Media studies A2 evaluation.

What have you learned from and how did you use the feedback you received from the audience?

Within this media studies project I have learnt how to construct a teaser trailers, movie poster and movie magazine , the codes and conventions of all media 3 texts I created and also how to use the programs that created them in such as serif movie maker, sony vegas, Photoshop and serif draw plus. I have also learnt from the audience research I conducted as I was creating my products and how the audience feedback I received aided me to construct a media product that is more appealing to target audience as criticism and feedback allowed me to make changes in order to construct better media texts.

What have you learned from and how did you use the feedback you received from the audience?

Before I constructed my 3 media texts I conducted audience research in order to ensure the product I was constructing was going to market to target audience , so before deciding on the title of the film I handed them out the synopsis of my movie and handed them a questionnaire with options for which name they felt was most appealing and best suited the film.

Audience research: Movie title: I asked 12 peers aged 16-18 years which title they feel fits my film idea best and is the most appealing to them. And which title would make them want to see the film the most.

Mania - received 2 votes Insanitarium- received 3 votes Mirage- received 6 votes. Division- 2 votes. Mirage received the highest amount of votes, It received half the votes from my

peers. This means that this would be the most fitting title for my film and the most appealing to my target audience.

What have you learned from and how did you use the feedback you received from the audience?

What have you learned from and how did you use the feedback you received from the audience?

Film noir v.s contem-porary film noir.

Contempo-rary film noir

film noir

Also before constructing my media texts I sent out another questionnaire to my peers aged 16-19 asking if from reading my movie story synopsis If they would prefer for the film to be purely in film noir style or if they would prefer a more contemporary (modern) twist on the classic film noir style. I asked 20 peers this.

15 out of 20 peers, as demonstrated in the pie chart would prefer a

more contemporary Film Noir style. This allowed me to realise in order to

create a successful trailer that I needed to incorporate the black and

white filter and dark mood and dramatic lighting in order to in keep with

film noir style, but to use more modern techniques to create the product.

This is shown through my trailer by the use of modern music soundtrack

to the trailer and also by having shorter clips in order to create pace ,

tension and suspense as opposed to using longer lasting shots as in

classic film noir as found in my research shots in trailers lasted longer,

also within my trailer I incorporated dramatic lighting, black and white

filter and a dark mood. I combined both in order to create a contemporary

Film noir in order to appeal to target audience and I kept this in mind

when constructing my three texts .

What have you learned from and how did you use the feedback you received from the audience?

I also continued to gain audience feedback during the construction of my 3 texts. This allowed me to develop my trailer, poster and movie magazine to make it more appealing to target audience. After I showed a group of 20 people aged 16-45 my draft movie poster magazine and trailer. And sent them this questionnaire:

Mirage- audience feedback: Gender: Age:  1) Does this poster appear to look like a movie poster? (Circle appropriate) Yes/ no /maybe 2) If yes what features indicate to you that this is a movie poster?   3) Judging by the movie poster what genre would you say the film is? (Circle appropriate)Film noir / Horror/romance/ comedy 4) Do you feel that the film poster reflects the genre of film (film noir)? Yes/no 5) Does this poster make you want to see the film or intrigue you to find out more?  6) Does this text appear to look like a magazine front cover? Yes/no/maybe 7) If yes, what features indicate to you it is a movie magazine?   8) Do you feel that the style of the magazine reflects the film noir genre?  

9) Do you feel that the magazine cover lacks too much colour? Or do you feel the black and white is simple and effective?  10) What genre would you say this film would be from viewing the trailer?  Film noir / Horror/romance/ comedy  11) Do you feel this trailer uses codes and conventions of a movie trailer?    12) From viewing the trailer would you want to go see this film?    13) Does this trailer make you want to know more about the film?   14) Do you feel this trailer is effective? If not please state where improvements could be made.

15) Do you feel as if the poster, trailer and magazine all look as if they are apart of the same film, or do you feel they are disjointed?

What have you learned from and how did you use the feedback you received from the audience?

Draft Movie magazine: Feedback for the draft magazine showed that the

audiences identified with the magazine in the intended way and all indicated that they felt it was a movie magazine and that the draft matched the conventions of a movie magazine, by having the film title bar code and issue number and also from the title of the magazine. However they felt the left alignment was off.

It also showed that the audience felt that the style of the magazine appropriately reflected the genre of film noir and pointed out that features such as incorporating the black and white filter and dramatic lighting within the image really aided the genre to come across to an audience.

However when asked if they felt that the simple black and white theme was simple and effective or lacks colour and is ineffective, 98% of the audience (18/20) felt that it would not stand out from a magazine shelf because of its lack of colour and would probably go unnoticed. And also that it seemed boring because of this.

This research then allowed me acknowledge what an audience wants in order for it to appeal to them and improve my movie magazine.

What have you learned from and how did you use the feedback you received from the audience?

What have you learned from and how did you use the feedback you received from the audience?

