'how did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?'
Research and Planning
(DEVELOPMENT + PRE-PRODUCTION)
YouTube
We used YouTube to research existing horror film trailers of various sub genres, such as slasher, supernatural and zombie. We used this technology by researching horror trailers that are already out there, in order to get ideas from them to use in our own trailer, developing or challenging conventions seen in these. We would use these things seen in the trailers in a creative way as we would use ideas, not just copy them. The reasoning behind using YouTube as part of our research is because we wanted to view various sub genres of horror. By doing this, we could pick out common things seen in each of the sub genres, therefore picking out conventions. We were then able to choose which sub genre we wanted our horror teaser trailer to be. Watching these existing trailers from YouTube meant that we could use certain things that are in the trailers of our sub genre, and get ideas from there in order to be creative. Also, we could see how effective all of the trailers we watched were, and which ones hit you the most, so those would be the ones we attempt to follow, in order to create a successful trailer.
YouTube was successful in meeting audience expectations as by watching a number of horror trailers, we could gather the best bits from them and use aspects of them in our own trailer. We were able to see the basic layout of a horror teaser trailer, such as the equilibrium and the disequilibrium, which is what the majority of the trailer is. The resolution, that comes at the end is not usually shown in the trailer because the makers of it do not want to give the ending away. YouTube was also successful in that it met our needs, which were to be able to watch lots of horror trailers in an efficient and effective way. Also, it was useful as we could view a horror teaser trailer of any sub genre we wanted just by typing it in, and trailers of that sub genre would appear. This is because we had to watch different sub genres, in order to choose which sub genre we wanted our own trailer to be, and to see which necessary conventions and stock scenes we should follow. This all shows that we were creative in using YouTube.
YouTube was successful in meeting audience expectations as by watching a number of horror trailers, we could gather the best bits from them and use aspects of them in our own trailer. We were able to see the basic layout of a horror teaser trailer, such as the equilibrium and the disequilibrium, which is what the majority of the trailer is. The resolution, that comes at the end is not usually shown in the trailer because the makers of it do not want to give the ending away. YouTube was also successful in that it met our needs, which were to be able to watch lots of horror trailers in an efficient and effective way. Also, it was useful as we could view a horror teaser trailer of any sub genre we wanted just by typing it in, and trailers of that sub genre would appear. This is because we had to watch different sub genres, in order to choose which sub genre we wanted our own trailer to be, and to see which necessary conventions and stock scenes we should follow. This all shows that we were creative in using YouTube.
EXAMPLES:
By Latoya
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The use of YouTube was really effective and useful in our Pre-Production and Development stages as we were able to find out more information about real media texts and how they use certain theories and functions such as symbolic codes, and Torodovs 3 act structure. This was useful as we could use these real media texts and apply them to our own trailer.
This is beneficial as our trailer would meet the expectations of our audience and target market as we would have more typical conventions of horror teaser trailers.
This is beneficial as our trailer would meet the expectations of our audience and target market as we would have more typical conventions of horror teaser trailers.
Another example of how we have used YouTube is when Latoya done her makeup tutorials for the testing of costume and makeup. This video was useful to show our development stages and trail and error. We were able to see what types of makeup looks we wanted and how to do them. This was also useful in proving how successful real media texts and other makeup tutorials were when creating these looks.
Prezi
We used Prezi as a form of presenting research and planning work, to make it more creative instead of just putting it straight onto the blog. We did this to meet the audiences expectations. They would not want it to get boring, and it would do if it was all presented in the same way, so using different presentation softwares met the audiences expectations. Also, it develops our creativity, as we are presenting our work in unique ways. We used Prezi as part of our planning because we wanted to create something unique and interesting for the audience to read.
Furthermore, we wanted to communicate with the audience effectively through this presentation software, as it is not just writing, there is creative animation that goes with it to make it more enjoyable for them and easier to get through. Also, by creating presentations in this software, we developed our skills, as we were now capable of creating a successful presentation on a new software that we hadn't previously used. Prezi was successful in meeting audience expectations as it meant that they could view our presentation in a different way. It also met expectations as the audience would be more likely to read it all as it would be easier for them to get through, rather than chunks of text. Prezi was a creative way of presenting some of our work as there were animations, as well as writing. Text is in different sections of this software as well, so it is easier to split up the different parts. This all shows that we were creative in using Prezi. |
Photoshop
We used Photoshop in order to create the poster drafts, and to edit the images we were experimenting with for both the poster and the magazine. We used Photoshop in order to meet audiences expectations. They would be expecting to see a well-developed and high-quality image as the main image on the magazine and poster. Therefore, by using this software program, we could edit the image, so that it would reach the satisfaction of the audience. We were able to change the image so that it looks more like an image used for horror. For example, by using more low key lighting, which would make the image appear darker than before, giving it a more meaningful and eerie atmosphere and feel to it.
