Sophie Munden, Evaluation - Question Four

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

Planning - the main form of technology used in the planning stages of our promotional package was Blogger. We were able to record our thoughts and research, both product and audience. We also used software like Excel to create graphs of our questionnaire results in order to organise them and help us to see clearly our outcomes. Youtube was vital to our research as we constantly looked at trailers for Drama films in order to understand thoroughly the conventions and structure of a trailer. Smart phones enabled us to make our production journey faster as we could communicate and share ideas instantly. When it came to taking our location shots this was useful as well.

Construction - hardware was a vital part of this stage. Cameras, voice recording equiptment and computers were essential in the filming for our trailer. IMovie, made editing easy. In order to create our film poster and magazine we used Photoshop. In the planning stages we experimented by creating our own versions of already existing media texts, we discovered how easy it was to use and the effects you could create therefore influencing our decision to create our film poster by mainly using this programme.

Due to the affordability and easy access to equipment and software that helps you to create films and posters these days it has shortened the gap between the audience and the producer. The audience can now become the producer, gaining control of meaning, becoming more powerful and active.

Sophie Munden, Evaluation - Question Three

Question 3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

After deciding on a genre we used questionnaires as a form of audience research. Looking through the results, we descovered that the main thing that attracts attention in a trailer is the narrative. Because of this, while filming and editing our trailer we decided against using special effects and stuck to the basics, hoping to let the narrative be the main focus and so not to distract from it.

We also found out that roughly three quarters of our audience do not read film magazines. Because of this we wanted to create a magazine that appealed to a wider audience. By using a serious photograph, colouring and title this would attract an audience who are more interested in things like directers comments. However, by using words and phrases such as 'exclusively' and 'grab your tissues' and using the stars name as an object of attraction, this magazine can also appeal to a young female audience.

Sophie Munden, Evaluation - Question Two

Question 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

After choosing to do an independent film, we focused on the creativity and the dramatic effect that images create. Our audience research showed that the majority of people were drawn to a film by the image so using this information we wanted to be inventive eye catching however subtle and realistic to stick with the drama conventions.

Our film magazine images uses colour and lighting to create a serious tone that works with the facial expression, body language and positioning of the character.

For our film poster, we chose to try a more creative and symbolic image. By using Photoshop we were able to come up with a graphic and suggestive poster. Using silhouettes and not much colour.

Throughout our promotional package we have a recurring theme of the flower. This symbolic piece helped to combine and bring together each media product.

Sophie Munden, Evaluation - Question One

Question 1 - In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media texts?

Form: Trailer, Film Magazine Front Cover and Film Poster

Genre: Drama

Narrative

Drama Films are serious presentations or stories with settings or life situations that portray realistic characters in conflict with either themselves, others, or forces of nature - http://www.filmsite.org/dramafilms.html.

Treatment

The narrative of our film follows a straightforward use of drama conventions - a struggling female character dealing with emotional crises, trying to make a better life for herself.

We decided we wanted to target a specific target audience of young female adults therefore using a successful genre and narrative made our film easily identifiable. Looking at it from an industry point of view, this made it easily packaged and commercialised as conventions have already been established.

This decision was also influenced by Adorno and Horkheimer's theory of standardisation. The idea that media products are being sold as being somehow 'unique' however, following general and conventional rules and arguably being stripped of their identity. These views formed inspiration, genres are standardised, but aren't they just what people want? Their views that the audience is made passive was an idea we chose to use to our advantage, the more you consume of a genre, the more you want it.

Characterisation

Like the narrative, we based our characters around british stereotypes.

Blossom - the protagonist. Struggling unlucky female. Unnoticed, beaten, bullied. Sartorial codes - subtle, typical teenage cajual wear, indicates at lower class background.

Mother - conflicting relationship with daughter. stereotypical 'junky'. Young. Re-married. Cigarette in hand, alcohol. Doesn't make effort in her appearance.

Step Father - abusive towards Blossom. Violence, anger dominant.

