Evaluation question 4- part four

Evaluation question 4- part three

Evaluation question 4- part two

Evaluation question 4- part one

Evaluation question four

I identified all of the 'new media technologies' I have used within the construction, research, planning and evaluation. My next step is to identify how i have used each of these technologies.

Approaching evaluation question four

What the final question is asking is how I used new media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation strategies. Before I answer question four, i thought it would be appropriate that I looked at the key words within the question I have been presented with, this will help me structure my response.

Evaluation question three

I had a look through my audience feedback...

I looked at the variety of frequent comments people made and what I have taken into account and in turn learned from them. I looked at both the comments that appeared frequently as they were more likely to have some relevance and be factual than based on a personal opinion.  A personal opinion although being relevant, if something is brought up more than once, then you are able to identify it as an issue. After, I looked at what those comments have taught me about my trailer and how I could use the criticism to constructively improve my skills if I were to make another trailer in the future. Myself and my production partner created this video presentation using the software Powtoon that discusses exactly what we have both learnt from the individual comments from our target audience. 

  

Evlaution question three

Evaluation question 3 is as follows:
What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I cannot determine what I have learnt until I take a look at the feedback itself to then decide what it has actually told me about my production and what I could do to improve it. The presentation below shows some of the feedback I got over the social networking site Facebook as well as by talking directly to my audience after showing them our trailer.

 

Evaluation question two- The video

We created this video to discuss our four points of focus. These points aim to determine how effective the combination of the ancillary texts with the trailer are in achieving their purpose.

Approachinmg evaluation quetsion two

We broke down the question into the key words to determine exactly what the question was asking us. We  then looked at how we could go about answering the question, producing four key focus points covering conventions, features that advertise and how well linked the pieces are.

Evaluation question one- Conclusion

 

Evaluation question one- Cinematography

We thought it appropriate to complete  an in-depth cinematography analysis to determine whether our media product uses, develops or challenges forms and conventions of real media products. The images below discuss how we have used, developed or challenged the forms and conventions of real media products.

Firstly we have used a range of shot types which is something that we both determined as essential in creating a visually appealing piece. It could be argued that the shots used are conforming and developing conventions as they are used to portray the same ideas as similar shot types of other trailers. For example, high angle shots are used to establish vulnerability of a character whilst slow tracking shots are used to create suspense.

Evaluation question 1- poster

Evaluation question 1- editing

I looked at some of the most significant editing techniques used throughout my trailer to understand whether my trailer conformed to or challenged the conventions of real media products. 

 

I concluded that many of the editing techniques that I have used comply to the conventions of real media products. I chose to use many of these techniques as I identified them as common features in real trailers and chose to employ their use in my own media product.

 

During my extensive research process I identified that crossing over the audio from one shot to another creates a sound bridge helping the piece to flow better. I then used this technique as evidenced in the explanation in the image above.

 

I use a fade to black to help the transition to a new location. A fade to black is commonly used to show the passing of time and this is what I am trying to portray; again making my media product comply to the conventions of real media products.

 

I cross faded the titles over certain shots to link their meaning to the scene. This was a technique that I observed in my research process in trailers such as Belle and Little Birds. This, again, makes my trailer coventional. 



Evaluation question 1- Mise en scene

As discussed earlier I will be looking at a range of the microsaspects of my trailer to determine whether it challenges or conforms to the conventions of real media products. One of the things I am looking at is mise en scene which is a term used to describe what is in the scene and covers everything from lighting to the positioning of the characters. I have looked at whether the mise en scene corresponds with the fantasy genre as well as other trailers. This will help me answer question one. The presentation below examines aspects of the mise en scene and offers explanations into how the features discussed are either conventional or not.

Evaluation question 1- locations

Evaluation question one discusses conventions and whether my final media product conforms to or challenges them. Now that I have determined that my film poster and magazine cover both conform to conventions I am now trying to discover whether my actual trailer does, or not. In order for me to be able to find this out I will have to look at a range of features and microaspects of my trailer and compare them to the findings of my research. The first thing I am looking at is that of locations and whether they are conventional. Obviously there are no locations typical of a trailer itself but there are of the fantasy and drama genres. This is what I will look at to determine whether my locations are conventional. The picture below shows a few of the locations in my trailer.

1) The road and home
This location could immediately be recognised as conforming to conventions. During my research process I discovered that in the beginning of most trailer the beginning state of equilibrium is introduced. This can be seen where the protagonist Alice is walking home from school.

2) Woodland
A lot of the trailer has that of a woodland location and this again is typical of the fantasy genre. This could be due to the mysterious and somewhat spooky nature of the location.

3) The tunnel
The lighting in this shot is exceptionally magical looking and the fact that they are in a passage/on a journey makes it stereotypical of the fantasy genre.

4)Railway bridge
The stone bridge is somewhat picturesque and this is key in fantasy films where what you see is often old, beautiful or magical to look at.

5)Shed
Although filmed in a shed this location is meant to be a wooden hut in the woods. This looks like the scene out of a horror film but it could be said that fantasy and horror films can cross over quite a lot. It could be argued, however, that this location is more 'horror' and therefore my trailer could challenge conventions in terms of location- supported by the horror quality to the woodland location also. The hut in the woods could link to stories like Snow White , however and hence argued as conventionally fantasy.

Evaluation question 1- magazine cover

Evaluation- approaching question one

Our final theatrical film trailer

The poor quality is due to the file and quality of the shots being too large meaning it would not upload to a social network sharing site 'Youtube'. This is an issue we hope to resolve.

How has my trailer changed?

Final magazine cover

Editing the image for the magazine cover

We used photoshop in order to make the magazine cover look professional and tie in with the expected conventions of the 'fantasy' genre.

