Evaluation

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

For my media product, my group and I produced original horror trailer along with film and magazine poster. Before starting any production, we did research to find out more about horror conventions. For example researching genres, themes, settings, characters or even generic codes such as either sounds or lighting. By doing this we got ideas and knowledge of what should be added in our product. During some of the lessons we watched some existing trailers and real media products such as films, “Halloween” or “Scream” and “Creep”.

Narrative:

During the first group meeting my group and I decided to go with cannibalism genre which would challenge typical modern horror genres which are mostly slashers or paranormal. Typical films such as "The Nightmare on Elm street" or "Halloween" show killer who is strong and usually kills their targeted victim easily. Our narrative challenges horror conventions by having a human protagonist instead who can be hurt.

Setting:
Establishing shot starts with setting the scene of school and it being the public location where audience would feel safe. So therefore when we have added other dark, scary locations to our trailer such as the woods or lair it would disturb the viewers and make them feel scared. Usually horror film directors do the same to bring on fear on the audience which could cause effect such as shivers or screaming. Location where confrontation between protagonist and antagonist begins is empty which is typical for scenes where victim is being followed or attacked.

Title:
The title of our film is "Starved" which is short and simple but effective because it applies to the concept and narrative of genre being about cannibalism. Title therefore is memorable which is typical for already existing horror films such "Insidious" or "The Boy". Horror genre uses conventions that create negative meaning which is what we did with the use of language by naming it "Starved" and using messy red font.

Lighting:
During filming we decided to use conventions of existing films by having dark shots that show low key lighting. These shots reinforce horror conventions through the elements of mystery that result in tension for the audience. Dark lighting can relate to primal fears with some viewers who are afraid of the dark. However most of our trailer is set in daytime which challenges the typical horror films where villains only come out in the dark for their attack. Ambient lighting was used to challenge stereotype and to add realism to the narrative of time in which events take the place. We decided to film on a day when it was cloudy and grey which sets moody atmosphere to our trailer.

Male Gaze:

We challenge and reinforce the male gaze theory by Laura Mulvey through different shots. Some of the shots show the second female actress who supports the idea of male gaze by being seen as the typical blonde female victim. This is shown through her informal dress code which is a short black dress and exposes her body quite a lot and comes across as being sexulised towards audience. She plays a role throughout the whole trailer as being trapped and kept in antagonist's lair which supports the narrative about cannibalism by having bite marks and fork cuts on her leg. However then we have the main actress who is the next target for antagonist and we have challenged typical weak female stereotype in horror films. Firstly the dress code does not expose this female and she has short hair and facial piercings and therefore create more masculine representation. Secondly she fights back against the antagonist which suggests to the audience that she will be the main girl of this film which is shown by her determination to live which challenges male gaze theory.

Sound:
Sound is one of the most important features to have a successful horror trailer and therefore our sound uses typical conventions from existing films. Throughout the trailer consistent beating noise along with buzzing creates creepy effect which can cause shivers or bring fear on to the audience. As the tempo of the sound increases, other banging sounds get louder which goes along with the footage increasing in speed. Similarly to existing trailers, we used typical convention of creating a build up with the sound, for example towards the start of narrative sound builds up until the voiceover ends. To emphasise specific shot such as to create enigma with the missing person poster we used sound effects to startle the audience. For example when sound begins to quieten towards the end, we have added two loud beats to create more meaning for this specific shot which also creates more tension or interest within audience.


Enigma:

Purposely we projected enigma towards audiences at the beginning and end of our trailer. For example through the use of missing person poster which creates more interest since audience might be questioning the wellbeing of the protagonist. A lot of existing films and trailers do this to create cliffhangers which makes audience wanting to find out what happens within the story and therefore they watch the film.

Shots:
Our trailer shows different shots to create different meanings. For example low angle shots are used to give more powerful image to the antagonist over the victims and high angle shots to make victim look weak and vulnerable. Use of those shots is common in already existing trailers because that is a convention of horror. POV shots create movement effect and helps to show the view from the antagonist's eyes, for example the stalking scene creates realistic effect. Antagonist gets introduced by over the shoulder shot which creates the mystery of unknown and creates suspense by the looming threat. Long shots helped to show the setting of the narrative and close ups emphasise the facial expression of actors such as the fear or hunger.
 

Props:
We reinforce conventions from horror trailers through the props used such as SFX makeup. Tools such as plastic wax, body paint and fake blood has helped to create bloody scenes and gore that could make the audience feel uncomfortable. Existing horror films are known for makeup which is classic iconography by exposing blood and gross scenes that also involve weapons such as a knife. Sharp objects suggest danger and could create tension. Another props we used are tea light candles, a skull paper weight and a handmade pentagram that symbolises elements of a satanic cult within our narrative which relates to concept of cannibalism and shows psychological state of the antagonist.



