Question 4: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Blogger:

Blogger was very important for this as it was what was used to show my coursework. The site itself is very easy to use and was a very good way to set your work out clearly. I have used Blogger previously so using it wasn’t difficult however this time I did learn how to embed Slidshare presentations I produced onto the blog as well as linking videos from YouTube such as my trailer onto my blog so it was all in one place and easy for my teacher and my peers to see when I required feedback.

Google Chrome:

This was my platform for all types of research ranging from magazines to music for the trailer. I'm very familiar with Chrome which made it easy to navigate around and most of the time easy to find the thing I was trying to research.

Adobe Photoshop CS6:

Having worked with Photoshop for a good two years now I was very familiar when using it to construct my magazine cover and film poster. It was easy to apply the effects and processes I required and saving a PSD file meant I could come back to the task and make changes after gaining feedback. Also having the ability to work in layers meant constructing the poster and cover were easy and tidy causing no problems.

   

Sony Vegas:

Sony Vegas was the choice of video editing software my group chose. Having used it a lot before editing the video wasn't to difficult, however I did broaden my knowledge and learnt new things such as slowing down clips as well as setting markers down where the music changed beat which helped when syncing clips.

Canon 1100D

This is the camera which was used for the whole trailer an being a Photography student and using this was very easy when it came to filming as well as the ease of transferring the videos on to the laptop to edit. 

YouTube:

YouTube was very good as it was our key place to look into existing trailers to gain inspiration from as well as looking into music which we could use for our trailer. It was very helpful looking at suggested videos at the side which were similar in sound or in terms of trailers genre.

Overall having explored a wide range of technology it has been very beneficial looking into these as it has improved my skills as a whole but also familiarity with existing technology

Question 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback

Feedback for this whole project was very helpful and a key element to producing a successful piece. The feedback consisted of positive and negative feedback which was very helpful as it told me what they as a viewer liked about it but also what they didn’t like about it and could change. When they would give negative feedback it gave me an opportunity to improve the task and make it more successful. Also it would possibly open up ideas which I would maybe would have not used before hand and completely ignored. The feedback itself was very helpful in terms of improving quality of the products for example my groups final trailer had a more professional feel to it as this was improved by gaining feedback from my teacher as well as class members.

Ways Of Gaining Feedback

The first part of feedback we got was from our peers and was after we had shown them our film pitch. Initially we did have ideas to do questionnaire but we felt it would be easier and more beneficial to us to film them and ask questions. This was very helpful as we could easily watch the video back. I also would show drafts of my poster and magazine cover to people in the class and ask them what was good about it and what was maybe not so good about it this was helpful as it meant I could improve the product as a whole as these would be the people seeing them. Asking people from my class was very ideal as they had knowledge of existing products and were able to provide suggestions. I also used Facebook to ask for feedback when not in school which was very helpful and meant I could send links to my work for them to look at and give me feedback which I then could look at and make changes to my tasks

Question 2: How Effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Overall I think that my film trailer shows a very good link between the other ancillary texts (Cover & Poster). Looking into existing films it is very clear they do this and it results in a very professional and successful looking products. It is very common that a film will use similar images and fonts to attract audiences. If they were to change them it would make it difficult to the audience to remember a film after all they are trying to attract an audience and make them remember the film.

Fonts

It is clear to see that in the trailer I have used a font called Bank Gothic which fitted in very nicely with the genre of our film. I first used the font for the trailer and after doing so felt to show a clear connection I would also use it on the film poster. The reasons for doing so are that the font itself is easy to read and bold which makes it stand out. The only really change to it within the film poster are that I have changed some of it to black instead of white like in the trailer. However I didn’t use the font on the Little White Lies cover as it didn’t really fit in with Little White Lies style as they tend to use more of a stylised font which I felt this font didn’t have.

Images

Its very clear that one of the main characters Jason Dyer features on all of the tasks which is very important when marketing your film. The images on both the magazine and the poster are very clear and are easy to recognise that it is Jason Dyer. The magazine cover itself features the iconic jacket which Dyer wears throughout the film trailer. This would be much like the film Drive as Ryan Goslings character was well known for the jacket he wore throughout the film as well as on the film poster.

Endorsements and Accreditation

In terms of endorsements and accreditation the clear link here is between the trailer and the film poster. Mid-way through the trailer it features our made up production company Anarchy Production which is also featured on the film poster. At the end of the trailer there is a small billing block which features company accreditation which is also featured at the bottom of the billing block on the film poster. We also see on the trailer actor endorsements saying Academy Award Winning which again is also included at the top of the film poster.

