-How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
The internet and other media technologies were used a lot in the research and execution of our media product.
Main internet sites that were used are:
http://www.apple.com/trailers - used in research and planning of existing trailers.
www.facebook.com - although we didn't use this to make an account of our product, we used it to communicate ideas.
http://www.blogger.com/ - This site was used for discussing and evaluating everything we have done. It was also very useful for looking at other people's blogs, to see what is missing from ours and what is effective and what's not.
Other media technologies used a lot in the making of our trailer and ancillary tasks were:
Adobe Photoshop - used for editing the title, images, and poster and magazine cover.
iMovie - This was used for the editing of our trailer.
LogicPro - This was used to make the music. This software was very helpful, as it had a lot of samples on, and is quite easy to use.
Garageband was also used to test out what kinds of sounds we wanted to use in our music.
Friday
-What have you learned from your audience feedback?
We wanted to know how effective our trailer was, so decided to ask people to watch it then ask them questions about it after. These are the questions posed to them:
1. What did you think of the trailer?
2. Is there anything you specifically liked?
3. In what ways do you think it has followed slasher horror trailer conventions?
4. What did you think of the killer's weapon?
5. How effective is the sound, both diegetic and non-diegetic, in the trailer?
6. Does the trailer make you want to see the film?
We got mixed feedback from our trailer, as some people liked certain aspects more than others. For example, one person said they liked the framing of the shots and the location, as it was effective in making it look isolated and scary.
Another person mentioned that they specifically liked the sound we used, and it was effective in it's aim.
The fact that the killer was hooded and had a hidden identity was liked by most people, as it followed conventions of existing, popular horror films.
We wanted to know how effective our trailer was, so decided to ask people to watch it then ask them questions about it after. These are the questions posed to them:
1. What did you think of the trailer?
2. Is there anything you specifically liked?
3. In what ways do you think it has followed slasher horror trailer conventions?
4. What did you think of the killer's weapon?
5. How effective is the sound, both diegetic and non-diegetic, in the trailer?
6. Does the trailer make you want to see the film?
We got mixed feedback from our trailer, as some people liked certain aspects more than others. For example, one person said they liked the framing of the shots and the location, as it was effective in making it look isolated and scary.
Another person mentioned that they specifically liked the sound we used, and it was effective in it's aim.
The fact that the killer was hooded and had a hidden identity was liked by most people, as it followed conventions of existing, popular horror films.
-How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
The film's poster and magazine cover uses some of the same images and colours as the actual trailer, so I think they work well together. On the day of filming, Saidi took some still images to use for our poster, magazine cover and our blogs. Saidi and Spike did a film poster each, so we could see which one we liked best and would use. Anabel did the magazine cover. They all used images which were taken while filming, and edited them to make them scary and so they looked more like horror film images, so the images link the ancillary texts to the trailer. One of the posters also uses the title that I drew and edited in photoshop, although I don't know how effective that is in making it scary.
The film's poster and magazine cover uses some of the same images and colours as the actual trailer, so I think they work well together. On the day of filming, Saidi took some still images to use for our poster, magazine cover and our blogs. Saidi and Spike did a film poster each, so we could see which one we liked best and would use. Anabel did the magazine cover. They all used images which were taken while filming, and edited them to make them scary and so they looked more like horror film images, so the images link the ancillary texts to the trailer. One of the posters also uses the title that I drew and edited in photoshop, although I don't know how effective that is in making it scary.
I felt that, after editing the title in Photoshop, it wasn't as effective as it could have been. It was meant to look real and scary, and I think I could have achieved this if I painted or coloured it in before I scanned it in. The colours and thickness of the lines made it look like a cartoon-type font, so takes away the scariness of it... I think if it looked slightly scarier and more like a horror film title font, it would have been more effective with the ancillary texts.
As a marketing campaign, I think the combination of our trailer, poster and magazine cover altogether, although not bad, could have been better. The colours of both the poster and the magazine were effective in making it scary, and I think they do link to the trailer, but maybe it could have worked better if when making the poster and magazine, each person had images of the other ancillary task. For example, when making the poster, Saidi could have had an image of the magazine cover, or if not that, we could have communicated better as a group. We could have made a facebook account for our trailer, and communicated what we wanted to do on it...
