Thursday, 14 April 2011
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
My Evaluation
Media evaluation
For my A2 Media Studies Advanced Portfolio in Media coursework. I chose to do a Horror film trailer, together with the following ancillary texts:
• a film magazine front cover, featuring the chosen film
• a poster for the film
For my task, I had to research and analyse conventions of the Horror genre to produce my own individual piece which portrayed these conventions in a manner that is to the conventions of the genre.
My horror film trailer is called “The Missing” which is targeted towards a younger age group of 15 (teenagers) to 24 (young adults) so I made sure I researched into this age bracket to get the best feedback and response. The film has been awarded a 15 certificate due to the film featuring violence and horror of a strong nature which fits in with the BBFC (British board of film classification) guidelines. I picked this particular age bracket as the audience will be more interested in the horror genre and may have a stronger attraction to this rather than an older audience for example. I found out through extensive research, such as interviewing groups of people of both genders around Wyke College. I conducted the interviewing by asking the males and females popular films of different genres such as romance for example Mr and Mrs Smith 2005 (Directed by Doug Liman, Weed road pictures) then asking if they preferred that to a horror genre film and I found out that males are more inclined to watch horror as it’s perceived as a masculine genre which effected the way I edited my film by trying to include as much action as possible a convention of trailers. The response I received was fairly mixed from the female gender, as I asked 4 females all of which fit within my target audience. The response from the females was 25% enjoyed horror and said “it was the best genre” the other 75% said “horror was too scary” or “they prefer comedy”.
I researched into audience theory to understand how my target audience would behave to watching my trailer and viewing my ancillary texts. A main theory I looked into whilst analysing texts and doing my own texts was reception analysis. This theory states an active audience will read into a media text like The Missing taking into account a something called a “situated culture” which refers to an audiences back ground which was put forward by David Morley 1980. Suggesting they are three different ways an audience reads a text (1.Dominant reading 2. Negotiated reading 3. Oppositional reading) which influenced me into looking into how my audience view my text via audience research and feedback. But most importantly this theory backs up the modern theory of active audiences who are media literate and can understand the conventions of my trailer without me prompting them.
I made the clear choice to stick with the traditional conventions and forms of the Horror genre and media products in my work. Through research, my video contains a lot of the stereotypical conventions of modern and past horror genre trailers creating as realistic trailer as possible. From analysing trailers such as “The Blair Witch Project 1999 directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez. Produced by Robin Cowie from the Hexan films studio. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAkyJzKxiu0&feature=player_embedded
I learnt a lot of the key conventions used such as mystery shown during this trailer, trailers are used to entice audiences to watch the film so I made sure my film followed a non-linear approach of chronological time order and mixed up a lot of the scenes to create the suspense needed. “The Blair Witch Project” uses this an ends with a cliff hanger convention of trailers. By understanding the conventions of Horror this developed the quality of my trailer as conventions such as death for example are popular in creating a dramatic effect upon the audience this made me use this convention in my trailer showing how I have actually used the forms and conventions to enhance the quality of my production. Most titles I researched shared a similar convention and form of being distinct and direct such as “Paranormal Activity” 2007 directed by Oren Peli which was produced in the Blumhouse productions studio. The audience experience the enigma of what is happening or going to happen in the house and the use of cross cutting between the house and the garden give an even greater effect as the audience members believe they our actually in the scene and are experiencing what is going on in the narrative. I used the enigma experience in mine due to my non-linear editing which is a convention of horror. This makes the audience think about what is happening in the scene creating an active audience which are media literate. The high angle shot and the date in the bottom right corner gives the impression that it is being filmed through CCTV surveillance this creates realism to the audience members that the scene is not staged and is filmed through a live recording device. I used the same technique in my trailer (click on the link below to view) by adding a red recording button with recording brackets around the shot to give a sense of the trailer is hand-held creating the action horror impact of the trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07XbSk7Rjt4 – Paranormal Activity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7W8JEJKlvQ&feature=player_embedded- My trailer (The Missing).
It gets straight to the point of the film of being “paranormal” this made be chose my title of “The Missing” it gets straight to the point of the film and tells audiences straight away that something or someone will go missing but also includes a key convention of Horror in the “Missing” as a lot of Horror films use this particular story line like “The Blair Witch Project” which made me want to choose this story as well.
The non-diegetic sound used, such as voice over is a main convention used in Horror this is to guide the audience into following the story and think about what is happening it creates the mystery in wondering who’s speaking to them and what the narrator is saying this is known as an enigma within the story. I did my own voice over which goes against usually conventions of Horror in getting an actor to do it but I believe my voice was effective in detailing a realistic narrator and explaining the plot. This is shown in the video below which is one of my earlier edits of The Missing film trailer were I first used the voice over.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcFtrpEV-Z8&feature=player_embedded
The song used had no vocal which is another convention of Horror as a voice over may create confusion within the narrative structure as audiences may listen to the vocalist rather than the voice over. The track I used was from a Horror album called “Greatest Horror Songs Of All Time” and was called Nightmare, I researched many other non-digetic songs such as “The Omen” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAFCiEFX6ag&feature=related
This is one of the most recognised theme music to Horror but I felt this may distract audiences from the plot so decided to go with a less known song but had a beat and pace which matched the story as the songs must sync in with the narrative or this would go against conventions. View the nightmare track below; I believe the theme music adds to the effectiveness of the trailer without taking the audience’s attention away from the content of the trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7W8JEJKlvQ&feature=player_embedded
I believe I do follow with the conventions of the genre and tried to use these recognised conventions in my trailer and ancillary texts in order to create a realistic trailer which meant I had to use some stereotypical conventions like a group of young teenagers venturing into a scary a mansion in order to establish the genre of Horror. A main convention of the horror genre is darkness which is iconic of mystery happening and he unknown was a main feature used in my trailer this was to used via editing as I actually filmed in the day to enable me to get full lighting of the shots then edited the sharpness of the lighting and used a filter to make the film black and white which is another convention of darkness as it symbolic of binary opposition (good and bad) it also suggests the history of the trailer as black and white is also linked to the past (events which have previously happened) that’s why it’s such a common feature in modern horror. The black and white effect is also symbolic of film noir which is a popular 1940s/50s film genre that emerged particularly in the United States during the depression, the main features of film noir was often to do with crime and sexual activity which feature controversial topics such as incest.
