Candidate Information

Candidate Name:

ASHLEIGH CUSACK

Candidate Number:

6024

Centre Name:

WILMINGTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL FOR GIRLS

Centre Number:

61119

Final Ancillary Products

Final Cut of Video

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

Throughout this project I have used multiple media technologies to produce my products. At first I used Adobe Photoshop when editing the pictures I have used in my Poster and Magazine cover. I had previously used this program in my AS work and so knew how to use it and did not come across any major issues. This made editing the photos a lot simpler and easier as I didn't need to learn how to use a new program. I also used Adobe In Design in order to make both ancillary tasks, which I had also used previously.

 

In my research and planing I used the web application 'Popplet' to arrange my plans and thoughts on what I would include and base my work on. This included information on clothing and makeup, props and my target audience along with other details and conventions of horror films. This can be seen in the 'Research and Planning' labels. I also used Google for researching examples of other movie posters and their fonts and background images which helped me to chose the type of poster I wanted.

To edit and put together my film trailer I used Serif Movieplus, however there was no free trial of this which would allow me to edit my film at home along with the work I was doing at school. I therefore turned to the film editing software which was already downloaded on my home computer, Corel Video Studio Pro. I actually found this program easier to use and have had no issues with it as it has a simple format and is similar to the Serif software. 

For my evaluation I have used 'Voki' and 'Prezi' which are both online technologies intended to help present for either fun or work purposes. These presentation tools are easy to use once you understand them, and there are many tutorial videos online which explain how to use the programs meaning they are reasonably simple and probably the most straight forward of all the technologies I have used, with Voki being the easiest to understand and use.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?

I feel my ancillaries support my main product due to the use of colour themes and recurring images. For example the use of black and white with barely any other colours included in both the poster and magazine cover reflect the dark tones I have used in my horror film trailer. Another obvious link is the use of the same model in both ancillaries and the film. I was originally going to use a different image in the ancillaries however I changed my mind as I felt using the same model would allow more of a flow between products and would allow the film and ancillary tasks to be recognisable as being linked.

I also tried to keep the same style of hair and makeup throughout both the film and the ancillaries to ensure the three aspects are alike and connected. The fonts used also create a link, using similar, structured style fonts on both my Poster and on my Magazine Cover. Similar fonts have also been used in the actual trailer itself to create this flow along with the actual font 'Akoom' used on the 'The Silence' logo which has been included in all of my work.

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

The location used is also reminiscent of many horror movie conventions used relatively recently. Dark secluded places have always been used for this type of film however in recent years the concepts of sheds or basements has been used in order to create a controlled environment of fear. This means people relate this place to being scared and not just 'the woods' or anywhere 'creepy' at night. This has been used by films such as "Disturbia"(2007), "Basement"(2010) and "The Cabin in The Woods"(2011), the last of which is even satirical over how often this type of location is used in horrors.

 

The killer in my horror is also a commonly used convention. This 'creepy little girl' concept has recently been taken up by many films after its success in hits such as "The Ring"(2002) and "The Grudge"(2004). The most recent and recognisable films to use this are "Mama" and "Evil Dead", both 2013. This simply entails using a young woman to act as a supernatural killer in order to twist preconceptions about vulnerability and innocence. This makes people uncomfortable as, not only do they not think of such a person to be a threat, but see them as someone to look after, an idea which is completely warped by using this convention.

Feedback

Due to the feedback I received of this cut of the film I found that the scream at the end did not suit the style of the rest of the trailer. This is due to the song used being fairly monotonous and the scream at the end distracted from the tone of the rest of the sound. I chose to remove the scream from the final cut of the video, meaning it will now fade to silence with no extra effects. I had always planned to use a scream at this point in the film in order to provide one jumpy aspect to an otherwise entirely 'creepy' feeling trailer. Changing this aspect meant I had to give up on the idea of including a classic convention which would have been in keeping with the 'Wilhelm Screams' used in many films.

Another piece of feedback I gained prompted me to change the background picture of my poster. I was told the image was way too dark and didn't have the right effect therefore I decided to change the background to give a more clean look by using more white space and placing the pictures to the side instead of taking up the whole page. I think this looks a lot less amateur than the first version and looks like a more realistic film poster.

Magazine Elements Construction

I have attempted to use a limited amount of fonts as to not make the magazine cover look too busy, however I have included a few in order to ensure the cover does not look boring. This image shows which fonts were used in certain aspects of the cover, with the arrows pointing to the font used. In the case of the '13 best films out in 2013' element, two fonts have been used. 'Felix Titling' was used in the '13' and 'Beatnik SF' in the rest of the sentence. 'Beatnik SF' was also used in all the other aspects other than the 'FrightFest' text which used Impact, a font also used in the title of the magazine.

Sketches

The above is the original concept I had for the magazine, which after feedback I changed to the layout shown below (in the bottom right drawing)

I drew the images below when I already had an Idea of what I wanted, deciding I wanted the layout like that in the first image but with the background picture positioning of the second.

