How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Throughout my construction and research, planning and evaluation stages I have used different media technologies. Some I had used before and some were new to me. However, they all helped my work to look more professional and creative.
Blogger: In this course I decided to use blogger to document and record all of my work. I had started using blogger a year ago and so I know how to use and was familiar with it but there were features that I did not know of that I started using for this project. This was used to record all the stages that I had completed as it will make it easier for me as to go through and also my teacher and group. One of the new features that I learnt was how to link different accounts for example the group blog and my personal blog and am able to edit both.
Final Cut Pro X:
As I had mentioned in the post 'Media Types' I had explained that After some research Wafa and I decided to use Final Cut Pro X to edit our moving images for our teaser trailer. We had not used this software before so we were developing our skills as we were editing the teaser trailer. It was difficult at first but after watch tutorials n YouTube it became easier and also it is not very complicated to use which was fortunate for us. We used this during our construction stage.
Adobe After Effects
I had never used Adobe After Effects but Wafa and I thought it was vital that we used it as professionals that create real medias use it and so it will make our product very professional and creative. We could also create effects that other people could not through this and so our teaser trailer would stand out. So we decided to watch various tutorial videos and also practice through doing test shots for the different after effects.
Vimeo I had never used or been on vimeo but from Wafa I found out it was a popular social network for sharing videos. It was mostly used by creative people who uploaded videos and animations that they had created. So I decided to use it to research the different teaser trailer people had created. Also we uploaded our final draft of our teaser trailer on Vimeo as well as YouTube in order to reach out to a wider audience. At first I did find the app confusing as it is not like YouTube but after spending half and hour exploring it I learnt how to use it.
The other media technologies such as Photoshop I had used but there were tools I had not used before such as liquify and overlay. Also even though I had used the Nikon D3100 before I had not used it's video feature.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Once I had created all three of my products then created a questionnaire which I asked my target audience to fill in whilst looking at my products This is so I can find out what my target audience think about my products and also to find out what they think I could improve. This is vital as in order to attract the audience effectively I need to find out what they think could make my products better. I had show them to 30 people who fit the target audience's criteria.
Below you can see the questionnaire :
I then analyzed the results so I can see more easily what my audience thought of my promotional package and also what they think I could improve.
I analyzed the first three questions in a word document using graphs as they were close ended questions and this is a more effective way of analyzing them.
The other results were analyzed in Prezi. Overall I believe that my three products were effective as I've only received positive feedback from my audience and only a few points that they think I should improve.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
My main product which was our teaser trailer and my ancillary texts that were my poster and cover magazine. There were all cross-media advertisement for our film 'The Blind Eye'. These three products were my promotional package. This is because they are all different products yet advertising the same film. These are all obviously aimed at my target audience which is 16-24 year old males and females.
However, if we were to create our film into a real media product we cold also advertise our movie in other various ways. For example we could've advertise or film through billboards, YouTube advertisement, newspapers, Facebook etc. So by using cross media advertising we could've reached a wider audience and could have attract more people. This could have ensured that our movie would've become more popular and well established than just advertising it through my teaser trailer, poster and magazine.
My poster and magazine main images were shot in different dates and show different aspects of the supernatural creature. Through the different camera angles, locations and poses the audience see different aspects of the supernatural creature. This may make them curious and in order to find out what the supernatural creature is really like and so want to watch the movie. If we were to actually film the movie these photos would not be included as if they were then we would be giving too much of the movie narrative away. This is why real medias do not do it either. However, our teaser trailer does show moving images from the movie it still does not give the storyline away and creates enigmas. The teaser trailer is allowing the audience to see sections of the scenes from the movie so they are able to see what to expect from the actual movie. However, the magazine would allow the audience to be able to see images of the characters as well as read interviews about the making of the movie and what the movie will be like. So all three of my products will advertise my movie using different techniques which will overall make my promotional package effective.
For a movie t gain popularity and make the most amount of profit it
would need to be advertised effectively as well as be and outstanding
text. However, Advertisement does cost a lot of money and a large
percentage of the budget may be spent on the advertisement. Although without effective advertisement such as posters and teaser trailers the move will not make a lot of money
I have used cross-media advertising within my three products. Cross-media advertising means that all for example my three products must have similarities. This is because it makes it easier for the audience to be able to recognize that all three of my products are advertising the same movie. An example is that i have used the same character in both my poster and magazine and who is also present in my teaser trailer. Also the font of the movie title in my poster, trailer and magazine. However, I have added effect on the font f the title in my poster, what would have made my products more effective is if I had added this effect on all of them.
