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

As you can see from the video above we have gained inspiration from films such as The Shining and Sorority Row as we felt the story lines that were used across both were highly effective in reaching the audience. Also, we have combined three separate ideas together in order to create a final idea. We looked at films such as dirty pretty things but found that the storyline wasn't as effective, therefore we challenged the forms conventions used within this film. We developed the idea from sorority row into our own unique idea that would be able to meet the needs of the horror audience.

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

A wide range of new media technologies were included in the development, construction and  production of my teaser trailer package. These media technologies have allowed my teaser trailer package to be proffessional and of a high standard.

The sources that I have used within the development of my project include YouTube, IMBD and Flickr. These sources have allowed me to gain the relevant influence and inspirations needed to construct the trailer, web page and poster. I feel that without these sources of inspiration it would have been difficult to decide on specific aspects to include in our storyline and also the types of shots that we could implement within the teaser trailer. Also, I have been able to research established horror and thriller movies to gain inspiration for my web page and poster as I will need to ensure that they are able to graspt the audiences attention fully, and ofcourse in the right way.

The main source that I used for the construction of my teaser trailer package was Imovie as it allowed me to edit footage by changing saturation as well as shorten and legngthen shots. It also allowed us to add text, sound and include still shots to create a teaser trailer with the element of tension and suspense. Without this source, I wouldnt have been able to create a teaser trailer that was effective in attracting an audience and portraying and conveying the horror/thriller genre. Macromedia MX and Photoshop allowed my group and I to create a web page and poster. The main features of Macromedia that my group found useful was the ability to change the size, type and colour of font as well as being able to upload images onto the webpage that had been previously constructed on Photoshop. Photoshop has allowed my group and I to take screen grabs from our finished trailer on Imovie and develop them into a whole image conveying a breif outline of the film. The screen grab below is a still that we used within the trailer in order to lengthen the shot and create the suspense of our main character being watched by Josh whilst not being aware.

As you can see this shot is highly effective due to the mise-en-scene and angle of the shot. You can see that the girl is suffering from a negative emotion and looks stressed. Little does she know, she is being watched by a dark figure through the glass door. This therefore creates tension as the audience will feel empathetic for the character because they are able to see what she cant. This therefore relates to the 'Bomb Theory' as it meets 4 out of the 5 components. The four components that it meets is empathy with character, knowing more than the character, placing ideas in mind and also creating a sense of false plateau. 

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Audience feedback has played an important role in understanding the strengths and weaknesses that myself and my group posses. By gaining audience feedback we have been to adapt the criticism into constructive targets that we can develop for future projects. With reference to the answers of my questionnaire shown previously in the blog, you can see that there have been clear strengths such as the establishment of the horror/thriller and also some clear improvements such as making the storyline easier to understand by the audience.

After completing the first draft of my group's trailer we decided to embed the video on YouTube as well as locating it upon Facebook, a social networking site. We done this in order to gain feedback from our potential audience on the positives and negatives surrounding the trailer. Some of the comments that were given were positive however some stated some minor changes that could have been made in order to improve the trailer. This constructive criticism has allowed my group and I to understand our weaknesses, allowing us to be able to build on them and turn them into strengths. this will therefore allow future projects to be of a higher standard attracting our target audience correctly.
PRINT SCREEN OF FACEBOOK WITH COMMENTS

As well as completing the above forms of audience feedback, I have held interviews with some of my potential target audience in order to find out their honest opinions regarding the trailer and its ancillary texts. Below are 2 videos of audience feedback where I have asked clear questions to the interviewees in order to prompt honest, specific answers.

Questionnaire and Audience Feedback

After presenting my teaser trailer package to a sample of friends and family I handed out a questionnaire in order to find out their honest opinions regarding the teaser trailer, poster and website. The questionnaire consisted of the questions and structure shown in the print screen below:

As you can see, the questionnaire consists of questions that are relevant to the teaser trailer package and the possible improvements that could be made. After handing out the questionnaire and gaining feedback from my interviewees I have been able to conclude the following bits of information regarding our teaser trailer package:

·         The combination our our main product and ancillary texts is very effective as the colour scheme is consistent and is carried through the website, poster and trailer. This therefore means that our audience will be able to make clear links between the three. Also, from a first glance at the poster and web page, interviewees feel that the levels of text and colours used are not overpowering and are asthetically pleasing to the viewers eyes.

