Preparing for Large Scale Exhibition

As the deadline for all three products is nearing I have decided to exhibit my film to a larger audience. I feel that the draft I will be presenting is virtually complete and therefore my audience will be exposed to a virtually completed product. This way the comments which will be made will be relevant to my film as a whole rather than just a section of it. In order to receive my comments I have created a survey. Below is a screenshot of myself working upon such:

Knowing the people I presenting to vaguely I decided to deliver my questionnaire in the form of a QR code. I plan to place sheets of paper around the room with a code to scan and a direct URL address. This was those who do not have access to a scanner can simply copy the address across. 

Below is the finished sheet I plan to give:

Link to Survey

http://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/DWTGFWV

I feel that this exercise will be incredibly useful as I will gather valid results from a very large sample of people. However as the age range will not vary largely another exhibition may be required if I see fit.

A Problem with Resolution

After giving out the draft of my poster design I realised that when printed the resolution was incorrect. This resulted in blurred text and uneven edges. Below is a photo of the credit box on the printed edition of the poster.

 As this reduces the quality of the product dramatically I had to address this issue. I was shown how to adjust the resolution by a peer and this enabled me to rectify the problem to an extent. The colours of the larger elements became more saturated however the edges remained poor quality. This is due to the method I used to create the image of the poster originally. I used a lower resolution image to create the spaceship shape and therefore when it increased in size after I changed the resolution the edges became blurry and undefined. The same applies to the billing box at the bottom which can be seen above. To rectify the problem completely I am going to redesign the majority of the elements ensuring I maintain the level of quality throughout. Below is a screenshot of myself halfway through this process:

Importing and Editing the Flashbacks

With all of my images ready to be used within my film, I imported  the photos and replaced the filler images I used previous to represent the flashbacks. To ensure I edited correctly I re-watched my film a few times, to remove any doubt about the placement of my flashbacks. I came to the conclusion that the 2nd one, approximately half way through the film was obsolete. The narration going into enough detail about the events revolving around the survivors history with firearms and therefore rendering any additional scene on the subject obsolete. Despite breaking the conventions of flashbacks. which usually come in triplets throughout a film, I feel that the removal of such is beneficial and increases the flow of my product. Also, as the entire film is a reflection on the past the rule may not apply.
            I used a variety of effects on the photos once I had edited them into my film in the correct place. Compared to the rest of the film, the images were very bright and looked very out of place. Unlike my film which has a blue tint over the majority of the footage, the flashback scenes are high in contrast and did not conform well with the rest. I addressed this through the use of Final Cut’s bank of effects. Using the filter ‘noir’ I altered the colour ratio of the images resulting in a very different aesthetic. The edges of the silhouettes were blurred and the previously bright white background was tinged yellow. Below is an example of the effect applied to one of the photographs:

In addition to the filters I placed, I also added some animated effects overlaid on the images. In one of the flashbacks the scenes are taking place whilst a thunder storm is happening. To reinforce the pathetic fallacy I timed the lightning strikes in the audio with an effect called flash. Whenever the audio played certain elements of the image would light up creating the illusion of  a lighting strike. Below is a short video with one of the completed flashback scenes:

Revisiting Pete Buckingham

Having a specified target market is incredibly important as it shapes the very product itself. Within previous projects I have worked upon marketing in relation to Pete Buckingham’s audience theory. He separates a potential audience into groups and discussing what these divisions mean. Each group has a unique set of desires and using this I have specified exactly who my audience is for all three products. Using the diagram below I selected which types of audience I predict will be interested in my products and why:

Film Fanatics: As my film could be considered violent and anchored to the Sci-fi genre I feel that a male audience would be more inclined to be attracted to my product than a female one. Furthermore, depending on the individuals, film fanatics may be interested in short films. Despite their review led drive to see film, I feel that if I support the idea that my film received good reviews across my ancillaries, this particular group may suit my product best.

Fun Lovers: As a niche film, created by a small production team, my product would not be exposed to those who focus on larger budget films. I feel that those within the Fun Lovers category would come across my product in their eclectic consumerism. Buckingham stating that they are ‘Big film and video fans’ suggests that their taste is not limited by genre or budget and therefore would be willing to watch almost anything. This audience category seems to conform to my products the best out of the two I have selected as it is possible that Film Fanatics would be repelled from my product due to its lack of presence.

Ancillary Product Feedback Part 2: Poster

As well as the Film review, I recieved feedback on my poster as well within the same session. Below are the comments I received and evidence of myself processing them:

Poster

Lily Potter's Feedback

• "Very minimal, positive"
• "Keep fonts the same style throughout both products- continuity"
• "Experiment with more effects, same filter as in film?"

Conclusion: In the researching stage of my poster I looked at a variety of different posters ranging from theattrical to teaser. I chose the latter for my product. The codes of the type outline how the teaser poster has to invoke an auidnece has creae enigma. By keeping my poster minimalistic, which the comment highlights, it ensures only a fraction of the film's content is actually revealed while establishing the genre and tone of the film.

