Start of my blog

Here is the link to the start of my blog:

http://emilyscotta2mediablog.blogspot.co.uk/2011_06_01_archive.html

Personal review of my promotional package

Overall, I think that that my promotional package has been quite successful. I feel that the trailer is conventional, in that it looks authentic due to the attention to detail we applied to the mise-en-scène, which also helps to make the narrative clear. I also think that despite the fact that we sometimes disagreed on ideas, which led to Lucinda's decision to submit a different version of the trailer, we have worked well together as a group in that we clearly and evenly divided group roles between us from the very beginning. We also ensured that, during the filming and editing processes, we took turns to film and tried to edit as a group as much as possible. Furthermore, we made sure to have thorough communication between us so that we were always up to date with the editing that had gone on, even if one of us had been unable to help with editing at one given time. The fact that we always saved changes to the trailer as new copies meant that there were always backdated versions of our trailer, which we made sure to keep up throughout the entire editing process.

One thing that has been unsuccessful is the resolution of our trailer; unfortunately it hasn't come out in the quality we had hoped, despite the fact that the camera was fully in focus when we filmed. Although we did try to solve this problem, by trying to compress the finished trailer into a better quality with the help of some I.T technicians, it unfortunately didn't make any difference.  This is disappointing, but we have come to terms with the fact that there is nothing more we can do; the trailer still looks good, and we don't think that its poor resolution makes this any less apparent.

In terms of my ancillery tasks, I am very pleased with them as I believe synergy is shown between them, as well as through the combination of my ancillery tasks and teaser trailer. Furthermore, I think that I have produced a poster and magazine cover that follow conventions closely and demonstrate a relatively high level of skill on Photoshop, as well as a lot of creativity.

Group evaluation

Here is an overall evaluation that we did as a group, as an addition to the four main evaluation questions:
youtube group evaluation by EmyRoo

Evaluation question 4: How did you use new media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?

Here is a Wordle I have created which includes all of the different technologies and equipment I used throughout the whole process of my courswork:

 or www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/5259072/technology

 Here is my evaluation:
technology evaluation question by EmyRoo

Evaluation question 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Evaluation question 3

View more PowerPoint from Emily Scott

Evaluation question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillery tasks?

Evaluation question 2

View more PowerPoint from Emily Scott

Evaluation question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Here is a presentation answering this question:

Evaluation on Prezi

Final promotional package

Here is my finished promotional package; ancillary tasks (film magazine cover and poster) and main product (teaser trailer).



                                                 

                                                                   Magazine cover



Poster

                              

Trailer

Final storyboard

Final Storyboard

1.       Institutional information- MPAA

2.       Spotlight Productions

3.       Black Stallion Films

4.       Shot of computer screen showing findmypast

5.       Text on screen

6.       Computer screen with mouse on “get started”

7.       Sarah on the phone

8.       Close-up of the newspaper clipping

9.       Sarah walking through the trees

10.   Sarah going into the house

11.   Text on screen

12.   Sarah walking along the corridor

13.   Text on screen

14.   Sarah stroking piano

15.   Text on screen

16.   Walking over to table

17.   Lifting lid of box

18.   Text on screen

19.   Over the shoulder shot of her reading the letter

20.   Over the shoulder shot of Frances writing the letter

21.   Shot of Frances from the front writing the letter- tilt up to her face shows that she’s crying

22.   Text on screen

23.   Frances dancing with Peter

24.   Frances praying

25.   Frances walking down the staircase

26.   Text on screen

27.   Frances looking out over the balcony

28.   Peter walking up the steps

29.   Peter walking over to Frances

30.   Confrontation scene between Jon and Peter

31.   Jon reaching for Frances- he tilts her head upwards

32.   Text on screen

33.   Frances looking through keyhole

34.   Jon walking over to Peter- shot shows only their legs so facial expressions cannot be seen

35.   Frances drawing back from keyhole in shock

36.   Frances dancing with Jon

37.   Match being dropped

38.   Text on screen

39.   Frances running along the corridor

40.   Frances in bed- unsettled sleeping shows she is having a nightmare

41.   Frances running down the steps

42.   Frances running along the gravel

43.   Frances running down more steps near the lake

44.   Quick shot of fire

45.   Film Title

46.   Match burning the paper

47.   Institutional information

48.   Match burning paper- shot fades out with music

As there are now over 40 sections to our storyboard we felt it would be easier and clearer if we typed it up rather than drawing it out. This shows how much our ideas have developed since our earlier storyboards were created.

Final trailer and feedback

Here is our final trailer:



We are quite happy with the end result, and we think that all the hard work we put into it has payed off. Here is the audience feedback we have had:

Trailer feedback on Prezi

Overall scenes/shots we have decided to add and remove

Here is the overall list of shots we have decided not to use, or to remove or change:

• The drunken scene

WHY: We all agreed that it didn't really add anything to the narrative, and could therefore cause confusion.

