Untitled from Sophie Brear on Vimeo.
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
Monday, 3 May 2010
Ancillary research-Magazine front covers
I began by looking at other popular British film magazines, particularly Empire. I looked especially at the layout noting details such as fonts and sizes, backgrounds, photos and colour schemes. Particular techniques I noted were block capital sans serif font is generally used along with a large title covering about a quarter of the page. A large feature picture is used of an actor from a relevent film either in or out of character with images elsewhere in the style of film strips or fanned out playing cards for example.
Untitled from Sophie Brear on Vimeo.
Monday, 26 April 2010
Ancilliary texts final product-Magazine
I adapted my magazine front cover after looking at my research and gaining some audience feedback. I found I needed to use a larger font for my magazine name and reduce the size of the pictures. I also added a relevent background.
Sunday, 25 April 2010
Evaluation
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
I began this by producing a teaser poster to advertise my film. I used two images which gave some indication to the basic narrative, a no trespassing sign and a hooded figure with an axe. I used a setting on the camera I was using to add a dark colour tint, this and the axe connote the genre is horror.
My feature poster gave more insight to characters and I used red font to anchor the genre. I used a picture of an axe again so all my products have a link which would make it easier for audiences to remember the products and make links between them. Whilst making my posters and magazine cover I kept my target audience in mind. This affected my decisions on which newspapers and magazines I chose to review my product and the language and tone by which I directed my information.
I chose The Sun as a review source on my poster as my target audience socio economic grouping is class C2DE and the horror genre is usually associated with "popular culture". The Sun newspaper is a tabloid which is also associated with popular culture, meaning my target audience will see this as a notable source and identify with the review as something they would like to see. In contrast, if I had used a broadsheet newspaper review such as The Guardian my target audience would not see this as a notable source and see the film as something they would possibly not want to watch.
I used the images of two girl characters on my poster and one boy. As the horror genre is often seen as a male preferences genre I used two brunettes who could be final girls to draw in a female audience. This is my preferred reading however it is actually misleading as the two girls are counter types and are scream queens. I did this because the final girl in my product is blonde and if I had used her image on the poster females may believe the film is male orientated (eg. the male gaze theory) and decide not to watch it. The two brunettes I used on the poster are both attractive and one of them is wearing a low cut top which connotes she is sexually available. This contributes to the male gaze theory which attracts males to see the film.
My poster reflects my target audience and BBFC rating as it shows a weapon over the three characters but doesn't actually show any blood or violence.
The language I used to communicate reviews is informal such as "a must see" which my target audience class grouping of C2DE and my target age audience (15-25) can identify with and understand. I looked at magazine and newspaper reviews preferenced to my target audience before deciding on my quotes.
I decided to base my magazine at a target audience similar to that of Empire magazine. This is seen as a more mid market magazine compared to ones such as Total Film which is seen as more low brow. Although my target class grouping of C2DE are more associated with low brow "popular culture" I attempted to draw in a higher class audience such as BC1 by introducing countetypes in using a blonde final girl. I looked at similar market magazines and based my cover around these. I chose to have my feature picture as the final girl. Although I chose the two brunettes for the poster, as she is the feature picture on the magazine this signifies she is the final girl not just a scream queen.
I began this by producing a teaser poster to advertise my film. I used two images which gave some indication to the basic narrative, a no trespassing sign and a hooded figure with an axe. I used a setting on the camera I was using to add a dark colour tint, this and the axe connote the genre is horror.
My feature poster gave more insight to characters and I used red font to anchor the genre. I used a picture of an axe again so all my products have a link which would make it easier for audiences to remember the products and make links between them. Whilst making my posters and magazine cover I kept my target audience in mind. This affected my decisions on which newspapers and magazines I chose to review my product and the language and tone by which I directed my information.
I chose The Sun as a review source on my poster as my target audience socio economic grouping is class C2DE and the horror genre is usually associated with "popular culture". The Sun newspaper is a tabloid which is also associated with popular culture, meaning my target audience will see this as a notable source and identify with the review as something they would like to see. In contrast, if I had used a broadsheet newspaper review such as The Guardian my target audience would not see this as a notable source and see the film as something they would possibly not want to watch.
I used the images of two girl characters on my poster and one boy. As the horror genre is often seen as a male preferences genre I used two brunettes who could be final girls to draw in a female audience. This is my preferred reading however it is actually misleading as the two girls are counter types and are scream queens. I did this because the final girl in my product is blonde and if I had used her image on the poster females may believe the film is male orientated (eg. the male gaze theory) and decide not to watch it. The two brunettes I used on the poster are both attractive and one of them is wearing a low cut top which connotes she is sexually available. This contributes to the male gaze theory which attracts males to see the film.
