Outtakes.

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

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

For our poster and magazine cover we have had to ensure that they promote our trailer and film together through the use of synergy. This meant that the poster and magazine cover had to have a constant theme in relation to the trailer, for example we had to match colours, images and text so that our target audience would easily be able to link one of our texts to the others. 

We started by finding a text that we thought matched the genre of our film and we then proceeded to edit this by adding red for more effect. This text was then placed at the end of our trailer to leave the image in the audiences mind. After this we created our poster and magazine cover and carried the text across to both platforms.  This meant that the text was synonymous with our film.

We ensured that the actors/ models across our texts were dressed and made-up the same. This meant that they had the same make-up, for example blood and skin tone in the poster and magazine cover, the blood was dark and the cuts were very visual. They stood out so that the audience would recognise the genre of our film. The grey skin tone that all of the models had was to inform the audience that they were ‘undead’. We brought this blood and gore back through the trailer giving the audience glimpses of zombies and blood.

The colours we used throughout were also matched. In the trailer we tried to create dark edges around the image to add horror to the video. We realized the trailer didn’t include much action so we added the darkness to show the genre of the film. This darkness was carried across to the poster and magazine in the images we used. The magazine cover had two zombies climbing the stairs with darkness surrounding them, whilst the poster had one zombie also surrounded by darkness.

The three texts were all made to feel very lonely. The trailer focused around the main character trying to escape a zombie apocalypse, not showing any life around him, the poster then showed just one zombie with the magazine showing two more. This made the audience realize the film did have emotion behind it but at the same time caused tension for them as they wondered whether the main character would escape. This theme also put them in the protagonists shoes and made them wonder how it would feel to be in that world.

 

 

Evaluation on technology used in different stages

http://public.iwork.com/document/?d=Evaluation_question_on_technology.key&a=p184542171

How did you use new media technologies In The construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

http://public.iwork.com/document/?d=How_did_you_use_new_media_technologies_In_The_construction_and_research%2C_planning_and_evaluation_stages_63__.key&a=p184542171

Magazine Front cover

Evaluation Question 3

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

Target Audience

Above is the stereotypical male version of our intended audience, typically between the ages of 15-25.

Again above is a stereotypical version of our female intended audience, usually horror films are not so much associated with women. 

Billboard Final Analysis

Due to the feedback we received via comments on our blog we have made a decision over which style of Billboard we were going to use out of the two we created, one included blood splatter and one without.   

  

Above are two of our comments we received when we posted both versions onto our blog and asked for feedback, all proved to be extremely positive and enthusiastic over our final outcomes. However the overall favourite proved to be the one which included the blood splatter.

Above is our final billboard image we created with the aid of Photoshop. The original image proved to be extremely effective and naturally did not need a lot of editing due to the way in which we captured this. We decided to darken the image as this would keep the background extremely dark giving the perception of coming out of the darkness but although our faces would be darker because of the contrast between the red gruesome make up effects and dark surroundings we stand out. By using a setting of a staircase it defiantly gives the impression of 'nobody is safe' as we invade the home by crawling up the stairs. We shot the image from a point of view shot so that the audience viewing the billboard would be the character about to be attacked by the two zombies, this is extremely effective as it puts the audience in the shoes of the character. But also the Zombies are then making eye contact through the lens grabbing any passer by's attention. 

Using the rule of thirds we decided that by placing it within the second third in the middle it gave us room to add text around the edges, Critic Ratings from many well known companies and then of course most important the name of our film. However in comparison to the main image and the Critic Ratings the 'BIO' font is small but we wanted to over power our Billboard with the main image as it proves to be strong and eye catching, something that will stick in your mind. 

Overall we are pleased with the outcome of our Billboard and have even put in situations such as street billboards using an internet website.

Poster Finals

These are copies of our final posters, both the original and one 3D.
Using PhotoShop we were able to create the authentic horror genre we were aiming for making sure that we stuck to the true conventions of a horror poster. Our previous research on international film websites such as total film and particular films within the horror genre such as 'The Woman' (annotated below) allowed us to understand which combinations of colour, image and text to use to create a hard hitting poster.
We have used three main colours throughout which have the connotations of violence and horror, black, red and white. Although white is usually seen as a colour with the connotations of innocence and purity when used in the text of horror it gives a spooky appeal, that the usual connotations of this colour have been twisted and used for the opposite reasons. Also due to the black background it allowed it to stand out when used on text we didn't want our tag line, date and the main title to be lost within the image.

