Somnium from Gabrielle Royle on Vimeo.

Final Poster

This was the final edit of the poster we created.

Final Magazine

This was the final edit of the magazine we created.

Evaluation Q4

 In this presentation I am going to discuss the methods used to target our specific audience alongside what I have learnt from my audience feedback.

Evaluation Question 4 - Audience


View more presentations or Upload your own.

In order to gain a further insight into the opinions that our audience had on our production - we held a focus group to get verbal feedback. This proved to be very helpful and turned into more of a discussion as opposed to a question and answer session.

To gain a further insight into our audience and their opinions on our films, we held a focus group to get verbal feedback on our production.

Somnium Focus Group from Gabrielle Royle on Vimeo.

Evaluation Q3

For our task we created a promotional package for our film as a whole including the trailer and following this two further forms of advertisements  - a poster and the front cover of a magazine. 

A promotional package enables a clear link to be set between the different types of medias used to advertise. By involving different types of media to help promote the film meant that there would be multiple ways of targeting our audience. We created the three types of advertisement using different types of software. There are certain links that are used to promote the film further and allow an audience to recognise what they see frequently and understand it's the same film. For example, films like Harry Potter use the same font for the title in the film, the trailer, the magazine articles, websites, posters and DVDs released etc to establish a name for itself and to allow it to be an easily recognisable thing for people to see.

We created the poster and magazine using different elements, firstly by doing a photoshoot and also selecting still images from our trailer to create a really effective means of advertising alongside allowing a strong link to be set inbetween the different types of adverstising. 

We had to create a story board for our pre-production to allow us to see a more physical version of what we were trying to achieve from our actual production. However, when it came to the actual production it appeared that we hadn’t in fact really followed the storyboard as much as we could have. Sometimes we had deleted full scenes and other times we moved the order of scenes to make it more effective. Not only this, but we found that we could be more creative when we didn’t have a strict structure to stick to. We came up with better, shorter ideas of different clips to put into it. 

Our ancillary tasks were created afterwards which therefore meant we could involve some of the things we learnt during filming and the clips we took during filming. They were really creative as we took the typical conventions of a poster and magazine and also adapted on these and took them even further. 

We thought we were most creative when it came to actually filming the clips. This was because we didn’t exactly stick to the plan we had created and the ideas we came up with while we were actually filming were a lot more creative as we used the surroundings and the locations we were at the create the new ideas. We incorporated a lot of reflections which we didn’t think to put in in the planning stage which helped aid the horror genre as it was really eerie.

We followed typical conventions that appeared in both the production and editing. We knew we followed conventions because the audience understood the product and this was due to the general conventions we had put in place and retained. This was true as the conventions we copied for our trailer wouldn’t be ones that you’d find in other genres like a rom com or a comedy film. The choice of location and other elements like the make-up we used for our antagonist and the overall idea we used all contributes to create the genre of a horror. 

Within the editing stage we used fast paced editing split up with slower, longer edits that allow something to build up and scare the audience when they least expect it. The music used was also eerie which allowed the whole feel of the trailer appear to fit the genre. Some of the scenes were in an isolated location, for example the alleyway scene which shows her lack of support and people around her. Not only this, but this scene was filmed with a hand-held shot which makes it appear more real as though you are the person chasing her. This is reinforced with the fact that Rosie also looks close to the centre of the camera as if she is running away from you. The editing enabled us to add things like loud bangs which contribute also to the whole feel of the production being a horror. 

The outcomes we were aiming for were to be able to indicate that the genre is a horror and also to encourage the audience to go and see the film. These aims were achieved in a number of different ways. Firstly, the range of shot choices achieved this with the use of reflections of our antagonist – firstly in a puddle and also in a mirror. Not only this but the hand-held shots and the frequent crescendos that make the audience jump. The general mise-en-scene was all dull colours. It doesn’t show any sign of the weather outside being bright or sunny, which means that the pathetic fallacy matches the intended purpose and overall feel of the horror genre. The only colours that are shown are in Rosie’s clothing where she wears some bright colours in her ‘safe’ places. She does this when she is teaching and also when she is with her boyfriend – George. This could indicate that when her clothing becomes more and more dull that she is getting more and more crowded and brought down by this person haunting her. 

