Evaluation Question 4

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

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Evaluation question 3

Evaluation question 2

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?

My A2 media studies coursework required me to create a trailer and produce a film poster and magazine cover to go with the trailer as part of a campaign and overall I think the combination of all 3 products is very effective

As my genre is horror, I researched into conventions of horror film posters and magazine covers by looking at existing texts such as Insidious, The Purge and The Conjuring posters and magazine covers Fangoria and Empire for inspiration. I mainly looked at The Purge as I had analysed its trailer and in order for my products to link well, I wanted to see what conventions made The Purge’s film poster and trailer link.

Dominant image

• I wanted to create enigma like The Purge poster does by making the audience ask who is pushing Maddie’s face like they ask who is behind the mask. I think this makes my poster successful because unless my audience have watched the trailer first, they wouldn’t know what type of character she is, therefore for they will be intrigued and so will watch the film to find out who she is and why she is being hit/ pushed. 
• This also shows how effective the combination of my film poster and trailer is as the image is taken from action in the film so therefore the audience know which trailer the poster belongs to and it also further portrays violence and creates enigma which also achieves Roland Barthes enigma codes. 

For my magazine cover, I used an action shot as I found out from my existing product research into magazine covers such as the Insidious magazine cover, that action shots are effective as they link the products together to portray the mood of the film and give the audience clues as to what to expect. 

I think this image makes the magazine cover successful because:

• Shows iconography of the horror genre due to them wearing a mask and holding a weapon as audiences automatically associate weapons with this genre. 
• The antagonist looks like they are looking at the audience which shows the gaze 
• The antagonist is shown in the trailer and Maddie is shown in all 3 products so the characters also help them link.

I showed a consistent representation of the Final Girl, our protagonist Maddie as she seems to be in trouble in all 3 products, therefore based on the images used, this links all the products together and makes them effective because as well as this, the audience will be intrigues as to why she in trouble so will watch the film.

Colour scheme

I researched into specific colour schemes of the horror genre as this is what makes the products genre easily identifiable to the audience. I did this by looking at products such as the Insidious campaign and The Purge poster. I found that white, red and black are commonly used. 

Symbolic links

Quote

‘Based on a true story'

Synergy
These features encourage the two step flow theory as they allow people to interact with the film and find out more information. Also, if people like what they see, they may talk about it with other people, share it on social media and create a ‘buzz’ which makes my products a successful combination as they all link through the use of synergy and word of mouth.

Audience feedback

Evaluation Question 1

Here I have put together a short video showing a few of the conventions I have conformed to and challenged in my trailer:

Finished Ancillary tasks

After carrying out my audience research, I have altered the colour of the film title on both the poster and magazine cover by making it brighter and lighter as my audience said it didn't stand out enough. I kept with the colour scheme of all 3 products so they link and show horror conventions.

Audience feedback- ancillaries

I carried out some audience research for my poster and magazine cover by making a group chat of 6 people, 3 males and 3 females (so it was fair) and I asked them a series of questions about what they thought of my ancillary tasks:

My audience members all said they would pick it up and buy it if they saw it on the shelf as they thought it was intriguing due to the bold title and dominant image. This is good feedback as I had researched into masthead positions and placed it at the top so it would catch peoples eye and it has. 

All members of my group chat liked the colour scheme of the magazine as they said it linked with the poster which also shows they thought they looked like part of the same campaign which is one aim I was trying to achieve. However, one member said that the colour of the font for the film title blends in too much with the background and this could cause confusion as people might not see the film title if they just glanced at the magazine cover. I made the title this colour so it would link with the film poster, however if they think this, I will make the title brighter so it is more eye catching as one of the main purposes of the magazine cover is to advertise my film and if my audience don't notice the title of the film, this purpose will not be achieved so this was constructive feedback.

When I asked about what my audience think of the dominant image, they really liked how eye catching it is and mysterious as you can't see behind the mask. This is good to hear as I was aiming to create this effect on the audience and begin to build suspense before they would watch the film. I have included a gaze in the magazine cover by using a shot of the antagonists looking face on at the audience, so this may be another reason why the audience think it is striking and mysterious as when researching into the gaze, I found out that this was effective on the audience as it intrigues them into wanting to read the magazine.

I really like how this particular audience member picked out the quote used on both the magazine cover and film poster as the reason I wanted to include the quote on both products is so they link and look like part of a campaign. They also said the colour scheme is the same which is also good feedback as I worked hard by colour matching colours for text and backgrounds to ensure they both linked. 

The main purpose of a film poster is to encourage an audience to watch the film. As my audience members said the poster would intrigue them to watch the film, this is proven my research and planning decision into the use of specific images, fonts, colour, poster conventions, true stories and enigma has payed off as these are the main reasons they are attracted to watch the film.

Finished Ancillary tasks

MAGAZINE COVER

POSTER