Evaluation Question 1

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

The brief for my A2 media coursework was to create "a promotion package for a new film" this included:

• A film trailer
• A magazine cover
• A film poster

Narrative


I decided that for my A2 film coursework I wanted to create a trailer from the drama genre with an element of romance. The trailer is based on a boy meets girl narrative with a twist, the twist being that the main protagonist is struggling with dementia, a degenerative brain disorder. I already knew a substantial amount about degenerative brain disorders, as I know family friends with the disease and also know of people who work for charities that help people with memory disorders, such as the forget me not centre. Having a twist in my romance drama trailer is my unique selling point (USP), as I think it will help to attract different type of audience along side the romance drama audience I wish to target.

I throughly researched my topic and genre to make sure that although I was being individually creative, my trailer still worked with codes and conventions of real media texts. My research has shown me there are a few films based on lost memories such as "The Vow", in which a woman looses her memory in a car crash (however this isn't caused by dementia). The Vow is produced by Spyglass Entertainment. There are also films such as "Still Alice", which is a film about a linguistics professor who becomes diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease, the film is produced by an indie film production company.

These films plot lines inspired me to create "Forget Me Not". However I wanted to make it different to the rest, I did this by adding in another narrative. I wanted the main protagonist to be a runaway and I thought this would add a different dimension and more interest to the trailer rather than it just being another girl meets boy drama. I was inspired by "Safe Haven" in which the main protagonist is a runaway trying to wipe clear her past, I wanted my character to do the same as I thought it would be effective for Dan (the male protagonist) to not find out about her disease until the end of the film, however we as an audience would know, this could make the trailer extremely suspenseful.

There are many shots in the trailer "Safe Haven" I think are great especially the running feet, I liked this shot so much I incorporated it into my own trailer.

Here are the two shots of the main protagonist running, the one on the left is from Safe Haven and the one on the right it taken from my own film trailer "Forget Me Not".

I have complied with many of the conventions of a romance drama such as...

• Having a heterosexual love interest
• Soft and gentle non diegetic scores to reflect the mood of the film
• Lots of fades in and out (an example of a drama/romance who also uses this convention is The Notebook)

Montage Sequence

I used a montage sequence in my film trailer to add excitement to my film trailer. This is very typical of trailers as it quickly summaries the 'best bits' of the film and helps to build suspense,  it also gives a quick snap shot into different scenes without giving too much away.  And is a good way to show the problems, conflicts and solutions in the narrative which may help the audience decide if they wish to watch the film. My trailer uses the montage sequence to do exactly this it highlights key parts of the narrative in particular suspenseful scenes. This is what I hope will captivate my audience. , it starts at 1.24 and I have used it to highlight the main conflicts and problems seen in the middle of the trailer.

My montage sequence uses layering. Each shot blend in to another with a low opacity. This is a unique post production technique which challenges the conventions of a montage sequence as I have never seen this being used before within a trailer. However I think it is creative, dynamic and looks professional in  my trailer which will hopefully make it more memorable for the audience.

Here are some screen shots demonstrating the layering transition: 

Female Protagonist coping with terminal illness

I think that I have also challenged some conventions of the Drama/Romance genre such as having my main protagonist as the one with the disease shows the audience directly what its like to deal with diseases like dementia, its the harsh reality of life and what its like to suffer with a degenerative brain disorder. Some people may find this upsetting so in films like the Vow, the main protagonist is the male who is not suffering with memory loss, this puts more distance between the woman suffering from an almost fatal accident and the audience, to protect them from harm. This may have been done so that the film could be rated as a 12A rather than a 15.

Using actors names in the trailer

Another convention of a trailer is the use of Actors name in the trailer to promote the film to the target audience. I have also used actors names in my trailer, as i feel it makes the audience feel more connected to the characters as they can follow them and watch other films they may have been in. Generally the stronger the actors following the more people will be interested in his/her film.

Below you can see how I have compared my credits and the use of using actors names with "The Vow".

On screen credits

I was inspired by the use of on screen credits in The Vow, I liked how the shot of the protagonist was paired with the actor/ actresses name. I wanted to try and recreate this effect in my own trailer however as I was limited to editing on IMovie it proved very difficult to overlay text and video. Also I didn't have any shots of the main protagonists for long enough that you would be able to read the text on the screen. So instead I decided to pair a sequence of the character with their real name. For example you can see below that I have paired a shot of "Alice"walking in the beginning of the trailer, with a black screen containing her actress name "Chrissy Lightowler".