Also, all three of my products have the same or really similar colour schemes. The main color scheme is black, red and white but in the magazine I have also added gold to emphasis on the fact that it is an exclusive edition. The reason why I chose these colour is because it fits with the genre of my film which is horror/thriller. So i have used the typical codes and conventions through the color scheme. Due to the background being black or very dark colours i decided to use white for the text and title's colour as it stands out.
Overall I do think that my main product and ancillary texts are very effective. This is due to the use of cross-media advertisement and the consistency through the three products that show that they are a promotional package for one movie. I also believe that my products use, develop and challenge the conventions of real media products and so are very effective. Hopefully my audience will feel the same way.
In what ways does your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
During my curse I have created three products: a teaser trailer, a magazine and a poster. All three products have either challenged. used or developed different forms and conventions or real media products. I have researched the typical conventions of thriller and horror products such as trailers, posters and magazines. This is shown in my secondary research.
all three of my products are aimed at 16-24 year old males and females. This is because my products are not suitable for a younger audience as it contains horror and thriller conventions. My poster was the first product I completed and so both Wafa and I created our own credits which we both used in our posters. Through looking at the conventions of horror/thriller poster I fund that the credits are usually in the bottom and so that it where I placed them. We developed the conventions by creating the credits ourselves and putting our names in it. I then developed the conventions more as I used a font from http://www.dafonts.com/. as this was a more creative source and made my product more creative and professional as do people making real media products who may usually create their own fonts.
I also decided to place my tagline on top the as poster as this develops the horror/thriller convention as the tagline is usually in above the film title and also in the side. However, some posters do have the tagline on top who also seem to be developing the conventions. This is like the One Missed call poster which was a very poplar production.
I researched a lot of different posters to find out what type of images are usually used in horror/thriller posters. I found that the conventions of the poster is to have either the victim or the villain as the main image. ans so I decided to put our supernatural creature in my poster. By doing so I am using the real media conventions. I believe that I should use some of the conventions to ensure that the audience recognize my product as a thriller/horror poster. A good example of a real media that used the villain as the main image is of the poster is Saw V, Shutter, The uninvited and One Missed Call. These are every popular movies and may have received a lot of popularity from their posters. So this is why i felt that it is important to use some of the conventions of real media products as it may help my poster gain popularity. However, the audience may view my poster as being average as I am using the convention and may not pay much attention to it. To insure that this does not happen I must make my poster look as appealing as possible through the use of the tagline, colour theme, main image etc.
You can see the difference and similarities between the poster from real media products above and my poster below. You can clearly see that I have used conventions for example a release date, a key image, credits, tagline. However, I have developed all these conventions by shooting my own image and creating my own tagline and title of film as you can see below.
I decided to look at real media product magazines and the conventions before and whilst creating my magazine. The magazine I looked at all either had the genre horror or thriller. I decided to use the Empire magazine Logo in my magazine. This shows that I have used conventions of real media products. It was essential that I used this convention as my audience would be familiar with Empire magazines and so this may attract them into buying the magazine. My edition of Empire is aimed at both males and females above 16, this is because the genre of this magazine is horror/thriller. Also the reason why it is aimed at those aged over 16 is because they most likely watch horror movies and especially between the ages of 16-24. I used the colour scheme of black, red and gold with a bit of white. I used typical conventions of real media products such as price and bar code. Below is a direct comparison between my cover magazine and a real media cover magazine. This also shows that I have used and developed conventions in horror/thriller magazines.
Wafa and I had a lot of forms and conventions to take under consideration when creating our teaser trailer. We had to make sure that our targeted audience recognized our trailer's genres. Our trailer has two genres not one like most horror trailers and so we are challenging real media conventions. However, due to product being a teaser trailer we could not give as much of the narrative and information to the audience as we could in a normal trailer. This may leave the audience confused on what is going on in the trailer as the trailer starts with Samana on her laptop and being watched through a CCTV camera. She is then in a another scene seen walking down an alleyway in which she is attacked. She then wakes up in a public bathroom and then sees the supernatural creature in the mirror,she then runs away. The final scene is of Ethel being chased by the supernatural creature who then is about to reveal its identity to her. Our audience may find this confusing if we had not used text on screen. This another convention used by real media products but we have developed it by using a font we found in dafonts. Also we thought of the text on screen and created it ourselves as real media products makers do. The last scene where the supernatural creature is about to reveal its identity may leave the audience curious and make them want to watch the movie.
Below is our teaser trailer in direct comparison to a real media teaser trailer :
