How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Part 1: http://prezi.com/w8kc0ekhtk2x/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy#
Part 2: https://prezi.com/embed/xthdatci1pc8/?bgcolor=ffffff&lock_to_path=0&autoplay=0&autohide_ctrls=0#
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
In the link above we have explained the things we have learnt from the feedback we received from our audience during production and post-production.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary products?
We have made three products in total, one main (trailer) and two ancillaries (poster and website). Before starting to make any of these, we have done a lot of research into romantic drama genre itself as well as the conventions and features of the products we were making. For example, when creating our products, we have taken inspiration from professional and successful works and applied the features to our own work.
When making our own poster, we have looked at “The Best of Me” film poster. We have created a similar layout, placing the title in the middle, the “based on a novel by…” at the top and the credits at the bottom of the page. “The Best of Me” also had a tag line, revealing something about the film. We have used one of those ourselves and placed it under the title. Similarly to “The Best of Me”, we have used two pictures in the background, one of them being the main one, taking up most of the space and including all three characters in it. The other photo only included the faces of the two male characters, faded out and placed at the top.
We believe that we have followed the conventions and created a good promotional package, by ensuring that all of our products match. By this I mean sticking to one colour scheme and using it throughout all three products as well as using the same font. By doing this, it’s clear to see that the work is linked and belongs to one person. If we used different fonts and colours, this could confuse the audience and make the products look unprofessional.
The colours we have chosen are mostly peach and white however some black font was used where relevant. We believe that peach and white are quite romantic, warm and feminine colours, which reach our target audience of teenage and young adult females as well as communicates to the audience that this is a romantic drama genre.
We have used synergy by mentioning that the film is based on a novel by an author, which automatically means that there is a book out as well as the film. Also, when creating the film, this comes with DVDs which would be another method of synergy.
We have made use of 360 degree branding by advertising our products on social networking sites, YouTube as well as creating our own film website. By doing this, we are reaching our target audience, which are teenagers and they’re easiest to reach through internet.
As we have created a film poster, this could be one of the traditional methods of advertising and marketing and could be placed on buses or used as billboards on buildings for people to see. Word of mouth could also be a relevant traditional method of marketing and it would most probably spread the news about the film really fast. There’s also the digital method of marketing, as mentioned above, social networking sites, YouTube, the film website and any other relevant media technologies.
All three of our products communicate the narrative themes of romantic drama. The main theme is love, which is clearly portrayed in the trailer. However, it might confuse the audience a little, because there are romantic moments between the female character and both male characters. It includes all three characters, so the audience get an idea of what they look like which could potentially persuade them more to watch the film. The products also show the obstacles, this being the ‘love triangle’ between two male characters and one female. This is clearly shown in the trailer as well as the poster and the website. The audience then know that there’s something going on between all three of these characters, but they can’t figure out which persuades them to go and watch the movie in cinema or on DVD at a later date.
The actors that we have chosen for our film are brilliant and they portray just what we wanted to show in a romantic drama genre. First of all, they’re all teenagers which makes it relatable for our audience, as they might be in a similar situation, experiencing their first love and getting attention from the opposite sexes. Their acting is very professional, considering some of them have never done drama. In the trailer as well as the other two ancillary products, the characters reveal bits from the film but don’t give too much away so it keeps the audience engaged and curious. For example, on the poster, the picture reveals Amy and Dylan standing together and laughing but also includes Jason, who is looking at them from a distance. This creates mystery, as the audience don’t know what this means, especially if the poster is the first thing they see, before watching the trailer. We have thought this true and wanted to create this effect to persuade the audience to look at the trailer and then possibly go and watch the whole film. The trailer also ends in a confusing way, however, this is done to prevent giving away the ending and revealing that Jason has died and him and Amy walking together at the end of the trailer is just a memory. The actors suit the role perfectly and would persuade the audience to go and watch the film, especially those who we have targeted, which are teenagers and young adults.
Overall, we are happy with our final products and we believe that they have achieved what we wanted, which is to portray the romantic drama genre, aiming it at teenagers and young adults. One of the major successes was picking the right actors for this genre. They have all played a brilliant role in helping us achieve our goal during this project. The marketing we have done for our film is also successful, reaching our target audience. We believe that the final pieces look quite professional and would work as a promotional package and persuade people to go and watch the film.
Due to various disagreements and circumstances that were not under our control, I and Adrianna had to change the actress of our trailer; the person who will be now playing is our Media studies classmate, Clara Rodriguez. We have recently started shooting with Clara and the boys and there are only a few shots left to be filmed indoors.
Running out of time, I borrowed the equipment for the half term and I met with Clara and George to shoot their scenes outdoors. Hopefully, Adrianna and I will not meet any sort of struggles anymore, and we’ll be able to finish this project on time.
Here are some pictures taken during the filming:
During the Christmas holiday, I watched various YouTube tutorials on how to do voice overs and blur objects in iMovie.
The prezi below includes a conclusion on the two videos I found most useful.
https://prezi.com/8egtghr5z0cw/update-3/
Unfortunately, this was the only thing I was able to do, because I did not have access to the software in order to continue with editing the footage we have so far. When back to school however, Adrianna and I will arrange to go out and film the rest of the scenes. This way the website and poster will also be finished as we’ll have the necessary photos of the characters.
https://prezi.com/_jrnikw6mti1/update-2/
We have managed to book out the mini-bus and find a driver and supervisor. We did however have to move the filming date to Friday, 12th December. In the meantime, I have watched some tutorials on lighting for when it comes to actually shooting; I also made some notes presented in the prezi above.
Over the past two weeks, Adrianna and I were not able to shoot for our trailer as we had been waiting for the new equipment to arrive. Now that is here, we are facing slight problems.
Considering the expense of the equipment, we are not to leave the academy’s site with the equipment, without a supervisor; therefore at this moment in time, we have managed to book out the mini-bus. However, I and my Media Studies teacher are trying to find a driver who could also be mine and Adrianna’s supervisor while we shoot the footage.
On the other hand, having a new equipment means expanding our skills. So what I am going to do over the next couple of days until we get to shoot is, I will watch tutorials on YouTube about lighting; this will help me use the lights on set in order to achieve the effect I want – this way the audience will feel even more engaged with the trailer and it will look a lot more professional.
In addition to that, during the lesson, Adrianna and I will also cooperate with out teacher in terms of learning how to work the microphone and the new cameras.
Summary
After we have designed the sketches for the poster and website, and we created the film trailer storyboard, Adrianna and I have made some final decisions. The locations might slightly change and some scenes might be left ’till last as we all have busy schedules and we need to find opportune times when we can all shoot together.
After sketching the storyboard, I realised I am going to have to learn how to work voiceovers, as our trailer will include a lot of these. On this note, Adrianna and I have tried our best to use as many clichés as possible in order to meet all the romantic drama features.
We ensured that although we are slightly subverting the Classical Hollywood Narrative theory, the characters will follow the stereotype of women and men. The female character will be potrayed as being vulnerable, very feminine and sensitive. The boys will be shown as manly and ptrotective.
Furthermore, the trailer will start off by showing the plot chronologically in order to set up the story; however, we will then show the most intense scenes as we need to attract our target audience.
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