A2 Media StudiesCandidate Number: 4113Niamh McCurry

• In what ways does your media product Use, Develop or Challenge

forms and conventions of real media products?

My Media Product• Through my analysis of various Teaser Trailers, Magazine Front Covers and

Film Posters I have been able to create professional pieces of work which promotes my film and displays the conventions I have followed or challenged throughout my main and ancillary texts.

~ Masthead ~ price ~ barcode ~ slogan ~ caption ~ features ~ strap-line ~ advertising ~ lures ~ pace of action ~ genre ~ colours ~ effects ~ sound effects/ soundtracks ~ billing block ~ film classification ~ cast names

• This has provided me with an opportunity to promote my product through background research into film companies, marketing campaigns and film genres that appeal to my target audience.

My Teaser Trailer

• My Teaser Trailer incorporates genres of Action, Fantasy and Horror as specified by my target audience as their preferred film genres.

• My Teaser Trailer begins displaying my production companies:

• Each film trailer I have analyzed has shown their production companies bearing the house style of the film’s themes i.e. colours and background music to fit the style of the film and the pace of the action being shown. . .

What My Teaser Includes:

• Green Preview Screen shown before many established Teaser and Official Trailers.

• Text Screens- rather than a voice over as toLet the action on screen and music build to Create the atmosphere and highlight genres such as Action, Horror and Fantasy.

• Eye Contact from my actors to the camera lens to create immediacy and create a relationship with my audience.

• Name of Film- Shown at the end so it’s the last

thing my audience see along with the website for the

film and the “Coming Soon” screen which causes

anticipation for the film.

• Pace of Trailer- indicates that my film has Action

scenes incorporated and the music aids the Teaser to

build and retain the audience’s attention.

• Advertising- I have included an image of my

protagonist on a “Dell” laptop, much like the James

Bond trailer which includes gadgets and technology

From “Vaio”. This is part of my advertizing campaign

For my trailer and would increase the budget for the

film.

Developing Conventions:• My trailer develops the ideas of other Teaser Trailers that I have analyzed such as:

~ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

~ Batman Begins

~ James Bond- Casino Royale

• My Trailer is 1 minute 15 seconds- slightly longer than the average Teaser Trailer however the Harry Potter trailer is 2 minutes 30 seconds and James Bond is 1 minute 12 seconds therefore my timing is not too outside the ordinary.

• I think this gives a better indication of what the film is about by giving a little bit more information while not giving too much away.

Established Teasers

Shots from my Teaser

Teaser Trailer Challenges• My Teaser Trailer challenges other established Teaser Trailers I have analyzed due to

aspects such as the amount of shots used where my trailer has 44 shots whereas James Bond- Casino Royale has 65 shots in a slightly shorter space of time.

• As opposed to other Teaser Trailers such as the Batman Begins, I have not included a voice over or dialogue in my trailer which will increase the mystery presented in my trailer. The only dialogue used is at the end where the female dream character says ‘boo’ while looking straight into the camera lens.

• From the trailers I have analyzed I found that most would show one main genre aspect such as explosions which would suggest Action but I show Action from chase scenes, the Horror and Fantasy aspects from the idea of dreams shown throughout, special effects to portray different movements of atmosphere within the trailer and my female dream character.

My Actors

Protagonist•Shane McElvanna•Casted as: Kevin Smith•Dreams are becoming reality, seeking the truth

Dream Character & Normal girl•Lisa Ryan•Casted as: Leigh-Anne and Dream Character•Haunts the Protagonist

Antagonist•Stephen Curley•Casted as: Agent Lynch•Protector of dreams, stops Kevin Smith finding the truth.

Print Screen from PB Works

Blooper video

You’ve got your soundtrack to fit with your footage so well I know you had some trouble with it but it looks really good!

• How effective is the combination of your Main Product & Ancillary Texts?

Ancillary Tasks• My products interweave through the images I have used for my ancillary tasks, the

House-Style, particular colours which collect to maintain the themes and genres of my Teaser Trailer.

• Images of Lisa as both the Dream character and Leigh-Anne reflect how she haunts my protagonist’s dreams by also showing up in his daily life and how Agent Lynch chases Kevin Smith to protect Kevin from finding the truth.

• I also took a step further in the promotion of my Film by editing my footage to create a Blooper reel and edited images to show where my film may be shown such as the sides of buses, images advertizing products by Apple such as the I-pad on magazine websites and billboards in towns or in Chaspary Square.

Take a look. . .

• The analysis of Film Posters such as “The Hangover”, “The Dark Knight”, “The Orphanage” and “Love Actually” provided me with ideas of what design features and conventions I should apply to my poster. The conventions highlighted here reflect some of the conventions I have included and challenged. . .

