Below is a written version of my evaluation:
A2: Promotional Package Evaluation
As part of my A2 media course I have been asked to produce a promotional package, including a teaser trailer, poster and magazine cover. After carrying out genre research I decided to promote a new horror film. The purpose of conventions is so the audience are able to recognise and understand the genre, which helps them understand the narrative and what to expect from the film.
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (e.g. teaser trailers, poster, magazine)
My teaser trailer is a very stereotypical horror film trailer as it generally follows the codes and conventions of horror film trailers rather than developing or challenging them. This can be seen by the camera work, as we used a variety of camera shots and angles. For example our trailer starts with an establishing shot of the school building to set the scene which then cuts into a medium shot of the students breaking in, and eventually to an extreme close up of the doors being shut. This shows how we used different angles to represent different feelings, but to also help the audience understand the storyline. We used slow pace editing to start with and then increased it to build tension which is another convention of horror trailers. We also matched the sound, image and edits in line with each other, which all gradually increased to help build up suspense and tension. Furthermore we showed all of the main characters that would feature in our film without identifying the protagonist, which is common in most horror trailers, this helps to make the audience aware of who is featuring in the film and also helps significantly with making the narrative clear. In addition we kept our trailer fairly short as teaser trailers conventionally did not last longer than one minute.
One way in which we developed the forms and conventions is by using a voiceover in addition to music, as trailers I analysed usually used one or the other. The voiceover starts at the beginning of the trailer and is voiced by a very deep, manly, rough voice this helps to make the audience aware it is a horror trailer as it sounds spooky, dramatic and also helps them to understand the narrative. After the narrative has been set, the music starts and gradually picks up in pace as the transitions do.
My poster also followed the forms and conventions of real horror film posters. To start with the images I used are very conventional as they are both dark and gloomy. They also do not reveal the identity of the people in them which is common amongst horror film posters. The predominant colours I used – black, red and white are also very conventional and were also chosen as the three most suitable colours to use on a horror film poster in my audience research. The layout of my poster followed the conventional layout of nearly all horror film posters e.g an image that takes up the whole page of a shadowy figure which hints at the enigma of the genre and suggests the evil presence of the protagonist. Moreover I wrote out my billing block using a very narrow font and different size lettering to make it look more conventional. I also designed my own production company logo’s using Photoshop and included the release date , actors name and film title which are all found on horror film posters.
One aspect I developed on my poster was using a slogan, as when I carried out research they were not used on all horror posters. However I opted to include the slogan ‘will you be next?’ as I felt that this anchored the image and allowed the audience further insight into what may happen in the film. I also chose to have this text in red to further the connotation of blood, death and horror. However I followed the convention of having it right at the top of the poster.
My magazine cover does not follow the conventions as much as my previous two media products, but more so challenges them. This can be seen by the image I have used, conventionally film magazines used a re enactment of a scene from a film however I decided to use an interview instead. The cover consists of an image of the main character dressed in his everyday clothes. I felt that this would give the audience an insight into the actors real life and would attract a different audience than the other two products, e.g a more fan based audience. It also highlights the contradiction of the evil film character and the actor as a real human person.
On the other hand I did follow the conventional layout of magazines and also used very similar typefaces, for example my masthead is very big and bold allowing it to stand out. I also used a colour theme of red, green and white, having a colour theme of a certain group of colours is very common on magazines as its prevents the magazine from looking too busy.
How effective is the combinations of your main product and ancillary texts?
My ancillary tasks support the main product as they all they relate in certain ways and represent the horror genre. This can be seen in many ways e.g images and lighting is similar throughout all three products which gives the whole production package an identity. Also by Hamish’s image running through the main product and ancillary text, a key visual was provided for the audience to recognise and familiarise with. Also as his identity was not revealed in the teaser trailer or poster this created enigma which would then encourage people to buy the magazine to find out more about him as a character.
This kind of promotion is only part of a much wider advertising campaign. In reality promotion would be done on a much larger scale involving web 2.0 platform media. The term web 2.0 refers to a supposed second generation of Internet-based services. These usually include tools that let people collaborate and share information online, such as social networking sites e.g facebook or youtube. If I was given more time I would carry out promotion on a web 2.0 level. For example setting up a viral campaign which could include setting up an actual website for the film and creating flash games, or even text messages promoting the film.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
For each of my media products I carried out market research on a group of 16- 20 year olds to find out what my target audience wanted. I then incorporated their answers in my products to ensure I was producing what they wanted. I also changed my products as a result of my feedback, e.g initially I was not going to use a slogan on my poster, however after carrying our my audience research and finding out that they thought I should I then included one.
I also carried out audience feedback using a focus group to see what was successful and what could be improved. Using Web 2.0 I uploaded my poster and magazine cover onto Facebook and received feedback from friends, who are all aged 16 - 19. Here is some examples of the feedback:
“I really like the poster as the idea of using two images in one is very creative and together with the dark lighting it creates a spooky atmosphere” (Poster)
“The magazine looks very realistic and the colour scheme works well, however I think a different image should have been used, possibly a clip from the actually film” (Magazine)
From the feedback we received I believe our teaser trailer was an overall success. Everyone was able to identify the genre and narrative and they felt that it raised a question which left them with more incentive to go see the movie, which is what we hoped to achieve. However we also found out from out feedback that we could improve it by increasing the pace and changing the music to something faster and upbeat. We took these suggestions on board and carried out these changes, this improved the trailer dramatically.
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
During the course of researching, planning, construction and evaluating the use of new media technologies was extremely vital. This involved me using software and technology I was familiar with, but also learning how to use new media technologies I had never used before. This was an intense learning curve of mastering technology for me.
Throughout the researching and planning stage I mainly used the internet, particularly Google, youtube and IMBD (internet movie database) to analyse existing teaser trailers. We also used an interactive DVD to help us find out more about teaser trailers. When it came to planning I mainly used Microsoft word to write up my planning work but also used Paint to create mood boards and Microsoft Excel to create the graphs for the findings of my audience research.
When constructing my poster and magazine I used the internet to find things such as typefaces and fonts and then used Photoshop to actually construct my media products. I decided to use Photoshop as it allowed me to manipulate and play around with my images to make them look more creative and horror themed. I also used Photoshop to create the newspaper used in our trailer and then aged it by using teabags and made it look more scruffy. For our trailer we initially carried out editing using ‘Final Cut Express’
at the Brentford CLC. However as we did not complete it while we were there we carried editing back on school using Adobe Premier. Both of this software were very similar and allowed us to edit our footage which mainly involved adding transitions and music. We also used a podcast which allowed us to record our voiceover and video cameras to capture our footage.
For my evaluation I used windows movie make again to create this short movie. Overall I realised creative processes of using software all overlay each other and creative decisions are directly affected by the technology. I also found that technology enhances the creativity, e.g brainstorming, planning, pre production and helps communication and the collaborative process.
