Evaluation part 3: What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Throughout the production of the trailer, we receiver continiouse feedback which allowed us to make adjustments to the trailer, which will hopefully improve it. Below are some examples of what feedback we got.
comments:

"the music fitted well with the genre and form of the trailer"

"You have created a good piece from the technology you have been provided with, however I think that you must use more footage of the two girls as I think as they are in the magazine cover"

" Need less blank screens as it uses up time"

"A good trailer! I would see it!"

"The genre is what I would expect you to do"

From these comments, I have learnt that we must be more experimenting with genres. We did a thriller/horror last year which means we are more adventurous with deciding what genre to choose. However we ruled out from doing a comedy because we think it would be harder to create a funny script and screen play. However we was willing to do a drama as well! If we had the chance to do this project again, we would most likely do this genre.

Another feedback comment we got, was to adjust the slow motion of the falling leaf. The audience felt that the leaf had to fall slower down the screen, causing a "penny dropping" effect.

we have also had some positive feedback from the audience, most comments was on the background music and the screenplay. We informed each individual what technology we had to use so they were aware of the limitation of what we could produce. 

We have also used questionnaires to help us receive a more narrowed response from the target audience. This way we knew what to improve on.

Final film trailer piece

final poster piece

Final magazine cover piece

Evaluation part 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Films use a variety of marketing techniques such as trailers, posters, magazines and websites. We have decided to create a trailer, poster and magazine cover examples. It is important that all three of these texts compliment each other so that the audience know the texts advertise the same type of trailer. For example,we have applied the main character in the centre of all three texts.
In our Poster and magazine cover, we have tried to emphasise the faces on the characters, that they are all scared. by creating this type of synergy we are able to elaborate that the film is some sort of thriller. The darkness and abandoned affect on all three of the texts help to ensure that the film is set in an area that not many people go to, which will limit the amount of contacts the three protagonists have when they try to escape the protagonists. This will have a mirroring effect on the audience by interpreting what will happen to the girls- will they get away?

There are many famous film magazines we could have chosen from, such as Empire and Interview. We chose Total Film. as you can see below, I have produced an analyses of the magazine poster, I have only focused on the effects that compliments the other two media products.

It is important that aspects of the trailer compliment the films poster and magazine cover. By successfully linking the three media types together, it makes their purpose easier to identify for the audience; to promote the film.

The image above shows that I have annotated Total Film's front cover of the Sherlock Holmes edition. in relation to our magazine cover, the main characters have been centred in the middle of the page, this is effective because they audience would know who the main article in the magazine are featuring.  We have also tried to use a colour theme to the magazine- red, white and a browny/grey colour. We have used this colour theme to emphasise on an earthy and muddy feeling. 

Both of the magazines have used the "U"shape layout of tag lines surrounding the centred picture. However the teasers have swapped places with the magazines tag line. This edition distracts the audience from the tagline as it is at the bottom of the page, and shadows the featuring films title. 

As you can see, I have analysed our groups final film poster. In comparison to the example, our film poster has not made the release date of the film clear as it could be, meaning our trailer is not as effective as it could be. It does not meet one of the criteria's of a film trailer, which is to inform the audience the release date, so they know when to look out for the times and watch it.  To make the date clearer we could have used a bolded font colour such as red as it will stick with the colour theme and show up against the dark background. It is important that we made the release date visually strong so the audience can easily find out when it will be in the cinema. 

On the other hand, we have stuck to the colour theme throughout our ancillary products. Alike the Sherlock Holmes poster, we have used the same colours in the poster and on the magazine cover for Total Film.  This will have an effect on the audience because they will be able to relate the poster to the trailers. I have also noticed that the posters both include some sort of indication of the setting of the main scenes. In our trailer, the photo is in a wooded area, this implies that a great deal of the film is in the woods. In my example, the eiffel Tower is in the background, this could signify that the film is set in France-Paris. 

Another difference that I have noticed between the two posters, is that we did not mention who was starring in our film. Yet the other poster did. I believe that they mentioned that Robert Downey JR was in the film because he is a well known actor which will help to draw in views. On the other hand, we had no famous actors, so by mentioning who was the starring roles, we did not think it would have the same effect by drawing in views.  

evaluation part 1: In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

From analysing our results from our research, we have been able to identify the forms and conventions of real media products and tried to apply them to the trailer, magazine and poster.

magazine cover:

From looking at the conventions of real film magazine covers, we have noticed that they all include a masthead, barcode, name of the main article of the magazine, cover lines, feature article photo selling line and a head line (usually the name of the character(s) in the photo.

We have challenged the conventions of a real poster by not including the page numbers of the articles, this is because we had trouble making it clear what article was on what page. On the other hand, we have decided this is more effective as it encourages readers to look through the whole magazine and see  everything, while looking for what they wanted to see. we have also challenged it by making the font harder to see against the background. we wanted to stick to an earthy colour, yet with a red that will help keep a consistence of the films name. This consistency will have an effect on the audience as they most likely be familiar with the poster. 

Poster:

We have come to the decision that all posters must include an eye catching font,  a date that it is released, billing-block, a focal picture (usually or the main characters in the film) tagline and sometimes reviews.

We have challenged the form and conventions in our film poster by creating a very dark boarder, whereas most posters are brighter or have some sort of brighter light in the background, we have used a slight lighter area in the centre of the poster to help focus on the main character. it also helps to make the two antagonists in the background look more like two black figures- this makes them look more anonymous.  Like most other posters, we have applied a bold title, tagline and a bliiing-block. We are aware that the font of the billing-block is slightly harder to see, yet we wanted to go for a darkening and earthy effect. It also helps to put all the focus on the picture and the title.

Film:

we understand that film trailers are important when marketing a film. They use important moments from the film, in thrillers they sometimes use some of the scariest moments in films which will help draw in the audience and possibly feel scared from just watching the trailer. The trailer must include the title of the film, name of the production companies and sometimes reviews. They must also include the release date or "coming soon" on the trailer- so the audience know when to go to the cinema and have something to look forward to see. The main actors or any major actors must me mentioned so the audience know what to expect. if the trailer has any major actors in the trailer it means that the audience will expect the film to be good as well.

We have challenged the form and conventions of film trailers by not having any major actors in the trailer, by no fault this could not be helped, however we applied what would be some important moments in the trailer which will help to draw in the audience. we have used River Road productions and Columbia Productions. Both of these are large production companies which helps the audience think it is a good film.