JASL Evaluation

Jamie Simes, Alex Hopwood, Simona Morina, Louise Holbrook

The bar code and the date of the issue illustrate that this film is up and coming and is something that is to look out for, as the film comes out in the spring We wanted to go with a traditional layout and a typical magazine convention, we thought this would be best in order to make our magazine cover look professional and realistic, we didn’t want to go against the typical ‘sight and sound’ convention as the image suited the typical ‘sight and sound’ convention. The title shows that this is a modern ‘sight and sound’ front cover as the title is different to most of the ‘sight and sound’ magazine covers. We went for the modern front cover as it went will our colour scheme, which was red and black. The image is simple and goes well with the ‘sight and sound’ conventions. At first we wanted the image in colour but once placed on the magazine, the image didn’t go with the ‘sight and sound’ magazine Normally ‘sight and sound’ don’t usually use puffs on the front cover, but we wanted to use one as this guides the reader to something new that the magazine is providing.

We decided to make the image black and white to show mystery and it also gives the audience a sense thrill, the background was purposely done, to connote bad vs. Good. The cover lines are what attracts the reader to the magazine and gives them an idea of what will be featuring inside the magazine, the banner is also another conventional thing that is done by the magazine to show that there is something new and exciting. The title, bar code and date are always placed in the same position this represents the magazine showing its consistent, which makes the reader feel comfortable and familiar The image of Jamie connotes power as it is a low angle shot of Jamie looking into the camera. The weapon that he is holding is a typical thriller weapon this connotes action and maybe death.

Empire was our first choice for our front cover, we thought that this type of Magazine would fit our trailer well. This is where we got our front cover image, of Jamie, from. This has simple elements of our front cover, we used red writing on the cover lines and the image is also a mid-shot which is similar to what we done the prop is a typical weapon that is used in most action films, which we also opted for as it went with our film. The background shows where the film will, at one point, be located at and we wanted to use this idea in our front cover however we did not blur out the background

The modern cover is used in this issue and the layout e.g. Title, date and barcode show that this cover is modern This cover is we how we wanted to layout our magazine cover, as it is a conventional ‘sight and sound’ cover since it is simple. This ‘sight and sound’ cover is where we got the idea of how we should layout our front cover. With Jamie on the left hand side of the magazine and then the cover lines would be placed on the right The colour of the cover lines is also the same colour which we opted for, although in this issue it only uses red, white and black, but we also went for the yellow as this kept in the sight and sound colour scheme. ‘ Sight and sound’ don’t always place pugs or banners on the front cover of their magazine but as we are shown here one is used which is unusual. But that is why we wanted to us a pug on our front cover as it meant that our magazine would stand out. The imagine is similar to that of ours as it is a mid shot, and the women is stand on the right just as Jamie is.

This main photograph has been used to connote his separation , which leads to the narrative of the trailer. Also by keeping this image on its own and centre suggest that he is the main character to the audience. We experimented with the text tool on Paint Shop Pro by copying the ‘Retribution’ several times, so this covered the page, this worked very well and as a group we decided to use this as our background to the poster. The film was rated a 15 as this showed mild violence and a small amount offensive language. The image was in black and white as this creates a sense of mystery and makes it look simplistic. We tried the photograph in colour , but therefore the colourings in the images clashed with the background and the title colour. We used a gun as this is a conventional prop to the thriller genre. Also this was a significant prop throughout our trailer, so therefore we wanted to include this within the poster A billing block was used because we created a movie poster and this is a main convention in produced posters.

Instead of taking a photograph of Jamie running, we got a motionless image because when taking the image of him running it came out blurred and did not show clear detail. This image connotes that he is looking at someone, and maybe after them. This is similar to our image, as Jamie looks as if he looking at someone, also the gun in their hands helps to connote this. When putting our poster together we tried this style of layout, of the main character running and someone watching him from behind, therefore this did not come together as we expected so we had o change the layout of images. When putting our poster together we tried this style of layout, of the main character running and someone watching him from behind, therefore this did not come together as we expected so we had o change the layout of images.

We lined our main characters name at the top, similar to this this poster. This clearly tells the viewer who is starring in the film, similar to a majority of produced posters. After changing the idea of the layout from ‘The American’ , we came across this Taken poster, and believe this style would fit very well with the alone image of Jamie. We took this idea of the positioning of the film title from this poster because they have a similar layout of the image, so we knew that having the title here would not loose a lot of detail and cover too much of the image up.

