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

Questionnaire and Focus group feedback

Today my group and I successfully carried out our audience research. Firstly we showed our focus group the trailer, we then handed out the questionnaire and showed it a second time to allow them to fill it out whilst watching it. After they had filled it out, we started our focus group so the audience could feed back and expand their thoughts based on what they had put on the questionnaire.

Overall, based on the questionnaire and focus group combined, the feedback was very positive. One member said that it got straight to the point and that they understand Maddie's and Elliot's relationship is the base to the story. This is good as it meant that the shot we filmed after we thought we had finished really benefited us. My audience also thought the music was effective as it built suspense and was fast paced like the shots in the montage. They also liked how it matched up with the transitions and most of my audience thought overall the sound was very effective which is positive.
Character representation feedback was both positive and negative. Many members of my audience understood the representations we were trying to achieve, for example, they thought the antagonists were frighting due to the masks as they show no expression. They also said Maddie was represented as troubled, a protagonist and unstable.
On the other hand, others said she was represented as dominating and powerful. This is not what I expected, as her facial expressions in a lot of shots made her look weak, such as when she was fighting. However, this could also be positive feedback as is suggests the trailer gives 2 different representations of characters therefore the audience will watch the film to find out what they are really like.

Overall, all my audience members said they understood the narrative and that they would watch the full film.

Questionnaire

These are the questions my group and I came up with to ask our audience tomorrow along with taking part in a focus group. We ensured we covered a range of narrative, character representation, sound and mise en scene questions to get feedback on the majority of features in our trailer.

Questionnaire for Transfixed from amberloo20

Questions for questionnaire

Qualitative research

On Wednesday, my group and I will be presenting our finished trailer to a focus group for feedback. Each member of my group has agreed to come up with non-biased questions so we can then put them together to create a questionnaire that we have all contributed to. Here are my questions:

• Do you think the soundtrack compliments the action in the shots well?
• Do you think the sound helps to gradually build suspense throughout the trailer?
• What do you like about the trailer and why?
• What do you dislike about the trailer and why?
• What do you think is the most effective part of the trailer and why?
• How would say Maddie is being represented throughout the trailer?

Transfixed- Finished product

Final editing

18/1/16

Today my group and I added the shot we filmed yesterday to the trailer. I suggested to position it between the moving in scene and the transition to when they are in the kitchen. This is because the fade/text transition suggested that time has passed by so it still made sense to the audience. It also fit in with the positioning of our soundtrack so we kept it there.

(please ignore the ambient sound)

Extra filming

17/1/16

Today, Kayleigh and my actors and I met at 12 pm to film an extra shot for the beginning of our trailer. We didn't begin filming until around half 12 as we needed to explain to our actors why we are filming more, what we need to film etc.

This is the shot we filmed and are going to use as it will  give the audience hints to what the rest of the trailer is about. This is because Elliot says he doesn't love Maddie anymore, therefore the argument shots, other characters and the text transitions will make sense. We filmed in the same setting as the other shots to ensure continuity of our trailer.
Whilst I set up to film this shot, Kayleigh positioned the actors and we both decided on their dialogue:

Poster- Final draft

I have designed my final draft which is the poster design I want to create by developing my 2 other drafts and ensuring I include all poster conventions. However, after doing another photo shoot, I have decided to use this action shot of Maddie for the dominant image as it is dramatic and leaves the audience asking questions as to whose hand it is, encouraging them to watch the film to find out. It also shows the films genre and what to expect from the film as it will be edited black and red to connote death and danger and to blend in with the black background to suggest mystery. I have kept the release date at the bottom as it will be the last thing my audience read so will be remembered, and as well as this, from previous research into horror posters, like The Conjuring, the release date is usually at the bottom. I have also ensured the 5 star rating and the actors names are included as this creates hype, as well as a website and a hash-tag at the bottom as this will encourage the 2 step flow theory and create even more hype.

Like poster draft 1 and also on the 'The Purge' poster, I have positioned the title where it can be clearly seen but so it doesn't cover the image as I have found out it doesn't matter where the title is positioned as long as it is the most dominant piece of text. I placed it over a black background as red and black are contrasting colours so it will stand out.

Finally, the symbolic link is included at the top to link the 3 products together and now that I have finished the trailer, I will chose fonts that are similar to the transition text and also similar colours as they need to link with colour as well as font choice and the symbolic link. 

Transfixed- Finished(ish) product

TRANSFIXED

Feedback

Overall, after finishing our product, we had positive feedback from our teacher. However, she said it would be better for the beginning of the trailer to get straight to the point/reason of the disruption to give clues away to the audience about what is to come. For example, having a shot of Maddie and Elliot arguing saying they hate each other or they don't love each other as this will  hook the audience from the beginning and they will already be asking questions from the first shot. 