Final film poster

Approaching evaluation question one

Ways in which i could present my evaluation

What must an evaluation include

Casting- Star

This video stars owners made to show us if she is capable or not of starring in our trailer, after watching this short video, it has became apparent that Star has various qualities, not only does she look good on camera, but she is agile and fit and would be able to partake in the demanding challenges that occur during filming.

Designing our Title/logo

Film poster- deciding on an image

Behind the scenes images

Behind the scenes- Amelie and Romeo in the 'over the log' scene

Casting

After looking at various possible options, we shortlisted five girls, and choose these two, Billi and Olivia, we believe they both fit the role perfectly as they both experienced and they would work well together as they are the same age. I created this profiles of them using Photoshop.

Practice magazine covers

I created this short video of three of the test magazine covers we completed using photoshop in the style of 'Little White Lies' film magazine

Test magazine cover in style of Little White Lies

I used photoshop to apply appropriate filters to make it look like the actual magazine, although this is a rough copy with no text, and this would not be the final image we would use for the magazine cover. The logo i imported from a separate file using the Magnetic Lasso tool.

Photoshop - Applying filters

We thought that independent film magazine 'Little White Lies' would be perfect to showcase 'Alice', we discovered that each magazine cover had a filter on the image to make it look like it had been hand drawn, I got a picture from google that has the same theme/genre as our film, i then applied a filter to it using photoshop, this is the filter we will use if we were to make our magazine film cover in the style of 'Little White Lies' Not only would our film be perfect for this magazine cover, but it is also an independent film, so makes our advertisement more realistic.


 *Before*











*After*

Analysing film posters

I created this slideshow for some inspiration into what film posters look like, i looked at a variety of genres so that my opinion was not bias. It came apparent that the posters from my genre and selected target audience often incorporate a variety of lighter colours, the text is bold and clear And they often have one image. An example of something opposite is a horror film poster which often incorporates dark colours, has a dark colour scheme and often has text that is 'fancy' and harder to read, this may be to repel children from reading it, as most young children (who are not in the target market) may struggle to read the complicated calligraphy.

Investigating magazine covers

This slideshow gives me more inspiration into what professional film magazines look like and will help me identify the common features and replicate them for my magazine cover in order to make it appear more professional.

Analysing film magazine covers

Magazine cover research

What should a magazine cover look like?

Evaluating trial my film poster

I created a small survey too ten members of the public of different ages, genders and ethnicities so i could get a fair response, the following pie charts indicate the vast amounts of positive feedback i gained, and proves my poster to be a general success.

Creating my own poster (for practice)- 'Speak No Evil'

I have created a film poster using adobe photoshop, i  used the various skills that i learnt throughout the end of last term with the various tasks put in place which educated me about using photoshop and the various filters, effects, and tools available to me. To create this poster i used...
-Magnetic lasso tool
-quick selection tool
-filters
-text
-blur tool
-sharpen tool
I learnt how to use these in the tasks at the end of the last academic year. I am now confident with using photoshop in the future. The professional software gives my poster a professional edge and makes it seem more realistic.

Film poster research, existing posters- Les Miserables

Film poster research, existing posters- Drag Me To Hell

Film poster research, existing posters- The Hangover

Common features in production

I made this short cartoon talking about the common features in the naming of production companies...

Creating Our logo

Logo research

Characters characteristics- Alice's mother

Characters characteristics- Ariel

Characters characteristics- Alice

Film name selection...

We shortlisted three film names, and looked at the positives and negatives of both. And being unable to decide, we got the opinion of 36 members of our target audience, and it became clear that 'Alice' was the most popular choice.

*picture*

Investigating film names

Other character cartoon profiles

Alice's Mother

- A mature haircut with glasses that portray her age. she has make up on, as she is older, and she has a friendly approachable appearance.  She has a responsible looking face, she doesn't appear threatening and she has a kind and friendly demeanour.










The witch

-The witch has a harsh look about her, her face is drawn, she has dark hair and her eyes must be either blue or green as they stand out amongst the darkness and make her have more of a magical appearance. She has no expression on her face, which highlights her lack f emotion and harsh approach on life.





The fairy

- The fairy is stereotypical of what genre conventions suggest, she is blonde haired and has blue eyes. Her hair must be long. She has a friendly face, that is welcoming and approachable, although she has a magical demeanour, meaning there is something noticeably different about the way she moves and acts around humans, this is how we are able to tell she is not human, and that she is in fact a fairy.

Casting- Ariel

This young girl must fit this profile...

AGE- between the ages of 10-15
HAIR COLOUR- light or dark brown
EYE COLOUR- brown or green
ACCENT- Southern (clear and young)
EXPERIENCE- No experience required, just a mature child who would work well professionally and is not camera shy.

Here is a cartoon profile of what Ariel may look like

Casting- Alice

We needed our main character to fit this profile...
AGE- between the ages of 6-9
HAIR COLOUR- light or dark brown
EYE COLOUR- brown or green
ACCENT- Southern (clear and young)
EXPERIENCE- No experience required, just a mature child who would work well professionally and is not camera shy.

Here is a cartoon I made of what Alice may look like...

Location- Actors house

We decided that the young child we select to play Alice would be in their natural habitat whilst filming the scenes of them reading the 'hurricane' book. We decided that this would be ideal as the young actor would feel more relaxed and act more natural in the surrounding known to them. Therefore the acting would come across more natural and look professional. We are unable to determine this location until the casting process is complete.

Location- Sydenham Hill Woods

We needed a 'magical' like setting for our trailer, we decided that woodland would be ideal, the most ideal location near to us was Sydenham Hill woods, this location includes an old railway which is no longer used, that would fit in nicely with our mise en scene, and it also includes logs, benches which our actors can sit on.