Media Coursework Evaluation

Evaluation

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

Film Trailer

The titles were used throughout the film which i feel uses the typical forms and conventions of an action trailer. Including things like directors, producers and any films that may have been a huge hit with the same producers.

The music which was used i feel followed the conventions of a typical action film trailer. It's fast paced and makes people interested in whats happening, trying to keep people on the edge of their seats.

When creating the film trailer, we originally wanted a male to play the terrorist, we had a female offer to play this character and decided it would be a good idea because it challenges the forms and conventions of a stereotypical film. This is because terrorists in an action film are normally played by a male with the female playing a supportive role.

Magazine Front Cover

The ways in which i feel this magazine front cover challenges the forms and conventions of a typical media magazine is within the films image; using a female to play the terrorist and one of the main stars. This is because in many action films the female plays the supportive role and is attractive to entice the male audience but also brings some romance into the film enticing the female audience.

The title is brand loyalty showing how i have used typical forms and conventions to create my own. I made the title stand out and for other issues of the magazine this same title will be featured, enticing the target audience.

In some ways my magazine front cover develops the forms and conventions of a typical film magazine. It tried to develop the typical conventions when it comes to the image on the front cover. The actress is a new and up-coming star; making this magazine try to develop the techniques used.

Film Poster

My media film poster 'By Midnight' uses the typical film and conventions with the title in bold in the centre of the poster making it stand out. This title uses the same colours as used in the trailer, magazine front cover and poster making it easier for the audience to identify the film.

The age rating included on the film poster also follows typical conventions of a film poster, aswell as the producers and directors names.

The ways in which my film poster use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of a typical film poster are used to my advantage making the film poster original and appealing.

The caption "The race against time" is used which i feel develops the forms and conventions of a film poster; it gives people an insight into the film, following film posters such as the Die Hard film poster which also explains some of the plot but in a longer way i decided to make mine short and snappy making it easier for the audience to quickly glance at. Here is the film poster for Die Hard notice how it explains the plot!

In some ways i believe that my media film poster for 'By Midnight' challenges some film posters by not really icluding the actors name in bold near the image, this is because the actress is a new and upcoming actress so people wouldn't recognise the name.

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

i believe that my three tasks are all very effective, linking together to advertise the film. The use of the characters used throughout all the tasks makes sure people can relate and link the trailer to the film poster and magazine front cover.

As you may have noticed we used the same colour schemes for all three products and used the same title colours allowing the audience to relate the three advertisements together. Using three different media together to entice the audience to watch the film is a use of synergy.

I feel i put an equal amount of effort into each task, however as you look at my tasks you can look at my strengths and weaknesses. This is mostly due to my skills using ICT which i will mention later in the presentation.

Question three - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Once my trailer was created i set up a YouTube account to get some feedback off people i got both positive and negative feedback; this was very useful and showed how if i had more time i could make some changes to the trailer.

Here is some of the feedback people have given me on my media trailer...

carltongirl1 Block User Liked your establishing shots, confused at the end though shouldn't those titles be at the beginning?

Like the story and the music, works well! Clear what the story is and some good shots of the train

Cranlee Block User A sound narrative trailer with good use of captions and appropriate music which built the tension. perhaps some of the shots were dwelt upon too long and the news broadcast lacked authenticity. However, The shots of th girl in town followed by the over the shoulder anonymous note created suspense. I'd go to see the film on the back of this trailer

I also went back to change the green screen order, changing it to the front.

Other feedback from my poster and my film magazine front cover was given through questionnaire's people liked these and thought they meet the requirements needed, including the right information.

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

I used a range of new technology when creating each task.

For the research task i used the internet to find film posters and magazine front covers to follow and give me some tips on how to make mine a success. I also used a website on the internet called YouTube to watch trailers to help me focus on how i want my trailer to look and follow some of the typical conventions used. I have used the internet a lot over the years so was confident with this.

When it came to planning all of my tasks i used Microsoft Office Word to write out the script and draw out the storyboards; i have used this a lot during my years in school so was confident with this software.

To create the tasks we used a samsung video camera to create the trailer and take the pictures for the film poster and film magazine front cover. I had used a camera last year so was fairly confident using this technology.

To edit the trailer and add music we used Imovie and to create and edit the film poster and magazine front cover i used photoshop. I found using Imovie tricky because i had never used it before so this took longer to create. I found using photoshop was ok because i used this last year when creating the music magazine.

For the evaluation of my project i used a online presentation software called prezi.com, this helped me create a creative and informative document. I was new to using this software but found it easy to use because it shows examples of how to do things on the presentation.

Overall i feel that the three tasks link together to advertise the film and entices the audience to go and see the film.