My trailer is structured through use of conventions in a way which appeals to the mass audience to enable the largest audience to see the trailer, I did this by applying all the stereotypical narrative forms like the group venturing into the haunted mansion and the iconic conventions such as violence within the trailer e.g. a character uses a stick to attack someone, all these traits appeal to a wide audience. I tried to make sure I didn’t exclude any sub groups in order to not cause offence so incorporated a wide range of actors one dressed as a stereotypical “chav” and one who dresses casually to appeal to all sub social groups like particular music interested people.
The link below shows the mise en scene of one of the lead characters which is dressed in a chav costume to fit the role he is playing.
http://matthewelliott2010.blogspot.com/2010/12/clothing.html
I also analysed other genres of film trailer to gain a different perspective on conventions used in trailers which would benefit me in using them for mine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzgOvvMi8Lg&feature=player_embedded#at=84
The video above is from Charlie ST Cloud a 2010 production. The film is a totally different genre to horror as it’s a romance but contains features which are still used in horror trailers; the film is also an example of an emotional pleasure. The trailer features conventions which I have used in horror for example close up of the protagonist to show emotion. This is not only used in my video but in most trailers. The main reason I did this feature was to capture the emotion on the protagonist face to represent the horror in which the character is going through. This is an effective tool to use. As the close up captures the way the character is behaving so this can portray to the audience an emotion; this is why this technique is used in a wide range of genres as it can fit any style.
I tried to link all 3 texts together (Horror film trailer, horror poser and film magazine front cover) to create synergy which is a blend of all the products to represent effectively the Horror genre.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7W8JEJKlvQ&feature=player_embedded
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzt1Ich-F6e1Sng84swKlTvCPVqlw07-A6LAeNGpX4hPvfX-azM1VFV8YpzS1UxUkBIP7QQc92Em1yYA15yfezcJDXEbg9adf0hLPvBPru6d-6kXcTArZK4sJDTpZp4lH_Ewl14XROsFg/s1600/FINISHED+horror+poster.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxQoiHYCwts4ZGi8r85b4BNVuDPcU2jRfrOicVP1I9XI2PtPhc47sKC26oxF-honOmZ7R_aJJsoRyvD1p7vjvjrzcfJYnFKMYHz-pxgZmN3I029Cu4c9BZTQ9LRzmuRY19R_TgxKB63Zo/s1600/The+Missing+magazine++copy.jpg
My film magazine is called “Silver Screen” I believe this is a effective name as the word Silver Screen has connation’s of film which instantly makes the audience aware of the type of magazine it is and what it is advertising. The word silver has connation’s of luxury and quality which the audience will link these positive attributes to the film trailer.
I used similar colours in both ancillary texts trying to create a realistic link between the two. The main colours used were red and black which are iconic of Horror and was used in my Horror trailer to establish this convention of horror. Through research I found that most horror films who are advertising their product link the two together and use the same image in their poster campaign and on a magazine front cover. This made me think of doing the same, after initially completing the front cover first I found out that the image was an effective reflection of the horror genre and in advertising my film which made me think about using it as a promotional poster aswell.
Below is an example of I used conventional colours of horror in my front cover magazine.
http://matthewelliott2010.blogspot.com/2010/11/fonts.html
I believe this decision to use the same images in both ancillary text was beneficial in portraying a realistic product to my audience. This is because audience’s will identify the image use of the group in one product and link it to the next, the mise en scene where I took the picture is used in my film trailer establishing a link between the texts that the picture does have a purpose behind it.
Below is the main image I used for both ancillary texts
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG_bcvs7qPvokblI5LhSXUwCwnag9ezfjdACw1NmHsQ0VjBrgoMS5RbGRKO1FaIydT0iS83JfPfITOO6ZjPBpD-VUgYHZNYXbfSErve3rRGa5shUwHaZQg52vYxbqkD1jUyllTLv88Fa8/s1600/P1060003.JPG
In doing my poster I attempted to use conventions from similar horror style posters in portraying a realistic copy to a more experienced film poster. One poster analysed “The Crazies” 2010
http://matthewelliott2010.blogspot.com/2011/01/research-on-horror-film-posters.html
This horror poster (linked above) was one example which I tried to use in creating my piece. For example in the researched film poster their very little text and the main aim is advertising the image which I took into account and tried to use as little text to keep the audience’s attention solely on the name of the film and the main image, this links with my other ancillary text of the film front cover as I tried to use sub heading which were crucial in advertising the film and portraying a realistic front cover.
My main product of the horror trailer features a review from “The Guardian” which is a common used tool in advertising the film giving a positive opinion from an outside source. So I decided to use this to link it with my horror poster linking the review together creating realistic product to the audience, which is that I have used the same review in two different texts. I believe this was effective as it follows the conventions of promoting the film in both trailer and poster and makes the texts appear more realistic to the audience which is positive.
I asked a series of different question to various audiences along the period of completing my products. I believe audience feedback is essential in finding what your target audience think about the video and allows the audience to give their input into decision making.
I asked a range of questions on multiply occasions addressing nearly every major decision on my target audience usually people I could trust and know that their opinion is reflective on their sole outlook. The questions as asked was things like what’s your opinion on the title of the film? Or does the poster fit well with the Horror genre? These questions were designed to make my audience think and let me make a decision on how informed my audience was about the conventions of new media and how they interpret aswell as getting their valuable opinion.
An example of my audience feedback is when I asked 8 people who all fitted in the age range of my target audience (15-24) consisting of 4 males and 4 females, few simple questions about, What name goes best with the character?, Do they believe the name reflects the nature of the character? And is the name of a character important? All these questions gave me an insight into what my target audience thought about the names of characters and the importance of a character name. The results of this questionnaire are shown below in the link.
http://matthewelliott2010.blogspot.com/2010/12/further-audience-research.html
The results show that 3 of the 4 names selected had a majority decision and the other name was spilt in the middle which meant for an easy decision with picking the right names. This particular audience feedback was conducted in my early stages of production which meant I had a lot of time to think about the decision. In the end I came to the conclusion that it was best not to give a name to the characters. This is because I decided to stick with the enigma of the story line, as this will mean the audiences can’t familiarise themselves with a particular character. This is a positive in terms of horror, as it creates sense of the unknown to the audience.
