Feedback

R&P = 11
Production = 22
Film poster = 0
Magazine cover = 0
Evaluation = 0

Total = 32 F

Targets:
Storyboard
More audience profiling posts, including what this suggests about your target audience and how you intend to appeal to them
Film poster completed
Magazine cover completed
Evaluation activities completed

There is a lot to do here Josh. Make sure you are working to complete these outstanding pieces of work.

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

The most immediate program that was used in these stages was blogger.com. This website allowed the creation of a blog in order for the various stages to be written about. This has led to it becoming something that i have become very familiar with over the two years i have used it.

This is the camera that was used for filming the trailer, as well as taking various screenshots for use in our other two projects.  This was a very good camera for our film trailer, as it showed pristine quality video's, which could be made into HD footage. This would allow for less grainy shots, which would improve the overall video quality. Zooming however was an issue that we struggled to rectify, as zooming, especially in low light, did show some amount of grain, which could have decreased the overall video quality.  












Rather than use adobe premier elements, we instead decided to use a program called imovie. This was because there was a mac to hand. Imovie contains many more options for editing type, as well as having the advantage of it being arguably more user friendly. Another thing is that imovie gives lots of ways to add sound effects to projects and we can add your own music from your music library, which is faster and more efficient than various alternatives








Photoshop was very important in regards to the creation of the film poster and the magazine front cover. Whilst, at first, fairly complicated to use, it soon became rather fun to discover the various ways in which you could create and change the posters them selves. I was taught the basics of photo shop by my project partner Connor, who is very good at photo shopping, and with his help, came up with the eventual products featured.



Youtube was used as a tool, not only for uploading the trailer onto the website itself, but was also used to have a look at trailers for the analysis step of the project. While this was to be expected, I also decided to look at the comments sections of the trailers that I was analysing in order to understand how similar films were rated and considered by audiences,and how we could incorporate the feed back from the trailer into our own work.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

The various comments recieved from the social networking site Facebook include:
"Some of the sections really made me want to know more about the characters involved, good job"   S Woole
"It was ok, but it could have done with better construction of the interview and the Danny No scenes." A Locke
"Very well made, it's just a shame that I wasnt in it!" G Bonnefoy
"The plot seemed a bit jumpy, which may have worked in its favour actually" O Kent
"I enjoyed it, and wouldn't mind actually watching it" L Walker

General Points
You can tell from the very star what genre the trailer is of, that of a dark action. The genre is also useful in comprehending what the rest of the trailer is like, and the type of conventions it will follow. The trailer showed two characters that would feature heavily in the movie if it was ever made, and also mentioned another important character called Danny. This sets up the characteristics and the various changes that would take place, not only in the trailer, but also in any future production. Lastly the the way in which the interrogation scenes start and finish the piece off ts very similar to other film trailers, and is a quite common convention of the genre

Strengths
The strengths that the audience had identified included the section with the various voices in the main characters head. This added to the fact that it was not a straight forward superhero film, and was slightly more inclined to be akin to a psychological thriller and added an aura of unease around the character, something that made out the character to not be wholly moral. The use of vlogging within the trailer was liked by the audience who noted that it is only a recent trend for that type of shot to be used, which also showed that the characters mental state was changing. The music had been slowly building up to the dramatic finish of the trailer. The audience noted that this was very similar to many other action films, but also akin to several horror films as well.

Weaknesses
The second interrogation scene was noted as being far too long and that the overall volume was too quite, which took the audience away from focusing on the plot of the trailer, leaving them a little disjointed. This was mainly due to the program that was used at the time could not pick up the video footage very well in the final cut.

Weaknesses
2nd interrogation too long and quiet

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

I think that my main trailer, magazine cover and poster work well together. The main poster consists of  a hooded figure surrounded by fire and the wreckage of some wooden structure. This is mentioned within the trailer itself with the line "This world will burn". This really brings these two pieces of media together. The Fracture logo is very similar in both pieces of work, except that the one on the poster is dirtier and grittier, to really highlight what the tone of the film is.