The auxiliary tasks and the actual trailer all support eachother in the sense that we use the same type of font and the same images spread across them all. We did complete a photo-shoot for the posters and the magazine as there were no images of Rosie that we thought captured exactly how she felt within the trailer. This meant that we set up a different photo-shoot to get appropriate photos and create the most effective auxiliary tasks we could do.

However, the image of our antagonist – Layla, was taken from the production as we thought this was a significant image that people will remember from the trailer. He face is slightly covered and she looks threatening. Here we thought this grabbed the general essence of the antagonist which therefore meant we didn’t need to hold a photo-shoot in order to grab this image.

Overall, the combination of three was very effective as they all help promote each-other. By having the central image of Rosie in the poster and the magazine makes them relate to each-other and for people to automatically associate them with one another. Each aspect of the three has had a lot of time and effort put into it and they all relate to each-other with their content and general visual layout. 

Evaluation Q2

Here I have discussed how I used media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages of my production.

evaluation Question 2 - Technology ppt

View more presentations or Upload your own.

Evaluation Q1

Here is the commentary I wrote discussing different elements of the trailer.


Evaluation question 1 from Gabrielle Royle on Vimeo.

Transcript

The genre of our piece was horror. This meant there were general conventions we needed to adopt. We chose this genre because we fit the general ages of the target audience which therefore meant we would know how to advertise and so on for this age group. Not only this, but he set of conventions that come alongside this genre are interesting and can be very creative to use.

Our primary research consisted of looking at a huge range of horror trailers and finding conventions that are common amongst them. We looked at the likes of Woman in Black and Insidious. From this we applied our new learnt knowledge and tried to come up with relevant ideas we could use in our production that adhered to the horror genre.

Our analyses methods were focuses around engaging and discovering the right target audience. We initially handed out surveys with both open and closed questions to a range of different people varying in age, gender and interests. The results we gained from this helped the production in both thre creation of it and in post-production. We incorporated relevant things to the age group of 16-18 year old boys by addressing their answers from the surveys. For example they said they would find a female antagonist scarier than a male one. Not only this, but in post-production we could target social media as a means of promotion for our production.

We stuck closely to different media conventions, firstly in our trailer we had title cards and chose this over voice overs. This was because we thought a voice-over could have made it less real for the audience and the genre of horror works best when the audience believes that what they are seeing is real. We also had quite intense music to be use throughout our production to build up the tension and create more of an impact on the audience.

Moreoever, we involved appropriate production companies that are related to horror films at the start of our trailer. This is a typical convention and adds general prestige to the production if it is produced by a well-known company, which in our case it was. We used ‘Blumhouse Productions’ as they are well known for horror films and have been involved with films such as Paranormal Activity and Sinister which are all generic, profitable horror films.

Like all trailers we incorporated the most relevant and exciting clips without giving too much of the film away. This is another typical convention of trailers alongside the billing block at the end including some legal elements like the copyright and the crew that helped create the production as a whole. This is followed by in our case, the ‘coming soon’ title that indicates that interested people should watch out for further adverts to find out the actual date of release.

We incorporated fast paced editing throughout, as well as slower, longer clips to create tension in order to build it up to a crescendo. This was usually something that could make the audience jump. Other points within the trailer that encourage the audience to jump are the likes of loud bangs and screams in certain places that they wouldn’t be expecting it. This is another very typical convention of a horror and is a clear indication of the genre. This adheres to David Chandler’s conventional genre theory that the content of a specific genre constitutes particular conventions for example a certain theme or a certain setting. This is proved correct by the fact that people understand what genre the film is going to be based on the certain content within the trailer. Not only this, but it also supports Steve Neale’s declaration that ‘genres are instances of repetition and differences’.

The characters we got to play the different roles in our trailer were manipulated and portrayed really well. Firstly, Rosie was playing the main role and the victim. Her portrayal was very well and showed a more three-dimensional character as we saw a range of different emotions; firstly her everyday life while she worked as a teacher and furthermore she is seen in a more vulnerable, light alongside approaching a more angry state. This shows she has multiple emotions just like any human behind has which consequently makes her role more believable and also more relatable.

Her representation is very accurate as she is shown in a vulnerable light which in regards to her gender representation it is seen as very accurate. Not only this, but she seeks the help of her boyfriend which furthers the approach of gender representation being coherent with stereotypical roles.