I received a mix reaction from the male group in terms of results, 2/4 said that the name of the character plays a fundamental part in relating to the situation they are going through. Then the other 2/4 males said the name didn't make that much difference. Even though they was a mixed reaction this gave me the idea to carry on with giving a name to the cast, as I believed this will be beneficial to the trailer but I understand the reasons for not having a name at all.
I learnt a lot from this particular audience feedback such as that every person has a different view depending on social class/ ethnic culture or personality types so I need to take into account a lot of different views to come up with a clear decision on what to do. And with this audience feedback it gave me the incentive to name the characters individually which I credit on the people who answered me questions.
I also video recorded my friends and collegues from college asking them a series of questions about my horror trailer and other ancillary texts and see what their opinion on what they thought and asked them to rate each answer out of 10 (1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest)
http://matthewelliott2010.blogspot.com/2011/04/audience-feedback-1.html
The link above is the first video audience feedback. The questions asked was in relation to the film trailer. The person asked was a cast member of the video but I asked him if he could give an impartial view towards the trailer, which I believe he did.
The data given was fairly solid in terms of number with most answers scoring in the middle to top band of results (usually 7/10). The highest score given was a 9/10 which was for entertainment value. He stated to the level of entertainment value “It was real good, I enjoyed it” which reflects a positive opinion towards to the trailer, which I am pleased about. Film trailers need to be entertaining in order to serve their purpose of advertising the film to the audience. Therefore the level of entertainment value given was crucial in seeing how well the trailer advertises the film.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE6WZitWRX1BNY65_a6NTxnK3ZFpmC8sy4f9vfcBws0OWBeqWWimdqHHZFq1WIkfjB1Wl0Uf2k-FZ5MpxObFcZzJzK-ZMR52UnNtS8SFinOgfadanQmHfj_5gso651B5UdVJYMzsJ7Is8/s1600/img007.jpg
I also conducted some audience feedback on the ancillary texts. I video recorded a male who had no connection to the video in order to give me a un-biased view towards the text.
http://matthewelliott2010.blogspot.com/2011/04/audience-feedback-2.html
The link above shows the video of the individual answering the questions relating to the film poster. The individual scored the questions around the middle band (usually 6/10). I believe this reflects the nature of the individual as he is an un-biased the scores he was given I believe was honest to his opinion which mean the data given is reliable which is vital for audience feedback. An example of feedback from the video is when asked about the colour used in the poster he rated this at 6/10.
I believe colour is vital to the overall appearance of the poster, the colour is what attracts the audience to view the poster in the first place. Receiving at 6/10 meant that the colour used in my poster wasn’t given that high of a mark which was disappointing.
As I use blogger the web 2.0 site as a form to post my information about my film trailer and ancillary texts. I thought it would be beneficial to use an online poll to gain some extra audience research from people visiting the website. In order to gain valuable feedback I needed to make sure that the blog was seen my a large number of people. In order to do this I posted my blog information on Facebook a social networking site where I have a large group of people who fit in with the target audience, the questions I asked were; What genre of movie do you prefer? This question was in order to find out what was the most popular genre of audiences visiting the website. The favourite answer to that question was horror with 5 people voting for it (55%) which shows to me that the main section of people who visit my website have a main interest in the film genre I decided to create, this may be because people visiting the website may already know the genre of my film which may influence their decision.
http://matthewelliott2010.blogspot.com/
I uploaded my video via a web 2.0 website You Tube as I was experiencing problems uploading straight on to the blogger format. This worked out well as it was another device I could use for audience feedback. I can determine how popular the video is from the video count located below the video. My view count so far is 24 view for my old video which show that it isn’t that popular compared to popular film trailers who can reach in the millions of views. I didn’t expect to gain much popularity via You Tube views as I didn’t advertise the video that much. The final video which I uploaded is hard to use for audience feedback as it currently only has 1 view but due to the improvement of the video I believe it will exceed the view count of the previous edit. One major positive of the previous video was that it gained a “like” from a You Tube user which shows how they enjoyed the video enough to feedback on it.
(Below is my previous edit of my horror trailer)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcFtrpEV-Z8&feature=player_embedded
I believe my feedback could of being improved as I didn’t ask that many people often only 8 people, so to gain a more comprehensive insight into what my target audience think about the film I would increase the amount of people I questioned this would give me a far greater amount of data to analysis making a more informed decision about the question asked.
In using a web 2.0 site in Blogger from AS, I already had experience in using the software which was beneficial as straight away I created audience interactive software which I used in conjunction with my own research to use for my products. I used social networking websites such as Facebook or MySpace which helped me ask the mass audience of people of my friends list to answer the online polls in helping me find out their views on questions such as “What genre do you believe my magazine is?”.
http://www.facebook.com/ or http://www.myspace.com
I had access to the some of the latest media technologies involvement such as Adobe Premiere Pro editing software used on a high definition LG screen which was for me to edit my trailer. Even though this software is extremely useful it came as a challenge to use as I didn’t have any previous experience with video editing with this system. The one major advantage of using this software which allowed me to upload what I filmed with an SD card which made transferring data very quick and easy so I didn’t have to spend that much time waiting for my footage to upload which was great for time management. I designed a film logo using Adobe Photoshop which was to be used on the editing software which was fairly simple to do but just had to scale the size of the logo to fit the widescreen image. I made the logo to use a popular convention of films and identify who the director is.
I did use Adobe Photoshop mainly as I could manipulate pictures for my main product and ancillary texts such as editing a lighting of an image to make a darker effect, as darkness is a convention of horror so this was an effective choice to make. In using Photoshop for my ancillary texts I was able to create a style which was representative of horror, an example of this is when I was editing my horror poster and created five individual golden stars to use as a connotation of a film rating by an intertextual media “The Guardian” this was effective as is symbolised a realistic film review is a regular feature of other film posters. Adobe Photoshop Premiere allowed me to edit my ancillary texts to a standard which looked professional which other software such as Microsoft Paint and Publisher don’t really create.
In order to research other video trailers, I had to use YouTube which is a web 2.0, in order to analyse other trailers so I could identify similar conventions used in the trailers so I could use these individual traits such as use of logo in my trailer and ancillary texts. An example of when I used research from YouTube in my ancillary texts was when looking at videos of other people using Photoshop and introducing basic techniques to use on magazines which helped me in doing my ancillary texts which was great help. You tube allowed me to research different genres of film such as romance and comedy to gain a different perspective to film trailers which improved my knowledge on how trailers work.
