Hello, this is my blog which contains a portfolio of my media trailer, poster and magazine cover and the research and planning that went with them.
My Research and Planning Started in September and the evaluations in March
At the end I uploaded my final magazine cover, film poster and trailer.

Completed Magazine Cover

Completed Poster

Trailer Completed

Evaluation Question 4: How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?

I have used a variety of media in both the research and creation of my trailer, poster and magazine cover.
I began using the internet and YouTube to search for typical conventions of genre, then focusing more on the specific genre of horror. I then went to look at trailer examples such as Saw V and Paranormal Activity IV to find typical conventions I could use such as a blue tint or shadows.
I created a questionnaire and showed the results with Microsoft PowerPoint to organise how I would create a trailer and also interviewed some members of my target audience with a camera.
Using Prezi I created a publication plan and used worditout to come up with names for my products.
I then began to create my trailer by filming on a Sony HD camera and then importing footage into iMovie to split and edit clips, also adding effects to the footage like fades and tints.
I then used Photoshop to design a layout for both a film poster and a magazine cover and put pictures from an SLR camera I used into this.
Throughout the creation of these products I was updating my progress on blogger.
Music was created for my trailer using garage band software and imported to iTunes before being added to the trailer in iMovie.
I also used IShowU to create pod-casts and show myself working through these tasks.

Evaluation Question 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

The magazine cover is good
The consistent colour scheme of red, white and black looks good.
The narrative is portrayed very well






Due to the nature of voicethread not being consistent, here is a link to the other video I have made using the software: https://voicethread.com/?#u3702653.b4479206.i22810224 
This links to the magazine. To view the trailer and poster click on the images of them at the side and click the play icon.

Evaluation Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?

I have commented on the consistency within all of my three products, as well as talking of comparisons and contrasts
The colours red, black and white are used
The characters are binary opposites
Shot types are used to show character expression
Font designs and colour show time and setting


And here is feedback from my audience:

 

The people within this video agreed that the poster and magazine look professional

They fault part of the sound

They are happy with the consistency of actors and colours

The narrative is clear to them.

Evaluation Queston 1: In what ways does your media products use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products

Research and Planning: Ausience Feedback

My audience on facebook, made up of my friends aged between 16 and 19 (my target audience) said they like the Magazine cover a lot because of how professional looking it was, though they also suggested my model should have smiled, which I stopped him from doing since he was a villainous character within the trailer.

The poster was not recognised as a poster by one person, which was disappointing because I felt it looked good and clear. One fault with this however was that I could not make the bracelet clear enough as one of the people giving me feedback suggested.

Research and Planning: Poster Development

Today I have been adjusting features within my poster, making the fonts into capitals to look more like a horror genre, changing the gradients in order to create a darker effect overall and tampering with the bracelet and positioning to show that the main character is the central focus, whilst also showing the narrative of being hunted for a bracelet since I have the bracelet directly behind him. I also changed the slogan to "THEY ALL WANT IT" since there is no images of Leya that I was able to get hold of, and this matches the trailer.

Research and Planning: Poster and Magazine cover

Research and Planning: Raw footage

Research and Planning: Updated Cover of magazine

Research and Planning: Editor's Log

Today I have edited the colour of the daytime shots within the film, because they looked too light and do not fit well enough with a horror genre. After tampering with brightness settings I found the scenes to them have too prominent colours within themselves, so I changed the saturation on multiple scenes to create are more grainy looking effect.

Research and Planning: Magazine and Poster

Today I worked on changing the magazine to make it look finalised, which it now does.

I also worked on the images of the film poster, looking at other posters such as that for Body Of Lies and noticing there is never a border over the top, so I made the image take up the whole page, as well as changing the opacity of the bracelet image.

Research and Planning: Editor's Log

Today I have edited much darker clips into the film trailer, as well as changing the titles to appear rather than fly onto the screen. I did both of these because of feedback from my tutor suggesting they would fit horror genre conventions far better.
After piecing together the clips and ordering them, to include the sound at appropriate moments as well as portray some of the narrative, I received feedback that some character's roles are unclear. It is however, still obvious that they are a villain, so I feel the curiosity built around these characters would make the film more enticing for an audience to then go and watch in order to discover what the character's role may be and who they are within the film.

Research and Planning: Production Schedule

5th January: Filming in Hyde Park, Newton For Hyde Train Station, Hyde Central Train Station and at Hyde Canal

14th January: Filming at home in the kitchen, stairs and attic.

20th January: Filming on the street outside my house.

Research and Planning: Shot List for Filming, Magazine Cover and Film Poster

Film Trailer:

Two Shot of characters talking with small girl behind
CU shots of lights flicking on faces of two male villains
ECU's of being choked, hit with wood, stabbed by knife.
ECU's of footsteps
Pan of walking with knife
ECU of drawing knife
CU's of blood on the floor
CU's on knife with blood and on neck
HA shot of terrified main character asking about the bracelet
LS of dead girl's body
Pan to bracelet
MS of girl in train station behind train
MS of chasing girl in woods
LS of chasing girl in woods
Two Shot of characters arguing about girl not there
OTS shot of villain wanting bracelet

Film Poster:
MS of bracelet in hand being looked at
MS of looking at bracelet with villain behind reaching for it

Magazine Cover:
MCU of main character looking scared

Research and Planning: ISHOWU video

Research and Planning: Raw Footage

Research and Planning: Podcast

Research and Planning: Sound Research

I have been experimenting with sounds to see if I can find any noises to use within my trailer. So far the majority of noises do not fit well with my scenes after they are placed beside them. They do not seem to work within a horror.