My poster reflects my target audience and BBFC rating as it shows a weapon over the three characters but doesn't actually show any blood or violence.
The language I used to communicate reviews is informal such as "a must see" which my target audience class grouping of C2DE and my target age audience (15-25) can identify with and understand. I looked at magazine and newspaper reviews preferenced to my target audience before deciding on my quotes.
I decided to base my magazine at a target audience similar to that of Empire magazine. This is seen as a more mid market magazine compared to ones such as Total Film which is seen as more low brow. Although my target class grouping of C2DE are more associated with low brow "popular culture" I attempted to draw in a higher class audience such as BC1 by introducing countetypes in using a blonde final girl. I looked at similar market magazines and based my cover around these. I chose to have my feature picture as the final girl. Although I chose the two brunettes for the poster, as she is the feature picture on the magazine this signifies she is the final girl not just a scream queen.
I initially added reviews of films released around the time I produced the cover such as "Jenifer's Body" however I decided to change this to films released around the same time as my film would be such as "Salt" to give my cover verisimilitude. I also chose films I believed would appeal to my target audience such as "Predators" which is a sci-fi horror and "Salt" which is a thriller. "Knight and Day" is an action comedy staring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz which I thought would appeal to my target class grouping of C2DE and age group of 15 to 25 as it contains well known stars.
I used informal language such as "hottest" to relate to my target audience age of 15 to 25. I looked at mastheads on different magazines and adapted them to fit my own "best preview issue ever"
I feel overall my texts work well together however some flaws are
- I could have included a tagline on my posters
- I could have Incorporated more text and shapes to my magazine cover to make the page look busier and therefore more like a real life example such as Empire magazine.
- Some of my shots in my trailer have different lighting which affects the overall continuity.
- Some shots are blurry and out of focus due to lighting issues
Thursday, 22 April 2010
Evaluation
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
I used various new media technologies throughout making and evaluating my product. I work on both Mac computers and PCs and gained experience and new skills on each. I used a PC to edit my film as I decided on using a programme called Sony Vegas 9.0. I already had it installed on my PC as I considered using it last year but ended up using imovie 06. I decided on this as it is far more advanced industry standard software, similar to Final Cut Express 4. After completing a workshop on Final Cut I decided I found I knew more about Sony Vegas and found this a far simpler, however still effective piece of software. I found changing audio and working with the multiple video tracks challenging on Final Cut whereas on Sony Vegas the video tracks are easier to work with and tools are easier to find.
One problem I found with Sony Vegas was I couldn't import into it from the cameras I used as it said there was an error. This meant I had to import my work into either imovie or Windows Movie Maker and open it with Sony Vegas. Once my footage was imported I selected the parts I would going to use and could leave the rest of the footage further down the video track in case I needed to use it later, an aspect of the software I found particularly useful.
I used the text tool to create my production logo by using red text and a highlight effect around the letters. I found adding fades particularly easy on Sony Vegas as each clip has two tabs either side which can be dragged inwards to create a fade. There is also a tab which has various controlled gradual fades which I used after my audience feedback said the differing fade detracted from the overall effect.
I needed to adjust the volume to mute it on the establishing shot of the hospital as it was snowing and my footsteps were audible. This was easy to do as the audio track is visible under the video tab and you only have to grab the top of the track and drag it down to the volume you want. I added the audio of the news reader in an audio track below and added a fade to this to get rid of any ambient noise audible. This tool was useful because on my coursework last year ambient noise was very predominant which detracted from the verisimilitude of the product. I placed the clips of the party scene next and intercut them with a clip of the axe. I used a split tool to do this then dragged the clips of the axe inbetween. I didn't use and transitions or fades in this section as I wanted it to be fast paced. I lowered the levels of noise on the party clips so it is barley audible this is so the viewer can fully hear the news reader. I kept the sound of the axe being taken from the wall at full volume to build tension.
I initially used a black and white effect on the next shot of the two teenagers however this caused some narrative confusion but I still thought it made the shot look more effective. To resolve this I used the black and white effect but Sony Vegas has a tool which means I could graduate the amount of black and white in the shot therefore I used around 25%.
To create the flashing effect when the killer is walking towards the victims I cut small sections out of the clip.
I used large red and white text for my title and release date and used a feathering tool to give it an eerie glow.
The scream on my final shot when the axe hits the ground wasn't good enough so I used to software to cut a scream from another clip and layer it over the sound of the axe hitting the ground. I did this using the audio tracks.
I got my music and sound effects from some royalty free DVDs and opened them in Sony Vegas where they are available in a tab above the audio tracks, I then dragged them into the audio track to use them. I found the programme useful in that I was able to add the sound effects in the places I wanted them in a track under the video and original audio clips, then layer the music over the top. I used two pieces of music and cross faded them into each other using the fade tools so each piece did not stop and start.
