Evaluation Slides

Evaluation

This is my final evaluation for my project. I decided to use PowerPoint to create my presentation and I then uploaded the presentation onto Brainshark to allow me to put my presentation onto Blogger. I went through each question with points relating them to my work, I also added images to make the visual connection. The main problem I had with putting my PowerPoint onto Brainshark was that the images and writing with the effects wouldn't show up so I had to remove those to get my slides to show up with the content.

Link to presentation: http://my.brainshark.com/EVALUATION-1936562

Prezi? Brainshark? PowerPoint?

For my evaluation I had the option of using Prezi, Brainshark and PowerPoint. I began by using Prezi which allows you to create online presentations in forms of mind maps. As I had a lack of time to understand and experiment with Prezi, I decided that it wasn't the right option. I had also found it confusing and difficult to use and operate. I then heard about Brainshark which allows you to upload PowerPoint presentations onto the Internet and then add in sound effects. I didn't want to add in a voice over as I was presenting the PowerPoint myself and therefore I thought it wouldn't be of much use. Finally I opted for PowerPoint as I was used to the effects and layout and I was able to begin by adding in all the information and then add in effects. To upload my PowerPoint onto Blogger I thought I would begin by uploading it onto Brainshark and then copying the Html onto my blog post. Once I finished uploading the slides onto Brainshark I realised that the writing and images with effects hadn't shown up. I then had to delete all the effects from the PowerPoint and re-upload the presentation for all the information to show.

Audience Feedback

For audience feedback we had sent out a questionnaire during our showcase for people to fill out and so we could analyse them and see how effective our combination of ancillary texts and teaser trailer were together (our results are shown in the first image and the writing in white are some comments we had from our viewers). I had also uploaded our trailer on YouTube and put a direct link from my Facebook to the video. I had received positive comments from the people that had viewed the trailer. What weakens our feedback is that from our showcase the majority of people that had come were female and we're targeting both male and female, also the comments I received on Facebook were from my friends which made them biased and unreliable.

Showcase

To collect audience feedback and to present our final work to our fellow classmates we held a showcase on the 9th of February. We presented our poster and magazine cover and explained some background information about our film and why we chose the conventions that we had. We then presented our teaser trailer and allowed the viewers to fill out a questionnaire which we would use in our evaluation. The showcase was successful as we were able to collect 31 questionnaires which meant that our evidence was reliable. There was a large turnout of people and the feedback which we had been given was positive with some comments on ways which we could adapt our trailer to make it more effective.

Poster Analysis

Magazine Front Cover Analysis

Film Poster

In our final poster for our film we decided to use a shot of our main character outside of our main location. We used a similar shot in our trailer where 3 of the characters are stood outside the house. The problems we had with the image was that it was taken in the daylight and it was hard to make the image look scary. A double image is also used here where the same image has been blown up and placed on top of the main image. This joins in with the magazine cover and also the effects on our trailer. We couldn't darken the image much more as the main character would fade into the background but we darkened the sky which gave a nice green tint to the image. To make the poster more interesting and unusual we decided to use the hand image but to make it less noticeable so it wouldn't take away from the image. The same font for our title is used and we also added a quote in from our teaser trailer at the top to combine both tasks together. We added in the bbfc guideline rating as 15 due it not containing any nudity but it does contain death and graphical scenes. When we first created the poster we wanted to keep it as minimalistic as possible so the image would stand out, after feedback we decided to add in the information about the production company, producer, director and actors along the bottom as it completes the poster.

Magazine Cover

For our magazine cover we used a previous cover of Chris Pine where its a close up and his angle-of-gaze if towards the audience. We thought it would be effective to also have a close up but tilt the head slightly down and have the eyes looking up into the camera to draw the reader in. It also gives a sense of anger and violence; this represents the genre of horror. What we had kept constant between the ancillary tasks and our trailer was the main character. She is featured throughout the trailer and is also on the front cover and poster, this shows that all three tasks are created for the same film. We decided not to put too much writing around the image as it would take away from the double effect where the same image is used but one is less opaque and larger. This joins in with the trailer as at the beginning we had used "ghosting" which looks similar to the effect we had created on the front cover. We had kept the film title font the same throughout our tasks to combine all tasks together. Along the top of the magazine we had researched into 2011 horror films and wrote the names of 3 which our target audience (or the people who purchase the magazine) would watch. This is a common element which we had found was used in many 'Total Film' magazines. We wanted to create a special edition magazine which was based around horror films and we decided to do this by having articles and posters based around the horror genre.

Magazine Photoshoot

Film Poster Photoshoot

Total Film Cover Annotations

To prepare us for creating our magazine covers we were asked to get into groups and analyse a front cover that we were given. We had to analyse the key elements and see how effective they were on the audience and then take those key concepts and develop them for our magazine cover. The magazine cover my group was asked to annotate was the Dark Knight - Total Film cover with the Joker on the cover. We had to look at the elements used within the cover and describe why they were used and the effect it has.

