EVALUATION - Analysis of Magazine front cover

In relation to the magazine front cover, as with the poster, we did a lot of research in order to improve our knowledge and ensure that our work was as professional as possible. We looked at a number of magazines such as Film Comment, Film Maker and Total Film, rather than just evaluating Empire, in order to ensure that our experience was as wide as possible. However, we decided to use Empire as the foundation for our own magazine cover as this is the most well known and easiest to access.

We decided not to use the image we were originally going to, as we wanted Empire to appear behind his head, however we could not achieve this with the original image as it was an extreme close up, and it obscured too much of the title. We therefore decided to use the same image as is mentioned on the poster as it was the perfect size and layout. We kept it full length in order to leave enough space at the top of the page to display the title.

We then found Empire on Google Images and consequently added a new layer in Photoshop to add the image. We then saw that on Empire magazine front covers the price and date were featured just above the 'M'. We therefore included this to our own front cover so that our work would look as professional and as genuine as possible. We also found that another common feature was the tagline: "The World's Biggest Movie Magazine." We therefore included this in our magazine cover, we were careful to try and make it the same colour as the title. We also have featured a bar code on our magazine front cover, this makes it professional. A button is also displayed in the bottom right hand corner, advertising other aspects of the magazine.

The text down the left hand side illustrates what else will be featured in the magazine. We kept the fonts the same, however we enlarged the names of the films mentioned and capitalised them, also making them a different colour (black) from the rest of the text (white). To make them stand out on a difficult background we added a glow; we did this by clicking on the tool bar 'Layers' and then selecting the 'style' option. We then chose the inner glow and outer glow effects, this made our text glow white and therefore stand out. We were going to include several other images relating to the films mentioned, however we felt that they looked out of place on the cover and that our magazine had enough already on it. At the bottom left side of the magazine we had advertised a free gift. The font is the same, however the colour is blue to make it stand out, 'FREE' is in capitals to draw the audiences attention. We wanted an outer glow on this image as well and decided that yellow would be the suitable choice as again, it would draw the audiences' eyes to the gift and so also the magazine cover.

The text on the right side of the cover relates to the image of our character. 'Runaway' is the biggest text apart from the title of the magazine. Above it was advertised a new film which would spark the audiences' interest. Below the title is information about what would be included in the article as well as the page it would be featured on. All this text is in red and therefore stands out against the otherwise neutral coloured cover. Originally, the background was white however we felt this looked too plain, so we decided to use the gradient tool again - this time with a teal blue - to add depth to the image. This makes the image stand and makes our cover more interesting and appealing to the target audience.

We found it difficult using the layers on Photoshop however after using them for a while we became accustomed to using it. Overall we feel that our magazine front cover is professional and attract the intended target audience.

RACH, LUCY, NIKKI and DALE.

MAGAZINE FRONT COVER - FINAL

This is a magazine front cover advertising our film. We made this on photoshop, however, we were unable to unload the original image so this is a print screen copy. Again it is slightly enlarged, which explains any pixalation.

RACH, LUCY, NIKKI and DALE.

EVALUATION - Analysis of Poster

When we got the poster task we all decided that a lot of research would be important for us to get the best result possible. We therefore evaluated a number of posters of different genres so we could learn about the generic conventions.

We started by finding a photo, because of the time constrictions we decided to use a photo from the social networking site Facebook. We had a number of photos to choose from, we decided on our final photo as we liked his facial expression. As this photo was from Facebook it had a low quality, this meant when working on it on Photoshop it was very small. We cut the photo to just below his shoulders as we thought a close up image would be more intimidating. We also zoomed into the image as his facial expression would not have had the same impact if it was further away.

We wanted one side of the character's face to be in shadow, we achieved this by using the burn tool, dodge tool and smudge tool. Although we have never used these tools before we found them to be very effective when used correctly. We also darkened one side of the background (using the gradient tool) in order to emphasise this effect. We experimented with a number of different backgrounds before finding the one which all four of us were happy with.

We then added in the names of the actors and actresses in the top right and left hand corners. However, we then decided to move Raf's name down to the bottom left hand side as we could not keep it the size we wanted where it was. Although this did not come out the way we wanted we still think it looks very effective as it mirrors the way the characters are not on the same level. We printed his name on the light side and hers on the dark in order to have the colour of the text mirroring the characters disposition. We chose to have the surname of the actors in capital letters and in a different font so as to make them stand out, and we found that all the posters which we evaluated were edited like this as it is the actors surname which is remembered.

We chose to show the tagline right below the title so as to lead the audience into the narrative of the film. We thought it was important for our poster to feature a tagline as the majority of the posters which we analysed featured one. We spent a long time perfecting our tag line but we finally narrowed it down to four...

"Walking the knife's edge"

"Lock. Your. Door."

"Stop. You die. Move. He'll see you."

"learn your limits."

We liked the full stop effect of the "Lock. Your. Door." line and so we decided to edit this effect into the tagline which originally read "Stop, you die, move, he'll see you." We chose to display the tagline in white to reflect the nature of the female character in the plot-line, we also thought it stood out dramatically against the dark background.

We searched google images for credits as, again, it is a generic convention of a film poster. We specifically chose one which was white on black, mirroring the contrast of the characters natures and keeping in theme with the rest of the poster. We chose to fade the writing into black at the foot of the poster to show how the narrative holds dark secrets and the shadows conceal its mystery.

The release date is shown just below the credits in order to keep it separate from the title at the are already linked by their colour. We chose to just show the year it is released rather than a specific date as we though this would leave more mystery in relation to the film.

We have shown the knife as a background to the title to represent the violent narrative of the film, we also made it glow in order to make it standout against the dark background and emphasise its significance.

The title "Runaway" is displayed in a mismatched handwritten font to show the typical thriller genre. We spent a long time selecting the perfect shade of blood red and the exact font which we had visualised for our poster plan. We then positioned the title in the correct place on the knife in order to make the mind relate it with a blood-covered knife which we had originally planned to include, the red also signifies danger.

The main problem which we encountered when editing this poster together was the size of the image we had planned to use. We overcame this by using a print screen of the image when zoomed in on Photoshop to post on the blog, and the effect didn't turn out too bad.

RACH, LUCY, NIKKI and DALE.