To film with I used a Cannon widescreen MV920 and recoreded the footage onto a mini DV tape. The camera was simple and easy to use. It featured vairous functions such as a self time which I used and importing footage to imovie was easy however the batterylife was short which did cause problems.
To take photos for my blog and posters I used a Cannon digital camera which was useful as it had tint effects which meant I could tint a photo grey or green giving it a sinister effect. To record videos and audio for my audience feedback I used a Blackberry Storm phone and used bluetooth software on the Macs to transfer to the computer. I also used the camera on the phone to take smaller photos for my poster.
I documented my research, planning and evaluating on blogger. This was useful as I could acess it from home aswell as school and no information was ever lost as its online and saves auto drafts.
Some problems I found with blogger were it was difficult to move text around pictures and place two pictures next to each other. I also had some problems uploading videos however I reolved these by uploading the videos into youtube then using the embed code to post it into blogger. I found this technique useful in posting trailers and clips from youtube to my blog to illustrate points I made. I used http://www.scribed.com/ to upload word doncuments I had scanned in such as my story board and a website http://www.divshare.com/ to upload audio audience feed back after bluetoothing it to the computer for example
To research trailers I used sites such as http://www.traileraddict.com/ and http://www.imdb.com/ which I found particularly useful as they listed the year of release and ditector alongside the trailer. I used imdb more as it also listed production companys, box office and budget information and posters.
I used Photoshop to create my posters and magazine front cover.
For my magazine front cover I began cropping my main image. I used the lasso tool and the eraser tool to delete the background then copy and pasted it into a A4 document with a black background which I used the fill tool to do. Any bits of the background still visible I coverd these using the brush tool in a small size. At first this created a problem as when I added other images or text, as they all overlapped, the black smudges were visible as new layers were added. I resolved this by bringing the feature picture layer to the back. I dragged the photo at the corners to make it larger whilst holding the control key so its resolution stayed the same. I next added my three smaller pictures in the style of a fanned out pack of cards. I didnt crop any of these images as I found from my research this was not a common convention. I added a small border to each image by using the rectangle tool and colouring it white with the fill tool. I then used the free rotate tool to rotate the rectangle to an angle and placed the picture over the top at the same angle. I then added text using the type tool. I used the rectangle tool again to create backgrounds for some of my text. From looking again at my research and gaining some audience feekback I decided I needed to used a picture background. I used one of the images I had taken of the killer in the forest for my poster and simply covered the killers figure with the feature picture of my poster. I then dragged it to the bottom of the layers box so it became the background of my poster.
To create my teaser poster I simply pasted two images into an A4 document and used the opacity tool to fade the first layer so the other picture was visible through it. On the bottom picture of the killer I also used the colour contast tool to give the figure a red tinge. I then used the type tool to add text.
I was initally going to use this poster as my feature poster however after audience feedback I found it was not complex enough and didnt show any of the central protaganists. After my research I found a common convention was to have a picture of the weapon and of the central protaganists faces. This was shown in the poster for Cherry Falls (2000 Geoffry Wright)
I used various new media technologies throughout making and evaluating my product. I work on both Mac computers and PCs and gained experience and new skills on each. I used a PC to edit my film as I decided on using a programme called Sony Vegas 9.0. I already had it installed on my PC as I considered using it last year but ended up using imovie 06. I decided on this as it is far more advanced industry standard software, similar to Final Cut Express 4. After completing a workshop on Final Cut I decided I found I knew more about Sony Vegas and found this a far simpler, however still effective piece of software. I found changing audio and working with the multiple video tracks challenging on Final Cut whereas on Sony Vegas the video tracks are easier to work with and tools are easier to find.
One problem I found with Sony Vegas was I couldn't import into it from the cameras I used as it said there was an error. This meant I had to import my work into either imovie or Windows Movie Maker and open it with Sony Vegas. Once my footage was imported I selected the parts I would going to use and could leave the rest of the footage further down the video track in case I needed to use it later, an aspect of the software I found particularly useful.
I used the text tool to create my production logo by using red text and a highlight effect around the letters. I found adding fades particularly easy on Sony Vegas as each clip has two tabs either side which can be dragged inwards to create a fade. There is also a tab which has various controlled gradual fades which I used after my audience feedback said the differing fade detracted from the overall effect.
Untitled from Sophie Brear on Vimeo.
