Evaluation 3 Part 1&2

Evaluation Question 2

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

After completing my main product and my ancillary text I realised how effective the products were. All of the products emphasised the actual film plot and production of the film too. Having a poster and magazine cover added a sense of professionalism and also realism through the way it was marketed.

As a group we all created three products based on our movie genre, and we intentionally linked the products by using similar elements for example, we used the same font for our movie poster, although we used the main character (who is the protagonist/victim) in a different way, each and every one of us still incorporated the main character into the poster. The reason why we did this is because we wanted the viewers to understand that the link between the products and the trailer, and also it was a convention that we spotted in the movie making industry.

When creating my film poster and my magazine I considered using similar themes and elements to create a connection between the two products and to also expose the fact that they are discussing the same media product which is the movie trailer ‘Duplicity.’ We all used the same font for our film poster and this font was called ‘Distortion.’ The font for the title was downloaded from a website online called ‘DaFont’ and this website helped to give the poster a more professional look as the font designs online weren’t as limited as the ones we had on photoshop. The reason why we chose this font is because we felt as though we needed a font that would link to the whole concept of the synopsis we created for our trailer.

The name of the movie is ‘Duplicity’ which means deceit and the story depicts a police detective who isn’t who he says he is and a young woman who fights and attempts to solve her own case. This idea of corruption and deceit is synonymous with the word- distorted which is why we picked this font.

In terms of the connection between the film poster and magazine I didn’t exactly maintain the same font and style/themes as my movie poster. Initially I created a magazine based on the main female character of this movie in order to link it to the film poster that I had constructed however I wanted to do something different, I wanted to create a magazine based on the actor instead of the character in the trailer. Therefore, my magazine is an actor-based magazine, reflecting on the person who plays a role in the movie rather than reflecting on the character that they play.


My magazine cover followed the conventions of many other actor-based magazine front covers and other movie magazine front covers, for example, I noticed that the sell lines were very big and not so wordy, but initially, before re-creating my magazine, my sell lines were wordy and long and they weren’t as big as they should have been, therefore i used magazines such as total film and empire as a guide to following conventions.

My movie magazine in some ways is quite similar to the film poster in terms of the mood the products create. When I say the mood, I mean that both products are quite dark in colour, therefore reflecting the theme/mood of the actual movie trailer. The main image of my film poster is of the main female character ‘Emma’ and when taking the images I wanted her to have an emotionless look on her face to show her state of mind and to also create a dark sense of her. Her costume is also black so that it emphasise the coldness and dark feel that the poster has to it. Similarly I chose a dark grey background for my magazine because I wanted that same element of cold/dark colours within the magazine. As I had title of the movie on the film poster, I added the title to the magazine as well to show the relation between the two products. Although the magazine was actor-based, a part of the 'James Mill' was shown in the image that I used for my magazine.

James is depicted as a confident man yet also mysterious in the trailer, and I believe this confidence and mystery showed through the image that I took. In the image his shirt is unbuttoned, which shows off his confidence but the fact that he's got a straight face in the image shows that he's mysterious too which is essentially his character in the trailer.

As for the combination of the movie trailer and the film poster there are more similarities, and this is the case for all of our posters. The creation of our poster stemmed from the ideas that we had of the storyline. The basic outline of the film plot helped us to capture images for the poster linked to the movie for example, the image I took of the main character rooted from the scene when she gets attacked. I made sure that her costume represented this scene by using a torn black t-shirt to evoke negative and dark connotations. I believe I have used this as a similarity between the two products as I believe the scene in which 'Emma' is shown being attacked and also shown wearing that torn black t-shirt is one of the main aspects of the plot as it reveals her pain and struggle, but also her endless fight for justice and victory. Which is why I decided to photograph 'Emma' wearing the same costume which will be an obvious feature/scene in the movie trailer. The images below are from the pictures that i originally took of my model before constructing my poster and the image on the right is from the last scene of our movie trailer. As you can see she is wearing the same ripped top, which shows the link between the two products.

'Emma' is presented as a girl who is ready to fight for what she believes in and this is shown through her determination to figure out who her attacker is, as revealed in the trailer. I believe the image used for my film poster also depicts this sense of determination and drive as she looks intimidating in the image therefore that reflects her personality in the trailer, she's fierce and not ready to back down. 

As a group we discussed the similarities between the three products and their connections to each other and how it influenced the overall presentation of the main product and the ancillary tasks overall. In the trailer, the atmosphere created in the beginning was cold and melancholic by editing the brightness and colour of the first few scenes and turning it grey. This effect was done to show how the female characters (victims) were feeling inside about what had happened to them, it reflected their emotions, their facial expressions, blank and numb and also the vulnerable state that they were in.

During the development of the film poster, we wanted to present a similar atmosphere of no emotion, coldness and even vulnerability. This same atmosphere can be seen through the dark top that 'Emma' wears in the poster that I created and also I lowered the brightness of the original image that I took of the model and used the saturation tool to reduce the warmth of the image. Also by the model looking directly into the camera, the viewers can almost feel her painfully negative emotions.

The colour black is a reoccurring colour used in the trailer, the poster and the magazine and this was done to further emphasise the seriousness of the film plot. Since the genre of our trailer is police crime, we felt as though dark colours would be appropriate to use for all of our products because it represented and reflected the type of genre we were depicting. 

