Evaluation Question 3

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Summary:

To gauge how successful our groups media package as a whole was my group decided to present a questionnaire to a group of random people and get them to see what aspects of the trailer were effective and whether any improvements were necessary. After collecting in the results we came to a number of conclusions;

We asked whether or not people would go and see Lacerate at the cinema. 37.5% of people said they would but there was also an equal percentage who said they would not see our film while 25% stated maybe. These results show that we were able to be successful to some degree as people would go and watch our film but that we were not successful enough to make large numbers go and see it. After these results we can see we need to improve our trailer to make it have much more of an impact on our target audience. I have learned that to make a horror film successful and appeal to a large target audience is a tougher task than I first thought. We have had some success but I know that our trailer needs improvements in order to attract a larger audience.

Our target audience for Lacerate was both males and females aged between 15-20. Our feedback shows that nearly 80% of people agreed and knew what audience we were targeting. We managed to successful identify with our target audience as people were able to see which age range we were targeting clearly. It was vital to our trailers success that we were able to target our target audience effectively. We as a group have learnt over the duration of the course that effectively targeting your specific age group is critical if you want your film to be successful.

To understand whether our feedback group were regular film watchers we asked them how often they went to the cinema to see films. We were surprised by the results as 55% said they only go to the cinema on a yearly basis. This may have been surprising but with the surge in internet film popularity and apps such as Netflix it is to be expected. Overall going to the cinema is becoming less of a regular habit for a lot of people and we have realised that there has been a significant shift towards online media and that if you want to make a film successful you need effective and efficient internet marketing.

Seeing as it was one of our main ideals to challenge gender conventions/stereotypes in Lacerate we needed to see how successful we had been in the manner we portrayed the female protagonist Summer in our film. We had tried to present her as breaking the conventions of the stereotypical 'damsel in distress' and make our protagonist terrified but also tough, hard going and able to think on her feet. When the results came in we realised we hadn't done this in a clear enough or an effective enough manner. 44% of our feedback group agreed Summer had been portrayed in either a negative light or they were unsure, only 11% agreed she had been portrayed in a positive light. After receiving this feedback I realised the way we had structured our trailer and the scenes we used did not help or were not effective in publicising the message we wanted to show. To rectify this our group knows we need to reorder the scenes of the trailer slightly and perhaps incorporate some more effective scenes.

Moreover our target group was mostly able to correctly identify our trailer with the horror genre with over 55% voting that Lacerate was a horror film. There was slight confusion as a few believed it to be a thriller film (33%) with 11% thinking it was a comedy. Conveying the genre of your film effectively is something that we learnt throughout our study of the media course. Stuart Hall was one of our leading lights when we were conveying the genre of our film. I have seen now that I need to improve the features of my media package to make sure it is identified with the horror and follows the correct conventions.

When producing a trailer for a specific genre it is key to understand how often your audience watches your chosen genre as that will define how much money is made at the box office. The majority of our feedback group (44%) said that they rarely watch horror films which made it difficult for us as we had to change the way we marketed our media package to try and turn this around. The other feedback fluctuated between weekly, daily and monthly viewings. By using this question we were able to judge how many people would actually view our film.

Horror conventions have become set in stone and it is often a risk to challenge them and go down the path to originality, we attempted to find a middle ground between each path and due to this we received mixed results. 66% thought we only showed the conventions slightly meaning we had not done enough to make it stand out which we will need to address. 33% thought we had which shows we had some success at least. None of the feedback we received thought we had not shown the conventions of horror meaning we had managed to focus on the right genre at least.

Our overall media package was made up of more than just the trailer we each had to design a poster and a magazine cover to link with the trailer. Our feedback proved that we had shown the links between the 3 components clearly and effectively with the majority telling us we had shown it effectively. By creating a media package i was able to grasp how linking between each aspect is key and that it can have a big effect on how effective your marketing is.

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 2

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



Introduction:

For my A2 coursework we were required to work in groups to create a media package for a genre of our choice, we had to a magazine cover, film poster and a trailer for our film and make sure it fitted into the conventions of our genre of choice. My group decided to create a horror film called Lacerate along with a promotional media package. I put together the codes and conventions of the horror genre as well as the unique selling point of our film and used them in my ancillary tasks and trailer ultimately aiming to increase the overall effectiveness of the media package and improve its ability to reach out to our target audience.




