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

YouTube (www.youtube.com)
YouTube is a website on the internet in which enables you to explore videos in which users have uploaded. This includes music videos, trailers, documentaries, interviews and many more. We used youtube as our main research tool, we watched many trailers to get familiar with media conventions and get inspiration.Without YouTube it would have been much more difficult to explore different trailers and research different aspects of media texts. From using YouTube we were able to get ideas from other film trailers, such as the quotes from 'Remember Me' and the fading in and out effect from 'The Blind Side.'

Google (www.google.com)

When it came to understanding media terminology or anything else we were not sure of, we used Google to find out answers. Google is search engine, therefore we could type anything we wanted to know into the search bar and it would give us many answers. We also used Google to research into the different genres for our initial research when we chose to do a drama. However, due to the internet being sometimes unreliable this meant that at times we got different answers from different websites which lead to a bit of confusion. But the majority of the time Google was a very useful tool for our research.

iMovie (editing software)

When it came to editing our footage we had problems getting the footage onto final cut express, which is the software we wanted to use for editing. Last year when completing our AS coursework we had the same problem, therefore we knew that we had to use iMovie to export the footage into final cut express. Although we didn't use iMovie to actually edit the footage, it was still a necessary software tool to get us to the next stage of the coursework. We could have edited all of our footage on iMovie but we were more familiar with final cut express from using it to do our foundation portfolio (AS coursework). 

Final cut express

We edited all of our footage to produce our film trailer on this software. We were already familiar with it from completing our foundation portfolio (AS coursework) therefore we could remember the main functions needed to edit our film. There was a few things we couldn't remember, and resulted to using YouTube to look at videos and tutorials which helped us a lot. We are now able to use nearly all of the functions the software can offer, and we were able to edit our film to a professional level. Without final cut express our film trailer would not have turned out any where near how we wanted it to. I have learned a lot from this software, I feel confident enough to edit any type of media text on it. 

Evaluation - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Throughout the editing process for our film trailer we changed many aspects throughout. For example at first we opened the film trailer with shopping scenes and then the waking up scene. From allowing our peers to watch what we had we got feedback which made our film a lot better. We altered the footage to put quick shots of the two characters getting ready, this not only made the audience more familiar with the characters and told them more about their personalities and interests, but also gave a better opening to the trailer. The majority of the changes we made to our film was in the final cut express editing stage of the production, therefore they were changes made quickly and there is no print screens for evidence. However, we did made some changes after we published it the first time. 

This is our first publishing of our film trailer:

This is our final film trailer:

As you can see there are small editing changes, such as the background music from the black and white scene has been taken away. From audience feedback they thought that this music was better in the waking up scene and that it was un-necessary in the beginning scene. Also the transition from the night out to the waking up scene has changed. We had quite a lot of feedback from peers that was about this part of the trailer, that they thought the transition was not perfected enough. By receiving suggestions we decided to get rid of the blurred music and the slowing down of the last night out scene, a lot of feedback said that it would be better for the music to just stop. We then realised that in fact it did look better this way, and it was more conventional to keep our trailer like this. We also edited the 'from the best seller by Rupert Browning' into the getting ready scene as we felt that it flowed better when was this way. 

Another piece of feedback we got was that the background music when Emily woke up should be carried on when she is on the phone, because it would make the clip look more like a trailer rather than part of the actual film which was the vibe that a lot of viewers were getting. So we carried on this music further throughout the phone call scene, which also blended in the speech to flow better as well.
When the caption 'a story of two girls' comes on screen we also added a cinematic bang, and this gave a much more dramatic feel to the trailer. When showing the audience the new version of our trailer a lot of people said that they really liked the sound effect.
The last change we made was the crying scene of when Emily finds out she is pregnant. We initially thought this scene was a bit too long for a trailer, and it wasn't conventional to have a scene that long. When we got the feedback from the audience they picked up on this scene too, therefore we shortened it and sped it up a little so it didn't drag but still looked dramatic.
After reviewing our film trailer with these changes made, we are very glad we got audience feedback in the editing stage of our film because this enabled us to make our film look a lot more professional and flow a lot better. 