One final clear link would be between a piece of the dialog and the main image on the film poster which. In the trailer there is a piece of dialog which sais “The worlds a dangerous place to live in you’ve got to be constantly looking over your shoulder” which part (you’ve got to be constantly looking over your shoulder) has been used as the tagline for the poster. This also ties in closely with the main image as Dyer is slightly looking over his shoulder.

Overall I feel that all the tasks I have produce tie in closely and work well showing consistency within the fonts, endorsements and accreditation's.

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

I produced the first question using slideshare

Final Work For Dyers List

Film Trailer

Film Poster

Magazine Cover

Final Film Trailer

This is my groups final trailer, the trailer now is much shorter than before which fits in more with the genre, previously being 2:30 it is approximately 1:45. We have also changed the soundtrack rather than using one song we now have two songs which both fit well and work well with the trailer. There has also been more sound effects added to make it seem more professional as well as more realistic.

Final Film Poster

The feedback really helped me in improving my poster. I made changes such as making the credits text stand out more as well as the Coming Soon stand out. I also added some motion blur to the film title, strapline and actors. As well as that I also added in a tagline which I felt the poster needed. Overall I am very happy with the outcome of the poster as I feel it fits in well with our trailer. 

Film Poster Progression

After receiving feedback one clear thing was that some of the text was difficult to read and this text was a very important part to the film poster itself. I went back into Photoshop and looked at various ways to make it stand out more. Initially I thought of changing the colour however changing it to white would cause problems as when it stretched across parts of the image which were white it would have been impossible to read, therefore I looked at adding some effects to it instead. I found a simple way of improving it by adding an outer glow which was white. This allowed it to be read easier as well as standing out better on the tshirt. I also did the same for the Coming Soon which also is now a lot easier to read. It also makes it more eye catching to the audience.

Before effect

After effect





As well as making that a lot clearer people who gave me feedback also said that the film title and the actors name could have something done to it to make it stand out more. I had seen on posters before a slightly blurred same bit of text off centered which worked well as it made it more eye catching. I decided to do a similar thing with this text as it would work well. To do this I duplicated the same text layer and applied a Motion Blur filter by going to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur after doing this i then off centered it by using the Free Transform tool (Ctrl + T) which meant I could position where I wanted it.



No Motion Blur

With Motion Blur 






I also noticed the majority of posters all used a tagline which I felt my poster needed to make it seem more of a professional poster. I then referred back to our dialog we used for the trailer and felt using a quote said in the trailer would be ideal for the tagline, In the end I decided to choose: "You've got to be constantly looking over your shoulder" which also links in with the main image on the poster.

Feedback From First Draft Of Poster

After posting up my first draft of my film poster I then asked for some feedback which would help me improve my film poster.


Joe Inns: 
I like the layout of the poster itself, its very simple but effective. I think having the image in black and white works really well and could indicate a dark side to the character as well as fitting in with the genre of the film. I also like the font used I feel it fits in with that whole hit man style as well as being a good bold font. However I would say the text could use something else to make it more eye catching. Also the credits down the bottom are very dark and quite difficult to read, other than it works very well as a poster as it shows a good clear link to the trailer.

Megan Smith:

I really like the poster, there is a clear link between this and the trailer. More so than the magazine front cover. It looks really professional! Especially with what look to be legit. Endorsements. Overall the poster works well with a clear layout and good selection of fonts.

Micah Hills:

The poster itself shows a strong relation to the trailer as well as featuring a good layout. I really like the Bank Gothic font as I feel this links closely to the genre as well as being a font which caught my attention. One thing I would say is that the credits were a little difficult to read as they were rather dark so that could be improved as well as Coming Soon piece of text which could also be made easier to read. Other than that its a strong poster and works well.

Owen Gray:

The poster is really professional laid out really well. The colour scheme works with the magazine as the main colours of the magazine are black and white. I really like the positioning of the image and the face, with the eye looking out, drawing people in. Yeah it is really good.

From this feedback there is some obvious changes which I can make to improve my magazine, I will now go back into Photoshop and see what I can do to make the magazine more successful.

