To present what media technologies we used I have created a Prezi Presentation, to view please press the play button and the bottom. I have also divided it into sections to show each aspect and what technology we used. Each technology was vital in each of our sections of our project.
Friday, 10 February 2012
Evaluation 4 - How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Evaluation 3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Evaluation 3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
From carrying out our audience questionnaires I gained some knowledge about the views of our demographic audience, which ultimately are the most important thing when promoting a film. By knowing what the audience thinks we can construct our product to meet some of their expectations, from our first audience feedback questionnaire we found what they would want from the film promotions and we took this into account when constructing our poster, trailer and magazine cover. The second audience feedback found their opinions on our actual product and therefore we can analyse them and find whether we have done this project successfully.
In both questionnaires we gave them to an equal amount of males and females in order to gain representative results of both genders. In relation to reception theory, peoples identities e.g. their gender, affect how they interpret texts, therefore by asking both genders equally we can gain an idea of their views of our project, and also compare how differently both genders answered.
From the first questionnaire we learnt that half of our respondents wanted a fast pace trailer which is exactly what we did. We took this into consideration and made of trailer a fast pace because it is conventional of thrillers and the audience would expect this.
We also found that the theory of the two step flow may apply as in our first audience feedback we found that nearly a quarter of respondents find out about new films through the friends. If they watch the trailer, they may not take in the information directly but it may be reinforced through opinion leaders. In relation to this, in terms of our product, audience theory - the hypodermic needle model may not be applicable. From our questionnaire we found that the audience did not directly take in the information that was given. If they had then every question would have had the appropriate answer that we wanted. An example of this is the genre, a quarter said they thought it was a horror, if they had been subject to the hypodermic needle model then they wouldn't have questioned this genre.
In the Audience Feedback questionnaire on opinions about our products, we found that they can be easily confused with horror films because of how closely linked they are. A quarter of our respondents did in fact think that our film trailer, poster and magazine cover represented a horror film. This is understandable as they are very similar in terms of themes and lighting. However from this, I've learnt that next time, if ever we were to amend or change our work, we could ensure that the thriller genre really comes across clearly possibly by adding less of the very dark aspects
which convey horror also, then hopefully 100% of respondents would know it was a thriller film.
From our open ended question, we found that for a theatrical trailer, it may be to short however the general consensus from our respondents is that it is perfect for television trailers; they can never be to long as there is a specific time schedule along with many people not wanting to sit through a 2.30 minute trailer in the adverts.
In terms of reception theory, our audience have answered the questions in the questionnaire in a way that relates to their identity. Reception theory is a development of an active audience, it is claimed that an audience interpret and receive a text in different ways dependent on the circumstances for example, their age, gender, social class, ethnicity etc. Our film is a 15 so in terms of age, films that may be a 12 or PG may be accepted passively, however as we can see from our audience feedback, all our respondents are 15 or over and therefore challenge our product, which also challenged the hypodermic needle model.
From carrying out our audience questionnaires I gained some knowledge about the views of our demographic audience, which ultimately are the most important thing when promoting a film. By knowing what the audience thinks we can construct our product to meet some of their expectations, from our first audience feedback questionnaire we found what they would want from the film promotions and we took this into account when constructing our poster, trailer and magazine cover. The second audience feedback found their opinions on our actual product and therefore we can analyse them and find whether we have done this project successfully.
In both questionnaires we gave them to an equal amount of males and females in order to gain representative results of both genders. In relation to reception theory, peoples identities e.g. their gender, affect how they interpret texts, therefore by asking both genders equally we can gain an idea of their views of our project, and also compare how differently both genders answered.
From the first questionnaire we learnt that half of our respondents wanted a fast pace trailer which is exactly what we did. We took this into consideration and made of trailer a fast pace because it is conventional of thrillers and the audience would expect this.
We also found that the theory of the two step flow may apply as in our first audience feedback we found that nearly a quarter of respondents find out about new films through the friends. If they watch the trailer, they may not take in the information directly but it may be reinforced through opinion leaders. In relation to this, in terms of our product, audience theory - the hypodermic needle model may not be applicable. From our questionnaire we found that the audience did not directly take in the information that was given. If they had then every question would have had the appropriate answer that we wanted. An example of this is the genre, a quarter said they thought it was a horror, if they had been subject to the hypodermic needle model then they wouldn't have questioned this genre. 
