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

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I Have used 'Slideshare' to upload PowerPoints of my work several times. I find PowerPoints are good to use as they are interactive making the work a little more creative and engaging for the viewer. They also allowed me to combine pictures and text in an effective and easy manner. Becoming interactive with your audience is a must in modern media advertising, you need to make the viewer feel like part of the product.

When presenting my survey results I used Microsoft Excel to create charts of my findings which I then put onto a PowerPoint. This helped to both make charts and to make my findings easy to read.

It has been important for me to use the media available to it's full potential, making my blog interactive and interesting for the viewer.


Technologies in research and planning:
  When researching for my construction tasks I relied largely on the internet to provide me with the information I needed. The development of web 2.0 has been hugely beneficial to my research when using user generated websites such as Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook and blogs. I used websites such as YouTube, Google and Wikipedia to find out about real and successful media products.
  I also used SurveyMonkey to create and collect data on what my audience wants to see in their horror trailer. I posted this survey onto my Facebook, as did the rest of my group, alowing us to easily collect results from a diverse audience of are target audiences age. This way of collecting results was very user friendly and hopefully enjoyable for participants. I then posted my results on my blog as a slide show from PowerPoint via Slideshare, using graphs made on Excel to ease reading.
  I also made PowerPoins for my research on magazines and posters.

Technologies In Construction:
  Movie trailer: We used a handheld camcorder to shoot footage for our trailer which proved to be an efficient piece of hardware for shooting in the POV perspective. We were given the opotunity to use a tripod to reduce any camera movement, however we declined as this would deture from the amature style footage we were trying to represent.
  Once all our footage was shot we imported it into Final Cut Pro. From here we could analyse the footage shot and see what was worth keeping and what we didn't need to capture for our trailer. Now that we had 'captured' all the neccisary footage we could begin piecing together our trailer.
  First of all we put our clips into the order we wanted them in by dragging them onto the timeline, we then made and inserted intertitles in the appropriate places. At this stage we had now got a trailer, however there were many adjustments to be made; cropping shots, adding effects and filters, adding sounds/soundtrack (which were found online using royalty free websites), adjusting sound levels, adjusting light and contrast levels, creating jump cuts for impact shots and slow zooms on intertitles aswell as many other tedious adjustments to make sure our trailer was flowing and professional.
  Once the edditing proccess was FINALLY over, our work was uploaded via YouTube and embeded onto my blog.

  Poster and magazine cover: to create my poster and magazine cover I used Adobe PhotoShop. This software is of proffesional standard and is often used in the media industry, thus allowing me to create a product of similar quality. I got some of the fonts used from DaFont.com and copying them into PhotoShop. The image on my magazine was taken using a digital SLR as I needed a high performance camera so as to overide the shooting mode and create the distorted image seen.


Technologies In evaluation:
 The evaluation of my construction tasks was done with the aid of Flickr - an online website that allows the user to upload videos and images and add tags to them. This way of presenting my work makes it interactive with the viewer as they click on the images embedded onto my blog and are then able to hover the courser over the image revealing my analysis.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

We presented our trailer to the class to get some feedback on what they thought was good, bad or what was maybe missing from the trailer in terms of horror and advertising conventions. Asking our class mates for their feedback was ideal as they are of a similar age to our target audience (15-25ish) and there is a mix of both males and females. Our Trailer is targeted at this audience as statistics show they are the most likely age group to want to see the film either in the cinema or at home on DVD. From this feedback we were able to modify our trailer to meet the needs of our audience.

One point that was made was to do with the glitches at the end of our intertitles. Should there have been more? We discussed this as a group and tried to add in more glitches, however, they looked forced and unessential and so came to the conclusion that more glitches would have been overkill. It was also mentioned that there were maybe too many static sounds and static beeps in the trailer. These sounds were in conjunction with the static effects seen on screen, and when we took some of them off the it seemed to be less flowing. We decided to keep these sounds in in order to maintain flowing continuity through the trailer. Without this continuity the viewer may 'drift-off' as they are not being kept engaged.

