Evaluation Question 4

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

Credit: Del

Evaluation Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

In this video Del and I explored how audience feedback helped us, we also reflected on the changes we have made due to the audience feedback. 

Evaluation Question 2

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

Credit: Del

Evaluation Question 1

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

Final Magazine

How I made my magazine

Finalcut from briewe25

Changes made because of the feedback, continued

1. First draft

2. Final draft 

"The subheadings don't stand out enough, even though they are all different topics it appears as though they all say the same thing. However the colour scheme goes really well I like that the smoke seems to go around the main actor." 

1. Another target audience member see the problem with the subheadings this is a major problem as it lets down the whole magazine piece as the text takes up so much of the magazine layout. 
2. I changed the colour of the sub-headings as it was recommended in the audience feedback, I chose yellow as it seemed to match the colour scheme, as a another shade of red would've blended into page too much. 

Changes made because of the feedback

1. First draft

2. Second draft

3. Final draft

"The title of the film Th1rt3enth stands out but because it is written in typical font is makes the film title blend into the page. I think you should change it to the same font you used in your trailer."

1. From this piece of constructive criticism I realised I had spent a lot of time making the main image look professional, and seem to let the text be a after thought. These are the stages to the change magazine title, the first title looked clumpy and the red seemed to be not the right shade. As well as this it lacked character and this meant it stood out more. 
2. The second draft had more character and the red was more intense, but it seemed to blend in with the rest of the magazine. I listened to the criticism and used the same font to the trailer. 
3. The final draft made the title stand out far more and drew attention to the film. It also gave the audience of the magazine clues about the genre of the film. 

First draft of magazine cover

This is the first draft of my magazine cover, I deliberately used colours of red as it is associated horror. I used Photoshop CS5 to create the magazine as I was very experienced with it. I decided to get feedback from my target audience as they are the people who will buy the magazine. 

"The overall appearance of the magazine is good, especially the main image but the text lets it down."

From this comment I totally understood what they meant as the text could appear almost all the same except for the title of thirteen. I feel I should give subheadings a different font or colour to make it stand out more. 

"The subheadings don't stand out enough, even though they are all different topics it appears as though they all say the same thing. However the colour scheme goes really well I like that the smoke seems to go around the main actor." 

Another target audience member see the problem with the subheadings this is a major problem as it lets down the whole magazine piece as the text takes up so much of the magazine layout. 

As I compare my magazine subheadings to a August 2015 Film magazine I can understand that my fonts do not stick out, this is important as the subheadings draw the audience in as it lets them know what is in the magazine. 

"The title of the film Th1rt3enth stands out but because it is written in typical font is makes the film title blend into the page. I think you should change it to the same font you used in your trailer."

From this piece of constructive criticism I realised I had spent a lot of time making the main image look professional, and seem to let the text be a after thought. 

"There are no social media links or even a website most film posters contain at least one."

This is something else I will be adding as it is a key convention in a modern day magazine.

To conclude, the feedback from my target audience review I received many comments on the subheadings so this is something that I will be amending, as well as this I have decided that the title for the film on the magazine will be changed to the same font that was used in the magazine cover. It keeps a certain level of continuity to both of the ancillary texts, as well as this I will add a web address for the magazine too.

Final Cut

Credit: Del

Final Poster

Credit: Del

Poster layout changes

Del chose to change the layout/mock up positioning’s of the poster. Before I featured the protagonist, antagonist and "Marlo", this created a busier design which left too much space featuring dark areas wasted space. 

Therefore Del chose to take inspiration from film posters such as Scream, Carrie and Woman in black; Del felt their posters were effective in simply conveying the genre of horror as well as just including the protagonist. Del decided to to use the same layout for my poster with the protagonist, "Hannah". We also realised that the extreme close up shot made certain characters instantly recognisable so it made sense to put the protagonist on the front as she drives the plot.

New poster layout

As you can see Del decided that the poster should only contain "Hannah" this was due to her being the protagonist. Hannah had most of the screen time in the trailer this meant that it allowed for her to be almost instantly recognised by the audience who have seen our trailer. Del and I also decided to make Hannah the center pieces for both of our ancillary texts to further illustrate her major role in the film. 

