Candidate No: 1472
Thursday, 3 May 2012
Tuesday, 17 April 2012
How did you use new media technologies in the construction & research, planning & evaluation stages?
Research
Planning
Construction
*Please click on the mind maps to enlarge
Construction
Evaluation
*Please click on the mind maps to enlarge
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
*Due to the time scale I was not able to act on any audience feedback although I would have very much liked to. I think that the majority of feedback given would have improved the trailer and ancillary products in small ways so if I am to make any of these products again in the future I will need to allow time at the end of the project to do any small fix ups given.
How effective is the combination of your main product & ancillary texts?
Link with all of the products (trailer, film magazine front cover and the film poster
Links with the trailer and film poster
Links with the film magazine front cover and film poster
Links with the film magazine front cover and film poster- audience feedback links
Conclusion
Links with the trailer and film poster
Links with the film magazine front cover and film poster
Links with the film magazine front cover and film poster- audience feedback links
Conclusion
Evaluation
1) In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
2)How effective is the combination of your main product & ancillary texts?
3)What have you learned from your audience feedback?
4)How did you use new media technologies in the construction & research, planning & evaluation stages?
2)How effective is the combination of your main product & ancillary texts?
3)What have you learned from your audience feedback?
4)How did you use new media technologies in the construction & research, planning & evaluation stages?
Monday, 16 April 2012
Limitations of Audience Feedback
The audience feedback which we gained on our trailer and my ancillary tasks were great but we have limitations due to the fact that we only asked a small part of our target audience. Our target audience were twelve year olds to twenty five year olds although we only asked people in the range of seventeen to twenty. This means that we didn't receive the overall picture from all of our target audience.
In the future I will try and ask a range of people from my target audience to gain a bigger picture of what they think about he products and gain feedback from them all. This should further improve my products and make them a high quality.
In the future I will try and ask a range of people from my target audience to gain a bigger picture of what they think about he products and gain feedback from them all. This should further improve my products and make them a high quality.
Audience Feedback- The Film Poster & Film Magazine Front Cover
Questions
1. Does the film poster give an insight into the storyline?
2. Does the film poster & magazine follow the typical codes & conventions?
3. Is the writing clear & readable on both products?
4. If you walked past this poster in the street would it catch your eye & why?
5. If you walked past this magazine in the street would it catch your eye & why?
6. What is your favourite element of the film poster & magazine?
7. Can you see a link between the two products? E.g colours
8. What do you think could be improved in both products?
I asked these questions using a website named 'Survey Monkey' which allows you to create and publish surveys free of charge. I thought that this was the best way to collect audience feedback on my magazine front cover and film poster because answers are kept anonymous and it is a fast way to gain fresh feedback.
This is the link to my survey;
1. Does the film poster give an insight into the storyline?
2. Does the film poster & magazine follow the typical codes & conventions?
3. Is the writing clear & readable on both products?
4. If you walked past this poster in the street would it catch your eye & why?
5. If you walked past this magazine in the street would it catch your eye & why?
6. What is your favourite element of the film poster & magazine?
7. Can you see a link between the two products? E.g colours
8. What do you think could be improved in both products?
I asked these questions using a website named 'Survey Monkey' which allows you to create and publish surveys free of charge. I thought that this was the best way to collect audience feedback on my magazine front cover and film poster because answers are kept anonymous and it is a fast way to gain fresh feedback.
This is the link to my survey;
Here are the results that I gained;
Audience Feedback Analysis-The Trailer
1. What do you think the film is about?
The answers which were given for this question were very positive and we were extremely happy with them because the majority of people recognized what our film was going to about from watching the trailer. They said that this was because of the shots which we had and the CCTV part at the end backed up that George was going to get kidnapped.