Draft Movie magazine improvements: This is my secondary draft of my movie magazine based off of audience feedback I adjusted the

left alignment, and added colour to my magazine text. When comparing the two the audience and myself both agreed that the image comes alive and stands out far more with the gold colour font, and would be much easier to spot from a magazine stand. However the audience felt that the font that the magazine was done in did not reflect the genre as much as it could.

Draft Movie magazine improvements: During secondary audience feedback, the audience still felt that even though they felt

the gold text brought out the image and made it more appealing and effective as a magazine that the text font needed to be changed to a font more similar or reflective of that period of time. I then researched into fonts used in Film Noir and fonts used on magazine and movie posters in that era. I then found a similar font and used serif draw plus to try to recreate the font. I feel this change is effective as it looks more like a Film Noir magazine. However the alignment is still off.

Final movie magazine: Final feedback for my magazine showed that

the alignments needed adjusting in order to ensure the industry standard of left alignment is correct, So text was all shifted until it was in line perfectly.

It also showed mistakes such as lower case letters were upper case should be and spelling mistakes all of which have been corrected.

Also showed that there was no date on the magazine, the date the issue was released was added above the bar code to correct this.

Also the Gold was all reworked in order to ensure it was the same shade of gold/yellow.

What have you learned from and how did you use the feedback you received from the audience?

Movie poster draft: Audience feedback for the

movie poster indicated that the audience identified with the text as desired and all 20 people asked responded that they felt that the text was a movie poster. And that conventions such as positioning of the title, the blurb, the release date and the unique selling points indicated what the text was

When the audience was asked what genre they thought the film was 97% said that it was a film noir meaning that the imagery and construction of the poster was appropriate for the genre and that an audience can tell what genre it is. Many mentioned the mysterious smoke the detective on the pier and the black and white filter aided the genre to be brought across to an audience.

What have you learned from and how did you use the feedback you received from the audience?

Audience feedback also indicated that 98%( 18/20)of people felt that the poster had intrigued them to find out more about the film or watch it.

Audience feedback also stated that the edges of black around the females body needed fading and the detective figure on the pier needed fading a little so it blended in more with the figure. And also the alignment of the text in the blurb needed making more neat and that the “key grip” would be removed as it is not conventional for movie posters to include key grips on the blurb.

Final movie poster: Based on the audience

feedback changes that were suggested were made to improve the media text and make it more marketable to the target audience and incorporate movie poster conventions.

The black edges around the female figure were faded out so she looks more apart of the scene.

The detectives figure on the pier was also faded to make it merge more with the female figure and stop it from appearing it was floating.

Also the alignment of the text in the blurb was made neater and with equal distances.

What have you learned from and how did you use the feedback you received from the audience?

Also a release date was added in order for an audience to know when the film is released.

Film trailer draft: The audience felt that the trailer at

this stage in construction needed some unique selling points added to it in order to give an audience some more incentive to see the film and also because some clips lasted quite long so adding something such as “directed by…” would fill in the time period. Another convention the audience noticed was missing was the trailer certificate “this trailer has been approved for” as it is industry standard and is an essential convention that needed adding.

What have you learned from and how did you use the feedback you received from the audience?

The audience felt that the dark imagery and high contrast lighting and the use of the detective and femme fatale within the trailer reflected the genre of film noir effectively and felt the music was in sync with the clips and also very appropriate for the trailer. They felt the music conveyed the dramatic mood effectively.

The audience also stated that the release date and film title need to be added to the trailer. 100% of the audience said that the trailer was effective in intriguing them and them wanting to find out

more and watch this film , which is good because this means the text is appealing to the target audience. The audience felt that although the music was fitting and dramatic in order to make in more interesting

that the music needs to gain pace and so does the trailer in order to create suspense. And ensure that film noir is being made into a contemporary trailer where through my research I noticed that all trailers gained momentum to build suspense.

Final trailer: Improvements that were made based on audience

feedback were as follows: Adding a certificate to the trailer “the following

preview has been approved…” This was placed before the trailer started as is industry standard. Giving the trailer an industry standard.

Also by adding in two different unique selling points the lead actors names and the director’s name. “Vanessa paradis” “James Frankfurt” and “directed by Pierre Montgomery” This makes the film more appealing to an audience because it makes these people seem an additional reason to see the film to see there performances and also if the director is well known for making successful movies than an audience has more incentive because they feel as if the film will be good because the director is talented.

What have you learned from and how did you use the feedback you received from the audience?

The title of the film was added, in a large font at the end of the trailer so that the audience knows what the film is called and putting it last ensures its one of the last things an audience see’s so they remember the name of the film. Putting an effect on the text to make it flash onto the screen was said to be a good improvement according to my peers.

Also adding the date and having it scroll across the screen made it more interesting and memorable along with the music fading out and then finishing when the date disappears was said to be an improvement from just having the text scroll. Also by placing the date last it is conforming to trailer conventions as it is the last thing an audience will see so they will remember when the film is released.

Another improvement made was to add in a secondary piece of music that is of a faster pace in order to build suspense within the trailer and make it more exciting for an audience to watch. The audience reacted well to this and said that it gave the film noir trailer a nice contemporary twist.

What have you learned from and how did you use the feedback you received from the audience?