question evaluation

Explain how you used conventional or experimental narrative approaches in your production

With regards to our main A2 production task, we had to research narrative techniques in pure detail. We started off by looking at theories and narrative models such as Tristan Todorov’s theory towards narration. This intertwines with our main story plot line – as we follow his theory, throughout our trailer. Our main character is Sarah, who is the daughter of a gang leader, following the disturbance of using Todorov’s theory we have a equilibrium disturbance in many of our trailer scenes showing the violence and hurt through a love relationship – with a final outcome of revenge. We also used conventional approaches but mixed into experimental narrative approaches. We did this in many ways but one important example would be our voice over overlapping our film shots to create a third person perspective on the feel of the trailer. However the narration does not explain the storyline, it merely entices the audience into what its all about.

With regards to the plot time, the trailer reacts through the experiences of shot times and screen times, using fast motion – to slow motion shots of running/fighting scenes. This helps to confuse the reading audience of what real time reality actually is, and also contrasts without giving too much information on what happens. Going back to character types, our trailer production used theory ideas from Propp, who has eight different examples of character types. We used the Father figure – who ended up being the dispatcher, the villan – who was his daughter in the end, betraying her family – to set out to destroy her father. We also used character types such as the helper and the donor, however with regards to the donor character type Propp implies that with a donor they would need to give some sort of prop or skill to another character, this relates to our father figure giving the assassin the job of killing the two lovers – however this shows our trailer does not exactly intertwine or correspond with Propp’s theory of character types.

OUR TRAILER IS ON WWW.YOUTUBE.COM!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynZCLu56HqQ

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

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

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

We have learned alot from our audience feedback. It gives you new ideas as a group, but most importantly you get a completly different view on your own work. I find personally when working on a really long peice of coursework you get so drawn into your own way of thinking, it is very useful to just stand back and get another person's view on what changes you can make - in order to produce a better outcome. For our main audience feedback we used a web 2.0 site called FaceBook. Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook. Since January 2011, Facebook has more than 600 million active users. Users may create a personal profile, add other users as friends, and exchange messages, including automatic notifications when they update their profile. Facebook allows anyone who declares themselves to be at least 13 years old to become a registered user of the website. Using FaceBook as our main provider - it seemed to be our best option for an overall audience feedback, this is due to our age. Being 18 years of age Facebook for young adults and teenagers is their main use of communication. These are screen shots from my Facebook account, to do with our posted audience feedback:

The screen shot above, is the audience feedback from the our A2 film poster. Created by me i was very interested to see what people thought was good/bad about it and what i could have improved. Abbie Fegent - suggest that the names at the top of the poster should be kept bold instead of slightly faded/blurred. taking this into consideration - i re designed the poster, taking out the blur editting out of each letter. However - with my new and old editted posters, we as a group decided that the letters looked more proffessional blurred at the bottom, this was because we had many discussions about whether 'LUCY KNIGHT' should be the main focus or whether 'PETER JONES and JAMES DEAN' should stay bold aswell. Taking Abbie's advice feedback was very useful in relation to what Amy Millan says bellow. She taks about the layout, and how in every professional poster for a film or even advertisment posters - there are always points where it meets the readers eye and stands out. As a group we agree what Amy was saying and belived we have reached the eye catching perspectives that she talks about. These audience feedback comments where uploaded within minutes of adding our film poster to my facebook account. This shows that to gain quick and helpful feeback comments - using http://www.facebook.com/ as our main potential audience feedback site, it ended up being incredibly helpful.

The two screen shots above was when we decided it was time for us as a group to gain some helpful advice and audience feedback on our main A2 task (the final edit of the trailer). This was also posted onto http://www.facebook.com/ seeing as we gained alot of intresting comments on our poster and magazine cover. I managed to export our trailer from our media class room D-Drive, onto a memory stick. Taking it home i was able to take the poster and magazine cover on the memory stick aswell - then i simply ripped the file of the trailer down, on windows movie maker, as it was 879mb which was too much for facebook to alow us to upload the trailer. Ripping the size of the trailer down - with much difficulty, i finally managed to get it down to 89mb - allowing facebook to accept the file and upload it. I posted the trailer up onto my account 'tagging' all 4 group members in it. Much like the poster and magazine cover we gained audience feedback streight away. People started to comment on how good the editting was, and how the fade in/outs between each shot looked professional. However some people commented on how we should take the title of the trailer/film 'BETRAYAL' and have that as the first scene. one comment was 'this would make it easier to work out streight away what the film was called and also what it may include'. We met up as a group with Piers as main editer - and went through the trailer feedback, deciding on whether having the title at the start looked better - or whether some of the shots/scenes should be moved around - to make it more exiting or professional. However with our research at the start of our A2 set task, we looked at many film trailers and most of them have the trailer title at the end as almost an last anti-climax.

We as a group learnt alot form our audience feeback. It showed us new ideas on people who dont take media studies - but still thought our production outcomes were looking professional and well put together. Also using www.facebook.com was a great way of getting quick advice during our productions, on what looked good, or what could be made to produce a sharper, more eye catching finish. Personally i would say the main objective we have learnt from our audience feedback - is that taking someone elses perspective on your own work, is always incredibly useful - and taking the time to step back and look at productions in a new light, also creates a better outcome.