2. Does it appeal to you as the target audience?
Again we received very positive feedback. The people which we asked were in our target audience so we thought that this was a very important question to ask and learn whether the techniques we used paid off in the end. Out of the six people we asked only one person didn't think that it appealed to them but they could understand how it would appeal to the majority of the target audience. A couple of reasons why they said that it did appeal to them was because the protagonist of the film was in the same age group to them meaning that they could relate more to him, making the film more interesting to watch. Also they said that they enjoyed watching films about skater culture so this film did definitely appeal to them because that is what our film is loosely based around
3. What genre do you think the trailer portrays?
The majority of people that we asked recognized that the film was a psychological thriller and they said that they thought it was because of the hostage situation at the end of the trailer and that they didn't really know who was stalking George because the identity of the stalker hadn't been given away, only parts of it. One person thought that the genre of the film was a mystery- action kind of film. I think that this is practically the same as calling something a psychological thriller because it still shows that they have picked up on the fact that the editing is fast paced therefore it is an action and then that they have understood that George has been kidnapped, but not sure who by.
4. Do you think that the trailer follows typical codes & conventions of a film trailer?
We received extremely positive answers for this question because everybody did agree that the trailer followed typical codes and conventions of a film trailer. Reasons given for this question were mainly because the editing started off quite slow and then gradually sped up. Also the music matched the pace of the editing which made it more professional. They also picked up on the fact that we added the basic requirements of a teaser trailer like the name of the film at the end of the trailer, the institutional information and also the release date.
5. Which technique do you think works the best?
We got various praise for different techniques used but the most popular ones were the rewind bit at the beginning and the CCTV part at end. The reasons they liked the CCTV bit was because it was generally a good technique to use and looked effective. I am glad that they like this technique because it shows that they have understood that George was in a hostage situation and that it is meant to be a CCTV effect used. The reasons why they liked the rewind bit at the beginning was because they had never seen it done in a trailer before so it stood out from other current trailers and that it was really effective. Also one person said that they thought it was a rewind of the film, in a fashion it is but it is actually meant to be Becca rewinding footage of George that has been filmed, although one person did pick up on this which is great. The other techniques which people liked was the part where George drove past the camera on his bike because it added to the pace of the film and looked like he was being chased, the eye moving around and the snapshot images. These comments are really great because it illustrates that the audience enjoyed watching the trailer and that they have found bits which are memorable.
6. What element of the trailer could be improved?
These are the suggestions which people said could further improve the trailer
-At the end with the four screen CCTV footage make it a little bit faster so that it flashes up for a brief moment so people catch a glimpse of it but not enough to take it in
-With the institutional information at the end make the names of the e.g. actors larger than the role that they played in making the film
-Slow down the writing a little bit more so people can read it easier
-Make the text message part a little bit longer so that you can read what it says easier
-Add the same effect onto the hand part as we did with the eye part
These comments are very fair and I think if we had time to we would have definitely done some of the e.g. shorten the CCTV four screen footage. Although some things we would probably not do like elongate the text message part because there is only so long we can add a freeze frame without it looking strange, although I do fully understand where the person is coming from.
Conclusion
To conclude I think that we have received some brilliant audience feedback because they have been able to recognize what the film is about and the genre of it, the film appeals to the majority of them as the target audience and that they can pick out different parts of the trailer which follow the codes and conventions of a typical trailer and their favorite part. Also they have given us some valid points to improve the trailer (if we had time to), which means that if we make a product similar to this in the future we can take these and their 'best bits' into consideration.
The answers which were given for this question were very positive and we were extremely happy with them because the majority of people recognized what our film was going to about from watching the trailer. They said that this was because of the shots which we had and the CCTV part at the end backed up that George was going to get kidnapped.
