Ashley Finch Media Studies

Evaluation

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

From research and analysis as a group we decided that it was essential to use various forms of conventions that are typically linked to a fairytale. We also had to include modern conventions to capture modern audiences attention and convey the setting of the film.
One of the main areas we focused on was the captions. We decided that due to our modern setting, costume and general mise en scene which conveys the typical romantic comedy genre, we would also need to portray to the audience the fairytale like storyline. We used these in chronological order to illustrate the individual storyline to the audience and capture their interest in the twisted modernized fairytale. Whilst analysing other teaser trailers which genres parallel own our attention was captured by a particular open sequence which appears in both 'Ella Enchanted' and 'A Cinderella Story' which are both well known successfull adaptations of classic fairy tales.

The narrative both begins 'Once upon a time..' which i a stereotypical convention of a fairytale and implies this genre to the trailer. We decided to use this opening as our own and like in Ella Enchanted, mounted the captions upon a story book. Instead of using typical fairytale images for all of our pictures accompanying the captions, we took a selection of our own images to use. By doing this we aimed to create a contrast between the fairytale genre and modern pictures, which would emphasize on the originality of our trailer and ensure interest in it.

The plot is another example of how we followed a typical romantic comedy genre of film. From analysis of modern trailers such as 'A Cinderella Story' and 'Cruel Intentions' we were able to determine a typical treacherous plot with some characters which paralleled to Propps theory. The setting is one form of convention which we did challenge, as we only filmed in one key location for the majority of the shots which was at school. However we did this not out of convenience but to again capture our target audiences attention, as they have spent the majority of their lives at school and this is a setting they can relate to. It could be interpreted by some that by using one main location we would be at a disadvantage and so we decided to also film in a variety of other locations. Within the trailer the majority of shots are set at school as we felt that this is important when attracting our target audiences attention as the specific location kept the plot simple and understandable yet still comedic. The focus of our shots were not on the setting but the actual series of events as we felt that this would be an important part when conveying the romantic comedy side of our trailer. We also decided to use a numerous variety of different shots which are individual and uncommon as again we wanted to create an individuality to our trailer. These worked well as we showed some shots from different points of each Princess's view, such as an over shoulder shot where she spots her Prince with her new found enemy in his arms.

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

We decided that by keeping a consistent theme between all three of our products, our trailer would be more recognizable and memorable to our target audience. Each product contains obvious parallels between them, such as the title 'Hes Mine' in the same text and colour and also the images with the main characters which appear in both the poster and the magazine front cover as well as the teaser trailer itself. We completed our trailer first and then decided to create some sketch's of initial ideas of poster and magazine layouts. Within these we also brainstormed several ideas of images to appear on the poster and magazine which would help emphasize the twisted yet typical teenage Rom Com plot. To extend the link between the teaser trailer and our other products, we decided to use the same image in both the magazine front cover and the poster which will help emphasize on their link to our target audience.

The font was also a particular aspect which we kept consistent throughout the trailer (seen in the captions), the poster and the magazine front cover. To emphasize on the consistency throughout our three main products we also decided a logo could be effective in emphasizing the link between all three to the target audience. We selected an unusual heart image which appears in all three products and also parallels back to the genre of the teaser. Overall i feel that we successfully created a lot of consistency in our work which was our target as we felt that it was important for the audience to be able to link each of our different advertisements.

3. What have you learned from your audiences' feedback?

I decided to post the final versions of our three products on YouTube and publish the link in hope of achieving some useful feedback. There was a lot of complimentive posts commenting on our simple yet interesting plot and the audiences enthusiasm to find out the ending. Al ot of focus was on our captions and their effective contrast with our shots, with our target audience commenting on the clever use of the fairytale twist. Our wide variety of footage and quick changing shots from various different perspectives and of various different sequences also appealed to the audience, one person commented:

' This trailer has a great climax as the fairytale starting gives you the impression of a typical fairytale which is then contrasted by the comedic and interesting shots. The shots are also contrasting in their time length, towards the end they speed up and become more snappy which along with the backing track, helps to create the dramatic climax.'

We also received some negative feedback to our trailer which we greatly appreciated as it gave us weak techniques which we used and would possibly have avoided. These comments mainly consist of the same thing, where about the setting, one person commented:

'I think this trailer is very catchy and modern with an obvious twist in the storyline, but i would've liked to have seen a few more memorable locations in the shots. I think the setting in a movie is very important and must interest the audience where as the school location was a bit typical.'

Although we purposely used the school as our main location to our trailer, we felt that this would emphasize the audiences interest as they can relate to it. However it would be ideal to carry out a survey of a type of setting the audience would prefer for future reference.

Stereotypical fairytale setting, although an unrealistic location for filming.

A modern setting, in London which could've been applied to the plot.

4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research planning and evaluation stages?

I used YouTube to find examples of particularly effective teaser trailers with a similar genre to ours, of a typical convention which i felt would capture the target audiences attention. I posted these on my blog and carried out focused in depth analysis's of my personal favourites in order to get a wide knowledge of the typical conventions used within these trailers.

I also concentrated on Costume, Setting, Narrative and Mise En Scene to help inspire me in my own ideas and adaptations of different aspects of the teaser. Whilst we didn't want to copy any of the trailers used, by analysing a wide variety of trailers and noting their each ones particularly effective techniques i felt that we could combine these and create a basis for our own trailer. I posted these on my blog and used it as a sort of journal to note down all my research into theory, existing pieces of media which relate to our products and the planning of our own product. By using the blog i had a clear list of all these things and could relate back to them in the planning and evaluation of the final three products. I also used YouTube to post the final products in an attempt to receive some critical and positive feedback.

We were also given the resources in order to edit and complete our final products. For this stage in our assignments, we used the Macs variety of programs to suit each of our products.



Firstly we used Photo shop to edit our captions for the teaser and to edit and complete to majority of our poster and magazine front cover. The images we used for these we're taken by a camera and we used a tripod in order to take the best shots we could. We also used lighting and background in our Drama department at school as these helped to improve the images we were taking and provided us a simple yet effective backdrop. All of these contained a variety of different layers, from tag lines to titles in the Magazine and Poster, to the narrative and logos included in the captions.



Photo shops effective tools enabled us to edit these quite easily and also to add particular individual effects to our pieces, such as the logo which we found on the 'shapes' tool.

To focus on the editing of our actual teaser, we used Premier Pro, which allowed us to easily view, edit, cut and erase any footage we had taken. Through Premier Pro we added a series of effects to our trailer, such as the turning of pages as the storybook changes to the shots. Premier Pro also allowed us the choice of speeding up shots, slowing them down and editing the lighting among many other effective tools. As a group we also debated using some magical effects which would emphasize on the fairytale twist, as well as the captions. However due to timing we did not know whether this would be possible and wanted to focus on finishing our final three products first as these effects weren't a convention we planned on using. Tripods and video camcorders were also used in filming the footage for our teaser, we tried to ensure as much filming time as possible as we felt that the shots involved were more important to creating a successful trailers than the actual storyline as the shots on the trailer are what capture the attention of the audience.

Overall the use of media technologies within our planning, research and evaluation of our products was defiantly essential as it allowed us to carry out in depth analysis, note this down chronologically and edit our products to maximum potential.