Unlike our previous research which shows 'The Woman' we decided to go with a much more simple photograph which has no on location background but what looks to be a studio set up. However this is not the case. Using PhotoShop we were able to create the black background which allowed our main subject too look as if he is appearing from the night, all connecting back to the horror genre. Also the use of a shallow depth of field has enabled us to create main focal points within the poster and also as you reach the edge of the 'Zombies' face it begins to lose focus and dissapears into the black background, 'The Night'. Those main focal points are ones which the human brain instantly connects with first whenever presented with a face, eyes, tip of the nose and lips in this case the one eye, the tip of the nose and the half eaten mouth. By using this as our main focal point we are able to make our photograph appear more dramatic as we can mutalate those usually perfect features adding to the gruesome horror feel to our poster.
Our font style of BIO came as a group decision with the idea that we didn't want to write it in a basic font we wanted it to match the intensity of the photograph. With the idea of not wanting to use a basic Times Roman font or even one that showed jagged lines we chose one that looked itself to have been scratched into a surface in desperation. This effect gives a very manic appeal but also is not lost in the gruesome main photograph, it was important that neither would over power the other as we didn't want to lose out on effect.
The combination of such a gruesome image and text combination is a great teaser poster as it gives an extremley small insight into what to expect within the film. However it tells you nothing else, therefore with the classic words of COMING SOON it adds suspense and when you are to release the next poster advertisement people will remember the last and easily make the connection between the two as the first is such a massive statement image.
By creating a second poster in 3D this allows us to reach out further within the media culture and keep up with the current market asking for new interactive films which when seen literately grabs you. We are reaching out to a wider market. This particular image works well in 3D due to the depth within the image especially around the mouth area due to the shadowing and texture that becomes a main 3D point within the photograph.
Therefore combining the use of a gruesome image, text and taglines we were able to create an eye catching poster which puts a massive stamp mark on the horror genre. This poster placed on billboards and buses would create a huge statement and become well known, unforgetable.

Pie Chart results

The three pie charts seen are how we decided to analyse and display our results from the feedback forms. Using Microsoft Word we were able to create any chart of our choice using Microsoft Excel to process our calculations accurately forming each section of our pie chart.

Intended Audience
This formed one of our questions on the feedback form as we decided that for our desired genre to come across it would need to have a high age rating.
The majority of our focus group, 73% decided individually that it should be rated viewed by persons between the ages of 15-17 years. 18% decided that it should be viewed by the age group of 18-20 year olds and finally only 9% of the people we exhibited our trailer to wrote that it should be for persons between the ages of 10-14 years.
This is a positive outcome for our trailer as all the horror films we analysed for our extensive research  are all certificated either 15 or 18+ and our results showed that collectively 91% agreed with our intended audience group.
One of the feedback form did show that someone had in fact detailed that they believe the film was intended for a predominantly male audience. This proved to be interesting and perhaps one of the questions we should have included on the form. However due to its gory and violent connotations it would defiantly be viewed more by men than women.


Would they go and see our film if it were to be exhibited in cinema
This question was put at the end of our form, this allowed us to see overall how many were interested and drawn in by our trailer.
58% of the focus group said that they would go and see the film in the cinema whereas 17% said that they would not go and again 17% said that maybe they would see the film. Finally 8% decided t hat they were unsure whether to go and view the film.
Although it shows as almost to be 50:50 between yes and no we realised that the focus group we showed it to the majority were female. As seen in the previous results someone wrote that it was intended for a male audience therefore perhaps this is the reason why these results prove to be very equal and quite low.


What genre does the trailer portray
Another question we formed was for our focus group to tell us what genre they believe that our trailer fell into. This is obviously an important and critical question as our genre was a Zombie Horror trailer, therefore if we have created our trailer with the correct connotations and use of music, mise en scene, camera angles, props and make up our results would be positive and our trailer would be considerably authentic.
64% of our focus group agreed that the genre of our trailer is indeed Horror, this is a massive section of the pie chart which has a positive outcome. However it then goes on to 18% believed it was a Thriller and 18% agreed with the genre of Zombie. Overall these results are again positive as our intended genre has clearly come across within our trailer due to our extensive research and long process of experimentation work with shots and design. Looking back through the forms not one stood out to be anything different to the associated genre of horror.

Focus group response form

Above is one of the forms out of the many we had received feedback from about our trailer. Completing these forms it allows us to understand how our trailer has used the forms and conventions of real media and also how we could improve allowing us to create the best most authentic trailer of our ability. 

The Final Trailer - BIO

Focus Group Feed Back Form

This is the form we have made using carefully selected questions to give to the focus group of our intended audience who will be watching our trailer. Such feedback will allow us to make any final tweaks to our trailer making sure that it is as authentic as possible.

Progress update

In todays lesson we are finishing our magazine front cover and adding in our last piece of footage to our trailer which will be able to post our final product possibly even by the end of todays lesson.

Bilboard!

We have made two types of billboards.

One without blood

One with

3D Poster, Production

This is the sheet we used to create our 3D effect on our Poster, we followed this as closely as possible but also added our own input and ideas.

23-01-12

Today we edited the video, adding the radio scene and the bloody hand scene. We also recorded and added the emergency radio announcement and radio tuning sound effects. We also added lighting effects to the two new scenes. We now need to fine tune the whole video and ad one last scene.

Title inspiration

We've started creating our magazine cover and found this Empire magazine cover, we are going to try create the same title effect you see in this photo.