James - popular in school. Pressured to be a stereotypical 'jock/prom king' however has another hidden side to him. Caring, sensitive.

Title

The film is also the name of our main character, Blossom. We chose this title/name in the attempt to use symbolism. It indicates at the narrative and is suggestive of her emotional journey - beginning as an abused, bullied, shy girl and 'blossoming' as she stands up for herself. Furthermore, the word blossom is related with flowers. Flowers are symbols of beauty and purity, implying at her character. We have this symbol throughout our products as to add a depth to our narrative.

Form:

Trailer

Precious

8 Mile

- Inspiration from these two particular trailers.

We decided not to use special effects or edit our film too much in order to create a raw and personal atmosphere. This decision was not only made due to the fact that it was aimed at an independent audience but because we felt it create more emotion and worked better with the narrative of the film. Each camera shot was taken at head height similar to soaps to make it more conversational and therefore relatable to the audience.

Sound - repetitive piano running constantly through trailer
Mise-en-scene - shots focused around her school, her journey walking to and from school and her house and her house. Indicates at typical school girls day, easily idtifiable. Sepia colours, each scene blurring into the next.
Camera - mid shots, close ups, relate to characters.
Editing & Structure -
Voice over - Starts with Blossom saying 'Hi, my name's Blossom. But why would you care? No body else does.' Instantly suggests at narrative and genre.

Font - simple, relatable to females however still unisex.

Our trailer follows Todorv's theory as its structure indicates an equilibrium, disequilibrium and a new equilibrium.

- Blossom is alone, beaten, bullied.

- James befriends Blossoms then betrays her

- Blossom is no longer alone

Film Poster
Postmodern ideas, audience becomes more powerful as they can create their own meaning.

Still indicates emotion (convention of drama) by broken flower and black silhouette however done graphically rather than 'real people'.

Image - Broken flower surrounding silhouette of protagonist
Colour - Yellow and black - contrasting moods.

Font/Title - simple, relateable to females howver still unisex
Credits - at the bottom of the poster, not distracting from image
Actors/Actresses - not bold, showing that narrative and creativity is the main selling point of the film
Indication at Narrative - Flower symbolises growth, relating to Blossom's emotional journey through the film. Broken, symbolises different aspects of her life, disjointed as well as...

Film Magazine Front Cover

Both using and challenging conventions of an independent film magazine.

use conventions, close-up of actress, dull colours, intelligent title however looking away from camera, avoiding eye contact, not engaging with the audience (mystery, insecure, emotion)

challenge conventions, excited language, focus on stars.

Aimed at both independent audience and young female audience.

Layout - image in centre, focal point
Masthead - (Title, Font) image overlaps title, simple block font

Language - mixture of both intelligent and excited
Images - one image, implying that content is more important to the magazine
Included/Articles - interview with the main actress, talking about the challenges she faced. Suggestive of depth and opinions.

Testing Magazine Covers

Using the original Empire magazine cover, we tried to create our own version on Photoshop. To do this we had to use cameras to take our own pictures, making them as similar to the real ones as possible. We then brought them all together and added texts and backgrounds. The lighting on the original was more dramatic and hard to create just using the camera so therefore we had to edit it on Photoshop aswell.
By testing this out, we learnt how to use Photoshop better and descovered new technigues, like the changing the lighting. This will help us when we come to creating our own magazine cover and poster for our promotional package.

Treatment

Blossom lives in a one bedroom apartment with her junky mother and abusive step-father. She is bullied at school and invisible to her teachers. Having been pushed around and abused for her entire life, Blossom’s confidence is rock bottom and her will to fight back is non-existent. Until one of the popular guys at her school, James approaches her kindly after witnessing her being hit by her step-father. They soon become friends as he teaches her to stand up for herself and find a way out of her nightmare home-life. However, their friendship doesn't go down well with James's clique and results in him taking part in the bullying. After things at home continue to get worse for Blossom, James eventually realises his mistake.

Audience Research - Questionnaire