I needed to adjust the volume to mute it on the establishing shot of the hospital as it was snowing and my footsteps were audible. This was easy to do as the audio track is visible under the video tab and you only have to grab the top of the track and drag it down to the volume you want. I added the audio of the news reader in an audio track below and added a fade to this to get rid of any ambient noise audible. This tool was useful because on my coursework last year ambient noise was very predominant which detracted from the verisimilitude of the product. I placed the clips of the party scene next and intercut them with a clip of the axe. I used a split tool to do this then dragged the clips of the axe inbetween. I didn't use and transitions or fades in this section as I wanted it to be fast paced. I lowered the levels of noise on the party clips so it is barley audible this is so the viewer can fully hear the news reader. I kept the sound of the axe being taken from the wall at full volume to build tension.
Untitled from Sophie Brear on Vimeo.
I initially used a black and white effect on the next shot of the two teenagers however this caused some narrative confusion but I still thought it made the shot look more effective. To resolve this I used the black and white effect but Sony Vegas has a tool which means I could graduate the amount of black and white in the shot therefore I used around 25%.
To create the flashing effect when the killer is walking towards the victims I cut small sections out of the clip.
Untitled from Sophie Brear on Vimeo.
I used large red and white text for my title and release date and used a feathering tool to give it an eerie glow.
The scream on my final shot when the axe hits the ground wasn't good enough so I used to software to cut a scream from another clip and layer it over the sound of the axe hitting the ground. I did this using the audio tracks.
I got my music and sound effects from some royalty free DVDs and opened them in Sony Vegas where they are available in a tab above the audio tracks, I then dragged them into the audio track to use them. I found the programme useful in that I was able to add the sound effects in the places I wanted them in a track under the video and original audio clips, then layer the music over the top. I used two pieces of music and cross faded them into each other using the fade tools so each piece did not stop and start.
To film with I used a Cannon widescreen MV920 and recoreded the footage onto a mini DV tape. The camera was simple and easy to use. It featured vairous functions such as a self time which I used and importing footage to imovie was easy however the batterylife was short which did cause problems.
To take photos for my blog and posters I used a Cannon digital camera which was useful as it had tint effects which meant I could tint a photo grey or green giving it a sinister effect. To record videos and audio for my audience feedback I used a Blackberry Storm phone and used bluetooth software on the Macs to transfer to the computer. I also used the camera on the phone to take smaller photos for my poster.
I documented my research, planning and evaluating on blogger. This was useful as I could acess it from home aswell as school and no information was ever lost as its online and saves auto drafts.
Some problems I found with blogger were it was difficult to move text around pictures and place two pictures next to each other. I also had some problems uploading videos however I reolved these by uploading the videos into youtube then using the embed code to post it into blogger. I found this technique useful in posting trailers and clips from youtube to my blog to illustrate points I made. I used http://www.scribed.com/ to upload word doncuments I had scanned in such as my story board and a website http://www.divshare.com/ to upload audio audience feed back after bluetoothing it to the computer for example
To research trailers I used sites such as http://www.traileraddict.com/ and http://www.imdb.com/ which I found particularly useful as they listed the year of release and ditector alongside the trailer. I used imdb more as it also listed production companys, box office and budget information and posters.
I used Photoshop to create my posters and magazine front cover.
For my magazine front cover I began cropping my main image. I used the lasso tool and the eraser tool to delete the background then copy and pasted it into a A4 document with a black background which I used the fill tool to do. Any bits of the background still visible I coverd these using the brush tool in a small size. At first this created a problem as when I added other images or text, as they all overlapped, the black smudges were visible as new layers were added. I resolved this by bringing the feature picture layer to the back. I dragged the photo at the corners to make it larger whilst holding the control key so its resolution stayed the same. I next added my three smaller pictures in the style of a fanned out pack of cards. I didnt crop any of these images as I found from my research this was not a common convention. I added a small border to each image by using the rectangle tool and colouring it white with the fill tool. I then used the free rotate tool to rotate the rectangle to an angle and placed the picture over the top at the same angle. I then added text using the type tool. I used the rectangle tool again to create backgrounds for some of my text. From looking again at my research and gaining some audience feekback I decided I needed to used a picture background. I used one of the images I had taken of the killer in the forest for my poster and simply covered the killers figure with the feature picture of my poster. I then dragged it to the bottom of the layers box so it became the background of my poster.
To create my teaser poster I simply pasted two images into an A4 document and used the opacity tool to fade the first layer so the other picture was visible through it. On the bottom picture of the killer I also used the colour contast tool to give the figure a red tinge. I then used the type tool to add text.
I was initally going to use this poster as my feature poster however after audience feedback I found it was not complex enough and didnt show any of the central protaganists. After my research I found a common convention was to have a picture of the weapon and of the central protaganists faces. This was shown in the poster for Cherry Falls (2000 Geoffry Wright)
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
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