The Film Poster:


Before I began to design my own film poster I had to conduct some research into the codes and conventions of film posters honing in on the horror genre specifically. Overall I researched two posters from two different genres- horror and thriller. I analysed two different genres as I wanted to see what conventions made the horror genre and our film had certain aspects that fitted into the thriller genre. I was able to find out what the purpose of a film poster is- advertising the film and exposing it to as many people as possible primarily using the name of the film, any famous cast members, tagline and use of colour to convey the emotions of the film. Our group had to create their own poster rather than work together as with the trailer. Below are links to my analysis of the posters I researched:




http://mattlongya2mediablog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/prom-night-poster.html

http://mattlongya2mediablog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/the-final-destination-poster-analysis.html




Film Poster analysis:

My film poster follows a simple conventional design. I used one singular image that promoted a key aspect of our film in this case the book which contains the demon that will haunt the protagonist Summer. I believe this decision was effective as it created a link between my magazine cover and my film trailer and my target audience can immediately associate my poster with the other areas of my media package. I used conventional colour schemes associated with the horror genre i.e. red, orange, yellow, black I did this because it helped to convey the emotions of our film and made the poster stand out. I thought the use of a colour scheme like this was effective because it immediately links my poster to the horror genre and also links to the similar colour scheme that I used for my magazine cover.




The Magazine Cover:
I followed a similar research and planning method for my magazine cover that I had used when conducting the necessary research for my film poster. For our coursework we had to base our magazine cover on one of the already established film magazines on the market. I decided to base my cover on the most successful film magazine EMPIRE because it is the most effective at targeting a variety of audiences however I also did some research into another film magazine- Sight and Sound so I could gauge the difference between the two and see what other aspects I could include. During my research I discovered that the USP always features on the magazine cover and is the main aspect that drives the promotion of the film. Below is the analysis and research I conducted into each magazine.










Magazine Cover Analysis:


I think that my magazine cover is effective in linking to the other aspects of the media package and engaging with my target audience because I continued with the same theme I used for the poster; focusing on the importance of the book and the connotations associated with it throughout the course of the film as well as using a similar colour scheme to the poster whilst still remaining within the conventions of EMPIRE magazine. Moreover I used the movie tagline "Do you dare to decipher?" on the cover as it also featured in the trailer and on the film poster. This created an association between them and made them more effective as they were easily identifiable with the film. Overall I was happy with the result of my work and I felt it conveyed everything that I had wanted the cover to do when I began the designing stage.






The Trailer:
After researching a wide variety of teaser trailers and full movie trailers of horror films such as The Conjuring and The Babadook I began to understand that the trailer is the basis on which the themes, characters, images, colours and symbols are constructed on. Having completed our trailer I would say my group created an effective and successful trailer that is effective in promoting the horror genre and conveying the message, narrative and storyline of our film. I feel that our trailer adds a dramatic and action packed aspect to our promotional package and also continues the association with the other aspects through the characters, USP, key aspects and colour scheme. For example the book features greatly in the trailer and the emphasis continues onto the poster and magazine cover. The font that is used in the trailer is the same that I have used for the poster and magazine cover thus creating the 'house' style that links all of the package together.






Conclusion:


In conclusion I feel that the designing, filming and producing of our media package has been very successful as my group and I managed to construct the synergy that links our work together thus making it a more effective marketing package. I think that my media package is effective at conveying the message of the film as well as successfully targeting our target audience and fitting in the stereotypical conventions of horror whether it was through the colour scheme, 'house' style, filming techniques or character construction. Overall it has gone well and I am happy with what I have created.

Evaluation Question 1

Magazine Cover

Film Poster

Final Photo Selection Process

Having looked through all of the photos that I have taken I managed to select a variety of photos that I want to use for my magazine cover and my film poster. I have chosen these photos for a number of reasons which I will explain in this post. I hope that the photos that I have chosen will fit the theme and style that I plan to use.