POSTER - FINAL

This is our 'main' poster for our film. We made this on photoshop however this is a print screen version as we were unable to upload the original. This is also slightly zoomed in which explains why some of the text is pixilated.

RACH, LUCY, NIKKI and DALE.

EVALUATION - Creativity of our piece

Over the course of the two years, I feel that personally I have improved greatly in my knowledge of Media techniques and effective editing. I'd say this is partly due to the influence that Media holds over me after gaining a strong understanding of different mediums that allow me to actively analyse them. It's perhaps due to this that it's reasonable to say that creativity has improved greatly from the first project we had ever done. The evidence can be seen on my old blog where we had difficulties being effective in creating an interesting piece.

Our whole teaser trailer is composed of creative ideas from all members of the group. This is reflected in our finished piece as well as the overall marketing campaign.

Our whole mise-en-scene, editing and titles all combine together to create an effective piece of footage which I feel produces interest for the audience.

For example, the transitions that we used. We used a mixture of fade-to-blacks and flashes. These fades represented time passes and the flashes represented a change in time. To further this, these changes in time were shown in a brighter colour not only to show this contrast but also represent happier times. This is a direct opposite to the dingy colour that our female protagonist is currently in.

The music and sounds are used effectively I feel. The music slowly builds up suspense as the antagonist finally draws a knife. The editing and shot selection reflect the feel that is created through the use of music, making it seem ever more professional. As for sounds, we could have used them a little better. It's partly due to the sounds we gained from the Internet. They didn't have an authentic feel to them so they do feel a little 'slapped on'. Otherwise I'd say we utilised sound to the fullest extent.

The whole mise en scene I feel was incredibly effective. We studied locations, lighting and even costumes to ensure that our piece looked as natural and professional as possible. It all combined together to create an effective piece. Our use of lighting was exceptional I feel, especially in the home our protagonist is trapped in. If you look to the final few shots, you can see the dim lit kitchen - a reflection of our female character's feelings.

The titles were spaced conciously amongst the various shots. They flowed with the little narrative that was given, as well as the music. The font is crisp and clear with a blood red outline, giving the sense that purity is slowly become swarmed in bloodshed.

Overall I'd say we made a very concious effort to be creative in developing our media film. Despite a few aspects that could have been made better, I do feel that we gave it our all. From the location down to the costumes, we made an effort to be as effective as possible so that it generates interest and curiosity.

-Dale

EVALUATION - Tomorrow

Tomorrow we plan to discuss the changes that have been made with the other members of the group, when first making the changes I saved it under a different name so that if the others didn't like it it would be easily changed. We will show then the background, change in text and added bubble and tag line. I'm sure however they will like most of what we have done and will only have further improvements for us, we all talked about changing the back ground and also the text. Having the film names in a different colour and also in capitals makes them stand out which will attract an audience who likes those films to the magazine. We also had 'FREE' in capitals letters and a bigger font so that this also attracts the audiences attention. I think they will like these.

After we have discussed the changes and made sure everyone is happy with the final products we will upload the poster and magazine cover to the blog, both original and zoomed in versions. We will then post as a group what choices we made when making these texts and why, what problems we came crossed and how we over came them.

Rach.

EVALUATION - Today's progress

As Rach mentioned below we spent some more time today finishing off our magazine cover as we have already finished the poster. We spent some time in some frees this morning working on it with one of our other friends who is very familiar with the use of photo shop and we made some changes to the work we had done in our previous lessons. We made the finishing touches to the magazine cover which is now virtually finished. We will spend some time tomorrow making the final alterations if there is anything which any of us are not satisfied with and we will then post both finished products on the blog.

Alterations we made today included...

a) Adding in a coloured background to add interest to the image.

b) Adding in the tagline of the magazine brand Empire which we used, "The Worlds Biggest Movie magazine." We spent some time ensuring that this phrase was shown in exactly the same colour toning as the title so it fit in seamlessly.

c) adding in a button in the bottom right hand corner with a further advertisement to add more elements of interest.

d) We adapted the size and colouring of the "FREE" advertisement in the bottom right hand corner, experimenting with highlighting effects to make the righting stand out, and using larger, capitalised lettering for the word "FREE"

e) We also changed the colouring of the articles displayed down the left hand side and removed the image we had placed there before.

All in all I think we have made great progress today, and I am looking forward to collectively reviewing our progress tomorrow so we can perfect the images and FINALLY post them on the blog!

Lucy :)

EVALUATION - Audience and theories.

After learning about audience reactions to films and various other media texts, I thought about our target audience and our attempts to clarify them in our teaser trailer.

Overall I'd say that our target audience is directed towards mid-late teenagers to early adulthood. Though it may primarily be targeted at males, I imagine from our female protagonist will also attract the opposite sex. The general consensus is that females enjoy seeing their own gender in a position of power. This is however contradictory to our trailer where you can see the lead female isolated within her own home. It can be assumed that our character is easily related to, perhaps through similar situations.

The appeal behind a thriller/horror genre like this comes mainly from the interest in gore and fright. There have been theories made that suggest some people enjoy the twisted nature of seeing gore, an otherwise considerable taboo subject in the real world. Another possible reason may again be the lead character who is female. For sex-driven males, it is a selling point. Look to other such films where the overly attractive female characters usually get killed off after risqué encounters with a male counterpart. To reinforce the idea, our marketing campaign has reflected such ideas. The composition of our poster and teaser trailer are one such example through the use of subtle techniques such as editing.

Our film is very much targeted at those who are active in decoding films and creating their own meanings. This is partly due to the enigma that's shown in the trailer as well as the confusion that would be caused if it were a real film. This active audience applies to the Uses and gratifications theory. This theory suggests that the audience play an active part in a film, interacting with it in different ways. These people use films as a point of social conversation and to escape their daily troubles. It involves themselves being entertained whilst at the same time creating their own understanding of the narrative through their own experiences.

However, having said this, some members of the audience may fall under the Hypodermic Needle Model. This assumes the audience are passive members whose reactions are predictable, measurable and related to the stimulus the film gives. For example, witnessing a decapitation in a film may generate a shock from the audience as was intended. It can vary as these 'measurable' reactions do not account for their own personal experiences. This theory 'injects' the audience with ideologies. Both theories can be applied to our film, however I'd think that the Uses and gratifications theory is the likeliest one.

