Evaluation

Evaluation

Christian Percival

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


In my media products; a film trailer, magazine cover and a poster, I have developed and challenged the different forms and conventions of real media products. In my film trailer I have used many common conventions from real media products, this is so my trailer looks more professional and links to the target market. These conventions I obtained from the film trailer research in which I looked at different trailers. Looking at these different trailers gave me ranging ideas that I could use in my own trailer, to help improve it as these techniques obviously work and because they link to the genre. I chose to do a movie trailer because I felt that it would be much more exciting rather than a music video, as well as more challenging as I had never done anything like this before. I also felt that doing a horror trailer would be easier to create a plot and also easier to target that certain audience. Again my research was very useful here because researching horror movies showed me how to do my own trailer and how to link it to the theme. I had to be careful in following current media conventions, this is because I wanted my trailer to be similar to other trailers, but not the same as this wouldn’t be that entertaining.

An example of where I have used current media conventions is in my trailer, where I used ideas from the film, ’28 days later’ in which writing splits up the clips. This enhances the horror theme and creates a narrative, which has a huge influence on the audience. Another technique that I have used is flicking images, which is again used in this trailer. This ends the suspense built up from the slow fading images at the start of the trailer.

I had a specific target audience however it did vary, this is because I wanted to target teenagers, (15+) as in general this age group enjoy this kind of film, however the target audience does vary because much people from all age ranges above 15 enjoy horror movies, so the target audience is really 15 and above.


I also followed current media conventions in my poster and in my magazine cover. Again with both of these I researched existing products, I got different posters and magazine covers to show me what is conventional. This makes it much easier to create the poster and cover as you then know what is needed. I used a mixture of different designs from different posters and magazine covers, this kept my products conventional but it also kept it fresh, meaning that it follows the successful themes without copying exact ideas.

Different things on my poster work better than others. Some of the good things include the title and in general all the fonts, this is because they stand out and look professional, due to the effects that I put on theme, such as the shadows and the glow. Another part of my cover that is successful is the images in top right of the page, these stand out and have a very professional look to them due to the program which I used. Both of these are also conventional, both include 1 main, large image that stands out, which some real media posters and covers do. The poster also includes names of the actors and the ratings of the film again some posters from real products also fit this. With my poster I have picked a dark colour scheme, which links well to the genre of my products, the way in which my poster isn't conventional is that I have a white font which makes the title of my film stand out and be in your face. Again with my film trailer, my poster is a mixture of being conventional and unconventional, which is good. My magazine cover, as I said earlier is quite conventional with the positioning of the fonts and images across the page, and I took my ideas from the different covers I researched. However my front cover is also unconventional and this is because of the colour scheme used, most are extremely light, however my front cover is grey, which doesn't stand out as much as the light colours used in real products, however my images and fonts on the page make the cover stand out and make up for the background. Even though the background doesn't stand out I chose it because it works very well with my cover and links well between the other colours used.


There are also 2 narrative theories that support and help explain films. The Todorov theory and the Propp theory. The Todorov theory uses 5 stages and I think that my trailer links to this theory (4 stages of the theory) the first being the equilibrium (the balance of both sides). My trailer links to this as at the start the researcher is reasonably happy and is having a normal day. The second stage is the disruption of the equilibrium by some action, in my case this is where the researcher notices a disturbance in the bushes. The 3rd stage of the theory is recognition of the disturbance, in my case the researcher recognising that somebody is watching him. The 4 th stage is him noticing and trying to repair the disturbance, in my case the researcher running away from the villain. The final stage doesn't apply to my trailer, this is because the final stage is the return of the equilibrium, a return to peace and happiness, as my product is only a trailer it doesn't have this stage, as it would give away the storyline.

The other theory, the Propp’, he suggested that characters took on the role of narrative spheres of action of functions. He also came up with 7 different character types. My trailer only links to two of these as there are only two characters within the trailer, the first of these being the villain, this is obviously the character who is committing the crimes and the second character is the victim, the one who is being targeted by the villain, also known as the princess within this theory. My trailer links more to the first theory rather than this theory, this is because my trailer doesn't include as many characters as this theory needs but it does have 4 out of the 5 stages for the first theory.

The final theory is the audience theory, this is where you consider what the audience wants, and whether your audience is passive or active. Active meaning that they wanted to see your product, where as passive meaning that they have seen it without choosing to themselves. For passive audiences one theory is known, this is called the Hypodermic needle model, (1970s) this theory suggests that the trailer can inject things into the audience such as different ideas and information. This injection in terms of the trailer would hopefully give the audience a desire to watch the film itself, and the other products can help inject this same information as well as the poster could easily make somebody think that a film looks interesting. I think that my trailer links to this theory, this is because I have tried to make my trailer build up suspense and leave questions being asked by the audience.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary

texts?

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

In media products there needs to be continuity between the different products, this is so the audience know what they are looking for, all the products need to link to each other in some kind of way. For example a magazine will keep the same title in exactly the same place and have the same layout the majority of times, this is because it makes it very easy for the audience to recognise the project and therefore buy it, if there isn't any continuity between the products then the audience may not know what they are looking for and therefore not buy the magazine.

There must also be some kind of link; not just between the magazine cover, but the whole set of media products. This is where my media products work well. I have kept the same font style and font colour throughout all of my products for my title and for my slogan, this makes it easier for the audience to identify what it is. My title, ‘Vice’ is on every one of my products, with the same font (The Blood Shack), the same or very similar font size and the same font colour, white with a black outline. If I was to do a range of magazines, throughout a period of time I would keep the layout the same, as well as the title and the fonts, again continuity. I have also used the same image that is on my trailer on my poster, this is because the image works well with both and links to theme very well, as the colours are red and black (horror). Again as this picture stands out it becomes much easier for the audience to identify my different products without too much difficulty.

The main image is a key section of the poster and magazine cover as it is the most striking and it will be what catches the audiences eye first. The main image tells a story in its self, and can create that link between other products as the audience will remember it rather than a font. This is why I think it is much better to have 1 main image that stands out. However on my magazine cover I have used a different image as it suits that particular product better, due to the colour scheme and because it will entice the target audience into the magazine much better. The main reason I have changed the image is because it will make the audience want to look inside and buy the magazine as they would wonder about the new image used, so this is a positive.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

How did you use media technologies in the construction

and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Education

Evaluation