I did the same when introducing "Dan". I made sure both the credits were in a sequence when the character was introduced. This ensured that the audience knew who was who and gave them more incite to the main protagonists in the film.

Doctors diagnosis voiceover

Voice overs are often used in Romantic Dramas to introduce a love theme however in my trailer it is used to tell the audience and Alice that she has been diagnosed with a degenerative brain disorder.
To make my trailer different from the rest and stand out I thought it would be interesting to have a doctors diagnosis as the voiceover, I had never seen this done before in a trailer so it was very challenging however I thought it would help the audience understand the narrative of the film and put them in Alice's (main protagonist) shoes. This could potentially be a good marketing technique as the trailer would entice the audience as they feel like they are going thorough Alice's life with her. I think she is a very relatable character as she is a teen the same age as our target audience.

Titles and Font

This is my title shot in my trailer after researching other romance/drama film titles I decided this one looked good and suited the genre and narrative of my film. Many films such as The Vow use different colours/fonts/sizes of text, this is done to make one specific word stand out or just to make it look more interesting. I have done this with my title as "Forget Me" is blue and "Not" is white with a sparkle that fades. This titles font also matches the coming soon font that appears mid way through my trailer.

Here are some examples of Title shots from other trailers.

Titles from the romance/drama have specific conventions that they abide by. Only pale calming colours are used, never any bold colours. The fonts are always simple many use a scroll like font like "One Day" has. However I decided I wanted to go for a font that was large and would stands out so that the audience would remember it. In my opinion The title from The Vow is hard to see so personally I wouldn't choose this colour scheme. Instead I decided to go for a light/turquoise blue. The colour blue is associated with depth and stability this juxtaposes the narrative of my film as "Alice" is very unstable. Light Blue is considered beneficial to the mind and body and associated with health, which is ironic as "Alice's" mind is flawed.

Characters

My Character "Alice" is similar to "Tessa" the main protagonist from Now Is Good. Chrissy was the main protagonist in my film trailer, I had seen her perform in many school productions such as Beauty and the Beast, Alice in Wonderland and We Will Rock You. She was readily available and fitted the role perfectly. Her youth made her look innocent and vulnerable, much like the character "Tessa" in Now Is Good.

Both Tessa and Alice challenge the female stereotype, and they prove they can play challenging and important roles. Gender and sexism are topics constantly challenged in films. We too have tried to challenge this representation by using a female lead.

Flashbacks

In my trailer I have used flashbacks, I simulated these by using cross fade transitions where the previous shot fades into the next one creating a dizzy and disorientating effect.

I have challenged the conventions of the romance/drama genre as I have never seen flashbacks like mine used in a trailer before. I think this was a clever and effective idea, it gives the audience an insight into "Alice's" past and will help the audience connect with the character, which in turn should encourage them to go and watch the film.

Soundtrack

My soundtrack is Say by John Mayer. I choose this soundtrack because it fitted the conventions of a romance/drama soundtrack and the chorus worked well with the sequence of shots in my trailer and helped to heighten suspense. I also took into account results from my audience research.

I think my trailer has challenged the conventions of a romance/drama trailer as often dialogue from the footage is used to support the soundtrack however we decided to just to use a voiceover and soundtrack so that we didn't give to much away from dialogue in the trailer. I also decided the lyrics in this song were very suited to my narrative so explained the storyline perfectly. Also as we didn't have professional actors I thought it would be better to not use dialogue as this could have made the trailer awkward and uncomfortable if the acting wasn't a good standard.

I think this strong emotional soundtrack adds another dimension to my trailer and effects the audience in a more personal way.

Below is the soundtrack to "The Fault In Our Stars"

Despite having dialogue from the film throughout this trailer I think the soundtrack is used in a similar way to mine. Its used to emphasise the peaks of the trailer and highlights the drama and the emotions covered in the film. Many trailers use soundtracks to emphasise the narrative in the film, this engages the audience.

My trailer also challenges the conventions of a romance/drama trailer because when researching trailers I discovered that the majority start with dialogue from one of the main protagonist or voice over in some cases, however mine starts with upbeat music and later the voice over starts. I think this is effective in my trailer as it gets the audience in the mood and the soundtrack fits well with the initial sequence of shots.