-Dale

EVALUATION - Today - continued

The post below states what I did in one free, this post will show the progress we made in another free today.

I wanted to show what we had done in the first period - likely the new background was liked (a lot) and it was agreed that the other pictures showing the other films mentioned were unnecessary.

In this free we arranged the text some more so that it took up a lot of the cover but without making it feel over crowded. We added a yellow glow to the blue (free gift) text this makes it stand out from the other text and draws the audience to the free gift, this will attract them to the magazine. We then found a circle which is something featured on magazine front covers, it advertises something in the magazine which is separate from what has been mentioned. We wanted to find a coloured one and we were likely as the one we found was grey/blue and had yellow writing, this made it stand out from the rest of the text. We found this by search images on google, we then cut it in paint and photo shop so it had no back ground and was the right size.

I thought the top part of our magazine cover looked a bit bare and we noticed that some of the empire magazines have a tag line - The Worlds Biggest Movie Magazine - so we added this in at the top left hand corner, this makes our magazine look complete. At first we were worried that as we had changed our background the bar code (having a white background) would stand out too much and look out of place. However after looking at other Empire magazine front covers we found it to be a common feature.

I am extremely pleased with the work we have done today, we have basically finished! We even made print screen copies of our work so we could post it straight from photo shop and then a closer image so the size would not be a problem.

Rach.

EVALUATION - Today

In a free period day I and one of my friends decided to work on the magazine front cover. I asked my friend - Simone - to come with me as she is doing IT and knows a lot about photo shop, I thought her knowledge and opinion would help us make our coursework look as professional as it could be.

First our group had talked about having a different background apart from white so this is what we worked on first, I thought our magazine cover needed more colour so we played around with different blue backgrounds, instead of just having a block colour we used the gradient tool to make the blue fade into white. This looks very effective and we were pleased with the result.

We then looked at other magazine front covers and rearranged our text. I added more text to the Runaway section as I thought as a main article it would have more than one line, we made this text red. We then made the rest of the text white but change the names of each film mentioned to black to make it stand out. We then added a glow to the text to make it stand out against a sometimes dark background. We chose to get rid of the picture of Avatar at the bottom as we thought it looked out of place, we chose just to hide it instead of get rid of it completely as I wanted to check with the other members of my group. I thought it look out of place and thought our magazine had enough text that we didn't need the photo.

The text which states the free gift is in blue so that it stands out from the other text. I think we did a lot in the period and I am very glad Simone helped us as it was very helpful to have an outside opinion.

Rach.

EVALUATION - Reception Theory (Inglourious Basterds)

Just the other day in our media lesson, we learnt about the Reception Theory and applied it to Inglourious Basterds. In basic terms this is how the audience perceives a media text and their own opinions on it. There are three different readings that a person can have when viewing a text.

Dominant Reading - The individual agrees with the views and ideas that the film aims to bring across. In the case of Inglourious Basterds, the individual will oppose Hans Landa and the nazi opposition.

Negotiated Reading - The individual neither agrees with the views or disagrees. In the case of Inglourious Basterds the person may not necessarily oppose Hans Landa, but instead understand that it may not necessarily be the correct thing however it is his duty as Colonel and "Jew Hunter".

Oppositional Reading - The individual completely disagrees with the views the film brings across. In the case of Inglourious Basterds the person may agree with Hans Landa and his motives. The person is likely to advocate the actions of a character who isn't necessarily considered 'good'. This is oppositional to what Quentin Tarantino wanted to deliver; that the Colonel is an enemy.

Our film is similar in this regard in that it can be read in various ways. Some may choose to side with the victim, others may decide to enjoy the torment that our evil character gives her. It's dependant on the backgrounds of each individual viewing the film. Their upbringing, their personality and how they view the world all relate to their methods of decoding a film into a form whereby they can make sense of it. Some males may have a rather chauvinist attitude to women and therefore enjoy the terror that the main female character has to endure. There are other reasons to have a negative reading of our film but that is one such example. A negative reading doesn't necessarily mean the audience sides with the enemy, but it can also mean how they react to the film. For example, when Hans Landa casually murders the Jews hiding under the floorboards in such a flippant manner, it can be viewed rather comically by some, perhaps partly due to the reason that his character was instantly made humorous after taking out an obscenely large pipe.

I'd imagine our film can be taken rather seriously as the audience is likely to understand the fret that our protagonist feels. There will be some who find it comical but that's very much the same for most films. I imagine it can affect the way that a film may be produced. If the director wishes to create a scene in a particular way, he may have to create it in a particular way so that it reflects upon the narrative and tone of the scene. This should make the audience understand the reasoning behind the existence of the construction of said scene.

-Dale

RESEARCH AND PLANNING - Harry Potter Posters 4-7

This post shows the posters for the Harry Potter films 4 - 7.

This is the poster for the forth Harry Potter film. Like the others it has a blue tint to it, however this one is a lot darker than the other three. The sky is black signalling a storm is coming and the white mist around the characters shows that they are 'good' but is also adds mystery to them as if they or someone could be hiding behind the mist. The is the first poster in which more than the three many characters are shown. This could shown that in this film a lot more characters play a critical part in the film. Three of them are holding wands this suggests that there will be a lot of action in this film, also the gravestone like shadow shows that someone - possibly one of the characters shown on the poster will be dead by the end of the film. Harry in looking down on the audience suggesting that he is in control and that he is powerful this can be seen as intimidating and the audience may question whether or not Harry knows what to do with the power he has. The tag line is much the same as the last film this could suggest that they characters lives are constantly hectic and like a roller coaster but also perhaps that it adventure and disorder is the only common, reoccurring thing in there lives and that perhaps they need the drama. I think this is a very interesting film poster that will attract an audience to go and see the film.

This is the poster of the fifth Harry Potter film. Although Harry is in the centre of the poster he is not the biggest image this could suggest that he has to rely on his friends a lot in this film. This is confirmed as his two best friends are the largest images. Harry holds a wand which shows the genre of the film and also that there may be a battle in the narrative. The title is in the same familiar font which is not widely recognised, just seeing the P will tell they audience that they are looking at part of the Harry Potter brand. The white light around Harry suggests that even though he may stray a little in this film and need his friends support more that he is still 'good'. There is a date at the bottom of the poster, it is in the same font as the title; this makes it stand out. As Harry Potter is such a big film they can put the exact date it will be released as there will be a lot of people wanting to see it.

