List of Technology used throughout production of 15 minutes of Fame.

Software

Adobe photoshop - Photoshop is a powerful editing programme developed by Adobe. It is a very popular programme within the magazine industry and we used it to create our magazine cover, billboard and film poster. As mentioned earlier in the blog photoshop requires a lot of time practicing and getting used the the functions available within the programme, however once you have a good handling of the programme we were able to create a very effective poster that close to industry standard.
imovie - We mainly used imovie to import our footage from our camera as we found it easier to oraganise on this programme. We then used the clips we wanted and were able to drag them straight into final cut to edit. Although we used imovie for AS and were comfortable using it we felt we wanted to you a more advanced programmed for our A2 media which is why we chose final cut.
Final Cut - Developed by apple this was the programme we decided to use to edit our film. The main reason was it allowed us access to more complicated editing processes that weren't available on imovie and so produce overall a better looking trailer that was closer to an industry standard.
itunes - This was the software we used to import music from CD's and transfer them to Final cut for editing. Having itunes at home to organise my own personal music meant it was very easy to use during the production of our film.
Livetype - Livetype allowed us to create excellent text sequences that could then be imported straight to Final Cut. I found livetype incredibly frustrating at times when I couldn't change the timings on the effects to the correct settings.

Hardware

Mac Computer - Mac computers are the preferred choice from editors in industries such as magazine and fashion. In our media department we are fortunate to have a mac suite that we can use to use for our media project.
Storage devices (usb and CD's) - We used these to transfer data between macs.
Camcorder - We used my partners video camera as I experienced previous problems with the school cameras during my AS project.
Camera - I used my own personal camera which had 10.2 mega pixels which was more then adequate. I used the camera to take still shots to use in the film poster.

Others

Tripod - Very useful keeping the camera still and was very important in some of the shots in our trailer.
Blogger - I had never used a blog before until media A2 but now i can really see the benefits of using one. Google has produced an excellent tool to upload anything you really want onto it and allows anyone with an Internet connection to view it. Blogging has become increasingly popular and has allowed media producers to share there productions all round the world. As standard with many applications now there is a built in spell check which is very useful for me!

Overall Evaluation of Media Technologies
This year I was very pleased to have very few problems during the production, unlike for AS where I experienced many problems. The only problem that was a major issue was in the second term of school the media department changed the mac systems from server based to localised. This meant that before work was saved on the school server but this was then changed to the local hard drive of the mac. In the process of this some work was lost as it was not properly saved. Fortunately not much was lost and the work that I had lost had already been posted on the blog. This illustrates how new technology's such as the shift to cloud computing (blogs) has really helped me as i can constantly update it with all work that i have produced.

During planning and research stages new media technologies have been very helpful. For example the use of the internet has allowed us to gather inspiration very easily by looking at videos from the horror genre on youtube for example. Using website such as wikipedia and BFI we were able to research very quickly other films in our genre.

During production one new media technology we used was the use of a green screen. A green screen allows a background to be imported behind the person creating the illusion that the actor is actually there. In this case we created a very realistic looking BBC news room. To get the news report onto a real television was possible from very recent advancements in technology. Many TV's produced now are able to connect to the Internet, from the Internet we were able to access the news report from youtube and play the clip in full screen, this gave a very realistic effect with relative ease.

From the evaluation point of view it has been a lot easier to gather feedback using modern technologies. By using blogger I can post a real time progress of our production where the target audience is able to continually give feedback after every post I make. As mentioned youtube allows us to upload potential clips we plan to use and then post them on facebook. Facebook allows us to immediatly reach hundreds of people within are target audience and we our able to get feedback posted belowimmediately. We also used online polls and surveys to help in the planning and evalutation stages.

Audience Feedback has been so important throughout all stages of our production from planning the original concept to the final product complete. It has allowed us to constantly improve what we had produced and get even more ideas and opinions overall leading us to have a much better finished product.

One way we have been able to get instant user feedback is by posting clips that we have produced onto facebook. My partner Alex Mussard uploaded a BBC news report clip that we were planning to use in our trailer. Two friends within 10 minutes of it being posted were able to give instant feedback. We did this for several other clips as well and it really helped us get even more ideas on ways we could improve editing and improve the footage itself if we were to re film.

Facebook was particularly useful reaching our target audience as the "friends" were predominately of the target age we wanted to produce the film for.

Below is an example of the feedback we got from uploading the news report scene.


Another example of feedback we received was on the selection of soundtrack that we should use in our film. We created a poll online where the target audience could then select there favourite soundtrack they like after hearing it. We then went on to using that track in our teaser trailer.

Even after completing our film we still gathered feedback on what we could have done better. The main feedback that popped up was the text used at the beginning of the film could be hard to read and it was suggested to be slowed down. Overall we recieved very positive feedback with the end product.

