What have you learnt from the audience feedback?

Aisha and I decided to gather a group of 10 students to sit and participate in an audience feedback viewing session, where they watched the trailer and filled in a questionnaire on the positives and negatives and how to improve. There were also questions on initial reactions and whether they would like to watch the whole film. Generally, people were positive about the trailer, but there were some negative points, which we took as constructive criticism, in order to improve even more.

During the viewing of the first draft, the audience were not sure on the red titles, as they were not able to read what it was saying. We learnt that even if the titles do not look that interesting, it is fine as long as people can read them, so we eventually went for white font on a black background. At first, some of the audience were confused, but after we added voiceover bridges, they understood what was going on. If the audience understand the main plot, they are more likely to want to go and see the whole film.

The critics liked the music, as they felt at each point of the trailer, the music conveyed the emotions of the characters.

At the beginning of the trailer, Mindy dials 999 to speak to the police about her killings. At this point it is not clear why she is dialling this number but it conveys a sense of mystery, which in the audience, that she clearly gave to the other characters. However, at first the phone call was long and quite revealing i.e. Mindy claims 'I just killed my friend', we cut it down to only a few sentences. This went down well with the audience because it enhanced the mystery even more.

The audience liked the final shot because the music and shot combined scared them and made them jump and it left them feeling nervous, but wanting to see the rest of the film.

A few people criticised that they weren't sure who all the people were. However, a trailer is not supposed to give everything away and so they realised that in the actual film, the characters personalities would be built up.

Aisha and I made an informed decision regarding our choice of research methods, in order to gain our audience feedback. Firstly, we made a visual documentary on people's views on horror films. We also researched in the form of questionnaires.

These methods work to our advantage, as the methods we had concluded to use were easily accessible. Consequently we could also use the information gained such as the audio recording feedback from Garageband, and incorporate it into our rough cut, therefore creating an audio commentary feedback. This would be a more communicative method of analysis than just writing the information into our blogs. Another advantage to our choice of research methods is that we could also receive immediate feedback, which in turn would make the process of improving our trailer much quicker and convenient.
The choice of our target age range enabled us to easy access of our target audience as we had our peer groups and friends, as well as teachers and relatives, to provide views of our rough cut and make relevant critical comments to our trailer.
Nevertheless, there are some factors that might hinder the validity of our research gained. For example, interviewer desirability bias may occur when we carry out interviews or offer questionnaires to our target audience, as they may feel pressured to give the “correct” answer that we might want to hear, instead of giving constructive criticisms. This could be evident in group interviews, as a person might be prone to giving the same response as the other interviewees.
Another problem is time keeping, as our target audience might of felt rushed for time while completing our analysis. However, we had resolved this problem by briefing them of what our research is about and telling them that they could take their time answering the questions.

Our questionnaire



Below is a link to my Aisha's blog of a film of our audience, who took part in filling in the questionnaire.

Aisha Salim Media A2:

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

During the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages of our project, we used Mac computers, scanners, HD Panasonic camcorders, garage band, photo editing websites, digital cameras, imovie and websites such as facebook, blogger, youtube and the Internet movie database.

Although it took a a while to get used to the Apple Macs, we managed to quickly learn how to use each piece of software and take advantage of all different tools and things that can be done on a Mac rather than a PC. It was easier to store files on the MACs and it was quicker to access software and the Internet.

The main programme we used to edit our trailer with was imovie. We used our previous skills from AS to use various editing techniques, for instance, slow motion, fade in/out, creating montages, importing clips and sound from the camera, reducing unwanted background sounds, importing music and sound effects and enhancing the light and saturation.

Blogging meant that it was accessible for both of us wherever we were in school or out of school to be able to store work and make posts. The only downside was that we couldn't upload all of our rough cuts because there were so many and it wouldn't upload such a large file. The good side is that its not all done on paper and therefore easy to lose, but it is always there and easily edited. Also, being able to incoroporate videos, images and sounds to support our work. It was also a way for Aisha and I to leave messages to eachother, in order to make sure everything was completed and uploaded. Other students commented on our posts as well and comments were made from the teachers to inform us on what could be improved. There is also a chance to put links to other websites into the posts to support the work.

We used a scanner to upload our storyboards and moodboards. This meant we were able to create a storyboard on paper, rather than on the computer which might have taken much longer. It was a fast way of getting it onto our blogs.

We used the internet movie database to research on trailers and other horror films, in elements such as production companies, directors, distributors, taglines, genres and casting. Although we did much of our research online, I did also read books on horror films, which gives a slightly different angle, but when the Internet was down in school, instead of doing nothing, we took the opportunity to visit the library for further research. We also read film magazines and newspapers for research, however, it is far more time consuming because it takes longer to search for the information you want.