In our trailer, we were able to use, develop and challenge the typical forms and conventions of a typical thriller genre trailer. Firstly, the narrative within our trailer could be seen as typical of the thriller genre as it includes narrative such as chases, death and gang activity. However, we challenge the conventions of this narrative through the use of characters within our trailer. In our trailer we do have a stereotypical male protagonist but we challenge and develop this convention by having a female lead villain, who within our trailer bosses around different male characters. We also had typical iconography in our trailer through the use of costumes and props i.e. the villains were wearing suits that are typical of a sophisticated gang and they also wore red which connoted danger and violence. The protagonist however wore casual clothes as this helped portray him as an ordinary father figure that the audience could sympathise and relate to.

Following the conventions of a trailer, we had to mix up our shots and place them out of sequence in order to make sure the shots didn’t follow each other in the correct order as this would not be conventional of a trailer. The pace of shots was also important to consider in the production of our trailer. At the start of our trailer the cuts between shots were generally quite slow, however the pace quickened as the tension rose and eventually built to a climax where the trailer ends on an enigma, which makes the audience want to see the whole film to find out what happens.

We also added a recurring tracking shot at different heights and distance around the main character, they dissolved in and out of each other and were sped up to create a sense of disorientation and confusion surrounding the main character, an idea that was inspired from the beginning of the film ‘Arlington Road’. We broke the typical convention of a voiceover within our trailer, as we thought it would be more effective to use captions other than dialogue to tell the story of the trailer. The music within our trailer is also typical of a trailer, the pace quickens and the volume/intensity rises with the quickening paces and rising tension of the trailer itself, this helped the trailer to flow and build tension and suspense. Overall, I think our trailer uses the conventions of thriller trailers very effectively in order to excite the audience and create an appealing trailer. However we also develop these conventions in order to create a new and fresh trailer that will appeal to an audience of this aspect of the thriller genre.

Our media texts have a consistent style throughout the 3 different products, this is demonstrated through the consistent use of fonts, identity and colour schemes: red (being the main colour) white and black Our products are all linked as all three products show similar style. We do this by showing the same main character in all three products, this is to familiarise the audience with the main character’s traits and make the audience feel emotionally attached to the character, as they are constantly seeing different sides to his character, whether that be through the teaser trailer , the magazine or the poster. We had an idea of how we wanted our magazine cover to look like but we thought it would best suited for an Empire magazine, however when we revaluated our image of the main character, the storyline and trailer , ‘sight and sound’ seemed more suitable for our end product, as it was simple yet very effective which is show through the other media products, for example the poster. All three products have the same representational elements such as the red colour, is in all three products illustrating danger , violence and power. For example in our trailer , the women is wearing red to connote power, danger and to show that she is a villain

Our products clearly link and can be easily noticed for promoting the same film. Similarities between the products The colours that we used are consistent The poster and the magazine cover are very simple, not giving much away, this is also consistent in the teaser trailer We used the same character in to show a link and to not give anything away about the film and who may be staring in it The same prop and outfit is also used to link the products The poser and the magazine are both in black and white The font is consistent, as it’s a sans serif , which suits the genera of the film

Teaser trailer The teaser trailer, is effective as it teases the audience and gets them gripped to the story line making them want more and therefore go to see the film when it is released. The teaser trailer links in with the other two products as it uses the same character, and gives of the same atmosphere. The use of black and white in the products gives of the same atmosphere as the trailer, its gloomy, relating to death of the main characters child. The use of black and white, in the poster and magazine, was done purposefully to show both sides of the main character as he is after revenge and will do nothing until he gets what he wants, showing the dark side of the Ethan (main character) but we also see that caring side of his character, demonstrated through his dead child.

