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

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

Blair Witch - Screen shot

The research and planning section of this coursework was very important in helping me to establish the formatting of a ‘good’ campaign that uses the codes and conventions of the horror genre. Looking at existing professional products, has defined to me the industries standards of products and what my own creations will be compared against. From this research I have found horror productions frequently use colour themes of grey, red and black. Close up and extreme close up shots so as an audience we do not get to see the full picture to create suspence. Silence and sudden contrasting use of loud, jumpy sounds. Through applying some of these typical horror codes and conventions, I feel that I have been successful in creating a new and original artifact that fits in with the type of products that are currently being sold. Professional products that I have looked at through the research and planning process included The Blair Witch Project and Eden Lake. From these I took inspiration for both narrative and setting. I especially I looked at Blair Witch and Paranormal activity for camera techniques and effects. Through research I have found that both of these films were very known and successful, due to using these techniques. For this reason I chose to use their techniques as significant inspiration, as I felt they were reliable sources and were texts that continuously were mentions by my target audience, through my initial questionnaire and focus group.


Tha Dare Devil (my own production) - Screen shot

 

I feel I have used the forms and conventions successfully within my teaser trailer and also my poster and website design for the film. My own opinion of this can be backed up by the opinion of my audience, as I asked a sample of target audience through a focus group, what they thought of my teaser trailer and ancillary work.



Jack Wallace, Male, Aged 18

Audience Feedback

I asked my focus group what they thought of my main product and ancillary products in conjunction with the horror genre, comparing them to professional works. I gave them time to look at all the products, as they would if they had an interest in watch the film. Below are some quotes taken from an answer form Jack Wallace. I feel his response evidentially helps the response of my answer to this evaluation question.  

"When I think of horror, I instantly think of the colours red and black. The red reminds me of blood and you have used this throughout all of your products.... ..Sound affects you have used can also be seen in other horror films that I have watched. These are very effective, as they get your heart racing!.... The close up shots you have used in the trailer add great effect and also make you jump out your skin, as they are unexpected at times and using the eyes in the poster reminds me of the devil and shows real evil emotion.... In summary I can see you have looked at professional horror films and taken inspiration from these. You have done well, as it’s made me want to watch the film!

I feel that I have followed the rules and used the content and style professionally used within the industry that is needed to produce a successful product that has a place in the market. Throughout the post production process I have been able to edit by products in different manipulation software for example in iMovie. 

Above is a screenshot that shows how I have incorporated different effects into the mise en scene of both the moving and still images within my teaser trailer. Effects that I chose to use were types like 'bleach bypass', 'sci fi', 'x ray' and 'day into night'. Similar effects are used within professional horror products, including the famous texts I have already mentioned. I have learnt from my research that these effects enhance the horror theme and can make an image look a lot more terrifying. I feel that by using this software I have been able to apply these effects that are associated by the audience with the horror genre and therefore I have been able to entice my audience through my advertisement campaign to want to watch the film. This is the main objective of the campaign and therefore I feel I have succeeded with that.

Sound has also had a substantial influence within conveying the codes and conventions within my horror teaser trailer. I feel I have very much used popular horror sound effects, for example 'boom' sounds and ' screams', as again the audience can relate to this and it enhances the scary atmosphere that I have displayed within the narrative. The screenshot above shows visually how I have applied this through the use of iMovie. I had learnt from existing professional trailer that a good effect was to build tension within the trailer, and while doing this you create enigmas for the audience. To build up this tension I increased the volume of certain repeated sound effects gradually throughout the trailer. The scream effect I used was also enhanced to get an instant scare from the audience. This seemed to be effective when a sample of my target audience watched the trailer for the first time.

As I have mentioned I think that I have followed the rules that a professional production company or publishing house would have to follow. I feel that I have kept within the laws of publishing, decency and copyright. Through this coursework task I have learnt that to abide by these laws within the media, you have to go through a very long and detailed process. Planning and organisational skills were vital at this stage in the pre-production process, and I feel that I dealt with this well. All content within my products are my own, with the exception of some of the sound effects, which were publically available for all within iMovie. I had permission of all my actors to be featured in my products and also location permission for where I was filming. Detailed safety precautions were also taken and evidenced through forms, which can be found within the blog headed under the title 'Pre-Production Forms'.

I chose to create a teaser trailer and also a film website and film release poster to support my film advertisement campaign. I chose to use these mediums, as through research of distribution campaigns, I have seen within the horror genre that these products are repeatedly used to entice and sell the product to its audience successfully.

Through my research and planning I looked at various different styles of products for horror film campaigns made by professional institutions. From this I was able to define the codes and conventions for the different individual products. Looking at my ancillary work, I can say that I have used some of the codes and conventions, and also challenged certain ones so that my products were original and unique to my style to convey individuality of my brand to the audience and a unique selling point.  Specifically looking at poster designs I identified effective use of composition, image effects, typography and colour. To the left is a professional published artefact that has influenced me, as being a member of its target audience it has used the codes and conventions that has sold the campaign to me successfully, as it has targeting my needs and expectations. I have tried to demonstrate this within my own posters to target a very specific audience.

Above is one of the posters I made. Firstly I decided to make more than one poster, as through my research of film campaigns in the institution I have found that companies use more than one poster to sell their film and these are normally very contrasting, but demonstrate the same information. I have included a masthead, tagline/slogan and other copy including the release date and actors. I have included images and also sponsors at the bottom. I have decided to incorporate all of these things, because I feel it demonstrates professionalism and my audience can relate to layout as this is what a professional industry would repeatedly include. A film poster has to be clear and eye catching, as your audience may only see a short glimpse of it, especially if it was situated on a billboard in a busy street and you were passing in a car. I feel that everything is strongly imported into my poster and therefore is eye catching to my target audience. I feel the use of blood splatters and the colour of red to symbolise blood strongly demonstrates the rules and ingredients needed to convey the horror genre. My second advertisement demonstrates a teaser poster. Here I have tried to focus on my strengths of production, which through feedback I believe to be typography design.

This one was very much more preferred as a horror poster by my audience. They said it demonstrates a more confident knowledge of the codes and conventions of horror, whereas with my previous poster they were confused of the genre as they thought it could be promoting the crime genre.