• The nightmare scene

WHY: We were told to remove this as it had connotations of a horror film and could therefore cause confusion. (UPDATE: We have now re-added this shot, but we have cut a considerable amount of the footage from it and slowed it down, so it now fits in with the narrative a lot better.)

• The party scene

WHY: Because we did not have sufficient transport to take the number of actors we would need for this scene to the locations. It would also mean casting a lot of people. We also felt that it didn't add much to the narrative.

• The makeup scene

WHY: We changed this shot to Frances writing a letter, as this would add more to the narrative and link in with the title of the film.

• Shame scene

WHY: We filmed Frances, Peter and Jon praying in the chapel, but did not have them being spoken to by a minister, as we could not get the correct costume. Furthermore, we decided that simply having the shot of Frances praying on her own looked the most effective.

• We changed the concept of the diary to a letter

WHY: Because letters would show more of an exchange between the three 19th century characters; this would not be possible with a diary, as a diary is very private and personal, and would therefore only show Sarah the point of view of one of the characters.

• We added shots of Frances running towards a cross in her nightie

WHY: Because we wanted to make the most of the location (there was a large metal cross in a hallway at Kilpin Hall), and it also added to the connotations of going against religion and creating scandal. The fact that Frances is wearing her nightclothes suggests that at night she is troubled by her sins (which is emphasised in the nightmare scene).

•  We added shots of Frances running down stone steps towards  lake

WHY: Because we wanted to make the most of the location (Aske Hall), and the shot looked dramatic and effective, particularly as the wind is blowing in her hair, and the weather is moody and overcast. These shots are also similar to those in the Jane Eyre trailer, which shows that we are following conventions, and also helps to suggest that Frances is, literally and metaphorically, running away from the situation she is in, showing that she is tormented by it.

• We replaced the shots of Frances flirting with the rich man and the poor man at the party to different shots of her with each man

WHY: Firstly, we had decided against the party scene. Secondly, we felt that these shots had more impact on the viewer and also meant that we could make the most of the locations.

• We cut down the confrontation scene so that it was simply an over-the-shoulder shot of the poor man, with the top hat and part of the face of the rich man showing

WHY: Because it was extremely difficult to get a smooth shot of this; as we were outside on uneven terrain it would have been difficult to have the camera on wheels for a tracking shot, so the camera therefore had to be handheld. We consequently thought that it would be better to get a shorter shot that was smooth.

• We changed the shot of the old and modern newspaper clipping to simply a shot of the modern one

WHY: Because we felt that having two newspaper clippings was confusing and difficult to read, whereas the modern one gave away enough information for the viewer to still have a good idea of the narrative.

Changing text of trailer

We showed our trailer so far to our media class, who all agreed that the narrative was still a little unclear. They suggested that this was due to the text in the trailer being too vague and not specific enough; text such as "It can change you morals" was, they thought, simply being used to convey emotion, when, in fact, the soundtrack helped to convey adequate emotion towards the viewer. They therefore suggested that we use a more direct approach and write clearer, more specific text which explains the narrative better, as well as rearranging the order of some of the shots. This is the final text:

• Have you ever wanted to delve into your past?
• What would you do...
• If you uncovered a dark family secret...
• That would take you back...
• To the past?
•  Hidden for centuries
• And only now
• Will you discover
• The truth

We feel that this conveys the narrative in a much clearer way, but doesn't give away too much of the storyline. We are therefore much happier with this text.

MPAA green screen

From watching other trailers, we have learnt that many of them include a variation of this green screen at the beginning (see below), which is a confirmation by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) of who the trailer is appropriate for. However, as our film is a British film, we set about researching to see if there was a British equivilent. Unfortunately we couldn't find one, but, what we did find out is that most British films that are distributed in America also tend to have the green screen by the MPAA. As our film is obviously featured in film magazines, it is therefore extremely unlikely that, in real-life circumstances, it would not be distributed in America. We have therefore chosen to include a green screen by the MPAA at the beginning of our trailer.

Making the film company logo on Adobe Flash and Adobe Photoshop

Making the film company logo on adobe flash

View more presentations from Emily Scott.

