EvaluationBy Jennika Mistry

The Outsiders Poster The Outsiders Teaser TrailerMagazine Front Cover

The Outsiders

Brief? A promotion package for a new film, to include a teaser trailer together with

two of the following three options

• A website homepage for the film

• A film magazine front cover, featuring the film

• A poster for the film

From these options above I chose to make a film magazine and a poster for the film.

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

The media products I made with my group included a horror/sci-fi film teaser trailer called ‘The Outsiders’, a film poster and a film magazine front cover. All of my media products follow the conventions of real media products.

• We used ‘The Blair Witch Project’ as our inspiration because it is a hybrid genre of horror and sci-fi. It is also a film based mostly in the woods and the poster and teaser trailer from this film gave us many ideas to create our own media products.

• The genre of our media products is a hybrid genre consisting of horror and sci-fi. We decided to have a hybrid genre because our story is based around more than one concept and it would also allow us to appeal to a larger audience.

• I researched many teaser trailers similar to our genre to find out the generic conventions to use in our media product. I found out that many teaser trailers include a green certificate at the start the teaser trailer. So I decided to add a certificate rating to show the type of audience the film is intended to be seen by.

• Our teaser trailer is exactly 1 minute long which is another convention of teaser trailers as it teases the audience and supplies them with the genre, date of release and brief glimpses of what to expect.

• In many horror teaser trailers they include a short clip after the date of release/ website. We included a short scene of a close-up of ‘The Outsider’ in a low light after the website ‘www.theoutsider.co.uk. We did this to create a nervy and anxious after effect which will entice the audience.

• We used other conventions of horror films in our teaser trailer for example, we used quick cuts, white flashes of light, black outs and slow eerie music at the start then fast paced loud music in the middle then gradual fade into silence and a short mystifying noise to finish off.

• We included the release date of the film so that the audience know when the film will be released in cinemas. The website ‘www.theoutsiders.co.uk’ is also included so that the audience can visit the website to find out more about the film.

Codes and Conventions of my film poster For my ancillary task I produced a film poster which is shown on the

right hand side. I used similar conventions from ‘The Blair Witch Project’ film poster to produce my own media product.

• I used the same font as ‘The Blair Witch Project’ for the title and copy as I wanted to create a formal effect.

• I also used a minimum of four colours which are black, grey, white and red. These colours symbolise evil and misery.

• The location I used for the poster is the forest because it symbolises loneliness and creates a scary atmosphere. I inverted the main image of ‘The Outsider’ to make it look like a spirit standing alone against a woodland background. The character also stands out against the dark background which draws the audiences attention to the middle.

• I also made my own red stickman which is similar to ‘The Blair Witch Project’ poster. This symbol indicates danger and shows that it will play a big part in the film. I also placed this stickman on top of the letter ‘I’.

• We used intertextuality in our media product as we included the phrase ‘If you go down to the woods today you will surely be in for a surprise…’. This has been taken from a nursery rhyme which creates a creepy feeling thus relating to our genre. This leaves the audience to wonder what will happen in the film. Also, the word ‘woods’ shows that the film will be based mainly in a woodland area.

Codes and Conventions of magazine front cover I made a magazine front cover for my ancillary task

which is shown on the right. I used the conventions of an existing ‘Empire’ magazine to make my own media product. The magazine front covers I looked at are shown below my film magazine front cover which are based on the film ‘The Dark Knight’ series.

• The conventions I used to produce my own front cover for my film ‘The Outsiders’ was to use a main focal image of the main character. I used a mid-shot of ‘The Outsider’ because many ‘Empire’ magazines include an image of the main character in the film. This indicates that this character plays an important role in the film.

• I also used the same title ‘Empire’ which is an existing film magazine which includes film reviews, news and competitions. I used the same font style however, I altered font to relate it to my horror genre by adding a red outline to the black font to symbolise death and blood.

• In addition, I used the idea of a cross at the bottom of the page to show the main contents in the magazine. I added a red cross because it symbolises blood and the loss of life.

• Another convention I used on my magazine front cover was to place the date, price, magazine issue, website and barcode in the same place.

McMahon and Quinn identified three categories of codes which consist of technical, symbolic and written codes. I have used these codes to convey meaning in my magazine front cover.

Technical codes: • I used a black and white effect to create the main image. I used these colours because it

represents evil and darkness which relates to the main character who is a psychotic murderer. I used a scratched effect on the face to make this character look scary and disturbed. I added nails and tape to the mouth to show that this character is a silent killer. The image is framed by the use of text ‘Meet the Outsiders Interview’ which shows what this character is called. The font I used for this text is done in a newspaper cut out which creates a mysterious effect.

Symbolic codes:• I used a mid shot of ‘The Outsider’ character to make the viewer/s intimidated as it allows

them to be up close and personal with this evil character. It shows the main features of the face and it shows the black clothing which resembles a cloak. The black hood covers the eyes creating mystery. The colours I have used on the front cover consist of mainly of white, black and red. The white font symbolises light and hope. It also stands out from the dark background. The black colour looks menacing and the red symbolises danger and death.

Written codes:• I used the quote ‘It’s a blood curdling, mass- executor!’ which frames the main image

showing the characteristics of the villain. I used strap lines for example, ‘Plus! The omen interview’ and film titles e.g. ‘Drag me to hell, Let me in and Orphan’ to show other films with the same genre as my media product. This allows the viewer/s to identify with this film and give them an insight to what the film may be like. I used the headline ‘The outsiders-world exclusive!’ to attract the audience to buy the magazine and watch the film.

