Monday 23 April 2012

Feedback for improvements

Feedback for improvements We asked 6 other media groups to complete the following questionnaire, which we then used to make improvements to our media products: Questionnaire for the forsaken movie trailer. What is the narrative of our trailer? Do you think the wording and font used in the trailer is suitable? What genre is our trailer? What elements in our trailer made it this genre? Do you think the combination of slow and fast pace editing works well? What aspects of our trailer would you improve i.e. the font or the camera shots? Do you think the use of color on our magazine front cover and film poster fits the genre? Why? Do you think the imagery is appropriate considering the genre and target audience? Why? Do you think our teaser trailer; magazine front cover and film poster fulfill their purposes? Is there anything we can do to improve our media products? Is there any other comments you would like to add?

Monday 10 October 2011

Planning

Dates of Researching/ Filming/Editing.


3rd-10th October.- to plan and research 3x movie posters,3x trailers, 3x film magazines.
- analyse the Ring two, Paranormal activity and The Unborn.
talk about- the generic conventions of existing media text,
- how is meaning created?
- how it addresses the audience?
- Denotation and connotation (image, text, layout)
- how connotation elements work together to target the audience.

10th-25th- main task, filming:
filming starts 16th- in warley woods, actors: niamh, katherin and kelly.= continue over the October half term. ( whilst filming in the woods take images for print media.)

31st-25th November- edit filming.

25th-9th December- design and make poster and magazine front cover.

9th-16th December -evaluation first draft handed in.

Roles within the group.
Manisha-Filming and taking photos for magazine and poster.

Caren-Assist with filming, sorting actors and makeup.

Aynsley- Assist with makeup and actors and editing.

Script

Ext- Woods, daytime.


Setting in the woods late afternoon, swing area. The sound effects of children talking and birds. Two young girls sitting on the swings in casual clothing.


Cut too
Ext- Woods, daytime.


The same setting as before however, later in the afternoon. Kelly sitting on the swings alone mid shot of her just swinging.

Cut too
Ext- Woods, daytime.


Pan of Kelly on the swings, as the camera pans round Niamh appears in a white dress and dark make up.

Cut too
Int- Bed room, night time.


Mid shot of Kelly in the mirror, the camera pans round the room and Niamh pops up behind Kelly.


Cut too
Int- Hall way, nighttime.


Long shot of Kelly running down the hallway being chased by Niamh.


Cut too
Int- stairs, nighttime.


Kelly running down the stairs mid shot, close up of her eyes! Shocked expression sees Niamh who drags her down the stairs; high angle shot looking down on Kelly being dragged.


Int- Door, nighttime.


Low angle of Kelly sitting on the floor behind the door looks up and Niamh appears in the window.


Cut too


Int- living room- nighttime


Extreme close up of Niamhs face. Fades to black.
END

Researching movie posters

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY


Jut by looking at the poster you can tell it is a horror film. Te background color black, is commonly used with in horror films as it symbolises death, dark and murder. using the color black gives the audience a mentally make the connection between the black of the background and the genre of the film. The font on the poster is in white it i also blurred which makes you have to squint when reading it. The blurred writing symbolises the handheld camera work within in the film. The red color of the title makes it stand out on the black ground, also red connotes with blood thus referring back to the genre of horror in which the generic connections are death, violence, murder, ghost etc. the main image takes up a quarter of the whole poster, the image is blurred which also links it with the camera work, image resembles a snap show from the video camera, the date and time in the right hand corner indicates it is filmed on a hand held camera. The camera has a blue filter effect which gives the impression of a night vision camera, night time is also a generic convention of a horror film. All the paranormal films are filmed to give the impression there are filmed by the actors themselves either CCTV or handheld, this gives the film a documentary effect and makes it more realistic. The main image doesn't show the actors in full or anything of the narrative leaving alot of guessing by the audience thus creating suspense before they have even seen the film. The poster is very effective as it keeps the narrative hidden by the fact it is so simple, the film is predominately sold on the fact that it is a sequel and therefore doesn't need to give the narrative away in order to get people to see it. As the poster doesn't use bright colors or fonts it indicates that its not made with a younger audience in mind, the use of dark font and dark colors indicates that it is made to address an older audience thus showing that the age restriction is a 18+.