After consultation from my teachers, it was recommended that I used shooting style brackets around the image within my film trailer to make the film more realistic. I created this by using the text tool on the Adobe Video Premiere and creating four individual corners within the screen which gives the effect that the image is been shot live as the film brackets has conations of live filming. I also created a red dot in the corner of the screen on the right with an abbreviation of recording underneath the dot “REC” I made sure that to enable the recording sign to look realistic I must follow conventions and use the colour red which is iconic of live film recording.
Another technology I used within editing the film trailer, was use of putting the digital date on the bottom left of the screen. As my film is non-linear the order of action during the trailer isn’t it time order therefore the time changes all the time from 7:00pm to 5:01. Which I believe adds to the overall entertainment of the trailer as the audience will already experience occurrences which have happened hour before then see a clip which is an hour before. This also links to the active audience theory which states we behave differently because we are different people. Some audiences will behave in a manner in which they find the trailer interesting and it fits their need to watch something of this nature other audiences may be put off by the way the trailer jumps back and forth which means it’s down to the audiences interpretation to figure out whether the trailer is effective in leading them to watch the film.
I believe the transformation from AS Media to A2 Media has been effective. This is because my basic skill level in Media going into AS level meant when completing the magazine task I struggled in using media technologies such as Adobe Photoshop and stuck to more basic programmes like Microsoft Publisher in my first year due to lack of confidence of how to work the tools on Adobe Photoshop. Through the year period I have developed my skills in using the software, through help from teachers and from my peers which has meant I can use technical tools such as the crop tool. This is helpful when editing my ancillary texts, as I can place multiple images onto the screen and select the section of the image I want. This saves a lot of time but also makes it easier to choose the best image as I can crop different images and select the best one. Below is an example of images used for my magazine front cover which I used the crop tool on Adobe Photoshop to create.
http://matthewelliott2010.blogspot.com/2011/02/images-taken-for-horror-trailer.html
I believe my media knowledge has improved and the way I interpret the media in society. As I’ve spent close to two years analysing the conventions of media such as globalisation of media institutions and the increase in mass media like popular music artists such as Kesha. This media awareness has meant they way I look at the media world is different for example when analysing conventions of horror I didn’t just look into the particular genre of horror but looked into other genres such as romance to make sure I use film trailer conventions such as close up of the artist or protagonist aswell as horror trailer conventions such as dark lighting or blood.
My overall work efficiency has improved aswell as last year my blog (www.tigermattblog.blospot.com) had a total of 60 posts including my evaluation of my music magazine; evaluation and analysis of the music industry. A year later my blog (www.matthewelliott2010.blogspot.com) has a total of 82 posts so far with new audience interactive technologies used such as online poll which my target audience can feedback to me about. The work rate I have put in to my film trailer and ancillary texts I believe has benefited my overall product with in my opinion and through audience feedback showing that the products I created have been successful. Which is an improvement from last year were I believe my music magazine didn’t reflect a conventional music magazine due to lack of effective artist image which could have been improved with better lighting.
Even though I believe I have improved upon last year, I still believe they are ways to improve my film trailer and ancillary texts. I believe I could have improved my film trailer by using more footage within the trailer. The problem I found with editing is making sure the mise en scene fits the narrative so I couldn’t have my cast running away in daylight as it doesn’t match up with a conventional horror plot. A way I could improve is spend more time collecting footage with more shots to use such as high angle shots to portray weakness of the antagonist or protagonist.
A way in which I could have improved my poster would be to make the title more emphatic with use of colour. The current colour of the title “The Missing” is in black but I believe I could have improved on this my alternating the colour by using Adobe Photoshop to adjust the colour to make it more effective on the background, a more effective colour may be red which has connotations of danger and horror.
http://matthewelliott2010.blogspot.com/2011/01/research-on-horror-film-posters.html
The link above shows the research I did to make sure my poster was effective in using conventions of popular film poster of the horror genre. The Rite 2010 which is directed by Mikael Hafstrom produced in the TriBeCa studios. Religion is a main convention of the Horror genre and is the main element of "The Rite". The main title also contains the Christian cross which replaces the t in the title of "rite" which also suggests the powerful impact of religion on this film poster. Religion is a powerful tool in horror, this is because horror and religion conflict against each other which means when audiences watch a religious based horror they are subjected to powerful views from the director.
I believe my front cover film magazine “Silver Screen” uses effectively the conventions of film magazines such as the title of Silver Screen placed at the top centre of the screen which is iconic of film magazine style. One way I believe I could improve my film magazine would be use a different style of font within the text.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxQoiHYCwts4ZGi8r85b4BNVuDPcU2jRfrOicVP1I9XI2PtPhc47sKC26oxF-honOmZ7R_aJJsoRyvD1p7vjvjrzcfJYnFKMYHz-pxgZmN3I029Cu4c9BZTQ9LRzmuRY19R_TgxKB63Zo/s1600/The+Missing+magazine++copy.jpg
The text located at the bottom left of the screen has an outer glow effect used to make the text appear bolder, the outer glow effect does make the text appear effective but if I had to improve the text I may not use as much outer glow as it’s not a conventional device used in film front covers especially of the horror genre.
In order to create an effective front cover magazine I researched other popular film magazine which my target audience would read such as Empire.
http://matthewelliott2010.blogspot.com/2010/12/magazine-front-cover-research.html
I used the same price as Empire in my front cover of £3.99. I did this because in creating a new film magazine it is essential to make sure the price which is a main part in why audiences by an individual brand of magazine is at the right price, so in matching a leading film magazine of Empire I am stating that my magazine is of an high status; which will compete with the leading magazines.
In conclusion I believe I have been successful in creating the synergy of the film trailer and ancillary texts and the way they combine them together through use of mise en scene and other conventional tools in order to create a effective group of products which reflect modern horror. I also believe active audiences of 15-24 in my target market will find the texts interesting with their expected high level media literacy. My target audience should be able to understand the clear intention of my aims to use certain iconic and stereotypical conventions to produce to the texts such as the non- digetic voice over. Which the audience will understand was their to provide a clear and cohesive guide to the action of the trailer, whilst attracting them to watch the film which is the ultimate aim of post modern film trailers.