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

- using a variety of media technologies, in the construction and research parts of our production we were able to gain a good set of ideas of what we wanted to produce. www.google.com was our most influential internet source for our research. On google we were able to get pictures for research on other gangster posters, and magazine covers - this helped us as a group get together some planning ideas for layout in the film poster, and sub-lines for the magazine etc. Google was also useful for researching some media theories such as Tristan Toderof, this helped us to produce a better product.

- www.youtube.com was so helpful with our planning stages. we were able to watch some of the most famous gangster film trailers and gain ideas through what they had producted. It was also incredibly important for our evaluation stages. Using youtube along stide Facebook we were able to upload our poster and magazine cover, with the trailer - out in the public eye to gain some important feedback. This helped us with our evaulations as a group as we all got different feedback - meaning we had a brand new set of other ideas from friends or random viewers on youtube, who helped add some interesting comments.

AFTER MANY DIFFERENT DEVELOPMENTS.. THIS IS OUR FINAL OUTCOME ON THE FILM POSTER

screen shot of new edited production

New film poster - with sarah..

CHANGE'S IN CAST

As a group, we had to make some changes with the cast. Unfortunatly due to unforseen circumstances our main leading female protagonist is on holiday and will not be able to film before our deadline. This has been unfortunate and ultimatly meant we had to recast - but fortunately a girl called Sarah in our media class has kindly offered to help us. This means we have to re-film most of our trailer again and added new images much like the ones before, onto our production film poster. Although this is a major flaw in our production, as a group we have managed to sort some new dates for filming with sarah, and we should be eddited and finished within the next two weeks.

evaulation questions and audience feedback

poster at top.. magazine cover bellow.. personal family feedback: Q would you say the trailer was exiting? - parts of the fade outs in the music, and clips, give a real sense of exiting film material 2) Did it make you want to watch the film? - we all agree we would see the film, however we may want to see a different trailer on the same film to get a different feel 3) Was the genre clear? - the genre was very clear. we understood it was all about revenge in gangster families. however the clothes could have been suits or all black to show a sense of power - however overall the gangster genre was apparent 4) Were the props/mise-en scene relevant? - in some cases yes, the gun was very useful to show the deaths, however by the end the clothing and overall shots make it way to modern, if you as a group set out to make a 1960's gangster film, mobile phones etc, would not have been seen 5) Did it make you want to watch the film? - the trailer does make us want to watch the film yes. 6) Was there anything that was unclear? - when the girl wakes up, for about 20 seconds its very unclear who shes fighting or what shes trying to do. you maybe need a shot with the father figure with her with a gun..? 7) Did it entice you? - very much so 8) Was the poster effective? - the poster was great. the overall outcome is very eye catching, shows relevent information, what we would do to make it better - would be to make the names at the top bolder and brighter. the main photo of the girl and city scape is exelent 9) Was the magazine front cover eye catching? - magazine cover was also great. we would possibly make the girl super impossed over the top of the magazine title.

just hannah

EDITED FILM POSTER.

UN-EDITED FILM POSTER.

FINISHED LAYOUT OF POSTER

HANNAH SHOT FOR POSTER

Gunther Kress's and Theo Van Leunen's diagramme towards visual advertisment..

LAYOUT IDEAS..

1. Having the title at the bottom with the eddited city skyline and greyscale clouds above gives a very professional look to the magazine. Also having the release date at the bottom is eye catching and is also near to the title. This use of effective layout salylance, this can reflect to Gunther Kress (media theorist on layout and visual design.

Gunther Kress:
Information value:

Elements placed in specific "zones" of an image carry corresponding informational values. The division of the page into left and right, top and bottom, and center and margins define these zones. The image to the left summarizes the zones and their corresponding informational values: given and new, ideal and real, nucleus and dependents.

Salience:

Elements are given varying levels of salience---they attract the viewer's attention to different degrees. Salience is created through relative choices in color, size, sharpness and placement. Often, vectors created by the shape and placement of elements help lead the eye from one element to another, in order of decreasing salience.

2. This was another layout idea i had. Putting the title at the top half of the film poster, this draws you eyes towards the cast of the film and also stands out more to readers. However we are sticking with the first layout option with the title at the bottom of the film poster. Personally this looks more professional.

(another media theorist on layout and visual design is 'Theo Van Leunen')

Theo Van Leunen:

'The elements of the media text are made to attract the viewer's attention to different degrees. This can be achieved through choices as the placement of a feature in the foreground or background, their size and the differences in tonal value (or colour), differences in sharpness for example.'

both of these media theorists have identified the importance in elements of magazines and websites and how they are arranged in a way that attaches a degree of importance and informational values to them.

MY ALMOST FINISHED AND PRODUCED FILM POSTER..