THE UNBORN


The generic conventions of this poster reveal the mise-en-scene as the little boy is wearing a shirt, with a jacket over it and he looks almost like a ghostly figure in the girls mirror, the girl is wearing her vest top but is in her underwear which shows a sexual attraction towards her. This is set in the girls bathroom and makes it recognisable that it’s a horror film because of the colours that are used, the way the boy’s face is and how she can see his reflection in the mirror. Grey's and blacks are used in the image, which show darkness and mystery in the poster, also revealing it to be of a horror genre. This is associated with villains and victims, in the poster the villain is the boy and the victim is a girl, who is the main character as this is one of the elements of a horror genre. On the poster we see a girl with her back towards us and she is looking in the mirror this tells the audience that she may be the victim, with a boy starring back at her.

The poster uses a long shot of the girl standing in front of her bathroom mirror with low key lighting. The title is in the centre at the bottom of the page and is in medium font but it does not draw the audience’s attention as the picture takes up most of the right hand side of the page. Also, it has “the” written in the centre of the letter “O” written in a smaller font which attracts the readers attention first.There are different ages being represented in the poster; young children and teenagers. This is because there is a little boy and a teenage girl in the poster. The genders that are being represented are both male and female. By looking at this poster we can tell that this is going to be a horror/supernatural film. The ethnicity that is being represented in this poster is young attractive looking girl who has a dark complexion and a reflection of ghostly figure which is a boy who looks pale with dark circles under his eyes, revealing him to be the ghostly figure in the film.The target audience for this poster is both male and female aged 15+,although there is a little boy in the poster, we can tell that it's not suitable for young children because of the way he is represented as a character and appearance. In addition, the girl looks like a teenager so it will attract this age group to go and watch this film and is also labelled as a 15. This is emphasised by the use of color as well as it suggests it is for an older audience.


THE RING


The Ring follows the generic conventions of a horror film movie poster simply by following the typical generic conventions of a horror movie poster, using the dark back ground and white writing in an old font. the image of the girl takes up 80% of the poster, the girls hair is covering her face leaving the actress disguised thus creating suspense and mystery. The main font of the title looks as though a child has written it linking it to the image of the young girl in the chair also referring that the main character is a Young child. The main selling point of the film is that it is a sequel this means that the film will already have fans and therefore means it will have an audience as it turns into a franchise however a problem with sequels is it limits viewers as they my of needed to see the first film first. The text "fear comes full circle" also links with the title of the film the ring, it is a play on words as a ring is a circular shape. The poster limits what it reveals to the audience thus not giving away too much of the narrative creating mystery and suspense, creating mystery and suspense before the film is out makes the audience start feeling these emotions thus drawing them in to see the film. The main reason of a teaser poster film trailer, is draw in audiences this poster is very effective as it does just that it gives enough away to capture the audience but leaves enough out for them to go and see it.

Researching magazine covers

SIGHT & SOUND MAGAZINE


This magazine front cover is conforming to generic conventions, as the main image consists of dark colours, such as the black and navy blue clothing. Also, the background is of a typical horror film scene, a forest with dark gloomy weather. Meaning is created because both, the image and text used, can be associated with horror. For example, the image is of 4 boys, however 3 of them are wearing masks which makes the front cover more mysterious and leaves the audience wondering what the magazine and film would consist of. The masthead 'Sight & Sound' creates meaning because it is basically what horror is all about, as these two concepts are what make the narrative. There is a contrast in the magazine, as the image and background are dark colours, such as black and grey, however the masthead and date of the magazine are in yellow, which is a bright colour and associated with happy events, therefore it contrasts with the genre of the magazine. The target audience of this magazine would be teenagers up to approximately the age of 18, as they discuss films such as 'scream 4' in there, and the image is of teenagers which may give us an idea of who it is aimed at. The image and text are suitable for this audience, as the main image and background coincide with the masthead of the magazine, as the masks that the 3 boys are wearing may symbolise sight and the forest in the background may symbolise sounds that may be heard.








