Maximus Cooper's A2 Blog: April 2017

Thursday, 27 April 2017

Evaulation 4 - How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

https://www.emaze.com/@AQFOTCOI/untitled

Evaluation 3-What have you learned from your audience feedback?

A large part of the positive feedback was that the target audience like the image and photography of the main image. As well the creativity behind the editing of the image as the contrast of the colour is effective in making the product bold. Also received feedback that the target audience like the slogan and how it is positioned in the characters body.

The best feature of the poster was shown to be the editing and the colour contrast which is effective as the poster looks bold and unique from the rest. However, the background received no votes so maybe I will consider changing the background or maybe the target audience thought it wasn't a major element of the poster.

Improvements for the posters have helped me construct a better representation of my movie trailer as I took all of the feedback on board. A large variety of the feedback mentioned that I should add credits on the poster as the poster looks quite bare in the sense of common conventions. Another key feature that I added which conforms to common conventions is the release date which is evident on loads of professional real print products. To fit the credits in I also listened to the survey as it said to raise the slogan closer to the characters head so the credits can fit into the gap beneath. I also included a third name on the cast list on the top so the bottom looks well presented. Some feedback which I also took on board was the idea to add social media at the bottom of the page as many print medias within my chosen genre as well as other genres include this feature. I also got rid of repeated scenes as the footage seemed boring and confusing because the same scenes were used for the fast paced action scenes. One of the first changes I had made was what the last scene was before the movie title scene appears at the end. I changed it to a mid shot of Alex Jones then a cut to a hammer being held up by the murderer accompanied by a loud bang then a cut back to Alex Jones turning round scared. I personally feel that this allows my movie trailer to end on a high note as the shot is a cliffhanger.

I only received a few ways to improve this magazine, those were that I should change the fonts on the front and so I changed the fonts on the actors names but I listened to the feedback and kept the contrast in colours. I also changed the fonts for the banner at the bottom and the website address. I also listened to the survey when it said to change the font of 2017 so I chose a bolder font which stands out more.

The overall results stated that they like the product as they are my target audience and that the house style of the product is fitting for the genre and target audience.

I used a lot of this data to reconstruct my movie trailer into being more appealing to the target audience. As a result by taking all the feedback on board I created a more filtered product which would attract my target audience into watching it. I edited several things like I reduced the amount of shots that are repeated so the trailer looks fresh. I also got rid of the zooms at the start as well as I split the production companies up so it doesn't feel like a bulky scene. I also gained feedback to change the credits to black with white text so I created a new one on sketch. I also redid my logo for the end of the trailer as the quality of the image wasn't the best as well as reformatting some of the clips I used as they weren't of the higher quality. An example of these are the opening MPAA green screen and the opening scene between the teacher and Alex Jones. I was recommended to improve the audio and make it louder as the music was losing the audio in it. Inter titles were changed to add more dramatic flare as they are slower and give the trailer a variety in pace. Opposed to having it really fast which make the product impossible to read. I also played around with the bang sound effect because I was given feedback to use less of it as it feels like I've over used it.

I received 100% feedback on that the three products all look like they are apart of the same media campaign and work effective as they share traits and characteristics. Characteristics like the movie logo, characters, production companies etc. Which all create a positive and creative representation of the movie narrative as the same features allow the movie to be easily recognised within the movie industry. As the marketing campaign would feature this logo a lot throughout the different methods of exposure.

Overall after receiving this feedback I have learnt that I have to be more creative and fresh for when positioning the footage on my trailer. Furthermore, the feedback I received by my teacher was helpful because he told me to film more action scenes and to shorten the duration of clips and to remove the scenes that aren't relevant to the narrative. This allowed me to form an idea in the back of my mind which helped me to construct a more professional trailer which has a clear narrative.

These are new and improved versions of the products which i gave the target audience. I took a large majority of the feedback on board.

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

https://youtu.be/sQrtzU56giA
I think my three products have a combined effectiveness as they all have linked features and elements which reinforce the common conventions. This is evident throughout a large variety of movie campaigns as they all have the same fonts as their house style of the movie is consistent. This helps the target audience easily label the products and recognise the campaign. I feel that by having the same title font of the movie allows my products to be effective in the sense of how they work well together and the positive representation they construct. Throughout my products I have tried to link them with common conventions as well as theorists. My poster demonstrates a clear effectiveness in contrast to other real print products as I tried to make my poster look original as well as unique o other products that are already in the psychological thriller genre. I have done this through the colour contrast which my target audience addressed as effective and one of the best features about the product. I find that the colour contrast between the main image as well as the subtle blurred background of trees ( which is the same background of the my movie magazine but just repositioned) creates a bold impact caused by the main image of the detective holding a gun. I feel like the positioning of my text on the print products were especially effective as on the movie magazine I caused emphasis on the coverlines by having the first name as a smaller font in a different colour (white). Whereas the second name of the actors were in a bolder black font with a larger font size which causes emphasis as its colour is the binary opposite of the first name. The consideration about binary opposite.

Firstly, my movie trailer is called 'Incubus' and the main narrative revolves around Alex Jones who is a student in real life and a crime detective in his dreams. This character is played by Max Cooper and his importance is suggested to the audience through the continued use on the print products as well as shown a lot on the trailer. Therefore, producing a consistent media campaign which demonstrates common traits amongst the products that I have created. This creates a brand in itself.

The next feature in my trailer which shows continuity is my production companies which are working on the trailer as well as print products. Their company names are evident throughout the whole campaign and shown accordingly. Similarly, the audiences also take production companies into consideration when watching a movie as production companies tend to focus around the same genre and use recurring directors and actors. As well as having similar target audiences for the products, an example of this is Pixar tends to also produce movies aimed at the target audience. This gives my movie production a bigger brand awareness as well as promotes the companies involved.

I have considered binary opposites throughout the whole production of my movie trailer and the print products and this is evident throughout the movie poster as the colours I have used are widely opposite as white/grey contrasts with a vibrant purple/red. My movie trailer conforms to the use of binary opposites as the dream reality is edited in black and white while the normal world is in colour, this conforms to binary opposites as the black and white contrast and opposed, as well as the colour and no colour are binary opposites.

Throughout my print products I have used guns and props to signify danger and the genre of the movie. This is further shown through my outfit consideration as I made the main character have two different dressing styles which contrast and allow the target audience to know what reality they are looking at. This was shown through my movie trailer as it keeps swapping from realities so it meant that the target audience could get confused. The trailer also uses the same props like a hat to show that the character is consistent and the three products are linked. The detective look is also shown through Joe Doe's character's (Detective) facial expression as he has a stern, serious look about him which suggests that the character is very strict and consumed by his work load.

Final features which are the main influences to why the three products in the campaign are the title screen which contains the same date and fonts of my movie logo. This constructs a good presentation of the movie trailer as the best psychological thrillers in my opinion have a unique font which are very simplistic with a unique twist. I feel like I have shown this through this title screen as I have used a font which shows similar features as my movie narrative as the font is normal. However, the font is disorted in the middle and the font has the font going towards the left which has connotations to the past. This links in with my trailer as the other reality is set in the 1960's (Or Alex Jones' depiction of what he thinks the 1960's would look like).