Add-ons
• content information

From looking at the textual analysis from my magazine front cover these are the apsects which I have took into consideration and that I make sure that I add these to my own magazine front cover, this was key in order to making a profesional film magazine front cover.

How I made my ancillary tasks

In order for me to create my ancillary tasks, I must take original images in order for these to be used in the industry. I have used image manipulation on photoshop to create the film poster and my magazine front cover . I used many tools on photoshop such as;

• Cropping
• Layering
• Paint tool
• Eraser
• Text tool

These are my ancillary tasks and the original images that went with them.

 This is my film poster (on the left) and the original image (on the right), I have added in the titles which I made previously for the coursework. The outer glow from the main character in the page has a outer glow of yellow, the effect is that the lights from the car will be shown to the viewer as if the main character is walking down the road and the lights are reflecting off of the characters back, because the image on the right was shot with a blue background this made it easy for me to rub out the background using a "magic wand tool", this tool takes into account any colours in the background which are the same, this will then select the whole area and allow me to rub this area out, just leaving the character to use.

My magazine front cover (on the left) and my original image (on the right). I have used the same magic wand tool as on my film poster to cut around the character in the original image. I have used the same template as on my planned film magazine front cover so that all i needed to do was to change the image and my magazine front cover would be perfect to use. I have also edited the brick wall in the background to it was to replicate the one used in the plan. I like the effect the wall gave and so I replicated this for me to use. I have also rubbed out the bottom of my character in the original image so he would fit into my magazine front cover.

Over view and plans.

I have finished my filming for my trailer and have created a succesful trailer that emotionaly moves the audience. This was done by creating suspense for the audience so that they immediately feel for the characters as soon as they see them so that when they see the characters in danger then they are moved by this. My trailer also shows no bad characters which would leave the audience guessing as to who is the bad character in the film. My trailer also has interesting title sequences which the proffesional trailers would use, it took me a long time to make these titles on After effects but I believe that this was worth it for the effect they give in the trailer. My plans are to finish my poster and my magazine front cover, once these are complete I can then finish my evaluation therefore my blog is complete.

I am very happy with the progress I have made so far and the quality that my trailer has achieved. I need to get my skates on and complete the tasks before the deadline.

Here is the plans for my ancillary tasks.

On the left is my magazine front cover, this will not be my final one but I plan to use the template when I come to create my final front cover.
On the right is my film poster, I have used the same image for showing that I need a relation between the two otherwise the audience will not know what film the poster and cover is promoting. I plan to use the same titles for my poster when I also come to create this.