Evaluation

After completing the project, I needed to review and evaluate my work. I looked back the skills and knowledge I had developed through the project and which pieces could be improved upon. Below are four main questions that have been set. **Please see detailed explanations and examples in the videos at the end of the post.**

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

Codes and conventions are vital for audience members to recognise and distinguish between different genres of movie, magazines and posters. They allow the audience to spot their favourite types of movie/ magazine/ poster from afar and zone in on them. If a person walks past a movie poster and notices the image of the young girl does not show her mouth (Silent Hill) or only shows half of the characters face (The Grudge), this is likely to intrigue them as to why only certain facial features are shown and want to find out more! The horror iconography and codes and conventions are certain to draw in the correct target audience. As the target audience members’ attention is now captured they will now be enticed to want to watch the movie. If by chance they pass a magazine which is focusing on the same movie, they may well buy it to inform more about the movie. Audiences who are familiar with a certain type of genre are likely to be drawn to similar genre movies if they use similar codes and conventions while advertising it. Without codes and conventions it would be extremely difficult to categorise movie genres, audiences would never know what to expect or whether the movie was an action movie or historical movie. It should also be noted that codes and conventions are of extreme help to media practitioners as it allows them to work from a base and know what audiences expect and want to see.

At first I had little knowledge of what the typical conventions involved in horror movies were, but after watching numerous horror movie trailers I soon could point out similarities. Dissecting horror movie posters also proved useful as I had a base to build my ideas upon. The convention of employing the technique of having a darker background around the edges of posters such as The Crazies - was a good use of lighting as ‘evil’ is know to be lurking in darkness, which adds fear. I also made use of this lighting technique as I found it effective in being frightening and horror movie fans would be attracted to it as they are used to the dark imagery displayed in horror movie posters. With regards to the movie magazine front cover, I again followed conventions as a guideline and placed the masthead, sell lines, date and price in the usual areas- as this has been proven to work through movie magazines such as Empire and Entertainment.

I challenged conventions in my magazine cover as existing horror texts do not commonly include blues or greens. The ‘psychedelic’ style I have employed breaks conventions and plays with them- therefore my magazine cover would stand out from the rest of the magazine covers. It is not the ‘norm’ to have these colours on a magazine which focuses on a horror movie. The few magazine covers that have included green and blue colours are: Empire, which focuses on ‘The Hulk’ movie, and two movies which have a similar plots to my idea that have inspired me; ‘Inception’ and ‘Sherlock Holmes’. ‘Inception’ was a movie highlighted by the target audience as their favourite, as it was a movie which involves mind games and dreams- something I aimed to portray.

The magazine covers above have unusual colours as they represent unusual movie genres. I believe my magazine cover has a similar effect as the colours are not a typical code or convention found in horror movie magazines. The three magazine covers below are more typical of the horror genre- as they are clear in their portrayal that the movie focused upon will be full of gore and terrifying. The blue colours in the magazine covers above, give off a more calming effect which could be said to lure the audience into a false sense of security. On the other hand many horror movie posters do tend to break the unusual colour 'rules', they choose colour schemes that reflect the film e.g. 'The Hulk' making use of the characters colouring and using green as the main colour on the cover of the poster.

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

The three pieces I created were a horror movie trailer, a movie magazine cover and poster, promoting a new and original horror movie. I believe that the poster and magazine cover will be particularly successful as they are striking and not commonly found among existing media texts. The only similar 'promotional package' I could compare my work to would be the movie 'Gothika' and the poster promoting it. A lot of horror movies tend to focus on slasher sub-genres, which I personally do not like to watch, so aimed my movie at a more sophisticated audience who liked the adrenaline rush but also liked to use their mind and figure out who the villain is. 

The fact that the poster and magazine cover are almost the exact same image, in colour, positioning and size, helps build a symbiotic link or strong identity and advertise the movie as audiences will not fail to make this connection. I liked the effect on the poster that I had created 'accidentally' after experimenting with photoshop. I could not create another image that I liked or thought would work as effectively as the image I had chosen for the poster. So I decided to see if it would fit well on the cover- and after consulting a few target audience members I believe it was the right decision.