My group and I have agreed that we will update our product based on our feedback as we want a professional looking product that can be the best it can be. Therefore I have spoken to our actors and we have agreed to film on Sunday 17th January as this will give us time to edit before Wednesday 20th January when we present our finished product to our focus group along with a questionnaire.

Editing session 13

Today my group and I finished adding the sound to the trailer. We had tried multiple soundtracks to find one which was upbeat and suspense building and after finding it yesterday, we finally managed to upload to Final Cut Pro X today. We cut it and layered it over our other soundtracks until it was perfectly in sync with our shots, action and transitions.

We uploading the soundtrack from YouTube onto iTunes and
then onto Final Cut Pro

This is a picture of the layered sound

Here we adjusted the volume of the dialogue in the shot so
we could here it over the soundtrack

Editing session 12

13/01/15

Today my group and I completed our improvements from our audience feedback and we continued to edit the sound. We listened to each others soundtracks and didn't really agree on them so we looked together and found one we thought would work well with our shots on Freeplaymusic. However, after adding it on the timeline, we didn't think it was fast enough or built suspense. We tried to cut it up as I suggested that the loud drop of sound should be on the shot of Delaney appearing in the mirror, however this didn't work well so therefore we
looked for another soundtrack.

I found this track on You Tube and suggested to the group it would be good to use as it is upbeat, suspense building and adrenaline rushing. We had trouble downloading it onto Final Cut Pro however we will go back to the Macs tomorrow and continue uploading it so we can edit it and finish the overall trailer.

Audience feedback-trailer improvements

My group and I know how important audience feedback is therefore we decided to ask 2 members of our target audience to watch the trailer so far to give us feedback on what they liked. We will also asked them how it can be improved so we can make adjustments and tweak it to make it suitable for our target audience.
I will then do audience feedback after it is completely finished to see what people think of the finished product along with my film poster and magazine cover as part of a campaign.

Here is our feedback:

Overall it was positive feedback as they both liked the appropriate use of transitions for the action in the shots and the text/font. Jess especially liked the montage and the positioning of the text in between the shots as she said it was adrenaline rushing. Also, Ollie said he liked the music as it gave the trailer an atmosphere and also the title as it had connotations of blood which is good feedback to here as we felt it looked as though blood dripping from the letters when it appears on the screen. However, there wasn't negative feedback, instead we were given positive improvements such as they told us they couldn't clearly hear the dialogue so therefore we will enhance the volume. Also, the lighting was commented on so we need to ensure all shots are colour matched correctly and portray the eerie horror mood we want to achieve. All these improvements will be made next editing session when we finish the soundtrack.

Editing session 11

12/01/12

Today we worked on sound. I showed my group the soundtracks I looked at on freeplaymusic and Kayleigh and Jamie liked the 'Inner Beauty' track and also 'Abandoned Infirmary'. We all decided the 'Abandoned Infirmary' soundtrack would be best suitable for the majority of the trailer and we would add 'Inner Beauty' over the top for the montage. This sounded really well as both soundtracks were in sync with the action in the shots and the transitions. Also, as we were inspired by the 'You're Next' trailer for the montage, we made the soundtrack sound like it was glitching in sync with every other shot as this sounded like weapons scraping, linking to previous shots in the trailer.

This is the beginning of the trailer with the 'Abandoned Infirmary' soundtrack:

We had to cut down the soundtrack and also repeat some parts of 'Abandoned Infirmary' during the disruption before the montage as we tried to build up the sound throughout the trailer by it gradually getting louder and faster. However, we had difficulties doing this as we tried layering sound, increasing the volume and speeding it up x2, but I didn't feel as though these changes made it any better so we are yet to alter this section in our next editing session.

I experimented with sound effects like I said I wanted to yesterday by repeating a doorbell sound effect from Final Cut Pro X. Personally I didn't like it as I felt it didn't sound realistic and neither did the other members of my group so we didn't include it.

Here I wanted to re-include the sound of keys rattling during the shot of Maddie trying to get out the door during the montage after we originally decided we didn't want it. However I thought it would sound effective and action packed on top of the soundtrack, therefore we detached the audio from the shot and repeated it over the top.

Here Kayleigh and I wanted to have the sound of the antagonist scraping the shovel along the floor over the previous shot so they both lead on from each other. We enhanced the sound of the scraping and also faded it into the shot after so it flowed smoother and didn't suddenly go into a silent shot.