Video of work in progress

This clip shows our group working on four different tasks within our project, film clips, posters, magazine and research by using many different softwares. Although we are completing these individually there is always input from the whole group when important decisions are made.

Update

Last monday lesson we took the opportunity to take some extra footage to add to our already expanding collection of clips. We decided to recreate certain shots that we have already created to improve them and make sure that our trailer will look as authentic as possible.
Today we have segregated roles within our group so that everyone is working on different tasks, Poster, Billboard image, Trailer footage and Magazine front cover. We are experimenting with a wide variety of software to create all the different media products necessary such as Photoshop and iMovie but also Safari to carry on extensive research to make sure we are creating the most authentic products possible.

9/01/12 - Editing And Adding Audio

Today we added the soundtrack and sound effects to the footage. We also edited some of the footage ready to put our final parts of the video in. We still need to put the production logo and green band trailer card into the start of the railer as well as some more shots including; a radio announcement and a zombie attack to explain the infection.

THE WOMAN

This is the film poster for the film we researched via www.totalfilm.com

Although it is clear that this image has been extremely edited using state of the art editing programmes it has not ruined the realistic and effective appearance of the poster. They have used three main colours throughout which have the connotations of violence and horror, black, red and grey. All combined with the  colours and their violent connotations and alongside the stormy weather which gives a mood of aggressive violence and anger, known as pathetic fallacy these small factors all contribute the atmosphere. 

The image used is very simplistic, simply a woman holding a piece of wood walking through the woods. Again this adds to the feel of the poster but by adding extras like dressing the main character in a torn and ripped blood stained dress with the plank of wood as her weapon held just like a handbag would be is so effective. By using a simple background such as the forest with the stormy skyline it allows the woman to stand out in the foreground and become the main focus, no attention is lost on the main focal point, this is enhanced by using grey tones and dark shades behind the woman it allows her to stand out. This type of shoot allows the subject to not even be making eye contact with the lens-audience will always be a strong poster, not to make eye contact yet still hold a main focal point is a hard and impressive outcome.

Poster Research

Using knowledge from our previous year in Media we were able to research film Posters for inspiration for our own teaser Poster and even Magazine cover. 

Firstly we looked at the well known media company 'TOTAL FILM' this company is both online and produces well known magazines that are published and exhibited world wide. By going to their website www.totalfilm.com we knew that their would be an index of every film that they have ever published in their magazines or just left on their website. 

By entering the genre 'horror' into their search engine it gave us a whole list of films which they themselves have thoroughly researched. However we had to narrow down the results to the specific type of horror we were looking into, zombie and chemical infection rather than horror films such as 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. 

We decided as a group to focus on one particular film from our research in TOTAL FILM as it looked to be not necessarily a zombie film but as close to the genre still with all the gore 'THE WOMAN'. Looking through the dedicated page to this film we were given a brief outline of the story and also some background information into the actors and production team but we were more interested in the way they have created a successful poster dedicated to their film. 

Poster ideas and progression

Original Picture 

Today we've been focusing on our poster and how we can improve the look of the poster.

Cutting out

Blending

Changes eye colour and colour effects.

First Draft Teaser Poster

This is the first draft of our teaser poster. It is still a little rough around the edges and we are in the process of perfecting it. We are putting it back into photoshop and taking more time to add more effects to create a much more effective image.

New Step

Whilst creating our film trailer we have decided to branch out and start to play around with the idea of a poster and billboard with the images posted previously that are available on our flickr page. Using photoshop we have begun to play around with certain images from the shoot choosing which ones are most likely to create a realistic poster with the programmes provided.
We have started to research well known film review companies and magazines such as EMPIRE and TOTAL FILM. This allows us to explore different layouts, use of text, font, associated colours with the genre and also type of image whether to use a close up, extreme close up or even an establishing shot.

Filming update

This morning we booked out a photography studio in order to capture some more snapshots for our trailer. We set up the studio according to the atmosphere we were trying to create e.g. hard lighting. We also made myself (Molly) into a zombie by using fake blood and tissue to produce that zombie half-dead affect. We filmed and also took photographs of today's lesson which will be uploaded onto our blog asap.

Progress Update

For the past two weeks we have been filming our running scenes in Foxes Forest which are featured in our trial Bio trailer on our blog. Today we have began to create our poster, using a photograph which was taken whilst doing our makeup test. We have also put up some more filming from last week, more running scenes which are being modified on IMovie as we speak. We are going to create an Outtakes video at some point too, just to show how certain things were produced and give a little insight into what we get up to when filming.

BIO - The First Attempt

Thought we would have a go at messing about with the footage we already had to see if it worked and so went onto iMovie and this is what we have so far, not all of our footage is included.

iMovie

Today we have tried a simple chasing scene, in foxes forest (our location scouting) this was just to test what we would be able to achieve with the lack of props or make up, however it proved to be successful and effective! We experimented with POV shot and tracking shot.

This is a picture of us trying out iMovie and getting used to what to do and the features that are available to us

Make Up test

ZombleProductions' photostream on Flickr.