 NOT FINISHED MAIN PRODUCT.. – The main product does not heavily feature the image used i the magazine cover and poster, as previous students examples who had used still images from their trailer on their magazine covers or as posters, lost its effectiveness and professionalism. It is also not conventional amongst examples of real media. It must be noted that just because it doesn't 'feature the actual image', a symbiotic link will still be achieved through the same mise-en-scene elements being used in the three pieces. I did however employ the night vision while filming scenes which gives a similar effect and colour as to the poster and magazine covers, which does help the three texts link together.

 

• What have you learned from your audience feedback?

My target audience (predominantly young adult females) proved extremely helpful in coming to decide on a final narrative as well as magazine cover, poster and trailer. My target audience were male and female as I would hope that everyone would enjoy the movie, however I think as there is less blood and gore it will appeal to women more. I asked friends and acquaintances to fill out questionnaires as I believe they were likely to provide a wider range and their results would help me see what is more popular. I specifically targeted some people who I knew were movie buffs and enjoyed horror movies and even a friend who was an extra in a horror movie. I knew the audience members would be able to assist me in gathering information and what was popular, what was frightening and what they did not like to see in horror movies. While in the library one day a stranger asked me what I was working on (my poster) and said it looked good- this came as a surprise as I was not convinced that it looked professional enough but was a good boost to help me continue working hard. 

While asking the target audience about the post-production, draft pieces and final pieces, I had more informal meetings with them, as I felt this would allow them to be more open and honest about what they thought about the promotional package. I took an image of a 'draft' version of an early idea for a poster and sent it to a horror fan and asked for their feed-back.

The feedback I received for this image was that it was overly edited even for a horror movie poster, and just looked 'too unrealistic and messy' (due to my over enthusiastic approach to using the 'burn tool' after discovering it created an bruise like effect). So I opted for a less 'messy' appearance and more of a ghostly look- similar to 'Mirrors' and 'Shutter'- although I liked the look of this poster I felt it did not reflect the sub-genre of my movie correctly. It seemed more of a poster for a paranormal movie than a psychological- the two target audience members that I consulted about this, also agreed with me and suggested I tried to get the blue/green effect again.

The target audience members found the subtle red ‘monster eyes’ on the poster a clever twist as they weren’t sure whether they were imagining it or if it was really there- which is desired effect that I wanted! The magazine cover did not have as good response, but the target audience did like the banner that looked like a film reel as it added a relaxed, yet creative but still informative tone to the cover. As the target audience did not love the magazine cover as much, I edited it slightly to make it look more clean and professional. Looking back now I would've liked to take more images for the magazine cover so I would have more options to choose from- or for my target audience to suggest which one they liked best.

TRAILER – Before I even started editing I received praise for a clip where a character shuffles instead of walking and pops her head around a stair case, I was delighted that I had directed and captured such good raw footage and that I would not have to heavily edit the trailer and audience members would still appreciate it. My teacher gave me similar feedback as she enjoyed watching a clip of the main character screaming- I did not realise her scream would be so realistic and this gave me further confidence that the target audience would enjoy the promotional package overall.

The main thing I have learnt from audience feedback is that I need to carry it out as soon as possible. At first I was stuck and stressing over what narrative to follow, I had not even considered the ancillary tasks yet. I turned to the actress that I wanted to use and asked her what she would like to see in a horror movie, she gave me ideas such as ghosts and two sisters being killed. This led me to develop the ‘school’ idea of a ghost haunting a student attending the school – which eventually led me to my final idea of two friends and one being killed by the other.

I also learnt that I should consider other ideas as it will help build upon my own ideas. At first I was not open to any other suggestions and thought that a horror movie would be successful with just psychological elements. To do this would require an expertise that I have no knowledge or practice in, so I reluctantly turned to the target audience and decided to include a death, and a ‘zombie’ type character too.