Evaluation Question 2

How effective is the combination of your main product (film trailer) and ancillary texts (poster and magazine cover)?



Here are my two finished ancillary tasks:

Film Magazine - Vision

Film Poster

Evaluation Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?


Below is my audience feedback questionnaire. I created this in order to get feedback from my product so that I can improve my production techniques.



Feedback

For my audience feedback I created a questionnaire to collect feedback from the general public and AS media students. I printed these out for the students and got feedback from the general public by creating a survey on survey monkey (Here it is https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/JKRTG5B) and used social media such as Facebook to share the link and promote my trailer.

Due to my post on social media I have received feedback from a wider variety of people than just responses from individuals at school, and the feedback was received immediately which was a more efficient method of collect results. The feedback was filled out by a number of people, specifically my target age group.This was useful to find out what they thought.
The feedback I got was varied and has allowed me to consider what was effective and what I could have improved.



Below is the feedback from AS media students

Below is the feedback from the general public, via survey monkey

Evaluation video

 Here is a video I have made with two teens aged 18, Olivia and Alice. It consists of them evaluating my promotional package and sharing there ideas and feedback on what I have created.

Evaluation Question 4

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

What is media technology?
Technology which disseminates (spreads), stores or produces media content.
Throughout the process of creating my media trailer and ancillary tasks to accompany it, I have learnt to use many different media technologies as well as developing my skills in areas of technology that I already had experience in using. Some of the technology was completely new to me and this was the first time I had experienced using it.



Survey responses from AS media students

Here is a PowerPoint I have put together of responses from AS Media Students in regards to our trailer "Forget Me Not". It is useful for me to get other media students to look at my work and give feedback as they have started to look at films themselves and can give us a slightly more media based response rather than just putting the survey online and getting family and friends to fill it out. This in turn will improve the quality of my products.

Survey - Trailer feedback

Here is a link to my survey on Survey Monkey where people are able to give feedback about my trailer which I am then going to analyse to see whether overall my trailer was successful or not.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/JKRTG5B

Below you can see what the questions on my survey are:

 

Product: Film Poster

This is my film poster for Forget Me Not. In this blog post I am going to explain my step by step process of making the film poster and why I made certain designs on the style, colour and design of my poster.

I decided I wanted a bold font so that it stood out, I tried out many fonts from "fontspace" and decided that this one suited the poster the best. I used a tool on photoshop to match the colour to a forget me not petal (flower). I also decided to use the same font and colours for the tagline and release title.

I wanted the photograph on the poster to look like the head was falling apart, to infer the characters mental illness (Dementia). In order to achieve this I used YouTube to find a Photoshop tutorial (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnpDy8zlmv8) I used this to create the desired effect.

This effect is supposed to show her memories fading as then it becomes an effective poster as it makes links to the plot of the film and entices the audience.

I took the photo of Chrissy my main protagonist in the dark room and used 2 soft lights. I then loaded my photos to photoshop and decided to choose the one featured, mainly because i liked her expression it made the poster more exiting and her hand rubbing her head was effective. I then used Photoshop to edit out the initial white back ground and remaster it with a hall way from a hospital. I used the histograms on Photoshop to edit both of these photos until they looked as I wished.

Here is the original photo I used in the back ground of my poster, however I changed the levels of it using the histogram tool on Photoshop and made it black and white so it didn't detract from the primary image. I combined it with the photo I took below of Chrissy.

Film poster ideas

I found this film poster on the internet and I really liked how it tied in the flowers and thought this could be something I could try when creating my own poster. I like how its simple but the colour hoping of the red flowers really stands out and captures your attention. The font is in keeping with the tone of the poster its simple but sleek and overall is a very effective image.

I was toying around with Photoshop using photos online to try and replicate this style. I changed the background as I have noticed this commonly is done on film posters. I tried to incorporate Forget Me Nots into the title by using a mask layer on Photoshop.

Here i used an actual picture of Chrissy, my main protagonist, I Photoshopped a hospital scene behind her. And a dded the same title that incorporated the forget me nots.

I plan to take photos of Chrissy next week for use in my film magazine and poster.

Below are some more ideas for titles. I like this font used as its slightly cracked, this might show connotations of Chrissys broken mind due to her mental illness.

