Thursday, 19 April 2012

In what ways does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Throughout the process of making our project, we have continued to research and plan the structure of our poster, magazine and teaser trailer by looking at the norms of existing media products. this was done in order to produce a high quality of production that could therefore be suitable for the marketing our product.

As you can see from our film poster we have continued to use the conventional layout that is essential to the promotional style of representing new films before release date. We used a high quality image which features our main protagonist and the key element of the earphones, which we skillfully linked into into our title. This allows cross-references between our text and image using after effects. We used the ratings from reviews and short quotes which allows reader to understand the recognition from professional sources and the 'Academy Award' shows the talent within the film. In our research we found that our main details, which include the title and date of release, needed to open to the audience by using large attractive fonts with could be recognisable for future reference when locating the product after full feature is available. A tag-line to our feature is also common in film posters we reviewed, we situated this close to the title to connect the two as a pair complimentign eachother. We kept a clear colour scheem using colours within the image into the title and the white font to contrast againt the dark backdrop.


In the process of producing our media magazine we carried allot of initial research about what key conventions there are to the production of a magazine front cover. From looking at several different film magazine institutions we learnt that the elements of displaying new film products does vary from every different film magazine brand. We based our film magazine on the layout influenced by 'Sight & Sound' magazine giving to what we think a very simple but attractive feel on how the way 'Unplugged' is represented on the magazine front cover. We chose to keep simplicity as the lead convention within the production of our film magazine front cover but used 'edgy' splashs of paint and bold text boxes to push the key ppoint out to the reader. This was done to attract audiences attention to the image itself on the magazine front cover, which in our case is the main protagonist in our teaser trailer. We challenged the existing templates of film magazine structure by using numbers as well as lettering in our main title piece, we did not find previous works that used this format, but we felt that there was a clear link made from the use of camera to the elements of film production. We also understood the progression in technology so we added an Application link that can be used on smartphones which would link the audience to our website, this is situated next the barcode. We used bold texts using a colour scheme of pink, yellow, black and white which is all continued from the background image.


In the teaser trailer production we all watched many trailers and genre specific trailers in order to get a good grasp of what key conventions there are within the thriller genre itself. As representing a feature in 90 seconds is rather hard, it was essential to include very key shots to keep the audiences attention throughout the running of the trailer. Essential to our thriller genre we learnt that darkness within the shots is a very powerful tool in holding audiences attention as through research it shows that people do like to scare themselves through moving image. We also challenged many sound conventions with our very 'spacey and moody atmosphere' rather than dramatising sound. This challenged usual conventions in the way that we chose to create atmosphere through rather slow atmospheric sound as appose to short dramatic sound drops throughout the running of thriller style trailer.

Tuesday, 17 April 2012

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OVGQMLKIPg8

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

In the production we used Photoshop to create our film magazine and used many of the photo manipulation tools included in the software to manipulate our raw photographs in order to achieve an outcome that was specific to our genre. For example how our magazine is very atmospheric in order to give off a thriller style impression to those who are to view the product. We also used Photoshop in the process of making our poster. This gave our poster a much more professional look as opposed to what it may have looked like if we had not used an application specific to editing photographs.

Premiere was the initial application software that we used at the beginning of our production. We used this for several reasons, such as ripping the content on the camera we used in order to get it into a format that was much more suitable to be used within premiere itself and other programs, we went on to use that required an avi format. Sadly we experienced problems with this software and was subsequently forced to use a different format for our production.




We began to use iMovie because of our problems with Adobe Premiere CS5. We learnt that this software was much more suitable and user friendly. The outcome we achieved was simple but crisp, giving it the genre specific thriller-esque edge. We went for a handheld P.O.V filming style, iMovie made this very easy and we were happy with the outcome. With our experience with Adobe Premiere it wasn't too hard to adjust to iMovie as they are very similar, I think this worked in our favour. As a whole we were pleased with what iMovie had to offer, making it an easy choice for our editing format. iMovie as a software application did on the other hand have its faults, for example the way in which it is very simple does mean it lacks very crucial editing elements, this was shown when coming to add sound effects compared adobe premiere the choices were very minimal making at essential to add in our own sound effects through sampling different noises to enhance particular points in the trailer.


Youtube was our source into analysing trailers and watching examples to help develop our visual ideas to what we wanted our trailer to look like for the certain types of genres. We were able to pause and analysis our trailers we chose detailed and this helped our long on-going process of our teaser trailer coursework.
Youtube was the key video site for analysing teaser trailers and viewing inspirational products that helped make our product what it is. We viewed many example videos of the same thriller genre making our inspirations very influence by the conventions of thriller style teaser trailers giving us a better understanding of how key elements of genre are to teaser trailers.




IMDB was another site that contained many teaser trailers at easy viewing.

This is my macbook pro that we used for a good majority of the editing and photo manipulation. It has all of the Adobe CS5 suite installed where we used photoshop and premiere.