Editing:
After recording all of the footage and sounds, we did editing of our trailer on IMovie software. Editing complies to conventions in already existing media texts by having quick cuts between shots which creates dramatic effect. For example quick cuts from satanic ritual to trapped victim show different parts of this narrative in a tensed way and helps to build up suspense to the narrative without showing too much of the story. We have added transitions between the shots and some text, as any existing trailer would do too and that helps to compliment the footage. We challenged the text by playing with the words and adding a little humor in the sentence "Boy meats girl". This applies to cannibalism context where we also edited text to be red which is common colour in horror genre and connotes blood. Sound had to be edited to match the footage, for example it's tempo and volume to create tension in particular parts of our trailer. Voiceover was recorded separately and then edited to be in sync with the actual footage. Sound was manipulated to simulate a phone call/ voicemail which ended at the start of our trailer and then started non-diegetic soundtrack. Overall our editing reinforces conventions in already existing media texts and the ways they are edited.

This is our cover of the film magazine featuring our film on the front cover. The main image challenges classic conventions found on magazine covers because due to lack of direct mode of address but however we purposely did this to create mystery. Both images are of mid shots and the facial expression allows audience to create connection from the main image even if there isn't a direct mode of address. For example the antagonist shows a sinister smirk and the girl's face expression suggests fear which helps to inform audience about roles within the narrative.

Our front cover uses large and bold text which reinforces typical conventions that are found on existing film magazines. The masthead and coverline, both use large font and colours that match with each other. Clear messages help to attract audience and their interest. We have used emotive language which is a stereotypical convention. For example words such as "Free" or "Exclusive" sound more exciting and generate positive responses from audiences. Use of emotive language might make individuals feel as if they are getting more information from this magazine for their money.

Creativity has been used to create straplines and content of this magazine. For example by including names of big films such as "Deadpool" or "X-Men" which is a good way in attracting audience because they might be interested in already existing films and characters. This develops our magazine and makes it unique.

Already existing media products use many different media platforms and therefore we use stereotypical internet social media pages and a website. This promotes interaction between customers and the magazine which can increase audience loyalty. Also different social media is a common feature because of modern audience who use different technologies or apps such as facebook or Twitter.

Top right corner shows the price of our magazine which is £2.99 and we challenge conventions found in already existing film magazines such as Empire magazine which normally costs around £6. This decision was made to appeal to different audiences such as adults and youth because £3 per month is a reasonable price that lower and middle class audience would be willing to pay for. This could increase amount of readership and generate successful amount of revenue.

This main image challenges and reinforces conventions of already existing horror film posters. Image is a mid shot that is placed in the middle of the frame which is a common placement on posters. Antagonist is surrounded by low key lighting and dark dress code (black hoodie) which sets an evil aspect of his personality or intentions. However we used high key lighting during this photoshoot to expose remaining part of the face which allows audience to see clear face expression which is a smirk, covered in blood that suggests antagonist's intentions and supports the idea of cannibalism. Good lighting also helps to have better quality image which is common in already existing movie posters. Since the main image does not include direct mode of address, the main focus goes to the mouth which works in our favour to suggest idea about cannibalism and the narrative. Dripping blood is iconography of horror and the red colour suggests danger.

We reinforce conventions of movie posters by having a portrait with the main image which is stereotypical for movie posters. Usually main image is a close up of wide angle shot.

This poster shows the age certification logo of number 18 on it which provides indication into the graphic instances of gore, violence and profanity. It works as a guide for audiences of what to expect from this film and either if it is suitable for their interest because then it could work as a promotion tool. Our target audience is 16-20 because a lot of underage youth enjoy watching horror films so therefore it should meet different audience interest or expectations by having this age certification.

At the bottom of our film poster, is a section which includes hashtags, website and other social media which is common for many existing films to be spread around different media platforms. It helps to promote our product and allows audience to interact more and give their opinions and thoughts online. This helps individuals to find more information and also meets expectations of our target audience who are youth and have the most interest in different social media platforms.

Tagline "A story of... Boy Meats Girl" shows play on words relating to conventions of romance genre. Changing the word "Meets" to "Eats" has made it clear that this is a horror genre and could suggest cannibalism within our narrative. Audience might be able to guess that antagonist will be praying on innocent female victim which could interest them into watching this film. Emphasis goes on to the words in red colour because that reinforces conventions of horror genre and could suggest blood or danger whereas white colour symbolizes innocence. This creates meaning of the antagonist being more powerful than its victim.

