Final Poster.

Final magazine cover.

Evaluation question 4-How did you use new media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?

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

Each stage of media production is produced and evaluated within a veriety of different media technologies, this is included in research, planning and editing.

  Within my research and planning stages, the initial part of my project I used various websites to upload my horror trailer research such as Traileraddict (website), Youtube (website) and IMDB (website). IMDB was particulary useful as it gave you detailed information about the film you were researching, including director, date of release, budget etc.

To receive audience feedback I used the typical way of receiving it through cam corder footage, however I then investigated into using different types of media technologie to get the feedback. These include Twitter and Facebook, which are particularly valuable as they are easy and quick to set up, whilst you can recieve a large amont of varied feedback as they are large social networking sites. Also within my target audience they work very well, as the people I communicate with are generally that particular audience 18-25.

Blogger was my way of storing information, enabling me to save it without it being lost, online and easy to access. As it auto-saves regularly, it's a very reliable way of storing work and presenting it. However I often found it difficult to upload videos, which isn't a major problem as I have a youtube account and can recieve the embed code from there, but is more time consuming. Sometimes I could only upload a few pictures at once, which again was time consuming but a reliable way of saving, uploading and presenting them on my blog. I uploading pictures I took with a still camera outside my blog, which I then went to use on my ancillary text.

Photoshop (official site)was a programme I used alot in my ancillary tasks, I had little experience using photoshop but after tutorials I got to grips with it. It was a great media technologie to use as I could pull apart pictures, create a variety of effects, add filters to create a scary zombie look which was obviously benefitial.

For my magazine cover I did a variety of drafts, one with a close-up image, adding a filter and 'chiller' font, then adding various pictures at the bottom to show features within the magazine.

I then went on to another draft after receiving feedback, I used a similar layout but considered features of existing products more and incorporated a different background image.

To create my soundtrack I used the software Garage Band, (official site) I had experience of using this tool last year and was fairly comfortable with using it. I experimented with different sounds and instruments provided my the software, using sythnesizer sounds and church bells to create a ghostly sound. I could overlay these sounds and mix them together. After creating the tracks I would save the projects into a software programme called I-movie, I used this programme last year so was relatively comfortable with it. It then got put into final cut when edited down with the footage.

I edited my main product, after importing it into I-movie and basically editing it in there.

Evaluation question 3- What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Audience feedback is a vital form of media production. Attracting an audience is what initially a product is created  for. Appealing to your target audience is one of the most important factors included in this aspect of production. For this audience to get a prefered reading. the producer needs to understand the codes and conventions of the specific genre they are working with, what appeals to their target audience and if there is a gap in the market for their product. 

To understand this fully receiving audience feedback allows you to receive criticisms, improvements and strengths, from people who understand the genre and media form you are working with. This is what I set out to do.

When considering my ancillary tasks, the film magazine cover and film poster, I produced a draft of both. Here I received feedback from fellow students of written notes, video footage and new media technologies such as Twitter and Facebook. Within my written notes I received feedback which led me to realize that I needed to do more research into magazine covers, their features and consider things such as font etc. This is also applicable to my poster, and many people said I needed to look at horror specific posters and magazines such as Fangoria, the biggest selling horror magazine in the U.S. 

Other written comments include:

. You could produce a range of different magazine covers and posters featuring different characters, as part of a franchise. This would relate to real media products such as Harry Potter.

.Directors name and star 'ALICE TAYLOR' needs to be bigger on the poster.

.Reveiws on the poster - very important.

Twitter (wiki) Feedback.

A social networking and microblogging service, enabling its users to send and use messages.

This is a great way for audience feedback as it allows you to advertise to an audience you may not beable to otherwise, to complete strangers who can 'tweet' you comments and feedback, or your followers, who are generally friends and people you know of.

Here below is just some evidence of my audience feedback from twitter and shots of me sharing my drafts of my magazine cover and poster.

Evaluation question 2 - How effective is the combination of the main product and Acillinary texts?

2) How effective is the combination of the main product and Ancillinary texts?

The most significant part of my project is generally thought of as the main final production piece - my zombie teaser trailer. However to anchor in any audience, particulary my target audience and raise awareness of the production task, I had to produce two ancillinary tasks, one a film magazine cover, and two a film poster. Both to advertise my film 'Dead North'.

