Shooting Schedule

Organising and planning when was possible for me to film and when people were free and able to help me film was essential as leaving it to chance that everyone will be free when needed could resort in not being able to film when hoped.
Before I started any filming, I planned out whenever the people who were involved in my film were free and whenever I was able to film.
As my film is set in a house. Being able to film either required a free house or knowing exactly what rooms were needed for each shots so that I was able to inform my family of what rooms I would need.
After finding dates that I would be able to film easily on, I checked to see if the dates matched with any of the dates that the people assisting me in filming were free.
As my film only used one other person who wasn't in my family, matching dates didn't prove difficult as there weren't a large number of people.
The dates in which my house was free and the person were free we then designated to filming dates. In the end, there were 3 days in which we both able to film and have a free house. The trailer was able to be filmed within these 3 days.
Below is my shooting schedule sheet.

Re-Edit of Poster

After my feedback said that my poster was too plain and it wasn't clear it was a film poster, I re edited it featuring new cover/sell lines. I mention the directors name as well as the film title so people know that its a film and what it is called.
To keep my viral advertising technique, which is why it was plain in the first place, I state that it is found footage to make it appear to be real life.

Re-Edit of Magazine Cover

After looking at my feedback for my magazine cover, I made some changes.
In order to show that my magazine is free, I now state this on the cover to avoid any confusion for the audience/customers.
I also added a skyline just to make the magazine look more traditional as skylines are used in many magazines and one of my comments was it was too plain.

Evaluation Question 4

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

Throughout the development stage of my media products, I used a variety of different technologies. This includes programmes such as Blogger, Photoshop, iMovie, Google, Slide-share, Power-point, Prezi and YouTube.

Blogger
I used the programme blogger to store all of my work. It is also an easy way to publish my work electronically. This is an ideal programme to use as it allows for easy marking, improvements and editing.

Photoshop
Photoshop allowed me to use many different editing techniques all on one programme. There is a great range of tools that allowed me to edit photos effectively. This programme also allows you to save it under many different file types which means easy uploading to many different website or file areas.

iMovie
This editing software was very useful to use as it has a section specifically to make trailers. The software was very easy to get to grips with and enabled you to save versions of your film and then make easy adjustments then upload your finalised version to a variety of websites. This easy uploading saved a lot of difficulties with saving it under specific file types.

Google
Google allowed me to be able to search for any information required. It enabled me to find photos that were relevant to specific posts and ask any questions or research needed information.

Slide-share
Slide-share gave me the opportunity to share any power-points that I had made. Blogger cant share power-points directly made Microsoft's Power-point. However, uploading to slide-share meant that I was easily able to put my Power-point onto my blogger.

Power-point
Power-point is a programme that allows you to easily make a slideshow of information. This can save time and make your posts look more professional.

Prezi
Prezi is a more advanced, inventive and visually entertaining way of creating slideshows. It is easy to use and allows you to create interesting slides of information rather than just having slide after slide. It gives you the opportunity to use many different styles with many different ways of connecting each slide. Unlike Microsoft Power-point, you can embed Prezi's straight onto blogger saving the hassle of doing it via another website (E.G. Slide-share).

YouTube
YouTube was very useful as it allowed me to easily upload my videos to the internet. It was one of the websites that iMovie was connected to for even easier uploading. It also provided an easy way of getting my trailer onto my Blogger as you can import directly from YouTube to Blogger.

Evaluation Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I gave my 3 media products to a group of students of various ages. Some were part of my media class and others were just friends. I asked for honest opinions and what improvements they felt were possible.
The good thing about using other students is that not only do they have knowledge to give insightful improvements, they are also within my target audience age range.
Both male and female students were asked in this exercise with a varying age range of 16-19.

The information I gathered told me that the issues with the trailer include;

• Quality of recording issues - at some points of quick, sudden movement the picture loses quality and blurs/pixelates
• One shot too bright - the scene with the slamming doors is too bright and it loses some effect 
• Too much text and not enough shooting - one student didn't like the use of text shots. Even though I was challenging a filming style they didn't think it worked
• Too short - more shown to help entice the audience

What people liked;

• The use of text shots to create tension - another student said the suspense of the fades from the text shots worked well
• Continuity - for something filmed over a few days the continuity was kept well
• Mystery kept - nothing was revealed in the trailer and made the student want to know more
• Story well summarised - from the text shots, a good amount of information was given within the trailer. 

With the film poster, people said the issues were;

• Not enough information given - with only one mysterious cover line its not even clear its a film poster
• Too confusing with the face removed - Didn't understand why the face had removed, didn't appear to have more than one meaning.

However, people liked;

• The graphical design - they said the poster looked visually attractive
• The clever cover line - they said it made them want to know more
• The mysterious feel - they liked the lack of information as it made them want to know more about the film. 

The issues with the magazine cover were as follows; 

• Not much on cover - very few cover lines on the front cover
• Basic layout - the layout of the cover is fairly basic

The good points with the magazine cover - 

• Nice main image - good picture to use for main image 
• Nice colour scheme - the colours in the front cover worked well
• Nice spacing - front cover not too cluttered. 

After going over all the comments, its clear that only minor improvements are needed as a majority of the comments are positive and not every person who was part of my review sample gave a negative comments. Overall I am very happy with the comments. 

Evaluation Question 2

How effective is the combination of your main task and ancillary tasks? 

The combination of my film trailer and the poster and magazine cover have a very good effect as the link together to create one big sense of mystery.
The technique I used on my poster of removing the characters face creates a sense of mystery as it isn't clear as to whether they are human or some kind of spirit/demon. The sense of mystery is then reinforced as on the  magazine cover you see the character and a shadow on the wall. This shows that she is a human character and shows that there is something else in the house with them. However, with the faceless version of the character on the poster it makes the audience think if she has been possessed. There are many possibilities and the audience will want to know what the answer is.
In the trailer, not much is given away and it acts as a kind of teaser as the audience may have been hoping for more clues whereas no more information is given away. This causes the sense of mystery to be continued resulting in audiences wanting to see the film to finally receive answers.

Evaluation Question 1

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

My media product uses many forms and conventions of real media products. The way in which it does this is that the stereotypical conventions from what you would expect from a horror film are present within my product.

In the trailer I use all of the recognised techniques and conventions to show that my film is a horror. These include such conventions as slow/tense/eerie music. I also used visual conventions such as slamming doors, shadows and flickering lights. All of these techniques used reinforce the recognition of them within the horror genre.
I have developed the use of text shots with the use of a fade in and out. The use of text shots isn't irregular but isn't a convention used heavily. However in my my trailer I have used them a lot with the fade in, fade out effect to create tension as the audience have to wait and see what appears on screen causing an unnerving effect. This simple use of a fade has developed an occasional convention within the horror genre.

My poster uses typical conventions of the horror genre in the graphic design and cover lines.
The graphic design creates a sense of mystery about the film as the characters face isn't visible so we are unsure whether who or what they are. The sense of mystery created by posters is a common convention to make people who see it want to watch the film. This is why I have used that convention.
That technique is reinforced by the cover line used. The line "and you thought you were home alone" adds to this sense of mystery as it makes the audience wonder who or what is in the house with them. This is another way I have followed conventions of other media products within the horror genre.

With my magazine cover, I have followed the convention of showing a character in a vulnerable position with a shadowy figure in the background. A lot of media products within the horror genre use this techniques to embed a sense of worry in the audiences mind so that they want to see the film to see how the character copes.