Word count- 5605
For my A2 Media Studies Advanced Portfolio in Media coursework. I chose to do a Horror film trailer, together with the following ancillary texts:
• a film magazine front cover, featuring the chosen film
• a poster for the film
For my task, I had to research and analyse conventions of the Horror genre to produce my own individual piece which portrayed these conventions in a manner that is to the conventions of the genre.
My horror film trailer is called “The Missing” which is targeted towards a younger age group of 15 (teenagers) to 24 (young adults) so I made sure I researched into this age bracket to get the best feedback and response. The film has been awarded a 15 certificate due to the film featuring violence and horror of a strong nature which fits in with the BBFC (British board of film classification) guidelines. I picked this particular age bracket as the audience will be more interested in the horror genre and may have a stronger attraction to this rather than an older audience for example. I found out through extensive research, such as interviewing groups of people of both genders around Wyke College. I conducted the interviewing by asking the males and females popular films of different genres such as romance for example Mr and Mrs Smith 2005 (Directed by Doug Liman, Weed road pictures) then asking if they preferred that to a horror genre film and I found out that males are more inclined to watch horror as it’s perceived as a masculine genre which effected the way I edited my film by trying to include as much action as possible a convention of trailers. The response I received was fairly mixed from the female gender, as I asked 4 females all of which fit within my target audience. The response from the females was 25% enjoyed horror and said “it was the best genre” the other 75% said “horror was too scary” or “they prefer comedy”.
I researched into audience theory to understand how my target audience would behave to watching my trailer and viewing my ancillary texts. A main theory I looked into whilst analysing texts and doing my own texts was reception analysis. This theory states an active audience will read into a media text like The Missing taking into account a something called a “situated culture” which refers to an audiences back ground which was put forward by David Morley 1980. Suggesting they are three different ways an audience reads a text (1.Dominant reading 2. Negotiated reading 3. Oppositional reading) which influenced me into looking into how my audience view my text via audience research and feedback. But most importantly this theory backs up the modern theory of active audiences who are media literate and can understand the conventions of my trailer without me prompting them.
I made the clear choice to stick with the traditional conventions and forms of the Horror genre and media products in my work. Through research, my video contains a lot of the stereotypical conventions of modern and past horror genre trailers creating as realistic trailer as possible. From analysing trailers such as “The Blair Witch Project 1999 directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez. Produced by Robin Cowie from the Hexan films studio. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAkyJzKxiu0&feature=player_embedded
I learnt a lot of the key conventions used such as mystery shown during this trailer, trailers are used to entice audiences to watch the film so I made sure my film followed a non-linear approach of chronological time order and mixed up a lot of the scenes to create the suspense needed. “The Blair Witch Project” uses this an ends with a cliff hanger convention of trailers. By understanding the conventions of Horror this developed the quality of my trailer as conventions such as death for example are popular in creating a dramatic effect upon the audience this made me use this convention in my trailer showing how I have actually used the forms and conventions to enhance the quality of my production. Most titles I researched shared a similar convention and form of being distinct and direct such as “Paranormal Activity” 2007 directed by Oren Peli which was produced in the Blumhouse productions studio. The audience experience the enigma of what is happening or going to happen in the house and the use of cross cutting between the house and the garden give an even greater effect as the audience members believe they our actually in the scene and are experiencing what is going on in the narrative. I used the enigma experience in mine due to my non-linear editing which is a convention of horror. This makes the audience think about what is happening in the scene creating an active audience which are media literate. The high angle shot and the date in the bottom right corner gives the impression that it is being filmed through CCTV surveillance this creates realism to the audience members that the scene is not staged and is filmed through a live recording device. I used the same technique in my trailer (click on the link below to view) by adding a red recording button with recording brackets around the shot to give a sense of the trailer is hand-held creating the action horror impact of the trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07XbSk7Rjt4 – Paranormal Activity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7W8JEJKlvQ&feature=player_embedded- My trailer (The Missing).
It gets straight to the point of the film of being “paranormal” this made be chose my title of “The Missing” it gets straight to the point of the film and tells audiences straight away that something or someone will go missing but also includes a key convention of Horror in the “Missing” as a lot of Horror films use this particular story line like “The Blair Witch Project” which made me want to choose this story as well.
The non-diegetic sound used, such as voice over is a main convention used in Horror this is to guide the audience into following the story and think about what is happening it creates the mystery in wondering who’s speaking to them and what the narrator is saying this is known as an enigma within the story. I did my own voice over which goes against usually conventions of Horror in getting an actor to do it but I believe my voice was effective in detailing a realistic narrator and explaining the plot. This is shown in the video below which is one of my earlier edits of The Missing film trailer were I first used the voice over.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcFtrpEV-Z8&feature=player_embedded
The song used had no vocal which is another convention of Horror as a voice over may create confusion within the narrative structure as audiences may listen to the vocalist rather than the voice over. The track I used was from a Horror album called “Greatest Horror Songs Of All Time” and was called Nightmare, I researched many other non-digetic songs such as “The Omen” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAFCiEFX6ag&feature=related
This is one of the most recognised theme music to Horror but I felt this may distract audiences from the plot so decided to go with a less known song but had a beat and pace which matched the story as the songs must sync in with the narrative or this would go against conventions. View the nightmare track below; I believe the theme music adds to the effectiveness of the trailer without taking the audience’s attention away from the content of the trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7W8JEJKlvQ&feature=player_embedded
I believe I do follow with the conventions of the genre and tried to use these recognised conventions in my trailer and ancillary texts in order to create a realistic trailer which meant I had to use some stereotypical conventions like a group of young teenagers venturing into a scary a mansion in order to establish the genre of Horror. A main convention of the horror genre is darkness which is iconic of mystery happening and he unknown was a main feature used in my trailer this was to used via editing as I actually filmed in the day to enable me to get full lighting of the shots then edited the sharpness of the lighting and used a filter to make the film black and white which is another convention of darkness as it symbolic of binary opposition (good and bad) it also suggests the history of the trailer as black and white is also linked to the past (events which have previously happened) that’s why it’s such a common feature in modern horror. The black and white effect is also symbolic of film noir which is a popular 1940s/50s film genre that emerged particularly in the United States during the depression, the main features of film noir was often to do with crime and sexual activity which feature controversial topics such as incest.