·         17/20 people stated that the horror/thriller genre is clearly established through the combination of our main product and ancillary texts. The remainding three people stated the genre was slightly noticeable. Therefore as a group we can take this criticism and make some amendments to ensure our audience can make a clear link.

·         20/20 interviewees stated that they felt the storyline and the title of the film corresponded and made a clear link, however 7/20 people stated that they was able to understand the storyline. This therefore is positive as a teaser trailer is meant to confuse viewers making them want to know more about the film as they have only been given small amounts of information regarding the film.

·         Overall, the feedback was positive and reassured my group and I that we have achieved the aims and objectives that we set to achieve. Regarding additional comments, interviewees stated that they found the teaser trailer had a professional feel about it and the text located in the trailer related to the footage they were being shown.

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

I feel that my main product (trailer) and my ancillary texts (poster and web page) have a clear, strong link that is consistently carried through allowing the combination between the three products to be highly effective. For instance the use of the still images taken from the teaser trailer and located on the poster and web page as the main image identifies a clear link between all three products. Secondly the consistent colour scheme that has been used, for example red and white text with a black background, allows the audience to make a quick link between the three products without having to read large amounts of text.

In the video below, I am stating the other factors included in my main product and ancillary texts that allow a solid link to be created.

Webpage Upload

After condusting the needed research regarding the codes and conventions of horror/thriller movie web pages, my group and I have made the web page below:

I am very pleased with the final outcome of our web page as it makes a strong bond with my poster as well as the trailer. The images used on the webpage represent the two main charatcers in the film and the emotions that they are going through. For instance Josh is placed within a circle, symbolic of the trap he is placed within during the extract. Myself (Kerry) however is placed on top merged into the background showing a deep, aggressive emotion representing the pain that she is going through. The combination between my main product and this ancillary text is strong and there is a clear link and bond between the two, therefore I feel that this web page is very effective. The inspirations I have gained from my web page research are clear in the poster. For instance, the links to social networking sites as well as including hyperlinks which are relevant to the genre. However, I have adapted Joel Sklars theory of placing the navigation bar across the top of the webpage by locatin them at the bottom as I feel that this is more effective.

Poster Upload

Our completed poster is located in the screen grab below:

As you can see from looking at both of my ancillary texts, there has been a strong link made. The image that has been included on my poster is the same image positioned on the web page. This is also relevant to the title of the film, as they are the exact same image that has been used twice. The main inspiration used for my poster has come from looking at the poster for the film 'BUG', referenced in my poster inspirations, as it uses the technique of merging images together and blurring them to make them work together as if they are one photo. I feel that is effective as it gives a sense of the danger that is ahead. The colours used within the poster are also symbolic of this. For instance josh is placed in quite suttle, realistic colours whereas myself (Kerry) has a more deep red glow. Therefore, the red represents the evil that is going to be seen from the character during the extract.

We decided to place a quote from the Guardian as well as the characters names at the top of the poster as we found most horror posters tend to locate their names in this position and also reference established media's such as The Times, Guardian or other institutions. Also, the text located at the bottom of the poster is essential for the layout of the poster as all posters include information regarding the production and distribution of the film.

Teaser Trailer Upload

Below is the finished teaser trailer product produced by my group and I. As you can see footage has been edited and sound has been placed on top of the footage in order to create a scary atomosphere. My group and I are all pleased with the outcome of our trailer.

Website Inspirations

A website that has gained a large amount of attention from myself and my group is the Sorority Row Website (open link to see entire website).

This web page was inspirational for the following reasons:

• Colours - red and black symbloic of danger
• Collage of images - gives viewer an insight into the storyline and what is going to occour throughout the film
• Hyperlinks - the hyperlinks included are relevant to consumer needs and directs viewers to view the needed information regarding the film
• Text - the text is easy to read, and all text is relevant, title is shown clearly and there are links to social networking sites, influncing the audience to become part of the promotion and film

Another website that I found highly effective although my group did not agree is the Batman Returns (Why So Serious?) website (open link to see entire website).