 

Research into Similar Trailers

Although my trailer has been filmed in an abnormal style, it can be related to other similar films. For example the trailer to "Eyes Wide Shut' by Stanley Kubrick is very alike to the type of film I have attempted to produce. This also uses clips put together with minimal titles and a simple song instead of speech. This cult classic type of film is common in the horror genre, even though this film is not itself a horror. Both this and my trailer can be seen to be similar to artistic style films and many British films as opposed to Hollywood productions. This grittier type of filming was much easier for me to achieve than the type of horror movie trailer which is commonly seen as these have extreme budgets and an excess of professionals, something which was clearly unavailable to me.

Poster Elements Construction

I have used three different fonts for this poster however in order to create a flow and link between the different aspects I have made sure to duplicate the fonts. Therefore both the subtitle and date of release are in the same messier, scrawled handwriting text while the 'credit'-like information and website are in a structured font in order to maintain a professional look and feel to the product.

Magazine

The first stage in producing my magazine cover was deciding on the positioning of the main elements, these being the background picture and magazine logo. I decided to place the background image off centre as I felt the picture itself was too basic and moving it aside would allow more room for other aspects, such as the mention of the film, which can be seen bellow, and other details.

I was originally going to have a banner (as I have at the top of the page) at the bottom too, however I realised with the placement of the picture like this I would need something to cover up where the picture ends. In order to do this I simply decided to have a shape including the information I would have had on the banner, placed over this part of the image. I have also included a couple of extra features which would commonly be seen on most magazines. Adding these aspects allows the page to look more realistic and to an extent more professional and believable. 

Poster

I decided to position the background image before placing the text in order to work out were I could realistically put the other aspects of the poster. I decided to place the two faces looking at each other as this relates to what the film is about and, I feel, draws the audience in as this is an abnormal image to see.

After deciding on this look I realised that the main body of text, which in this case is the cast and crew information, should go in the large space at the bottom of the page.

I then placed the rest of the information in this space as to not make the top of the page too busy. This is also why I moved the title from the original position to lower down.

I also changed the background colour to black and inverted the colours of the text as some feedback I had been given advised me that the image was too bright. However upon seeing the darker version I realised it did not have the same effect as the basic white background and the images did not stand out as much as I would have liked, therefore I decided to go back to the white version.

Another aspect I had to acknowledge was a feature which is expected on movie posters, an age certification. I had already decided to make the film an 18 rating so I decided to look at the official symbol and make one slightly different but similar enough to be recognisable. This meant I did not have to ask for permission from the relevant authorities, which may have taken a long time to get a reply.

Font Development

From the beginning of designing the correct font I knew exactly which I would like to use, this being 'Impact' which I chose due to it's boldness, a common theme in magazine logos. The real decision to make was the colour and style of the font as I didn't want to leave the logo plain and simple and would rather make it a bit more interesting. I have chosen to do this by including two colours instead of one, however I was unsure if the idea of also having a background with the colours again switched was a good concept or was too much for a magazine logo. Due to this I have decided to wait until I have completed more of the magazine front page, including more content, before opting for one or the other.

Editing Film

I have been editing the scenes of my trailer using Serif MoviePlus. When focusing on the title of the film I have chosen to use the same font here as I have used in some of the text in my ancillary tasks as to create a connection and flow between my pieces of work. This font also has the creepy, gothic feel that I would like my trailer to have and so it creates the desired atmosphere. These scenes are shot in black and white at first then red for the second part after the title is shown. This part of the film will most likely be at the end of the trailer as from my research I have found that most trailers put the title at the end in an attempt to draw the audience in before giving any information.

Second Ancillary: Magazine Cover

These are just preliminary ideas for the positioning of the aspects of the magazine. I will not be using this background which is the same as that of my movie poster ancillary and obviously nor will the text be the same. This is purely a stage to help me to picture how I would eventually like the finished picture to look. I already do know how a magazine should be set out due to the magazine I made at AS so it should not be too difficult to produce this piece of work however I am aware more planning is needed to achieve what I would like to.

Ancillary One Cont.

I have now decided I would like to slightly change the layout of my poster by moving over the picture so its not centered. I feel that it currently looks too busy in the middle of the poster as this is where all of the writing is such as the title and movie information. By moving the background picture so the statue is at the side gives a slightly more sinister feel to the picture as it looks as if the stature is hiding, a theme of the movie which would then be continued on this. However in order to do this I will have to reshoot the picture with the statue at the side as there would be no background on half of the picture if I simply moved the image to the edge. This should not be too difficult though as I now know exactly what I want from the picture.

Ancillary: Movie Poster

These pictures show the stages of development in my work on the film poster leading to the finished product (the last picture). In the first image I only included what I thought was the most important information, this being the title, tag line and actors/ production information which is always found on these posters. I then decided it also needed a release date as this is crucial information which I had overlooked until this point.Also then included was a website which many posters now include and an age certificate in order to target the correct audience as there is no point in enticing under 18s the the film when they will be unable to view it and in the case of horror films the idea of it being over 18 may lead people to want to see the film as there will be inappropriate or damaging content which is viewed as a plus to some in the horror genre.

Final Scene

In this scene I needed a simple filming of a close up of the characters face for around 5 seconds to put at the end of the trailer. This part acts as a twist and a jump as it will be very sudden when all parts are put together. Keeping to the same wardrobe and continuity were not issues in this scene due to it being a close up of the face and clothing was not included in the shot. A few of these versions do slightly show the coat, these are not the ones I plan to use therefore this does not affect my work however I will need to be more careful when I film in future.