Last Ever Post

I am sad to say this is my last ever post :( Over the last two years I have gained many skills in regards to editing and filming and also with time management. I have thoroughly enjoyed the journey and am very proud of the work that I have produced. from the trailer, opening two minutes, the poster and the magazine. Next year i am going on to study sociology and Nottingham Trent University, I feel that through the media work i have done, it had helped me to become more conscientious and hard working.

Thank you for watching me and joining me on this journey!
Over and out,
Beth Rowe :)

Audience and Genre

Audience and genre evaluation. 

Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratification model looks at how the media appeals to its audience's need's. Some of these needs are to inform and educate, to identify with characters, to escape from reality, for entertainment or for social interaction. As our trailer is an thriller horror genre, it is important for our audience to connect with the characters in order to empathize when they get into trouble. We made our victim, a young female in order to appeal to the target audience. This gives the audience an escape from reality as they are absorbed in  the story. Additionally, we have created a great deal of suspense and fear, this creates an entertainment for the audience while also allowing them to escape from the boring everyday life. We created suspend by adding tense music and cutting the shots with the music. We also added dip to black to create an eerie atmosphere and creating a climax for the final scene when the victim gets taken. When audiences watch films such as horrors, often they want to go back to friends and the them about it and fit in tot he norms of youth culture. therefore if our film connects the audience members, they are more likely to interact with others,, sharing their opinions on the film

Our production is different from others in the same genre, as we have shown the development of the young girl from a child in to a young adult. this helped the audience understand her better as they know what obstacles she has faced during her life. It also develops a better connection for the audience. Another way in which our film is different to others, is it is set in a very ordinary middle class town. this isn't necessarily conventional for an thriller horror film as usually they are set in dark gloomy villages. This makes the film seem more naturalistic and creates more fear for the audience as they can relate to the locational settings. We decided to cast a young black male actor to be our antagonist as we believe the audience would feel the story more as it relates further to their life. Also there is a large moral panic across the UK of 'Hoodies' and therefore using the stereotypical character allows the film to have a greater effect. In Travis Dixon's archetypal stereotypes, he devised the buck character that is a young black aggressive character. this stereotype is often represented in films as the antagonist. This makes our film conform the the conventions of the genre, however giving it an edge as the antagonist is very young and is often in the youth culture today.

In our trailer we did not use Male Gaze as a key feature; this is based upon our story line being a horror of us using a vulnerable young girl. Opposed to her appealing to the male eye due to her young age and innocence, the audience instead feel the need to protect her. We felt it wasn't necessary and wouldn't affect our audience because the percentage of boys are only risen because it is a stereotypical date, where the girl and boy attend to watch a horror so the girl can cuddle up to him for protection. Therefore, even though our film may not directly appeal to males because they are more interested in action for example, we still have a general audience of viewers.This is shown by in the movie 'The Conjuring' 54% of viewers were female, followed closely by 46% of males.

Generic expectations have been adhered to in our A2 production trailer. This is evident through our typical story line that includes the codes and conventions of young girl. By using a young girl is effective as the audience which is mainly females, are able to put themselves in the young females shoes adding to the suspense that it creates. This is effective as when we introduce the antagonist, which again is another expectation to see in a horror. the audience are immediately aware that something bad is about to happen. With the young female we enhanced her innocence by her wearing a school uniform making her look sweet; with the antagonist he was wearing all black, creating the atmosphere of danger which the colour black connotes due to it being dark, mysterious and eerie. twas effective to use a male as our antagonist because they are known to have more power and strength, insisting that the getaway for the young girl is pretty much impossible adding to the frightening atmosphere.

We also followed the generic expectations by the location. For example, we used a deserted house in a run down area. This is effective as it does create fear and anxiety among the audience. The soundtrack links in with this as we cut from normality in one scene to the young girl grown up and alone. With this the non diegetic sound comes more upbeat, ominous in order to create a build up of tension, reaching the climax of when she is officially taken. We have also adhered to the generic expectations with the editing of our trailer. This was achieved by researching other horrors similar to us such as Taken. This enabled us to include many fades to black and fonts which can add to the eerie atmosphere. This was effective as it allowed our trailer to look more advanced which can result in an increase number of watchers.

Our trailer fits into the genre of horror as it conforms to the main conventions within this genre. We have conveyed this to the audience through the use of sound, building tension and setting a much more dramatic atmosphere. We have done this and so the audience can get a feel of the emotion of the characters but also and so they are aware that something is going to happen. We have also made it clear of the genre through the characters such as the antagonist who is dressed in dark clothing with a hood and has his face covered and so remains a mystery to the audience who this is and what he is doing there. This also makes it exciting for the audience as they are unaware of what is going to happen but also fits into the conventions of a horror as we are aware that the antagonist is someone that we do not wish to come across but its someone that is predominant in the horror genre. Some of the camera shots that we had used hints to the audience that the genre may fit into the horror theme such as when we have the victim walking up the stairs and the camera is panning up but focusing on her feet. Although this is effective on its own, as we have paired it with the dramatic music which creates a more tense atmosphere, it makes the audience want to carry on watching the production.   