Our other character ‘Evylyn Crick’ played by Layla fulfilled her intended role fully by portraying a scary villain. His is given in proof when we did a focus group about our production and results suggested that her intended role was fulfilled and to a high standard. However, unlike Rosie, Evylyn isn’t a three dimensional character as we never get to see her on a vulnerable level and instead she is only seen to us as the audience as a threat. This could change within the film – but for the means of the trailer a strict line had to be seen in between the protagonist and the antagonist.

This film is seen as solely something for the mean of entertainment and on the surface we are not attempting to influence a large group directly by ‘injecting’ them with a message in order to trigger a response. This is known as the Hypodermic Needle Theory and could be argues to not be closely related to our trailer.

We do, however, appear to support and subvert other theories. For example Levi Strauss applied that of binary oppositions. Here, we have an antagonist and a protagonist and these are exact opposites with completely different personality traits. However, they aren’t opposite in gender which could also subvert this idea. We also support Todorovs theory of an equilibrium where Rosie is happy and appears to be unaware of the trauma she is going to face followed closely by the disruption of Evylyn Crick haunting her. However, the solution is not indicated in the trailer. Nonetheless, it can be expected that the solution will be found within the actual film and not shown in the trailer. But following trailer conventions – this would not appear in the trailer.

In conclusion, our trailer appeared to be coherent with theories as well as the typical conventions expected from trailer and our chosen genre of horror. This was proven with our audience feedback as everyone correctly labelled the genre as horror and the vast majority expressed how they would go and see this if it were to be released as an actual film.

Auxiliary task no 2 - MAGAZINE COVER

For our second auxiliary task we decided to do the front cover of a magazine. This was quite complex as we wanted it to be a specific film magazine. From this we initially looked at different film magazines for inspiration, for example Empire and Total Film etc. 

We found that there were general conventions to adhere to in the process of our planning. Firstly it was having a large title of the company making the magazines, followed by a 'hot topic' of that week, or month - usually a film that is coming out. There tends to be a central image also with overlaying text (cover-lines and strap-lines) of articles that will be found within the magazine that also act as a means of persuasion to buy the magazine.

After we did some research we began planning a very basic foundation of what we would like our magazine to look like. Below shows that we came up with the name and that we decided to stick to the conventions discussed previously, i.e. a central image, cover-lines of different articles and the main title head etc.

From this decision we then began to put it down into Photoshop so we could get more of a visual idea of what it would look like. We chose the name Grande Films as this represented we were a big company and obviously suggested we were a film magazine. We thought the black background looked effective as opposed to a white or different coloured background alongside a bold, red font. We also chose to capitalise the title to make more of an impact and in order for it to stand out more. 

From here we began adding slight detail. Firstly, this was with the barcode in the bottom right hand corner which is another element that is prominent on every magazine. Then it was the stories that appeared either side of the key focus of the magazine, here it reads 'Jessabelle, Sarash snook in an on set world exclusive!'. This appears to be an exciting title with the words chosen, 'exclusive' and the exclamation mark it ends in. However, we weren't happy with the initial font chosen. This lead to us playing about a bit until we found one that we were happy with. We came to the conclusion that we liked the serif fonts mixed with the sans-serif font. This proves there are no strict rules that have to be applied whilst creating the magazine cover as it is a creative piece.

Not only this, but we then added more and more articles that will be found withing the magazine and also included the 'plug' feature seen on most genres of magazines. This is seen as something exclusive and exciting to again, entice the audience into buying the magazine. We also decided the positioning of the barcode wasn't appropriate where we had put it. Therefore, we moved it to the other bottom corner of the page in order to have the 'plug' at its old position. Moving things around and adjusting the structure is a constant necessity in order to achieve something that looks good. 

After we had decided on the outside structure, it was time that we focused on the actual story that was the key selling point of the magazine. This was for our trailer, Somnium. We initially decided on the font that would appear in large at the bottom.

After deciding on three different fonts, we came to the choice of having the last one of the three shown above. The decision was based on purely how it looked. We also decided to stick to a white font throughout as it was easily visible overlaying the pictures. Regarding the pictures, we decided to use to same one of Rosie that was used in our other auxiliary task - the poster. These photos were taken on a separate photo-shoot to any of the filming we completed. However, what we did differently here was that we decided to have the image quite a lot darker the help it blend in more. This also allowed the text to be the part that stood out the most, with the central image just complimenting these over stealing the limelight away. 