The trailer works well with the magazine front cover as well because of the theme of fire once again being highlighted  If you look at front cover, the character actually has the colour of  fire in his eyes, adding to the connection, not just with the trailer, but also with the film poster itself.The inclusion of fire in each part creates an atmosphere of fear that compliment each others feeling at the time. They each show a different angle of the the primary character as well. The magazine front cover is shown facing the character, so that audiences can see what kind of person will be leading the film, and also to gain a sense of whether they would enjoy watching the character for the whole movie. The poster is taken from behind, leading the audience to believe that he is responsible for mass amounts of chaos and leaves the audience not really sure as to his intentions and whether he is the protagonist or the antagonist, something that is not often done conventionally. Lastly the trailer really only shows the character before the event that drove him to become what he had, which adds the perspective that he is indeed  still the protagonist, but some how his views of the world have become clouded.

Lastly each piece highlights the actors and the settings, and show various clues to the plot with each piece. This is especially true of the film poster as the setting of the destroyed structure showcases both the main character and what seems to be a main focal point of the film. The magazine front cover tries to create hype to showcase actors, locations e.t.c. in order to tie things in, not only for the audience, but also economically as with out any form of publicity or advertising such as this, then a film can only rely on an audience that exclusively only view film posters, and are not interested in other feature films or film related news articles, which this front cover has tried to capatalise on. Each piece of advertising used uses different ways to draw our target audience towards our film and helpfully with the different approaches it would succeed in attracting the audience.    

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

In the first shot here we can see my character of the detective as seen from a high angle view. The setting here is that of an interview room to set the stage for the beginning and also the end of the trailer. From what we can see, there is only one person in the room a t this time, but the character is clearly talking to somebody. We did this to temporarily keep the main protagonists appearance secret to add to aura of mystery and unease. This is a fairly common thing to be used in situations such as this, especially in the quieter moments of action and crime based films. The only prop that was used was in fact in this scene, where there is a phone/ intercom present. This was to give the film a minimalistic approach and for the use of props to not be overboard.

The second image is that of the main protagonist playing around with his hair. The shot is done in the mirror so that whilst direct contact with the camera is not made, there is in fact a persistent mid shot of the character. This is to show the audience the transformation that will be taking place later in the trailer. As you can see, there are only a few different locations, with many taking place within the protagonists house or within the interview room, once again keeping everything fairly minimal as to not distract the audience from the transformation taking place.

Picture 3 and 4 have much of the same effect on the audience, but each are taking in a different way. In picture 3 there is a close up shot once again displaying the pre-event character. This is actually filmed from a laptop and is similar in style to a vlog, which the character actually appears to be doing at this point. In picture 4 you can start to see the change slowly develop as the character peers out the window. Here the character looks very similar to his previous shots, yet you can start to see some small amount of worry and paranoia set in.

Picture 5 is where you see the character change set in. It reuses the previous idea of being filmed in the mirror, but this time rather than show a self confident young man, it shows a depressed and mentally unstable one instead. This is an increasingly common convention in action films, and a similar idea was explored within the movie law abiding citizen. In fact the trailer does display several hark backs at that trailer, except obviously on a lower budget and with different shot types. The mise en scene has changed a lot as well, with the character having his hair stuck down, and the atmosphere seems a lot more depressing. This hopefully shows the audience what the character is going through, and hopefully the audience will feel a sort of empathy with the character from the get go.

In shot 6 you see the detective character again, but he seems more forceful and ignorant this time around. The character of the detective was based on the character portrayed by Keith David in the film Smiley. In the trailer at least, he is also a very ignorant and apathetic character, with the added character trait of ridiculing the person he appears to be interviewing. The aim of this was for the audience to feel as if the police force were in a particularly bad light and that the characters involvement was very unnecessary indeed.

In the final two shots containing the main protagonist there are similarities that were intentional and necessary.  Here you can see the character acting stressed out grasping his head in anguish, before donning the hoody as well as other pieces of clothing. The thing to note in this part that we did was that this entire transformation was filmed pretty much from the same angle (mid shot) apart from close ups on the gloves. This type of shot has been used for many years within the action film genre, being seen when a change of clothing takes place. An example of a trailer that has done this in recent years is Kick Ass were a character gets dressed up in his superhero garb/ I think the effect of using this technique is to show the audience an immediate change between the characters appearance.

The title of the film was positioned at the end of the trailer, as was done by many film trailers. The title of the film is Fracture. This is used as the title to demonstrate the fact that the central characters world has been broken, and because of it so has his sense of right and wrong. The title itself is white and bold with a simple black background to make sure that it stands out as much as possible. In total our trailer has shown to follow many conventions of other trailers in this genre, but has shown a few independent moments as well.

