random

random

• 1.
  Liam Lindsay
• 2.
  In what waysdoes your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? My media product follows, develops and challenges the forms and conventions of modern media products. This is due to many features in both the trailer and the ancillary texts. The magazine I created followed the layout of EMPIRE, and so I went about researching earlier layouts of the popular film-culture magazine. Doing this I gained an idea of what images I would need and how I would tackle editing them and adding features. I used a main image, of three of the main characters, a common feature of EMPIRE, used to instantly gain the readers attention. This is done so that they are hooked without having to firstly overturn the front page. Secondly, the house style of black white and red, I used from EMPIRE, as they usually follow a colours theme for each issue. I chose these colours to match the action- thriller genre to the film which would follow. My trailer also uses sense of forms and conventions of modern film. Firstly, using small clips of action shots at certain points, doing this presents the audience with the more exciting features of the film and gives a good idea of what to expect, similar to many other action trailers. Also, the sound editing used fits in with codes and conventions, with it being quiet at certain points and not at others, this represents the more horror-thriller side to the film, as it is based upon a zombie apocalypse. The poster, also followed forms and conventions as it showed many of the common themes expected on a poster. Mine having a main image with just one character not showing his face, makes the film seem conspicuous, with characters not to be trusted. My poster also has features such as a main title, and credits published in a small font at the bottom.
• 3.
  In what waysdoes your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
• 4.
  In what waysdoes your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Throughout the A2 course in media, we learned that there were specifically cast characters throughout films, such as the hero, the villain, the escort and the rogue/badass. These were incorporated into our own film, as the hero (Roy) is shown as the one who stays good throughout the course of the film. The rogue/ badass character (Aiden) turns against the group, and speaks out against their actions, doing this makes the rest of the group see him as untrustworthy, a common trait for this type of character. The escort (Liam) is the one who is a more low key character, yet still provides a good solid link in their ‘mission’ as he is one of the last surviving members of the group and it is left to him to save the sister in the end. The villain is he who captures the main character’s sister, as he is the one who provides the problem and works in the shadows, with the group having very little knowledge on him. Doing this, as a group we created a similar setup to any other film. As these highlighted characters can be seen in the majority.
• 5.
  How effective isthe combination of your main product and ancillary texts? The combination of both my trailer and the ancillary texts is important as they link strongly together, the texts providing as an advertising base. Doing this gives a front for my ‘film’ to be spread through advertisement in ways instead of on the big screen. Posters and magazines can be placed anywhere and so can be a huge tool to gaining more of an audience. Putting these together with the trailer provides a multiplatform method of advertising for my product. Doing this makes for more of a reception as more people are exposed to the advertising and so will be persuaded into watching my product. In addition, my trailer, poster and magazine all link, as the images depicted in the ancillary texts match the footage of my trailer, and so effectively advertise the content of my film.
• 6.
  What have youlearned from your audience feedback? VIDEO Audience feedback is a good method of learning what you’ve got right and what you could have improved, as explained in the video with the original feedback on the right.
• 7.
  How did youuse media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? Throughout the whole process of this course, I have used media technologies to aid me in getting a greater final product. Firstly, research had me looking for other magazines and so I immediately focused on EMPIRE, using hard copies and the internet to find out what some of the front pages looked like for my initial idea to spark. Doing this gave me good ideas on how I would construct mine, with focus on house style, images and layout of content. The internet was my main usage in order to find these as it left me a huge database of past EMPIRE issues, which I could sift through and find the perfect idea to work from. Planning was also a great time to use media technologies, as I began to make my initial ideas through use of Photoshop. Doing this gave me a more solid idea of how my own final piece would come together, and so I was left with a more solid base to work from. Also, I used Photoshop with trial and error before being able to make sufficient moves, this gave me learning of how to edit and make things which would stand out in my final piece. Lastly, my evaluation stage, which used many ways of media technologies. Firstly, I used powerpoint, as it was an easy way to separate my questions in an easy to read manner. Second of all because it is a much more efficient way of presenting work. Also, I used a webcam in order to create a media response for the audience feedback. Doing this shows how I have used different media platforms to answer the questions. Also, I have used audio clips for my audience feedback, to show the feedback I received but on yet another platform of media technology. Using all of these gives a more in detail and interactive response to the questions set in my evaluation and shows how I can use them. I did have problems trying to use audio files as they were originally videos which would not import to powerpoint, but using a file converter I could successfully convert them to mp3 and they could be used alongside my video on the same slide.
• 8.
  How did youuse media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?