2. Does it appeal to you as the target audience?
Again we received very positive feedback. The people which we asked were in our target audience so we thought that this was a very important question to ask and learn whether the techniques we used paid off in the end. Out of the six people we asked only one person didn't think that it appealed to them but they could understand how it would appeal to the majority of the target audience. A couple of reasons why they said that it did appeal to them was because the protagonist of the film was in the same age group to them meaning that they could relate more to him, making the film more interesting to watch. Also they said that they enjoyed watching films about skater culture so this film did definitely appeal to them because that is what our film is loosely based around
3. What genre do you think the trailer portrays?
The majority of people that we asked recognized that the film was a psychological thriller and they said that they thought it was because of the hostage situation at the end of the trailer and that they didn't really know who was stalking George because the identity of the stalker hadn't been given away, only parts of it. One person thought that the genre of the film was a mystery- action kind of film. I think that this is practically the same as calling something a psychological thriller because it still shows that they have picked up on the fact that the editing is fast paced therefore it is an action and then that they have understood that George has been kidnapped, but not sure who by.
4. Do you think that the trailer follows typical codes & conventions of a film trailer?
We received extremely positive answers for this question because everybody did agree that the trailer followed typical codes and conventions of a film trailer. Reasons given for this question were mainly because the editing started off quite slow and then gradually sped up. Also the music matched the pace of the editing which made it more professional. They also picked up on the fact that we added the basic requirements of a teaser trailer like the name of the film at the end of the trailer, the institutional information and also the release date.
5. Which technique do you think works the best?
We got various praise for different techniques used but the most popular ones were the rewind bit at the beginning and the CCTV part at end. The reasons they liked the CCTV bit was because it was generally a good technique to use and looked effective. I am glad that they like this technique because it shows that they have understood that George was in a hostage situation and that it is meant to be a CCTV effect used. The reasons why they liked the rewind bit at the beginning was because they had never seen it done in a trailer before so it stood out from other current trailers and that it was really effective. Also one person said that they thought it was a rewind of the film, in a fashion it is but it is actually meant to be Becca rewinding footage of George that has been filmed, although one person did pick up on this which is great. The other techniques which people liked was the part where George drove past the camera on his bike because it added to the pace of the film and looked like he was being chased, the eye moving around and the snapshot images. These comments are really great because it illustrates that the audience enjoyed watching the trailer and that they have found bits which are memorable.
6. What element of the trailer could be improved?
These are the suggestions which people said could further improve the trailer
-At the end with the four screen CCTV footage make it a little bit faster so that it flashes up for a brief moment so people catch a glimpse of it but not enough to take it in
-With the institutional information at the end make the names of the e.g. actors larger than the role that they played in making the film
-Slow down the writing a little bit more so people can read it easier
-Make the text message part a little bit longer so that you can read what it says easier
-Add the same effect onto the hand part as we did with the eye part
These comments are very fair and I think if we had time to we would have definitely done some of the e.g. shorten the CCTV four screen footage. Although some things we would probably not do like elongate the text message part because there is only so long we can add a freeze frame without it looking strange, although I do fully understand where the person is coming from.
Conclusion
To conclude I think that we have received some brilliant audience feedback because they have been able to recognize what the film is about and the genre of it, the film appeals to the majority of them as the target audience and that they can pick out different parts of the trailer which follow the codes and conventions of a typical trailer and their favorite part. Also they have given us some valid points to improve the trailer (if we had time to), which means that if we make a product similar to this in the future we can take these and their 'best bits' into consideration.
Audience Feedback- The Trailer
Questions
1. What do you think the film is about?
2. Does it appeal to you as the target audience?
3. What genre do you think the trailer portrays?
4. Do you think that the trailer follows typical codes & conventions of a film trailer?
5. Which technique do you think works the best?
6. What element of the trailer could be improved?
1. What do you think the film is about?
2. Does it appeal to you as the target audience?
3. What genre do you think the trailer portrays?
4. Do you think that the trailer follows typical codes & conventions of a film trailer?
5. Which technique do you think works the best?
6. What element of the trailer could be improved?
Wednesday, 29 February 2012
Final Film Poster
Creating the Film Poster
Here is a presentation of how I created the final film poster;
Here is the final film poster;
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Potential Songs for our Trailer
We needed songs which were uncopyrighted so that we didn't need to ask for the permission to use them in our trailer. This proved to be a difficult and time consuming task because we had to research whether or not the song was actually copyrighted. We used the search bar on Youtube and typed in 'uncopyrighted music' and this brought up many results which we scouted through. The genre of music that we were looking for was dubstep with a rock kind of element too. We thought this would be a good idea because dubstep music is usually associated with BMX culture and also it has a strong beat to it which gradually gets faster and faster.