Last Empire Front Cover Analysis- Public Enemies Special

The theme of this issue of Empire magazine was that of the upcoming film (at the time) Public Enemies. This issue seems more cluttered than other issues of Empire magazine that I have analysed before, but still fits in with some of the previous conventions. Once again the main review/ preview is focused upon heavily with Johnny Depp being in the center of the cover, to show that the magazine writers want customers to take note and to get excited for a film that features one of the most iconic actors in recent years. There is, unusually, also a large block of pictures and text on the right hand side of the main picture as well. This consists of the various heroes in films that were also coming out, all of which are fairly popular in their own right as shown by the size of their presence and the cliched big red text, which once again tell s the reader to play close attention to what else is in this action packed issue.

Last Film Poster Analysis-Star Trek: Into Darkness

This poster bares some similarities to what we want to achieve with our film poster. The main focus of this poster is the man in the middle of a destroyed building. The hole in the building is in the shape of a Starfleet symbol, which is very important in the Star Trek universe. This shows the audience that It is definitely going to be a continuation of the Star Trek series, and may continue to respect the source material, something that will make the older Star Trek fans quite happy. The man in the centre is fairly ambiguous as there are not that many clear distinctions as to whether he is a hero or a villain. You could assume however, that as he seems relatively unharmed that he is the main villain, and his antics may cause more acts of destruction such as this. The titles are in a silver font, which is fairly uncommon with other titles, which are usually in a red or a white. This may be to draw attention away from the main feature of the poster,as well as to keep with the theme of science fiction. The writing could therefore be seen as futuristic, which suits the subject matter very well.

Fracture- Final Product

Empire Front Cover Analysis- Scott Pilgrim

This front cover displays many similarities with other Empire front covers, including the addition of the feature of a character from the primarily featured review/ preview. Once again the character is obscuring the Empire logo, and the reader gets instantly drawn to the character. Unusually, the background is a vivid red colour, which compared to other front covers, is relatively unheard of. This is to distinguish the fact that it is going to be a lighthearted comic based comedy, rather than a darker genre of film. The font of  Scott Pilgrim vs the World is in a comic style, as to show the actual roots of the film. The front cover draws special attention to this fact and have also chipped in with the fact that it may be a film for the "nerdier" audience, (much like myself) by the fact that there is a quote from Star Wars next to the titular character. The other areas of interest are comparatively smaller, with the adverts for other articles being contained either at the very bottom of the cover or in the circle next to the character.

Empire Front Cover Analysis- The Hobbit.

This front cover contains less than other front covers that I have analysed. The main focus is once again on one of the primary characters featured in the main film review/ preview, in this case Gollum. As in he Tron Legacy front cover there is also the option of collecting other versions as well as to increase hype and demand for the article and the magazine an film itself overall. They have chosen to position Gollum in front of the logo, partially obscuring it. This is because of the large role that he plays not only in this film and its respective article, but in the franchise as a whole. Another hark back to the Lord of the Rings Films, of which Gollum was a main character, is the tagline for the issue as well as an advert. It says "5 covers to rule them all". This will remind fans that the review will also remind fans of The Lord of the Rings, and will also get them excited for it as well. The only other piece of text that is on the front cover is that of the title of the special feature, which is The Hobbit. This is feature in a bold white font, that clearly contrasts with the rest of the dark background, as to draw the consumers attention.

Empire Magazine Front Cover Analysis- Tron Legacy

This front cover heavily focuses on the themes of the tron franchise, as that is the focus of that issue. Fitting with the Tron idea, the main focus of the front cover is a woman with a light blue, almost electronic glow around her. This definitely proves that the review of the film will try to be based on what was already established by the previous film, as well as the trailer. The font above the Empire log is also in white with the same glowing light blue around the outside of the font, further connecting it to the computerized theme. In the bottom right hand corner of the front cover shows that this particular issue displays one of 3 editions of the front cover. This means that the audience has a choice on which to choose, or whether to collect them all. The actual advert for it is quite small, as to not draw attention away from the main feature, but is in a striking bright yellow colour. The rest of the content is found listed at either side of the main image, therefore allowing the reader to notice what will be inside without too much distraction. One other thing to note is that the listings on the right side of the image are smaller. This may be due to importance or article size within the magazine itself.