As we shot during daytime, our trailer broke the usual convention of horror being at night. Our audience picked up on this and suggested we do something to improve this. To resolve this issue we went back onto Final Cut Pro and added a gradual grading filter witch made the shots darken to look a little more like night. Overall this helped our trailer to look like a more convincing and scary horror trailer.

Another point that was made was the similarity between 'The Blair Witch Project' trailer and our own trailer. Admittedly we did use 'The Blair Witch Project' in our research and used some of their ideas. However, after discussing with the rest of the viewers we came to the conclusion that although the trailers were similar, 'Braeden Forest' had a more defined story line because the audience was able to see more of the plot, but still not too much so as to give it away.

Following on from this point, one of the viewers mentioned the police tape and said there was not enough police involvement seen in the trailer. However, from discussing this point with the rest of the viewers we found that they actually liked the small amount of police involvement - enough to intrigue the viewer and get them thinking about the film, which is exactly what a trailer should be doing. Also, it is conventional of horror films to portray the police as invariably ineffective as this connotes the magnitude of the horror; beyond what our society can handle, thus striking fear into the viewer.

There were a few shots at the end of the trailer that were commented on. It was mentioned that the shot of Jake (the main protagonist) crying into the camera in fear may do the opposite of what it was intended to do and actually appear more comical than fearful. However, when I showed the trailer to a few people outside of college to see what they thought they disagreed and said the shot worked. I think it was the fact that the people in the class viewing knew Jake and that is what made it appear funny to them.

The following shot of the hand coming towards Jakes face was also criticised. Originally the shot was longer, with a close up of Jakes face and the camera then jumping forward to the hand. Our audience said this shot looked too set-up. In order to fix this we shortened the amount of time on Jakes face at the beginning thus making the shot jolt more and appear less deliberate. We also included an impact sound for when the hand appears to create more intensity in the shot.


As well as receiving some constructive criticisms, our audience told us what they particularly liked about the trailer...
Several people mentioned the overall soundtrack as being very effective in building tension with the use of heartbeats, impact sounds to match shots and the increasing strings that built up the intensity of the trailer. The impact sound matching the stomping foot was mentioned in particular, it was said that this gave the footage more impact. Our viewers also enjoyed the flashing running shot sequence witch had the heart beats to match the visuals as well as the shot of David's eye shot where we used a jump cut and impact sound to scare the audience.

We also received compliments on our clear inter-titles and effective glitch effects.

From this feedback I now know what this audience particularly likes and/or dislikes. This will make any future media production projects of a similar context easier and hopefully more successful.

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

  Advertising a media product is as equally important as making the product itself - without advertising and promoting the film who’s going to know it exists? To advertise a media product a marketing campaign is needed and in this marketing campaign you need to advertise, publicise and promote the product.

The advertising of 'Braeden Forest' was done through the production of my teaser trailer and poster. These two products would be distributed by the distributor in areas, on TV channels and in cinemas suitable for the target audience (teenage horror fans) making them aware of the film. To find out where and when to advertise, the distributor would find out about the pshycographics and demographics of the target audience through research thus allowing them to get the attention of the correct audience at the right time and place. Researching the audience before distributing advertisements is needed so that money is not wasted on meaningless advertising where the target audience is not going to see it. Movies can loose a lot of money through bad advertisement and distribution, so it is key to do it in the most cost effective way possible.

'Braeden Forest' is aimed at an audience of 15-25 year old's. This age group takes up a large percentage of the overall cinema goers and are the most likely people to respond to trailers, teaser trailers, posters, viral adds etc. Overall what these adverts do is place unanswered questions into the viewers head. The viewer is then taunted by these questions and will feel the need to watch the film in order to answer them. E.g. on my poster I have put 'Death is only the beginning', forcing the viewer to question 'beginning of what?', 'who's died?', 'how have they died?' and 'why have they died?'. Similarly the character Jake questions 'What's happening?' in the trailer which also gets the viewer to question what's going on. It is essential not to give too much away in the advertisements; you don't want to answer the viewers questions or else they wont need to see the film to get the answers.