Here are some songs that we found that fitted the genre we wanted and were uncopyrighted;
Some other links to songs that we found on the Internet which were uncopyrighted;
Some other links to songs that we found on the Internet which were uncopyrighted;
Friday, 17 February 2012
Final Cut Pro Tutorials
Here are some Final Cut Pro tutorials that can be found on YouTube that we thought may be useful when we are editing our footage to make the trailer.
I also found the website Final Cut King (http://finalcutking.com/) which has been created by the person who made the second and third tutorial above, and they explain everything you need to know about Final Cut Pro whic we found very useful.
I also found the website Final Cut King (http://finalcutking.com/) which has been created by the person who made the second and third tutorial above, and they explain everything you need to know about Final Cut Pro whic we found very useful.
Friday, 27 January 2012
Diary of Editing Sessions
Session One
We watched all of the footage that we had filmed and whilst doing this we cut the film down into different 'takes'. This was so that it was easier to establish which piece of film belonged to which section. We also deleted the footage which was unfocused or was just 'empty footage'. Then we moved each section of footage to the correct place on the time line.
Session Two
We watched some more footage that we had filmed and then broke that up like we had done in the previous session. We then added the 'Flatline Media' animation to the time line from our previous trailer, although when importing this we had to re-add the text that said 'Flatline' because we had a technical error. We then added the 'beep' sound to the time line so that it fit in time with the heart monitor of the Flatline Media. We did this using Garage band and found the sound in the library; we then exported it using an MP3 Encoder, played the sound through Itunes and then finally imported it to the correct place in the time line
Session Three
In this editing session we decided to edit the very last part of the trailer first because we thought that it would be the hardest part to do but would look really effective. We made the final part of the trailer by layering four different clips of George in the hostage scene on top of each other and then make them all fit a quarter of the screen each.
We then added a 'timecode generator' to each of the four segments of footage so that it appeared to look like a CCTV screen (we set the times so that they all counted up from the same number).
To finish off this piece of footage we felt that we needed something odd to happen at the end so we made all of the separate sections fuzz out all at once so that it looked like the CCTV screen had been disconnected. We did this by using a video filter named 'bad TV' which adds ripples wavy effects to footage. Straight after this happened we added a Render file named 'Noise' which is a completely pixalated screen which appears when something has lost connection. We felt that this looked really cool and effective so decided to keep this idea and add a crackling sound to play under it from the Garage Band library
Session Four
We did the same effect on four different shots of Becca as we did with George's CCTV part (splitting the screen into four separate parts), we wanted to do this to give George's stalker more of an identity. Although this effect looks great, we are unsure if two of the same types of edits will not work well so will need to decide this later on in the editing stage.
Session Five
During this session we focused on the part where George is leaving the house. To make the match on action edit we needed to find the exact part of the footage where he was opening the door and leaving the house. This didn't take too long to do and it also looks really effective.
Session Six
In this editing session we focused on the montage of different BMX tricks which George was performing. We had too much footage of him doing tricks so we had to drastically cut them down until we found the best ones. We put the final tricks together to make them look fast paced and snappy (with the use of cut editing). We then made the 'snap shot' parts with the tricks. To do this we found the best part of the trick, cut the footage and caught a freeze frame. We then moved the rest of the footage down the time line a little and then added a white rectangle shape which only lasts about half a second to create the 'flash' effect (we did this to tie in with the fact that she is stalking him, and also to signify that he is famous). We then added the freeze frame after this to make it look like this was the picture that had been taken (we put a very small border around the freeze frame to make it appeared more Polaroid like). We then moved the rest of the shot next to the freeze frame to finish the tricks montage.