Our title "Starved" is also red to show design continuity. It is a short title which reinforces conventions of horror films such as "Saw", which connotates negative message. Short film titles are memorable for the audience which could generate interest. The font is messy which is typical for horror genre to suggest unsettle and maybe brutal narrative of the film. It represents slashes of blood which uses iconography. The word "Starved" applies to our narrative which suggests that antagonist is inexperienced cannibal with desire to fulfil his hunger.

Our poster uses typical conventions of film posters by including the release date and names of the actors which informs the audience if they have any further interest. The sizes of fonts also match existing media products, such as having title being the biggest text which is an attempt to attract audience and promote our picture. Tagline goes along with our title which hints the narrative.




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

During production, our main product was the psychological horror trailer and we have created a horror poster and a film magazine front cover to go with it.

Chromatic:
All of the products together use the same colours that are black, red and white which creates consistency but however we used grey background for the film magazine cover to differentiate between the two print products. This design continuity creates better promotion of the film as the different products use similar features which audience can identify with leading to effect of generating interest.












Messages:
Some messages from the trailer are shown in the other products throughout the use of colours and similar quotes. For example all products use the same title which gives out a message about inexperienced cannibal trying to fulfil his hunger. Our choice of colours within the products symbolises different meanings, for example the white text symbolises purity and innocence but the red colour suggests danger and blood.

Interview:
Two main actors in our trailer who play the protagonist (Jennifer Phillips) and antagonist (The Starved cannibal) feature in our magazine for an interview which shows the combination between the trailer and ancillary texts. This is an effective combination of products to promote our trailer because audience is able to read an insight into the film featuring its stars which can lead to more interest. Both characters are big part of the narrative and combining the trailer with ancillary texts is important to meet different audience's needs, for example some might prefer reading about the actor ideas and thoughts.

Merchandise:
Creating different merchandise products such as clothing, mugs and pins helps to attract more audience and helps to boost revenue. We as a group thought it would be good idea to add more to go along with our trailer which also meets the needs of some of our target audience who were collectors of merchandise e.g Tom Sherdal in our audience profile. This shows the combination of our trailer and ancillary products as we used the main image and title from the film poster on the merchandise to promote more efficiently. Since there is more piracy and online websites for films, the ticket sales in cinemas have dropped and therefore creating merchandise would help to generate greater revenue.






Advertisement:
To have more promotion and advertisement besides a trailer, poster and a magazine, we decided to create a bus advert which could be seen by general public on daily basis around the streets. It features similar layout as our film poster but with less conventions found of this print product e.g the credits. Bus poster works well with our main product and ancillary products which then becomes another successful way to promote the product and inform the public about the film its release date.



What have you learned from your audience feedback? 

We used audience feedback during post production process of creating the products which helped to improve our product and find out if we were meeting the expectations of our target audience.We used social networking site Facebook and one to one interviews to conduct our audience feedback.




From this comment we decided to edit the non-diegetic soundtrack which we had planned to do even before the audience feedback and this response reassured our decision to do so. We edited the soundtrack to build suspense at differing times in our narrative instead of having it tensed throughout as it was before. This feedback shows that we and our target audience shared similar ideas in the changes to be made which was useful to improve our product.



This shows positive audience feedback from our idea of adding features that would relate to film on our magazine. This encouraged us to be more creative and therefore we came up with the idea to create merchandise and other forms of advertisement such as the bus.



Many responded the same about this play on words of "Boy Meats Girl", which plays on the common slogan from romantic movies such as "A story of boy meets girl." By replacing the meets with meats we reinforce conventions of our cannibalism concept. Since the audience liked our creative choice here, we decided to make it an important feature of our product by making it our tagline and adding it to the horror film poster.



Another positive response from audience about our decision to establish the setting with school and making our protagonist a teenager. With this we are able to provide audiences with an image they can connect to and feel empowered by. Reality is included in our trailer by having a male stalking a female which could increase the fear factor within female audience because teenage girls and women are constantly warned about these life dangers.



Some audience commented about the lack of presence from the killer and that we only showed one target victim. Therefore we decided to shoot extra footage which would show stereotypical blonde female victim trapped in antagonist's lair. This allowed us to use a lot more makeup techniques to show bite marks and cuts and reinforce horror conventions through the iconography such as blood and gore. To explain why the villain does what her does, we added elements of satanic cult through scenes of pentagrams and candles in the dark. Overall audience feedback is important during post production because it allowed us to add changes to our product to make it more scary and reinforce horror conventions.



One to one interviews gave more personal response about what audience liked about our trailer and how we could improve it further.

   

"I liked how much narrative got to be seen from the trailer, even though there was a lot of footage"

Lily said this after watching our trailer. This shows that it was successful to add more footage which is what audience responded in the first online interview because it gave more narrative but we still met the conventions of a trailer by leaving the audience wondering and wanting to find out more.

