Tuesday 29 April 2014

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.


Monday 28 April 2014

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.








Friday 25 April 2014

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