Howjen Altan A2 Media Studies : 2016

Having researched and learnt about the process of making a film, I thought it was just as important to look into successful film companies to gain an understanding on how they became successful, and how they catered to their target audiences. The following production companies I have listed could potentially be my influence towards my film company logo.

20th Century Fox:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation is an American film studio, distributor and one of the six major American film studios.

It was founded in 1935 and it's headquarters are in Los Angeles in the United States.

They are seen to have been a very successful company and have gone to make many films such as Home Alone, X-men and Night of the museum which can be seen as childhood favourites and still would be watched by members of the public today even though these films were released many years ago.

Universal Studios:

Universal Studios Inc. is an American film studio, owned by Comcast and is one of the six major American film studios like Twentieth Century Fox.

It was founded in 1912 and it's revenue in 2011 was $4.3 billion, with its CEO being Ronald Meyer.

Universal studios just like Twentieth Century Fox are seen to be successful companies due to the films they have created. Such as the Fast and Furious franchise that was so wanted by the public that they ended up created 7 of the films within that franchise.

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

Trailer:

Special effects and transitions:

A way in which my product has used and developed the conventions of real media products is by beginning with a green screen that gives a briefing of who is suitable to view the trailer. During my research I had viewed numerous of trailers outside of media work and came to the conclusion that near enough all had a green screen age rating. I feel this was essential to add as it allows the audience to know the age rating for the film trailer and film. However the green screens I had seen where American so I knew I needed to make my own for it to be relevant to my product, therefore my green screen had recognition of the BBFC on there.

With further research I was able to use and develop additional conventions of a trailer as I have seen that institution logos are presented straight after their green screen, not always but in most cases is does. This lead me to show my institution logo after my green was shown in my trailer which majority of trailers do for promotional and copyright reasons. In addition I ensured that the special on effects on my institution logo had relevance to it. For example my institution name is Paint Pictures therefore I created paint splattering effects onto it.

Due to my genre being action/thriller I made sure I used a very popular convention of making sure transitions of scenes are fast paced especially towards the ending, as the build up of tension progress throughout the trailer so that the end has the full attention of the audience watching. These tactics generally would build tension and create suspense within the audience, giving them that ‘thriller’ effect.

My transitions and scenes were laid in a specific way due to the theory that Todorov put forward which is the Theory of Equilibrium. The theory is split into 5 stages that he believes are used within film texts. The first is 'A state of equilibrium' where everything should be of equal balance, in my trailer however I didn't do this at first as I used the phone call scene to gain the audiences attention. However straight after this scene my trailer shows that everything is normal, it is a bright day where a daughter opens the door nothing special. In addition Lucy goes on Facebook like every other teenager does in today's day and age.

The next stage Todorov states is 'a disruption of that order by an event' (disequilibrium) in other words something that causes normal day to day activities to change. This is when in my trailer I had shown the abduction of Lucy which disturbed the equilibrium that was present. Todorov then states the next stage is 'a recognition that the disorder has occurred' in which I showed this by having a scene of the father ringing the daughter but her phone going to voicemail which would show there is something not normal going on.

The fourth and fifth stages were to 'attempt to repair the damage of disruption' and to 'return or have a restoration of a new equilibrium at the end of the narrative.' As I created a teaser trailer I was unable to include these stages however I included three of the five stages Todorov theory proposed.

To ensure transitions were smooth, I used another popular convention of action/thriller trailers which is to dissolve the ending of the clip to black, which gives the effect of constant darkness and makes it look more appealing than scenes just playing off each other which wouldn’t give the same tension effect the blacked out cuts would give. Also at the very end, the last scene I had cut into shorter clips and separated them slightly to give it a flickering effect that is used in some trailers which builds up a tension that allowed me to put the film name after to ensure it gained the audiences attention in order for them to process the film name.

Sound:

Within my trailer a convention I knew I wanted to include was both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. I had done this by starting off the trailer with horn strings that were deep, that create a tense atmosphere, followed by vibrations of a phone when you receive a call. Starting off with the deep strings give of an impression that something bad is due to occur. I including a sentence of one the actors scripts to give the audience an insight of what the film is about. In relation to transitions and special effects, while the actor was talking I had cut to different scenes which a convention popularly used as it give the effect of a voice over and causes the audience to pay close attention.

Mid way through the trailer I had included a sound that is similar to heart beats, as it has the thumping repetitive sound. I had thought that this sound would cause tension in the scenes and prepare the audience for the climax in the trailer that they are unaware off at that specific time. Using the natural voice of the woman on voicemail made the trailer sound more realistic as if the audience were to have heard it in front of them.

Finally, towards the of the trailer I had layered sounds upon each other as they all played different parts to the trailer and together it made it sound louder and gave more of a tension and build up towards the end. Complimenting the cuts of the last scene within the editing, I also done this to the sound I was using to give it an effect of the trailer being paused and starting again which causes a build up to the end for when there’s a huge bang, that then becomes very quiet for when the film title appears.