My trailer is structured through use of conventions in a way which appeals to the mass audience to enable the largest audience to see the trailer, I did this by applying all the stereotypical narrative forms like the group venturing into the haunted mansion and the iconic conventions such as violence within the trailer e.g. a character uses a stick to attack someone, all these traits appeal to a wide audience. I tried to make sure I didn’t exclude any sub groups in order to not cause offence so incorporated a wide range of actors one dressed as a stereotypical “chav” and one who dresses casually to appeal to all sub social groups like particular music interested people.
The link below shows the mise en scene of one of the lead characters which is dressed in a chav costume to fit the role he is playing.
http://matthewelliott2010.blogspot.com/2010/12/clothing.html
I also analysed other genres of film trailer to gain a different perspective on conventions used in trailers which would benefit me in using them for mine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzgOvvMi8Lg&feature=player_embedded#at=84
The video above is from Charlie ST Cloud a 2010 production. The film is a totally different genre to horror as it’s a romance but contains features which are still used in horror trailers; the film is also an example of an emotional pleasure. The trailer features conventions which I have used in horror for example close up of the protagonist to show emotion. This is not only used in my video but in most trailers. The main reason I did this feature was to capture the emotion on the protagonist face to represent the horror in which the character is going through. This is an effective tool to use. As the close up captures the way the character is behaving so this can portray to the audience an emotion; this is why this technique is used in a wide range of genres as it can fit any style.
I tried to link all 3 texts together (Horror film trailer, horror poser and film magazine front cover) to create synergy which is a blend of all the products to represent effectively the Horror genre.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7W8JEJKlvQ&feature=player_embedded
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzt1Ich-F6e1Sng84swKlTvCPVqlw07-A6LAeNGpX4hPvfX-azM1VFV8YpzS1UxUkBIP7QQc92Em1yYA15yfezcJDXEbg9adf0hLPvBPru6d-6kXcTArZK4sJDTpZp4lH_Ewl14XROsFg/s1600/FINISHED+horror+poster.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxQoiHYCwts4ZGi8r85b4BNVuDPcU2jRfrOicVP1I9XI2PtPhc47sKC26oxF-honOmZ7R_aJJsoRyvD1p7vjvjrzcfJYnFKMYHz-pxgZmN3I029Cu4c9BZTQ9LRzmuRY19R_TgxKB63Zo/s1600/The+Missing+magazine++copy.jpg
My film magazine is called “Silver Screen” I believe this is a effective name as the word Silver Screen has connation’s of film which instantly makes the audience aware of the type of magazine it is and what it is advertising. The word silver has connation’s of luxury and quality which the audience will link these positive attributes to the film trailer.
I used similar colours in both ancillary texts trying to create a realistic link between the two. The main colours used were red and black which are iconic of Horror and was used in my Horror trailer to establish this convention of horror. Through research I found that most horror films who are advertising their product link the two together and use the same image in their poster campaign and on a magazine front cover. This made me think of doing the same, after initially completing the front cover first I found out that the image was an effective reflection of the horror genre and in advertising my film which made me think about using it as a promotional poster aswell.
Below is an example of I used conventional colours of horror in my front cover magazine.
http://matthewelliott2010.blogspot.com/2010/11/fonts.html
I believe this decision to use the same images in both ancillary text was beneficial in portraying a realistic product to my audience. This is because audience’s will identify the image use of the group in one product and link it to the next, the mise en scene where I took the picture is used in my film trailer establishing a link between the texts that the picture does have a purpose behind it.
Below is the main image I used for both ancillary texts
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG_bcvs7qPvokblI5LhSXUwCwnag9ezfjdACw1NmHsQ0VjBrgoMS5RbGRKO1FaIydT0iS83JfPfITOO6ZjPBpD-VUgYHZNYXbfSErve3rRGa5shUwHaZQg52vYxbqkD1jUyllTLv88Fa8/s1600/P1060003.JPG
In doing my poster I attempted to use conventions from similar horror style posters in portraying a realistic copy to a more experienced film poster. One poster analysed “The Crazies” 2010
http://matthewelliott2010.blogspot.com/2011/01/research-on-horror-film-posters.html
This horror poster (linked above) was one example which I tried to use in creating my piece. For example in the researched film poster their very little text and the main aim is advertising the image which I took into account and tried to use as little text to keep the audience’s attention solely on the name of the film and the main image, this links with my other ancillary text of the film front cover as I tried to use sub heading which were crucial in advertising the film and portraying a realistic front cover.
My main product of the horror trailer features a review from “The Guardian” which is a common used tool in advertising the film giving a positive opinion from an outside source. So I decided to use this to link it with my horror poster linking the review together creating realistic product to the audience, which is that I have used the same review in two different texts. I believe this was effective as it follows the conventions of promoting the film in both trailer and poster and makes the texts appear more realistic to the audience which is positive.
I asked a series of different question to various audiences along the period of completing my products. I believe audience feedback is essential in finding what your target audience think about the video and allows the audience to give their input into decision making.
I asked a range of questions on multiply occasions addressing nearly every major decision on my target audience usually people I could trust and know that their opinion is reflective on their sole outlook. The questions as asked was things like what’s your opinion on the title of the film? Or does the poster fit well with the Horror genre? These questions were designed to make my audience think and let me make a decision on how informed my audience was about the conventions of new media and how they interpret aswell as getting their valuable opinion.
An example of my audience feedback is when I asked 8 people who all fitted in the age range of my target audience (15-24) consisting of 4 males and 4 females, few simple questions about, What name goes best with the character?, Do they believe the name reflects the nature of the character? And is the name of a character important? All these questions gave me an insight into what my target audience thought about the names of characters and the importance of a character name. The results of this questionnaire are shown below in the link.
http://matthewelliott2010.blogspot.com/2010/12/further-audience-research.html
The results show that 3 of the 4 names selected had a majority decision and the other name was spilt in the middle which meant for an easy decision with picking the right names. This particular audience feedback was conducted in my early stages of production which meant I had a lot of time to think about the decision. In the end I came to the conclusion that it was best not to give a name to the characters. This is because I decided to stick with the enigma of the story line, as this will mean the audiences can’t familiarise themselves with a particular character. This is a positive in terms of horror, as it creates sense of the unknown to the audience.