Session Seven
We added the names of the actor and actress to the footage so that we knew that they appeared in the trailer somewhere. We did this so that the fan base of these actors/actresses knew that they were going to be starring in this new film so that they could create some viral advertisement.
Session Eight
During this session we edited the message, post and email scene. At first we had too much footage for these parts of the trailer e.g. when George was receiving the post we had him flicking through some other post and then reading the 'newspaper', which was unnecessary and time-consuming. Also it slowed the pace of the trailer right down which is not what we wanted to happen.
Session Nine
This is when we added text to the trailer to give some meaning to what is happening and to act as a narrative. We constantly moved the text around to different places to see where it worked best and the finally decided on where it is today. We thought that it was important to write the correct things in the text so that people know what the film is going to be about and also to create more tension. We also added the 'Summer 2012' text over the noise because it is important for the audience to know when the film is to be released so that the film company can gain a profit.
Session Ten
During this session we added the 'Life Drop' logo to the trailer. This took more effort than we initially thought because we needed to back up the image of Life Drop onto an external hardrive and then add it into Final Cut Pro. We then layered a white rectangle behind Life Drop so that it didn't look silly. I also think that having a white background makes Life Drop stand out the most during the trailer as it is quite a piercing colour to look at after watching darkish footage. We also added a zoom in effect on the text so that it was brought forward to the audience. We felt that this made this part of the trailer flow more.
Session Eleven
After exporting the trailer and watching it through we noticed that parts of it were missing because frames were being jumped. We thought that this was very odd and tried many different techniques to fix this. We then noticed that when text was layered over footage it didn't jump so over all of the footage we added text, which was just a full stop but with size zero so that it wasn't visible. This stopped the jumping so we were able to search for music that would fit in with our trailer's story line and editing.
We watched all of the footage that we had filmed and whilst doing this we cut the film down into different 'takes'. This was so that it was easier to establish which piece of film belonged to which section. We also deleted the footage which was unfocused or was just 'empty footage'. Then we moved each section of footage to the correct place on the time line.
Session Two
We watched some more footage that we had filmed and then broke that up like we had done in the previous session. We then added the 'Flatline Media' animation to the time line from our previous trailer, although when importing this we had to re-add the text that said 'Flatline' because we had a technical error. We then added the 'beep' sound to the time line so that it fit in time with the heart monitor of the Flatline Media. We did this using Garage band and found the sound in the library; we then exported it using an MP3 Encoder, played the sound through Itunes and then finally imported it to the correct place in the time line
Session Three
In this editing session we decided to edit the very last part of the trailer first because we thought that it would be the hardest part to do but would look really effective. We made the final part of the trailer by layering four different clips of George in the hostage scene on top of each other and then make them all fit a quarter of the screen each.
We then added a 'timecode generator' to each of the four segments of footage so that it appeared to look like a CCTV screen (we set the times so that they all counted up from the same number).
To finish off this piece of footage we felt that we needed something odd to happen at the end so we made all of the separate sections fuzz out all at once so that it looked like the CCTV screen had been disconnected. We did this by using a video filter named 'bad TV' which adds ripples wavy effects to footage. Straight after this happened we added a Render file named 'Noise' which is a completely pixalated screen which appears when something has lost connection. We felt that this looked really cool and effective so decided to keep this idea and add a crackling sound to play under it from the Garage Band library
Session Four
We did the same effect on four different shots of Becca as we did with George's CCTV part (splitting the screen into four separate parts), we wanted to do this to give George's stalker more of an identity. Although this effect looks great, we are unsure if two of the same types of edits will not work well so will need to decide this later on in the editing stage.
Session Five
During this session we focused on the part where George is leaving the house. To make the match on action edit we needed to find the exact part of the footage where he was opening the door and leaving the house. This didn't take too long to do and it also looks really effective.