While to old mock up of the poster used three characters we realised from our audience feedback that it could was slightly disorganised and in an attempt to draw the characters together we had to add very dark shadows. In one sense the overall darkness fits the genre of Horror but our target audience found the darkness took up so much of the page it was hard for the characters to stand out individually.  

Credit: Del

Photo shoot for magazine

click left and right keys to navigate:


Some of the shots were selected to be used in the magazine.

Credit: Del

Poster First Draft + Feedback

Here is the first raft of my final poster for our film, I created it using serif draw plus and paint for small detail refinements. After showing our poster to our target audience we asked them to complete a survey through survey monkey answering and explain areas that would have room for improvement. The positive feedback we had received from our audience was that we clearly demonstrated the genre of horror carefully considering mise en scene. The use of colour, lighting and fonts was sued appropriately. However the areas for improvements were explained as followed:

- include a tagline- include a release date
- make the title bigger and bolder
- include an age rating
- make institutional information clearer 

Magazine layout

Here is a basic mock up of our magazine we decided it would more realistic to go with an already well known magazine brand than creating our own. I felt that Total Film magazine would be more fitting as it showcases all genres of films and it adapts seamlessly to each film it shows. This was something that made choosing this magazine seem far more attractive it meant that I was able to be far more creative as the magazine is too. This meant that although our magazine was in fact an imitation of the original it would still appear to realistic and of a high standard, due to the flexibility of the original magazine.  

Examples of some of Total Films issues, showcasing their creative particularly the difference in the title to suit each film. 

When picking a total magazine to focus on and to compare to. I took inspiration from many magazines but tried to focus on magazines that had two people as their main image as this is how I intend to layout our magazine. With the Masthead usually staying in the same place remaining at the top of the page this meant that this convention of the particular magazine would have to stay the same. Other features of the magazine such as the positioning of the film title were interchangeable as they varies from cover to cover. 

Final Film title change

We decided to change our film title as Octob3r 1 boxed our trailer into only having Halloween connotations. Our final name change to Th1rt3enth made more sense as it more associated widely with the Horror genre rather than it just being vaguely Halloween. Besides changing to Th1rt3enth because of it being more broadly associated with horror, it mainly our story-line change that prompted Del's realisation that our film title no longer fits the actual story and trailer. Titles are far more memorable when the actual title matches the conventions of the trailer.

When making the logo Del decided to stick to red like the logo I had made previously. With red holding connotations of blood and with red is a very emotionally intense colour. The colour dark red is associated with courage but could also be associated with malice and wrath. 

Del decided to animate the title as it would help the audience to understand what our trailer may be about even more. Using Adobe After Effects he added the Glitch effect this digital distortion of an already blood red title gives and overall feel of displacement (the hint at something going wrong) the title being changed and then going back to normal is somewhat is symbolic of the metamorphosis  our main character Hannah has to go through to defeat the antagonist with losing her sense of identity. 

First Cut feedback

From the our first viewing to a our target audience, we established various areas which required improvement. The main areas for improvement was in the editing process, there were too many moments of darkness and segments of dead time within the trailer. As if it required more shots in the beginning to give the trailer a sense of continuity and to also tell the narrative at the same time. we were also told to add more sounds to make the clips more understandable, such as the mid shot of Rasharn breathing because it wasn't clear. the final part was just small details to improve on such as the removing on grain effect where no appropriate like in the beginning with the institutional information. Overall, using this method of retaining feedback, I was able to understand the changes required to make and also what has worked well as I would be aware if I have appealed to my target audience. 

Areas for improvement: 

- Lose blank segments with no action

- Extend some shots shown in the first half

- Record more shots to add to the beginning 

- Add foley sound to raw cuts

- Make institution logo without grain/glitch effects

Credit: Del

Filming Schedule

We found it difficult setting strict dates for filming as peoples free time varied depending upon availability, so we decided to separately film each character and piece it together in the final editing phase to place them together. These aren't exactly dates we specifically set up to film, it was the dates available for the actors.

