Evaluation

In order to undergo my research I looked at various film magazines and film posters to give me an idea of layouts, colour schemes and images. Magazines and posters tended to use one image for their main image except film magazines tended to use a few other images of new films coming out. As I was producing a film magazine I decided that one main image would suit the horror genre and also look more effective and professional rather than using a few images as i think it tends to make the cover look too busy. I used an image of the two main character and editing them effectively. I feel that this made my magazine and poster stand out against its competitors and look more appealing and interesting. The ways in which my media product uses forms of real media products is the fact that it contains features which are stereotypical to the horror genre style of poster and magazine for example the style of font, the image used and also the masthead ‘Torture’, this a typical horror sounding name for a film which makes it noticeable to its target audience. I targeted my audience at people who enjoy horror films. This led to me choosing suitable images for my magazine front cover and my poster. I manipulated my images to make them powerful and effective. I planned my images beforehand so the location, pose and costume all were all suitable for my genre of magazine and poster.
Typical film posters tend to consist of an image, tagline, billing block etc. In our final poster we used a tagline 'Obsession can be total Torture'. We used a billing block in our third draft amagzine cover but we decided it looked too crowded so we decided to put the names of the main actors/actresses at the top of our poster.




A typical film magazine uses what is called the left hand third. this is where the namje of the magazine, the name of the film and cover lines are all on the left hand side of the magazine cover, this is so when its on the newstand and being covered by other magazines, the magazine stands out to its target audience. In our final trailer we used a variety of shots. I particularly think the close up of the teacher's eyes looks really effective and shows the expression of the character. We also inserted text which showed out tagline 'Obession can be total Torture' which is very typical of a film trailer.

I have learnt that the technological process in constructing my products is a long process and a lot of changes are needed in order to achieve the final products. I found that the tools were difficult to use and needed a lot of practise in order to be able to use them correctly and make your magazine, poster and trailer look effective and professional. I found that a lot of previous planning is also needed in order to suit your target audience.
In constructing our final products there a few media technologies which helped create them massively. We used Adobe Photoshop to construct our poster and magazine cover. This peice of software allowed us to edit our images effectively and also provided us with many effects such as the blood effect we used on our poster. It also provided us with a variety of fonts and colours. I feel i have progressed in using photoshop as i played around with the effects provided to see what worked best to fit in with our horror genre. After a bit of practice i was enabled to cut out my images much better which improved the effectiveness of the magazine and also made it look more professional. After experimenting with different fonts and effects I was able to create and effective masthead that would stand out and be noticeable to my target audience. This also fitted in well with the horror genre with the blood effects that were used. After also experimenting on photoshop it enabled me to manipulate my images in order to make them more powerful and effective and also more appealing to the target audience.
In order to edit our film trailer we had to use the Apple Macs and used a software called imovie. These were completely new to me so it took a while to get used to how to work the mac then to get the jist of how to use imovie. I feel as though i have progressed in using this new software as we created and editing our film trailer very well using it. the software allowed to instet text, images, transitions and sound. We used all of these features to as much extent as we could in order to sue the software to its full potential. All these features enabled us to create and edit our film trailer in order to look effective and professional.
From my first audience feedback, i asked what the audience would like to see featured in a horror film, what type of horror film they prefer and what influences them to watch a film etc. This helped our group to make decisions about what our final film trailer would feature.
From my audience feedback on the final products i found that overall our final products were effective and looked professional but there are some imporvements that would need to be made. On our poster i think i would move the title 'Torture' to the top of the poster to make it more noticeable to the target audience. The image used on the magazine cover looks really effective and shows the main characters of the film. It has also been edited in such a way to fit out horror genre perfectly. On the magazine i would add cover lines on the left hand third to make it more typical of a film magazine. And to improve the film trailer, i would add some more clips showing more action from the film in order to draw the adience's attention in more. I would also make my own music, this way it would enable us to be able to fit the music in perfectly with whats happening in the film trailer.

Final Products Feedback

Poster Questionnaire

1. Does the poster look professional?

Yes/No

2. How effective is the image? ( 1 being the lowest)

1 2 3 4 5

3. Would you go to watch this film just from seeing the poster? and why?

4. What do you like about the poster?

5. Is there anything you would change about the poster? If so, what?

6. Do you believe we used Photoshop effectively on our poster?
Yes/No
7. Do you feel our poster displays devices typical of a 'horror movie' poster? If yes please specify why.
Yes/No

Magazine Questionnaire

1. Do you think the magazine cover looks professional?

Yes/No

2. How effetive is the image? (1 being the lowest)
1 2 3 4 5

3. Would you watch this film just from seeing the magazine cover? And why?

4. What do you like about the magazine cover?

5. Would you change anything about the magzine cover? If so, what?

6. Do you believe we used Photoshop effectively on our poster?
Yes/No
7. Do you feel our poster displays devices typical of a 'horror movie' magazine? If yes please specify why.
Yes/No

Trailer Questionnaire

1. Would the trailer persuade you to watch the film? And why?

2. Do you think it builds up tension effectively? (1 being the lowest)
1 2 3 4 5

3. What do you like about the trailer?

4. How could we improve our trailer?

5. On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being the lowest) how effectively do you think the music is on our teaser trailer?
1 2 3 4 5

Poster

1. Yes

2. 3

3. Yes, because the image draws your attention in and also the title 'Torture' stands out, i love horror films so i would very much consider seeing this film from just looking at the poster.

