Alexandra Baldwin

A2 Media Studies
http://woahitsalexbaldwin.tumblr.com/
http://alexandrambaldwin.wix.com/evemedia
https://twitter.com/eve_movie
https://www.facebook.com/evemovie?ref=hl

In what ways does your
media product use, develop
or challenge forms and
conventions of real
media products?
Initially when looking at trailers relating to our specific genre, which is
social realism, we looked at films such as Harry Brown (2009) which
relates to the themes of drugs and violence which we incorporated
within our trailer, also looking at the film Shutter Island (2010) which
relates to the theme of madness within our trailer. These key themes
have been adapted into the trailer by the use of specific actions and
given certain angles for each shot which will create a tense
atmosphere which is commonly seen in the trailers chosen which in
turn is what we wanted to be seen within our trailer.
When looking at our trailer, we have
included some of the key conventions
seen within the chosen trailers. The use
of low angles to increase the sense of a
hierarchy within the story, or even a
power complex within one particular
character is used within our trailer. The
same aspect of creating this effect is seen
within Harry Brown (2009) of the main
character Harry himself. This angle will
be used on the main character Eve, who
due to mental illness has become
unstable. The low angle gives the effect
of power in Eve but at the same time, due
to mental illness close ups were used in
order to show the break down of her
freedom from the grasp of madness.
The use of a dark filter of the shots
creates a tense atmosphere. The use
of a dark filter is seen in Shutter
Island (2010) when a dramatic scene
is occurring or there is violence within
the scene. In our trailer we have used
a dark filter on the shots of Eve, Adam
and Quinn fighting to create a violent
atmosphere. But instead of the whole
image being dark, the faces of each
character have had light directed at
them in order to heighten the
emotion within the scene. Thus
making the fight scenes not only quite
violent but emotional through the use
of lighting.
In order to challenge some of the key conventions of the realist thriller
genre, we added a sense of romance between the characters of Adam
and Eve. This aspect of romance in juxtaposition with the themes of
violence and drugs, created the effect of an inevitable break down
between the relationship of Eve and Adam. The break down was
achieved by the inclusion of the antagonist Quinn.
Also in order to successfully carry out the task of inputting romance into our
trailer, while at the same time, not changing our genre to romance, we
made it so that the conclusion of the plot ends in turmoil instead of the
stereotypical happy ending seen in a romance. So in our trailer, we see a
fight between the two characters of Quinn and Adam, showing the
audience that the conclusion to the story is in relation to the initial
themes of drugs and violence and also mental illness.
The inclusion of an urban setting,
relates to the genre which is a
thriller/realism film. The
background of certain shots
which incorporate graffiti and
skylines of London enhance the
urban setting. This can be seen
also in the Harry Brown (2009)
trailer. A culturally diverse and
urban city, gives a compatible
location for our trailer, for it both
involves the rush of modern life
and the stress of big cities.
In order to convey the theme of
Romance within the trailer, we
included 2 shots to evoke a
sense of romance. This sense
of Romance was included due
to the fact that our chosen
genre for our trailer was a
social realist film and could
include a variety of sub genres
as long as we stuck to a main
theme of a social realism film.
The inclusion
of graffiti
used in the
background,
gives an
essence of a
young adult
which was
trying to be
achieved
throughout
our trailer.
The direction in
which the
character of
Quinn walks is
into the darker
side of the
screen. This was
done in order to
show how some
of the characters
within our trailer
fall into darker
groups involving
the themes of
drugs and
violence.
The inclusion of certain aspects
within the trailer, makes our
trailer more suitable to this
age range. The use of mise-
en-scene in relation to the
setting of central London,
especially the Old Victoria
Tunnels evokes that sense of
youth through the
backgrounds of graffiti.

For our particular media product which is
a trailer situated in our chosen genre
of social realism, we chose to focus
upon, gender, age and religion.