I also plan to experiment with a sound motif over the scenes featuring the bracelet. The two things I will try are a whispering girl's voice, and a series of mumbling female voices which are too unclear to make sense of. Whichever of these works best I plan to use.

Research and Planning: Film Poster So Far

The film poster has a darker image within it and the colours have been finalised to show the red/white/black consistent style which is being used within all of my products. The image still needs work doing to the masthead and a new image which is taken as a darker image must be used.

Research and Planning: Magazine So Far

Here is how the music magazine looks so far after I have done more work such as adding drop shadows to the text, changing colours and modifying positions within the magazine cover.

Research and Planning: Actor Release Forms

Research and Planning: Production Documents

Here are the actor release forms release for the trailer, magazine and poster which I have gotten each of my actors to sign.

Note to moderator

As is shown above, I have been having trouble with uploading both images and in particular videos, so a lot of posts I have created which are to show I have completed the task, but cannot as yet upload the content onto this blog. Next week I will try taking the content home on a memory stick and uploading this content from my laptop at home.

Research and Planning: Sound with footage

Here I have added sound to the trailer, it is still in the early process of development. I tested a sequence for the action shots which are to go in my film also, however it does not fit with the scenes I have very well, so will not be included.

Also, there are titles between scenes in the colours of red and white on a black background, these colours are used because they link well with my Poster and Magazine cover, keeping a consistent look throughout all of my products.

The editing of using white fades was done to show the idea that the scenes are memories of Leya, rather than the typical convention of black fades as may be used in most horrors. The white can also resemble a flash of light, to show the character in the scene was good and the audience should identify with that character.

Research and Planning: Film Poster So Far

Research and Planning: Magazine draft so far

Here is the draft I have at the moment of a magazine cover for my coursework. Feedback about the image suggests it is not really suitable for this style of magazine cover, since Sight and Sound magazine which influenced me uses either very vicious looking shots or very plain shots.

Research and Planning: Edited footage so far

The sound has not been completed as yet, however since being split from my partner I have taken the project in a new direction and here is what I have completed within the trailer so far

Research and Planning: Editor's log

I edited the sound from clips which did not need them such as close ups of faces and running, then added a score over the footage I have so far. The sequence of scenes from the lead male's conversations with a friend and seeing the young girl were also reordered and put together with the score being over this as well.

Research and Planning: Editors log

Today I worked with a variety of sounds in an attempt to put a sting over scenes for suspense. After a variety of attempts I decided to make them fit with the score and be more sequential. This fits with my film style better as well since it is more of a slow eerie film than a fast paced crazy hectic one.

Research and Planning: Magazine So Far

So far I have created the outline of my magazine, with a masthead and these are the fonts I also plan to use. I have taken influence from the Sight and Sound Magazine cover I analysed.
The masthead still needs work as I plan to make the 'O' become an eye, since that would be a play on words.

Research and Planning: Magazine Analysis

Three colours (Red/white/black)
Masthead is the biggest feauture
One image
Cover lines all placed together at the side.
Central text is of main article in a larger font.
Masthead is clearly linked to the main article's genre. (Fire suggests action/thriller)

Research and Planing: Magazine cover

Simple three colours (Red/White/Black)
Low Key Lighting
Emerging from shadows image
Small Logo in corner
Cover Lines all in one place
Only one image
Main article title larger than masthead.

Research and Planning: New Film Title

Since I went with the other proposal I need a new name for my film, and I have decided upon the name "Leya's Bracelet" because he bracelet will be he object linked with the creepy dead girl.

Research and Planning: Sound Research

I am not very confident with creating sounds to go into my trailer a this point so I am doing extra research of existing trailers, particularly focusing on when to include louder sounds and also how many different instruments or noises should be used a the same time.

At the beginning there are only two  instruments being used, creating a slow eerie noise, which builds suspense for the audience.
Louder noises begin being made both diegetic and non-diegetic and the melody stops, creating a more jumpy feel to the trailer, allowing both excitement and fear to be felt by the audience.
After a building of noises getting faster and closer together to overwhelm the victim and thrill the audience, the sound suddenly slows again.
There is then slow eerie non-diegetic voiceover and in between each piece of dialogue there is a non-diegetic sweeping sound to create a scary feeling to the trailer. While this is happening there is still a melody faintly playing underneath this.
As the dialogue stops the music continues even through sounds of screaming and people in terror.
The whole trailer ends with a shattering noise and a non-diegetic eerie noise over it too.

Research and Planning: New Actors

Since I split from my partner and started to work individually I have found a different cast to use within my media project. I used a variety of friends and people that I contacted through social networking on Facebook to acquire my new cast.
The actors I have are:
Tasmin Stanton: A short girl, who looks young and so is ideal to play the part of a dead little girl.
Shannon Abblott: An actress who has starred in multiple amateur productions and so will be good as an extra member of the cast.
Nathan Holt: A friend I have worked with many times to do similar projects, he is also studying film and media studies at another college so knows what I need to do and will be helpful.
Christopher Tipping: I worked with him last year in my AS media work and he made a good model and was easy to work with, and I was happy with the final piece so I am using him again since he also had previous acting experience.

Research and Planning: UNCUT footage.

Here is some footage I have filmed over the past few weeks and am going to edit.

Research and Planning: Editor's Log

I have put the unedited clips into iMovie and began to place the scenes in a sequence starting with shots from the woods and splitting clips to make them shorter which is how most trailers look. I then added titles to fill between clips and typed text about the plot of the film. The titles were then edited to be small enough to fit all the text in, and the colours changed to red and white.