-In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
When doing research and planning for our media product, we looked at the conventions of slasher/horror films and trailers. To make our trailer and ancillary texts interesting, we decided to follow some of these conventions, but also to challenge them. For example, one convention of slasher films is that the killer usually prefers to kill using hand-held weapons such as knives, axes and chainsaws. However, in our 'film', we chose that the killer's weapon would be a (sort-of) part of him - metal claws that fit onto his fingers. This is also developing the conventions of slashers as he made the claws himself, which fits into our back story. This is our USP, as our killer is an intelligent young man, who is good at designing and making something that could be quite complex, (especially as the claws are metal) who also got bullied as a school kid. The fact that he got bullied follows the conventions of slasher films, as killers tend to have had a childhood trauma.
Another convention that we followed, was that of the victim. Generally, in slasher/horror films, the victims are a member of the young community, who are punished for having delight in vices such as drugs and sex. In our trailer, the victim is seen waiting for a drug dealer before the killer approaches.
When doing research and planning for our media product, we looked at the conventions of slasher/horror films and trailers. To make our trailer and ancillary texts interesting, we decided to follow some of these conventions, but also to challenge them. For example, one convention of slasher films is that the killer usually prefers to kill using hand-held weapons such as knives, axes and chainsaws. However, in our 'film', we chose that the killer's weapon would be a (sort-of) part of him - metal claws that fit onto his fingers. This is also developing the conventions of slashers as he made the claws himself, which fits into our back story. This is our USP, as our killer is an intelligent young man, who is good at designing and making something that could be quite complex, (especially as the claws are metal) who also got bullied as a school kid. The fact that he got bullied follows the conventions of slasher films, as killers tend to have had a childhood trauma.
Another convention that we followed, was that of the victim. Generally, in slasher/horror films, the victims are a member of the young community, who are punished for having delight in vices such as drugs and sex. In our trailer, the victim is seen waiting for a drug dealer before the killer approaches.
Other conventions of horror trailers is the choice of a voiceover, or explanatory dialogue. Many horror trailers have explanatory dialogue from the film playing over the top of the images shown, to let the audience know what is going on, to make it easier to understand. Most of these trailers, instead of having a voiceover, also have text in between shots as well as dialogue and music. This text is usually a few words every 5-10 seconds, explaining what the film is about using very little words, as to catch your eye and make it easy to read. I think a voiceover is not needed in horror trailers if dialogue and music is used to create the same effect. Sound (music and effects in particular) is paramount in horror trailers and films - without sound they wouldn't be scary. Here are some examples of trailers that don't have a voiceover, but are still effective:
Following these conventions, we decided that a voiceover wouldn't be needed in our trailer, and instead music and dialogue was used. We decided not to use explanatory text either, as our trailer is quite self-explanatory and there isn't anything difficult to understand in it.
Thursday
Font for title: final copy
I refined the first draft of the title, re-doing it a few times to make sure it was right, as the claws drawn had to look like the real ones. The first couple of copies I did either didn't look like real fingers, or the whole thing looked a bit too like a cartoon. I wanted it to have more of an impact, and to look like real fingers, but also like it was hand drawn. When I finally finished drawing up the neat title, I had to scan it into the computer to work on in Photoshop. I had a bit of trouble scanning at first, as I drew it in pencil so it didn't show up properly on the computer. I had to draw over it in black pen. This wasn't good for me, as I thought it made it look more cartoon-y.
Once it was all scanned in, I started trying to make it more scary and life-like. I coloured the fingers in skin colour and the claws in 'silver'. However, there was no such thing as the color silver on Photoshop, so I had to colour them in grey with gradient to make it look shiney. To colour in all different parts of the image, I had to make a seperate layer for each part, which took quite a while. Once I had done that, I had to put blood into it - on the nails. However, as I am no Photoshop wizz, this wasn't as easy as expected. In the end, after a few technical problems, I decided it would be best to just use the paint tool with a small diameter to 'paint' the red blood onto it. As I had to be careful, this took longer than expected.
Saturday
While I was working on the music, Spike was editing the trailer. This needed to be done in order for me to finish the music, as it needed to go with the movement and cuts in the trailer.
