Evaluation Media Studies

1. Evaluation

2. Q1: In what way does your media product, use develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media?
 Within my advanced portfolio for Media Studies A2, I had to create my own film
trailer, whilst updating my blog as a progress record as well as creating two main
ancillary tasks. For my media product I had chosen to create a film trailer that
belongs to the horror genre, along with creating a film magazine front cover and a
film poster that were both designed to support and advertise my film trailer. In
terms of looking at whether my media product follows the codes and conventions of
a horror film, I would say that my media product both uses and develops these
codes and conventions heavily, whilst also breaking some aspects. The sub genre of
my media product is thriller. I decided to chose this sub genre due to my general
knowledge of what makes a good horror film. Thriller Definition: one
that thrills; especially : a work of fiction or drama designed to hold the interest by
the use of a high degree of intrigue, adventure, or suspense.
 To make my trailer almost ‘industry standard’, I had to research into existing forms
and conventions of real media products to find out exactly what they include. I did
this by analysing many blockbuster horror film trailers. I evaluated how they used
particular camera angles and movements, music and sounds, mise en scene,
narrative and characters to create an understanding of how my trailer should look.
The majority of trailers I analysed are made up of establishing/ wide, close up and
extreme close up camera shots, which is something I have incorporated into my own
production.

3.  I learnt that horror films would usually always have an antagonist which causes
problems and horror for the other characters. I chose to create my main
antagonist as a ghost as I thought that this closely followed the recent horror
conventions concerning paranormal activity. This would also make it easier for
me to create themes of horror as supernatural beings are always connected with
being 'bad' and scary.
My other main characters who are younger than general main characters within a
horror film challenge the regular conventions. My main characters are two girls
and one boy who are all 16 years old and are at school. Using these conventions
meant that I could also portray more vulnerability due to the ages. In terms of
costume and make-up, I decided to follow the codes and conventions of having
the three main characters representing your stereotypical mainstream character
type teenagers. I made this decision as most teenage characters that are found in
horror films usually fall into the ‘mainstreamers’ category, and I want to keep that
realistic representation for my target audience. The two female students are both
dressed in jumpers and jeans with minimal make up to represent their age. The
male lead is dressed in a grey jumper and light blue shirt, reinforcing the school
dress code.

4.  Using Quarr Abbey as the establishing shot which is big and old already I thought
created feelings of desolation. For a horror film a school building produces many
areas where beings of the night could be lurking around any corner or
corridor. Apart from using an old building, I do not think that any current films of
this genre use this setting, recent horror films are generally captured within a home
as this causes feelings of an intrusion which the audience can relate to. Concerning
mise en scene, I did not use a lot of props to cause a necessary effect. This is because
I wanted to create an every day life atmosphere.
 When researching into horror posters I noticed that they will generally use one main
plain image and will include limited text. Posters such as those advertising The
Blair Witch Project and Mirrors feature a face as their main image. This face then
captures the emotions they are trying to convey by facial expressions and props. I
decided to follow these conventions as I feel they give a very dramatic effect and also
captures the viewers attention immediately. Lighting was key when capturing my
main image, shadows adding to the horror stereotype. The colours I decided to use
are classic horror genre colours, such as blacks, whites and reds. The text I included
was predictable for a film poster, this included a release date and the names of the
actors.
The format of the text is spaced out so that it looks simple, this means that it will not
be giving too much away which is a classic horror genre issue.

5.  I looked into Total Film magazine for research and noticed that the
main images were of the actors in character. This and along with all
of the other conventions such as heavy graphics and very noticeable
text made the magazine predominately male. Analysing this and
applying it to my own cover I decided to make my magazine appeal
to a primarily female audience. This would enable me to include a
better diversity of sell lines and make the cover much softer.
I decided to place my actors who are on the cover in their normal
clothes, this is because I wanted the audience to feel that they were
really getting to know the actors though the interview. The image its
self is a medium long shot of the two actors standing in front of
Quarr Abbey, the primary location of the film. The overall layout is
simplistic and edgy. It stays within the recurring colour scheme and
the fonts are plain and the masthead is bold so that it is clear it is
the title of the magazine. The masthead also covers some of the
image, I did this because this is a common convention that other
magazine use.

