Project Conclusion/Evaluation

In what ways did your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products

i found that our media project rarely challenged typical conventions of a teaser trailer or horror film, in fact i found that used and coincided with them, this has been made clear throughout the project, stating and explaining why we have done what we have done, in order to fit and use the typical conventions of the horror genre and conventions of a trailer, specifically teaser.

The main conventions i had to follow were those specific to the genre, simply because this was the theme for all of the products.

For the trailer i made sure that not many people were cast, as to set the feeling of isolation, a key icon in the horror genre as it suggests fear and helplessness, for the same reason i used only empty areas such as empty streets, dark forest areas and empty church yards, these are places people would seldom go at night which made it easy to film there. There are few scenes inside, these are to show that even at home she is scared and has nowhere to run, as for the therapy scene, we have shown a large room, with a red carpet and warm feel which gives off the feel of a safe therapist office/home, but this feeling is changed with the use of eerie music.

Every scene (excluding the flashback) has been shot at night or in the dark, this is a technique used in both horror and film noir, to create a sense of hopelessness, in film noir this was due to the war yet in our trailer we have adapted this to suit our situation of hopelessness because she is safe nowhere. lighting was a very important aspect of our trailer, for this reason we used a strong flashlight and strobe light in order to create a chiaroscuro effect to illuminate and contrast the subjects against a dark environment, we used this in scenes such as the final clip which was intended to make the viewer jump, and in the scene where the protagonist screams down the phone.

The editing has been done effectively in my opinion as it works in the same way as most horror trailers, picking up pace, making the audience jump, and creating tension. This was done by effectively cutting scenes shorter, using the stretch tool to shorten and speed up scenes which increased speed and tension. We sped up a scene and flipped it to make it look supernatural, short and scary in order to give the viewer a final fright at the end of the trailer. This trick typical of the genre because it entices the viewer and convinces them that the film is scary and worth watching.

The iconography used is very straightforward yet effective, we used a cemetery as a location, this is an icon used primarily in horror, as they are intended to be scary due to aspect such as, horror stories, myths or beliefs of ghosts and undead and a certain holy feel which is slightly unnerving. We dressed our protagonist in trendy, normal clothes to show that she is just like everyone else, allowing the audience to relate. And we also used makeup to create a burn effect on the antagonist to indicate that he has been harmed and should not be alive, which indicates that it is supernatural. This makeup was simple to make, yet the use of red and black paints create a burn effect whereas the "DIY Liquid Latex" creates the look of scar tissue, this is classed as a very simple yet effective form of special effects.

The plot, i feel was very unique and interesting, whilst it uses the regular conventions, it also offers a twist which keeps the viewer guessing, the plot has been posted earlier in the blog for reference. The plot follows the classic horror idea of a grudge from the past, this is used in many films, old and recent, such as "i know what you did last summer" and "sorority row". The idea is that somebody has been wronged in the past, and so a reincarnation, family member or friend takes revenge on the person who did it. our unique selling point is that we have not made it as straight forward, yet we have created a plot that causes the viewer to think they understand until the end and they realize that it was not as simple as they first thought.

The protagonist is female, which is often used in horror films as they are seen as more feeble and scared, this is a stereotype which is commonly used, it is however made up for, because in most horrors, the female undergoes a great act of bravery to overcome the antagonist. An example of this would be the character "Sidney Prescott" from the scream trilogy, at the beginning of the film, she is young and scared, whereas at the end, she defeats the killers and comes out stronger for the experience. The antagonist is a typical introvert male of whom is portrayed as a smart pupil with no friends of whom gets picked on, often described as the "Geek", this changes when he is seen after his accident, he instead becomes, calm, silent and angry looking, this unsettles the viewer as he is hard to read or understand, and the silent aspect adds to the fear as the audience never know what he sounds like, if he can talk.

The soundtrack begins with the classic eerie glockenspiel music, typical of a trailer as it sets the scene and immediately informs the audience of the genre, this is used normally as it is slow and high pitched which creates an unsettling mood. voices and moans can be heard over the crescendo to give a haunting feel to the song, the pace of the soundtrack increases as does the volume, this effectively builds tension and comes to a halt after the credits.

During this soundtrack, certain diegetic sounds are heard, such as crying and panicked shouts, this adds to a rushed panicked atmosphere increasing tension further. The voice-over can be heard narrating a basic storyline at the very beginning of the trailer, this is simply to tell the audience what is happening.

The magazine cover follows the conventions of horror through the use of dark colours, chiaroscuro & lighting and shocking imagery.

The page is covered by the frightening image of a scarred face, shocking images are often used in horror to attract and shock the audience. For this reason we used smaller images on the side, one depicting what looks like a cremated corpse. We used the font for the asylum because it represents blood which is an iconographic image of death and horror. the colour scheme we have chosen is black and red, black because it represents darkness and red because it symbolizes danger. We used a bright yellow streak across the top and a bright coloured pug to make them stand out which is typical of a magazine

The magazine follows the conventions of a popular movie magazine in the ways in which it, has a pug on the cover used to attract attention and stand out; it contains sub stories to entice the reader; a main headline story and all of the authentic pieces such as a barcode issue number and date. Coupled with the magazine design such as the mast head and name, the whole ensemble makes it imitate a real movie magazine.