Magazine Front Cover Inspiration

When researching into our horror film magazine front cover we looked at a range of magazine covers from both Empire magazine and Total Film. We decided to create our magazine cover for Total Film as its isn't as large as Empire but its a new magazine which was launched in 1997 and features a range of full-length interviews with up-and-coming actors along with directors. As our film features a range of new actors, having an article in Total Film will allow our target audience to get a personal interview with our main actress. It would also give them the opportunity to understand the background of the film. When researching into front covers we came across Chris Pine's 'Star Trek' cover which we thought was effective. They use a basic black, white and red colour scheme which we could adapt as those colours are associated with horror and they also have a strong main image which draws the reader in.

Film Poster Ideas

These are a few horror posters which we had collected in order to get ideas for our own. We collected a range of different ones which were released at different times so we could see the conventions which they have used and how they developed their posters.

The posters which inspired us the most were Halloween and Friday the 13Th as they are simple posters which include a main image and the name of the film. We thought that they were the most effective as you are able to focus more on the image due to their lack of writing on the posters. We decided to use this technique when we created our poster as it allows the audience to pay more attention to the image rather than the writing.

Final Teaser Trailer

This is our final film trailer once we had finished editing and fixing the problems we had before ... HOPE YOU LIKE IT! :)

YouTube link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWOQ89NTKoo

Teaser Trailer Soundtrack

After collecting feedback from our teachers that our trailer wasn't scary enough and one reason was due to there not being any sound we had to search for music which would combine the shots together and complete the teaser trailer. I had searched on YouTube and Google for some horror songs and I had narrowed it down to 4 songs which I thought would work well. We had tried out all of the songs but the one which we thought had perfect timing and effect was the first song I had found on YouTube. What also made it easier to use was that below in the information tab was a download link to the song and this way we were able to use it within our trailer. We played the song simultaneously with the trailer and the timing from when the shots had slowed down to when they picked up and as the song ends the last bit of writing appears which creates a dramatic and powerful effect as it talks about the characters fighting for their lives.

This is the song which we had used within our trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOptZ60T_1c

Editing Troubles

As we came closer to the deadline and actually finishing our trailer we encountered some problems. Half of the clips wouldn't show up and that was due to us editing the footage we wanted to use but not saving it as a new video which is what caused the problem. We had to render each clip individually and then replace the old edited clip to the new one, this was a long process which didn't necessarily work which led us to copy and paste the shots onto each new edit. This problem recently occurred to us and delayed our editing time as once all the new shots were on we had to make sure they fit with the music, each shot had the correct darkness and contrast and the transitions were on point. Eventually we decided to focus on finishing our trailer and right at the end we would fix the problems we had and then export the video. Doing it this was saved us much more time and we were able to focus more on completing the trailer.

YouTube Downloader Process

Step 1: Finding the video on YouTube with the correct soundtrack.
Step 2: Downloading YouTube downloader.
Step 3 :Copying the URL from the video into YouTube downloader.
Step 4 :Once the video is downloaded, click on convert or play a video ..., browse for the downloaded video and convert to an MP3 format.
Step 5: click on convert and set the quality and volume on high, tick the cut video box and place in the start and end time of the clip that you need according to the video timing on YouTube. Once you click on 'OK' the sound clip will be converted into an MP3 format.

Music

The one thing that was missing from our teaser trailer was music, we had to search different types of sound which would work well within our trailer. These sounds were sound effects which we wanted to use to build up the trailer to the climax. We researched into a few trailers and I found one which I thought would be effective during the end of our trailer. The sound was used at the end of the 'Green Lantern' trailer, as they didn't have a download link for the sounds I used YouTube downloader to strip the sound from the video. I began by placing the URL of the video to download it, once that was done I cut and coverted the video to an MP3 format. I cut out the sound we needed which was towards the end as the rest was irrelevant, I then saved it onto my USB and imported it into our 'Chromosome 17' hard drive.

The Green Lantern Trailer (2.31 - 2.39) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hTiRnqnvDs

Production Company Name and Logo

For our production company name we had created a list of names which we thought would be appropriate to use, some include: Iris and Infected Productions. We had initially decided to use Iris as it is related to the theory of Voyeurism but after researching into the name we had realised that it had already been taken and we were therefore left to find another name. Maria informed us that she is working alongside a production company called "New Age Vision" and they have given us permission to use their name and logo. They are mainly based on YouTube which makes them a niche company and as Maria is part of the team we were allowed to use the logo and name for our production company. To use this logo we had it sent to Maria via e-mail, we then saved the clip within our hard drive so it was able to locate the video and then we imported the video into Premiere Pro. What I like about the name "New Age Vision" is that it is a diverse production company name which isn't necessarily associated with horror films and can be used to produce a wide range of films.