The mise-en-scene is not particularly set in the stereotypical dark forest or the haunted house as we wanted to  make our idea original but still fit into the horror genre. We ended up filming in three different locations for our trailer as we felt that it was important for the audience to see the different stages of the characters and the film trailer. The first setting that we used was a family home as we wanted to express the family as a traditional happy family home. We wanted to show the family at the beginning and so the audience would understand how the characters got to where they are. this fits into the horror genre as it is effective for films and trailers to start off normally before everything starts to go wrong. The second location that we used was only a section of the stairs and the bathroom as it was something that we wanted to include but did not look as good when filmed at the 'family home'. The final location that we used in our trailer was a small studio flat that is all on one level. We used this to show the audience how the child character had grown up and the audience were able to witness this and are able to follow the characters on a journey. This fits into the genre as it makes it much more interesting for the audience to know what is going on and how the characters go from a 'good' life to one that is 'disrupted' and 'ruined'. To fit into our genre, we had the antagonist dressed in black which is typical in this genre as we don't really find our who this is until the very end.

For the costume in our trailer, at the beginning, we had the parents dressed in their everyday clothes and the child is in her school uniform and so the audience are able to see them as what they would be in their normal everyday lives. This fits into the genre as we do not want the audience to see everything go wrong from the beginning as it would take away the excitement, which also allows the audience to see the personality of the characters. Further on in the trailer when we see the youngest character grown up, she is dressed in clothes that are popular to the target audience and so a pair of jean and a coat and so they are able to relate to the characters as much as they can. This fits into the genre of horror as although it is part of their everyday lives, it tells the audience that the characters are not ready for what is going to happen as they are not expecting it. This makes it more effective for the audience to watch.  

Evaluation Activity 2

Voice over of trailer

I decided to record a voice over on the film in order to explain a few of the chosen shots and the intended effect on the audience. I also discussed some of key aspects in the film to make it successful scubas the production titles and the the names at the end. One aspect i forgot to discus was the use of the the social media at the end, this allows the audience to understand how they can get involved with he film and how they can become more interacted with the promotion. We believe this is a key part in making the film successful and it helps to spread the work with cross media convergence and semiology. 

Evaluation Practice Question

How did you use Technological devices in the construction and research?

In my As production, i used a variation of different technological devices in order create a professional opening two minutes of my film. the genre of my film was a triller action film based around two teenaged girls. The target audience was a 15-18 predominantly female group.

The camera we used for the production was a sony handy-cam camera, which recorded high definition footage. We were able to create the high budget effect we were aiming for.Also the camera had different effects on it to suit the lighting of surrounding and time of day. This helped us to create the best image and work around the change in lighting during the shoot. Additionally the camcorder also recorded audio very well and therefore we didn’t need to prerecord the audio. I decided to use Adobe Premiere Pro software in order to edit this trailer. Initially, I was going to use Premiere Elements however it believe that Pro has a more sophisticated and advanced software and can allow  me to be more flexible with the editing. I did, however, find it slightly hard to work around the new programme as I edited at home and therefore didn’t have a teachers help to edit the piece. 

Some cons of the digital technology during this process were I shot some of the opening images on an iPhone, as I found some establishing shots of the location that I wanted for my film, while walking to school one morning. This therefore meant that the image was slightly different as the cameras have different quality of footage. Another problem we occurred with the compatibility of the camera to the editing software was the difference in lighting, despite remaining in the same location. This was disappointing because despite how precisely i made the cut, the lighting was still disorientated which made it look like we changed location or lighting, affecting the theme of continuity.However some of the pros during the process were that I spotted some nice shots while out and about and managed to create a really nice opening of the film. Even though the iPhone was as high quality, I managed to sharpen up the image in order to make the shots look seamless to the rest of the film. Another element that made the opening two minutes effective were the diegetic sounds I achieved by placing the camera outside in the garden to capture the sounds of the birds. The audio on the camera is very clear and picks up sounds from very far away. I played the sounds over the top of the non-diegetic music to create an eerie atmosphere. 

In A2 I have developed some of the skills I gained in As and became more confident in the technologies I used. Although I used the same camera in As in A2, I have been able to experiment with new angles and setting within the camera and have become more experienced with how the camera works. Additionally I have learned how to successfully use a tripod when using the camera to create steady and professional footage. When looking back at the opening two minute I realise how armature it looks compared to my trailer this year due to the carelessness of the shots, I understand the tripod controls this. Additionally last year I had problem when it came to the lighting changes as I filmed it in different times in the day. However this year I filmed two or three shots in the same time of day so the lighting was the same and therefore made the trailer seamless and professional looking. Another skill that I discovered when moving into A2 was the use of transitions of the software we used. As the trailer had to be quick and snappy, we used fades to black to create suspense and also to build tension. The last thing that  became better was the use of the premiere pro as I became more confident in how to use it and also discovered some new tools within the programme.  

