Trailer

My trailer Ouija below:

Magazine cover

This is my finished magzine cover for our trailer.

Film poster

This is my finished film poster for our trailer.

Evaluation:

Here I will evaluate all aspects of the coursework that I have completed, answering the following questions and referring to certain parts of the coursework.

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

Our trailer for a horror film ‘Ouija’ uses and develops real media products by using such effects that keep to the genre of horror which is to some extent, made to scare and make the audience of the trailer feel uncomfortable. We created a scare/dissolutions effect through the way certain edits were used, such as quick cuts where we wanted the audience to get the idea that something was going to happen and using the fading in/out effect throughout the trailer, sometimes at different speeds so that it fitted the mood of the trailer at that point (For example when music was loud and powerful scenes tended to fade in/out quicker and when music was calm and quite soft the scenes tended to fade in/out much slower). We also did this by using music; the music we used had different elements, such as spooky sounds and also the tempo increased and decreased giving our trailer the different elements it needed to give it the scary and genuine horror feel to it.

We made sure there was a difference in the costume worn by the main characters and villain of the trailer, this was so the villain could be established quickly to the viewer, this was because a trailer is only two minutes long and it would have been difficult to establish this in the time slot we had to do it in. Different clothing for hero's and villain's is usually done in horror films so that the audience can immediately see divide in characters, being able to see which characters are different from others, with the villain usually having a costume completely unique to the other characters. However some films don’t do this as they like the element of confusion to be there, however we chose not to do this, due to the fact that with our budget and resources we may not have portrayed it as well as we could have done. We had the main characters wearing merely normal colorful clothes that a teenager would wear so as to put across to the audience that these characters are just normal and everyday teenagers you would see around local town. For the villain, we had a costume which consisted completely of black clothing. This was so that we could instantly establish a difference between the villain and the other characters, showing how the villain is not personally associated with the characters that will in a way is known as the ‘heroes’ of the story. This mixes with Propps Narrative Theory’ which is the idea of a structure of a story holding various character types, 2 of them being a villain and a hero.

At the start of the trailer the characters (Me, Nathan and Chris) are all introduced all at the same time in the same shot together, this gives the impression to the audience that these characters are not higher than each other, but all equal. This is also implied due to all of the characters being at the same height/level in their first shot, once again implying that no one is of higher status than each other, they are also introduced appearing happy and enjoying their time together showing that they are all good friends. This is a frequent convention that is used in horror trailers so that the audience can compare the moods of the characters at the start of three trailers, to the moods of the characters at the end of the trailer, showing how the storyline changes the characters and how the story unfolds is all down to their behavior.

The main prop we used was the board which demonstrated us doing the Ouija board, as if we didn’t have this it wouldn’t of established what we were actually doing, giving no point to the rest of the story. The torch was frequently used in the trailer as well, this was because a convention of most horror films is that it is set in darkness at times in order to cause fearful and nervous moments for the audience. We seen the torch as a way of showing that the characters were going into a dark area, implying to the audience that something was going to happen to those characters, which is a convention that is used frequently throughout the horror genre. And we also used the torch for the harsh lighting we wanted to use.

For the setting of the trailer, we wanted to mirror other horror films that centre around the idea of an unknown however normal location, looking at examples such as Insidious and The Paranormal Activity film series, which is primarily set within the confides of a house. The house is the only setting of the trailer; however we did use the street but only to get an establishing shot of where the friends were and were they were doing the Ouija board.

The title of the trailer, Ouija, we thought was quite obvious to use as people tend to think of an Ouija board then think of ghosts and spirits which is what Ouija board is meant to involve, which our trailer is about. This shows how we are using the title of our trailer to send a message to the audience of what this trailer will include, giving the audience information of the trailers plot in a way and giving them an idea of what to expect. As soon as you hear the word Ouija you automatically think of spooky things, like I said before: ghosts and spirits. This similar idea is used for the film "Friday the 13th" as this is a day which is said to bring bad luck, once again relating to the horror genre.

The title font that was used we believed gave a sort of ‘ghost’ effect, looking as though it is about to disappear- giving the denotations of ghosts and spirits. We thought this font would be good to use as it fitted very well with the genre of the trailer seeing as ghosts and spirits are what this genre of film is most likely to associate with, as it is based on a board game which enables people to talk to the dead.