A successful poster must relate to the film itself. Identifying with some aspect of the film while not giving too much away. I used images that connect with the film such as a still of some trees from the trailer itself, this suggests the setting to the viewer. I also used a close up of an eye similar to several of the shots within the trailer/movie. By keeping a degree of continuity throughout the advertisement of the film it builds a strong and recognisable image for viewers.

The promotion of 'Braeden Forest' was done by publicising it on the cover of a magazine ('Spectacle'). Unlike the poster and teaser trailer, the magazine does not have to maintain the continuity of the film as it is independent from it. However, I still connote the horror genre through the cover image used.

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

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My magazine cover

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The took the two images below using a digital SLR. I then merged them together to create an even more serreal picture and used it as my cover image on my magazine (seen above).

Magazine cover analysis

Braeden Forest poster

Poster and magazine Analysis

Posters

Magazine cover analysis

'Braeden Forest' trailer

Survey results and analysis/planning

 Story board

Shot list

Survey results

View more presentations from Theo Perry.

Mood board

This is a mood board for my horror trailer research that I made in photoshop.
I've used pictures from films using a POV/handheld camera perspective. This is because we have decided in our group to shoot from a POV perspective as teenagers with a handheld camera.

There are also shots of zombies and 'the infected'. This relates to the theme of the horror film we intend on producing.

Horror plot

As a group we have decided on our final plot idea:

A Group of teenage friends are going camping in a forrest for the night and are filming it to watch back another time. They set up camp and make themselves at home. All is well until one of the friends wonders off alone and is bitten by something. He shouts out to his friends and they go to him. However the situation is overlooked and the other friends jokingly call him a wuss and tease him.
They all return to camp and carry on as they were: drinking, laughing and messin around. But the friend who was bitten starts to feel unwell and lays down in a tent while his friends carry on. Strange things then start to happen, and the bitten friend starts to change. His eyes turn black and he appears disconected from the world. the others however are oblivious to this until they return to the tent and he is missing, with only blood stains remaining.
Worried and paniced the group go looking for the missin friend. As they are searching for him, scary things are happening. rustling sounds around them and moving shadows in the background. Someone is stalking them...

When they are confronted by what is stalking them, they are shocked to see their friend who was previously bitten. His clothes are torn, his eyes are black and blood is dripping from him. Imediatly they can see something is wrong. They are then savagly killed off one by one, each turning to the state of the first bitten friend until only one is left to fend for themselves against the growing army of infected...


The whole trailer will be shot from the POV of the camera they brought with. And we will use inspiration from films such as 'The Blair Witch Project', 'Paranormal Activity', And '28 Days Later'.

Link to my survey

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WQR6RQR

Trailers vs teaser trailers:

Teaser trailers are usually released a year to a year and a half before the film itself is released. They are short trailers (between 30 and 60 seconds) that promote an upcoming movie. Unlike actual movie trailers, teasers often don't use much of the film footage, if any. Teasers use small, cryptic challenges to literaly tease and/or intregue an audience. By using teaser trailers an audience is slowly built up with anticipation to see the movie; they create a buzz within audiences who will talk up the teasers and ultimaty the film itself.

Movie trailers on the other hand are much more direct, giving much more information to the audience (title, genre, characters, bits of story-line etc.) but still enough to entice the viewer to go and see the film.

Horror Tralier Analysis

I worked with class mates and analysed three horror movie trailers, this is what we found:




This is the trailer from the horror movie 'The Ring'.

Conventions of a movie trailer:
There are short clips from scenes in the movie, just long enough to entice the viewer, but not so long as to give anything away. These clips are clips the target audience want to see e.g. scary and unusual . By doing this the viewer is made to want to watch more; they want to know what happens to the people in the clips.

