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

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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.