In terms of the story of the trailer, we made it obvious it was based on a game which would go wrong, and also we made it quite clear that it was a horror genre. I think we did this successfully by using the right music and shots to portray a genuine horror classic! There were shots of the trailer that included each of the main characters being in some sort of peril or danger. This is a constant convention that is included in a horror film as most of the time the main characters are also seen as the victims as well. This also added question as to whether the main characters would survive as there are shots which would imply a character's death, but then later in the trailer a shot of them still alive is used. This helps to confuse the audience, making them keep on guessing what will happen in the end of the film. We also showed the villain of the trailer to usually seem to appear out of nowhere or hidden places. This helps to imply to the audience that this character is supernatural in some way, showing that this character will be some kind of threat in the trailer. Nowhere in the trailer did we actually show that anyone died, this leaves people guessing and wanting to go and see the actual film (if there was one).

To conclude, I think we did a good job in sticking to the common horror genre and our trailer fits in well with other films of its sort.  We have also tried to ensure that forms and conventions have been used properly and on occasion been challenged so that we could make it clear of this trailers genre and style. All in all I think the trailer was a success.

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

To link in with the trailer, I had to also produce a film poster and magazine front cover that would produce synergy for the film, the idea of synergy is used as a way to help promote a film on a wider scale so that more people are alerted of the film existence. Another reason for this is so that people see one thing and associate it with another, for example if they see the film poster, they will remember the magazine cover etc. A good example of synergy is the Harry Potter films, they have a lot of merchandise, posters and magazine covers all linked in to the synergy they have as a brand. Throughout my magazine front cover and film poster, there is a constant mention of games and playing, which connects to the fact that the film is about an Ouija board which is considered to be a game that interacts with ghosts and spirits. This shows how synergy keeps the same trends going across all of the different forms that are used, using the same play on words etc.

For the poster I wanted to help give the audience the instant idea that this film is a horror, I did this by giving them an establishing shot including a ghostly figure, the three main characters (in the same position they were at the start of the trailer giving synergy). And I also wanted to have all of the main conventions that a film poster should have, such as the film’s title, tagline, date of release and the mentioning of the actor and producers etc. I gave the impression that the film was of the horror genre through the poster through the color scheme and picture that is used. The use of the color blacks and grey give the viewer a feel of darkness and scariness, and the red I incorporated within the cover gives the feel of blood and death. I think I portrayed my poster well with color, and also with the text I used. I tended to stick with creepy fonts such as ‘chiller’, however I didn’t use the ‘chiller’ font too much as I didn’t want it to look like a seedy low budget poster you see on the internet.

As for the magazine front cover I wanted to make it link to my chosen genre as much as possible. I did this by keeping the same color usage from my poster, blacks, grey and red. However I did use a white a lot as I did still want it to look like a magazine. I think I portrayed it well however if i could do it again I think I would do a different format of layout, I would also include more pugs than I did and also add in some more colors instead of just using grey and black for everything.

The ‘release’ date of the film is also important as it will give an immediate implication of what kind of genre the film is to the audience viewing the trailer, magazine cover or film post. As this is a horror trailer, I made sure that my media forms included some kind of connection to the theme of Halloween, which would be the perfect time for a horror film to make a release as Halloween is often associated with ghosts and spirits etc. To do this, the film poster gives the release date as the 31st October, which is the date of Halloween. Also my magazine cover, as I have already mentioned, is a horror special, and as my film is the main focus of the magazine cover, it tells the audience what genre the film is and an inkling of what to expect- I also did this with the actual trailer and film poster.

With the previous things I have mentioned about synergy I believe that synergy was well done through the use of researching the synergy of the 2012 blockbuster Harry Potter and the deathly hallows part 1 and 2. Through this research I gained a better understanding of how synergy is used and how it can help to capture a wider demographic and advertise a film on a much wider scale. I think the two Harry Potter films I analyzed really helped me to achieve what I did with synergy.

What have you’re learnt from your audience feedback?

To generate feedback, we presented our trailer to various classes in our school, asking them what films our trailer reminds them of, what the strengths of the trailer were and finally what were the weaknesses of the trailer. We also asked for feedback on the trailer we posted on YouTube.

