Evaluation

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

 

My media uses the forms and conventions of real media products as I have incorporated props such as 'masks', which you will find in many action science fiction films such as Christopher Nolan 'The dark Knight' and Mark Steven Johnson 'Daredevil'. We also used this convention of real media products because we used a stereotypical 'Hero' which includes characteristics such as, courageous, Helpful and strong, which they find their loved one dead and will avenge them.I encouraged this characteristics within my 'hero'. I used the idea of having a female as the main character and as the hero, I also gave my character two different names, which would show her split personality. The names being 'Neriene Redback' and 'Black Widow'. I took a lot of consideration while choosing the cast and deciding what costume they should wear as I wanted to connote the ideology of the stereotypical characters shown in action science fiction films  following the typical conventions of them.

I have also used forms and conventions from films such as 'Punisher' where the main character/hero finds his family murdered and avenges them, which is seen in many action science fiction films.  My media product also uses forms and convections from 'Daredevil' teaser trailer,this is when the main character 'Matt Murdock/Daredevil' chases 'Bulleye' to the chucrh. However I developed this connection because I used this in my own teaser trailer.

Although I used many of the codes and conventions of a film teaser trailer I made a less mainstream version of a teaser trailer due to the fact that I used lots of clips in the beginning to establish the plot and communicate the genre (action science fiction) to the audience.  I was inspired by the effectiveness of the teaser trailers, I researched, such as 'The Dark Knight'.  As the more traditional teaser trailers are simple, not giving too much of the narrative away, with lots of establishing dialogue. I decided to develop this convection by using lots of shots giving the audience lots of information however some of the shots weren't in the right order, I did this to keep a narrative enigma but to be able to give the audience a sense of the films narrative, which creates the question of 'is Black Widow a villain or a hero?'. The beginning of the trailer is cut up into three separate clips, which show the audience some of the narrative behind why 'Neriene' becomes 'Black Widow'.
I also have developed a convention from the film trailer 'Daredevil'. by this I added inter-textual tiles in between scenes into the trailer after the first attempt and audience feedback. This give the audience extra information and is a common convention of action science fiction trailers.
I also used ideas from my own trailer 'Black Widow' within the logo. I did this by using the close-up shot of 'Black Widow's' eye, then edited it in photoshop and added it to the beginning of the trailer as the institution logo. I then used this in our poster as well as the main image was the main protagonist in the is centred and at an angle position. However I didn't integrate this into our magazine front cover, instead I used a different image, where the position of the protagonist is still centred, but is in a 'fighting' position. I added broken glass as a symbol of her and how the 'Black Widow' side of her has broke out/ set free. This theme has been carried on through in my film teaser trailer. My preliminary task helped with interlinking different camera shot and angles to the teaser trailer.
I have challenged the common conventions of action science fiction films as the stereotypical hero is mainly male, for example 'The Dark Knight' and 'The Punisher', I have changed this by using a female hero instead. Revenge is usually one of the main motivations of the hero, action science fiction films usually focus on the family background of the hero, an example of this 'The Punisher' which has a large focus on the death of Castle family. They often hide their face behind a mask. I have challenged these convictions of the hero, by in the trailer you see her running toward her dead sister, which show the audience the pain the character by using a close-up shot.
I have also challenged another convention of action science fiction films by keeping a narrative enigma, creates the same question of ' is the scientist the villain of the hero?'. I have also made the villain the same gender as the protagonist. By the film being targeted at mainly teenagers it is common that the hero to be around the same age. I decided to challenge this convection because its highly unlikely from the teaser trailer I researched, that the hero would be a teenager and I wanted to focus on this, which would show the audience more feeling.



2. How effective is combination of your media product and ancillary text?

 

I feel the combination of my ancillary texts and my main product are effective, they all work along side each other to attempt to sell out film successfully. All three products are linked together by the image of  'Black Widow'. This allowed me to have the main focus of the film on the main character, plus the images of 'Black Widow' are taken from the trailer itself. On my poster I used an image of Black Widow in the centre, I used  two of the same images, one in colour the other in black and white. I then used the eraser tool in photoshop, over the t-shirt, which revealed the iconic red line on the Black Widow spider.

 

Both the magazine front cover and the poster help to anchor the fact that I have used a female as the main character and is seen to be the villain, which although I know she isn't, the audience doesn't which was my intention, to put the audience/reader in suspense.Therefore the magazine, poster and the film trailer all portray the same thing, that Black widow is the villain which is evidence that they are an effective combination.

 

My poster has one individual image of the  main characters which help to establish who the main characters is in the film trailer and would make the audience focus more on the main characters. The black background allow this focus to be more strong. The audience then don't know who the other characters are, which Will lead them into want to see the film. The poster is helping the film trailer to put the audience in suspense. The image on the front of the film poster could also be seen to be to question the trailer, which will make the target audience wanting to see the film, which is evidence that they are an effective combination.

  

 

 

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback.

 

After completing my first attempt at the action science fiction trailer, I had quite a bit of audience feedback from my media class (aged 17-18, the youth audience) which is my primary target audience. They suggested I took more footage to help establish the narrative as it wasn't clear as the preferred reading and they said after watching my first attempt, that they didn't really understand what the narrative actually was. From this I learnt that even though I was producing a film trailer I still needed enough shots to establish a narrative, so that the audience were able to get a feel for what the story was actually about from just watching a trailer.