First Draft Of Film Poster

Here is my first draft for my film poster. I stuck to the layout which I had previously posted as well as using the font which I had wanted to use. I produced the poster itself in Adobe Photoshop CS6 and used this program as I am very familiar with it. As well as using Bank Gothic for text I also found another font online which replicated the text which is used on film posters to credit the actors, director, produces etc. The fonts name Is Steel Tongs and was a very is font to work with as when you typed a single letter in lower case it would already come up with such things as Directed By and Edited By. The font also featured logos such as Dolby Digital and other logos such as THX. From this I will look to get feedback so I can improve this to make it a more succesful poster.

Steel Tongs Font

Layout & Final Image Selection

Having looked into previous posters such as the Invictus and Blitz poster I was able to get a style and also a layout. As well as doing this I also chose my final image for my film poster.


                                                             Layout for poster which I have decided to use

 After looking through the final images from the shoot I have decided to use this as I feel it fitted in style and was a similar pose to the Invictus poster which I had decided to try and replicate. It also ties in with a piece of dialog which is said in the trailer which I will also include somewhere on the poster itself

Images For Film Poster

As a group we took a selection of possible images which we could use for our film posters. We did take some photos on location for example at the tunnel, but we also did do some separate studio style images involving a white backdrop and studio lighting.

Ideas And Inspiration For Film Poster

Although Invictus is a very different style to our film I really liked the way Morgan freeman has his back to the viewer, as in our trailer it features a piece of dialog which sais "The worlds a dangerous place to live in you've got to be constantly looking over shoulder" and replicating this kind of pose with Jason Dyer looking slightly over his shoulder would work well as an image for the poster. I also like where the film title is positioned and will most likely position my text in a similar way as it works well with this pose.

After looking into Blitz I really liked the typeface they used so i researched and in the end found the exact or very similar typeface called Bank Gothic which I will use for my poster as I feel it fits in very well with our genre. I also like how the image of Jason Statham is in black and white as this also indicates possibly the darkness of the film which is also similar to our film which I hope to use for my poster.

Magazine Front Cover Progression

After reviewing the feedback I was able to make some changes to improve my front cover as a whole. Firstly one of the main problems was how unclear and dark the cover was, after second look I also felt it was to dark. I wanted to keep the metallic looking background as I felt it worked well so reduced the opacity to lighten it up which made the image become more clear. Also I had noticed on the majority of Little White Lies covers the actor is looking straight ahead where as on my cover the image is looking to the side. I felt the image worked and felt I would break the codes and conventions in terms of this for my cover. The positioning of the text didnt work to well to I experimented moving it about and in the end from suggestions people said due to the direction of the eyes in the image positioning it to the left hand side may work well, I still wanted to keep the font and its colours as people really liked this on the cover as they felt it showed good contrast between the darker colours. 

Also apart from above Louisa mentioned there could be more detail in the centre as the face appeared rather blank compared to the lower half of the cover. I didnt want to add more detail lines as I didnt want to make the image to realistic so instead I had some brushes in Photoshop which replicated concrete crack and mud splats which i placed around the face and body which seemed to work well and again fitted in with the genre of the film aswell as the cityscape and metallic background.

Review Of Feedback

From receiving feedback from my first draft of my magazine the feedback has helped me on improving my magazine cover. The comments which were most helpful were that they said it was slightly to dark and was difficult to make out, from this I will lighten the background by reducing opacity of the background or possibly getting rid of it all together. However people did like the font I used and the colours which I will keep in my final cover.

Feedback From First Draft Magazine Cover

After the first draft of my magazine front cover I asked for some feedback from my peers in my class:

Micah Hills:
I like the concept of the front cover, I like how you researched into the actual dimensions of the magazine which made it more realistic. I also liked how you kept to Little White Lies style of the artistic cover. However I would say it is maybe a little bit to dark which is difficult to see it, but other than that it works well as a cover and I think the image selection was a good choice.

Jordan Ronaldson:
The magazine itself works well as it is very similar to the typical codes and conventions which little white lies uses. I really like the font you used as it gives a good contrast between the darkness of the rest of the cover. I also like the metallic kind of background as it links very closely with the genre of the film. The image selection is good and shows a clear indication of he genre of the film due to the bat which he is holding. Overall I think the magazine works well due to it simplicity as well as the use of colours.

Louisa Champion:

I think the city skyline with the bright font at the bottom is really affective as it contrasts against the dark background. However i do think that this is too dark and there could be more detail in the centre of the image.