I HAVE ADDED ALL THE PRODUCTION LOGOS, TITLES, NAMES, COLOURS AND PICTURES THAT WERE BLOGGED BELOW. THIS HOWEVER IS THE NOT FULLY FINISHED PRODUCT. THE GIRL ABOVE THE EDDITED LONDON CITYSCAPE IS NOT THE GIRL WE ARE USING IN THE CASTING FOR THE TRAILER. THIS NEEDS TO BE CHANGED AND HOWEVER WILL HAVE THE SAME LAYOUT - WITH OUR OWN FEMALE CHARACTER. ALTHOUGH WHEN I WAS PLAYING AROUND WITH THE EDDITING LAYOUT AND EYE CATCHING DESIGNS, I CHANGED THE TRANSPARENCY OF TWO OF THE SAME IMAGES OF THIS 'UN KNOWN FEMALE' - THIS GIVES A CONTRAST TO THE POSTER, AND OVERALL MAKES IT LOOK MORE PROFESSIONAL.

NICK'S PROGRESS ON THE MAGAZINE COVER..

1. NICK HAS USED ADOBE INDESIGN CS4 TO CREATE THIS MAGAZINE START. HIS MIX OF BLACK AND WHITE RELATE TO OTHER FILM MAGAZINES. USING MY PRODUCED FILM TITLE AS THE ONE FROM MY FILM POSTER, IT WORKS WELL SMALL AT THE BOTTOM OF THE LAYOUT. HAVING 4 WHITE 'AT PRESENT' BOXES

- THESE CAN BE FILLED WITH OTHER PICTURES THAT WE COULD WRITE ABOUT OTHER 'FILMS OR EXTRAS'

2. THIS IS ANOTHER SCREEN SHOT OF THE SAME PRODUCTION PLANNING. NICK HAS MADE ANOTHER EXCLUSIVE TEXT BOX TO ADD MORE OF THE EYE CATCHING APPERANCE. THIS ONE ONLY HAS 2 WHITE BOXES IN THE LAYOUT. AND ALSO DOSENT HAVE THE TEXT LINE AT THE TOP AND BOTTOM.

DIAGRAME OF PLOT LINE..

PLOT LINE..

- Two lovers, children of rival gang leaders, have a relationship in secret.
- Despite their efforts, their fathers (or one of them) discovers this and orders the assassination of them both.
- The couple are interrupted while together by a ‘hitman’ and are seemingly both killed. Their bodies are thrown into a harbour.
- The girl survives, though injured. Her lover is dead. She is bent on revenge against her father.
- She kills her assassin. She also kills many more people on her journey to her father. She does this seemingly without hesitation.
- Her father discovers that it is his daughter killing his men. Rather than feeling remorse or paternal compassion he steps up his game and orders her immediate death.
- She eventually finds him but leaves him to live, though a broken and helpless man.

MUSIC FOR TRAILER..

'THE PRODIGY'
'NANCY SINATRA'

Music in the genre of gangster is very important: a slower acoustic Italian-style is iconic of films like The Godfather.
(LINK/EMBED GODFATHER OPENING MUSIC)
The music playing during the first part of our trailer (the slower paced half), is Nancy Sinatra's 'Bang Bang'. We thought this was appropriate given the omnipresence of guns in gangster films, and the recurring theme in our film. The words 'bang, bang' in conjunction with the calm tone of the music also provides a disturbing juxtaposition for the viewer.

- NANCY SINATRA 'www.youtube.com/bangbang'
- THE PRODIGY 'www.youtube.com/breathe'

During the second segment of our trailer, we are using The Prodigy's 'Breathe'.
A shot from the 'Breathe' music video.
This is because this half of the trailer is much faster paced visually and in terms of content, as is the convention for action film trailers: the beginning will introduce the characters and signal that the film too will start less aggressively. The trailer reaches a climax and the action begins. 'Breathe' is an aggressive, arousing piece of music and will excite the viewer to potentially go and see it.

Man made production companies (Calum, Piers)

'CALUM'

'' I decided to keep the middle black, and so I changed the way I made the star, by using 5 triangles. I then had to make a decision of whether to keep the idea of smaller stars or flip one of the triangles so it is facing the other side, to make our logo recognisable. I tried many different ways, and angles. I tried putting the triangle in the middle of the star but decided I didn't like it. So I reverted back to the original idea of having smaller stars in. This worked out well and looked like a professional production studio logo. I then had to find a font for the studio name. I had the idea of making it look futuristic or 'space-like' . I came across a font similar to the font used in the film Star Wars and felt it was the right one as it fits the actual logo itself. ''

'CALUM'

'' I first had an idea of lines spiralling up with a design in going through the middle, almost similar to the structure of DNA strangely enough. However, as I began to make this design, I made one of the lines too big and luckily enough, it worked, and so I changed my design for another idea. I originally just had the lines increasing and then decreasing but this looked quite boring so I added the diamond in. Again, this looked relatively boring, so in 'InDesign', I added a gradient in so the colour went from a 'silvery-grey' to white. ''

The sub title names at the top.

film poster title

This title was made and produced by me in paint on the computer. I used a 'spray can' to give a feel of ruff edges. I used bold black letters and worded 'BETRAYAL' slightly wonky for a different aspect. I also added a black background as this is the background colour of the film poster.. then i have blurred the edges to let the poster flow better with its layout, giving a more professional outcome.

My main task for the group: THE FILM POSTER