How did you use new media technologies in planning and constructing your media product?

Cameras

We used HD (High Definition) video and still cameras. The stills cameras were used to capture the images we wanted to use on our magazine cover/film poster and we took these during filming.

The HD camera equipment had good light settings so was good to use whilst filming during the evening. We set the white balance and exposure so that enough light would be let in, whilst at the same time keeping it low key. Some of the advantages of using digital technology rather than analouge are that it makes the creative process easier and editing can be more experimental as you can always undo any decisions that do not work. The final product is also easier to distribute i.e. via the Internet, or uploaded onto YouTube etc. Another advantage is that you can shoot then re-shoot footage without wasting materials - this saves money and allows you more control over film making process. We made the most of all these advantages whilst using this equipment.

Editing Software

This helped with the construction of our media product because it allowed us to create a variety of effects that helped define the form and style of our trailer. The editing software that we used for our trailer and print work was Premier Pro/ Adobe Photoshop and Sound Booth. On Sound Booth we used the loops to replay the same sound which was then imported into our film trailer to ensure the soundtrack flowed evenly and was in sync with the action. We also looked at the decibel level of the track, which we lowered so that the soundtrack was not overpowering.

Photoshop enabled us to edit the film poster and magazine cover. We did this by using different tools and making layers for each in order to do things such as create text, change the size of the canvas and import found images (i.e. a barcode/celebrity shots) to make it look like a legitimate magazine cover. The advantage of these type of software is that there is no limit to how many different copies of the product you can make - you can go back and edit it at any time and change as many things as you want and save it under a different name so you don’t lose the original copy. We made multiple copies of each product and then showed them to our traget audience to get feedback on the one they thought was most effective. They used different colours, different fonts and different layouts etc.

(Looping tools on Adobe Sound Booth )

(Decibel and pitch bender sound grid on Adobe Sound Booth )

( Layers of individual items on Adobe Photoshop)

 (Different tools used in order to create magazine cover and poster including magic wand, crop, text, move and blur)

How effective was the combination of your main and ancillary tasks?

Poster

The poster tells the audience what the genre of the film is through colour and images. The character positioned in the centre of the poster, above the city skyline, illustrates the theme of hierarchy suggesting the film is about the levelling of class and status. Our film is a gangster film, which commonly employ themes of positioning and status.

Posters that were similar to ours and we generated ideas form were New Jack City and Inception.

Magazine

The central image we used on our movie magazine also represents the genre of the film as being gangster. Although we did not use the same character, all our characters wear a similar costume. We used a different character to the poster because we didn't want everything to just be the same, but at the same time we wanted to achieve continuity between products and present a strong marketing strategy.

The image shows one of the characters slipping a piece of paper into his inside pocket. If a potential audience member had previously seen the trailer or the poster, they would be aware that this prop is 'the list.' Here we tried to use this image as a repetative motif. These aides the readers’ interest to read on so they may know what the film is about, and possibly, what is written on the “list”. 

The fonts and colours we used for our magazine cover, trailer and poster were all the same. The title 'The List' was always writtern in white/grey so as to be recognised easily by the audience. I think that our products do a good job of advertising the same products and looking like a package. The genre is clear in all of them, as are the themes that the film has. They all clearly draw on the theme of power, status level and authority. Both the main characters, Darryl and Michael, are featured in the trailer and one character has been used in each of the ancilary tasks.

If we were to improve these products i think that we could have made the font that we use a bit more interesting, as it does not stand out, especially in the colours that we chose. This would of made sure we caught the audience's attention successfully and made a profit with our film. Maybe using the same main character on all the products would of been more effective too, athough sometimes campagines use different characters to front their marketing, so it is debateable whether this would have bettered our work.  

How did your media product use develop or challenge forms of real media products?

Our film teaser uses several camera techniques that are similar to real film teasers. These different types of camera techniques are used to build up tension depending on the genre of the film. For example, our film genre is based around action/ thriller/gangster so you would expect to see a variety of fast shots and edits to build up the atmosphere.  For our preparation we researched thoroughly different film teasers that are based in the action/thriller genre. We found out that the two films we were inspired from were Inception and Memento. These two films share the same media conventions as our film teaser.

In this medium long shot, the man in the grey suit is being dragged away by two henchmen towards a helicopter. I think the background is important here as you can see that there are lot of high rise buildings. This sets the scene as the audience quickly realise that this scene may involve some action as the signs in the background indicate danger in an urban setting. Also, the man being dragged away shows that the teaser may involve some kidnapping of some sort. The victim looks vulnerable and weak whilst the two body guards look strong and powerful. We chose to use this camera shot in a different way, as we believed that it would help link our film teaser to the genre of action/thriller. The mystery of a man being dragged away built up mystery and tension in our trailer and i believe we used this shot effectively to make the audience question why he was being kidnapped and who by.