After the audience feedback, I went to re-shoot some scenes, at the beginning of  my trailer I have some long shots of the 'walk to school/college', this will show more of the beginnings of the narrative, which the audience picked up on. The audience feedback was to break this clip up and have some of the fast shots in between scenes. From this I learnt how to build up the suspense throughout the film trailer and to break the trailer up into three sections, this allowed me to build the suspense at the beginning, up to the middle section and leading to the fast shots. over all this work better with the soundtrack that I picked to go with the trailer. Also from the audience feedback I learnt to break the clip up as it was a fairly long clip and would probably get slightly boring after a while but with these fast shots in between it gives the clip a bit of an edge, something different.  

 

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

 

These are some of the new media technologies i have used throughout the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages:

• Blogger/Blogspot                                                                  
• Search engines such as Google, IMDB and Wikipedia  
•  Youtube
• Mp3 converter
• Microsoft Word

• Movie plusx6                                                                             
• photoshop
• Sony camera
•  Video camera
• Computer

The main new media technology that I have used for the process of my project was the 'blogger/Blogspot' itself. 'Blogspot' enabled me to store my work efficiently and it was easy to access. also it enabled me to upload video clips of our rough cuts and our final cut whereas, had I been storing our work on paper I wouldn't have been able to incorporate the videos in with the actual work but 'Blogspot' makes this possible for us. I was also able to upload images as well. As well as typing up my notes on 'Blogspot' I have also been using other processes such as using word to back up my work.

Another new media technology which I have used are the search engines, websites such as 'IMDB.com' and 'Wikipedia'. With these I was able to research the genre action science fiction as well as researching different action science fiction films, to look at casting, Directors, Release date, tagline and genre. Although I did do some research through books I found it a lot easier to do my research through these search engines as they were efficient and you could find the information you needed in little time whereas researching through books and other medias like them are fairly time consuming. I was able to find out lots of information at one time, by using 'Youtube' this website gave me more information then any other which made it a lot easier and less time consuming.

For our magazine and poster I used software 'Photoshop' this was very useful in the construction of our ancillary texts as it enabled me to add filters and effects to our original image, 'Photoshop' enabled us to incorporate many different images and merge them together so we then ended up with a final image, I was able to add text to our images efficiently. In 'Photoshop' I used the quick section  tool to cut around an image we wanted, without the background, to add to a different background. I then used the blur tool around the image to make it look like one single image. I was also able to use  use the shape tool to create stars on the reviews on the poster, this meant I could have shapes that were the correct shape and size that I wanted.

I used movie plus x6 to upload our footage on to, which was quick and easy. Once I uploaded the footage, I was able to sort out the clips, deciding which clips I was going to use. After I was done, I then was able to cut and edit our clips using the cutting tool which was fairly easy to use. As well as using this software for the construction of my product I also used it for the planning. I produced a first daft of the product in Movie plusx6 to My media class, which showed them what our initial narrative idea was.

I also used Youtube to help me to select music for the soundtrack on my trailer. I then used Mp3 converter, this enabled be to add the music, 'A dangerous mind' (instrumental) by Within Temptation, to the trailer.

When actually taking the footage video camera. These enabled me to take footage efficiently and able to capture the shots I wanted. However one problem I did find with these camcorders was that the sound that I captured on them wasn't all that good. I was able to zoom in and out of a shot smoothly using the zoom tool, but other problem occurred when trying to use different camera shots and angles. For example when using tracking and pan shot, the camera was unstable, making the footage difficult to make out.

finished film magazine

 

From making the film poster, I have modelled the magazine along the same content and recognisable colour scheme that will allow the audience to familiarise themselves with the link between the poster and the film itself.

film magazine templates

Both of this film magazine templates include many of the key codes and convention, which will attract the audience to the film. I will do this by maintaining a content and recognisable colour scheme that will allow the audience to familiarise themselves with the link between the poster and the film itself.

magazine cover titles

Different magazine title names:

• Caption
• Reel
• Last films
• First look
• Exclusive

final film poster

From the first attempt at making the film poster, I made certain changes to improve it. I started with making the background from a forest to a simple black. In the first attempt I keep the main image black and white, then highlighted her lips and shirt in red. This links to the spider and its colours.
Other changes, such as the colour of the billing block and the box office name from red to white, this allows it to stand out and catch the audience view.

First film poster

This is the product of my first attempt at a film poster. I didn't like how un professional it looked, so this will be the base of what the final "Black Widow" film poster.

creating the film poster

 

 



I started creating my film poster with uploading a forest image, as a background to Photoshop. I then changed the brightness level down and the contrast level up. I then decreased the saturation of the image to decrease the amount of red in the image.

I then added the title 'Black Widow' to the poster, then changed the size from 60pt to 78.3pt. Another change I made was the font from 'Myriad Pro' to 'Engravers MT'. The final change I made to text/title was the colour, using red shades, I used the same method on the released date.

I then added the image of the main character to the first background and a black and white background, then using the blur tool, went round the character to make it look like one image. I then added the billing block.