Magazine The magazine portrays Ethan as being very intimidating by the way we angled the camera shot. We chose this shot as it represented his character. We also planed what he was to wear for the shot, as we wanted to represent a lade back father, who had nothing more to gain or lose from what he was set out to do. Poster The image on the poster differs from the image on the sight and sound magazine, since we didn’t want to use the same image and wanted to show a different side to Ethan. Although we wanted to use the same prop and the same costume, this was to show the link between the magazine, poster and trailer. The magazine and poster are both very similar and you can easily see a link between them as we used the same style of font and colours

For our audience feedback we showed our trailer to a group of sixth form students aged between 16-18 and the media department teachers. We selected this sample group because the target audience of the film was teenagers/young adults so we would be able to get feedback from the type of people that would go to watch it. We also choose the media/film teachers because they would be able to give us professional and valid feedback. We selected both male and females to watch the trailer because although it was a thriller we wanted to target a mixed audience.

Student feedback “ Really built up on suspense and gave you a good idea on the narrative” “ liked the twist in the female character” “ I didn’t understand clearly what the characters roles were”

Teachers feedback “ I liked the way it kept cutting back to the 360 turn as this emphasised the emotion the character was feeling”

1. Did you enjoy the trailer? If yes, what did you like about it? If not, why not? 2. What would you rate it on a scale of 1-10? 1 being bad, 10 being brilliant 3. Did you understand what the storyline was about? 4. Could you tell who the main character was? 5. What certificate would you classify this film as? 6. Would you go to see this film after watching the trailer?

We gave our questionnaire out to ten students around the age of sixteen to eighteen. After analysing the result we realised that it was suitable to their age group and would go watch the film when released. 8 out of 10 students agreed that they enjoyed the trailer as it built suspense throughout. A majority of students answered they would rate the trailer on a scale between seven – nine Most students said that they had a clear understanding of the storyline A lot of recipients answered that was not too sure on who the main character was Most of them answered that they would classify the film at a 12A or a 15 6. They all answered ‘Yes’, as the trailer interested and they wanted to carry on watching it

Our feedback was mostly positive, as our target audience, ‘liked the way the trailer was edited and the music went well with what was going on in the trailer’. However we did get some negative feedback, about the characters, as not everyone new who the main character was. The feedback helped us to see what people thought about our trailer and helped us learn from our mistakes and what could be improved. Overall we are very happy with our end result, we find that the trailer portrays the storyline to be a thriller and shows a build up of suspense, which leaves the audience wanting to see more and therefore waiting for the rest of the film to be released. Our target audience isn’t specific, because we wanted to aim it at both male and female as we thought it suited all, although it would be aim for people around the age of 15 – 30 as the concept is of an adult theme.

Before beginning to construct and plan our final piece, we had to research into the genre and look at trailers, posters and magazine covers. The main media platform we used in order to research was the internet, we were able to look at genuine examples of trailers, posters and magazine covers through Google and YouTube. For researching posters and magazine covers Google was the easiest thing to use as we were able to see the process in which a poster displays more and more information from being a teaser poster to a full theatrical poster. Researching the magazine covers on the internet allowed us to see a variety of different styles and layouts for the magazine cover to take. When researching trailers, YouTube was extremely helpful as well as websites such as www.comingsoon.net which allowed us to see the full campaign for up and coming films. The main problems we faced were trying to find full campaigns for films to see what we were meant to be aiming towards. It was also a slight problem finding teaser trailers on YouTube as we mainly kept coming across full theatrical trailers. However we were able to use our own DVD’s to watch teaser trailers at home for additional research.

Media technologies helped hugely during the planning stages prior to constructing our trailer, poster and magazine cover. The internet in particular helped us to gain a better understanding of the differences between teaser and full length trailers. Using the internet, we were able to understand the basic structure of a teaser trailer and therefore were better equipped to tackle our very own one. Our poster and magazine cover planning also benefitted from media technology. In order to better understand the standard forms and regulations that are common within the majority of film posters and magazine covers, we analysed and dissected other examples found on the internet and ultimately learned how to create an effective design for our magazine cover and film poster.

When constructing our trailer, we used the software Adobe Premiere 6.5 to edit and create the trailer. The software is relatively easy to use seeing as we used it for our A/S work and so we were familiar with the software. However, for this trailer we had to edit in a way in which the storyline would not be one event after the other, it needed to be messed around, out of sequence and constructed as a trailer would be which was a little more tricky. One obstacle we did face was when editing a certain piece of dialogue, we wanted it to be slightly distorted and echo as it was a key line in the trailer. After searching through the effects available and experimenting with different things we eventually got the line sounding the way we wanted it to. We also used slow motion in certain parts for effect. Another obstacle we overcame was using the dialogue from one scene over a separate shot which took some time to figure out and eventually get sounding and looking right.