Film Posters

In this post I want to look at how different film posters from different genres of film differ.

Jupiter Ascending

Warner Bros

Jupiter Ascending is a 2015 American–Australian space film written, produced, and directed by Lana and Andy Wachowski. Starring Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, Sean Bean, Douglas Booth and Eddie Redmayne, the film is centered on Jupiter Jones (Kunis), an ordinary cleaning woman, and Caine Wise (Tatum), an interplanetary warrior who informs Jones that her destiny extends beyond Earth.

In comparison to the poster below we can see that the Jupiter Ascending poster has much more going on in it. For example the colour scheme is bigger as the poster contains many colours in comparison to the Theory of Everything which contains mainly shades of blue. Also the images used in the post above are much more demanding and require you to look at the poster in detail.

I like how in the poster above the symbol of the earth in font of jupiter has been used twice both as the primary image and as a kind of logo to accompany the title.

The film has a star cast of which two are feature in the primary image on the poster (Kunis and Tatum). This helps to attract audience members who are previous fans of these hollywood actors and actresses.

The positioning of the characters suggests to the audience that there will be some kind of love story between the two charters entwined with the space,  action, adventure narrative.

Its important to note that the poster features the fact that the films from the creators of the matrix trilogy. This will draw in audience members who are fans of the matrix films.

The poster also informs the audience of the release date.... Febuary 6th 2015.

The poster also promotes the use of 3D and IMAX technology, all these things that help gain a larger audience for the film increase the revenue the film will make..

The Theory of Everything

Working Title

The Theory of Everything is  2014 British romantic coming of age drama.

This poster is much more simple than the poster above. Its colour scheme is simple and features white and shades of blue. 

The primary image feature the main protagonists played by the amazing british actors and actresses Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones. There positioning and composition in the poster suggest a love narrative and also suggest heartache and heart brake! 

The background or secondary image consists of a double exposure of handwritten formulae which suggests the film has a deep intellectual side, this will attract a different audience to the action, space film above. 

This image is double exposed with a shot of cambridge university, the location of which the film is based. Cambridge university is a historical and famous British landmark. Its the second oldest university in the english speaking world and is widely regarded as one of the most influential and prestigious universities. Including this image in the poster is a clever idea as it will draw in audience members with any interest in british history. Also many Americans have a one sided view of Britain and would have heard about these famous places and this may attract them to watch the film as many love the idea of the posh, British university community.

The font used in this poster is very traditional which suits the storyline and narrative of the film. The top of the poster features a quote from the Rex Reed New York Observer., the quote suggests the film is 'masterful'. The poster also mentions the fact that its based on a true story of Jane and Stephen Hawking who is an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge.

Film posters terminology and features

Below are two posters advertising the same film 'Whiplash', they are different styles which suggests to me that they are being used to attract a different type of target audience. I would assume the first poster is used in a art house cinema or for a more niche target audience whereas I think the second poster is used to attract a more mainstream audience.

The diagrams below show the differences in techniques and design in order to promote a film specifically to their target audience.

Here are some more posters that are both very different in genres, and the diagrams demonstrate how design can be used to appeal to different audiences and get across the theme and feel of the film.

Product: Magazine Cover

This is my film magazine front cover, its an independent film magazine named "Vision". I chose this name as its appropriate to films because it infers that the information being discussed is able to be viewed.. hence Vision. I decided to use a posed picture of my actress as if they were on press tour rather than them in character. I think this is more effective for an independent magazine, and in my opinion makes the magazine more interesting and personal. I think this style looks professional and stylish.

I used photoshop to make and edit my magazine cover. Its easy has access to many advanced tools which I wouldn't have on other software. I choose the font on "font space" and then decided my colour scheme. I decided I wanted my poster to look simple but sophisticated so used dull colours that didn't detract from the photograph.

I used histograms to edit the levels on the photograph, and used the magic wand tools to remove the background, and insert a new one (field of Forget Me Nots) I thought this background would be a great feature for the film as it links to the title of the film..

Photoshop allowed me to overlay other mages so as a special feature I decided to include some new releases, and display pictures of whats to come inside the magazine. This technique is often used on magazines to make you buy them.

I included a bar code because when doing my research I noticed it was one of the things always present.