Tagline Background image

Main ImageA-List Cast

Dates for releaseBilling Block

Film Title

Various images

Actor’s names

Film TitleTagline

Billing BlockDate for release

Colour scheme

The Film PosterColour Scheme- Black and White- gives impression of eeriness and thrilling elements in the film Design-

The design suggests fantasy elements in film, catches audience’s eye and interests them

Immediacy-Suggested through the eye starring straight at my audience. The slightly canted angle of the image creates a adventurous/ horror feel on the film.

Cast Names-As seen on previous film posters, the A-list names are typically featured

Film Title- Separate text to stand out, white with red shading to make it more noticeable and featured in the middle third to draw attention

Billing Block-Production companies and editors featured, screenplay etc. with actors names- typical convention

Logos-Production companies and distributor ‘s featured.

BBFC Film Classification

Film PosterLove it Niamh! Your image is amazing, love the design on her face must have taken ages!

Teaser Film PosterCast Names- featured to attract attention to actors in the film

Main Image-Gives idea of fantasy and adventure

Film Title- Placed in thecentre and is the Same colour to fitThe colour schemeOf the poster.

Coming Soon-Convention of a teaser posterAttracts audience

Logos- Shows my production companies and film distributors

Colour Scheme- fits my official Film Poster by black and white colours, adds mystery and fantasy through effects.

Magazine Front Cover• Through my research into established magazines I have been able to

analyze “Empire Film” magazine’s Front Cover and “Total Film” in order to create my second ancillary task which I named “The Editor” which is in-keeping with the style of my magazine.

Strap-line

Masthead

Film Title

Strap-line

Puff

Puff

Feature

Feature

Feature

Puff/Buzz wordsIssue Dates

Barcode

My Magazine Front CoverIssue -Price ,date and issue number are featured to add professionalism

Strap-line-Extra info inside the magazine

Barcode

Puff-Extra info, use of puff draws attention to the info

Feature-Interviews, reviews and information that will be interesting to make the audience pick up the magazine

Strap-line- Adds more info with images to attract reader’s attention. Alliteration: “Behind”, “Best”, “Biggest” adds to effect of extra info

Film Title-Central third with drop shadow to add to effect of film- red colouring for adventure and suggestions of danger

Tagline- “Dreams will never be the same” – upper case to suit the style of the film and draws attention. Adds a hint of mystery to what the film is about.

House style- Blue, White, grey. The background image adds professionalism and makes main image stand out

Masthead-Stand out , spreads across the top of the magazine

I LOVE THIS!

Your work looks really professional!

When’s the film being released? :P

Target Audience Comments…

• What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Audience Feedback• I made sure to continuously ask my target audience about their ideas of my Teaser Trailer like:

~What they think I should include more of ~ Should I make the piece faster or slower ~ If my soundtrack fitted the images and conveyed the genres well ~ If they liked the direction the storyline was going from what they could see from my Teaser Trailer ~ If they liked the characterization from my actors ~ Whether they liked the name or not.

• This was all very beneficial in the editing stages of my Teaser.

•The easiest way to get Audience Feedback from my Target Audience was to play my trailer to my Media Class and then change whatever pieces they thought didn’t work well

•I then decided to put my final edited version on Facebook, having created a group for my film. It received a lot of good feedback and has over 50 views on YouTube so far and over 40 views for the Bloopers. . .

Facebook

Teaser Trailer Comments

Inception 2.0!

I’m impressed Miss McCurry! When’s the premiere?

It looks great! Can’t wait to see it all!

Pretty awesome Niamh! You should make the film. . .

• I put some of the comments from my Target Audience up on my PB Works but they all seemed to be pleased with the overall outcome of the Teaser.

•The Bloopers has over 30 ‘likes’ on Facebook and a lot of people approached me asking what is was for and that they enjoyed it so that made them watch the trailer! This shows my Marketing Campaign for my film in progress. . . Much like the viral marketing campaign for the film Cloverfield that I looked at during the Research stage.

• How did you use new media technologies in the construction and

research, planning and evaluation stages?

Technology!• I used different technologies throughout the different stages of my coursework.

• The internet was a main factor that allowed me to look up magazines, trailers, film posters, images, interviews and behind the scenes information on different films and the creation of the ideas behind them.

• Main media technologies I used for planning, research, construction and evaluation:

~ Pb Works Blog site ~ Facebook

~ YouTube ~ V Downloader for sounds

~ Animoto Slideshow ~ Digital Cameras

~ Prezi ~ Internet

~ I Macs: I Movie, Garageband, I DVD etc.

~ Photoshop

~ Microsoft Office

Research and Planning

Construction

Constructing my Products…

• Without technologies such as Photoshop I wouldn’t have been able to complete my ancillary tasks, with knowledge from last year’s coursework and extra tutorials for updated versions of Photoshop and tools from YouTube, I was able to produce more effective pieces that appealed to my target audience.

This is an album cover I made from last year based on Indie music that I have used for the feature “Biggest Film Hits” in my magazine

Final Products