EMPIRE MAGAZINE


Meaning is created in this magazine front cover, because you would associate the text and image with horror, such as the flames in the masthead 'empire' and the main image of the man in red with a black background symbolises danger and horror, which is suitable for the target audience because the theme and image is appropriate for the genre. The main image of the red character with black hair may suggest that he is the 'devil' of hell and may intrest the target audience because of the horror it contributes to the magazine. The text used on the cover of the magazine suits the horror genre of the magazine because the main title 'hellboy' shows the danger and 'hell' can also be associated with horror because it is scary and most people in horror films may feel as though they are actually in a 'living hell'. Also, in one of the straplines in states 'there will be blood', which may draw the target audience in and it adds to the mysterious narrative of the film/magazine itself. The masthead 'empire' is a suitable name for the horror magazine, because it connotes power and control, which has a lot of impact in a horror film, and the flames which surround it symbolise 'hell' and horror.


FILM MAGAZINE


The magazine includes an image of Leonardo Dicaprio, who was the main character in the film Inception. This is printed across the front cover of the magazine in capital letters to emphasise that Leonardo Dicaprio is the main character in the film and featured in it. Also, the audience are able to tell that this is of a thriller as of the make up he is wearing, showing him to be pale on one side and have a dark shadow on the other. This shows a sense of darkness to the image revealing that horror is the theme/genre in the film. The colour of his outfit is black, which is contrasted against the white/silver text. The tittle of the film shows buildings, as the film is about a dream world, therefore the theme of Inception is presented on the front of the magazine. As this is a film magazine, it has all the latest film inside, and obviously Inception is the main film as it's on the front cover. Whatever the genre, the film theme on the magazine is always related to the actual film. This is shown as this film is a thriller, therefore props and the storyline are reveled on the magazine front cover. The audience are aware that this is a film magazine as the strap lines in the middle anchor the kicker. (Inception) This goes against conventions as strap lines are meant to be on the left/right hand side, however they are placed in the middle. Also, the kicker is supposed to be lower down the bottom, however is above the strap lines, breaking conventions of a stereotypical magazine cover.

Monday 26 September 2011

Researching film trailers

TRAILERS

Paranormal Activity 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90r3CnPI0AM

The narrative of the feature film being advertised is the story of two girls who have had strange things happening to them since they were young, and the trailer is a flashback of when the girls were young and tells the story of why strange things were happening to them. The genre of the film is horror, which is the same genre that we are also creating, and therefore based our research on this theme. Not much of the narrative is revealed, as a lot of quick shots are used, making it more mysterious and encouraging people to watch it and see what happens. There is no voice over used in the trailer, the narrative is revealed through a number of shots which may add to the horror of the film. The narrative order of the shots is in non-chronological order, and it differs to the order of the movie as they may be getting attacked one minute, but then playing outside normally, which would not necessarily occur in the film. There are 19shots in the film, which are every quick and sharp, and they suit the genre very well because it adds to the tension of the trailer, encouraging the audience to actually go and watch the film. The pace of editing starts off rather ordinary and slow, as to maybe create tension for what is to come in the rest of the trailer. It gradually increases as the trailer continues, for example from when the girls are on the trampoline to when the woman is in the bedroom and gets dragged out, there are several quick edited shots. In the trailer there are transitions such as static vision, as this makes a more film-like effect and creates suspense. There is also night-vision, and black and white colouring, such as when the woman is in the bedroom. They have been used to make it look like a CCTV camera, and makes it look more effective and like a horror film, due to the black and white colouring and the high angle from which it is shot. The text says 'Discover' 'The secret' 'Behind the activity', which various shots in between. This links with the visual and the narrative because Paranormal Acitivity 1 and 2 show the girls being haunted and killed, and this goes back to the reason why it occured, the audience are 'discovering the secret' and the reason 'behind the activity'. It sets up the narrative of the film because the audience will already know it is a sequel to the other two films, and also the reason behind the plot itself. There is a high angle shot used when the woman is in the bedroom and gets dragged out, as to create a type of cctv-type view and creating suspense. There are a lot of close-ups used, such as when the girls are on the trampoline and the young girl is standing at the edge looking down, this could emphasise the emotional facial expressions and may foreshadow the negativity which occurs later on in the film.