Final feedback
We are very happy with our final feedback, everyone said they really enjoyed the film and also understood the narrative. Everyone who viewed our final film said they would go and see it at the cinema which reassures us that our film trailer is a success. The only criticisms from our final feedback are that there could be more dialect included as the scene with Emily talking on the phone is the only speech scene, which doesn't allow the audience to get to know the characters as in depth as they potentially could. 

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

The type of product we wanted to create was targeted for a mass audience. Our target audience was young females aged 15-25. However at the same time our promotional package was targeting a niche audience which was the mothers of these young females. A lot of teenagers watch films with their mother as found from research, therefore it is likely that a lot of women aged 35-55 would be viewing our film too.

I think that our film trailer is a success, I think it is well suited to the target audience. Young females can relate to the characters as they are young, fashionable, outgoing and a bit rebellious from time to time. Every young female also has a best friend that they potentially would be lost without, therefore I think that they would be able to relate to the film in that respect too. I think this is same with our film magazine and poster, the viewer can see that the film is aimed at young females, by displaying the friendship and image of the two characters. However, I think that if our film contained an attractive male as a main character then it would attract more of our target audience.I think this because many young females watch action films starring attractive male actors such as Liam Hemsworth, Leonardo Dicaprio etc because they like the actor rather than the film itself. 

I think that our main product (the film trailer) is the strongest out of the three media texts. However I think that the main weakness of the trailer is that there isn't enough random footage to dis focus the audience from the pregnancy story line. Most trailers contain random other events that occur around the main disruption to the narrative, where as ours is very focused on the main disruption. I think the trailer would be more interesting if there was a few more random quick shots.  We struggled to portray the story line and friendship in the film poster, as we thought including a child would be too forward and would confuse the audience, especially as we hadn't included the main narrative disruption in our film trailer. We also didn't want our film poster to look cheesy by displaying the best friends hugging or anything like that as film posters always look very professional and effective. We overcame this problem by settling for a screenshot of footage taken at Capstone park, where Emily tells Frankie about her pregnancy. This image does show the friendship between the two characters, as you can see Emily is upset and Frankie is listening and cares about her. I think the main weakness of the film poster is the lack of narrative within it, it doesn't really show as much about the story line as we wanted it to. With our film magazine I think there  is less to go wrong with this media text, as we followed media conventions closely. However I think the main weakness is the image we used, as I think we could have got a more effective one displaying Emily as being worn out and distressed showing something bad happens within the film. The image we used suggests the magazine contains an interview, which I think still follows media conventions however we would have preferred a more dramatic image to match the genre. 

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

Film trailer
There are many conventions of film trailers, although all trailers are different, they stick to general set of rules because they have been tried and tested and equal a successful trailer if followed. However over a number of years film trailers have changed and evolved, as have their films and audiences. 

The rating card

Rating cards are used at the beginning of every single film trailer, the rating card shows what kind of audience the film/trailer is suitable for. A green rating card means that it is suited for any audience, so it is Universal. Our fillm/trailer is Universal because it does not contain any violence, discrimination, sexual scenes or anything else that could potentially cause distress to the viewer. 

Film production logo

Usually within the first part of the trailer, the film production logo will be shown. A reason for this is because the film productions reputation can benefit the film trailer, as if the audience enjoyed another film produced by Touchstone pictures, then they will be interested in our film. It also creates an idea of the type of film that is trying to sell, for example if the film was produced by dream works, then it will have a big budget and its main aim is to suit the whole family. We chose touchstone pictures as our film production as this company is usually associated with emotional films, such as the last song. I think it suited our film and its genre perfectly. 

Introducing characters 

Every film trailer introduces the characters in a scene that best represents their personality and interests. At the beginning of our trailer there is a few quick scenes in black and white displaying a voice over, but this scene is when the audience really gets to know the characters. In this scene the two friends are getting ready for a night out, they are wearing fashionable clothing which suggests that they are trendy and care about their appearance. In this scene Emily is laughing at Frankie, which shows their strong friendship and suggests to the audience that this film is about two best friends. 