4. I really like the title 'Torture'. It looks really effective and stands out being red against a black and white image. I also think the blood effect looks really good and fits in perfectly with the horror genre giving the feeling the fil may be gory.

5. To change the poster, i would have put the title of the film 'Torture' at the top of the poster in order to catch the audience's eye and moved the main actors/actresses tot he bottom as they aren't as important. I would also have made the release date more noticeable so the date stuck in the target audience's mind.

6. Yes

7. Yes. The black and white image gives a horror feel and also the blood on the 'Torture' is a very typical gory look. It also looks like a professional poster as it includes the age certificate, production logo and a website.

Magazine

1.Yes

2. 5

3. Yes because the image looks really effective the way it has been edited and makes me want to watch the film.

4. I really liek the image used on the magazine cover and the text fits in really well with the horror genre.

5. The only thing i would add to improve the magazine cover is add some cover lines, this would make it look more like a typical magazine cover.

6. Yes

7. Yes. The colours used red, black and grey are very typical of the horror genre and the font of the title 'Torture'. The way the image has been edited also looks very typical of the horror genre.

Trailer

1. Yes because it looks good, and the way it builds up the tension makes you want to see what happens to the teacher.

2. 4

3. In this trailer i like the end where it shows you quick flashes of the film, it looks very effective and exciting. I also like the music, i think it fits in well with the trailer and really helps to build up tension.

4. To improve this trailer, i think it needed some more exciting clips from the film but without giving too much away. This would really draw the audience's attention in.

5. 3

Final Trailer

Untitled from Jamie on Vimeo.

Using imovie me and Emma edited our film trailer further in order to improve. We added our production logos to the start of the trailer, this makes the trailer look professional. We used imovie to its full extent by adding transitions, text and sound. We added fade to blacks in appropriate places so clips didn't jump from one to the other. This also built up tension. We found a copyright free soundtrack which we found fitted in with out trailer really well, we edited this at the end to fade out so it didn't stop abruptly as this didn't sound professional. We also used the feature of text inserts in our trailer. We added these where appropriate to add tension and also show the name of the film and 'coming soon' which is very typial of a teaser trailer. The text inserts also came with transitions which add effect to our trailer.
Overall, i am happy with our final draft trailer. To improve i would have liked to been able to get the same font that we used on our final poster for the name of the film 'Torture'.

Final Poster

We added a few small changes to create our final poster for our film trailer 'Torture'. We added in the production company logo and the film certificate in order for the poster to look more professional. Names of the main actors and actresses have been added the top of the poster and also a quote with star rating, these are all qualities of professional film posters. We also changed the title 'Torture', by added blood it makes the title more effective and also suits our genre horror more.

Final Magazine Cover

This is our final magazine cover which was created by Jamie. It is a huge improvement on our third draft. The image used looks really effective and shows both of the main characters whereas the second draft just showed the one. Jamie has edited the image using photoshop really well, which makes the image stand out to the audience and also gives a horror feeling which fits in with our genre. The masthead is in the elft hand thirs which is very typical of a magzine so the magazine will be noticeable to its target audience when on the shelf. The font of 'Torture' looks really effective and suits our horror genre but it need to be bolder to stand out mroe to the audience. Also the tagline 'Obsession can be total..' is quite hard to read so the colour of the font should be different. To make this magazine look like a typical magazine, cover lines would need to be added the left hand third or images of new upcoming films.

Manipulated images for poster and magazine

I manipulated a few potential images for the poster and magazine on photoshop to see what effects looked good and worked well with our horror film.

For this image, i made it blacnka nd white as i feel darker images fitted in alot better with our horror genre. I then used the burn tool to create the dark effect around the body.

For this image, i used the lasoo tool to cut the body out as the background made the image less effective. I changed the hue and saturation in order to create a darker image as bright colours didn't work well with our genre. I then used a tool which allowed me to select parts of the image and change its colour which is what i did with the rose. This stands out alot against the dark image and also shows the significance of the rose in our film 'Torture'.

Production Logos

These are the production logos to be used at the beginning of our 'Torture' teaser trailer. We have decided to use production logos because we feel they will add a professional and realistic like appearance to our trailer, as they are nearly always displayed at the beginning of real trailers. We created these very simple logos in Adobe Photoshop by just adding text on top of an image. For the 'Casper Productions' logo we inverted the colours from a black ghost on a white background to a white ghost on a black background, to add a more sinster feel.

Third Draft Poster

This is our groups second draft for our poster created by emma. The image used is effective and will catch the audience's eye. By changing the image to black and white, i feel a though it fits in more with our horror film and also makes the red title 'Torture' stand out alot more to the audience and look more effective. It shows both of the main characters and gives an insight on the storyline of the magazine. The title of our film 'Torture' needs to stand out alot more. The font could be changed to a more gothic/horror font in order to fit in with our genre of film and to also make it stand out to the audience. This poster also lacks a few details such as production logos. age certificate and the main actors; these are all features that need to be included in roder for the magazine to look professional.