We used Facebook to message eachother on schedules and also and created photo albums in order to share images for editing etc. This meant we had easy access to our work.

We used Youtube for trailers and music to incorporate onto our blog.

To create and edit the images for our film poster and magazine front cover, we used a photo editing website, to airbrush, change the saturation, brighten, contrast and change the focus of the foreground and background. For the front cover of the magazine, I edited an image by cutting around it and placing it on a white background. We decided not to go ahead and use it as our final piece, however.

We used garageband to produce our music. We used current immediate music pieces and cut and pasted parts of each, along with our own additional sound bridges to enhance the emotion in each part of the trailer. We also found other already made sound bridges and embedded them into the trailer from Youtube. Garageband was useful to be able to mix the different pieces, rather than making our own song in real life. It would have been time consuming to gather a band together to play a song.

The video camera (Panasonic HD), was simple to use and was enhanced with the use of a tripod.

We used digital cameras to take our location photos.

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

Usually in a psychological horror, there is no distinctive setting. I believe this is because one or more of the characters are mentally unstable and one setting provides stability, so the film needs to convey a sense of instability. We used various locations to film our trailer, including a school, a house, streets, gardens and near to a railway station.

We wanted to challenge the typical convention of a male killer because we felt it would be creepier if we had a female villain because women are associated more with kindness, innocence and not neccessarily with much power.

We used the typical weapon- the kitchen knife- in our trailer and on our poster. This is conventional to a horror film.

Another convention we stuck to was the idea of leaving it on a cliffhanger and then we actually came up with a twist that we planned to focus around, with subtle clues in the trailer, without actually giving anything away. In our film, the twist was that the main protagonist, Mindy, who was overwhelmed with jealousy over her new 'friend' Reuben, was in fact schizophrenic and Reuben was her other personality. This overwhelming jealousy and the fact he seemed to lead a better life than her, led her to attempt to kill him, only to end up killing herself.

We decided to develop, as well as challenge the convention of dark lighting , by using bright light in many scenes to juxtapose the horror of the murders. It could mirror Mindy's mind in the way that she might not see that there is anything wrong with what she is doing, so doesn't care if it is close in daylight because she is mentally unstable.

Another convention of a horror film is the point of view (POV) shot sometimes used to convey a sense of urgency and intimacy for the audience watching. We used a POV shot of a girl being chased by the killer and this creates a more tense effect as to whether the killer will catch up with the girl. This clip in the trailer was also challenged with the use of a handheld camera. The audience said it made them feel more involved and that it was more realistic, creating a suspenseful effect.

Tracking shots are common in horror films because they reinforce the sense of immediacy and urgency and therefore help to increase the scare factor.

One of the shots used in our trailer which is conventional to horror films is the extreme close up of someone's face, enunciating their eyes. This causes the audience to identify with the dead girl and feel sorry for her.

We decided to go against the traditional clothing in a horror film. Normally, the killer would wear casual clothes, but we decided we wanted her clothes to represent her character, so she always wore an item of clothing representing her to be a bit of an animal e.g. a large wild cat. They are usually conveyed to be passionate, dangerous and mighty. We wanted this to be reflected in our trailer, in that Mindy is passionate about Reuben, but this can lead her to become very dangerous.

Another convention that we wanted to follow in our trailer was the a jumpy ending to reinforce the idea that there may be more jumpy bits in the actual film. Our very last sequence was short, but made our audiences jump. This may leave them feeling that it may be worth watching if they get scared and may especially appeal to niche audiences, who like being scared.

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

Both the trailer and the print promotions are successful together. They compliment each other to promote our film. Two of the shots in the montage are of the main character, Mindy, reaching out to grab a knife and dragging the knife across the floor in an outfit conveying her animistic side. The film poster uses the weapon image to compliment the scenes of the film and then used in the trailer. The magazine front cover somewhat juxtaposes the trailer and film poster. Although she is still wearing the top, giving her an animistic quality, she is holding a pink rose. Pink roses can signify gentleness, sweetness, joy and admiration, which completely juxtaposes the genre of the film. We wanted to create this effect because it creates a more sinister quality. This could be intriguing for a potential audience who, after discovering the film, could be shocked at the genre. This may help to bring up sales. The continuous use of the colour red throughout- in the trailer and on the film poster and the magazine front cover- give an impression of danger and death, but also of love. The use of eye contact on the magazine front cover of the film poster is a deliberate move because we want to make the audience feel uneasy. Since the film is about a girl who kills many people, it is as if the protagonist is looking directly at the reader, like 'they're next'.