In the Audience Feedback questionnaire on opinions about our products, we found that they can be easily confused with horror films because of how closely linked they are. A quarter of our respondents did in fact think that our film trailer, poster and magazine cover represented a horror film. This is understandable as they are very similar in terms of themes and lighting. However from this, I've learnt that next time, if ever we were to amend or change our work, we could ensure that the thriller genre really comes across clearly possibly by adding less of the very dark aspects which convey horror also, then hopefully 100% of respondents would know it was a thriller film.
From our open ended question, we found that for a theatrical trailer, it may be to short however the general consensus from our respondents is that it is perfect for television trailers; they can never be to long as there is a specific time schedule along with many people not wanting to sit through a 2.30 minute trailer in the adverts.
In terms of reception theory, our audience have answered the questions in the questionnaire in a way that relates to their identity. Reception theory is a development of an active audience, it is claimed that an audience interpret and receive a text in different ways dependent on the circumstances for example, their age, gender, social class, ethnicity etc. Our film is a 15 so in terms of age, films that may be a 12 or PG may be accepted passively, however as we can see from our audience feedback, all our respondents are 15 or over and therefore challenge our product, which also challenged the hypodermic needle model. Evaluation 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Evaluation 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
The main product of a trailer and ancillary texts we felt needed to come as a package and link together. All three of these features ultimately help to promote a film and influence people to go and see it. They are often all able to be linked together either through images, fonts, colour schemes and the display of characters. The combination of our main product and our ancillary texts (poster and magazine cover) all integrate together to allow people to recognize them all and link them which is often the case in real media product as this links to marketing and distribution.
There are themes that run throughout our three products:
Colour schemes and fonts
In our three products, a recurring colour scheme is white, red and black three colour which we think link together well. White represents purity and innocence which is such a sad part of the plot as the baby had already lost its father and now has died which is tragic, therefore the 'dip to whites' in the trailer and the white fonts throughout all of our products just amplifies the sad nature of this film. Red represents the anger and despair of loosing her baby but also danger, as she is becoming a danger to herself and the public and already endangered her child. Red also represents blood as there is a lot of blood shed in this film in again a tragic way. Red we have used for the smoke effect in the trailer behind all the titles, the main title 'D.I.D YOU?' on the poster and on the magazine cover. In terms of black, black is a colour that is typical of thriller films and therefore did use it a lot. The background of the title frames on the trailer are black, the base of the poster background is black and the theme and main title of the magazine on the magazine cover is black. Black obviously represents death and emptiness which both conveys the death of her child but also the emptiness she feels because of this.
Actors (costumes and make up)
In all three of our products, our main character is seen in character, she looks very hurt and as if she has been through a struggle. She has bruises on her face and blood on her which may represent this idea of its her baby's blood on her hands because she is the one who killed him. This became and iconic image in the marketing of our product, because the image is on all three it will be what the audience remembers the most about this film.
Text
Another aspect that is included in all three is the text of who stars in it, which is Sophie Young and also in the magazine cover and the poster the tagline is in both 'did she realise...' in terms of marketing, people will see this and question what this means and therefore may be inclined to go and find out.
Logo
Also included is our logo, S.E.R Productions. We made our own production company to increase the realistic nature of our product. The S.E.R stands for Sarah.Emma.Rebecca which is a combination of all of our names. This is featured in every single product, in the right hand corner of the poster, the left hand corner of the magazine cover and at the very end of the trailer.
Our products would be distributed widely through television where by the trailer could be shown along with the internet on sites like YouTube or Internet Movie Database. The posters can be displayed both in cinemas and locally distributed in shopping centres and other public places. In terms of the magazine cover, televisions often advertise magazines for example like OK! magazine, therefore this would reach a larger audience along with being distributed in large supermarkets, again reaching a large audience.
The main product of a trailer and ancillary texts we felt needed to come as a package and link together. All three of these features ultimately help to promote a film and influence people to go and see it. They are often all able to be linked together either through images, fonts, colour schemes and the display of characters. The combination of our main product and our ancillary texts (poster and magazine cover) all integrate together to allow people to recognize them all and link them which is often the case in real media product as this links to marketing and distribution.