We used Photoshop as part of our planning because we wanted to get the best quality image we possibly could for our main image on the poster and the magazine. We made sure that the images were visually pleasing for the audience, and that they were what they would expect to see as the images for a horror poster and magazine. To get them looking the way they should, we edited them in Photoshop to make them look darker, create more shadow on the side of their faces, and to make the images as a whole stand out more. Photoshop was successful in meeting audience expectations as it allowed us to have images for our magazine and poster of great quality, as opposed to images that look blurry or do not fit in right. The poses in the two images are right as what the characters are doing in them fit who they are, and what they do within the trailer. This was made possible due to the use of Photoshop when editing these images. For the image in the poster, we could make it even darker than before as the antagonist was in it, and for the image in the magazine, we could make one side of the protagonists face dark and the other light. We could also make her eyes stand out more, as she is supposed to be represented as scared as the antagonist is behind her. This all shows that we were creative in using Photoshop. We used PHOTOSHOP in the following ways:
By Latoya
These photos can be found on our Pre-Production page Poster and Magazine Drafts by Latoya. We used to photoshop in this stage to show how it could be used in several ways to create drafts and ideas for our real poster. This helped us develop our ideas and also shows how we have developed from beginner users for photoshop to quite experienced as we have learned how to use new and different functions of photoshop.
The use of Photoshop was effective as we have been able to gain experince and skills of how to use it to meet the expectations of our audience by making a conventional poster. This video was really effective in our Pre-Production stages as we learned how to use a new function of Photoshop in which we took further into our Production stages.
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Tiki-Toki
We used Tiki-toki to create a timeline, to do with the horror genre research. We did this to creatively explore genre. Instead of doing a timeline on something such as Word, which would be boring, we did it on an actual timeline presentation software. This develops our creativity as we are using a program that we had never used or even heard about before, but we are now using it to our advantage by making use of it. We used this software as part of our planning because we wanted to create something unique and interesting for the audience to view. We felt that it would be best to use a new software to develop our planning, as this would not only allow us to present our work in a different way, but it would also help us to develop new skills in this program. We also wanted to creatively explore genre, and to become more creative when it comes to research and planning as well. We believed that a timeline would show the development and history of horror film trailers to the full, and Tiki-toki is a software, especially designed to create timelines, which is why we used this program.
Tiki-toki was successful in meeting audience expectations as a timeline, showing the history of the horror genre, would work extremely well as they would be able to clearly see how the genre has developed throughout the past 100 years. Not only that, but they would be informed about some information of the horror genre from each decade, from the 1920s to the 2010s. Also, they could watch the trailer of one of the most popular, if not the most popular, film from each decade. This would mean that the viewers could see how the trailers have developed and become much more intriguing, as the early trailers had few camera shots and were black and white, and the most recent ones are very advanced technologically, through the use of many camera shots, editing, sound and mise-en-scene. This all shows that we were creative in using Tiki-toki. |
MOVIE TEASER TRAILER (PRODUCTION/FILMING)
By Sam
iMacThe iMac was an important technology that was used all throughout the pre, post, and production stages. This was because it houses a number of the technologies that were used such as Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, Internet Explorer,Google |Chrome, Google, etc. All these could be found in one place and they were important to both the trailer, magazine and poster. Regular use of the iMac was unavoidable.
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Trailer
This search engine was important in the synthesis of the trailer as it allowed for me to search for a number of things that would be hard to find on simple description. For example in finding a sound for the jumpscare that was used in the middle of our trailer before a cut to black we had to find the appropriate audio. This was done by typing 'Loud bang' into the search bar of google and being redirected to a website that would have the suitable audio. We then saved the audio and used it in out trailer.
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Final cut pro xThe technology was central to the synthesis of the trailer. This is a technology that we knew we'd be using all throughout the production of our main product. This technology was the editing software that was used to put together the trailer. Here i was able to cut together different clips that were recorded. Final cut allowed for the shortening and tidying up of different clips, this meant that we could cut out the excess footage and make sure that each shot was on screen for the correct number of seconds and we could ensure that the trailer was the correct length.
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youtube
YouTube was both important in the research and planning and the post production of the trailer. It was helpful in the research and planning stage as i was able to search for the top rated teaser trailers and see the different conventions that would be present in some of the best teaser trailers available. This way we could see the different conventions of horror trailers in use and apply these conventions to our own production to get a true yet unique and creative product. During the production stage it was key in understanding the use of many of the other technologies that we were using. YouTube was very important in creating the sound for our trailer as we were able to find different samples of songs and sound and then recorded parts of the audio using a converter and then implemented them into our final trailer. As Youtube is a video sharing site, we were able to access many of the tutorials.