              Despite me trying to replicate the font across all of my products I have found it partuclarly difficult. Working on both WIndows and Mac OS X, the bank of fonts differ. To ensure I do keep contunity I will be trying to import the same font I used within my film onto my PC in order to use it within my anciliary products.
               When I was creating the poster I trialed a variety of effects on the photo I used. This ranged from pixalating to greyscaling the entire image. Within my film I used a bloom like filter whenever the narrative cut to the alien and the comment introduces the idea of using this same filter in my poster. I am confident that this would not work as the nature of the filter makes the image or film appear very bright and would distort faces.

Harley Golder Feedback

• "Text pixilated"
• "Good layout, sticks to conventions
• "Film Website"

Conclusion: I am now fully aware that the resolution of my poster is far too small and therefore when the product was enlarged to the size of A3, text became pixalated. As the bill box is a critical element of my poster and it cannot be read the problem must be addressed.

              As with my film review, I am pleased that my poster has been recogniced as conventional. Beforehand I felt that, as I decided on creating a teaser trailer, people may find that it breaks conventions and appears empty. But, as this comment suggests, my product fits the codes of the media text.

              Despite my poster being minimal, the idea of including a website on a larger scale is tempting. Obviously as the bill box credits were the wrong resolution and were hense unreadable, my assessors would not have known that I had included a wesite. A larger URL and perhaps some social network link could make my product more authentic and conventional.

                

Ancillary Product Feedback Part 1: Magazine Feedback

After finishing the first ,and in the case of my poster, second draft of my ancillary products I was ready to expose them to my peer group for assessment. As many of them had not seen the work before they were a very suitable group to use. I printed out both the poster and film review page on A3, allowing my assessors to see each of element of each fully and easily. Once I gave out my products I asked for feedback on anything they thought could be improved or things I had not used which are particularly conventional of that media text. Below is the feedback I received typed up from the post it notes:

Magazine article

 Aidan Rawlonson’s Feedback

• "Photo of camera is out of place”
• “Speech Bubbles don’t match tone.”

Conclusion: When I made the decision to include a picture of the camera I did so using the knowledge I collected from reading and researching film review magazines. Often I found an ‘exclusive’ photo from the production of the film. However in its current state I feel that without a article to support each photo it is overtly obvious that the picture of the camera is the odd one out and therefore I understand why such a conclusion was made.

                I knew placing the speech bubbles was a gamble however I still feel that they do have relevance. As my assessors don’t have a full understanding of my products brand identity or what kind of audience my magazine has I can see why the speech bubbles may look out of place. I will be trying to ensure the page layout supports the comic book style bubbles.

Lily Potter’s Feedback

• “Needs page numbers to fit conventions”
• “Good Layout”
• “Not sure on red background”
• "Change the shape of the speech bubbles, looks cartoonish”  
• “Good font for the film title”
• “Change thickness of font”

Conclusion: The first comment highlights something I forgot to include within the draft. Page numbers are will be vital for ensuring that my product remains as conventional as possible. I have looked at my draft and currently finding a suitable place to put the feature.
             Despite the vagueness of this comment I feel that it is still useful. As the layout of a film review is critical in attracting readers and keeping them engaged the fact that this particualr feature has been highlighted is definitly positive.
              When evaluating this comment I have found it difficult to interpret however in terms of the use of red on my page, I feel that the colour is too saturated and could perhaps be recoloured. The bold red banners work well but the red outline of the various elements is far too bold and needs to be changed as it averts the readers attention.
              The speech bubbles have been highlighted again in terms of their style. Similarly in how I reacted to the previous comment, I feel that I have not outlined the target audience suffiently enough for my assessors to judge correctly. However, this comment suggests that the bubbles work but nee changing. I will have to experiment with line weight and other elements to generate a better effect.
               When I chose the font for the 'Invaded' title I tried to replicate the style I used within the film itself. I chose a metalic, delicate font with twice the amount of spacing between the letters. The letters are placed on black which highlight the word and fit with the 'space' sci-fi theme.
               As I said before I gave the posters to my assessors, they knew that the writing within the columns was filler writing, used to pad the page out while I construct the film review. Due to his I presume that the final comment about the font is refering to such used elsewhere. After seeing the page printed off I can see that the text used on the scroll of quotes is far too compacted and thin for the reader. I will be experimenting with font, size and space formatting to improve the element.
           

The British Market

Having decided to aim my primary product at a British Audience I have done some research into what is popular within the democraphic to aid the development of my film. With other countries enjoying British made period dramas and historically based film I began my work looking at what kinds of film the British public enjoy rather than what type of films the nation creates. I found an incredibly useful graph which features a series of modern films and how popular they were with the British public. Please find this graph below:

I found this particularly useful due to the range of films featured on the graph and it highlighted which type of film is not popular with the British public. I came to the conclusion that Drama's which have an element of Comedy are particularly popular however narratives based upon culture rich subjects such as a play adaption or a period drama are also prominant. Furthermore films such as Eternal Sunshine reminate post-modernism and I feel that this is where I can link my own product in. As my primary product has an unconventional multi-threaded narrative in many ways it is also post- modern which, based upon the graph above suggests it could potentially be popular with the British public.