There are inter-titles giving a brief description of the narrative of the film and also helping to identify genre. By cutting up the inter-titles and stretching them over the length of the trailer the viewer is drawn in; kept in anticipation to here the next part of the narrative. By only half describing the narrative the viewer is made to want to know more, much like the short clips from the scenes in the movie do.

The key characters are identified. This is done by using short close-up shots of them in the trailer. This gives the viewer someone to identify with making the film relatable.

The music used over this trailer helps to identify genre. Sustained dissonant chords give an uneasy feeling to the viewer, suggesting the film will do the same. The music also builds up nearing the end, putting the viewer on the edge of their seat, but by leaving the end of the music open the viewer is left curious and still with the feeling of uneasiness, making them want to see the movie for closure.

The voice-over on this trailer is done by taking short clips of sound from the film itself and putting them together. The use of these short clips also leave the viewer questioning the trailer and wanting closure.


Horror conventions within the trailer:
The settings of this horror trailer are fairly conventional; we are shown clips of dark corridors, large open rural areas and several shots of claustrophobic looking rooms. All of which indicate some sense of fear. The light in most of the shots is motivated and dim, adding to the feeling of isolation and horror.

By using expressive camera work the viewer is shown a different, scary perspective of what is in the shot. Sped-up establishing shots of open rural areas give great impact to the feeling of isolation, CUs and ECUs of characters help to show extremes of emotion to the viewer.

Conventional character types are shown such as the 'inocent child', 'final woman' and the ' false hero'. This helps the viewer identify with genre.


I like the quick cuts in this trailer, they create a fast tempo building up the viewers anticipation. I also like the establishing shots of the open fields which are then sped up creating an eerie isolated atmosphere.





(Above: 'SAW 3D' 2010)

All trailers need to indicate a range of information within them in order for the respective target audience to understand what it is about and in turn persuade them to go watch it.


GENRE -
It is a necessity that trailers specify the genre of the film. This will categorise the film and will draw in their target audience, if this is done poorly it could lead to a loss in sales and a sense of confusion from the audience.
Within 'SAW 3D' the trailer sets out the intentions and genre from an early off set. As it is a teaser trailer it has a lack of time in which to get across the films values. In this example it is shown within the first 10 seconds with a clever use of colour and effects ( Red and static/ broken effects) that this film falls in the horror or thriller category.
Linking this with Horror Conventions, the use of red symbolises blood and pain etc. Whereas the static and use of heavy base adds to the trailers sense of atmosphere. Furthermore, as the trailer continues the audience are met with a variety in horror conventions in relation to genre. The use of overlaying titles in conjunction with the voice over focusing and emphasising words such as: 'fear','suffering' and 'death' (0.17-0.20), equally reinforces the horror conventions.

NAME -
The name of the film is going to be key to the sales and to the publicity of the film. If there is no title specified the audience will be left in disarray and will feel no need to see something they don't know about. However, in some cases there is no title announced to add to the films over all mysterious nature. This technique is mainly used within viral advertising, in an attempt to create this 'buzz'.
'SAW 3D' has a large build up until the title is released at 0.47 seconds, because there is such a large build up with the use of voice over and overlaying titles the audience are in suspense as to what it is about. On the other hand, as this film is part of such a large franchise the audience recognise it's conventions and follow the build up as it teases with phrases such as: 'Witness the final saw', this used as a method of enticement for the audience.

PRODUCTION VALUES -
Similar to many horror trailers 'SAW 3D' mentions no names within it's advertisement. As the characters are generally poorly developed and seen as 'throw away' characters, there is little need to use big names in the film and trailer, as that is not why people watch the films. This is an equally similar reason for the lack of directors name within it and to an extent the producers studios are quickly rushed, giving the sense that this film is eager to show action and excitement, giving the audience another reason to go see it.
The title does however show some production values. Looking at the overlaying titles there is an incorporation of special effects as the trailer is trying to highlight the fact that this new film is in 3D, as this is a teaser trailer it is missed out, but in longer renditions of this trailer it is heavily capitalised on.