  

( Our mid shot of the character walking and someone talking on the phone)

                              (Above: our use of titles to build tension and explain the story)

In these screenshots used from our film teaser ‘The List’, the titles are used and than there are a couple of shots afterwards. We chose to use this technique similar to ‘Inception’, as using the words 'one name.' This was used to give the audience the idea of there being a special or 'chosen' character and also hint at the idea of some sort of mission that he has to go on. I think the use of these titles was effective in conveying the right amount of information to the audienece.

One thing i regret is that we did not really try and challenge any media conventions. We used strerotypical representations, and although our trailer fitted perfectly within the genre, one criticism may be that we followed conventions so much that it was no longer very original.

Another way we were inspired by the film Inception and Memento was the use of titles in the teaser trailer. The titles used in both film teasers narrate the film so that the audiences can get a idea of what the film is about (content/narrative/ themes)

In this screenshot used from the film Inception the title ‘your mind is the scene of the crime’ is used to convey the psychological theme in the story to the viewers.  The title is used to give a sense of direction so the audience know what the film has to offer to them. By putting myself in the shoes of the audience I would straight away think that the film Inception may be a psychological thriller as the use of the word ‘mind’ means that the viewer may have to do a lot of thinking in this film. The word ‘crime’ is associated with action; drama so the straight away as a member of the audience you may think this is an action/thriller.

What did you learn from your audience feedback?

According to the results we got a lot of positive views from our audience. We received various comments from our trailer both what was good about the trailer and what could be improved about the trailer. The way we gathered this information was by using the Internet and social networks i.e. Facebook and Twitter. Out of 92 people 45 gave us some feedbacK.

This list of improvements to be made included suggestions such as blend in the sound a bit more to give a smoother feel. The use of a voice over would help give more direction and meaning to the trailer. Using some more text would have helped give a better understanding of the narrative of our film. Out of the feed back we gathered the main issue that was brought up was that way the sound was blended in poorly and the fact some more text could have been used during the teaser trailer. 

Feedback given to us by audience members about the trailer from the website YouTube.

Inna ThePooh

Make the fade in/fade out a bit longer. To make it more mysterious. It seems lyk u cutting.especially wen u passing the envelope. (Notice how horror movies have these long fade ins or fade outs. or really fast cuts. To bring up tension....)
y was there a shot of a phone ringing? Dat was a bit confusing lool
and u see wen it says 'on...

See more

12 February at 19:54 · like · · See friendship

           

                       

                       

                       

                        


                       

                       

                        


            Dairelle Underrated Edwards Jheez jokers 12 February at 20:26

              Like · 1 person                   

Write a comment...

Dairelle Underrated Edwards

Please give us feedback it's first video I need to asses thanks reasonable feedback please 



11 February at 19:58 via iPhone · Like ·

           

         


Migena Love and Felix Nytz In-allWays like this.

           

                       

                        


                  Felix Nytz In-allWays siccccka!11 February at 20:04 · Like               

                       

                        


                             Dairelle Underrated Edwards Thank you good feedback11 February at 20:09 · Like                     

                                           

                                           

                       

                              Felix Nytz In-allWays you are welcome, my don11 February at 20:11 · Like                      

Comments form the social network Facebook.

We also filmed audience members watching our product and recorded their feedback We found that the results were similar. These findings are vital for future reference to help build a stronger trailer and one that will capture attention from the audience more.

Final edited version of "THE LIST"

                                                                     "THE LIST"

"THE LIST" poster final version

Film poster draft2

"THE LIST" poster draft 1

The magazine cover Final version

This the final version of our magazine cover the magazine is called view

magazine cover draft 2

this a second draft of our magazine cover

magazine cover draft 1

This is a draft of how our magazine cover looks.

Magazine Research for 'The List'

This is a magazine research which may be similar to our teaser trailers. As you can see the figure of the man in the middle shows the importance of the character and the gun seems like its pointed at the audience to build up tension. The short titles above the main title gives a slight indication about the concept behind the teaser trailer. The background image of the fire burning also enlightens the magazine and may show that the film is going to be exciting.

Magazine Research

The character is central in a slanted pose to demonstrate his importance, also the writing is in big bold and capital letters to catch the eye of the reader a so they know what the issue is about. The character is also in a slanted position with a serious posed and the use of props is important also to help demonstrate what type of film it is. The headings are still in bold and bright colors so you can read it clearly.

Magazine Research

To help generate ideas for our magazine cover we have been looking at various types of movie magazines such as empire and premiere. I decided to look at these particular magazines covers to get an idea of how we have to structure and format our own cover

For example the text written on the front of the cover has to be clear, the headings are generally done in different colours so it doesn’t clash with the background picture. We noticed also its good to have other topics that would be involved in the magazine to make it look more realistic this can be done with text and pictures. The reason I decided to research these magazines because it links directly to the genre of our film and it helps give us an overall idea of how our magazine cover should be if your promoting a action film. 