Evaluation of all production elements

In our magazine poster and our film poster, we have use the same image as the main image on both covers to show that they are advertising the same film. On the film poster, we used a long shot of the image to show the surrounding buildings around her, suggesting that she is alone which is the main story behind our trailer. We had this in black and white and so it contrasts against the image of eyes that we have positioned at the top of the poster. On the other hand we decided to do the image ion the magazine poster to be much more zoomed in and so the audience can focus on her as she is the main character throughout the film trailer. We decided to have this image in colour and fade another image of smoke over the top and so it still fits into the genre of horror but makes it aware to the audience that it is a magazine.This all links in with our film trailer as we have used the same character with the same costume on and so we can show the relevance between all three.

The name titles that we used in our film trailer were very similar to what we have used in our film poster as we think that it is important to keep the names the same to show who is in the trailer and who is involved in creating the final out come. We have presented both the names in the trailer and the poster the same as we would see them in successful media products and so the names that are not the main characters in the trailer are presented together at the end but also in the poster, the names are displayed along the bottom and so it is set out how we would see it on DVD covers. We have used the same font on both the trailer and the film poster and so we can keep it simple but effective for the audience viewing it. When creating the name and the font that we have chosen for our film name, although they are not in the same font as we found that it did not look as effective and professional on both the magazine and the trailer, we did keep the font the same for the trailer and the film as it is clear to the audience that we are advertising the same film product. 

Evaluation Activity 4

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

We used many different technologies within the research planning and evaluation stages. The camera we used was the Sony CX405 Handycam camera to film our trailer as it is has high definition image and high quality sound recording facilities. We believe it is very important to have a high quality camera because the trailer will look high budget and professional. 
When we were filming we found that the camera was very good as it could adjust to some of the lighting, there are certain effects that allow us to make the images stream together seamlessly as the camera adjusts the lighting depending on the time of day. We also used a tripod with some of the shots in order to make sure the shots were steady and professional looking. Last year i did not use a tripod as much and therefore found it hard to create the high budget feel. 

In terms of the editing format, our group used adobe premiere pro. We were given the opportunity to use the school's computers and the format of adobe premiere elements, however we found the format hard to use and didn't render the footage as fast as we wanted. The editing format that we used allowed us to become very experimental with the footage. We also used transition tools such as the fade to black etc, I allowed us to create a high budget effect for our trailer. On one of the days of editing, we prioritised the titles. We spent hours looking through the fonts and different shadowing effects for the titles. We found the software extremely effective when achieving our titles as there was a wide range of choice and styles. 

Some cons of the digital technology during this process were I shot some of the opening images on an iPhone, as I found some establishing shots of the location that I wanted for my film, while walking to school one morning. This therefore meant that the image was slightly different as the cameras have different quality of footage. Another problem we occurred with the compatibility of the camera to the editing software was the difference in lighting, despite remaining in the same location. This was disappointing because despite how precisely i made the cut, the lighting was still disorientated which made it look like we changed location or lighting, affecting the theme of continuity. A skill that I discovered when moving into A2 was the use of transitions of the software we used. As the trailer had to be quick and snappy, we used fades to black to create suspense and also to build tension.

When making our poster, we spent a lot of time, learning how Photoshop works and how to create a professional look for the poster. We wanted to fade the picture into the back ground by creating a black blur around the picture. One we had found out how to bur the edge with the paint tool, we wanted to change the contrast and colour of the image, this created a darker and more intense look for the cover.  This also allowed the poster to look high budget and professional. 

We edited the eye by using a brush tools, using the enhancing effect and the lightening tool. We believe it made the eyes look like the main focus and also allow the audience to draw there eyes to the eye. This helped us to create a professional look in the poster and made it look high budget. 

Evaluation Annotated Trailer

Annotated Trailer

To help illistrate some of the meetings behind the shots and specific editing techniques, I decided to  use the annotation tool on Youtube to pick of key aspects. By putting these annotations on to the video, allowed me to gain some technology skills and how to analyse the trailer in an easier way. I decided to  discuss some of the  the choices I made and how they helped to improve the final production. For example the non-diegetic sounds of the music that complimented the layering voices of the parents arguing in on of the initial scenes. 
Additionally I included aspects that we wanted the audience feel a certain was about for example when he music is times to the editing when the tension builds up creates a suspense for the audience putting them on the edge of their seats. This also created enigma as the audience were asking question about what they are seeing in the trailer. Another aspect the i addressed in the annotations is the use of the production titles, and all what tools I used in making the titles so professional looking. The production titles were a key aspect in making the trailer look high budget as it puts a name and a company to the production so that the audience know who made it and if they recognise them.