Megan Smith:

I really like the magazine front cover. It seems ti follow the codes and conventions of little white lies, I really like the font style and colour of the film title, it really stands out against the dark background. It kind of reminds me if drive, the font, I mean. Well done!

First Draft Of Film Magazine Front Cover

Here is my first draft of my Little White Lies front cover. I have stuck to the layout as well as the dimensions of the magazine itself. I used the font Mistral which I said i would use in the previous post as well as a picture of Jason Dyer which was made by using the original image, creating a blank layer in Photoshop and carefully going over the image with a thing black brush to get the outline as well as details such as the jacket etc. I also included a cityscape as I felt it worked well and fitted in with the genre of our film.

Planning And Inspiration For Film Magazine

From research into existing film magazines I have decided to produce a Little White Lies themed issue in relation to my group’s film. Researching and analysing and issue of Little White Lies has helped in relation to the structure of the magazine as well as the artistic style, it has also help me find the dimensions of the magazine itself so when I’m producing the cover in Photoshop it can be as accurate as possible. I also want to have the style similar to the film Drive which features an 80s style typeface which I have found called Mistral which I will have in the classic turquoise and pink.

Layout I will use for my front cover

Mistral Typeface

Public Enemies Film Poster Analysis

This poster was used as the promotional film poster for 2009 film Public Enemies. The film itself is based on notorious American criminal John Dillinger. The film focuses on “The Feds try to take down notorious American gangsters John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd during a booming crime wave in the 1930s.” Firstly the poster itself features very dull colours manly blacks, browns and greys which is an indication that the film has a more formal and serious approach as well as linking in with the film genre in general which would be a crime drama film. Also the colours could also indicate a darkness to the time period as well as the character in general as it based on the criminal John Dillinger. What also works well with the main image is the way it gives indications to the reader of the time period simply due to the costume consisting of the trilby hat and smart coat, as well as  the gun itself which was a popular choice of weapon during the 30s for gangsters. Another indication of the time period of the film would be the cars in the background, these cars were iconic for the time as well as iconic cars use by gangsters. In terms of success of the poster it works well for many reasons. Firstly it feautres the main character of the film played by Johnny Depp. Featuring him on the front cover not only shows people who is in the film but also would appeal to people who like Johnny Depp as an actor. Johnny Depp is holding a gun which is a strong indication of the genre of this film and would possibly attract the male audience as it could feature a level of action and violence. In terms of text for the poster the type face looks very similar to a police badge font which is also another strong indication of the genre of this film. The text itself is in white however the title of the film appears to have a silver tint to the film making it more eye catching to the audience. Above the film title it does feature Johnny Depp’s name however it is written in very small font, however the image of Johnny Depp is very large and due to Johnny Depp being a very popular Hollywood actor he is very recognisable which could have been why this is written in smaller text. The text below features other actors in the as well as crediting producing companies and distributors. To the lower left hand side it features the American rating of the film which is rated R, again another indication of the genre as well as target audience. At the very bottom it feautres possibly the most important piece of text to the poster. The date is in the same font and colour as the film title which could have been done as these are the two biggest pieces of information on the poster. The poster sais “Summer 2009” which would indicate it was a very early poster and another poster may have been produced after this giving the exact date of release. Overall this poster works well as it features a clear image of the star actor as well as featuring iconic images of the time period its set in as well as it showing clear codes and conventions of its genre.

The Bourne Supremacy Film Poster Analysis

This poster was the promotional film poster for the 2004 film The Bourne Supremacy. The film itself was the 3^rd film featuring the character Jason Bournce played by Hollywood actor Jason Bourne. Firstly the poster itself is very basic and isn’t over cluttered. In term of images it features the main image of Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) and also an image of what appears to be a street environment and most likely India as this is where this film is set. The main image of Bourne appears to make slight eye contact with the viewer which would attract and draw their attention to the poster itself. The image as well has been taken to whichever way you look at it Bourne makes eye contact with you. The image as well also features him holding a gun which would indicate the genre of film as well as being a typical convention of a thriller action film. In terms of colours both the images blend and work well with each other and have a slight orangey greeney tint to them which indicates the the seriousness of the poster as well as it fitting in with its dark plot as well as the genre of the film unlike possibly a film targeted at kids which would feature all bright and colourful colours. The posters font is a very formal font and is a serif font which alternates from bold to regular text. At the top of the poster we see a slogan strapline which Sais “THEY SHOULD HAVE LEFT HIM ALONE” which also indicates possibly the danger of the character and that the film will involve possibly people attempting to attack Jason Bourne or possibly kill him. This piece of font is in a white colour and works well as it stands out and doesn’t clash with other colour. Towards the lower half of the poster we see the title of the film which alternates from “The” and “Supremacy” in regular font and the “Bourne” written in Bold text. Also above the title it also says the actors name and also states that “ MATT DAMON is Jason Bourne” which is a good way of appealing to fans of Matt Damon as well as informing people which character he plays. Below this it also features the standard accreditations of Directors, Producers etc which is in the common font which is small and in white. Below this it features accreditations towards the production companies as well as the distributors in this case Universal and The Kennedy Marshall Company as well as featuring the films website. The last piece of text is at the bottom of this and is very important as it is the film release date, due to this being important this is in bold white text which stands out on the black behind it. 

