Feedback Sample

Evaluation - Question 4 What did you learn from your audience feedback

N.B. Please ensure that the annotated device is enabled

From the information we have collected in our feedback questionnaire we have realised that many of our audience are unable to distinguish between a trailer and a teaser trailer. The average age that we worked with was from 16 – 35 who all lived in various middle class areas in London. Interestingly enough when asked the question which genre they thought the movie belonged to, the majority answered with Horror which is possible as the end foreshadows some kind of bloodshed. A number of people believed the music to be ‘badly balanced’ and ‘obtrusive’ while others thought it to be helpful in building the suspense and made the product more enjoyable. The bulk of the focus group found the media product to be most enjoyable and mysterious with some even asking us 'what happens next'.

Evaluation - Question 3 How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

PowerPoint on technologies

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Within this course work there are three stages, planning, construction and evaluation respectively. When approaching the planning section we used a website called Blogspot.com to create our own blogs that would help us in documenting all of our research and future plans for action. They helped us in our organisation and efficiency by allowing us to keep track of what was accomplished and what was still needed to be done. Their easy accessibility was also a great plus while also saving wastage of paper that would have been impossible to avoid. The factor of storage also made the blogs very desirable, we were able to leave them in a secure area removing the possibility of losing the work. The blog contains evidence of the various software that was used in the production of our film software like PowerPoint, Excel and Word. Word and Excel were effective in helping us construct our questionnaire and the subsequent graph results. PowerPoint was used in the research stage of the creation of our magazine ‘Action’. We took front covers from magazines like Empire and Sight and Sound and then juxtaposed them to help us in making a well informed analysis and comparison. To place these presentations onto the blog we had to make use of online software like Slideshare and Scribd. These programmes acted as a storage device with added embedding functions that helped us to upload the presentations onto the blog. Another online programme that we used was Wordle which was instrumental in helping us brainstorm ideas for our film’s title. We came up with words that were directly associated with the film’s aesthetic which were then jumbled up together, allowing us to conceive the final result of Deadly Obsessions. Communication was of the utmost importance in the planning stage, we used social networking like Facebook to keep in contact outside of school along with Hotmail to send each other links to other material that would be helpful in our course work.
We constructed three different media products these being a poster, a teaser trailer and a magazine cover. We first created our poster, which was done by the help of a photographic camera, Adobe InDesign and Photoshop. We used a colleague’s Olympus DSL camera to perform the photo shoot with the help of a tripod and studio lights. To follow that we used Photoshop for image editing like airbrushing and cropping, the final result was then transferred to InDesign to create a layout, font and an overall aesthetic. The teaser trailer was produced with the help of a Digital (DV) Panasonic Camcorder for filming that was supported by a tripod while using separate sound equipment to have a better vocal range. For the final edit of the teaser trailer which was non-linear we made use of Adobe Premier, this was a laborious amount of work that took us a fair amount of time. YouTube was appropriate for our distribution and output. The magazine cover has the same process as the production for the poster design.
In completing our evaluations we placed our teaser trailer onto YouTube which we then created annotation features for and were made available with or without on the video itself. There is also the comment feature on the website which will allow audiences to give their own opinions and feedback as to whether they enjoyed the teaser or did not and what they did enjoy or did not enjoy. Subsequent to that we filmed ourselves through the use of a camcorder to record our own responses to the final product. Later on we created a commentary recording with the help of a computer microphone, which was then edited with Adobe Premier and will be added on as a new audio track for YouTube.

Evaluation - Question 2 How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Immediately when we decided that our female character was going to be the one to kill the other character Michael, we knew that this would be our main unique selling point. It helped to drive the whole marketing campaign into what it became, influencing us to create posters that clouded her in mystery and magazine covers that did not even include her so as to keep the twist in secret upon viewing. The poster was not created before we discussed those particular conventions that made it identifiable as thriller poster. These being the presence of a tag line that gives insight to the narrative, the colour is foreshadowing of the movies atmosphere and narrative also. The crimson colour is iconic of the genre, giving symbolic picture of the imminent bloodshed. Another iconic element to the poster is the knife she bears behind her back, plainly telling viewers that this will be a thriller while also addressing the movies unique selling point. The decision to use a central composition has also been instrumental in our production of a mainstream thriller poster along with the focus on her womanly curves that gives the poster the needed sex appeal that would help in attracting the pedestrian’s eye. The magazine cover is a direct link to our narrative as we decided to recreate the look of our character Michael and photograph him in character. The only product of promotion that does not advertise our U.S.P is the magazine cover, which was a deliberately result. We did this for the sake of mystery and to uphold the satisfaction one feels when having witnessed a twist in a story. Each product has been designed to target our audience. We did this through the combination of an attractive female and male character that would appeal to our male audience, the heavy featuring of the iconographic knife, the moody lighting that created a suspenseful atmosphere. The magazine cover was executed in an aesthetic that resembles that of an art house and would help to appeal to an older viewership. The final end product of the teaser completely integrates narrative, thriller iconography and stars.

Evaluation - Question 1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products

Question 1
In comparison to a real media text our product used a number of various texts for inspiration, for example we researched other movies that were similar to our genre, by analysing other teasers and posters. We challenged ones usual viewing of the genre by creating a passionate and intense relationship between the killer and his chosen victim, this created a different set of issues for the protagonist. He had to deal with an inner torment as to whether he loved Jessica enough to keep his murderous desire at bay, which whereby made his character seem more three dimensional. One of our teaser trailer’s main unique selling points is the fact that there is a significant lack of a hero or rather not till the end of movie is the hero made visible to the audience. This challenges the genre in the fact that the mystery is not unravelled by an expected character. We conformed to the conventions by using violence as a pertinent characteristic so as to appeal to the mass audience who particularly watch these films for that reason alone.
In terms of form we have defied the usual conventions of the genre by creating a longer teaser trailer which was important in establishing the critical elements of our narrative, whereby making it more detailed. Throughout the whole production of our film we had the full intention of including a voice over, though when it came to the recording process we decided that it just did not fit into the atmosphere we wanted to accomplish. We opened up the restrictions on locations and used a number of different ones which subsequently made it seem as though the movie spanned a number of months, making it seem more realistic and relatable. We included all footage that would be used for the final cut as they were all prominent scenes within the narrative.
Where function is concerned we have equipped our teaser with the normal conventions for example our main intention was to create a trailer that would tease one into a state of curiosity that felt unbearable. We did this by deliberately hiding the face of the killer in the final scene and by using music that propounded a mysterious atmosphere. We made sure to establish the climax within the teaser while purposely leaving out the resolution so as to keep the audience in suspense and enticing them to pay to watch our movie. Our genre has been clearly established from our constant referencing of those conventions that create a perfect thriller movie. These conventions can be found within the narrative. Through the help of the research questionnaires that were conducted we were able to recognise the likes and dislikes of target audience we wanted to associate ourselves with. We then catered and customised our production towards those people. Our actors were featured heavily in our posters and are the only characters to perform within the trailer, forcing them to be the centre of our viewership’s attention, making it clear to them that these are two stars credited well for their talent.

Final Cut For Deadly Obsessions