When we asked people in school when we had our ‘focus group’ they said that the film trailer reminded them of, one group said that it reminded them of the film Jumanji. This was not the response that we had hoped for as Jumanji is not a horror film bur more of sci-fi/adventure kids film, but when giving their reason for this they explained that it was due to the board game angle that it reminded them of this particular film. This shows us that maybe our trailer was too similar to another film of a different genre, showing that we should have done more research to make sure our trailer did not remind people of a film of a different genre. However, with saying this I don’t think adults (who the film was made for) would not associate the trailer with an adventure film. Another group said that the trailer reminded them of Paranormal Activity, which was actually one of our influences in terms of setting and story. This tells us that maybe some of our research was quite accurate and helped us to show how we were influenced by other films. However this could also mean that we made our film trailer too similar to other films.

Another group enjoyed the difference in length of clips that is used- which I also believe was another strong point of our trailer; I believe we did this well in our trailer. This is referring to how throughout the trailer the cuts and edits seem to go faster and faster along with the music, being slow when the music is quite calm and being fast when the music is quite loud and powerful creating a good atmosphere and sense within the film. All three of the groups we asked all enjoyed how the music built tension and helped to excite the audience whilst watching. One group also liked how we made the line ‘it was just a game’ stand out near the end of the trailer so as to refer to the title and the Ouija board that was actually played earlier in the trailer. This shows us that by making certain things stand out, then the audience are more likely to remember the film through certain parts that stood out for them. It is often the simple things that can seem so effective on trailers, posters and magazine covers.

I think the main weaknesses of our trailer was that we didn’t give enough of the story line away- most trailers don’t give a lot away, however I think we didn’t give enough! One group picked up on this and said that maybe the trailer should give the audience more information on what an Ouija board actually is. This tells us that we should have considered the audience's knowledge of Ouija boards much more than we did, as this can be quite a big downfall for the trailer if people are not well informed on what an Ouija board is. Another group believed that the music changed too quickly at the end. This tells us that we should have edited the audio of the trailer better so that it flowed more. The last group said that when the doors flap it doesn't look very realistic. This shows us that we should have analyzed this shot more during filming and tried to improve it to make it look better for the trailer. However I personally believe the music was one of the best features, so I disagree with that comment.

We have also uploaded our trailer onto YouTube as I mentioned before, YouTube is the most common website that videos are viewed on so it seemed the most suitable for our trailer to be viewed on, and we are currently awaiting any comments and further feedback that can be given to us by any other users of YouTube.

Overall we believe that all feedback we have received from the focus group and hopefully the feedback we will get from the YouTube clip was very helpful and was constructive in the way that it has given us more insight into the audience's views and opinions of our product. It has also given us ideas of what we could of changed and made better.

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

To actually complete this unit of work I used a lot of new media technologies, mostly on Apple Mac computers. These technologies included:

-A video camera (Panasonic)This allowed me to actually film my trailer, using techniques such as zooming in and out. It also filmed all the footage we shot for the film.

-Blogger.comThis website was used to blog and presents all of my work for this unit, for example all of my research and the final products have been posted on it.

-Photoshop Elements 7.0This program allowed me to manipulate my images and text that is used for my magazine front cover and poster, making them look professional.

-Internet ExplorerThis was used when researching my chosen genre and in other parts of the researching process. I also used this to access my blog and other web pages such as YouTube.

-YouTube.com This website allowed me to upload my trailer so that my trailer could be viewed on a wider scale so I can possible get more feedback from others.

-I MovieThis program actually let me edit my trailer, allowing me to import music and text also and even edits such as fading in and out and cropping the bits I want and the bits I don’t want.

-Microsoft Word

I used this program when getting documents such as risk assessments and venue release forms, I also used it to help me get the layout of my magazine and film poster.

The usage of new technologies has made this entire process much easier and fun to use. It has helped to improve the quality of my work and has allowed me to ensure I have gained the research and knowledge needed and also allowed me to present my work on a much wider scale than what it would have without the use of this technology. I believe that without using this technology, especially Apple programmes, my work wouldn’t have looked as professional and good as I believe it does!