6. Q2: How effective is the combination of your main product and
ancillary texts?
 With the combination of both my main product and ancillary tasks I believe that they are all effective because
they have all used different forms of media to market our main product and reflect my genre and sub genre.
From the number of film posters that I have analysed, the majority of them were character driven. The film
poster and film magazine front cover that I created as part of my ancillary tasks included a close up image of
the antagonist and a medium shot of the protagonist which makes it clear to the audience who the plot
revolves around and who are the main focus of the film trailer’s narrative. The dramatic use of the close up
image in the film poster allows the poster to catch the eye of the target audience, and also appear intimidating
to my target audience (which reinforces the films narrative). My film poster also includes the slogan ‘She never
forgets. She never forgives.’
 Regarding a link between my trailer and ancillary tasks I think that both my trailer and film poster are very
similar as they include the same portrait shot of Lily in the darkness, they also have very dark themes in terms
of text, lighting and colour scheme. Another link between my ancillary tasks is the way the actors are
prominently a main selling point on each of my media products.
 My magazine front cover also builds up a collection which I think would largely appeal to a younger audience.
This is because my two main from the magazine front cover are a young age and the exclusive interview would
hopefully appeal to them as it would be relevant.
 Another marketing strategy that is included in both the film trailer and on the film poster and the film trailer
is the infamous hashtag symbol. The hashtag symbol belongs to popular social networking sites such at
Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and Facebook and is considered to be mainly used by younger audiences. By
including the hashtag symbol (#TheFlameOfWoe) I am specifically targeting younger audiences. The audience
will be able to view pictures and news relating to my film trailer, links to interviews with the cast or articles
relating to my film trailer.
 If I could change anything about my ancillary tasks would be the time management on my film magazine. I
think the main text could have had more detail to it, also the composition and layout of the image could have
been centred and straightened more, to represent a true media product more realistically.
 By presenting my ancillary tasks and my main product allows my product’s circulation and popularity to
increase by using the different forms and sources of media.

7. Q3: What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
 Audience feedback is such an important aspect to making any media product as it can tell you if you have
created the desired effect you have been working towards. It can also show you what you need to improve on
in the future or perhaps can tell you of any changes you need to make to your existing media product. I have
learn that my target audience appreciates originality from the norm and deep exploration into the theme or
issue that I am challenging.
 When collecting audience feedback I created a survey on SurveyMonkey where I collected results from a total
of 19 participants, to get more conclusive results. One of the most influential questions I asked the
respondents was: what type of main characters are best places in a horror film? 'The unexpected bad guy' was
the most popular answer choice for this question, as nearly 53% of people chose this option. Within a horror
film an unexpected bad guy usually mistreats the trust of the audience and/or the other main characters and
this usually correlates with a who did it? Story line. I am going with this theme (who did it) and my synopsis
includes not necessarily an unexpected bad guy in the classic sense but more of a surprising antagonist.
 Other popular choices were 'Child villain' which is encouraging as my trailer includes this type of character.
People are drawn to child villains as they are deceiving, just as the unexpected bad guy is, however even when
the child villain is exposed they are still hard to dislike.
 'Vulnerable teens' was the third most popular choice and this is probably mainly due to the likeness of the
participants as they were mainly young. This is not a problem as my target audience is 15-20 year olds and my
trailer will include teens. Popular recent films such as Prom Night and Ouija include vulnerable teens and
these types of films are beginning to dominate the horror film industry, this could be due to the modern world
making it easier and more acceptable for younger people to watch scary films. From these answers I chose to
include both the child villain and venerable teens for my media product.
 After viewing my film trailer, the participants gave lots of positive feedback, and responded to our product the
way that we had intended them to. The only criticism that was pointed out to me was the background music as
they felt it wasn’t smooth enough.

8. Q4: How did you use media technologies in the construction
and research, planning and evaluation stages?
 Technology is a very important aspect to Media Studies and throughout AS and A2 I have used different
technologies at all stages.
 Throughout the construction stages I used filming technologies such as a Canon HD camera and a tripod. The
camera was of good quality and picked up sound easily. I then used software such as iMovie to edit my trailer
and piece it together. I also used a lot of websites to help with this process such as YouTube and other
copyright free sources where I could receive music.
 I didn't use the cameras tripod that much as the shaky hand held effect was more desired. Regarding the
research stages more websites were used such as Slideshare, SurveyMonkey and Prezi which I have previously
used in AS. I also had to create a lot of presentations to upload to my blog so the usual Microsoft software such
as Word and PowerPoint was used. The planning stages required me to be more creative so I made
storyboards etc. as well as technologies. The technologies I did use were mainly the internet and presentation
software's.
 The evaluation stages were similar to the other stages in terms of the basic technology
 Social media websites were also used to spread my questionnaire and receive feedback on my trailer which was
a very helpful and effective method.
 Without these technologies it would have been very difficult for me to create my products as I was very reliant
on many of these software's and overall they have also been very beneficial in developing my media skills.
 For the construction of my ancillary tasks I used Photoshop to create our film poster and film magazine front
cover. The programmer has a whole variety of effects to choose from which allowed us to have more options to
be creative with.
 Along with any projects these technologies also caused me some issues. At times it was difficult for me to
upload certain images and editing my trailer was particularly difficult as I hadn't used iMovie before, however
this new experience was also beneficial.