We also had to try to create certain key points within the trailer that would stand out as key moments that would draw the audience in to the film. Firstly, we had a key shot in the trailer where the main character confronts one of the key enemies, to show this moment as important we used slow-motion to create an intense effect and also leaving the audience wanting to see more. We also had a key scene of the main character being held hostage and beaten with a gun. To make this scene more realistic we had to speed up the shot right at the end as the gun appears to strike the characters head, speeding it up made the impact seem much more intense and realistic, therefore shocking and entertaining the audience. We also decided to constantly return to tracking shots circling the main character, these shots would fade in and out of each other creating a distorted and “dizzy” feel adding a sense of confusion/paranoia to the trailer. Overall the editing process was fairly quick and trouble free.

To construct our poster and magazine cover we used two different media technology's , Photoshop CS3 and Paint shop Pro. Both programmes aloud us to use advanced editing techniques and to make our poster and magazine cover come together. We also used a compact digital SLR camera to take the images as this would give us the best results due to the quality and pixels. Certain editing techniques worked better when using Photoshop because we felt it allowed us to have more control over alterations. Both images were edited in Photoshop because we had more options when making the image ‘black and white’ , such as we could change the colour pigments in the image by the using the slider. Also because we wanted to create a mysterious image and wanted to really highlight his face because this is significant throughout the campaign we made the image high contrast and found that we could get a much higher contrast while using Photoshop instead of Paint shop Pro. On the other hand Paint shop Pro allowed us to put the structure together easier and when adding elements such as adding text, pugs and the magazine title. This was a problem that occurred because we first of all decided to use Photoshop to create the layout of the magazine and poster, therefore Paint shop Pro was a lot more straight forward . We were also more familiar with Paint Shop Pro from our AS coursework so this made it slightly easier when making the posters and magazine.

One of the first problems that occurred was when we was making the magazine cover. When I took the image I positioned Jamie in the centre because we previously decided to use a Empire cover because they are more of a main stream movie magazine and thought our trailer would fit best with this and we knew after doing our research that Empire centred a lot of their images. Therefore when we came to putting the image with the Empire title it didn’t fit right together partly because of the colour in the image because Empire normally use quite bright colours, where as Sight & Sound uses more subtle colours such as greys and browns. So as a group we decided that Sight and Sound would be best, but therefore because I shot the image in the centre we had to use the clone tool on Paint shop Pro and clone more background in on the left because otherwise the ‘sight & sound’ title would cover Jamie's head and Sight & Sound magazines rarely does this.

Magazine editing techniques We found the original image was not very effective and did not connote the revenge he wanted and the ‘dark’ side of him. I think this was partly because of the background , because it was shot from a low angle to emphasis his control therefore there was trees and greenery in the background which I believe drew away from the look we wanted to create. So we decided to change it to black and white and use the ‘Gaussian blur’ tool on the background to try and hide this away because we still wanted a photographic background and did not to use a plain coloured background therefore we wanted to put more focus on the main character. The black and white made it look more sophisticated and classic. After placing the text on we had another problem because the text looked as if it was getting ‘lost’ in between the trees and the text did not stand out like we hoped. To overcome this took the trees out by simple using the eraser tool on Paint shop Pro. This worked a lot better than we expected because we used a high contrast so therefore the background was all white so you could not tell that we erased this.

For our poster we cut Jamie out of the background as this was very insignificant. We cut Jamie out using Paint shop Pro because we found this a lot easier than on Photoshop because we could get a more even edge. We then adjust the colour in the image similar to the magazine cover so this can all link in together and show a clear connection between magazine and poster. We used a high contrast for this image similar to the Taken poster than inspired us. Also in the Taken poster there is low lighting and wanted to create this similar look, so by placing the image on a dark background this helped to emphasis this. The background is made up of the film title ‘Retribution’ repeated to cover the background. This was created by just experimenting with the text tool on Paint Shop Pro and it also reminds us of the Taken Poster. This has worked very well because if the background was just plain black the image would get lost and this also shows the film title to the audience. We decided to use red text for the film title because this connotes blood and revenge. Also we used this throughout our magazine cover because it is linked with the ‘Sight & Sound’ title. Poster

JASL Evaluation

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JASL Evaluation