Evaluation 1b

Evaluation question 1

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
POSTER:
In order to create my media product, I used various movie posters as inspiration for my movie poster, however compared to many police crime movie posters, my product subverts a few conventions in regards to the theme of the movie.
For example, most of the movie posters that I had seen had a main image of a man however the main image of my poster is of a woman. We chose to use a female as a main character because we felt as though, women weren’t represented much in police crime movies. It is seen as a masculine genre whereas we subverted that convention by using a female character as our main character and main image for the poster.
Like many movie posters the use of lightning is very important. The use of lighting in my poster is extremely effective and will strike an audience in different ways. Audiences of both genders would be appealed to this image as young males would inevitably be interested due to the fact that the main image is of a woman and young women would find it appealing as they would feel they can relate to the character.
Another important aspect of the lighting used is low-key and high-key lighting. Low-key lighting is evident in poster which creates a sense of approaching doom for the main character/other characters in the film. High key lighting is then used to outline the main image and also used for the background in order for my poster to stand out. I found this effect to be common with many crime movie posters so I followed this convention.
The main image is in the middle of the poster and is presented in low-key lighting with a high-key background which shows that she is at the centre of the all the action/events occurring and could also suggest that she is the hero in the end – she brings a sense of light and hope to the audience.
I believe that my poster in terms of the main image, doesn’t conform to the conventions of a police crime movie poster… and this could be due to the fact that I used the victim/protagonist in my movie as the main image.  The main image portrays a female victim who looks emotionless as her facial expression doesn’t evoke any feelings, it’s quite cold, which adds a sense of seriousness to the poster
Costumes: The poster doesn’t reveal to the audience many clues on the sort of costume that they might see in the film which would inform them… to an extent… of what the film is possibly about. In terms of the reasons behind this, I intended to show minimal signs of costume in order to enhance the audiences’ focus on the characters on the poster and the way they’re portrayed. The costume that the character is wearing links to the event that takes place in the movie trailer, the torn t-shirt symbolises her struggle, the pain that she goes through but also her strength, the top is torn but not completely destroyed, just like her character.
  Most police crime thriller posters use certain props to indicate the theme of the movie, for example, many of the movie posters relating crime usually have a character holding a gun or even a police badge. A gun is a symbol or crime, not so much police crime but it is an indicator of the theme, however a police badge would indicate that the genre of the movie is police crime.
with regards to setting and location the poster doesn’t reveal anything about it which could also mean that it isn’t a hugely significant part of the film. All the attention is drawn towards the main character. Props Similarly to costume and setting/location, the use of props isn’t evident in the poster, however, keeping the audience in the dark through the absence of these sort of props is effective as they want to know more and therefore are more likely to watch the film.

Just like all movie posters, my poster has the billing block at the bottom of the poster. I created the billing block using a billing block poster template to insure that it looked professional.
 MAGAZINE:The design of my movie magazine was originally inspired by total film ‘red sparrow’ magazine that I came across when searching for inspiration. Masthead - features on all magazine covers, usually at the top of the page and indicates which magazine it is e.g. Empire or total film. This should be the largest text on the page and it can reflect the audience it caters for.  The main image should reflect the audience and also the style of the magazine. The main image is usually a mid-shot and should reflect on what the film featured is about. This usually involves the main actor from the film featured. However, my magazine doesn’t exactly conform to the conventions of real movie magazines that I have analysed as I decided to base my magazine on the ‘Actor’ rather than the ‘Character’ in the movie. The masthead of my magazine follows conventions as it appears at the top of the page and is the largest text on the cover. The black bold colour used in the masthead is effective as it stands out against the white background and black and gold writing.
Total Film is a British film magazine published 13 times a year by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and offers cinema, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews and features.
My magazine consists of these conventional themes. ‘Buzz words’ - these involve ‘free’ and ‘exclusive’ which capture the reader’s attention and want to buy the magazine. Banner – gives overall information about the magazine and what will be found inside. Barcode, date, issue number – something every magazine has and is needed.
After researching many different covers, for example total film magazine, I then knew which conventions I needed to follow and which I could possibly go without or challenge. I needed the vital aspects such as a masthead, cover lines, a cover star/image and synergy within the colour scheme. I used total film as my inspiration and by doing this it made my magazine look much more professional. The fact that my magazine looks professional means that an audience would be drawn in by.

StoryBoard VS Trailer

Here is an image of our storyboard that we created. We decided to create this because it the basic sequence of film production. The design document is important, as it is typically used to pitch your concept to designers and producers. When you create a storyboard, you create a visual map of your movie. This helped us as a group to shape our visions and it made it easier to construct a plan for the movie trailer.

First Example: As you can see the image above is similar to the first sketch of the storyboard. The first sketch was supposed to depict the 'interrogation scene' which is the first scene in which the audience hear dialect/conversation between the characters. This scene is also a very important scene as it tells the audience what the case is about. 

The second box of the storyboard is depicting the scene by which our main female character gets attacked. And it is clear that we used the storyboard a lot to help up as directors and producers to guide the actors&actresses and show them how to act the scene out. I didn't have to be exactly the same but we wanted to try our hardest to stick to the guide that we had. 

The final scene of our trailer isn't a part of the storyboard as we weren't entirely sure about how to end the trailer. We thought of many different ideas and finally picked an ending for the trailer. We ended it with a scene of our main female character tied up, with a tape on her mouth showing that she has been captured or is in deep trouble. This ending of our trailer would leave the audience wanting to find out more as it is a cliff hanger. 

FINAL MAGAZINE

This is my final magazine. The previous image that i posted of my magazine didn't quite fit the conventions of a real media product, for example my sell lines were too small and i didn't exactly have a colour scheme. To gain inspiration i used the Jennifer Lawrence magazine which i came across when searching for real movie magazines. I liked the simple colour scheme of the magazine and therefore used that colour scheme to guide me when designing my final magazine. I decided to create an 'Actor' based magazine, instead of a character based magazine because i wanted the magazine to show the actor in a different light and to also emphasise his personality. This kind of magazine in my opinion is more personal and gives the reader an insight on the actual actor instead of his character.

process of making

Drafting movie mag. from AbenaFordjour