Film Poster:

To ensure that my film poster was successful it required me to do a lot of research. I believe that my film poster followed many conventions of real media products. Firstly it would start with the image I had used, which was a very close-up image. This doesn't give too much information away and leaves the audience questioning what the image symbolises. As they can see a hand covering a mouth they may think its an abduction but have no idea who it is and if it really is an abduction. Although I had challenged the conventions in comparison to my research, which were full body shots, I feel that it still meets the conventions as I have seen other film posters have a close up as their main image. I ensured that the image was also relevant to the trailer giving them an insight to what the film is about. I had thought that to have the image in black and white but the eyes in colour would cause the audience to focus their attention more in her eyes to emphasis the fear there would be within the trailer. This was also complimented by the tint of red I had put in her eyes with Photoshop.

Something that I had noticed is that majority of posters title has gaps within the letters that are in capitals, this is a convention that I kept with my own film poster, it made me type up 'CAPTURED' as 'C A P T U R E D'. In addition to how the title was typed, where I had positioned the film title I thought was just as crucial. I had looked at other action thriller posters and came to the conclusion that the best position would be just below half way, in my case it was where about the hand over the mouth was positioned. This is another way in which my product uses and develops conventions of real life media products as it helped gain the most attention onto the film title making sure it is memorable. In addition why researching I had noticed that the posters I analysed included a least one word with red writing, this is why I ensured my poster had included red font, the most obvious red font in my opinion is the tagline I used of 'Don't make yourself a victim'. The font colour also compliments the tagline as red symbolises danger and blood, and the word victim means to be a person who harmed, injured or killed as a result of a crime, accident or a action.

I felt that my poster was missing something, which lead me to challenge conventions as I had not yet come across a poster with a clock on there. I had created a clock to put on the poster to clarify how long she had been captured for. It took some time to create but I had removed it off the poster once and the poster just didn't look the same.

Last of all I had followed the conventions of a teaser poster by not giving an exact date of when the film was to be released as I wrote coming soon, which also builds excitement to the audience and will make them keep an eye out for future announcements and releases.
As per usual majority of the posters I had seen had credits at the bottom, in which I had
done the same.

The main conventions I have included in the teaser poster are the following:

Film title

Tagline

Actors name

Credits

Release date

Magazine front cover:

A convention I had used in my magazine front cover is how the magazine name was positioned onto the cover. In majority of the magazines I have seen the magazine name is put behind the main image which tends to be of 1 person that covers the entire page, which I have done also. It was difficult to do at first but having watched a step by step YouTube tutorial I was able to create that effect.

In addition to this I have kept my colour scheme consistent which all forms of media products do to ensure it is kept professional and gives of little confusion to the audience ensuring everything on the product has relevance to each other. There has been changed to the magazine and colour scheme though, the changes have been shown below.

Originally as I had made the magazine prior to the teaser poster I had used a picture of the main actor but I felt like it didn't look as good as what the magazine looked like when the teaser poster was on it. This therefore lead me to change my front cover to having the poster featured on it rather than an image of the main character. I had also changed the colour font from blue to red, because having looked over my magazine inspirations I realised they had red font, and I have felt there was something missing on my poster, this lead me to changing the font colour which also coincidentally matches the models lip colour. At first I had changed all the blue font to red but it seem like the cover was too red, therefore I added some black font in addition.

I had priced the magazine at £2.49 as compared to other magazines, my price was cheaper and therefore is a convention used in order to get more buyers as people are more likely to buy a product that is cheaper than other products. Within my research as well I found that the issues of the magazines tend to be monthly, therefore I feel that it is best for me to make my magazine issues monthly as well as the magazine will also be filled with loads of content.

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

I feel that the combination of my ancillary texts and main product (teaser poster) were effective as they interlinked with each other and helped promote the trailer sufficiently. For example having made the magazine cover first I was able to give the audience an insight on the actor that was to be starred and interviews that start of the hype to the film.

Additionally I had then made the teaser poster that was able to allow me to tease the audience as the release date says coming soon, which causes audiences to keep an eye out. It also allowed me to give the audience an idea of what the film is about and the genre it may be, therefore attracting my target audience and those who enjoy watching films that are action/thriller. Although the poster was made after the magazine cover, I edited the magazine cover by featuring the teaser poster on there.

Promoting my film this way helps spread the word around but also builds up an excitement for my teaser trailer. The film magazine I created had an exclusive article on the film Captured and as it is exclusive it would attract readers as they know that it is new news and the first anyone had heard of it. This gives the audience an insight on the cast and if there actors involved that they have watched before and enjoyed watching.