This is a poster for the sixth Harry Potter film. It shows the three main characters and the headmaster of Hogwarts, it makes sense that he is on the poster as (as many fans would of already read) this is the last film/book he is in. All four are holing there wands and have serious expressions on their faces, this shows that although the film will probably contain some humour, it is a serious film and the narrative of this film will have big effects on the final film. Not all of the title is some and as I have said above it is not even needed, the font of the letters that are shown especially the P are enough for an audience to recognise which film it is. The credits match the off balanced title - this could show that this film contains big changes and that the characters will be different - something very significant happens in this film and no one will be the same after it. The July 15 is as big as the tag line - this shows that the people making the poster don't really expect an audience to look closely at it - they expect an audience to release it is Harry Potter, look at which book it is and then check for a release date. This is very true in most cases this is why they are able to keep the posters so simple, they are still effective.

This is a teaser poster of the seventh Harry Potter film, this film is going to be split into two parts - however on this poster it doesn't say if this is a poster for part 1 or 2 so I am going to assume it is a teaser poster for the films as a whole. The film shows a forest - this could be the forest that is mentioned at Hogwarts as it is more famous for containing the unknown. This would add enigma as the audience would not know what to expect. There is a white stag which an audience will recognise as being a 'symbol' for Harry (or his father) - the white light surrounding the deer tell the audience that this deer is good and 'here to help' The tag line suggests that Harry (the stag) will be the hero in this film, the use of the word one suggested to the audience (if they didn't already know) that this is the last film as it is saying that there is 'one way' and 'one fate' which implies that everyone will find their 'destiny' in this film and that perhaps harmony will be restored after it. As this is a teaser poster not much information is given - there is a Harry Potter website at the bottom instead of a release date. I suspect that closer to the films release there will be more posters which give away more about the narrative for both parts 1 and 2.

Rach.

RESEARCH AND PLANNING - Harry Potter Posters 1-3

In these posts I am going to look at the Harry Potter posters, as it is such a big brand I expect to find some similarities between the poster. The first poster will probably be the most different as although the books where huge the whole brand of Harry Potter had not been formed yet, the last poster i also expect will be different as it is a teaser poster for a film which will not be released for a while, also the last film is split into into two parts and so the teaser poster for the 'deathly hallows' so it cannot give away to much about the narrative.

This is a poster for the first film, the name Harry Potter is already well known therefore it makes sense to have it as the biggest text. There is no mention of actors of directors as they are not needed, Harry Potter is enough to attract an audience to watch the film. The poster assumes that most people who will see the film will have read the books and therefore the background will be familiar. The big castle will tell the audience that it is Hogwarts however for people who haven't read the books it insinuates fantasy and magic. The boats heading towards the castle again will be recognised by people who have read the books and it is photographed so the audience may feel as if they are traveling to Hogwarts to. For people who haven't read the books the boats might symbolise that the castle is hard to get to and only a certain number of lucky people are allowed, this again adds to the fantasy genre. 'The magic begins' as a tag line is effective as it will excite the audience who have been waiting for the film to come out for a long time. It also is another genre and narrative indicator. The poster overall does not give away much about narrative, this could be because of the books and so they feel as if they do not need to mention much about narrative also it adds enigma to the poster as the audience does not know, even if they have read the books, what parts will be included in the film and what will be left out. As the books where so big and this film has been long awaited they are able to put a date at the bottom of the poster instead of just 'coming soon'.

This is a poster for the second Harry Potter film, as you can see the font and colour of the title has been kept the same, this is so the audience can recognise it straight away especially the lightning part of the P. The title is surrounded by a blue glow, this makes it stand out and also looks like blue sky this links with the lightning on the P. The huge success of the first film started the Harry Potter brand and that meant on this poster they could show the three main characters and even without the actors names they will be recognised. Hermione with her wand tells the audience that there will be a lot of magic in this film, Ron with her broken wand and facial expression shows the comedy aspect of the film and Harry holding a sword shows the action parts of the film. the sword also insinuates that the characters are in danger and it is up to Harry to save them. The light shining behind them show that these are the good characters and the edges of the poster show part of an old wall, this would tell the audience that most of the film will be set in Hogwarts, like the last one. Again at the bottom is a date in which the film will be released, this is in white so that it stands out. The characters are all shown wearing their school uniform, this tells the audience that they should still be treated think children.

This is the film poster of the third Harry Potter film. This poster again shows the main three characters however this time they are in their own clothes, this tells the audience that they are no longer children but teenagers or young adults and also that they may be given more responsibility in this film. The tag line 'everything will change' gives away part of the narrative as well as the wanted posters. On the same side as the wanted posters is a man who is almost hidden, he is the same man on the posters, this insinuates that he is the prisoner who has escaped and that he could be the reason why everything changes. The circular background looks almost like a spiral stair case - this could show the confusion the characters will feel in this film and also that they may have to run away or that people will be chasing them. The flowers round the edge suggest that they will be outside a lot and also maybe that other settings will be used instead just Hogwarts. The hand in the left corner shows that the characters are in danger and the shrunken heads suggest that new strange characters will be introduced in this film. Harry is holding a wand which shows clearly the genre of the film, he also holds a map which people who have read the books will recognise. Again at the bottom the month and year is given for the films release this could suggest that the poster is being shown a while before the film will be released.

Rach.

RESEARCH AND PLANNING - Silence of the Lambs Poster Analysis

The Silence of the Lambs poster immediately draws attention to Jodie Foster, the character at the front of the cover. This is due to the smaller title/credits at the bottom of the poster which is likely to be intentional. (A thing to note is that there are a lot of subtleties to the image, not only generating interest, but also indicating the genre.)

The image of the character is in black and white, with a high contrasting red to create distinct points of interest. The use of the white face signifies purity and goodness. The darker background however suggests she has gotten herself into troublesome matters as one element of good is trapped in blackness. Jodie Foster's eyes are a dark blood-red signifying perhaps a grim storyline that is likely to be filled with bloodshed. The title is also in an orange-y red, again reinforcing the genre through the indication of blood. At the center of the poster is a brown moth to contrast against the purity of the main character. Looking deeper into the image of the moth, you can see a white skull, showing not only importance as a genre indicator but also relevance to the narrative if people chose to watch the film.