Gender:
We have used the stereotypical female
lead, showing her to be quite innocent
but in order to develop from this, we
have issued the theme of mental
illness in order to develop it from the
initial type of female in a thriller. Key
things such as costume were
considered, the use of the red hat
evokes a sense of lust and temptation
but is also quite a feminine colour
which is why the character of Eve wore
the hat.
Age:
Through the inclusion of
young adults as the
actors, we as a group
tried to convey a sense of
youth by mise en scene,
more specifically through
the use of costume,
which is a relaxed style
giving the sense of a
young adult. In order to
not make it fully youthful
we kept the clothing dark,
thus conveying a sense of
danger which is seen
within our trailer.
Religion:
In order to relate to the religious aspects
within our plot, the main character
was named Eve who gave in to
temptation while the male who has
romantic relations with Eve was
named Adam. These religious aspects
almost foreshadow that there will be
events within the trailer in which there
will be the downfall of these two
characters. This is because in the
Catholic religion Adam and Eve were
the first man and woman on earth but
their downfall was the fact that they
gave into temptation, which we thus
tried to convey within our trailer.
How effective is the combination of
your main product and ancillary
texts?
The website made by
Wix.com had to fit the
theme running throughout
the other ancillary texts. The
use of a high contrast and
burning to the sides of the
website and poster are
effective because it gives a
dishevelled look which
represents the character of
Eve.
This is the final poster, using
a burn tool I darkened the
edges of the poser in order
to achieve a focal point
within the poster, of which
that is the writing. The
contrast between the dark
edges and dark writing has
connotations of sadness and
corruption all of which is
seen throughout the trailer.
To make sure the colour scheme was continuous from the poster to the website,
I used the sharpen tool in PhotoShop to accentuate the red in the image. To
make it continuous from the poster to the website, I used the poster image as
the background for the website, but also for the menu settings I chose a deep
maroon to match the colours highlighted in the poster, thus ensuring that both
the poster and website matched together and to the trailer itself.
The use of
reviews on the
poster makes
the audience
believe that this
film has been
awarded highly
and would be
more tempted
to see this film
due to the
inclusion of
reviews on the
poster.
In
correlation
with the
website
and trailer
the poster
uses a high
contrast in
colour and
a darker
filter in
order to
convey a
feeling of
corruption
and
sadness.
Within the trailer we used
a similar type in order to
achieve continuity
between the ancillary
texts. This continuity
made the trailer more
effective by making the
three texts seem more
professional as a whole.
What could have been
improved in the design of the
website was the choice of
typography. Unfortunately it
was not continuos from the
poster to the website menu
and as a result made an
awkward contrast. In order to
create a perfect balance
between the website and the
poster I could have used a font
such as New Times Roman,
which gives quite a traditional
feel which is seen within the
poster.
On the website, I included
the design of the film
production company that
was made. This helped to
brand our trailer as an
independent film due to the
fact that an independent
film company produced it. It
helped overall to advertise
our film to a niche audience
of independent film viewers.
What have you learned from your
audience feedback?
Initially in the first group session, we were talking to a
group of 11 people with an age range of 17-19.
Pitching the synopsis and asking for feedback. The
answers that were given were recorded in a diagram,
but overall in my opinion the plot was seen as viable
to work with and expand upon.
Questionnaire
Questions asked Yes No
Was the plot engaging? 8 3
Would you change
anything?
9 2
Would you travel to see
this film in the cinema?
8 3
Do you think the
characters fit the genre?
10 1
After the trailer was made we asked the same group
what they thought of the completed product. These were
the questions and results.
Questions Yes No Why?
Was the final product
gripping when
watched?
10 1
Y: The music was fast paced
which made the trailer
tense.
N: There should have been
more dramatic scenes.
Were the use of titles
appropriate to the
genre of social
realism seen inn the
trailer?
7 4
Y: It made it quite
traditional and that type of
writing is quite versatile.
N: Looking at the poster in
comparison to the trailer,
the font used for the title of
Eve in the poster was
eroded, the same font
could have been used in
the titles.