"The editing was really smooth"

Lily gave another positive response by pointing out how good use of editing was by using transitions,  cuts and fitting clips in an order that could tell a story and even scare people at tensed scenes.

"Some pieces of footage could be less or more emphasised"

We asked Lily how we could improve our main product and she responded about making certain scenes more emphasised. As a group we then decided to make certain gory and satanic ritual scenes less emphasised which would then create dramatic effect when they appeared in the narrative for example short and quick instances to shock the audience. We also decided to emphasise the last shot of an enigma which would leave audience wondering and questioning the narrative which might interest them into watching the full film.

"I really like the way music built up tension and suspense and makeup also did this"

This is a positive feedback from Emel showing that we have managed to create tension within our trailer which is a convention of horror genre. However we decided to edit sound a little bit more to emphasise this effect. All of the makeup was done by me and hearing response that it made Emel feel uncomfortable is successful because horror genre is about making audience feel some kind of negative emotion. Audience feedback informs us that we have understood the conventions of of horror genre and reflected the skills and knowledge within our own product when combining different elements.

"To improve, I personally think it could have been a bit longer"

We asked Emel's opinion on how this trailer could have been improved and her response was about the length. We considered Emel's suggestion but however decided to stick with the original length of our trailer because this way we don't overload the narrative with unnecessary footage. Other audience liked the length and by leaving it the same, we are not giving away too much of the story and that can leave audience interested.



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

Web Browsers:
Mostly internet research was done, using Google Chrome and Internet Explorer which allowed to access different resources to help us. For example we found already existing horror trailers, posters and film magazines that helped in the planning and research stage. This allowed us to follow existing horror conventions and also be creative in our way to differentiate and make our products unique. These existing products assisted our group on how to make our products look professional. Another website used was "Dafont" which allows to download more advanced fonts that specifically match genres and we chose horror one that creates scratched effect.



Video sharing:
Youtube allowed us to research already existing horror trailers which allowed to to know what audience would expect from horror trailer. We used YouTube to share our video and receive the feedback which was an easy way to gather it and adjust the changes afterwards. Overall it opened up our trailer for global audiences which could lead to responses from different parts of the world from different aged people.

 

Social Networking:
Sites such as Facebook helped to conduct research by asking a question and letting audience respond their own personal thoughts. Facebook had our age target audience so it was helpful to know what these individuals responded with. We also uploaded our ancillary products to gain information and feedback about them. Social media is very popular among youth and therefore we got the feedback quickly since many use it during their day. Blogger was another form of social networking site where we could create our own blogs and present our work in personalised website that matched horror genre, for example advanced backgrounds and colours. Blogger was a simple way of laying out and keeping track of our work, as well as interacting with other members of our group.



Image Editing:
Mainly Photoshop was used to create and edit out ancillary texts of our advanced portfolio. We kept following already existing poster and magazine layouts which could make these products look more realistic and professional since Photoshop creates high quality images. Different tools were used to create scary effect from fonts and images and that helped to show conventions found in already existing media products.



Video Editing:
To edit out filmed footage, we used Imovie on Apple laptops which was really important for post-production to have the right software. Firstly we chose the clips that we wanted to be in our trailer and then cut them and changed the tempo and placement within the narrative to create jumpscares and enigma right at the end of our trailer. After placing the clips in logical order on the timeline, we added more effects such as transitions and added text which helped to add more to the narrative and for example showed the movie title which definitely had to be included.



Audio Editing:
To create non-diegetic soundtrack for our trailer, we used audio editing software "Logic Pro X". It helped to experiment with different sounds and instruments during the making process until we were happy with the soundtrack that we created. There are also some stored loops and motifs that can be used. This software program was useful to have footage in sync with the audio since it could have been placed in the software. For example dialogue and voiceover had to match and this program helped to do this successfully. Lastly we could change the tempo and different sounds to create tension and suspense and sound is a big part of horror trailers to make audience feel uncomfortable, as well as the footage.

    

Equipment:
During the filming of our trailer, we needed different equipment to have better results. For example HD video camera and a tripod to have still scenes but for some we used hand held camera to capture POV shots which would create realistic feeling. Also with the use of the camera we could get stereotypical shots such as low angle shots to give antagonist more powerful image and shots such as close ups, high angle or over the shoulder shots for variety of different messages. To capture the stills, we used Nikon SLR camera which helped to take clearer and professional looking photos for the poster and magazine main images. Boom mic was used to have a clearer dialogue by avoiding picking up other noises around. Overall this shows that we learnt how to use many different tools during this project which could be helpful in the future.