Session Six
In this editing session we focused on the montage of different BMX tricks which George was performing. We had too much footage of him doing tricks so we had to drastically cut them down until we found the best ones. We put the final tricks together to make them look fast paced and snappy (with the use of cut editing). We then made the 'snap shot' parts with the tricks. To do this we found the best part of the trick, cut the footage and caught a freeze frame. We then moved the rest of the footage down the time line a little and then added a white rectangle shape which only lasts about half a second to create the 'flash' effect (we did this to tie in with the fact that she is stalking him, and also to signify that he is famous). We then added the freeze frame after this to make it look like this was the picture that had been taken (we put a very small border around the freeze frame to make it appeared more Polaroid like). We then moved the rest of the shot next to the freeze frame to finish the tricks montage.
Session Seven
We added the names of the actor and actress to the footage so that we knew that they appeared in the trailer somewhere. We did this so that the fan base of these actors/actresses knew that they were going to be starring in this new film so that they could create some viral advertisement.
Session Eight
During this session we edited the message, post and email scene. At first we had too much footage for these parts of the trailer e.g. when George was receiving the post we had him flicking through some other post and then reading the 'newspaper', which was unnecessary and time-consuming. Also it slowed the pace of the trailer right down which is not what we wanted to happen.
Session Nine
This is when we added text to the trailer to give some meaning to what is happening and to act as a narrative. We constantly moved the text around to different places to see where it worked best and the finally decided on where it is today. We thought that it was important to write the correct things in the text so that people know what the film is going to be about and also to create more tension. We also added the 'Summer 2012' text over the noise because it is important for the audience to know when the film is to be released so that the film company can gain a profit.
Session Ten
During this session we added the 'Life Drop' logo to the trailer. This took more effort than we initially thought because we needed to back up the image of Life Drop onto an external hardrive and then add it into Final Cut Pro. We then layered a white rectangle behind Life Drop so that it didn't look silly. I also think that having a white background makes Life Drop stand out the most during the trailer as it is quite a piercing colour to look at after watching darkish footage. We also added a zoom in effect on the text so that it was brought forward to the audience. We felt that this made this part of the trailer flow more.
Session Eleven
After exporting the trailer and watching it through we noticed that parts of it were missing because frames were being jumped. We thought that this was very odd and tried many different techniques to fix this. We then noticed that when text was layered over footage it didn't jump so over all of the footage we added text, which was just a full stop but with size zero so that it wasn't visible. This stopped the jumping so we were able to search for music that would fit in with our trailer's story line and editing.
Thursday, 26 January 2012
Magazine & Film Poster First Drafts
These are the first drafts of my film magazine and film poster. These will not be the final versions as I may find small tweaks that need to be made and also I may find that I have missed items that are needed on either product.
The New Font For 'Life Drop'
We decided to change the font of the film 'Life Drop' as we felt that it didn't fit in with our storyline as well. We changed the font to look like magazine letter cut outs as this is a big part of our film and we wanted to illustrate this through the title.
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Shots we will use in the trailer
Shot #
|
Shot Description
|
What For?
|
1
|
Graphic shot of institutional
information
|
Institutional Information
|
2
|
Mixture of
low angle, high angle, pan, mid shot, long shot, establishing shot
|
The montage
of BMX tricks
|
3
|
Over the shoulder shot/ Point of view
Extreme Close Up
Close Up
Mid Shot
|
George received the text message and
looking at it
|
4
|
Over the shoulder shot/ Point of view
Extreme Close Up
Close Up
Mid Shot
|
George received the email and looking
at them
|
5
|
Over the shoulder shot/ Point of view
Extreme Close Up
Close Up
Mid Shot
|
George
retrieving his post
|
6
|
Long Shot
Establishing shot
|
George
running out of the house
|
7
|
Close up
Extreme close up
|
Becca’s eye, hand, mouth and Polaroid laying
out
|
8
|
Zoom In
Mid Shot to Extreme close up
|
George’s
BMX with the kiss mark on it
|
9
|
Pan
Mid Shot
Tilt down
Long Shot
Close Up
|
George in
hostage situation
|
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