My Poster - Final

My Final Poster:

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My Final Magazine Front Cover

This is my finished magazine front cover...

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Evaluation 4

Development from AS to A2:

Blogger - My use of blogger has improved greatly from AS to A2, especially in terms of my confidence using and presenting the information on the software. I was not aware of the creative tool before, which allowed me to change the format and template of my blog in order to make the overall presentation of all of our information more clear. My use of the blogger also increased, in terms of embedding and linking videos, thus making my blog more interactive for the people viewing it.

Hardware - Development has been seen in the use of our panasonic camera over the two years, especially in relation to our cinematography and positing/framing of shots. This was helped greately by the fact that we conducted a camera practise, shown in the research and planning stage of our media package presentation. We tested our limits in terms of camera positioning, especially through our use of low and high angle shots to suggest either dominance or inferiority at certain moments in our trailer. We were also more aware of trivial things, such as the camera's charge time, which allowed us to male full use of our filming time. Lighting was an area of media technology we developed drastically, mainly due to the fact that our style/colour and tone was essential to our trailer (Our main USP). Our biggest influences, such as 'Drive', 'Only God Forgives' and 'Welcome To The Punch' all experimented with different uses of lighting and tone, which is something we also wanted to do to suggest narrative, as well as create engaging and visceral images for our audience to remember. Our use of lighting was much more minimalist at AS level and so the development is extremely noticeable. Sound was another area, where we certainly developed despite still experiencing problems. Our audiences commented on our good use of 'dubbing' at specific moments, which suggests our development as this was not the case previously. We extended our use of sound by recording our own foley sound at particular moments, for example the 'gun cocking' and the footsteps leading up to the house.  

Social Media - We didn't use social media at AS level, which we realised was a mistake as it allowed us to extend our product out to a wider audience, shown by the fact that many people we knew mentioned what they liked about the trailer, in which they saw on Facebook. We also used Instagram and Twitter to connect our audiences to the trailer online, which was again useful as it allowed us to show our film to a wider audience, instead of simply people we know already. Social Media has been invaluable to us as aforementioned, it provides that link between us and our audience on a post/comment platform. 

Software - Our use of softwares, such as Final Cut and Photoshop has also improved dramatically over the journey of our two year course, especially in relation to the technical aspects used, such as our choice to colour match particular shots, for example the bar shots in relation to the scenes in the friends house, which were originally quite dull but after matching with the dark blue colouring in the bar scene turned out to be quite effective. This was essential due to the fact that these scenes were essential to the narrative of our piece. My personal use of photoshop developed tremendously over the two years. I wasn't aware of how to use photoshop originally but quickly learnt for the purpose of creating our own ancillary tasks as well as the advert and art of title compilations for the evaluation questions. 

 VIDEO OF THE DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY WE USED:

A video made on iMovie, highlighting how I made my magazine front cover using the photoshop software: 

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Evaluation 3

Audience screening - photos of people involved in our audience screening, answering the questionnaire:

Audience Survey below - we have taken a couple pictures of our questionnaire (back and front) showing the one side, which brought us quantitative data and the other side, which brought us qualitative data. This survey/questionnaire allowed us to collectively understand our target audience in more detail due to the fact that the results were as we expected. It suggested strongly that our target age range was between the 15-24 mark. It also informed us that the audience were particularly fond of many of the tropes of most crime/thriller trailers, such as the city shots and chase scenes, which suggests that we have conformed well to the conventions of most crime/thriller trailers. However, a bonus for us was that the majority of our audience commented on the fact that they liked the specific colour/tone/aesthetic of our trailer, which was something we worked hard on to make our trailer original and different from the others that have been released. Due to people's comments on the style, tone and other important tropes of the genre, we were confident that we had created a strong narrative driven crime/thriller trailer that conformed to the conventions of most, whilst adding our own but effective twist.  

Audience Survey - audience replies to the question, 'What was your favourite part of the trailer and why?'

1. 'Shots of London and strong, clear narrative'.
2. 'High shots of Gabriel running and sliding down banister; the shorter snapshots of film with music near the end'. (montage)
3. 'The interrogation scene, high intensity'. 
4. 'Tense Music, cuts from action to romance'. 
5. 'News shot'.
6. 'Gabriel running through London, news flash, vibrant colours'. 
7. 'Montage sequence, news flash, city shots'.
8. 'Shots of buildings with clear narrative'.
9. 'shots of the city & colouring of overall trailer - nice clear aesthetic'.
10. 'Good use of colour'.
11. 'Use of London settings e.g London eye and the use of blue colour as it established tone'.

                                                                 Questionnaire Results:

Due to 100% of the audience saying that they would go on to watch the film after viewing the trailer (Most of which were within our target age range), and a majority viewing of films such as "The Dark Knight Rises" and "Drive" we can conclude that we have chosen the correct colour and tone for the film; one which appeals to the audience which we are attempting to target.

This question gives us a little more content for analysis and consideration.  It appears that our audience considers trailer-watching a valuable usage of time, with everyone disagreeing or strongly disagreeing that it is a 'waste of time'. This leads us to consider the audience that we surveyed as 'valid', as they do not disregard our medium from the very beginning, which is something of a prerequisite for a survey answerer. This is tempered slightly by the fact that a minority of those surveyed did admit to not watching a trailer before seeing the film, and so they cannot be said to be wholly on board with the principle of the trailer as a premiere means of film promotion.

Most suggested that not too much is given away by most trailers, which bodes similarly well for their reception of our trailer, which is less heavily narrative driven than some of its real media 'contemporaries'. In fact, the general consensus that watching a trailer before the film 'is helpful' is extremely encouraging for our prospects and does depict the trailer as a media that is considered an effective form of film marketing. This information has helped us a little more to pin down the trailer-viewing habits of our audience, and thus of the general population.

Vox Pops for magazines, poster & trailer  

Audience Research for Magazine Front Cover:

I decided to show our trailer to two people who we have worked with previously for our AS piece and discuss with them what they thought about the trailer as a whole. My main aim was to find out if the narrative was clear to the audience because that is essential to a trailer. I also wanted to know more about what they liked and disliked to add to our already substantial audience research. This was to get a wider understanding of our target audience and to find out what worked and didn't work in our trailer.

Audience Research - Social Media:

We decided to upload our trailer to Facebook, in order to gain more information about our target audience and also generate interest around our product. Due to the fact that we were learning about postmodernism, especially in relation to Web 2.0, we realised the importance of social media and how it is shaping our modern media world. Most producers nowadays use social media to promote their media package as it is extremely important in developing and creating a particular niche audience or even for reaching out to your originally targeted audience. I personally have over 800 friends on Facebook, which is a much larger and mixed audience of people from all different age ranges, which again allows for our film to reach a wider audience. 

https://www.facebook.com/max.twyman.7 (link to trailer on Facebook page)

 Instagram was also useful for uploading a short 15 second snapshot of our trailer, which would again generate excitement around our film and open up a wider audience. It helped us to again find out more about our target audience. 

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