 

This is an image of the camera we used. It is a digital SLR with a 1080p video setting on it giving a full HD trailer for. We used this as it gave us a very clean detailed edge to our trailer.

Audience Feedback

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=B_BQHN2rAak



From reviewing the feedback that Adam our interviewee gave us once viewing our teaser trailer, we were fairly happy as many of the conventions we had desired to meet came across to have been met from the subjects Adam mentioned in the interview.

He went on to mention about the font used in the trailer being compared to the x factor, making it really essential to give off a very unique finish within the trailer so it may be an idea to consider changing the font for a future product being more unique. Our main criticisms all revolved around the font mentioned by Adam and the lack of narrative within the trailer. This drew our attention to the idea of smaller elements within teaser trailers are almost the most essential features making teaser trailers what they are.

The positive feedback we received consisted of the recurring mentions of the opening and closing shots of the same chase making the idea of a trailer referring back to its starting point a positive point within the trailer.

Film Teaser Trailer

Film Poster

Film Magazine

Script

UnPlugged: Script (teaser trailer)

RUNNING P.O.V THROUGH A TUNNEL LATE AT NIGHT,GLIMPSE OF CHARACTER RUNNING AWAY. CAR LIGHTS FLASHING AND THE NOISE OF PANTING, CARS PASSING AND FEET RUNNING.

BLACKOUT

IMMEDIATE CLOSE UP OF TOM1's FACE, QUICK JUXTA POSITION TO MEDIUM CLOSE UP OF TOM1 WALKING THROUGH A TUNNEL, THEN QUICKLY CHANGING TO A LONG SHOT OF TOM1 MOVING OUT OF THE TUNNEL.(giving the impression he is being followed)

CHANGE TO LONG SHOT THROUGH TREES

long shot of Tom1(this gives an immediate indication that he is definitely being followed) Footsteps continue then the shot changes to Tom1's face. An unlikely Worm's eye view shot of a slightly confused Tom1.

BLACKOUT

BIRDS EYE VIEW LONG SHOT OF AN ALMOST UNSUSPECTING TOM1. Change to extra long shot of Tom1 leaving The alleys and tunnels, to join the busy road, car's drive past and people walk near.

The mood now changes

TWO CLOSE UPS OF TOM1 and OTHER DISTANT MEMBERS OF SOCIETY, ALL WEARING HEADPHONES AND UNAWARE OF THEIR SURROUNDINGS. ALMOST AS THOUGH THEY ARR DAZED OR IN A DIFFERENT MINDSET. these close ups of different characters give away a plot that there is something going on, and that the headphones are linking everyone together.

CHANGE TO LONG TRACKING SHOT OF TOM, keeping with the following theme. TOM TURNS AS THOUGH HE KNOWS HE IS BEING FOLLOWED. THE SHOT QUICKLY CHANGES TO A LOW MEDIUM SHOT BEHIND A WALL.

music in the background starts to increase pace as the next shot gets closer to Tom1. MEDIUM LONG SHOT OF TOM1 GOING DOWN AN ALLEY WAY INTO DISTANT DARKNESS.

As the music increase tempo, Tom1 begins to run. Now aware of his circumstance the pace continues to increase.

TWO LONG SHOTS OF TOM1 RUNNING AWAY, THEN UPSTAIRS IN AN UNKNOWN STAIRWELL.

TOM2 NOW APPEARS AS A CLOSE UP, THERE IS A BACK AND FOURTH SHOT BETWEEN TOM1 AND TOM2

A CLOSE UP OF A CONFUSED TOM1(after realising he is following himself in his own mind)

THE FINAL SHOT IS A MEDIUM SHOT OF THE TWO TOMs IN AN ELEVATOR. THIS SHOT DISTINGUISHES THAT TOM2 IS IN TOM1's MIND.

FILMING ENDS WITH THE TOMS IN THE ELEVATOR TOGETHER.

Editing of Film Magazine

We chose to keep the setting of the photos basic and dark, this was because the feeling of the trailer is quite dark and gloomy. The photo we went with was the top photo because of the fact it shoes the light on one side of Tom's face and the dark on the other. This symbolises the two characters Tom1 and Tom2. There is also the emphasis on the headphones in all of the photos, this is because the headphones are what makes the two sides of Tom appear. It was crucial that we kept the clothing and scenery basic so that it appeals to young audiences and they can relate to the locations.
We didn't use this photo because it was unclear and didn't quite give the impression we were looking for, the photo needed to be clear and almost thought provoking. This photo seemed to be too basic and not quite striking enough.





Editing of final photograph for magazine front cover. Changing colour balance to make the surroundings fit around the subjects clothes.





Adding Text to the Photograph using a simple sleek font for a very simple suspenseful feel to enhance viewers to be interested of what this may be advertising.