Tomorrow, my group and I will continue to edit and try to gradually build up the sound so it because adrenaline rushing and from my audience research, this is what makes a trailer frightening. We all agreed to find a track that we could use for this and this is what I found on You Tube:

Sound and the fear factor

I want to see how and why it is the music which adds to the fear factor. I asked my sister, who fits in with my target audience to watch 'The Strangers' trailer with and without sound to see how effective she thought the sound is and why. I didn't want to do this myself as my results may have been biased. However, by my sister telling me how effective she thinks sound is in a trailer and why and what she liked about it, I can chose and incorporate a soundtrack which my target audience will think is effective.

What have I learnt and how will I use this research?
From this research, I want to include a fast paced soundtrack for the disruption in the narrative as this will keep the audience on the edge of their seats. I also want to consider repeating parts of a soundtrack as it suggests time isn't passing by and the characters are struggling for help. This will be effective in the build up to our montage and the montage itself as it will show fast paced action. Also for the sting at the end and the jump shots, like the one of the antagonist walking down the stairs, I want to include sound effects such as bangs to make the audience jump as this is something my sister said she liked and makes the audience jump.

Sound/music specific to our trailer

As my group and I are planning to add in the sound to our trailer next week, I wanted to research into depth about sound, as I have only briefly looked into it. I thought it would be best to look at sound after we had filmed and edited so I know what we have to work with and we can base our sound around our shots rather than base our shots around the sound.


This is a presentation I found online about sound in horror trailers:

What have I learnt and how will I use this research?

From this research I have learnt that horror trailers attempt to build suspense and tension from the beginning to engage the audience and persuade them to watch the film. I want to consider using sound effects which are on Final Cut Pro X that sound like chimes or doorbells as we have a shot where Maddie answers the door so a doorbell sound could be repeated to build this suspense and engage the audience. Also, I have learnt how high pitched notes make the audience feel tense so I want to consider using a single long and high pitched note for the recognition of the disruption as this will engage the audience as they will be waiting for something to happen.

As a group, we have ideas about our trailer and I think the music should begin slow but still eerie for the normality scene to build up tension. 'The Purge' trailer uses slow calm music at the beginning to relax the audience and then a sudden change in the sound is used to make the audience jump and prepare them for a fast paced trailer. This is something I want to do in our trailer by using the single long and high pitched note for the recognition of the disruption. I then want the sound to be really fast and jittery during the build up to the montage and the montage itself as I really liked the effect it gave in the 'You're Next' trailer.

To listen to different sounds and music tracks for inspiration based on this research, I went onto a website called http://www.freeplaymusic.com/. There is a huge range of sounds that could be appropriate in creating an eerie mood for the equilibrium and a suspense building and adrenaline rushing mood for the disruption.

• Abandoned Infirmary
• Inner Beauty
• Lonely Spirits 2

• Boxed surprise

• Day of the signals

• Nice cigarette

I really like the Nice Cigarette track and I think it would be good in the montage. I will speak to the other members of my group but I want to blade it on Final Cut Pro X and use the electric sounds in between the shots of the montage. 

Editing session 10

 8/1/16

Today my group and I added the title of the trailer and also the sting at the end.

Me and Jamie experimented with different fonts and styles of text for our film title and we narrowed it down to two that we liked. Kayleigh gave her input and we all agreed that we preferred the second style as we felt the first one looked more paranormal or fantasy for vampires etc. The second style looks as though it has blood dripping down from the letters when it appears on the screen, as well as shadows which are both conventions of the psychological horror genre. We also felt as though it links in well with our trailer as we have a lot of low key lighting shots and shadows.

The text transitions for our quote have black backgrounds with white text. However, as I found out that the most popular horror colours are white black and red, I said to the other members of my group that we should change the background to black because red and black contrast better than red and white. Also, I felt as thought red and black suit more to our narrative as it suggests mystery whereas white has the connotations of purity and hope and there isn't much of that in our film. Therefore, we edited the title to red and black.

The shot at 0:02 was supposed to used as the sting at the end of the trailer, however after watching it all together, I didn't think it was a quick enough or shocking shot to make the audience jump at the end. Therefore, I took the shot of the antagonist banging on the door and the sting, and switched them round to see how that looked. The other members of my group liked this better as there is a loud diegetic bang in this shot and it even made us jump as we forgot we included it later on in the editing session! 

Here is the film title and sting at the end of the trailer:

Editing session 9

7/1/16

Today my group and I went back after school and continued editing.

Here with these 2 shots we colour matched them so they all linked together as part of the disruption and recognition of disruption in our narrative.