Our magazine was majorly influenced by the magazine and has many traits from it.

The movie poster was shot in a cemetery with headstones clearly visible to se the atmosphere with iconography, it was shot at night creating darkness effects and the use of a torch added to the effect of chiaroscuro clearly showing the subject whilst the background was dark. The movie title is in a grayish colour with mysterious looking font, which branches and swirls off, giving a sense of mystery.

The poster is simple, contains iconography and gives very little about the story, this is typical of movie posters, however, mine shows a cemetary, this hints at a supernatural storyline.

In our movie plot we have used todorovs theory of equilibrium to give our story a structure, the equilibrium is broken when she returns to her old village to find that something is haunting her, and a new equilibrium is formed when she faces her fear and returns home having a clear conscience, in the trailer we have shown the beginning equilibrium in which she is calmly talking to her therapist, this is broken roughly at the point where she raises her voice and the student falls having acid spilled on him. In most film trailers, especially teaser trailers in the horror genre, the theory of equilibrium is never completed, as not to ruin the storyline, we have picked up on this idea and used it in our trailer.

We have also incorporated Levi Strauss's theory of binary opposition using the idea that the protagonist is an extrovert whereas the antagonist is an introvert. We also used the idea of the protagonist appearing crazy, whilst everyone around her appears normal, this theory increases contrast and exaggerates the situation.

The trailer follows the normal conventions of a teaser trailer by using the cliche but effective editing techniques and cinematography. During the trailer, the pace of the trailer quickens, this is used in most horror trailers to increase tension.

We used several cross dissolves and dip to black transitions in order to make it flow smoothly, because if i didnt it would look poorly made and would not entice the viewer.

the soundtrack we used included glockenspiels, crescendos and orchestra instruments to give it a classical feel and the soundtrack was edited to fit what was happening in the trailer all 0f this is typical of a horror trailer.
In order to make it a teaser trailer, we had little dialogue, gave away very little of the storyline and was only short as it was intended to interest the viewer and leave them wanting more.

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

I think the combination of trailer, poster and magazine cover worked well together, as the poster would not be enough to promote the film, nor would the magazine cover, and the trailer would not be seen as much if there was no advertisements, alone none of them could advertise the film effectively however when combined they effectively advertise the film to a wider audience, because the magazine cover/article and movie posters would entice the audience to search for and view the trailer, this is how we have incorporated synergy into our project, both the trailer and ancillary texts have the same horror conventions, themes and colour schemes therefore complimenting one another allowing them to be associated easily.

The audience feedback throughout the project has shaped the way i edited and formed my products. The majority of feedback we got was positive and there was very little criticism showing that we were on the right tracks, however we did encounter slight criticisms showing me that my opinions on matters did not always coincide with those of the target audience, so in order to improve i had to learn to change things that i considered to be effective and interesting for those of which the target audience preferred as the project was intended to attract their attention. The main criticisms were to do with the trailers quality not being a high as that of a professional trailer, there was mention of the lack of special effects which are often seen in horror films such as blood and violent attacks.

There was little mention of the movie poster, but the main criticisms were that it did not tell anything about the trailer and left the story completely to the viewers imagination, this however was a point that few people thought worked well for it.

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

The project showed me how to work as part of a group, how to schedule my time effectively and organize a schedule to film, edit and blog around everybody else's timetables.

The project has also developed my uses of media technologies, i now feel adept at using the program premiere pro, we used this program as it is user friendly, has a very easily understood interface and is easy to catch on. Along with all of this, the program is not very limited, it contains all of the tools, and functions needed to create a professional video. These are the main reasons i used this my program of choice to create this trailer.

When i began using the program, i found it difficult to navigate and use the tools effectively, i did not take long to pick up with the help from more knowledgeable colleagues as it was my first time using it. Not long after the preliminary task i was able to effectively utilize the functions of the program. As explained throughout the blog, i used this program for many things, cutting and arranging clips, editing soundtrack and such.

It is not the only media technology i used however, i used photoshop to design and create the magazine cover and movie poster along with caption images in the trailer simply because it is the best adapted program for the situation.

I have had a lot of experience with this program and was able to utilize it exactly how i needed, i did however improve my skill, as i learnt that tools such as the magnetic lasso are not very useful unless against a clear background.

I did however choose not to use sound-booth for the audio track because it takes a while to understand and would be very laborious as opposed to the soundtrack section in premiere pro. The sound-booth program however has far more functions and tools as it is a specialist program, but this would take more time than i had available. I have never used this program and i feel it would have taken an unnecessary amount of time for a small improvement in the soundtrack.

Overall i found that our project was very successful due to the quality of the audience feedback, i am impressed with the final products and have surpassed my initial expectations and i don't feel there is anything else i could do to improve my products because any changes that needed to be made have been.