We then switched into using Photoshop as we found it easier to control and manage inserting shapes and further text and felt more confident from our experience in our AS coursework. This was used to add the extra affects, including the film reel and the paint strokes that outline the text.

Editing of Teaser Trailer

This is a screenshot of iMovie when in the process of adding sounds and clips in order to get a very smoothly synced sound and visual effect to the viewers. We then went on to add several transitions taking each shot a very natural moving feel, this was especially essential to our trailer as it is occupied by very relaxed thrilling music.

Editing of Film Poster


From the filming of our teaser trailer we took this still image of the two sides of the character together in the same frame. It is the most significant part that will keep the audience intrigued into what it is about as it is not obvious so able to draw the audience in. We like the way it was symmetrical with the character each off centre, allowing the making of the poster easy to lay out with an equal position of each character.

From the original still image I changed the contrast and cropped the image into a more focused view. By introducing higher contrast it allowed the greens/yellows to be more prominant.


We then had to import text, with the credits of the members involved and companies sponsering our film production. The date of release in a larger font and bold, featured centrally between the characters.


We then produced a different font to advertise the name of our movie 'Unplugged'. We chnage the colour to be two tone, continuing the greens/yellow colour scheme. From our research we could see that most posters included a tagline which reflects upon the plot of the movie yet not giving an obvious show of the events. This is shown below the title of our movie.


This was our original plan for our film poster, however, from the feedback we recieved from our target audience the reception was rather negative. They found the image chosen (although a film still) was not of a high enough quality, making the film look 'quite cheap and amature'. From this we decided to start again with better quality image and readable text; as they found the title text was unclear witht he font and choice of colour.


This was our new idea for our film poster, that consisted of a much clearer image which was from the raw file, taken on a Nikon DSLR camera. We used Photoshop in order to add further text, for instance the title which we flipped a 'G' in order to create the look two earphones which relates to the plot within the film. We used the credit from our previous film poster idea as the format was suitable to be used in our new poster. We kept the tagline but used different fonts throughout, including more necessary text that we noticed was conventional within existing media texts; these included the rating strip that we produced using a star shape within Photoshop and duplicated it using layers and then merged them together on a row. The benefits of using Photoshop is the ability to use layers in order to move and link items together and that made the editing process much simplier than using other technologies on the Mac and allowed to document to be accessible on more computer sources.

Photographs of filming: Behind The Scenes

Handy cam shot as if someone is chasing our main character victim.

Medium cose up tracking shot following the victim as he walks through a tunnel like location.

Longshot of victim exiting tunnel but still tracking with camera this gives the same idea of someone may be following.




Long shot from behind the bushes giving again a very suspensefull feel to fit our thriller style.

Extreme close up of victims face with a very dark background and giving a very contrast feel to the shot making the face stand out even more than usual.

This shot in particular tracks out from the darkness into light.





Extreme longshot following victim throughout the emergence of him coming from behind the rails.

Medium close up of two characters performing an act within the trailer itself.

Long shot of victim walking, this goes from on character to then behind a wall. Cuts with a blackout transition.


Again another long shot but now from another side and from behind a wall on the other side.
Long shot chasing the victim. Handy cam style filming giving off the chasing effect.
Medium tracking shot of main character running away from unknown character.
Medium Close Up of character 2, with buildings in the background working as a setting shot.

Medium long shot of the two characters entering the elevator and zooming out.

Fast panning shot of tunnel and scattered lights. Displaying the fast and out of control movement of the character's mind.

Planning of soundtrack

Tom in the studio with his band recording Haze
Our soundtrack is a piece of music written and performed by Tom. The soundtrack was recorded at Hats Off Studios in Stonesfield just outside of Woodstock. We went for a very slow atmospheric feel that will hopefully meet the transitions within the trailer very nicely giving off a smooth style feel to fit our thriller genre. The song was written especially for the trailer, the sound and speed was meant to relate to the way the character felt and how his emotions could quickly change due to his schizophrenic tendencies. We felt the soundtrack fitted well into the film due to the increase of pace when our main character begins to feel out of control and lose sense of reality. The slow melodic rhythm was another good way of building suspense, when listening you feel that the beat has to pick up, like the calm before the storm almost.

Monday, 16 April 2012

Location Photographs

This is one level of the lift that will be used for the lift scene. This has a rather old rustic and dirty feel to it which helps to fit in with the genre specific setting style we have chosen to pursue.
Another view of lift side 1

This is the view from the upper level when the main characters are both seen together at the end of the trailer through video masking in Premiere.


View from Roof of car park looking out from the door nearest to the lifts above. This open outdoor car park will be included as one of the last scenes.

List and images of software/hardware used in teaser trailer production.





  1. Adobe Photoshop
  2. Adobe Premiere
  3. iMovie
  4. Sony Vaio
  5. MacBook Pro
  6. Tripod
  7. Nikon DSLR
  8. Blogger
  9. USB Memory Stick