Two film magazine covers:





I wanted the zombie theme to be strong throughout my production and tasks, the same 'chiller' font is used on the poster and film magazine cover to introduce the title 'Dead North' this is to link in the two tasks, whilst staying within the zombie horror genre. It is filled in at the bottom with red to signify blood. I believe the zombie horror is portrayed within these tasks as the effects I used on photoshop emphasised the gore, with blood dripping down the close-up image of the face and the ghostly effects. I think it works particulary well as you can easily identify that it is the same cast used from the different images, therefore finalising it is the same zombie horror production. The certificate rating of 18 I have given it I believe is reflected in the ancillinary tasks aswell as the main production. I tried to make the poster and film magazine cover as shocking as possible, with the bold close-up image of the face.

Film Poster:




I have kept the two ancillinary tasks relativley similar when considering font and images, the features are clearly different and are easily identified as two different ways of advertising, but for the same production. The magazine cover features a veriety of different feature stories that would be incorporated within the magazine, this is to show the realism of the product. Also showing behind the scenes images to make the cover visually more attractive and to anchor in an audience.

The black, red and white writing is a bit of a theme used within the main production and the two smaller tasks. This is to signify again the gore and seriousness of the genre, but also as a kind of trademark for the film, a recognisable colour theme perhaps which may grab audiences.

Evaluation question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms of real media products?

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

When first embarking upon creating my zombie horror teaser trailer, I wanted to create a high quality trailer which reflected the codes and conventions of a professional teaser trailer, incorporating the features which are included. The genre of zombie horror I am working with is also hard to create realism, and stray away from comical aspects. So to create this verisimilitude, I looked at a range of existing texts and pulled intertectual references to gain inspiration and ideas for my own production.

Creating a promising zombie character was perhaps my greatest challenge.  There are two types of zombie typically seen in zombie horror films,  George.A.Romeros slow moving zombie, which is often seen in films such as Night Of The Living Dead (1968) or a modern take on the zombie character in films such as 28 days later by director Danny Boyle.  I decided to go with the more modern take on zombie, this was for a number of reasons. One being to get a preffered reading from my target audience who are generally of a younger generation, who will be familiar with the more modern take on the zombie character. The film I mainly looked at from a zombie aspect is 28 Days Later (2002) by Danny Boyle.

I took inspiration from the 28 days later trailer and considered it as one of the most important sources I looked at, as it gave me an idea of how I wanted my trailer to look like and the general features which are incorporated.  The use of the white writing at the beginning on a black background with words which are related to the genre ‘Exposure’ etc, is something I wanted to incorporate into my product. A clever way of building suspense, with flickers of the film inbetween to give a glimpse of horror then speeds up with quick editing, messing with the heartbeat.

When considering real media products in the zombie horror genre, special effects and make-up are a huge part of creating a realistic zombie look. I made this section an important priority. Whilst researching I came across Tom Savini who was known as George Romeros wingman. I looked up his work on various past horror films Dawn Of The Dead (IMDB) and ^{Friday 13th.}.(IMDB)

                                          Tom Savini

After studying the way in which he incorporated make-up for a zombie look, I went on to experiment with my own. I used white make-up and black shadow to signify a dead-look, using fake-blood to signify the gore factor. Below are some extra pictures taken by me on set whilst producing the special effects.

I wanted my ancillinary texts to reflect real media products, these texts include a film magazine cover and film poster. When creating my film magazine cover, I wanted to include features on actual film magazine covers such as Empire, the biggest film magazine in the U.K and Total Film magazine. These features included a bold title, I chose ‘CUT’ to relate to the general film theme, but also incorporate the horror genre. I also included feature pictures, which show what is inside the magazine. The other feature stories are horror related, as it is a low-budget horror film magazine. This includes an exclusive interview with legendary make-up artist Tom Savini and up and coming summer zombie horror films.

Like most typical zombie films, the zombie represents something significant. For example a particular generation or social group. I decided for my zombie cast to represent a region of the u.k. Southerners came up to the north for a weekend away, where the find out the yorkshire dales is infected. They then become lost and go on a terrifying journey of being attacked/chased/infected etc. They are the worst group of people you could possibly face e.g a group of mobs.

Soundtrack

I used the software Garage Band on the MACS, which was relatively easy to use. Considering I had used it in my A.S production I was able to move on quickly with producing it. I experimented with the different instruments provided for me, using synth sounds which are more suitable to create a creepy music track. From previewing various trailers, I found that the music starts slower at the beginning and becomes quicker. This is what I tried to achieve producing a few different pieces.