Day one of shoot: 17th December 2015
Actors: - Mia
Props/Equipment needed: - Camera- Tripod
Costumes needed: Mia - black t-shirt, grey stone wash jeans, converse trainers
Day two of shoot:  18th December 2015
Actors: - Rasharn
Props/Equipment needed: - Camera- Hand held tripod stabilizer 
Costumes needed: Rasharn - Leather cap, black t-shirt, red and black flannel shirt, black denim jeans, black fadidas flux trainers
Day three of shoot: 5th January 2016 
Actors: - Rasharn - Mia- Sam
Props/Equipment needed: - Camera- Hand held tripod stabilizer - Knife
Costumes needed: Rasharn - Leather cap, black t-shirt, red and black flannel shirt, black denim jeans, black Adidas flux trainersMia - black t-shirt, grey stone wash jeans, converse trainersSam - White t-shirt, blue hoodie, light grey denim jeans, white converse trainers
Day four of shoot: 7th January 2016 
Actors: - Sam- Del
Props/Equipment needed: - Camera- Tripod- Knife
Costumes needed: Sam - White t-shirt, blue hoodie, light grey denim jeans, white converse trainersDel - Green hoodie, green flannel shirt, black destroyed denim jeans, grey distressed boots
Day five of shoot:  8th January 2016
Actors: - Sam- Del- Rasharn
Props/Equipment needed: - Camera- Hand held tripod stabilizer- light reflector
Costumes needed: Sam - White t-shirt, blue hoodie, light grey denim jeans, white converse trainersDel - Green hoodie, green flannel shirt, black destroyed denim jeans, grey distressed bootsRasharn - Leather cap, black t-shirt, red and black flannel shirt, black denim jeans, black Adidas flux trainers

Credit: Del

First cut feedback

From the our first viewing to a our target audience, we established various areas which required improvement. The main areas for improvement was in the editing process, there were too many moments of darkness and segments of dead time within the trailer. As if it required more shots in the beginning to give the trailer a sense of continuity and to also tell the narrative at the same time. we were also told to add more sounds to make the clips more understandable, such as the mid shot of Rasharn breathing because it wasn't clear. the final part was just small details to improve on such as the removing on grain effect where no appropriate like in the beginning with the institutional information. Overall, using this method of retaining feedback, I was able to understand the changes required to make and also what has worked well as I would be aware if I have appealed to my target audience. 

Areas for improvement: 

- Lose blank segments with no action

- Extend some shots shown in the first half

- Record more shots to add to the beginning 

- Add foley sound to raw cuts

- Make institution logo without grain/glitch effects

Trailer Editing Walkthrough

For this project Del decided to use Adobe After Effects to edit and piece our trailer together. Del chose to upgrade to this program rather than using my original program serif movie plus to become more precise with colour sound and transitions.  Before piecing together any of the footage Del decided to work backwards beginning with the title sequence which included the title following with a shot of action and the coming soon screen with the credits.

 The title was created using a bold red text in a ‘Darlin’ font. This font had an uneven, distressed presentation to it, along with the bold red text used had been perfect in portraying the conventions of the Horror genre. Del chose to use a black background to contrast with the red colouring in all titles, and chose to add a code on the top left to give it the handheld camera effect that is seen in the trailer. After Del applied a grain/noise effect to reinforce the handheld camera effect along with a glitch/twitch effect to make the titles have an uneasy disturbed effect.

Between the title of the film and the coming soon title, Del added a sequence of the protagonist being terrified being reassured by their friend and the friend later being attacked by the antagonist. We chose to add a grain effect once again to consistently have the handheld camera effect, the purpose of this sequence being added in the end was to contradict the Todorov’s theory eliminating the new equilibrium and continuing the trailer with a constant disequilibrium narrative. This creates the intention of leaving the audience confused and interested, and also becomes unexpected as the trailer appears to be coming to an end but has a continuation of bad encounters.

The advantage of using this software is that Del is also able to add and adjust the colour tones and contrast with ease. We took all raw cuts and before piecing anything together I chose to apply the colour correction filter to each shot that Del was going to use, applying dark tones and contrasts to make the genre of horror more apparent for the audience. Del also added a green/yellow colour on some shots to make the characters and locations appear to be more creepy and uneasy.