Overall, we were happy with the final outcome of the poster as it could be recognised as a legitimate front cover of a magazine. We incorporated the corrects conventions and ensured it looks effective.

Auxillary Task no1 - POSTER

While choosing how to present our poster we took a look at other horror films and their posters. It seemed a general theme consisted of a black and white colour scheme, and sometimes with a hint of red. 

Generally, the posters show a central image with a tag line that contributes to the telling of the story - although this is very brief. It then consists of a large title, with finer details at the bottom of the poster. The vulnerable victim is often shown among something scary - above it is the blood stains on the 'Slaughter House' and the hand covering the mouth in 'Scream'.

For our poster we thought we would use a central image of our protagonist looking vulnerable but again use the convention of representing the danger in the background. This helps establish the genre further and shows the audience it is a horror, but without giving too much of the movie away.

Above are our ideas that we thought we should put down first before attempting to create the poster. We came up with a range of different ideas for the different fonts we could use, the colours and ideas for taglines. 

To create our poster we used the software Photoshop, a raster graphics editor. 

The background for our poster was the first thing we decided to create. Initially we were going to have a plain black background, until we thought that this could be seen as boring and we could have something that suits the genre more. We decided to stick with the black background, but found one that looked like it had scratches, which we thought was quite effective. Although it wasn't much different from a plain background, it definitely added to the horror-theme.

For our font we decided to use plain white and have it in bold writing. We needed to add the text necessary first so we knew what space we would have left for the central images. 

Firstly we added the main title - with the same font that we used within our production. From here we added reviews, which make it more appealing for an audience. Underneath the title we added the tagline 'a childhood nightmare brought to life'. This was stolen from our trailer, which makes a clear link between the two. 

From here we had to add the production companies that we used in our production. We used 'Blumhouse' because they're known for producing horror films, and 'White Productions' which was our own production company. We also had to include specific text at the bottom about who the trailer stars and the names of the director, editor, music producer, production design and sound and finally who it was written by. Although this small text is something the audience isn't going to read, it's still necessary. Not only this but we wrote the link to our website so people could investigate further if they wanted to about our film. 

Finally, text-wise, we added an award that the film had won. This was from the Sun-dance film festival and is located at the top of the poster in a central position which acts as a positive, selling point for the film that it has received a recognised award.

Following on from this we decided to have the villain from our production in our poster. We took a screen grab that we also incorporated in our trailer to use as our key photo. We chose the screen grab (shown below) because it shows all her features that we created to make her more scary. She is shown with her hair covering her face and also black make-up around her eyes. Not only this but we see her in the contrasting white dress with the bandage also wrapped around her arm. We cut out the background of this picture so it was just the outline of the villain that would be put on the poster. 

Following on from this, there wasn't any images of Rosie (our protagonist) throughout the footage we collected that we thought was appropriate or good enough to use as one still, strong image. As a consequence of this we had to plan a time to meet up with Rosie, on a day and time we were all free to take pictures of her. We had to bring certain equipment with us to the shoot. For example, we wanted her to be crying in the image so we had to bring make-up and make-up wipes to ensure this was a possibility. We also borrowed a special camera to ensure the image was good quality.

We took the images in front of a black background so it was easier when it came to editing to edit it back on the chosen black background of the poster.

After we gathered the images, we had to edit them onto the poster so they looked effective.  We used the software Photoshop again to edit our images. The picture below shows how we had to blur the edges of the image so it fit in well with the black background used and ensured there was no harsh, black outline separating the image from the background. By applying a blur it allowed a blend to be created between the two different images.

From here, we had to edit the lighting of the image. We decided to have it appear as though there was a light coming from the bottom right corner of the image which created a slight shadow. This created an eerie look and also took hold of the representation that Rosie was the victim.

From this, we then changed the general lighting of the whole poster. We made it so that the protagonist, positioned to the front of the poster, was in a lighter light as opposed to the antagonist, positioned further back, in a darker, more ominous light. The protagonist also became more faded, which allowed it to blend more and appear less harsh.

Below is our final poster. Overall, it is clear that we have stuck to some general conventions of posters. It is clear that this is a horror from the poster, which means that we have applied the correct conventions. 