Magazine Poster Research for 'The List'

This is a similar poster we may use for our film teaser. I think the representation of ‘Batman’ in the middle shows the importance of the character, as he is the central figure in the film. The big building in the background may represent the world falling down because of the burning batman sign. It may represent that Batman may be the cause of the destruction of the building.  The dark atmosphere in the background conveys the dark scenarios that may take place in the film.  Also, it shows that most of the films settings may be dark and evil. The title used at the top of the poster may be the catchphrase of the film and can help entice the audience because of the words used in the catchphrase. We may use these similar techniques for our posters as I believe this poster is really convincing and helped enticed me to watch the film. 

Actors used in the 'The List'

Darryl Edwards

Emmanuel

Michael

These are the actors used within the trailer playing three different types of characters the agent the victims and  The boss within the trailer.

Soundtrack compilation for 'The List'

Some of the sounds that we were thinking of using in our trailer was a song taken from 'Batman: Dark knight' film called 'why so serious'. The reason for this is because it builds suspense and causes tension, and this is why it is used at the beginning of the trailer to cause tension, we plan to use this for the first 50 seconds. When our montage happens were going to have something fast paced like 'Dub step' to get adrenalin pumping into the audience, to get them interested.

Here is a link to the 'why so serious' soundtrack:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QjuEWsdgEc

Props and Costumes

Passport

Black Suit

Black Shades

A few of the props and costumes that will build up a story in our teaser.

A2 Media Research

Our teaser is based as an action movie. The range of sub genres in action films comes from; psycho, comedy, romantic, thriller. Such titles include; Mr & Mrs Smith (Romantic), Rush Hour 1,2,3 (Comedy), and thriller would probably be the Die Hard “Quadrilogy” (1,2,3 & 4).

We wish to work in the action genre because we are enticed by many of the films. The elements such as the thrill, the plots, which seem absurd to real life situations, are what create this genuine enthusiasm for action films. 

The trailer I saw for Bad Boys II (inset) is a canvas that I would our group to work from. The first half builds a guess into the possible storyline for all the action and high impact scenes involved in the film. It presents itself as a brief summary with coherent dialogue scenes before it is absent in the second half. This second half is split second shots in a montage. It is a figurative of the action and anticipation to expect from the film. Some shots include; guns holstered, bomb explosions, 

We want to try to emulate as many of these shots as we can for our montage, within our means because our time and our budget is a factor. 

A2 Media Research

While planning for our teaser trailer I decided to research films that are similar to our  own production.

The first film that is similar to our idea is Inception. Inception is similar to ours because of the type of genre that it is which is mystery/ action and thriller.

It has various camera shots that we will use during our trailer such as close up shots of the character’s face to help show the emotion of the character. Shots such as the crane shot is also similar to what we want to create because it helps show where the film is based or present an area or location which will appear in the rest of the film. In our trailer we plan to use Liverpool Street as the main location because it is a built up area.

Editing techniques which are similar to the ones we want to use are the use of titles. Titles are used to describe the narrative of the film and give information about the genre and the themes. The titles in Inception read “ Your mind” and “A crime will take place.” This tells us that there is a psychological element to film, also it’s telling us there is going to be a crime. Other techniques that are used are quick cuts to show the main parts of the film easily to the audience. Fade outs are also used to signify to the audience that it is not continuity editing and just the best parts have been selected.

Using a heavy base non diegetic soundtrack to set the mood of the film is something that we as a team are looking to do to help get the message across. Inception also uses a montage to show what type of action there is during the film and make it more appealing to the viewer.

Crane shot from Inception show the building in China to show the location of where part of the film is based 

Editing technique the use of titles in inception to help build the suspense and give more information on the film.

The use of close up shots to show how the character feels and to help show the personality of who they may be and helps to create a mysterious feel as he looks shady.

The mise-en-scene contains props and characters which are important to the film. We plan to use similar props in our film. A clock is used in the Inception trailer that helps show its importance of time and it also creates the impression that the film will be fast paced, but it is still mysterious as you still don’t know the meaning of why its there.

The Machinist 

The Machinist is from a similar sub genre which is mystery, the film also contains a lot of action which puts it in the action/thriller genre. The Machinist is similar to our film in the way editing techniques are used., The techniques that they use in the trailer are quick cuts and montage to display lots of scenes. which is what we are planning to do in our trailer. It uses a series of camera shots such as a close up and medium shots on the face. The film also use a dramatic soundtrack to create atmosphere within the trailer.

Mise-en-scene

This films is all about the main character and they use props such as post stick notes reading “ who are you?” which helps to hint towards the psychological themes of the film. They spend lot of time in a factory, which gives you some idea where the film is set.

Close up of christian bales face  to capture his emotion

Memento 

Editing techniques used within in this film trailer are a series of cuts and fade outs which is something that we plan on doing in our trailer.

Mise-en-scene 

In the mise-en-scene they use a series of props and costumes that help give information on the film. For example the character has tattoos all over his body to help explain some of the narrative - he is using tattoos to remember who killed his wife.That is something that we are looking to do within our trailer but by using different array of props or equipment such as letters, phones etc.