ADDITIONAL CONVENTIONS -
Linking back to genre, this film highlights that it is a torture film as most if not all of the footage shown is of a torture disposition, the snippets of film shown are at the climax of fear which entices the audience further.
As this franchise of film is famous for it's gore rather than it's character development and narrative, these aspects are then ignored in the trailer. The audience see a variety of character all leading to a similar fate. the basic narrative is some what outlined, but this is nothing more than it being a torture film. This tells the audience to expect excitement and horror as appose to narrative and in depth plot.

My horror story narrative

Henry is a teen studying at college. He's a fairly ordinary teenager, no trouble at home and no trouble at college. Henry has loads of friends all with diverse backgrounds and interests. They used to all hang out together through their childhood from pre-school through to high-school, always meeting up getting up to no good having a laugh, but this all seemed to go wrong somehow when he started college...

Although Henry had loads of mates, they were growing up and their diverse backgrounds and interests drove them apart. Henry noticed this and it didn't sit well with him; he couldn't get his head round the concept of social clicks and how different his friends were becoming. Henry himself became a bit of a drifter; he had no particular social click or 'best mates', and just drifted from one group of friends to the other, adapting to the personalities and attitudes of the people within the groups, and for a while this is ok, but after several months of switching personalities several times a day and not really being 'himself', Henry begins to develop a psychitzophrenic state of mind. He's unable to identify his real self and ends up switching in an instant between the personalities he has developed. These changes in his mind end up driving Henry mad and he flips out randomly, becoming unpredictably aggressive towards unpredictable people and the next second he'll be his 'normal' self; calm, kind and ambitious. He starts to tear into the groups of friends, accusing them of 'destroying' him.

By now Henry's mind is in a complete state of flux; he doesn't know who he is, who he wants to be, who his friends are or even what music he likes. Who knows what he'll do...

Narrative Theorists

Narrative theory

View more presentations from Theo Perry.

Freud had a theory that we all have repressed elements; feeling's or memories that are preserved in our unconscious mind. These repressed elements reappear unknowingly in our behaviour or a slip of the tongue. They can even be a large part of our character. He believed most of these repressed elements are formed in childhood, and then reapear in our behaviour in later life.

Freud believed a child had to repress these primal feelings, or disires as they are socialy or moraly unacseptable, and our ego stops us from letting them be known to anyone else or even ourselves. Many psychologists now refer to 'the return of the repressed' when studying cases of mental illness.

An example of this can be seen in the horror movie 'Halloween', where a young boy witnesses his sister and her boyfriend having sex and goes on to re-enact the act by stabbing sexually active young people.

This worked well in the film at the time because it was one of the first to follow such a storyline. However, if a film were to do the same now - showing the childhood repression at the beggining of the film - it wouldn't work as well because this is a storyline that is now all too predictable.

'The Shining' movie trailer

What makes this trailer so scary is the building abstract music being heard. It starts quietly with only two layers of sound, and even at this stage creates a feeling of uneasiness. The rushing sound of what sounds like bees and the deep repeating clunk slowly build as further dissonant sounds join one by one, increasing in volume and pitch. This technique builds the viewers fear slowly, dragging it out and making it even more unbearable.

By showing a still image of a hallway as this music is being played, the viewer builds a feeling of anticipation; the music tells them there is something bad happening but they are unable to see what. The emptyness of the hallway creates an eeri and serial atmosphere. As the music nears its peak, red, blood-like liquid gushes violently out in slow motion from the crack of the elevator door. Showing the liquid pour through the hallway in slow motion increases the serial-ness of the trailer, making it unfamiliar and scary. It also suggests to the viewer that the film may be a psychological horror because it is so serial and dream like.

The music then continues to increase in volume and pitch until the blood-like liquid covers the screen leaving a deep red tint to the camera.

This trailer wouldn't work as well as it did in the 80's if it were used now. Audiences now are use to special-FX and fast paced cuts which make trailers like this appear 'boring' or 'unexciting'.However I think this trailer portrays a psychological horror better than any modern trailer I have seen so far.