Market research feedback: Film company name

Here are the results from our market research:

As Black Stallion Films has the highest number of votes, we will therefore use this as our film company name. This also means making a film company logo. Fortunately, we already had ideas for logos for all of the names we originally thought of; for Black Stallion Productions, we have thought about using the photo below, which I took:

Market research: film company name

After watching some more trailers as a group, we have noticed that most of them tend to include the film's film company logo as well as the one for the production company. We have therefore compiled a list of potential film company names and conducted some market research to help us decide which one to use, which we have shared on Facebook, therefore using synergy to help us attain it:

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Issue with soundtrack

One problem that we have come across is that the soundtrack we have chosen is not completely in time with our trailer. Despite the majority of the soundtrack being more or less in time with the editing, there still remain several parts of the trailer that don't match the rhythm of it. Although this is frustrating, however, we have decided not to change the soundtrack due to the fact that we think it fits the genre of our trailer perfectly, so it would be a shame to have to find an alternative. Moreover, as the majority of the editing is in time with the music, we have agreed that it won't pose too much of a problem as it adds so much to the mise-en-scène.

Lucinda submitting a different version

Lucinda has decided that she has a different vision of how she wants the trailer to be, and has therefore decided to submit a different version of it. We do not think that this will pose a problem, as we have all done an equal amount of work up to this point, and Lucinda is merely planning on tweaking one of our previous drafts to fit in with how she wants it, whereas Charlotte and I are going to carry on working together on our version of the trailer to improve it as much as possible and get it to the standard we want it.

Audience feedback for second draft of trailer

We have created a Facebook group with our trailer posted in it and invited people to give us feedback, so as to give us more of an idea of possible improvement. Here is some of the feedback we have had:

This feedback is extremely useful, as it gives us a better understanding of what needs to be changed; the majority of people have said that they don't like the combination of two different font styles, so, as the text in the old-fashioned font doesn't really add much to the plot, we have decided to remove it.

Second draft of trailer

Here is the second draft of our trailer. At the moment there are still quite a few glitches with and and things that don't work, but we are going to create a Facebook group and invite people to watch the trailer and give their opinion on it, so as to get some audience feedback.

Results from production company name market research

Here are the results from our production company name market research:

Spotlight Productions got the most votes, so we have decided to use the production company logo that Lucinda made for her coursework last year when she made a five minute film opening and used Spotlight Productions for her production company, which received very positive feedback. This also creates the sense of progression of the production company; Spotlight Production's last film was "Hunted" and their new film is "The Letters", showing that they have had success. Here is the logo:

Vignette effect

We have decided that we need to emphasise the fact that the second half of our trailer is set in the past, as this will make the narrative even clearer. An example of a technique we could use is in The Wizard of Oz, in which the film goes from black and white to colour to demonstrate a change in location. However, we felt that a complete desaturation of colour in the second half of our trailer would be slightly too extreme; this was confirmed when we tried putting a black and white filter on the old part of the trailer, which just didn't look right. Fortunately, after trying out a few alternative video filters on the footage, we found one, the vignette effect, that was ideal; it gave a slightly blurred, green/brown hue to the edge of the footage, which really helped to create the sense that it was a  flashback into the past.

Trailer so far

Here is our trailer so far:



At the moment there are still a couple of glitches that need fixing, such as faulty transitions and text that needs breaking up/lasts too long. We also need to fit the editing so that it's more in time with the soundtrack, which we will do once we have fixed the transitions. There is also a strange tapping noise, but the school's I.T technicians should be able to help us get rid of this. Another thing that really hasn't worked is the shot of the text message; the picture hasn't come out properly, and it does look just like a photo, as well as lasting too long on screen. As a solution to this problem we are going to do some more filming, replacing the screenshot of the text message with actual footage of it being written. We also need to add more institutional information.

Production company name market research

Here is some market research we have carried out to help us decide on the name of the production company for our trailer:

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Filming fire shots

Today we filmed the fire shots for our trailer. We took as much care as possible when filming these, and overall we think they have come out quite well. We have added a couple to the trailer, and they look extremely effective; the editing in particular really compliments them.

Fire scene risk assessment

As we will be involving scenes including fire in our trailer, we will need to do a risk assessment for this. Although we will try and do this and film it in as safe a way as possible, we need to analyse any potential risks that may be involved. Here is the final risk assessment: 

Final soundtrack

Lucinda has now finished the final soundtrack, which she has made which a piece of music from Garageband, which she then added echoey sound effects to.
We feel that it captures the mood of the tras it is classical piano along with echoey sound effects which give it a mysterious and ominous sound, which is similar to that used at the beginning of the 2011 Jane Eyre trailer:



The classical piano also ties in with the genre of the trailer, as, primarily it was the popular music of the Victorian era, and, secondly, as our trailer is based around flashbacks to an era that could be classed as 'period drama style', it emulates the typical soundtrack of period drama films such as Pride and Prejudice.

Garageband segments we could use for soundtrack

Here are some examples of Garageband segments that we could use for our soundtrack:

Newspaper cuttings

Yesterday I made the newspaper cuttings that we going to film. I have tried to make them as authentic as possible:

Modern and old newspaper cuttings