After applying the effects Del started joining shots together, after looking and researching the way trailers are put together, Del was able to understand how the moments of calm moods and high energy fluctuate from the beginning to the end. To make these moments of fluctuating moods Del had to rely on the sounds we used, this became easy to do with this program as Del was able to layer, crop and alter the volume and pitch of the sound to the specific moments with precision.

Overall, editing this trailers first cut was hard because of the time that had to be put into consideration with where sounds and cuts with start and end. However, with more practice it became easier to understand to use, we used an old grainy effect through the majority of it to make it appear to be more creepy and scary linking with the conventions of the genre of horror. This has all become easy from the change of software from what we have both  used in AS, 

Props for filming

Torch and matches: We used a torch within our trailer for the protagonist to use when searching the forest for the killer. the torch in hand of one character, particularly in a long shot can demonstrate the characters vulnerability. This was the intention as we wanted Sam to look intimidated and the torch also can play as a spotlight on the area she intends on searching which created an opportunity for moments of fright.

iPhone 6s camera: The iPhone 6s camera was used not only used for characters to reinforce the convention of teenagers being digital natives, but also to record the scenes where Sam is begin attacked in the kitchen by the killer. The handheld phone camera effect was effective within our sequence as it played as a visual through the characters perspective. As well as the visual effects, it had on the whole scene it also gave great quality shots, with the 12 mega-pixel camera and the auto focus which enabled for sudden and almost jerky shots to still remain in focus.

Knife: The knife was present in the match on action shot with the protagonist Hannah standing by window and the killer approaching her in the next shot from behind with the knife scrapping on the door. The knife is a common prop to use in the genre of horror as it has negative representations, linking to killing or attacking a victim. Use of the knife in horror films is often overplayed so we tried not to make it the stand out weapon in our trailer, the knife created tension visually, as well as digetically with the intense scraping used to of set the music.

Dishes, cutlery and broken glass: We used these items to distress the scenes setting to show the impact of the killers presence. We showed the commotion an the destruction the killer created when he was simply near this added to the audiences fear of the antagonist as it showed how frightening he is. 

Questionnaire for ancillary texts

We decided to conduct a survey prior to creating our ancillary texts; this was to see what types of texts are more accepted by our target audience and to also understand what elements of the texts they would prefer to be featured. I chose to sue closed questions so I could easily create graphs to form a final analysis for the data recorded. Here are the questions that I had asked my target audience:

Gender:

Male   [   ]     Female   [   ]

Age:

Under 10   [   ]     11 – 17   [   ]     18 – 29   [   ]      over 30   [   ]

How often would you say you watch movies?:

Everyday   [   ]     Once a week   [   ]      Once a month   [   ]     Less than once a month   [   ]
  Do you enjoy the genre of horror when watching films?:

Yes   [   ]     No   [   ]     Sometimes   [   ]

Which style of horror film do you find more scary?:

Realistic   [   ]     Fiction   [   ]     Both   [   ]

Where do you find out about new movies?:

TV trailers   [   ]     Online trailers   [   ]     Magazines   [   ]     Cinema   [   ]

Where do you usually view new trailers?:

Cinema advertisements   [   ]     TV Advertising   [   ]      Online   [   ]     Other   [   ]

Do you read movie magazines, if so how often?:

Yes, frequently more than once a month   [   ]     Sometimes, less frequent more sporadic every couple of months   [   ]      Barely, once or twice a year   [   ]      No   [   ] 

Does the actors presence (name or photo on a poster) influence your decision to watch the film?:

Yes   [   ]     No   [   ]     Sometimes   [   ]

Are you more inclined to watch films with people you identify with such as age, race, gender or do you have no inclination/ preference towards what the actor looks like?:

Yes   [   ]     No   [   ]     Occasionally 

Storyboard

Before making the trailer we drew up a storyboard, we made sure to draw up our storyboard before making the actual trailer as it acted as a reference point that we could refer back to when filming. The storyboard is like setting up a plan for production, including all the shots you'll need, the order that they'll be laid out, and how the visuals will interact with the script. 

This is the storyboard for the trailer, Del presented all shots in the illustrations to the nearest standard that they would be filmed in to make filming easy and faster for all cast and crew. This was something Del had improved on from AS as Del previously attempted to film improvising what the actors do on set. This wasted a lot of time and was something Del made sure was accurately done before filming. 

Filming schedule

We found it difficult setting strict dates for filming as peoples free time varied depending upon availability, so we decided to separately film each character and piece it together in the final editing phase to place them together. These aren't exactly dates we specifically set up to film, it was the dates available for the actors.

Day one of shoot: 17th December 2015

Actors: 

- Mia

Props/Equipment needed: 

- Camera

- Tripod

Costumes needed: 
Mia - black t-shirt, grey stone wash jeans, converse trainers

Day two of shoot:  18th December 2015

Actors: 

- Rasharn

Props/Equipment needed: 

- Camera

- Hand held tripod stabilizer 

Costumes needed: 

Rasharn - Leather cap, black t-shirt, red and black flannel shirt, black denim jeans, black fadidas flux trainers

Day three of shoot: 5th January 2016 

Actors: 

- Rasharn 

- Mia

- Sam

Props/Equipment needed: 

- Camera

- Hand held tripod stabilizer 

- Knife

Costumes needed: 
Rasharn - Leather cap, black t-shirt, red and black flannel shirt, black denim jeans, black Adidas flux trainers
Mia - black t-shirt, grey stone wash jeans, converse trainers
Sam - White t-shirt, blue hoodie, light grey denim jeans, white converse trainers

Day four of shoot: 7th January 2016 

Actors: 

- Sam

- Del

Props/Equipment needed: 

- Camera

- Tripod
- Knife

Costumes needed: 

Sam - White t-shirt, blue hoodie, light grey denim jeans, white converse trainers
Del - Green hoodie, green flannel shirt, black destroyed denim jeans, grey distressed boots

Day five of shoot:  8th January 2016

Actors: 

- Sam
- Del

- Rasharn

Props/Equipment needed: 
- Camera
- Hand held tripod stabilizer
- light reflector

Costumes needed: 
Sam - White t-shirt, blue hoodie, light grey denim jeans, white converse trainers
Del - Green hoodie, green flannel shirt, black destroyed denim jeans, grey distressed boots
Rasharn - Leather cap, black t-shirt, red and black flannel shirt, black denim jeans, black Adidas flux trainers

Credit: Del

Final destination poster analysis

Empire magazine analysis

Total Film and Empire magazine analysis

We wanted to keep our magazine as professional and conventional looking as possible. To achieve this we needed to understand the common conventions found on Total Film covers. I found it to be easier to understand the conventions of a magazine, if I analysed one I chose Total Film as it is the one I want to use when creating the magazine. Del decided to do Empire. 

Final destination poster analysis

While I looked at magazines covers Del decided to focus on analyzing film posters another key piece to making our film poster look as realistic and conventional as possible. We decided to do one each so we both gain an insight into typical conventions. 

Credit: Del and Brieani

First cut audience feedback

‘It was clear from the start what genre it was, without being overdone.’

This was something Del and I tried to focus on from the start, we did extensive research on codes and conventions of horror trailers. We also researched specific colour schemes that were frequent in horror films colours like red, black and grey. 

‘Coming soon or title credits page needed.’

‘Need to know when it’s released, but there's no release date.’

This was one of the most important things we missed as coming soon is an essential in trailers as the audience needs to be given a idea when the film will be coming. A title is another important aspect that needs to be added without them knowing the title they wouldn't be able to even understand the genre properly. A good title that is memorable enables people to talk about it, maybe even research more into the film. 

‘Add more music, it would help build suspense up to last scene when the main character says “Run!”’

Music is a key feature in setting the tone and mood of each scene. We have decided to add more music but we also try to not overdo it as during or research we found that to truly make a horror scary it has to be slightly  more realistic than fantastical. This means that the music we add has to either be barely noticeable or very loud and scary, we have decided to make our music using various copyright free music sources. Such as http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music/2 , http://freemusicarchive.org/genre/Ambient_Electronic/ as well as YouTube.

‘Angles used effectively.’

I feel our research on codes and conventions of horror movies enabled us to truly understand what was needed in our trailer. Angles and camera shots were just one of the many conventions and codes we looked into in detail.

'I wanted to see more content...'

We realised that we had cut down our shot a lot which made it seem we lacked content, so we will look back at previously cut frames and incorporate it in.