THE UNBORN http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc3Cba0qOco

The genre of the film is horror, a lot of the narrative is revealed in the trailer showing the events in the order in which they happen in the film. This is uncommon to film trailers on a whole as usually the order the events happen in the film don’t happen in the same order in the trailer, thus not giving away too much of the story line. However as the trailer follows the events in the same order of the film this allows us to see a lot of the storyline giving too much away. Also what is common to Horror film is the fact that they don’t show the “monester,deamon” or scary character that the film is based upon, however The Unborn does the scary character is shown from the every begging losing all sense of mystery or suspense other horror films have. The narrative is revealed through short close up camera shots that fade to black showing the sequence of events as they happen. The unborn has little to no Voice overs and instead gives glimpses of the narrative though its camera shots and small sections of writing, for example “he wants to be born now” this gives more depth to what the film is about but also as it doesn’t tell too much is still leaves the audience in suspense, the text also connects with the tittle of the film making the trailer flow and link back to what the film is about which is the “The Unborn”. The text it is black old style font which refers to the monster or story line bring old, this is common to horror films as they usually based on hunting's or myths, the black font is on a white back ground which makes it stand out. About 100-120 range of shots are used in the trailer, the shots are very short and are mainly close up, or shot reverse shot between the characters. The shot reverse shot gives more of the storyline away as it involves in dialogue between two characters, helping explain the narrative of the film and giving away the storyline. The trailer contains a lot of fast paced editing of short shots fading to black. Black is commonly used in horror films as it shows mystery creates suspense and reflects death and disaster. The pace of editing gets faster as the trailer comes to an end and when more of the action and climax of the film is shown. The editing get faster as the suspense is built up creating a bigger impact on the audience and also with the fast pace editing it is harder to see what is going on thus not allowing the audience to see the climax of the film clearly, just giving the suspense and drama away. The fade to black transitions aren’t used in the film, however are used in the trailer to build suspense and also when the shot fades to black it gives the audience that 5-6 seconds to reflect on what they have just saw. Also as the colour black has death, disaster, mystery and darkness associated with it backups the genre of the film which is Horror. A spooky slow soundtrack is used very subtle behind the dialogue running all the way through this creepy soundtrack adds to the genre of the film which is Horror by creating impact and suspense that wouldn’t of been created if the soundtrack hadn’t been there, we commonly associated heightened music and spooky sounds with horror films when something back is going to happen. This feeling of something bad happening is used throughout the film maintains the element of suspense for the audience as they are constantly expecting something to happen. Alternatively the power of silence is also very effective in this trailer 1:10 to 1:13 is in complete silence right before the faster pace editing and the heightened music, this builds the tension as makes the shot really stand out as there is no sound the audience concentrates on the shot.


THE RING http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs_TFlTETH0

The genre of the film is Horror/Thriller. The start of the trailer is broken up between short shots and text, giving a small insight into what the film is about “there’s a tape”..”if you watch it”.. “seven days later”.. “you die” explains the narrative of the film thus telling the audience the basic story line. This is gives away a lot of the narrative within the first 22 seconds. After the first 22 seconds the rest of the trailer is built up of fast pace editing of short close up shots of the action, frequent shots of the static TV screen pop up referring the tape and the TV also close ups of the screen follow the narrative that it is about a Tape that brings death. There is little to no dialogue just a soundtrack of a fuzzy TV that hasn’t been tuned and a voice of one of the characters talking about the tape. Apart from the text at the begging no more of the narrative is given away just short shots that aren’t in chronological orders as they are in the film. The voice over towards the end it of a woman repeating her self saying “you see the ring, you see the ring” which will play on the audiences mind and keep them still thinking that after they have finished watching the trailer. The end shot is a close up of a woman screaming however there is no sound just the sound of a life support machine being turned off implying death at the end of the film. There is about 80 short shots that last less than a second. The visuals along with the text and voice over give a small glimpse of the narrative, leaving the rest of the narrative to the audience's imagination.