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

i used many ways to improve the combination of my advanced production (trailer) and my two ancillary tasks ( magazine front cover, poster) To link all of these together firstly i used the same font for all the media products which was steel tongs, i downloaded this font by using the website 'Da Font'. The reason why i used the same font on all three of my products so it becomes obvious to the audience that these related, for example the font could stick in someones head and when they see it advertised in a different format they will recognise it and may follow up on it later on, and will remind the viewer that it is advertising the same film, this will increase their interest. 

The font almost acts as a semiotic, this font seems to be related to the military and action due to the size, shape and the bold red. Looking at the colours in culture wheel it is evident that the colour red represents negative connotations which works well for my trailer as it has lots of violence in it.

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

http://www.youtube.com/user/olliebigsy/videos?view=0&flow=grid


I have used many media technologies to help me in the stages of production. Firstly i used YouTube and Vimeo to help me research the genre which i would be using in my trailer. I decided that it would be a logical decision to create a proforma's (a list) of 20 trailers following my specific genre and write down the full length of the trailer. This gave me something to base my trailer around in the early stages of pre production and i feel this gave me a head start in the creation of my trailer, using this research i discovered i found the average of all the lengths.

http://www.imdb.com/ was a good way for my to find specific ideas and research for my film trailer along with audience feedback and other planning

From my audience research i found media technology extremely useful, it played a vital part in the useful results which i received. To receive feedback i used websites such survey monkey and easy poll to ask my target audience questions  such as questions related to location, plot and narrative, all vital parts in production. To find my target audience i used social networking websites such as Facebook and twitter, i contacted fan pages of the action/thriller genre and sent the page surveys and polls and waited for answers, in their answer they put their age, using this i found out the dominant ages of my target audience and throughout production i have tried to make the trailer appeal to them by taking on their criticism and thoughts, therefore creating a positive rapport with them.

While constructing my ancillary tasks and advanced production i used high tech programmes to make them seem professional and acceptable for an A-level piece of media. These programmes include iMovie, Photoshop and Garage band. I also used a website called Da Font to download a wide variety of fonts until i found the most acceptable one to fit into my pieces.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

I was very lucky to get such useful audience feedback. I used social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter to receive feedback. The main thing that the audience feedback taught me was that my ideas of the perfect trailer may be different to other peoples ideas, and to create an effective and professional trailer i have to take all suggestions and ideas int account and combine and develop them into something better. Examples of audience feedback which i received where general ideas about the fist draft of my trailer; after uploading the unfinished version of my trailer i received a wide variety of feedback, i found out that some of the montage and narrative scenes dragged on a bit too long and i needed to experiment with gunshot sounds. Although these may be little things i have still acted upon them and solved these problems for the better.

Using Social Network Sites I was able to get more audience research along with thoughts and opinions of those who I shared the video with.

This is the post which I put on Twitter to find out what I should change/re-arrange etc.


I think it is correct to say i relied a lot on the audience feedback primarily because i wanted this trailer to suit the needs of all genders and of course my target audience. I also decided that i would do some audience research to find out what their ideal setting for an action/gangster film would be. Firstly i gave my target audience a synopsis of the plot and what my further plans were for it I did this by sending group messages on Facebook and twitter to 'groups' and 'fan pages' of this specific genre.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My media product uses the forms and conventions of real media products in many ways. Firstly is the the title of my film 'PURE', the film 'Snatch' inspired me to use this title mainly because it adds an element of mystery to the audience even before they have seen the film or even viewed the trailer.

I used this convention because i feel this type of plot works well, there is a set narrative structure and the audience know what type of film it is and know what they're going to receive.

After continuous research into the thriller/action genre it became evident to me that these types of films don't push the boundaries to create something individual and different from other films of the same genre. However i plan to develop  and challenge this ongoing problem in the action/thriller genre. When creating my trailer i wanted to tease the audience into what they shall be receiving if they watch my film. I have planted a false image in their heads about the plot and the overall outcome of the story.

Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to genre

Genre Theory - Final Production 

I feel as if my film trailer 'PURE' is a mix between 2 genres, i feel it is a blend between Gangster and Action.

Using Chandlers view of conventional definitions of genres tend to be based on the notion that they constitute particular conventions of content, my trailer fits into the genre of gangster/action. This is because of the themes and settings. There isn't a primary location but the locations that are used aren't very nice e.g. stable room, which the protagonist is placed in. 

The structure and style of the trailer is slowly built up so that the audience can gradually unravel what genre it would fit. For example the start of the trailer is fairly timid, there isn't much action involved, all you see is a van pulling up to a building and a man getting out until all of a sudden there is a gun shot. 

However near the end there is a huge build up of tension from what is happening in the scene, I feel that this reminds the audience the type of film they are in for, in my opinion the genre which you try to show the audience near the end of the trailer is the genre which people will remember your film by, and this was what I was intending to do.

A theorist called Rick Alderman argues that 'genres are usually defined in terms of media language, such as semiotic elements'. From this definition I would say that my trailer fits into Gangster/action. The syntagim or chain of links related through the imagery throughout the film suggest this. e.g. when the character is loading the gun there is flash backs to a car driving.

Real media helped me choose the genre for my trailer. For example Snatch and American Gangster follow a generic hybridisation (a mix) of genres such as, drama, action, thriller, romance, Gangster and romance.  This inspired me to use representational issues and meant I didn't want to add in any dialogue because of the accent of the character in my trailer. I think Snatch and American Gangster's mix of genres inspired me to add a mix of genres into the trailer, altogether i have explored themes such as action and of course gangster.

First Poster Analysis