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

The amount of media technology I used during the research and planning stage had grown tremendously since the last research and planning task. Websites like YouTube proved vital in exploring conventions in horror movie trailers, as well as ‘slide share’ and ‘rocket slide’ for presenting ideas to target audience members. Without using websites like Youtube and Google I would of had very little knowledge of horror movie codes and conventions. Youtube was an excellent tool in this project as you could easily pause and analyse the clip you had just viewed and review it easily if needed. Without using Google images I would have found it even more challenging to create poster over-views for example. Using the blogging website was a lot less stressful and confusing than when used prior. The overall experience was enjoyable as I was able to draw from my creative side and now had the knowledge how to include this on my blog. Using blogger I have been able to discover more on the internet and how to use different layouts- being more creative than the previous project. I had also discovered ‘tumblr’ and that I could include movie or ‘gif’ ‘images’, which also inspired me in creating my pieces, as they presented new and exciting ideas- that were moving- something I had not been exposed to previously. Going back to the usage of YouTube I also used it to create and present pieces I had edited, I was impressed with my own skills that I had developed and what I could create on YouTube e.g. the effects I had included on the video of a plan landing and driving fast down the road- by adding these effects I had made seemingly normal events into more unusual and interesting video clips.

I had great difficulties using the more professional camera I had access to! I only learnt that you could zoom in half way through filming as a fellow media student showed me. Using the tripod even proved a difficult task as I could not figure out how to secure the legs or that they could lengthen. The only experience I had of filming was on an iphone which was much more simple but a lot less professional. I used the iphone video camera to record practice shots and see what would look good on camera and experiment with angles before I used the more professional camera. Without the help, guidance and encouragement from my classmates, friends and teachers I would not of had the motivation to continue with the project. I needed to take a step back and stop stressing about my media work and start enjoying the process and being more creative with it.

 

Editing was also a large hurdle for me to get over. It took me a while to get the grasp of photoshop in year 12 so I hoped I would have a better understanding and knowledge this year. At first I was hesitant and could not remember how to use photoshop but after experimenting a few times I felt confident again. I even discovered a new tool- the burn tool, which is used over a skin like colour, it left the effect of a bruise- which I got a bit carried away with on one of my experimental posters, and more than one target audience member told me it looked unnatural and too edited.

 

 

Premier Pro was also a new and challenging software that I had never used before. I had difficulty with importing footage- as I did not know it had to be converted so that I could use it on Premier Pro. I turned to the imovie software as I would have more access to edit my footage at home, but soon found that it was too tricky and I needed a teachers help to get started. With the help of my teachers I was able to use Premier Pro effectively and discovered a whole new world of editing! Some of the functions/effects were amateurish as it limited the transitioning effects I could use, which was frustrating as I craved to use and discover new effects that would look professional. As the process continued I began to felt like a real media practitioner. The more familiar I became with the different tools and options the more I started to enjoy the process!

My knowledge and adventurous use of media technologies has grown immensely throughout the course and overall I am glad that I chose this challenging and inspiring course. At the begging and through the year twelve tasks I felt nervous and lost, but at the end of year thirteen I am keen to study the subject at university level and get into a journalistic career.

**Detailed examples and explanations of my decisions through out my pieces of work- below.**

Please click on the links below to view my overall evaluation presentation on the Prezzi software.

an-overview-of-the-a2-project

http://prezi.com/hakvtnl8abg6/an-overview-of-the-a2-project/

Before gathering all of my actors I wanted to do a test run and see which angles would work best, what lighting to use and how long it would take to film. This did prove useful as my original ideas did not work and I had to change multiple elements of my original storyboard. Below are a few examples of the practise shots i took and the issues or corrections that I realised I needed to make.

 

Carrying out multiple practise shots, allowed me to be prepare for the actual filming. The planned original 'settings' e.g. the bedroom and bed I planned to film, were not suitable as the mis-en-scene elements did not reflect the characters personality.

Simple small objects like cushions and costume made a much larger impact on the overall effect- so i cleared everything from the shot for the 'real' filming- and only kept the necessities in the shot. Thus allowing the audience to focus on the most important aspects e.g. the narrative and the actors- rather than focusing on their surroundings.

Lighting also proved to be a bigger issue than I had previously thought. Once I had established which room and bed to make use of lighting was still an issue, despite using various lamps around the room. This is when I decided to see what the night-vision setting on the camera would look like. The green/blue tint that the screen now had- reminded me of the paranormal posters, and gave me the idea to have similar colours in my poster and possibly magazine.