I received a mix reaction from the male group in terms of results, 2/4 said that the name of the character plays a fundamental part in relating to the situation they are going through. Then the other 2/4 males said the name didn't make that much difference. Even though they was a mixed reaction this gave me the idea to carry on with giving a name to the cast, as I believed this will be beneficial to the trailer but I understand the reasons for not having a name at all.
I learnt a lot from this particular audience feedback such as that every person has a different view depending on social class/ ethnic culture or personality types so I need to take into account a lot of different views to come up with a clear decision on what to do. And with this audience feedback it gave me the incentive to name the characters individually which I credit on the people who answered me questions.
I also video recorded my friends and collegues from college asking them a series of questions about my horror trailer and other ancillary texts and see what their opinion on what they thought and asked them to rate each answer out of 10 (1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest)
http://matthewelliott2010.blogspot.com/2011/04/audience-feedback-1.html
The link above is the first video audience feedback. The questions asked was in relation to the film trailer. The person asked was a cast member of the video but I asked him if he could give an impartial view towards the trailer, which I believe he did.
The data given was fairly solid in terms of number with most answers scoring in the middle to top band of results (usually 7/10). The highest score given was a 9/10 which was for entertainment value. He stated to the level of entertainment value “It was real good, I enjoyed it” which reflects a positive opinion towards to the trailer, which I am pleased about. Film trailers need to be entertaining in order to serve their purpose of advertising the film to the audience. Therefore the level of entertainment value given was crucial in seeing how well the trailer advertises the film.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE6WZitWRX1BNY65_a6NTxnK3ZFpmC8sy4f9vfcBws0OWBeqWWimdqHHZFq1WIkfjB1Wl0Uf2k-FZ5MpxObFcZzJzK-ZMR52UnNtS8SFinOgfadanQmHfj_5gso651B5UdVJYMzsJ7Is8/s1600/img007.jpg
I also conducted some audience feedback on the ancillary texts. I video recorded a male who had no connection to the video in order to give me a un-biased view towards the text.
http://matthewelliott2010.blogspot.com/2011/04/audience-feedback-2.html
The link above shows the video of the individual answering the questions relating to the film poster. The individual scored the questions around the middle band (usually 6/10). I believe this reflects the nature of the individual as he is an un-biased the scores he was given I believe was honest to his opinion which mean the data given is reliable which is vital for audience feedback. An example of feedback from the video is when asked about the colour used in the poster he rated this at 6/10.
I believe colour is vital to the overall appearance of the poster, the colour is what attracts the audience to view the poster in the first place. Receiving at 6/10 meant that the colour used in my poster wasn’t given that high of a mark which was disappointing.
As I use blogger the web 2.0 site as a form to post my information about my film trailer and ancillary texts. I thought it would be beneficial to use an online poll to gain some extra audience research from people visiting the website. In order to gain valuable feedback I needed to make sure that the blog was seen my a large number of people. In order to do this I posted my blog information on Facebook a social networking site where I have a large group of people who fit in with the target audience, the questions I asked were; What genre of movie do you prefer? This question was in order to find out what was the most popular genre of audiences visiting the website. The favourite answer to that question was horror with 5 people voting for it (55%) which shows to me that the main section of people who visit my website have a main interest in the film genre I decided to create, this may be because people visiting the website may already know the genre of my film which may influence their decision.
http://matthewelliott2010.blogspot.com/
I uploaded my video via a web 2.0 website You Tube as I was experiencing problems uploading straight on to the blogger format. This worked out well as it was another device I could use for audience feedback. I can determine how popular the video is from the video count located below the video. My view count so far is 24 view for my old video which show that it isn’t that popular compared to popular film trailers who can reach in the millions of views. I didn’t expect to gain much popularity via You Tube views as I didn’t advertise the video that much. The final video which I uploaded is hard to use for audience feedback as it currently only has 1 view but due to the improvement of the video I believe it will exceed the view count of the previous edit. One major positive of the previous video was that it gained a “like” from a You Tube user which shows how they enjoyed the video enough to feedback on it.
(Below is my previous edit of my horror trailer)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcFtrpEV-Z8&feature=player_embedded
I believe my feedback could of being improved as I didn’t ask that many people often only 8 people, so to gain a more comprehensive insight into what my target audience think about the film I would increase the amount of people I questioned this would give me a far greater amount of data to analysis making a more informed decision about the question asked.
In using a web 2.0 site in Blogger from AS, I already had experience in using the software which was beneficial as straight away I created audience interactive software which I used in conjunction with my own research to use for my products. I used social networking websites such as Facebook or MySpace which helped me ask the mass audience of people of my friends list to answer the online polls in helping me find out their views on questions such as “What genre do you believe my magazine is?”.
http://www.facebook.com/ or http://www.myspace.com
I had access to the some of the latest media technologies involvement such as Adobe Premiere Pro editing software used on a high definition LG screen which was for me to edit my trailer. Even though this software is extremely useful it came as a challenge to use as I didn’t have any previous experience with video editing with this system. The one major advantage of using this software which allowed me to upload what I filmed with an SD card which made transferring data very quick and easy so I didn’t have to spend that much time waiting for my footage to upload which was great for time management. I designed a film logo using Adobe Photoshop which was to be used on the editing software which was fairly simple to do but just had to scale the size of the logo to fit the widescreen image. I made the logo to use a popular convention of films and identify who the director is.
I did use Adobe Photoshop mainly as I could manipulate pictures for my main product and ancillary texts such as editing a lighting of an image to make a darker effect, as darkness is a convention of horror so this was an effective choice to make. In using Photoshop for my ancillary texts I was able to create a style which was representative of horror, an example of this is when I was editing my horror poster and created five individual golden stars to use as a connotation of a film rating by an intertextual media “The Guardian” this was effective as is symbolised a realistic film review is a regular feature of other film posters. Adobe Photoshop Premiere allowed me to edit my ancillary texts to a standard which looked professional which other software such as Microsoft Paint and Publisher don’t really create.
In order to research other video trailers, I had to use YouTube which is a web 2.0, in order to analyse other trailers so I could identify similar conventions used in the trailers so I could use these individual traits such as use of logo in my trailer and ancillary texts. An example of when I used research from YouTube in my ancillary texts was when looking at videos of other people using Photoshop and introducing basic techniques to use on magazines which helped me in doing my ancillary texts which was great help. You tube allowed me to research different genres of film such as romance and comedy to gain a different perspective to film trailers which improved my knowledge on how trailers work.