Although the poster gives indicators of the genre, it does challenge the typical conventions of a horror/thriller based narrative by displaying Jodie Foster as the main protagonist. This may be appealing to not only males, but possibly females too who wish to relate to the main character in her determination and strength of will.

Just above the title are the names of the actors who take part in the film. These names are tiny compared to the credits and title. This may not be due to the actors' status but in relation to the other words it could well mean the image is more important as it is the first detail that draws attention.

Overall, the contrasting colours of white, black and red signify good, evil and blood. The poster includes subtle hints including the conveniently placed moth over the main character to relate to the title. All of these represent the genre in one way or another and the person looking at the poster should have a clear sense of what the film may be like.

-Dale

RESEARCH AND PLANNING - Harry Potter Poster - further analysis

Earlier on in the blog i analysed the poster shown below. Since then i have found a range of other posters for the same campaign which have been recently released. I plan to analyse these in comparison with the first poster released, and look at how much more they reveal about the characters and the plot and how they manage to successfully do this.

This was the first poster in the campaign which was released...

The poster shown below has also been released in advertisement for the first part of the 7th Harry Potter film. As it can clearly be seen it is designed to reveal much more about the narrative and characters involved. To those who have read the books it is a reminder of the content, and an indicator that the films are being true to the plot, and to those who haven't it is an indicator of genre and narrative, and so a suggestion of target audience. The way in which the title is hidden by the characters image shows that the film is already well known and the producers are assuming that the audience will know the film. The font and design of the title are also shown in the signature layout of the film series, making the film clear. The background is mainly dark with a light centre, possibly mirroring the nature of the film, this shows that it is a dark narrative with some light relief represented by the light shining in the centre of the background. The quote from the film "I open at the close" is acting as a tag line at the foot of the poster, shown just below the image of the character holding the snitch which is related to the quote. The bottom of the image fades into darkness showing that there is mystery and unanswered questions in the narrative. The credits are again shown in an unobtrusive small white font.

The poster below has also been released as part of the advertising campaign for harry potter and the deathly hallows. Again a quote from the film is used which is in relation to the image itself. A smaller less obvious image is also used above this quote, another reference for those who have read the books, and a tantalising hint for those who haven't to cause them to ask questions about the plot. The background is again blank darkness, however the tiara/diadem seems to be lighting it up, a possibly reference to the story line, of how Harry, the main character, brings hope to the world like light to darkness. The title and the words "coming soon" are shown in white and silver, a reflecting on the tiara/diadem, and to allow them to stand out against the dark background.



The following posters may not be official promoters of the advertising campaign, however, they are still being used to promote the release of the film. The one below mirrors the darkness of the narrative and also reveals two of the main characters to the audience. Within the mysterious darkness of the background is the title, shown clearly at the bottom of the screen in a light reflecting silver to stand out, possibly again representing how the character Harry brings light to the darkness of the storyline.

The final poster shown below is also an indicator of narrative, and displays the title as the predominant feature of the poster. The darkness again reflects the narrative, although this poster appears to be more of an advertisement of the book than the film.

Lucy :)

EVALUATION - Creativity and Our Trailer

For our coursework in A2 in were trying to create a teaser trailer for a film along with a marketing campaign of a film poster and a magazine cover. We took the generic conventions of teaser trailers and posters, mixed them with our own ideas and incorporated them into our own production.

The purpose of this was to attract an audience and create a buzz about our film. Since year 12 our creativity has greatly improved. We have learnt to consider our production details in more depth. We spent time planning and organising where we were going to film, the shots we were going to use, the mise-en-scene needed, sound etc. We used a variety of creative camera shots and angles to portray meaning into our trailer, such as high angles for vulnerability etc. and to make it more interesting. We were creative in the way in which we only filmed with the tripod. This was because from our previous ear 12 work with our film opening 'Racket' we mostly used handheld shots which made our film look like bad quality and blurry. With the use of a tripod, our shots were steady and much better quality. We incorporated music into our trailer, as we did not do previously in year 12, which made the feel for our trailer seem more real.

Nikki Stock

EVALUATION - Reception Theory (Inglorious Bastards Opening Analysis)

This can be seen as an extension of the Uses and Gratification Theory. It is more focused on the audience and their response to the text itself. This theory states that no text has one simple meaning. As the audience have their own experiences they can interpret texts in different ways, giving a single text many different meanings. The theory tries to understand how the factors such as, age, race, gender, social class etc, effects our interpretations of texts.

There are three main reading forom this theory; the dominant, negotiated and oppositional readings of text. The dominant reading is where the audience take the same view as intended by the creators of the media text. The negotiated reading is where there is mixed interpretation from the audience of what the text is supposed to mean. And the oppositional reading is where the audience takes the opposite view than intended.

We watched the opening of Inglorious Bastards by Quinton Tarrentino in class. We had to analyse this opening 10 minutes to say which reception theory reading could be taken from this sequence. The dominant reading could be -the Kernel Landy is humorous and appealing to the audience but he is a Natzi and is seeking out the Jews to shoot them. When we first meet him though he is seen as a gentlemen towards the girls. The audience may feel sympathetic towards the Farmer by the look on his face when he knows what is about to happen and a tear runs down his face. However, the second view is negotiated. This can be where the Kernel is seen as just doing his job, otherwise he would get killed himself. Or that the Farmer has put his family in danger looking after the Jewish family and shouldn't have hidden them. Lastly, the oppositional view would be siding with the Kernel seeing him as the 'hero' or not finding him funny at all, just repulsive and horrible.

Drawbacks of this theory are that everyone is unique so the theory cannot comprehend the complexity of our responses to the media. It also doesn't take into account the everyday factors, such as what time of day it is we consume the text, or what mood we are in etc. We also consume texts in different ways as well, whether we are at home in our lounges or out with friends at the cinema. These factors all change our interpretations of the media texts consumed.

Our trailer can be interpreted differently for everyone. Some may find it scary and unnerving, some may find it funny and enjoy the fact that these characters are worse off and in danger.

Nikki Stock

EVALUATION - Hyperdermic Needle Theory

This is a theory which identifies the type of the audience and how they respond to the text. It suggests that the audiences responses are always predictable, measurable, and directly related to the specific media stimulus. They believe there are two types of audience; passive and active.

