Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 3

  What have you learned from your audience feedback?

 The audience feedback stage of a production is a very important part. It allows the producers a insight into the audience think about the production at that stage, meaning they can go back and make amendments, or change it entirely. My target audience is for the teenage years to young adults, most likely between the ages of 18 and 28, this way we can include scenes that might offend older or younger audiences.

 Looking back at the audience feedback from the last rough cut of the trailer, we had to make quite large improvements, we were told by our audience that the rough cut did not portray the horror genre very well. So, we went back to the drawing board, and changed a few things, such as the lighting, and some of the narrative, we also included a large amount of new shots we hadn't tried before, such as faded shots, we played around with clever editing as well, making brief images of the antagonist appear at the least suspecting moments, to frighten the viewer. The audience then said that they preferred the new trailer, that it did represent the horror genre more. They commented on how the editing had made a vast improvement on the trailer.

 Looking back at the audience feedback from the last rough cut of the magazine, we had to make some changes, we were told by our teacher that the over the shoulder pose didn't represent the horror genre at all, and looked more sultry than scared. So, we returned to the drawing board for this as well, and chose to have the actress look above the camera, looking at something, this way it makes the viewer wonder what she is looking at and is so afraid of, this will entice the viewer to buy the magazine and find out. The audience then said that the new magazine was far better, and represented the horror genre better than the original. The commented on how the pose of the actress could of been the key to the whole magazines overall effect.

 Looking back at the audience feedback from the last rough cut of the poster, we had to make some changes, we had the actress looking over her shoulder in the poster, alike the magazine, and due to what our teacher said about the magazine, we chose to edit the poster as well. We took the actress image and played around with it a bit, before scrapping it entirely, we decided that the blood red eye seen in the final product. The reason being that the image of an eye has seemed quite popular in recent years, such as the film The Eye, which had a picture of a eye, with fingers coming out of it, this saw much success. So we chose to go for the eye, as it shows something, something that could be seen as quite scary and repulsive, but it does not give away too much information. The audience agreed that this was a good idea after seeing the final product, as it gives the poster more of a mystery, leaves the viewer asking questions, such as who's eye was that.

The audience research was vital to our products, as we would have submitted very poor products had we not found out what the audience thought of them before we put them forward for the final entry.

Evaluation Question 2

How Effective is the Combination of your Main Products and Ancillary Texts?

We wanted our main product and the ancillary products to be released and advertised much alike that of real feature length films, such as Identity or Paranormal Activity. In the real business, there would be multiple trailers and teaser trailers, many posters, internet adverts, webpages, apps and so much more. We did ours so that we could match this to the level that we could manage - obviously only the one trailer, poster and magazine coverage - and we did what we could with what we had, we tried to make them as professional as possible, so that we could entice viewers and audiences to come and see our film.

I believe that the advertising went well and according to plan, we managed to pull everything together and it came out better than expected. We believe that the trailer is the leading part in the advertisements, even though they were for a small campaign.

The poster design, as seen to the right, stands out to any passing views, the center piece being the big red eye, really catches the attention, it seems mysterious and dangerous, and quite menacing. The poster does not give away much as a whole, and thus creates an enigma and makes the audience want to know what the poster is about. The red colour used for the eye is imprinted onto the glass shattered around the eye, it is as though blood has been splattered onto the glass, again causing reason for concern, but also curiosity.

We used the font Requiem, this gave the title a sharp nature about it, almost dangerous, thus keeping with the horror genre.

We used the same red colour in the trailer and the magazine, in the trailer you can see it in the static cuts, and in the magazine it is around the edges. We decided to do this as it links the three things together in a very subtle way, this should make the audience distinguish the three products. We also did this as red and blacks are very typical of the horror genre, due to their association with death, blood and violence, so we used them to stimulate the emotions that these three things create on screen.

Another way the industry has been growing, has been their involvement with social networking sites such as Facebook. We decided that it would be best for us to create a page on Facebook and see how it would do. It went well, as we have 12 likes in a few days, and had different people talking about it. we posted videos and images on the site in order to attract more attention to our products. Had this been a real film project, there could have been games, competitions and other ways to advertise on the Facebook site. You can see the Facebook site below.

 

We released the trailer to Youtube, and withing a few days it already got 80 views, a like and a comment, this shows how powerful the internet is, a video which had no real advertising got that amount of publicity in a short amount of time.

Returning to the poster and magazine, i believe that they both work very well for the purposes they are designed for. The only modification i would of made on the magazine is that there was not a lot that really linked the magazine to the film, except the actress and the title. The main part to the poster is the big red eye, this is not seen in the magazine, if a viewer had not seen the trailer, the main character would have nothing to do with the poster, it would seem. What i would of liked to have changed had we had the time is to import the big eye into the background of the magazine cover.

To conclude, I believe that my three products stick to the horror genre, the lack of a character in the poster shows of mystery and makes the viewer feel curious as to what the film is about, while still showing a sense of danger, the magazine article keeps to a horror genre as it sticks to certain colours to provide a certain atmosphere about it, and a mix of micro elements keep the trailer scary and mysterious, without giving too much away.

Evaluation Question 1

In What Ways Does Your Media Products use, Develop, or Challenge forms and Conventions of real media products?

Final Products

Rough Cut Two

Audience Research
Looking at what the audience had to say, we changes the things advised accordingly. We had plenty of good feedback. We have changed the majority of the footage from the original Rough Cut as we only really got bad feedback and changed accordingly, now the trailer appears more scary, and more professional, as said by the viewers.

Film Magazine Covers

These two are the final re-designs of our Magazine Covers. Originally, we had the model looking straight at the camera from over the shoulder, making her look innocent and vulnerable. This way, as we can cannot see much of her body from the front, we are left wondering if she has any secrets to hide, which did create a atmosphere of mystery. However, it did not give of the correct atmosphere, it looked more seductive than scared. We have now changed it to be a lower angle shot, with the model looking over the camera, this gives a sense of mystery as the viewer does not get to see what she is looking at and is so afraid from, this way it takes the omniscient feeling that a viewer normally would have, taking this feeling away is a classic example of a horror factor. Also, the way she is stood with her arms wrapped around her body, it gives her a strong sense of invulnerability, which makes the viewer connect with her more, makes the viewer want to look out for the protagonist, which makes you worry about her, which will then make you want to go and see the film, exactly what the magazine is trying to do. I personally prefer the first of the two shown above, the extra blood splatter at the bottom and the sides gives it a certain edge to it, a certain feeling of danger, what a horror film magazine should be showing.

Audience Feedback