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

Our main product ‘The Outsiders’ teaser trailer goes well with our ancillary texts which consist of a film poster and a film magazine front cover. This is due to many different reasons which are:

• We set our teaser trailer in the woods which relates to our film poster because the background is of ‘The Outsider’ standing in a woodland area around thin tall trees.

• The colours used on the ancillary texts consist of mainly white and black colours which is conveyed through our teaser trailer because the whole piece is shown in dark lighting creating a creepy scary atmosphere.

• I included the image of the main character ‘The Outsider’ on my ancillary texts so that the audience can identify this character and become familiar with it. I used the colours black and white from the ancillary texts in my teaser trailer. I did this so that the audience can identify that my media products are linked together as a promotion package.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?We showed our media products to a wide audience to receive as much feedback as possible. We made a questionnaire starting with a question on what attracts them to films in general and then questions on our promotion package.

We received many positive feedback for example:

“The colours used on the magazine front cover and film poster fits with the genre because the black and red can symbolise horror/thriller. The connotations of red may be blood or murder whereas black could be seen as night or dark. Also, the images are mysterious which feeds into a horror genre thus it works effectively.”

“I really like the black and white effect used for the teaser trailer because it creates a dark, scary atmosphere which relates very well to the genre.”

“I can tell that the three media products that this group have produced is part of a promotion package. This is because the house style is the same throughout the magazine front cover and the poster. I really like the flashing images because it creates a creepy effect.”

“I felt that the slow paced parts of the teaser trailer were a bit unsteady, which I think should have been smoother to create an anxious feeling. However, I feel that the teaser trailer as a whole captures the audience’s attention due to the different types of shots used and the eerie soundtrack.”

“I think they have tried there very best and I can’t see any faults with the project.”

In general the audience recognised that our media products are:• Aimed at people around the age of 18-35• Is a hybrid genre of horror and thriller• Have the same house style throughout

Many of the viewers we showed our media products said that:• The imagery we used is appropriate because it creates a mysterious atmosphere which relates well with the

genre and target audience. In addition, the imagery used for the magazine front cover is scary due to the facial features and is intended for older viewers.

• The teaser trailer fulfils its purpose as it doesn’t give too much away which creates curiosity as it makes the viewer want to watch the film.

On the whole, the people who answered our questionnaires were intrigued to know what was going to happen next after they watched the teaser trailer. Also, we learnt that most people are attracted to films because of the actors/actresses in the film, the genre and good quality teaser trailers.

With this audience feedback we made sure that the audience could identify with the genre. We did this by using the generic conventions of existing media products with a horror sci-fi genre. We also made sure that our media products were to the best of our ability.

Overall, I found out that our media products are successful which means that our aim of producing a promotion package for a new film is complete. I achieved my aim as my teaser trailer teases the audience to go and watch the film. Also, its around a minute long which acts as a hook to grab the audiences attention. The film poster and magazine front cover work as they link together nicely due to similar imagery and colours used.

• I used YouTube to search for existing horror teaser trailers to gain ideas to produce my own teaser trailer.

• I used the search engine Google to look for existing horror film posters and film magazine front covers.

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

We used many media technologies throughout the construction, research, planning and evaluation of our work.

I used a variety of media technologies during my research and planning for example, YouTube and Google.

• I used a video camera to practise filming the types of shots we wanted to include in our teaser trailer. I did this to gain some skills in recording and to be able to pick out the best type of shots to use for the final teaser trailer.

Below are some screenshots of the types of teaser trailers I researched on YouTube. I looked at these teaser trailers because they have a similar genre to my media products which is horror sci-fi.

Let the right one in The Blair Witch Project

The Orphan The Omen

During the construction stage we used many new media technologies which were:

Digital SLR camera• To capture images of the main character ‘The Outsider’ for our film poster and magazine front cover.

This camera enabled me to take many different types of shots for example, mid shot of ‘The Outsider’ to show the facial features of the face. I also used the rule of thirds on this camera as well as effects such as black and white.

Adobe Photoshop Elements • To edit the pictures we took. We used various effects to produce our media products. For example:

• For the film poster we used a negative effect and we also changed the brightness and contrast of the image.

Digital Hd video camera • To record all the high quality footage for the teaser trailer.

• For the magazine front cover we used the magnetic lasso tool to go around the face of the character and then we placed an image of scratches found from the internet and overlaid it onto the face. Then we adjusted the transparency of the scratches to make it look realistic.

Final Cut Express

• I used this software to make my final teaser trailer. I edited all the clips as well as adding sound, texts, effects and changing the speed of clips. I found using this software hard at first but as I got use to the different tools I found it much easier.

I added blackouts to my teaser trailer to create mystery by clicking on the part of the timeline where I wanted it to be placed. Then selecting the effects tab, video transitions, dissolve and then cross dissolve.

I changed the colour of all of the clips to black and white by selecting the clip then clicking on the effect tab, video filters, colour correction and then colour corrector. I then clicked the viewer screen and then colour corrector, where I changed the lightness and brightness of the clip. I did this to create a dark sinister atmosphere.

I changed the speed of a clip by selecting the clip then clicking on modify. I then changed the speed to make the clip slower by increasing the percent. To make a clip faster I would lower the percent. I made swing scene slower to build up suspense and to create a ghostly feel.

For the evaluation I used:• Microsoft PowerPoint to present my evaluation and pictures of my media products.

• I used Blogger.com to upload all my research, planning, final media products and evaluation.

• I uploaded my evaluation to my blogger by uploading my PowerPoint evaluation onto slide share (online slide hosting service). I then copied the html coding into a new post on blogger.