Photoshoot

In order to get relevant pictures for our auxiliary tasks we had to plan a photo-shoot for our protagonist - Rosie. This was a necessity because there were no still images in our production that were appropriate to use like there was for Layla. 

We had to plan another day that we were all free on and pick a location that had a black background to take our pictures. We also told Rosie to come dressed in black which hold negative connotations of horror and threatening. This subverts normal colours we'd associate with the victim, but reinforced the idea she is trapped. 
Not only this, but we had to bring props along, for example mascara as we had decided we wanted her face to be running with make-up as if she is crying. 

Although this might have been seen as over-dramatic, it still looked effective. We also as a consequence of this had to bring make-up remover so she could wipe this off. 
The make-up was easy to do and it was just black eye-make-up which connotes something threatening and dark. 

After we had completed her make-up, we could then go to take the photos for the shoot. 
There were some images that we didn't like, which as a consequence we chose not to use. This was for a range of reasons - either she was laughing, they were from an unusual angle or they didn't capture the correct emotion of scared and vulnerable that we wanted.

After spending time gathering a range of different shots, we had to wrap up and view the pictures taken on a big screen.

It didn't take long to decide on the image we eventually wanted to use as it was perfect and represented her exactly as how we wanted. 

The image above was the final image we used for our auxiliary tasks of the poster and magazine. We thought her hands represented her confusion and her face represented the pain and upset she felt. 

Overall, it was a successful photo-shoot, which consequently was reflected in our auxiliary tasks. 

Music

For our music we had certain things we required. Firstly, it had to fit the horror element. Secondly, it had to be able to be used - therefore non-copyright music. Moreover, we had to not just have music but also sound effects to help heighten the horror element of our trailer and finally, we had to find something we all agreed on that would help our trailer become more appealing.

We realised the importance of sound when we initially listened to the trailer of 'Woman in Black' without sound. Here, we discovered that trailers don't make you feel anything without the sound to accompany it. We noticed the impact was much greater once the sound effects and overall sound was added - therefore we knew how important it was that we found appropriate sound.

Obviously, the primary aim of a horror film is to scare someone alongside being appealing enough for them to go and see the film. From this we looked online on many difference sources to find the right type of music...

 www.soundbible.com

www.incompetech.com

After going through different websites we carefully picked appropriate sounds for our production. It came about that we had about 20-30 different soundtracks and sound effects that we liked enough to see how they would fit with our production. 

We had to then see how each would fit with our trailer. From here, it wasn't a slow process as we knew quite instantly whether the certain music we'd picked worked or didn't work with our trailer. After we picked out two main songs to go throughout our trailer we had to overlay different sound effects onto it. 

This was the final bit of editing we had to do. We left the music to the end as we thought splitting up the video and the music made the whole process a lot more simple. 

Titles and fonts

For the title of our film 'Somnium' we had to look at different films to see what they all looked like to get some inspiration and to investigate what different horror films use to establish their genre for their film. 

It slowly became apparent that the use of a dark (usually black) background or a key picture from the film was used as the background for the title. This can establish the genre by having a black background because it connotes darkness etc. However, a picture from an image from the film could act as a selling point and could be a key idea from the film. 

For the actual titles, however, it was clearly seen that the vast majority of them were in red fonts. This could connote love, but this is highly unlikely for a horror film. In these cases it can connote anger and blood which are all powerful, negative things that lead us to think about death and consequently the genre of horror.

All these titles are also all capitalised, which gives us the idea that they're to be shouted. This creates more of an effect and impacts us more as the audience. 

From these examples we can apply them to our production by having a dark background or an image from our trailer with a big font over the top. I think we could capitalise it to make it stand out more and reinforce the genre of horror.

Title cards

In our production we thought we needed something to help guide the audience on the story instead of just having the video.
The choices we had were to either do a voice-over, seen in many film trailers for example The Woman in Black, or to have title cards to guide the viewer on the story.
We decided that having a voice-over could ruin the horror element as we wanted it to remain solely on the video with the sounds from our footage. Because of this, we decided to use title cards to give away elements of our story.
We had to be sure that we didn't give too much away...

Each of these images were broken up with short clips of the film in-between.

Here, we are asking the audience a rhetorical question which obviously doesn't give much of the film away. However, it does give away the main idea of the film and allow the transition between her being a child to her being an adult to be established.