Third Draft Magazine

This is our second draft magazine cover which was created by me. It includes the main features of a magazine and also an original image which links to our film trailer. The cover looks very simple and lacks alot of detail, it just includes the basics. The main headline 'Torture' needs to stand out alot more and look effective so it stands out to the audience and is also recognisable to the film. The font of the name of the magazine is again very simple and doesnt stand out, this needs to eb changed in order the catch the audienc'es attention when on a shelf. Magazine covers usually include pictures of other new films that are out and information about them. Our magazine also needs to include more about what is featured in the magazine in order to look like a professional film magazine.

Second Draft Trailer

Untitled from Annie Byrne on Vimeo.

This is an improvement on our first draft trailer as we were able to use high quality filming equipment and also able to use imovie which is software that allowed us to cut clips, rearrange them and add transitions etc. This film trailer doesn't really build up tension. It cuts from each clip to the next. Fade to blacks need to be added in and the pace of the film trailer should start slow and get quicker in order to add tension. The close up of the eyes adds drama to the trailer, showing the audience how to feel at that moment in time. Keeping the storyline simple adds suspense, simple storyline for a horror trailer makes it easier to play on fear.
To make this film trailer more memorable to the audience some key features need to be added. Text inserts puncuate the trailer. Music over the film trailer helps the build up the tension of the film. To make this mroe effective, the sound needs to fit in with what is happening in the trailer and make certain parts of the trailer to stand out to the audience.
Our second draft trailer was edited by Emma and me with input of decisions from Jamie and Liam.

Potential images for poster and magazine

This image is a death threat from the killer to the teacher. It is clever as it says 'teach you a lesson' which links in with the victim being a teacher. This image isn't a good image to use for the poster or magazine as it doesn't include the main characters and the picture isn't very appealing. It wouldn't draw the audience'es attention in.

These are images of the main props in our film trailer which are a death threat and a rose. Again these images don't include the main characters in our horror film so it wouldn't be very recognisable to the audience.

These are all images of the the teacher, victim, and the killer. These are effective as they portray that the killer is stalking the teacher which gives an insight of what the horror film 'Torture' is about. The clearer images of the two main characters would be good to use for either our poster or magazine. They would catch the audience's eye and the audience would be able to recognise which film is being advertised.

This image shows the main characters but doesn't look very effective so wouldn't be a good image to use. Also, we decided not to use the death threat in this image in our film trailer therefore, it wouldn't link in.

Final Decisions for Location, Costume, Props and Cast

Cast

Location

Fourth Team Meeting

In our fourth team meeting, we came to the decision of changing our storyline. We felt as though the clown was too 'typical' for a horror film. We decided to go with emma's storyboard about the teacher being stalked. We decided to use Emma as our teacher and Liam as the killer. Me and Jamie are going to do the filming.

Film Schedule

For our teaser trailer we decided to go with our second draft storyboard. We will be filming in our lessons on Mondays and Thursdays and also using the media suite in our spare time.

Second Draft Storyboard

Second Draft Storyboard

Third Team Meeting

For our third team meeting my group and I discussed the setting, props and costume to be used for our horror teaser trailer. We decided to use the school grounds and the leacture theatre for the classroom. The costume will be casual clothes for the victim and a clown costume for the killer; this is particually familiar to the horror genre.

Investigation of Locations, Cast, Costumes and Props

Investigation of Props

In investigating props myself and my group chose to photograph weapons that potentially the antagonist could use in order to murder his victims. We chose bricks and knives for props because they would be easily accessible to the antagonist because they are located around the school site. I think that the image of the knives is particularly effective because they look menacing and threatening - something which as a horror trailer the props should portray. The bricks could be used by the 'killer' in order to strike the victim over the head.

Investigation of Location

In order to photograph location my group and I took photographs of various locations around the school that we thought could potentially be used in our teaser trailer. I thought the most effective settings were the ones on the field, where the the trees add shadow and cover which I think would be good in order to set a spooky tone to the trailer. It also would be good to shoot this area at night since it could be replicated and used as a 'woods' when in reality it is not. The fence also adds a sense of entrapment and closure, so that the victim could be shown trying to escape from the 'woods' in the trailer to no avail. The pond setting would also be an effective setting because it could provide a place for the killer to store the 'bodies' of his victims without getting caught. I think this would be a very effective storyline and would add realism to the plot, as it is a typial convention of the horror genre.

Investigation of Cast

We photographed students from around school as we want to keep the cast young but of the older students in the school as they are more mature and easier for audience to relate to and are at the age range of the main characters in our trailer.

We decided to photograph a teacher as our teaser trailer is being located in a school. After discussion we decided not to use older members in our teaser trailer as we are keeping the cast younger. This is because our main character is a child, this gives more of a 'slasher' feel as the majority of cast are always young.