After consultation from my teachers, it was recommended that I used shooting style brackets around the image within my film trailer to make the film more realistic. I created this by using the text tool on the Adobe Video Premiere and creating four individual corners within the screen which gives the effect that the image is been shot live as the film brackets has conations of live filming. I also created a red dot in the corner of the screen on the right with an abbreviation of recording underneath the dot “REC” I made sure that to enable the recording sign to look realistic I must follow conventions and use the colour red which is iconic of live film recording.
Another technology I used within editing the film trailer, was use of putting the digital date on the bottom left of the screen. As my film is non-linear the order of action during the trailer isn’t it time order therefore the time changes all the time from 7:00pm to 5:01. Which I believe adds to the overall entertainment of the trailer as the audience will already experience occurrences which have happened hour before then see a clip which is an hour before. This also links to the active audience theory which states we behave differently because we are different people. Some audiences will behave in a manner in which they find the trailer interesting and it fits their need to watch something of this nature other audiences may be put off by the way the trailer jumps back and forth which means it’s down to the audiences interpretation to figure out whether the trailer is effective in leading them to watch the film.
I believe the transformation from AS Media to A2 Media has been effective. This is because my basic skill level in Media going into AS level meant when completing the magazine task I struggled in using media technologies such as Adobe Photoshop and stuck to more basic programmes like Microsoft Publisher in my first year due to lack of confidence of how to work the tools on Adobe Photoshop. Through the year period I have developed my skills in using the software, through help from teachers and from my peers which has meant I can use technical tools such as the crop tool. This is helpful when editing my ancillary texts, as I can place multiple images onto the screen and select the section of the image I want. This saves a lot of time but also makes it easier to choose the best image as I can crop different images and select the best one. Below is an example of images used for my magazine front cover which I used the crop tool on Adobe Photoshop to create.
http://matthewelliott2010.blogspot.com/2011/02/images-taken-for-horror-trailer.html
I believe my media knowledge has improved and the way I interpret the media in society. As I’ve spent close to two years analysing the conventions of media such as globalisation of media institutions and the increase in mass media like popular music artists such as Kesha. This media awareness has meant they way I look at the media world is different for example when analysing conventions of horror I didn’t just look into the particular genre of horror but looked into other genres such as romance to make sure I use film trailer conventions such as close up of the artist or protagonist aswell as horror trailer conventions such as dark lighting or blood.
My overall work efficiency has improved aswell as last year my blog (www.tigermattblog.blospot.com) had a total of 60 posts including my evaluation of my music magazine; evaluation and analysis of the music industry. A year later my blog (www.matthewelliott2010.blogspot.com) has a total of 82 posts so far with new audience interactive technologies used such as online poll which my target audience can feedback to me about. The work rate I have put in to my film trailer and ancillary texts I believe has benefited my overall product with in my opinion and through audience feedback showing that the products I created have been successful. Which is an improvement from last year were I believe my music magazine didn’t reflect a conventional music magazine due to lack of effective artist image which could have been improved with better lighting.
Even though I believe I have improved upon last year, I still believe they are ways to improve my film trailer and ancillary texts. I believe I could have improved my film trailer by using more footage within the trailer. The problem I found with editing is making sure the mise en scene fits the narrative so I couldn’t have my cast running away in daylight as it doesn’t match up with a conventional horror plot. A way I could improve is spend more time collecting footage with more shots to use such as high angle shots to portray weakness of the antagonist or protagonist.
A way in which I could have improved my poster would be to make the title more emphatic with use of colour. The current colour of the title “The Missing” is in black but I believe I could have improved on this my alternating the colour by using Adobe Photoshop to adjust the colour to make it more effective on the background, a more effective colour may be red which has connotations of danger and horror.
http://matthewelliott2010.blogspot.com/2011/01/research-on-horror-film-posters.html
The link above shows the research I did to make sure my poster was effective in using conventions of popular film poster of the horror genre. The Rite 2010 which is directed by Mikael Hafstrom produced in the TriBeCa studios. Religion is a main convention of the Horror genre and is the main element of "The Rite". The main title also contains the Christian cross which replaces the t in the title of "rite" which also suggests the powerful impact of religion on this film poster. Religion is a powerful tool in horror, this is because horror and religion conflict against each other which means when audiences watch a religious based horror they are subjected to powerful views from the director.
I believe my front cover film magazine “Silver Screen” uses effectively the conventions of film magazines such as the title of Silver Screen placed at the top centre of the screen which is iconic of film magazine style. One way I believe I could improve my film magazine would be use a different style of font within the text.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxQoiHYCwts4ZGi8r85b4BNVuDPcU2jRfrOicVP1I9XI2PtPhc47sKC26oxF-honOmZ7R_aJJsoRyvD1p7vjvjrzcfJYnFKMYHz-pxgZmN3I029Cu4c9BZTQ9LRzmuRY19R_TgxKB63Zo/s1600/The+Missing+magazine++copy.jpg
The text located at the bottom left of the screen has an outer glow effect used to make the text appear bolder, the outer glow effect does make the text appear effective but if I had to improve the text I may not use as much outer glow as it’s not a conventional device used in film front covers especially of the horror genre.
In order to create an effective front cover magazine I researched other popular film magazine which my target audience would read such as Empire.
http://matthewelliott2010.blogspot.com/2010/12/magazine-front-cover-research.html
I used the same price as Empire in my front cover of £3.99. I did this because in creating a new film magazine it is essential to make sure the price which is a main part in why audiences by an individual brand of magazine is at the right price, so in matching a leading film magazine of Empire I am stating that my magazine is of an high status; which will compete with the leading magazines.
In conclusion I believe I have been successful in creating the synergy of the film trailer and ancillary texts and the way they combine them together through use of mise en scene and other conventional tools in order to create a effective group of products which reflect modern horror. I also believe active audiences of 15-24 in my target market will find the texts interesting with their expected high level media literacy. My target audience should be able to understand the clear intention of my aims to use certain iconic and stereotypical conventions to produce to the texts such as the non- digetic voice over. Which the audience will understand was their to provide a clear and cohesive guide to the action of the trailer, whilst attracting them to watch the film which is the ultimate aim of post modern film trailers.
Word count- 5605
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
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