Here I detached the sound from a number of shots as it was unnecessary ambient sound which wouldn't have been heard over the soundtrack we are planning on including. We kept the sound in the equilibrium scene as there is a lot of dialogue, and also in shots with diegetic sound to make the audience jump like the one where an antagonist is banging on the window.

I added in a fade to black transition as when I did my research on editing and transitions, I found out that fade transitions are popular with horror films as they suggest mystery. It also allows the shot to flow into the next shot smoothly, and after watching exiting products such as 'The Purge' trailer and 'The Strangers', they have fade transitions in between shots during the equilibrium to show calmness and this is what my group and I wanted to achieve.

Editing session 8

6/1/16

Today my group and I went back to the Macs at lunch and after school to continue editing. We altered and finally completed the order of our shots, colour matched shots, added a few transitions and began to added in our text quote.

Here at 0:06, I decided to experiment and split up the shot of the antagonist walking down the stairs with the shot of Elliot in danger in between. This is because the shot of the antagonist is quite long and we don't want to audience to get bored. Therefore, by splitting the shot up, it keeps the suspense and makes the trailer more interesting.

Here we used a jump shot shot at 0:03. We cut the original shot down so it was sharp and quick as it was too long and the character (Delaney) didn't look like an antagonist, just a normal person. The jump cut is also very sudden and unexpected which will make the audience jump and add to the fear.

After watching this first shot again, I thought it went on for too long, and Jamie and Kayleigh agreed with me. Therefore, I cut it down and used a jump cut to show that the character had walked from the swing towards the camera so the shot didn't drag on too long.

This is the ending of our trailer before the film title appears. We didn't want the trailer to end straight after the montage because after watching it we though it was too sudden and we also wanted it to look professional so we took inspiration from the ending of the 'You're Next' and 'The Purge' trailer. They have a fast paced montage at the end and then a couple of normal shots at the end to finish the trailer off. We re-created this by including shots of our antagonists walking towards the house after the montage as they were slow but creepy and they aren't in chronological order of the narrative which makes the audience ask questions but also conforms to trailer conventions as trailers aren't in narrative order. We also included a fade to black transition for which the film title will appear afterwards. I want to then include a sting after the film title as this will add to the fear factor and make the audience jump which also conforms to a psychological horror film.

We positioned the quote for our symbolic link towards the end of the trailer as we didn't want to give too much away at the beginning and we also had the idea of positioning the text transitions between the montage as it would be adrenaline rushing and thrilling. My group and I are extremely happy with the effect it gives to the trailer as it is very eerie. It is also a unique positioning as most trailers include the text at the beginning. However, we still need to include the date of release, but I have suggested to place it at the very end after the film title, as it would look out of place if we put it before the quote as there isn't a way we can link it in the sentence.

This is the font we have decided to use for the text as it has a shadow which is a convention of the horror genre and also fits in with a lot of shots in the trailer which have shadows. We originally thought about using red black and white throughout the trailer as these a common colours used for the horror genre, however red didn't fit in with our shots and looked 'tacky' and unprofessional so we stuck to white and black. These 2 colours contrast well and are still portray an eerie atmosphere. We could possibly put the date of release in red and when we all decide what logo we are going to use, it might have red in it to link.

Here we colour matched the shots so they all looked part of one scene and showed continuity as the lighting and weather was different on each day of filming. I suggested different shots to colour match with as we wanted the outside shots of the antagonists to be light as it is day time but to also create an eerie mood. Therefore we experimented with the colour, saturation and exposure of the shot and finally got it to be the perfect colour. 

Ancillary photos continued

I ensured I took my audience research on board when taking these photos to ensure each one is something that would appeal to my target audience. I experimented with lighting, camera angles and props to see what looks the best and the most sinister.

I really like these images as they show action which is what my target audience liked in the last set of photos so these are photos I will heavily consider for either the poster or magazine cover. By including the knife as a prop, it suggests danger and death which are conventions of a psychological horror.

If I decide to use one of these images, I will edit out the background and make the lighting low key so it looks sinister 

These photos look like the hand is reaching out to the audience. I want to consider using on of these images and edit it so it looks like it is coming out of the page for the poster and this will draw the audiences attention in.

These images show Maddie's innocence due to the use of a high angle shot to which suggests danger in the film. I like the images especially the first one as it shows 'the gaze' which my target audience liked so I will consider using this for the magazine cover.

For this close up shot, I particularly like the use of artificial lighting from a torch as this looks sinister and shows conventions of a horror as it has created shadows. If I was to use this for my poster or magazine cover I will edit out the background and use a black background instead so the text can be seen.