Reviews

The majoirty of film trailers contain a quoted review from a popular institution. These reviews are often included in trailers to ensure the audience that this film is very enjoyable. Due to our film being a drama, we chose the quote "emotional from start to finish" and quoted it by the independent. The independent is a very well known institution and would be instantly recognised by the audience and could influence them to go and see it at the cinema. 

Music and voice overs

Music and voice over are always used in film trailers, there isn't a single film trailer that does not have one or the other. Some of the music used is discrete and digetic, where as some is non-digetic. At the beginning of our film Emily says "Someone once said that friends never compare to family, but what happens if your friend is your only family." Instantly this shows the audience that the two characters have a very strong friendship and Emily could potentially be from a troubled background with no parental figures. We got inspiration to do this quote from the film trailer 'Remember Me.' We also use three choices of music, that all contrast each other. The first piece of music is upbeat which suggests a positive lifestyle, where as the second piece brings the story line down to earth, and the third piece is dramatic to show the crisis within the plot. 

Captions and quotes

All films contain captions and quotes to give a more depth explanation of the story line to the viewer. In our film trailer it contains quite a few captions and quotes, this is to erase any confusion that the audience may have. It also makes the film trailer look effective, the caption "A story of two young girls..." is obvious yet effective. The audience know the story is about two young girls because they would have by this point identified them as the main characters. 

Establishing shot

From viewing other film trailers, it came to our attention that the majority had an establishing shot, whether the actual scene was relevant to the film or not. For this reason we decided to include an establishing shot. This is from the scene that Emily tells Frankie she is pregnant, it is an emotional scene and we thought it would be good to include this as the establishing shot, especially as it is gloomy and sets a dramatic mood. 

Film poster

When we were creating our film poster, we reviewed many other film posters in order to ensure we followed media conventions. By following this, we were able to create a professional looking poster. We started off by using a scene in which we had in our footage, when Frankie is comforting Emily. However, in film posters they usually only contain one character, so we challenged media conventions in that respect. We then added faded headshot photos of Emily and Frankie at the bottom of the poster. This followed media conventions as in the Last Song's poster, there are faded images of Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth whilst there is another image of them at the bottom of the poster. We also included a big bold title, which every film poster includes. We wanted to insure that the first thing the viewer sees is the title, so it sticks in their head. We also included above the title 'Touchstone pictures presents' as it is conventional to do include the production company. 

Another media convention that we found whilst reviewing other film posters, was that they sometimes include a type of catch phrase to give a little insight into the film. For this reason we included 'With only one to depend on', we took this from our film trailer as we thought it was an effective quote.
We also included a billing block. however, we couldn't get the actual font used for billing blocks therefore this could be seen as challenging media conventions. But we did follow the content template for billing blocks. 

Film magazine 

For our magazine we used a well known magazine producer for film, Total Film. This magazine is recognised by many and therefore it would attract more of an audience than an Unknown one. On our magazine we followed media conventions very closely. The characters on magazines usually have a expression-less face, therefore we chose to have Emily on our magazine cover, with an straight face. Magazines also only have one character on the front, so it was conventional to have just Emily as the story line revolves around her. We also contained different front texts on our magazine, as no magazine has the same font throughout. We also put text in shapes such as circles, and a square. We also included social media, such as website address. This a modern convention for media texts, the majority of new films would include social media. 

Social media text included.

Font title plus the authors name. Promotional offers for blockblusters. 

Conventional image of character showing no expression. Issue number and bar code. 

Front title plus a promotion of the hunger games (Jennifer Lawrence interview)

Final audience feedback from a peer

Lauren recorded some feedback for us when viewing our final film. She also viewed our first attempt of our trailer so she could see the difference and thought it was a big improvement. 

Finished trailer - Fortuitous

This is our finished film trailer.