 I decided to choose this photo as I felt it conveyed the conventions of the horror genre well and fitted in with the theme and style that I am trying to use. The photo will have to undergo some editing but I am confident that if I did use this photo it would work well.

 Although this photo is similar to the previous one I wanted to include a range of different camera angles in my final selection so that I would have more choice if I did choose to use this image. As with the previous image I feel like this photo would be good to use and would again be effective in delivering the different messages I want to create in my two designs.

 After sorting through my photos I decided to choose this photo because I felt it looked good and conveyed the themes of horror very well, the burnt effect I managed to create I feel has worked well and makes the image striking and allows it to fit into the conventions of the horror genre.

 This photo is similar to a number of the photos I have taken but as I have said before I wanted to try and have some variety. This photo was one of my favourites after the photo shoot because of the burnt ash effect that I managed to create. It fits perfectly with sinister effect I was aiming for and shows the power of the demon and its effect on the book once it has been unleashed on the world.

 These two photos were selected due to the difference in camera angles and the options they gave me, they are slightly darker than the other images as I was experimenting the effects of light and darkness at the time. The burnt effect is the same as the previous photo but the variety in camera angles allows me to present each of the images in a variety of ways. The Book which the main protagonist Summer fatefully discovers is a key element in Lacerate and helps to drive the story. Capturing the intimidating and sinister nature of the Book was one of my top priorities and I feel like these photos have essence of what I have been trying to procure.

Photoshoot for Poster and Magazine Cover

Media photoshoot from MattLongy

Research into the link between Trailer, Poster and Magazine Cover

For my research I have decided to focus on the Hobbit franchise most specifically "An Unexpected Journey" to explain the link between the 3 areas; trailer, poster and magazine cover. I have chosen this specific film due to it being part of a massive and successful franchise therefore there is a wider range of materials from which I can compare.

Magazine Cover:

The Hobbit "An Unexpected Journey was released in 2012 to much acclaim and featured on a number of magazine covers from Empire to Entertainment. In each of the posters there are common themes that relate to both the story and to the title "An Unexpected Journey" and help to publicize the film itself. On each of the posters there are close ups and mid shots of the two main characters from the film (Bilbo and Gandalf) This allows the audiences to see what their favourite characters from the books look like in the film and as they wear the same costumes in trailer, poster and magazine it also creates a link between the three areas. As well as this the title of the film "An Unexpected Adventure" appears on all the covers which continues the link with the film and the magazine, also the anchorage on one cover "Your return to middle-earth starts here!" makes it seem like this is not only an unexpected journey for the characters but also for us the viewers. The red used for two of the Empire covers follows the house style of the magazine but also creates a link to the evil red eye of Sauron (the main enemy in the world of middle earth) The costumes that the characters are wearing are the ones they wear also feature in every edition of the covers which shows continuity and links them all together; we can recognize the characters easily just from the costumes that they are wearing.

Poster:

 The same theme that features on the magazine does indeed continue when it comes to the design of the posters for the film, the writing on the posters and the magazine is gold to link to the colour of the One Ring and also continue the 'house style' that was created the previous trilogy of middle earth films. Additionally the two main characters in the film feature predominantly on the posters as well as on the magazine covers again linking the two together and letting us know that these are the characters that will drive the narrative of the film. Moreover on the bottom left poster the main character Bilbo is stepping out his front door linking the image to the title of the film as he is embarking on his "Unexpected Journey" The same costumes are again being worn by the characters linking them to the posters about the film, in some cases the same images have been transferred to both poster and magazine trailer again reinforcing the similarity between the two media platforms. The stern and serious expressions on the characters on a couple of the posters let us know that this is not going to be just any journey it is going to be full of dangers and mystery as well as friendship and enjoyment.

Trailer:

The trailer for the Hobbit is full of fast, quick actions scenes, violence and a sense of adventure. The title of the film is continued throughout and links back to the both the posters and magazine covers. There are many dangers and enemies shown in the trailer highlighting how it is such a perilous journey to reach their goal. The same colours and links to the One Ring are shown throughout and the 'house style' is continued. For example at the end of the trailer the Ring appears to fly into the air to become the letter O in the Hobbit.

The Final Destination Poster Analysis