After the trailer was made we asked the same group
what they thought of the completed product. These were
the questions and results.
Questions Yes No Why?
Did you think that
our trailer suited the
genre of a social
realist film?
8 3
Y: You used urban filler
shots and settings in the
background and
throughout the trailer to
make it look quite urban.
N:The inclusion of Romance
as a theme made it slightly
confusing.
Using Facebook and
Twitter, we were able to
retrieve feedback for
our trailer and opinions
of what the audiences
thought of it.
Our main target audience
for our trailer were
people aged 15-24. Due
to this young
demographic, the actors
are around a similar age
which is thus more
relatable to the audience,
giving them a perspective
similar to the characters
within the story.
How did you use new media
technologies in the construction,
research, planning and evaluation
stages?
For pre-production we were
researching specific trailers
in which we could find
inspiration to start
developing our initial ideas
into a trailer, in order for
this to happen we went on
IMDB (Internet Movie Data
Base) where we found the
films Harry Brown (2009)
and Shutter Island (2010).
We also used YouTube in
order to research these
films as, YouTue is a video
sharing sight and certain
clips were featured on
YouTube that gave us
greater insight into what
to create for our own
trailer.
Both were easy to use and
reliable, they had clear
sections on where to look
for specific areas, for
example, music, film etc.
We then during the planning
stages of our trailer began
to script and research on
where we could film. This
information was put onto
our blogs. Tumblr was used
in order for the information
which we gathered to be
placed and thus to come
back to later and look at
again for either reference or
guidance.
For the production stages of
this project we used a
Canon camera to film upon
and a tripod. Although
having difficulty at first with
using the camera at specific
angles we captured scenes
at various different angles
which would thus give us
more content for our tailer.
For the production stages
after filming, we began to
use FinalCutPro in order to
edit our trailer together.
FinalCutPro having many
features varying from sound
regulation and image filters
was challenging at first but
after using YouTube in order
to give us tutorials on
certain aspects oof
FinalCutPro we began to
edit quicker and easier.
Using FinalCut Pro proved
harder than my AS year, as I
had to use a larger variety of
shots. This meant that I had
to edit the shots for longer.
The challenging part of this
was that I had to edit each
clip to make it have a higher
contrast making it look more
dramatic and in my previous
year I had not worked a lot
with clip effects.
Using Photoshop proved
to be quite simple as I had
used it before in other
subjects. Using specific
filter and tools I darkened
the image while at the
same time raising the
contrast which made the
poster more eye catching.
Using Photoshop enabled me to heighten the contrast in the image which
made the poster stand out more. Using the sharpen tool over the areas of
the face and hair made the person in the image contrast well with the plain
background. The burn tool was used on the edges of the picture to evoke a
sense of danger in the poster. Also the deep red suits the darkened edges
well. Using a simple type face for the reviews and when the film is coming
out made the actual title of the film stand out more, this is due to the fact
that I went and found this particular type face as it suited the genre of
social realism. This is because in stereotypical social realist films they are set
in an urban setting, so through the eroded text I wanted an urban feel to be
conveyed to the audience.
Facebook
Using screenshots
from the actual trailer
on the Facebook page
in order to entice
viewers into watching
the film at cinemas.
These screen shots
will entice the
audience to come
and see the film and
watch the trailer
because the images
are a teaser to what
is to come.
The use of
comments on
the Facebook
page in order to
inform the
viewers of
information on
the future
release. These
comments act as
critical feedback
and overall help
us to create a
trailer using
some of the
comments as
guidance.
Twitter
Using regular tweets
to let our audience
keep updated as to
when the film is
released and the link
to the trailer is there.
With this information
they can then see
more of what the film
is about through the
main product and
ancillary texts.
Twitter is a quick
and easy way to
release
information.
With Twitter
being used by
people all over
the world, our
audience for the
film would
expand further
than just British
audiences.