This webpage was influential for the reasons below:

• ARG - the website relates and follows the alternate reality game that Batman was aiming to achieve
• Hints and Clues - images provide the audience with little knowledge of the film, however provides them with enough to understand the storyline
• Colours - all colours work together and the collage is effective due to the images corresponding to the film

After carrying out secondary research on websites and finding out what makes them effective to the audience, i have been able to conlude the following decisions regarding my own webpage:

• To use colours that are symbolic of the storyline (ie dark colours for an eery effect aswell as red to show danger and death)
• To include small amounts of text to ensure that the web page is not too text heavy and relates to the web page being a teaser for the audience
• Create links to social networking sites in order to provide links with consumers and the film, therefore making them feel a part of the film as well as ensuring the right target audience is met.
• Ensure all hyperlinks are relevant and provide the needed information for the audience. For instance links to gallery, characters and about the film will be effective however links to games and other uncessecary websites may not be as effective

Poster Inspirations

Once we had completed the trailer, it was time to explore the creation of our poster. This made us think about specific text and aspects that needed to be included on the poster. These are as stated below:

• Film name
• Slogan in relation to the film
• Character names
• A main image
• Quotes from trusted sources IE The Guardian

It is crucial that my group and I carried out research regarding other horror posters as it would allow us to gain the needed knowledge and inspiration to ensure our own poster is going to be effective. This research will allow me to understand what is common across most horror posters to ensure that the codes and conventions of horror posters is achieved. Before creating the poster for my group teaser trailer package, I thought it would be valuable to research into the different types of posters created for previous horror trailer packages. This would therefore allow my group to understand the different styles and techniques that would be adaptable to our teaser trailer.

Sorority Row is a poster that attracted large amounts of interest from myself and my group. The main inspiration I gained from looking at this poster was the fact that it uses one main image as well as background images that correlate and interlink with each other whilst also making a strong link to the film. Although the images of the five girls isn't striking out as a scary image, the fact that is placed on top of a burning house creates a scary effect, allowing the viewers to understand that something chilling is going to occur during the film. The colour red is symbolic of blood, death and danger which therefore gives the audience an idea of the content of the film. Overall, I believe that this poster is highly effective as the genre of the film is fed to the viewers clearly and effectively, allowing there to be no confusion regarding the film whilst also ensuring the right target audience is reached.

Another inspirational poster that gained large amounts of interest from my group and I was 'The Strangers'. As we all found the trailer effective in the way that it uses a variety of different techniques to convey a disturbing and chilling effect to the viewers, we thought it would be in our own interest to explore the techniques used in their poster.The image used on the poster portrays and conveys a sense of entrapment and fear to the viewers as there is a couple that have been placed in a difficult situation by three masked protagonists. There is a strong link between the trailer and poster which influences the audience to want to watch the entire movie.

The slogan located at the top of the poster reinforces the link between the storyline of the film as the victims are disrupted at 4am and placed under the control of the masked people. This allows the entire concept of the film to be grasped with one look at the poster. Although there is limited use of text on the poster, the poster is still effective. It has become clear that most posters aim for a simplistic poster when regarding text and highlight the horror with the use of an effective image. The dim and dark lighting used in this poster allows the genre of the film to be portrayed within a short period of time, therefore allowing the viewers to decide whether this film is going to be one in their interest.

The main inspiration that this poster has given me is the fact that it uses two images layered on top of each other with a multiplying effect on photoshop. This therefore allows the under images to be seen through the top image. I find this technique highly effective as it creates suspense and leads to the viewer to wanting to know more about the film and why there are two images blurred together. I aim to use this technique within my own poster as it is highly effective and grasped my attention from the first glance. Also, the use of a black background allows a dark and negative emotion to be created. The grey scale images also create a sinister, mysterious and oppressive image to the viewers. Again, in this poster there is a limited amount of text only stating the title, characters name, a quote and production information. This therefore corrlates with the simplistic layour earlier mentioned.

After conducting all research regarding posters, it has become clear that all posters aim for a simplistic layout with a strong and bold image located in the centre of the poster with minimal amounts of text located across the top and bottom of the poster. Therefore, I am going to ensure my group poster uses the same layout, therefore allowing our poster to be as effective as possible.