It is important that the combination of all the tasks are effective together because they are distributed at the same time. The distributor promotes and publicises the film and under this role has to promote with film magazines, trailers and film posters. I am now going to explain how our film would be distributed, advertised and promoted. If the trailer, poster and magazine front cover are not effective as a combination, other films may end up with a larger gross profit, as there are so many horror films being made at the moment. An example of a recent popular horror film is 'Paranormal Activity'.

Does our trailer fit in with any narrative structures?

The narrative structures ensures that the story is defined and enables the audience to understand the messages within the film, which ensures the film has meaning throughout. This is also true of a trailer, even though much of the narrative should not be given away for the trailer to be considered successful.

One narrative structure was created by Tzvetan Todorov and involves five stages of a narrative. However, this can be broken down into three stages: a beginning (equilibrium), middle (disruption to the equilibrium by some crisis or action) and end (equilibrium reinstated). This is conventional narrative structure. My plot fits in with this structure as at the beginning the students in the school are just going about their daily business- everything is normal. Mindy joins the school and disrupts this with her jealousy and revenge. The reinstated equilibrium is not shown in the trailer, as we do not want to give too much away, but it is reinstated by her death and the fact she can no longer murder anyone.

The other two middle stages of Todorovs structure are:

Stage 3- The characters recognise the equilibrium has been disrupted and that there is a problem. This is true in our trailer because the character Riley realises that students are going missing.

Stage 4- The characters try to repair and change this disrupt and gain back the equilibrium that was disrupted. This means that obstacles need to be overcome to be able to regain equilibrium. This is where Riley tries to uncover what is really happening and tries to resolve it.

Even though we have been conventional with our narrative structure, once Riley discovers what is actually going on, the audience discover the twist, which is like an additional stage.

Another narrative structure was created by Vladimir Propp (dealing with characters/spheres of action). He stated that characters can be categorised into seven 'spheres of action'. These include: hero, villain, donor, helper, princess/prince, dispatcher and false hero. Films do not always use all of the 'spheres of action' and some characters can convey one or more of the spheres.

These 'spheres of action' (and which 'Paranoia' character would fit into the category:

Hero: The person/people who tries to restore the equilibrium = Riley

Villain: The person/people who's task is to disrupt the equilibrium = Mindy

Donor: The person/people who gives the hero something. This could include advice or significant information = this does not apply to our film

Helper: The person/people who aids the hero with their set task = at first, Heather, but later on, it does not apply

Princess (Prince): The person/people who need help, protecting and saving = Stella and Reuben (at the end)

Dispatcher: The person/people who send the hero(s) on their quest = this does not apply, because Riley decides for herself to solve the issue

Fasle Hero: The person/people who set out to undermine the hero's quest by pretending to aid them. Often unmasked at the end of the film = Mindy

An error...

After watching our finished trailer through, we realised that we had left some faint and unnecessary text underneath 'Katie Abbott', which we previously didn't notice because it is so hard to see. We are quite happy that this is the only error we found. If we were to improve our piece even more it would be to remove this.

Paranoia- edited 1

This is our re-edited piece of Paranoia, as we had some points to consider in order to make our trailer as effective as possible. Firstly we changed the title font and sizes, as it proved to be too short and undistinguishable for audiences to understand. Secondly we wanted to clearly establish who was the "popular girl and perfect boyfriend" as Mindy's voiceover states, so we added another shot of Riley and Reuben holding hands to show their relationship more to the audience. Lastly, we also added a surprise shot of Riley investigating an abandoned place, before being violently grabbed by somebody; this seemed like an effective enigma code as audiences would wonder if Riley survives, and would therefore want to watch more to find out what happens.

Final piece draft

Rough cuts 1

We used some of the shots in this series of rough cuts. However, we had to mix the sequences around because trailer's are not always in chronological order of when the sequences occur in the film. Also, we want to change the music (it needs to be extended), titles, production and distribution logos, as well as the voice-over.

Improvements

Once the final piece is uploaded we are going to undertake various ways of gaining audience feedback in order to improve our work even more. (see evaluation)

However, I looked at our pieces and our blog as a whole and pondered over some ways we could improve it even more.

Rough cuts

Below are links to more of our rough cuts.

Aisha Salim Media A2: More rough cuts of trailer

Aisha Salim Media A2: Rough cuts of our trailer

Aisha Salim Media A2: Rough cuts of our filming so far!:

Aisha Salim Media A2: First filming

Last minute edits

We are just trying to pull together the editing in order to make improvements according to the audience feedback. We have also decided to alter our soundtrack in order to fit with the pace of our jump cuts. Another improvement is to include rating cards and production/distribution logos.