Evaluation Plans

The next step is the evaluation which muct answer the following questions;

• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
• How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
• What have you learned from your audience feedback?
• How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

There are many ways to conduct the evaluation such as a podcast or DVD commentary but I have decided to present the evaluation in the form of an interview with the director which will be interspersed with shots from the film/trailer. This is inspired by existing interviews with directors about their upcoming films, however the questions will be those above.

Completed Teaser Trailer

Here is the link to my finished teaser trailer for 'Sour'... Thank you to everyone involved and everyone who helped me with feedback so I could improve it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T4MgBCJIa8

Completed Magazine Front Cover

Here is the completed front cover of a film magazine with my new film as the main feature. I have adapted a similar layout which I dicovered from my previous analysis which I think makes it look more professional. From my audience feedback, I decided on a new font for the masthead as it was the most effective. I also made the tagline, date and price more visible so that the target audience can see these elements clearer and easier.

Completed Poster!

This is the final poster for my horror film, 'Sour'. I blended 2 shots from the teaser trailer together (see planning) and added all the conventional horror film poster conventions such as the dark colour pallete as well as a tagline and a credit block whose importance I had found out about through my previous analysis. There is no age certificate because my research into other film posters show that they are not often included. I'm happy with the final outcome as I think it captures the target audience's attention and looks professional. If you have any feedback on how to improve it even further please leave comments.

Teaser Trailer Audience Feedback

Today I felt that the trailer was so close to being finished that I conducted audience feedback from my teachers and peers so I could add finishing touches to make the trailer as good as it could possibly be. The overall thoughts on the trailer were very good with everyone understanding all the shots and only a few suggestions were made. Due to the audience feedback, a shot has been cut out of the trailer as it didn't really have a purpose and now it flows much better. Also, most of the shots already fitted in with the sound effect of a heartbeat but a few had to be trimmed and tidied up so now the sound effect fits in with the edited shots where appropriate. A final suggestion was to emphasise the biggest tension points in the trailer so in able to do this I have added a pulsing sound effect at 3 of the highest points of suspense which heightens the tension throughout the teaser trailer. The trailer is now complete and I am happy with the final product. Expect a link to see it soon.

Teaser Trailer Music

While I was editing all the clips together, I noticed that the music of a horror film can make or break the mood that the director is trying to create and that is why there are so many iconic horror themes such as 'Pshyco'. I have personally never seen 'Physco' but I can recognise the theme instantly and this is the ideal that I had in mind whilst searching for the perfect piece of music which I eventually found after a long search. The element of music was the hardest part of trying to complete the trailer. The music had to be copyright free which is quite hard to find even though there are many websites that offer it. I found it hard to find a piece of copyright music that was long enough and had the right atmosphere so it would fit in with my trailer. I finally found a piece called 'Movie Homicide' at audiomicro.com that fitted perfectly so I downloaded it and it's now on the near finished trailer.

Editing

When I uploaded all the footage onto the iMac it turned out I had recorded over 80 videos. This was a bit daunting because I had to search through all the footage to find the good clips but I was happy because it meant I wouldn't have to re-shoot anything as I had lots of footage to choose from. I have started editing now on the iMac and it is a lot trickier than Windows Movie Maker but in order to show progression I am using new technologies. The iMac is pretty good and I have now put all the clips in order and cut them down to appropriate lengths which means lots of film has ended up on the cutting room floor. I still have to add sound effects and uncopyrighted music as well as add in all the transitions but it's definitely coming together. Lets hope it turns out as well as I hope it will!