The passive audience are injected with ideologies. They are seen to accept the presented version of events to them. The downfall of this approach is it doesn't account for the emotional responses that may occur. This is because everyone has different life experiences and this may effect the way they see/ interpret each text.

The active audience are seen to interact with the text, ie. they question it. They don't sit and agree with the ideologies they are being injected with, they rebel and question it and create different meanings from the text.

Our trailer can be seen fit for a passive audience as some of the close up shots, along with the music dictates our audiences feelings and tells them to be scared to. At the end of our trailer, where Megan breaks down and slides down the cupboard crying, giving up, can make the active audience interact with it. They can feel sympathy for her as she is stuck or feel pity for her as she doesn't try to escape. She can be seen as either weak or vulnerable.

Nikki Stock

EVALUATION - Uses and Gratification Theory

This theory suggests that the audience chooses what, how and when they consume media texts. They can actively consume text for different reasons in different ways. Blumer and Katz expanded this theory saying why the audience may consume texts. Their reasons include:

• diversion- to escape from their everyday troubles and woes.


• personal relationships- using the media for emotional interaction


• personal identity- constructing their own identity within the characters and learning from their behaviour and values


• surveillance- to gather information such as, educational values, weather, news etc.

They believe that the audience watches these texts to learn information and use it as escapism from their real lives to make them feel better. It can give them social interaction with others and give them a sense of identity if they relate to the characters onscreen. More recently there is a new argument that people watch texts to fulfill their hierarchy of needs, which was created by Maslow.

However, there have been criticisms of this uses and gratification theory. Some argue that it is too simplistic. Everyone is unique and watches media texts for different reasons and react to them in different ways, so it is impossible to analyse everyone's view, about why they decide to watch certain texts at certain times. Also, it may not be a direct need/ desire to watch certain texts. The consumers may be tired at the end of the day and just decide to passively watch what is available on television. Advertisements are slotted in the middle of the television programmes and most of the consumers may not want to consume these adverts, but have no choice as it disrupts the programme they are watching.

Nikki Stock

EVALUATION - Director's Commentary

This is a link to our trailer Runaway:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P70hIAhZ5Hg
If you watch the trailer and the read the commentary or watch and read at the same time (with pauses) then you will see in this text I have tried to explain our thought processes when filming in the form of a typical Director's commentary:

We chose to start with a close up shot of a bag as we thought it would be a good narrative indicator as it shows someone bag packing. It also adds enigma as no face in shown. The varied angles which we have next used show the confusion of the character and they keep the trailer moving at a fast rate. As shown we have used fade to blacks between shot, we thought that this made the trailer flow and we could also show the difference between the present shots and the flash back sequences. We changed the colour contrast of each flash back so that they almost look like a dream as we thought this is how the character may feel about those past times; they were too good to be true. We chose the school setting from the first flash back sequence as we wanted to use everyday settings, these settings would make the audience feel comfortable at first but also scared as these are places you should be safe. This is the first time we show the male character, he helps the female character pick up her books; the audience will mostly likely be confused as these scenes are a big contrast from the panic of the last scenes. Also the music suggests he is bad or something bad will happen, but he is helping her, our aim was to have the audience feel this confusion.

We chose the caption font carefully and we liked the red glow as it symbolised danger and that there could be bloodshed in the film. The mention of dreams relates to the past flash back scene and the colour contrast. In the next scene we only use two shots, the high angle shot shows the female characters confusion and that she is in a very vulnerable situation. In the other shot she’s her getting her passport, this tells the audience clearly that she is planning to run away. To show the difference between the flash backs and the present time we have also used a fade to white instead of a fade to black before each flash back and at the end of each one. This almost looks like a flash and warns the audience that they are ‘jumping around in time’. The long shot of Eric and Megan shows them having fun and it makes the audience feel as if they are watching them, this may make them feel slightly uncomfortable even though it is a happy scene. The next caption is in the same red font as before and it again mentions dreams, the ... at the end tell the audience this sentence is not over and the ‘but’ at the beginning will make them already think that the rest of the sentence will be negative.

In the next shots we keep the editing extremely quickly as the tension builds in the trailer, the high angle shots again show how vulnerable the female character is. We chose to have a high angle shot here as it would link with the voice over, this shows to the audience that it is the male character that has power over her and it almost looks as if he is looking down on her. The audience might also feels as if they are more powerful than her and therefore that they need to protect her. Using the voice over we have linked the past and the present parts of the trailer, the bodily language of the characters demonstrates that she is hearing the voice over as well and so they audience can ask the question; is it all in her head? The next caption mentions nightmares, all of the captions have something linked to the subconscious, this correlates the genre of the film as a psychological thriller and also makes the audience ask questions about what parts in the film are ‘reality’ and what are ‘fantasy’. The costumes the audience have seen the characters in we have thought carefully about, the female character wears bright colours and is in one scene wearing white this shows she is an innocent happy character whereas the male character is always seen in dark colours. This tells the audience that he cannot be trusted.

The sound track builds to in climax as the knife is pulled out of the draw, we were careful to match the soundtrack with the shots so we could get the most dramatic effect out of the shots. The way the knife is held in front of the camera shows its holder to be calm and understand compliantly what he is doing, this may unnerve the audience. The long shot shows the female character running down the stairs, throughout the trailer the pace in which this character moves shows her panic and need to get away this is a big genre and narrative indicator. We chose to show her getting a pen knife in a similar way to the male character getting a kitchen knife as we thought it would show the audience how even thought she is trying to defend herself she cannot win. We did not use a high angle shot like we did with the kitchen knife, this shows that the pen knife she has will not have as much impact as the kitchen knife.

We found the sound effect of a door knocking, made it faster so it sounded more urgent and repeated it a number of times, we used a shot reverse shot to show the audience where the sound was coming from. The female characters reaction to the door knock show how on edge and nervous she is. We times it show at first the phone ring and the door knock did not over lap and then we repeated the door knock again for dramatic effect. There is a shot reverse shot with the mobile phone again to show the audience where the sound is coming from. We chose to have one coming from the left and one from the right as it would make the character feel as if she was surrounded. The last shot shows her at the side of the screen, we did not want her in the centre as we thought having her to the left would reflect her off balance feeling and tell the audience that something is not right. We continued the sound of the phone and we faded the soundtrack out. The font we used for Runaway is different from the captions as we wanted it to stand out. It glows white to show the innocence of the female character, it is also slanting to the right and therefore looks as if it is 'running away'. The '2011' is in the same glowing red font as the captions to remind the audience that there will be danger in the film.

Rach.

EVALUATION - Reception Theory

The reception theory is an extension of the uses and gratifications theory. It is mainly based on how an audience responses to a text. The Dominant reading is what most people would think after seeing a text or how they would react. The Negotiated reading is when the review but think slightly different than the dominant reading but somethings are the same. The Oppositional reading is when the review thinks completely different to what the film was trying to achieve.

In our trailer the dominant reading would be: that they feel sorry for the female character, they do not trust the male character, they want to know if the female character will be okay, scared/tense when seeing the trailer

The negotiated reading would be: knows that female character is vulnerable but doesn't really relate to her, is not that wary of the male character has he has not done anything yet, not that scared.

The oppositional reading: hope that the girl gets heart, likes the male character -he is the 'good guy' finds the tense parts of the trailer funny.

Rach.

EVALUATION - Creativity

In class we discussed creativity and we where asked the following questions:

What was the intended outcome of the production?

What was the purpose of your film?

For the first question: we looked at the generic conventions of teaser trailers and we tried to follow them but at the same time make our trailer be able to stand out on it's own. We got a lot of ideas and there was a number of ideas we didn't use but I think it is important to have more ideas than you need than not enough. The intended outcome was to make our trailer look like a proper professional teaser trailer.

For the second question: the purpose was to attract a target audience and create enigma.

When looking into creativity we looked into the shot choices we made, mise en scene, editing sound and how we have improved from our previous work. I think we were most creative with the editing as we used a lot of flash transitions and captions to make our trailer look effective. We thought a lot about shots and used a wide range of them, the shots we used told the audience about the characters (who was vulnerable, who was in control etc). We did think about mise en scene, the costumes and the settings and props etc as we think these are important parts of any production. Sound is probably the thing we have improved most, last year we didn't know how to get rid of back ground sound whereas this yea we have matched the soundtrack with the shots, used sound effects and voice overs we have also been able to fade to sound in and out.

Rach.

EVALUATION - What we did today

We went to work on our poster and magazine cover in one of our free periods and also at lunch time.

Firstly we chose what font to have our actors names in, we chose two very simple fonts, one for their first names and one for their surnames, we also put their surnames in capitals to make them stand out, we have found that having the surname bigger than the first name is a common characteristic as, for famous actors, their fans will recognise their surnames straight away. Choosing were to put the names was harder as our actor has a long surname and his name had to be in black but it meant that put of it was black out because it overlapped with his hair. We could not make the font any smaller as it was already on the smallest. This is another problem we occurred because we can not make our image larger. We decided to have Jen's name in the top right hand corner in white and Raf's name just above the knife (middle to bottom left) we liked this idea as it looked as if Raf's name was hiding in the shadow. This would give the audience clues to what his character is like. His name is also closest to the knife, this would also hint to the audience that he is the 'bad guy' of the film. I think we did really well with this idea as we have turned a problem into a positive part of our poster.

We then spent a while getting the right font, size colour and positioning of the title Runaway. We ended up choosing a rusty red colour as we thought it looked like blood. The font we chose what slanted like the font was in the thriller, it also looked a bit creep especially as the 'y' looked like blood dripping. We played around with the positioning but ended up having the title in the middle of the knife, the 'Run' was on the black handle and the 'away' was on the knife blade. Under the credits we put '2011' to tell the audience when the film will be released, this is also in red.

We then chose our tag line, we had a lot to choose from but we narrowed it down to four and then down to two, these two were:

Walking the knife's edge
Stop. You die. Move. He'll see you.

We ended up picking the second one and we liked the impacted of the full stops and how it gives the audience incite to how trapped the character would feel: is she stops running he will kill her, but if she keeps running the he will see her and then the chase will begin. I also liked how 'He'll' looked like hell at a first glance. I think this tag line works very well with our title and the general narrative of the film. We chose a simple font and put it in white so it would stand out, we placed it just under the knife and above the credits.

We then moved onto the magazine cover, we may go back to the poster but we thought we should start the cover first. We changed the original image that we were going to use as it was too big if we wanted the title 'Empire' to go behind it. So we used the same image that we used for the poster but this time kept it full length. We added the empire logo behind it and wrote out a date and price and put these above the 'M' which we have seen is a feature in the real empire magazine. We had added text to the left side and text about our film to the right, we have also added in a bar code under the title and another image at the bottom. We will probable change the text and play around with colours and font to make it look the most professional. We plan to add on a 'sticker' this is a coloured circle with something on it mainly something like 'top 25 films of the year' or a competition. At the moment our poster and magazine only use the colours black red and white so I would like to have the sticker in a bright yellow or just a different colour.

I think we are working well and I am pleased with what we have done so far.

Rach.

EVALUATION - Today's progress

Today we continued to edit our film poster and magazine cover and we have FINALLY finished the poster! :D We shall post it on the blog at some point next week along with the magazine cover once we have finished both.

We have moved the actors name down the poster slightly, as we discovered we couldn't fit it in at the top at the size we wanted without it overlapping the image. However, as though this is not what we originally planned it does look very effective, as the names are now on different levels, reflecting the characters unbalanced relationship. We also added in the title, the tag line and the release date.

For the magazine cover we have now added in the main image and have decided to use the same image as we used on the poster from a wider angle. As the one we originally planned to use did not fit in with the title as we wanted it to overlap, covering the centre of the word "Empire" however, had we used the original photo it would have obscured most of the letters. We have also added in the sub-titles down the side of the page (however we have not yet settled on a font) and have also put in the bar code. Next lesson we plan to add in a red button showing an advertisement, as is featured on many of the Empire magazines, we either plan to use one from an image on google, or create one ourselves using "paint", whichever turns out looking the most effective. We have also added in the price and release date of the magazine framed in the M of "Empire", and have placed the caption of our film image over the characters suit.

Lucy :)

EVALUATION - Creativity and Our Trailer

The purpose of our film trailer was to attract our target audience, and to build suspense about the release of the film. We feel that we have managed to achieve both of these as our skills as media studies students have progressed dramatically since last year.

I feel that our most developed areas of achievement are that of mise-en-scene, camera work and also our editing of transitions and captions etc. We spent a lot more time over planning costumes this year, ensuring that they not only reflected the characters personality, but were also fitting to the nature of the scene which we were filming. We also made an effort to adapt the lighting used to reflect the mood, for example we ensured that during filming of all the bag-packing scenes the lighting in Nikki's house was low to make it appear more eerie and mysterious, and is post-production we edited the flash-back scenes by upping the contrast to make them bright and cheerful, but also to give them a surreal glow to make it clear tat they are memories. We were a lot more creative with our camera work, adapting shots to make them high or low angle depending on the character being filmed and the scene being shot. We also used close ups and establishing shots to emphasise points and make the narrative clearer. Captions which we used this time were shown on a blank black background to make them show up and give more of an impact, whilst creating a contrast between the glowing red letters and the bleak dark background. The transitions which we used also made the trailer much more affective than last years. We used fades to black to make the images run more smoothly, and to reflect the plot line, also representing character personalities and the mood of the shots. Fade to blacks representing the scary and racy scenes, whilst dip to whites represent the happy and bright memories.

Our use of music and sound effects has also greatly improved. Last year we were unsure of how to delete the original sound from the video and so didn't use any music at all, we also attempted to record our sound effects ourselves rather than finding them on the Internet which made this years piece look much more polished and professional. The use of music also added to the overall effect and made the whole piece run much more smoothly, helping to put across the right message and influence the audience in the intended way, helping it to be a dominant reading rather than Oppositional.

I think that by being a lot more creative with our ideas and planning this year we were able to produce a much more polished and professional piece.

Lucy :)

EVALUATION - The Reception Theory and Our trailer

Every media text has many different ways of possible interpretation. The reception theory classifies these interpretations into three different readings. The Dominant reading, the Negotiated reading and the Oppositional reading.

The Dominant reading would be for the audience to interpret a text in exactly the way in which the writer intended. For example finding a thriller film scary, or a romance romantic.

The Negotiated reading would be for the audience to see the film in the intended way but also to denoted something else from it, for example finding something amusing in the romantic scene.

The Oppositional reading would be for the audience to completely misinterpret the producers message of the film and react in a way which was not intended, for example crying in a comedy or laughing hysterically at a gory scene in a horror film.

In terms of our trailer each of these readings could easily be applied. Our film is meant to be a thriller and so its intent is to scare, if it was effective then its reading would be Dominant, if it was largely effective then it would be Negotiated, and if it was completely misinterpreted it would be Oppositional, but the way in which the film is interpreted depends entirely on the member of the audience.

Lucy :)

EVALUATION - Audience Feedback

As we have posted below, in class we participated in an audience feedback session where we explained are trailers and got evaulated by our class mates. The Youtube links below show the footage:

yr 13 audience response part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xmkz_fnKilE
part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NeH8Y9ahXg

We appear in part one (the first group), the time given to answer the questions only allowed us a few sentences each. However we have a full summary of our trailer, our ideas and target audience in other posts.

The feedback we got from our class mates was very useful and we agreed with them that we should have perhaps used more locations. Also our trailer does have a narrative however we liked this as we could show the differences between the present and flashback sequences.

Rach, Lucy, Nikki and Dale.

RESEARCH AND PLANNING - 3D Poster Analysis

As the media technology is always being improved and updates, the new innovative way for the audience to consume films is in 3D. This is an example of a poster from a film previously released in 2D and has now been remade into 3D.

This poster is showing the characters in the film sitting as the audience wearing their 3D glasses, having a great time. The tag line at the top is designed to draw the audience to see this film again with the new innovative 3D experience. That is the USP of the poster, so it is in the largest text on the page, in a shining yellow/ gold font. At the bottom of the poster are more USP's such as 'Walt Disney' productions, the director 'Tim Burton' who is well renound for good films, the3D appeal of the film is greatly highlighted in a bright green font, and the picture of the glasses in the corner of the poster. IT also tells the audience the month it is released in selected cinemas.

Nikki Stock

RESEARCH AND PLANNING - Star Trek Posters

As our poster's main image is similar to the one used on a Star trek poster I thought I would analyse them. As you can see I have found two different posters therefore I will also point out the differences.



The main part of the poster is taken up by a large image of the three main characters, tow are looking straight at the camera and one (the only female) is looking over her shoulder towards the camera. The image fades into what looks like a space ship and a city sky line, there is then a long road with a man riding a motorcycle on it. There is then the words STAR TREK in a bold silver font, under this is the tag line: HE FUTURE BEGINS. These tell clearly the genre of the film, star trek has been around for a while and is very successful therefore the poster doesn't need to give away a lot about narrative or even about genre as it is so well known. However the space ship, the tag line and the familiar looking character (on the right) give away that it is a sci fi film. The poster is very blue and silver this again could be showing a sci fi, futuristic theme. The words coming soon are in bold and underneath it says that the film will be shown in the imax, therefore the audience knows that this film will be big.


This is another poster for the film Star trek, all of the text is in the same place and says the same thing as it did in the previous poster. Three characters are again shown, the order in size probable shows how big their part is in the film with the leading role being the biggest. The triangle shaped lines show that the film is set in space, either side on the lines at the top are two eyes - this person looks angry this could be telling the audience that the main characters are in danger. A space ship is also shown -this shows the genre of the film, the space ships however look as if they are fighting this shows that the film will be an action film as well as a sci fi.

Rach.

RESEARCH AND PLANNING - Stardust Poster Analysis

This poster is a good example of many images superimposed on top of each other. It shows the different characters in different situations all together on the one poster. The two main characters are at the front, standing united as one. The other characters are then placed around the edge. The title of the film is the largest text on the page, in a bright, glowing yellow/gold text. Underneath this is a tag line to tell the audience a hint of the narrative and draw them into thins. At the top of the poster as a USP is three of the main actors names. At the bottom of the poster is the production company cast and crew etc. The colours of this poster are lighter at the top, then fade into darker colours at the bottom. In the middle of the poster is a bright orange sun which contrasts with the darker colours and stands out. The feel of this poster gives the audience a hint that it is a fantasy adventure film.

Nikki Stock