Film Magazine

After looking at various names and styles of film magazines I have decided to name my magazine VISION, an independent film magazine.

I decided on this name as its appropriate to viewers, it links to film as we all watch film visually. I want the style to be bold and the text to be in capitals so that it stands out when being sold at the shops. I think I will use a bright colour for the text and some duller colours for the background so the more important information stands out. Also my subheadings will be in a similar, if not the same font as the title but in a smaller size so that it doesn't detract from the title..

I really like the style of the independent Sight and Sound magazine, I like the use of the various sketchy hand drawn fonts. I think the different colour schemes will attract different audiences, and

help them differentiate between what the magazines are advertising.

I also quite like the way that the mainstream magazines are designed, I like how the bright bold title stands out and how the protagonist is centred at the front of the magazine. I love how the text is overlaid over the image of Robert Downey JR.

Magazine cover construction

One part of my ancillary task is to create a magazine cover to promote my film that I have shot the trailer for. This is an important part of film marketing, and in order to create a magazine cover I first need to understand how the magazine industry works so I can comply with their codes and conventions.

There are many similarities in film magazine covers, especially those that advertise block buster movies. The photo below demonstrates these similarities...

As you can see bold text is used frequently, and most magazines tend to stick to the same layout. From this montage we can also see that similar colour schemes are used with frequent use of blues and reds. Below I am going to look at the main features of a magazine.

Film Trailer

Here is my finished film trailer "Forget Me Not", a drama inspired trailer based on a runaway with a degenerative brain disorder, struggling to make a new life for herself.

Risk Assessment: How we applied it

Location

Train station: 

• Wet ground and rain: move with caution to ensure we didn't fall onto the track.
•  Cold: make sure our actress was warm 
• In the case that an injury: depending on the severity of the injury we could either take them back to Scarlets house (2 minutes walk) to seek appropriate treatment or take them to hospital in a serious case.

Kitchen: 

• Hot water: the water wasn't boiled so it couldn't have burned her
• Aga: warn Chrissy when near it
• If someone got burnt: run the burn under cold water  
• Dropping her phone: we used a fake phone so that there was no smashed glass etc. This could be a danger to others.

Bedroom: 

• On the bed: everyone acted responsibly

Car: 

• Pushing on any pedals, move the gearstick or the handbrake: warned actors before hand 
• Using special effects (SFX): we got quite wet so got changed into warm clothes after to ensure we didn't get too cold

Motorway: 

• Busy road: we were with a friend incase one of us got hurt, in this event we would have called the ambulance.

Street: 

• Cars and people: we were careful, made sure we weren't in the way of others and always kept an eye out for cars

Hospital: 

• Not allowed to film patients or staff: we had to be patient when waiting for staff and patients to move out of the shots

Bathroom: 

• Plastic bottles: e made sure they were all plastic and empty so couldn't hurt anyone or break

Piano Sequence

While filming we decided to record Chrissy on the piano playing the peter pan theme tune. The idea was that we would incorporate it into "Say" by John Mayer however it didn't sound quite right. We tried many times to blend the two tracks however it just wasn't right. However I really liked the song and the filming so thought I should still include it on my blog. We filmed from two different angles however I have only included one in this video as the other is not essential and was only for use in the trailer to make it more interesting.

Filming Day Five

Today I filmed our final shots of the motorway. I wanted to film this as a time lapse however I didn't have the correct equipment or time to set up the camera for a whole day. Instead I decided to film for a few minutes, messing around with focus and then speed up the footage when it comes to editing it.

I thought the M4 would be an appropriate place to film as its very busy and has enough lanes. I found the bridge I wanted to film from using google maps, I went to the bridge and set up my tripod. I had to ensure the camera stayed very still in order for the shot to work. Here is a photo below of the shot I took.

Filming Day Four

 Today we have filmed at two different locations. Savernake hospital in Marlborough and my house in Pewsey. We filmed at the hospital this lunch time, I had to ask permission to film at this location. I had a conversation with the site manager in which he filled out a risk form etc and told us that we could go ahead with filming as long as we didn't film any of the patients or staff with out their permission.

We filmed some shots of the waiting rooms, automatic doors and corridors and also got to use one of the hospital rooms for one shot.

Later in the afternoon we filmed 3 scenes at my house. Two in a bedroom and one in the kitchen.

Here are some photos of us at work.