I put the first edit of the trailer onto my USB, in order to fit the music to it:
I put the first edit of the trailer onto my USB, in order to fit the music to it:
Using this edit, I completed the timing and beats of the music, by playing the trailer and music aside one another. This is the final edit of the music:
Day of filming 
We went down to Little Green street at 5, once it had got dark. We spray-painted the claws silver, and set up the equipment. We followed
the storyboard as best we could, and I filmed. Some shots were not possible, such as the birds eye view shot, as wh
en I stood on a wall to film it, the shot was too dark. We scrapped that idea, and just got all the other shots. These shots were while we were setting up the shot of Spike being 'killed'.
Saidi came to take the stills for the poster and magazine while we were setting up shots:
Saidi came to take the stills for the poster and magazine while we were setting up shots:
Friday
Once the storyboard was complete, we needed to decide when to film, and who would be in the trailer.
(image of storyboard)
We came across a bit of difficulty with this - we were all very busy and lived in different places, so it was difficult to pick the time to film. The fact that it had to be dark to film, meant that we were even more restricted for when to film. Me and Spike decided we would film that Thursday, at 4:30/5:00. However, when the day came, after finding a killer and victim for the trailer, they both pulled out on the day. We decided to find someone else to be in it the day after, but we couldn't film then. After all these difficulties, we finally picked a day to film, with no excuses. We found a killer, but failed in finding a victim, so Spike had to fill that position. I decided I would do the filming, and Saidi would take the stills for the poster and magazine.
(image of storyboard)
We came across a bit of difficulty with this - we were all very busy and lived in different places, so it was difficult to pick the time to film. The fact that it had to be dark to film, meant that we were even more restricted for when to film. Me and Spike decided we would film that Thursday, at 4:30/5:00. However, when the day came, after finding a killer and victim for the trailer, they both pulled out on the day. We decided to find someone else to be in it the day after, but we couldn't film then. After all these difficulties, we finally picked a day to film, with no excuses. We found a killer, but failed in finding a victim, so Spike had to fill that position. I decided I would do the filming, and Saidi would take the stills for the poster and magazine.
Wednesday
Music for trailer
I decided that I would use Logic Pro to make some scary music for the trailer. I changed it a few times, as certain samples that I chose were not in the right key, or scary enough. I thought the music should be aimed at the same audience as the film - teenagers. Drum and bass and dubstep music is popular with English teens, so I decided to use some deep bass and loud, fast drums at some points of the song. I also used an eery piano riff and some violins. After listening to some dubstep songs, such as some of Stenchman's songs, which sound quite scary at times, I made sure I used some of the conventions of these songs. The first 30 seconds of Stenchman's '2muchket' helped me a lot in making this scary song: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzqWgGIWPvg
Monday
Font for title
On monday the 9th November, I came up with the idea of drawing up the title instead of choosing an already made font. I started doing sketches, and decided to draw the letters as fingers with claws, to go with the theme of the film. I left the sketch as a rough idea, so I could neaten it later, then scan it in to work on in photoshop.
Sunday
I joined the group I made the trailer with a while after the groups were chosen, as I changed media classes. This meant that they had already come up with an idea for the concept for their trailer, and I had come up with a concept with my previous group. As I changed groups, it was difficult to get into the flow of the project, as they had to explain everything they had come up with.A concept of the title, killer and back story was already written up:
Spike had already drawn up a rough storyboard for the trailer:
The first lesson spent with my group, we drew up another draft storyboard for our trailer:
They had also previously drawn up a rough flat-plan for the film poster and magazine. It was in this lesson that we divided the tasks needed to be done. I said I wouldn't mind doing anything creative, like doing the final copy of the storyboard. I also said I could do the font for the title: 'Claws.'
They had also previously drawn up a rough flat-plan for the film poster and magazine. It was in this lesson that we divided the tasks needed to be done. I said I wouldn't mind doing anything creative, like doing the final copy of the storyboard. I also said I could do the font for the title: 'Claws.'
Friday
Research and Planning: ....
Since September, we had been dong research into all types of films and their trailers and marketing strategies. We looked at every aspect of films/trailers and their marketing:
-Genre, and key elements of: (lead characters, stock characters, plots and stock situations, icons i.e key symbol of the genre, backgrounds and decor and themes.
-Titles - why certain titles are good/bad, meanings behind the title, the font and colour of the title (if it signifies the genre of the film/what it's about.)
-Imagery - Key images, props and colours (do they signify the genre/plot?)