There are themes that run throughout our three products:
Colour schemes and fonts
In our three products, a recurring colour scheme is white, red and black three colour which we think link together well. White represents purity and innocence which is such a sad part of the plot as the baby had already lost its father and now has died which is tragic, therefore the 'dip to whites' in the trailer and the white fonts throughout all of our products just amplifies the sad nature of this film. Red represents the anger and despair of loosing her baby but also danger, as she is becoming a danger to herself and the public and already endangered her child. Red also represents blood as there is a lot of blood shed in this film in again a tragic way. Red we have used for the smoke effect in the trailer behind all the titles, the main title 'D.I.D YOU?' on the poster and on the magazine cover. In terms of black, black is a colour that is typical of thriller films and therefore did use it a lot. The background of the title frames on the trailer are black, the base of the poster background is black and the theme and main title of the magazine on the magazine cover is black. Black obviously represents death and emptiness which both conveys the death of her child but also the emptiness she feels because of this.
Actors (costumes and make up)
In all three of our products, our main character is seen in character, she looks very hurt and as if she has been through a struggle. She has bruises on her face and blood on her which may represent this idea of its her baby's blood on her hands because she is the one who killed him. This became and iconic image in the marketing of our product, because the image is on all three it will be what the audience remembers the most about this film.
Text
Another aspect that is included in all three is the text of who stars in it, which is Sophie Young and also in the magazine cover and the poster the tagline is in both 'did she realise...' in terms of marketing, people will see this and question what this means and therefore may be inclined to go and find out.
Logo Also included is our logo, S.E.R Productions. We made our own production company to increase the realistic nature of our product. The S.E.R stands for Sarah.Emma.Rebecca which is a combination of all of our names. This is featured in every single product, in the right hand corner of the poster, the left hand corner of the magazine cover and at the very end of the trailer.
Our products would be distributed widely through television where by the trailer could be shown along with the internet on sites like YouTube or Internet Movie Database. The posters can be displayed both in cinemas and locally distributed in shopping centres and other public places. In terms of the magazine cover, televisions often advertise magazines for example like OK! magazine, therefore this would reach a larger audience along with being distributed in large supermarkets, again reaching a large audience.
Thursday, 9 February 2012
Representation Theory
Representation theory
Representation theory refers to a medium (commonly the mass media) constructing a version of reality. How identities are represented through media affect the realism.
Dominant ideologies or 'morals' are things that society deems acceptable, they are not static as over time they change. An example of this is smoking, it used to be classed as acceptable it public places however now it is deemed deviant and goes against societies ideology.
Dominant ideologies in the UK are that:
- people should put their families first
- people should work for their money and not show off about how they did
- women should behave modestly
- women should take care of their appearance
and there are many more. If someone goes against these ideologies they are stereotyped negatively.
Stereotyping are highly linked to representation theory. Conventional stereotypes are not just associated with race, gender, age, social class, sexuality and disability are also areas where they are represented in certain ways. In our film trailer, gender is a key feature of representation. For example,in our trailer, in the hospital scene, we have represented the nurse as a women as according to statistics from the Nursing and Midwifery Council: only 10.21% are male, therefore a more realistic representation of nurse would be a women.
Another example, is that fact that her husband who was in the armed forces died. Again in comparison to nursing, men dominate the armed forces therefore we felt this would be a representation that many women could relate to.
In terms of our mental illness story, our main character is diagnosed with 'dissociative identity disorder.' We did not have in mind that we were representing a women as this, we just knew that we wanted to include a mental illness in order to use the alter ego story line. However, in terms of representations, statistics do show that women are more likely to suffer from mental illness than men. They are also considered the weaker or inferior sex and therefore we felt this did provide a realistic representation.
In terms of statistics women are more likely to be treated for mental health problems than men, 29% of women compared to 17% of men. Depression is also a mental health issue and is more common in women, 1 in 4 women are treated for depression where as 1 in 10 men will. 'Dissociative identity disorder' can stem from anxiety, women are twice as likely to experience anxiety and 60% of people with phobias or OCD are female. Therefore we felt that representation in our trailer was correct or the ideologies in society and realistic.
Audience Feedback Questionnaire
Audience feedback questionnaire
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