Exit Polls

Exit Polls are information in relation to films about its audience in terms of ages as well as how people became aware of the film for example advertisements and posters. Exit Polls are usful in the sense it allows people to be aware of the most popular and common place a person found out about the film. Today there are more than ever ways of promoting your film including a wide range of ways on the Internet. Exit Polls are surveys which are produced by the BFI. I looked on there website and found this exit poll for the 2009 film Looking For Eric which is about "Eric, a football fanatic postman whose life is descending into crisis, receives some life coaching from the famously philosophical Eric Cantona"

Looking For Eric (2009)
Number of people surveyed	155
Male	87
Female	68
Under 25	45
Over 25	110
Sources of Information
Advertisements (TV)	43.2%
Reviews (Magazine/Newspaper)	41.3%
Family and friends told me about it	41.3%
News features/talk shows (TV)	39.4%
Outdoor posters	36.8%
Trailer shown at cinema	29.7%
Advertisements (Magazine/Newspaper)	29.7%
Reviews (TV)	25.8%
In-cinema posters/display/banners	21.9%
News features/talk shows (Magazine/Newspaper)	17.4%
Reviews (Radio)	17.4%
On-line ad banner	16.1%
Advertisements (Radio)	15.5%
Internet reviews/other online	11.6%
FC United	1.9%
Red issue	1.3%
Filmed near my home	1.3%
Eric told me	0.6%
Baits to Attendance
It stars Eric Cantona	54.8%
It was directed by Ken Loach	39.4%
The story appealed to me	35.5%
The reviews	32.9%
The genre/type of film	27.1%
I was asked to come along by a friend/partner	20.6%
The advertising I have seen	15.5%
It is about a footballer	15.5%
Other	7.1%
The film's poster	5.8%

From this Exit Poll it is clear that Looking For Eric is more popular with the male audience as well it being more popular with Over 25s possibly due to Eric Cantona himself would have been playing football when they were younger. It is also clear that the people surveyed found information about this film due to TV advertisements at 43.2% as well as Reviews and Family and Friends at 41.3%. In terms of what appealed to the people surveyed it was obvious they would see it as it stars Eric Cantona at 54.8%

Film Posters

When a film is made and ready for release a theatrical poster to advertise the film is made promote the film. Posters can range from anywhere from being at the actual cinema to being on a board at a bus stop. In terms of posters there is various types of posters which serve different purposes for promoting the film.

Teaser

The first type of poster is known as a teaser poster and this poster contains basic information which attracts you towards that film. It often does not indicate much about the plot, but may include the leading actors, which again would spark interest from people if they like the work of that actor. A teaser poster will also include the title of the film.

Main Poster

Another form of poster is the most important and is the actual main film poster. This form of poster includes elements of the teaser poster but also involves more information mainly focused at the production companies, distributors as well as the leading actors and distributors. This poster will possibly also include a typical slogan of the film as well as possible quotes from reviews of possible newspapers and magazines. As well as all that they also include the release date which is the most important. The typical positioning of the release date is commonly placed underneath the film credit block.

DVD Release Poster

This form poster comes out when the film is released on DVD or Bluray and commonly features the majority which is on the main poster, but also includes one line reviews from magazines or newspapers. This poster is put out possibly few weeks in advance in order to attract people to purchase the DVD or Bluray

Character Poster

The final form of poster is a character poster. This form of poster is very simple and will feature a main character from the film as the main focus but also including the actors name as well as the films logo or text title. The poster also features the release date as well as crediting the distributors and production companies.