-Sound - Types of music/sound FX (again, how they show genre, meaning and plot)
-Voiceover - What is said and how it is said. I.e it helps us make sense of the narrative by giving us background, it showcases the stars and director and producer and the films they have done. It also builds a sense of anticipation and reinforces the title of the film. We also looked at what types of trailers have a voiceover, and do they need it?
For example, independent films tend not to have a voiceover, as they don't have an established ***story***
-Lead and stock characters - We looked at the types of characters used in different genres of films. When we knew we were going to produce a slasher/horror trailer, we looked closer at the lead characters in horror films, and the conventions of these characters. For example:
with a few exceptions, the killer in slasher films are generally male. His identity is quite often unknown and/or concealed by a mask or creative lighting and camera work. He is often mute, and seems to be unstoppable, withstanding shootigs and stabbings. His background often includes a childhood trauma that explains his choice of victim, weapon and location. Slasher killers tend to have hand held weapons such as knives, axes, chainsaws etc.
The victims in slasher films tend to be young, attractive high school or college-aged teens. These victims are usually punished for being amoral, such as taking drugs or having pre-marital sex.
As well as looking at the conventions of trailers, we were looking at different marketing campaigns and how they were carried out.
killers.
examples of trailers that helped us:
titles:
Our brief says:
'A London based film company called Filmworks wants you and your team to create a film concept and marketing campaign for release. You are to produce a teen based movie, within the horror genre. Filmworks wants the film to target an older teenage audience of 15 and above. It would also like to widen its market by also appealing to independent, creative and aspiring adults.'
Basically, our trailer had to be interesting, creative and scary.
First of all, we had to do research into films in the 15 category, to see exactly what we were and weren't allowed to do. We looked on the British Board of Film Classification website:
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/
at the 'classification guidlines' link down the left hand side, then looked at the guidlines for a certificate 15.
After we knew what we were and weren't allowed to do, we decided what forms and conventions we would follow and challenge.
Since September, we had been dong research into all types of films and their trailers and marketing strategies. We looked at every aspect of films/trailers and their marketing:
-Genre, and key elements of: (lead characters, stock characters, plots and stock situations, icons i.e key symbol of the genre, backgrounds and decor and themes.
-Titles - why certain titles are good/bad, meanings behind the title, the font and colour of the title (if it signifies the genre of the film/what it's about.)
-Imagery - Key images, props and colours (do they signify the genre/plot?)
-Sound - Types of music/sound FX (again, how they show genre, meaning and plot)
-Voiceover - What is said and how it is said. I.e it helps us make sense of the narrative by giving us background, it showcases the stars and director and producer and the films they have done. It also builds a sense of anticipation and reinforces the title of the film. We also looked at what types of trailers have a voiceover, and do they need it?
For example, independent films tend not to have a voiceover, as they don't have an established ***story***
-Lead and stock characters - We looked at the types of characters used in different genres of films. When we knew we were going to produce a slasher/horror trailer, we looked closer at the lead characters in horror films, and the conventions of these characters. For example:
with a few exceptions, the killer in slasher films are generally male. His identity is quite often unknown and/or concealed by a mask or creative lighting and camera work. He is often mute, and seems to be unstoppable, withstanding shootigs and stabbings. His background often includes a childhood trauma that explains his choice of victim, weapon and location. Slasher killers tend to have hand held weapons such as knives, axes, chainsaws etc.
The victims in slasher films tend to be young, attractive high school or college-aged teens. These victims are usually punished for being amoral, such as taking drugs or having pre-marital sex.
As well as looking at the conventions of trailers, we were looking at different marketing campaigns and how they were carried out.
killers.
examples of trailers that helped us:
titles:
Our brief says:
'A London based film company called Filmworks wants you and your team to create a film concept and marketing campaign for release. You are to produce a teen based movie, within the horror genre. Filmworks wants the film to target an older teenage audience of 15 and above. It would also like to widen its market by also appealing to independent, creative and aspiring adults.'
Basically, our trailer had to be interesting, creative and scary.
First of all, we had to do research into films in the 15 category, to see exactly what we were and weren't allowed to do. We looked on the British Board of Film Classification website:
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/
at the 'classification guidlines' link down the left hand side, then looked at the guidlines for a certificate 15.
After we knew what we were and weren't allowed to do, we decided what forms and conventions we would follow and challenge.
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