This allowed for the correct and proper use of technologies. later after the post production stage was complete youtube was the platform which we used to upload the trailer to the internet and then use the embed feature to put it on our blog. Our decisions on which conventions to use were shaped by what we saw when using youtube. For example when looking at a trailer such as the conjuring 2 which is one of the most successful horrors of all time due to it having such a good trailer we decided that we would also incorporate a montage much like the one we saw in it's trailer. It was the knowledge that we gained from using this technology to see conventions in use to be freely creative in our production. we believed that A great knowledge of conventions is the basis to a creative yet genre recognizable product. Thanks to this we created an iconic and echoic success which fit the sub-genre of supernatural while being it's own creative and unique entity.
This allowed for the correct and proper use of technologies. later after the post production stage was complete youtube was the platform which we used to upload the trailer to the internet and then use the embed feature to put it on our blog. Our decisions on which conventions to use were shaped by what we saw when using youtube. For example when looking at a trailer such as the conjuring 2 which is one of the most successful horrors of all time due to it having such a good trailer we decided that we would also incorporate a montage much like the one we saw in it's trailer. It was the knowledge that we gained from using this technology to see conventions in use to be freely creative in our production. we believed that A great knowledge of conventions is the basis to a creative yet genre recognizable product. Thanks to this we created an iconic and echoic success which fit the sub-genre of supernatural while being it's own creative and unique entity.
DSLR CAMERA
In college we were able to borrow DSLR Cameras that we would take out at anytime we would go on site to film. We didn't have any cameras of very good quality at home so boring this technology was extremely important in ensuring that our footage was of good resolution. The zoom on the camera was ten times optical zoom which allowed us to get shots from a range of distances and still have good focus quality. There were different settings that we could use such as the ISO which allowed us to change the exposure inside the camera to fit the lighting that we had. We used many different ISO settings as our lighting ranged from low key to high key lighting.
Microsoft Powerpoint
Microsoft Powerpoint allowed me to create many of the graphs and charts which were used to display the data that was collected. One example of this would be our use of powerpoint to create a charts for our pre-production audience research. It was the visual display of one choice being picked over the other by a majority of the audience which has led us to choose a different convention to use on our products.
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Here is an example of how we choose a convention based on the data that we collected. We used other technologies such as different social media to ask the target audience question such as 'What type of trailer do you prefer?'. We gave them the options Theatrical or Teaser. It was from the data that we were able to display in a pie chart in power point that we could see most people preferred a teaser trailer. It's evident that we took the audience research and used it in our final product as we decided to go for a teaser instead of theatrical trailer.
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- Powerpoint was very versatile as the software is installed on almost every computer you can find
- It was very easy to move the data from software such as Excel or PDF for printing out
- We were also able to make moodboards much easier and quicker than if we were using software such as photoshop so it has creativeuses aswell
IMDB
poster & magazine front cover
by nathan
We used Adobe Photoshop for the purpose of creating the poster for our movie. The purpose of Adobe Photoshop is to manipulate and distort images. In order to create the poster we had to know the exact dimensions of a typical movie poster, how to manipulate lighting, exposure, lassoing, and a whole range of other skills. Due to the fact that we had minimal exposure to the software we had to use the aid of video clips on YouTube in order to gain a clearer understanding on how to operate the application. This proved extremely vital, because if we did not the quality of the poster would be very bismal.
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DaFont was used for the purpose of adding new fonts that the software applications we were using to create our poster and magazine did not have. Without it we would not have been able to find the correct font appropriate for the poster, i.e. the billing block, masthead/title, and the tag line. It was highly essential in adding a certain touch that the original fonts on the application would not have been able to accomplish. We could have found other ways of attaining fonts, but DaFont has proven to be an extremely reliable tool.
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We used Adobe InDesign in order to create and develop our magazine. It allowed for easy shape manipulation and creation of conventions attributed to the magazine. It was extremely useful in the continuation of the house style, and moulding it to better suit the magazine. The main reason for the usage of InDesign on the magazine is because it was the most reliable and accessible piece of software available for the purpose of the task given to us. Due to the fact that we used this piece of technology during our AS module, we had the knowledge and creative skills needed to maximize the most out of the software.
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By Sam
DSLR
by Sam and Latoya
We also used DSLR cameras when taking the photos for our magazine and poster. This was useful as we didn't have the specialist equipment at home to take professional photos for our magazine and poster. Therefore, the use of the camera was effective in meeting the standards and expectations of our target market and audience as we were able to take photos that were professional in order to be similar to real media texts and our inspirations.
The following images show how we used the camera and the outcomes:
The following images show how we used the camera and the outcomes:
MEMORY STICKS
By Sam and Latoya
EXAMPLE: