Insanity - Final Trailer

Insanity - Final Magazine Cover

Insanity - Final Film Poster

Target Audience - Discussion About Film Poster

Here is the second video I created with my target audience. In this video, we have a quick discussion about the features on my film poster that stand out to my target audience and I ask why these features are effective. The overall response from my target audience was successful as one of my audience really liked the crack as he could recognise easily that the film poster was focused on the genre horror. Moreover, I also got positive feedback from the actual main photo and this was a good sign as the main image in many film posters is an important aspect meaning it has to be effective and I successfully followed this convention. By collecting my target audiences response for my film poster, it also proves that my film poster follows typical conventions in horror posters as my target audience realise and like the conventions I interpreted in it.

Target Audience - Comparing My Magazine To "Empire"

In order to gain more feedback on my production, I decided to question my target audience about my magazine. Moreover, I also allowed them to compare my magazine with an actual real media text and this was an "Empire" magazine. This allowed my target audience to point out conventions that I successfully followed in order for my magazine to stand out and look similar to real media texts. By pointing out the similarities and differences in both magazines, it has made me realise that my magazine had actually turned out successful as they overall agreed and thought my magazine was very effective.

Here is my magazine and the "Empire" magazine I printed out in order for my potential target audience to compare:

Trailer - My View On The Feedback Received

I decided to explain the feedback I received from my trailer when I showed it to my target audience. I talk about how this feedback relates to my product in more depth. Overall, the feedback I received was very positive and it meant that my trailer had followed the typical conventions that are seen in many horror trailers that are released. This also shows that I was successfully in making my trailer speak out to my potential target audience as they thought the narrative was very clear and they wanted to actually watch the whole film.

Trailer - Target Audience's General Feedback

After viewing my trailer, I decided to question my target audience on my trailer. In this video, they discuss what features stood out to them mostly and what features could simply be improved. By recording their general views about my trailer, it has helped me acknowledge and understand if my trailer was effective overall and if it stood out to my potential target audience.

Trailer - Target Audience's Reaction

I decided to shoot a short video recording the reaction of my target audience whilst watching my final horror trailer. I thought it was interesting to film their facial expression whilst watching my trailer as they didn't know what to expect from it. I was also intrigued to see their body language and how well they thought it was effective. I decided to pick two teenagers (one male and one female) aged around seventeen years old to represent my potential target audience and this was ideal as it allowed me to gather more opinions in general. 

Changes Made - Annotated Film Poster

Here is an annotation of our final film poster. I decided to talk about the changes we made to it and how these changes are effective overall. One important aspect that we were all aware about was that our film poster had to link with the two products and we tried to keep the theme continuous. This can be seen by the choice of colours for instance we have used the same dark red that is featured in the magazine cover. Moreover, we also tried to make our film poster stand out more by creating a crack effect and this related to the narrative itself. We personally thought it was an important concept to have as it represented Flora’s state of mind and her split personality. We also decided to edit the image in black and white as it made our text stand out more. This specific shade of red also works well with the background and it successfully makes our film name look more vibrant. We also followed typical conventions that most horror film posters had for instance the “Empire” review adds a sense of realism to our film poster. 

Changes Made - Annotated Magazine Cover

I decided to annotate my final magazine cover explaining the changes I have recently made and why I have made them. It goes through why I have changed the types of font and how I have made sure that the magazine cover links to the other two products. One possible link could be the main font for “Insanity” and I ensured that it stood out in my magazine by having it in the central and changing the colour to black. This same font is also seen at the end of our trailer when introducing the film name and on the poster cover which overall symbolises that the fonts that we used are continuous in all three products. I have also considered the feedback from my teacher when making these changes for example she personally thought that I should move the text “FLORA’S DYING TO MEET YOU” more down from “Insanity.” I decided to take this advice on board and it made the quote successfully stand out due to the colour and being placed behind a white background. This was also effective as it would interest potential readers to actually find out about the film as the quote expresses Flora’s two sides personality.

Opening of our trailer - "Twisted Pictures" & "Lionsgate"

We planned to have the production company that represented our film "Insanity" as Lionsgate and decided to put it as our opening. However we gained feedback from our teacher and the introduction seemed too long and too happy to be at the start of a horror trailer. This wasn't conventional as most horror trailers had a very quick intro and the music was also creepy at the start which sets the mood of the trailer. With this in mind, me and my group decided to look for other film companies. We also looked at trailers to see how they used their introductions and we thought the film "Saw" had the best opening as they used the company Twisted Pictures. Here is the introduction of Twisted Pictures in which we decided to intervene in our opening of our trailer:

This overall improved the start of our trailer as it we shortened the clip down and made it more fast. It also related to the genre of horror as it includes horror elements itself for example the barbed wire gives a creepy effect and this also alerts the audience that our trailer is based on horror. However, due to introduction being too long, we decided to cut out twisted pictures and just feature Lionsgate but we changed the setting and mise-en-scene around it so it still gave a creepy effect. 

Summary of feedback/preparation

I decided to create a Prezi which basically summarises the amount of preparation we did when we were  planning to create new scenes. I also refer to improving our initial feedback for example we created more storyboards and decided to add more fast paced scenes in order to give the trailer a more "scarier" effect. By taking on board the feedback we got from our teacher, it allowed us to come up with more ideas to make our trailer more effective overall and we were able to come up with ideas that improved our scenes as we decided to include more of our main characters who were Flora and Megan.

Script for trailer

Within our trailer, we are going to have several voiceovers by our main character Flora through specific scenes. It emphasises the narrative and makes the audience feel more involved with our main character as it reveals the two sides of her personality. There are also themes of religion within the script and this is conventional as most horror films involve religion to express the sense of fear.

Talking about feedback from our rough cut

Here is a video I edited on iMovie featuring myself talking about the feedback we received from our teacher for our rough cut of our trailer. In the video, I also consider improvements that we decided as a group to fix some minor errors that were in our trailer for example the voiceover wasn't as clear and to fix this, we decided to re-make the voiceover. Whilst my teacher was watching our rough cut, my group and I took notes in what we had to improve and here are some of the points she raised that had to be fixed in order for our trailer to be more effective:

• The start of the trailer (Lionsgate) was too happy and jolly. We had to make it more shorter.
• The sound levels were not equal and the voiceover had to be redone.
• Telling to much of the story for example revealing Megan's death in the trailer. Had to cut some scenes out.
• Swap some of the scenes around so we are not telling to much of a story
• Shots are repeated too much at the start.
• The ending is also slow and we need to make it more upbeat in order for it to be more scarier.

Feedback - Magazine cover

Here is a print out of how my magazine looks so far. I decided to print it out to spot out any errors or mistakes that needed correcting. My teacher and my group also gave me useful feedback in which I have to change. Here are some of the features I am going to change:

• The "Free Audiobook" button is near to the edge of the page. I will have to edit this and move it more on the right and I will have to make the circle more smaller in order for it to fit.
• The text "An Exclusive Interview With The Main Star Of" is not easily readable. I am considering to change the font of this and to make it more bolder in order for it to be more recognisable from far. 
• The white box behind the text is not conventional and I would have to remove this in order for the magazine to look more professional as most "Empire" magazines don't have this feature.
• The text on the sides are to layered equally. I will have to move the text more up in order for it to fit the page more equally and for it to look more better.
• Some fonts are not clear enough. I am considering to change the fonts to all a similar size in order for it to be readable by my target audience. 
• I also have to add a barcode and a banner at the bottom which would feature more exclusive news and features in the magazine. 

Those are the main changes I am planning to make on my magazine front cover in order for it to reach out to my target audience. The feedback I got from my peers and my teacher was really helpful as it helped me notice what needed changing and what was good about the poster. 

Editing the masthead - "EMPIRE"

Half way through creating my magazine, I noticed that the masthead wasn't as sharp as I wanted it to be. I noticed in "Empire" magazines, the masthead is usually bright and it catches a readers eye immediately and I decided to put an effect on the masthead. 

Here is the normal masthead in which I wanted to change in order to make it look more professional and brighter personally. By doing this, it will capture the readers eye and it will attract them to read the actual magazine as they will notice the brand "Empire" much more quicker. 

In this screenshot, you can see I have selected the layer in which the mast head is placed. I have opened the edit tool in which it gives me many options to choose from. I decided to go with a drop shadow and I made its opacity to 75% in order for it to make it more darker on the edges. This also relates to the genre of my magazine as it is horror and it also adds an creepy effect on my whole magazine. 

Here is the result of the effect. As you can see it has made my masthead stand out more as the shadow effect has overall made it look more appealing towards the reader. This also makes my magazine look more realistic as it links to similar "Empire" magazines mastheads. 

Flatplan for magazine cover

Here is the final flat plan I have created in order to inspire me whilst I finish off creating my magazine cover. This flat plan has been very helpful whilst I have been making adjustments for my front cover as it helped me visualise how I wanted my layout. I decided to follow most of the features on my flat plan for example I have included most of the text. However, there have been some slight changes for example the masthead of "Empire" is not set behind her but instead in front of her. This made the logo seem more powerful and clearer as it would of not been very seeable from far. Additionally, I have also placed "Insanity" in the same place and this is very effective as the font is black whilst the background of her top is white and this clearly contrasts which overall gives a good effect.