After having created the magazine, the teaser poster is what’s released after than builds up more excitement for the trailer. As soon as the magazine and poster is released then come the trailer that has had people waiting for its release. As I have created a teaser trailer rather than a theatrical trailer it would mean I still tease the audience as I would not be releasing dates and so on, therefore as all my products are a build up and tease to the release of the film and builds an excitement and fan base around the film.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Throughout the two years of doing Media Studies as an A-Level I knew how important audience feedback was. It allows you too see your work in different peoples perspective and how I could improve my work.

How I gained my audience feedback was through unstructured interviews. I wouldn’t class it as an interview so much but it was more of me asking questions and the person answered verbally.

Below are some of the feedback the audience gave between all 3 of my media products.

Poster:

“I love the clock, as it gives you the adrenaline of time running out.” – Vean Mohammad

“I like the poster but feel like it could look better in colour.” – Leanne Hayes

“I really like the close up of the image, it makes it realistic and tense to view.” - Evin Bezginsoy

Magazine:

“The font and colours have been chosen perfectly, however I feel that you could have used a better main image.” – Rodi Mehr

“I think the barcode is positioned to high.” – Sumeet Raj

“I love the main image.” - Rebecca Petty

Trailer:

“I like the trailer but I feel like more sound effects could be used.” – Nur Gulec

“The trailer made me want to watch it due to the build up of suspense.” Richard Brok

“The synchronization of the sound with the clips is what I really like.” - Aaran Sivabalan

From my audience feedback, I was able to learn that there were things that I could have potentially done to improve my products to ensure it is as successful as it can be. Overall from the feedback the comments generally had shown that the audience liked my media products, especially with the one comment saying that they would watch the film which shows that I was doing something right. However the criticisms have allowed me to understand for future reference what I can do different and better.

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

During the process of construction, research, planning and evaluation stages, I had used multiple software's.

Microsoft Word and PowerPoint

I chose to use Microsoft software such as PowerPoint and Word for my research and planning as I believed using these software had allowed me to have all my research saved into folders that made my work more organised and easier to find which made my life easier when I have to upload my work onto the blog.

PowerPoint was mainly used for the graphs and planning of magazine layouts and draft for poster, whereas Word was used for detailed work that included qualitative data.

In addition I have been using Microsoft for as long as I can remember which made it easier for me as I knew how to use the software and meant I didn’t need to spend hours learning how to use it. On PowerPoint I was able be able to write in detail and depth and easily inserting pictures to the positions I want, with tables and charts when I needed them.

Adobe After Effects

At first I created my initial logo designs on Power-Point but it didn't look as professional as what I would of like so instead I used Adobe After Effects as I wanted my logo to be able to move, and have special effects.

As I knew nothing about Adobe After Effects I had to watch YouTube videos to learn what I wanted to create. It took several attempts and hours upon hours to create a 3 second motion for my institution logo. Using After Effects instead of PowerPoint allowed me to create a 3D effect I wasn't able to make on PowerPoint

Camera:

During the production of my ancillary tasks and my main task I knew I needed to have used a high quality camera. This is because due to the work I produced last year with the poor quality camera, I realised it has effected the quality of my work.

The camera was purchased by my school which is a Canon 1200D, for images the camera gave outstanding quality, especially with the additional equipment the school was offering me such as the lights and umbrellas used in the photography that gave me the natural grey background in the magazine cover.

I had to purchase a 32GB SD card in order for the filming footage to come out good. I realised the scenes in the light were perfect and crystal clear, in comparison to the night scenes. This is where a higher quality camera may have been required however due to tight funding I was unable to use those cameras, but the Canon 1200D was better than nothing and still captured footage to a good standard.

Adobe PhotoShop

Since my AS work I knew that Photoshop made my work look more professional so I ensured this year that all my ancillary tasks were produced on Photoshop, this included the teaser poster and the magazine front cover.

Even though I had used Photoshop before I was able to use the basic of tools but I wanted to create looks I haven't created before therefore that meant I still had to learn how to use it the additional tools through YouTube videos. One of which helped me create the clock on my teaser poster and how to change the eye colour on the poster. I also used Photoshop to remove slight flaws in the raw images that all producers to, to ensure their work looks flawless.

Adobe Premier Pro

To edit the footage for my trailer I knew I had to use professional software which I had turned to use Adobe Premier Pro, which allowed me to create a trailer of high quality.

It allowed me to add layers upon each other to create split screens where two videos play at the same time next to each other and allowed me to add special effects such as speeding up footage which I done for my flat plans.

YouTube:
During the construction stages of my media products, I knew my knowledge on how to use the software was very poor, regardless of whether I had used Photoshop last year. This lead me to using YouTube for tutorials throughout the construction process to ensure I was able to use the tools to add effects onto my products.

I found it very beneficial and believe it helped me create better pieces of work, as I was able to add effects on my poster such as tinting the eye through the use of YouTube tutorials that went through the procedure with a step by step guide.