In conclusion audience feedback is key in producing different forms of media, after all this is the audience that will be viewing it and buying cinema tickets if it were real. If the target audience doesn't like what they see then simply they won't go and see the real film. This is why businesses spend huge amount of money on research such as customer feedback and focus groups.

After collecting Audience feedback what would we have done differently if we were to make the teaser trailer again?

Title sequences - We would improve the title sequences during the trailer and make them clearer as well as longer on screen. Audience feedback indicated that it was hard to read and not enough time to read.

Editing - Our teaser trailer was closer to a film trailer due to the audience getting a good idea what the plot of the film is about. We would try to have a faster montage of clips creating a more realistic look to the trailer.

Overall I feel the combination has worked very well. I am most pleased with the film trailer and film poster as I think they really do compliment one another very well. The combination of work helps support the overall promotion of the film.

For our film poster we used a wooden chair doused with blood. This immediately creates a powerful image of some sort of torture/killing theme to the film. The image creates the impression someone has been killed whilst being tied up to the chair, the body seems to have then been disposed leaving the remaining blood of the victim staining the chair. I feel this has been very effective in supporting the upcomming film.

The billboard also supports the horror promotion package of our film by using two images from the movie however not used in the trailer. On the left hand side of the billboard we have used a silhouette of the killer who can be clearly seen holding and axe. The silhouette creates the image of the unknown which the user will want to find out what it is. On the right hand side is a clip that was not present in our trailer. It shows one of the actors staring at a televesion in a dark room with the title 15 minuts of fame. If this was a real marketing campaign I would recommend using different images on the right hand side for different billboards. This helps build an image for the upcomming film.

Lastly we created a film magazine brand called 'Close Up'. The magazine promotes the film with one of the actors on the front cover. The magazine includes exclusive such as interviews with the cast and backstage scenes. The picture used on the front cover helps create synergy between the slasher similarity of our film and American Psycho and immediately makes it stand out.

In conclusion the combination of ancillary texts along with the film has created a strong and effective promotional package for the upcoming 15 minutes of fame.

The current state of the horror genre has gradually been in decline and we have hoped are new upcoming film 15 minutes of fame can revitalise the genre by offering something original and new. Currently only sequels or remakes of horror films such as SAW and Friday 13th have been popular.

The beginning of the film starts of with an establishing shot of the sky with the sun beaming through the clouds. This is typical in many horror teasers such as Friday the 13th which is posted earlier in my blog. Establishing shots tend to set the scene and begin the trailer peacefully preparing the viewer for the horror that is about to come. Next comes a series of fades in and out with points of view shots from the victim and title sequences. This again is very common in teasers and follows media conventions.

The killer himself does not reveal himself as he conceals his identity using clothing. This is typical in many horror films and follows conventions. The killer is maybe not so original. He wears wellington boots, a large grey jacket with gloves and conceals his face with a mask and hat. The killers weapon of choice seems to be the axe however has been seen using chainsaws, this is typical in horror films and is similar to the killers from the shining and friday the 13th.

The settings used has also followed convention. The main setting, my garage, closely follows similar films that use some sort of torturing/killing room most notably the SAW series. The garage is dark and gloomy and had some useful Mise-en-scene such as electrical wires hanging from the wall. Conventions were followed using Mise-en-scene as it was very important to make sure are garage setting had a torture and horror feel to it. However if you look very closely we did make a few mistakes such as having an 'Oasis' bottle on a table in the background.

Following the garage scene there is then a montage of fast paced clips which is a technique used by film producers to show the best clips in the film. In many cases teasers can be very good making you want to see the film only to then watch it and be disappointed. The ending of the film ends with a cliffhanger where the killer picks up his chainsaw ready to kill the victim. It then cuts to the ending titles while in the background the sound of the chainsaw and man screaming can be heard. This follows conventions as it entices the the audience to want to see the film and see what happens.

15 minutes of fame aims to take the best bits of horror films and improve where others have failed. Over the past 10 years the bulk of horror films such as the SAW series , Texas chainsaw massacre, hostel etc have used 'shock and awe' techniques. This is where the horror films have had to use extreme gore inorder to entice the audience to watch. With 15 minutes of fame we hope to bring back the slasher theme and although there is gore thorughout the film there are many twists and turns in the storyline and characters are developed in alot more debth. The similaritys og our film idea is mainly the torture rooms where the victims must escape or risk having there '15 minutes of fame' being broadcasted to televison for the population to watch creating immence fear within the country and the government calling the killings a national threat.

Our magazine Front Cover takes inspiration from the original American psycho. The magazine uses the brand Close Up that I used for my previous magazines shown earlier in the blog. The image used it the magazine was a still and was not present in the horror trailer. From feedback the magazine could have been improved by using techniques such as peeling stickers and image shots of whats in side the magazine etc but overall the magazine came out well.

Evaluation of Billboard Poster
Although not so common with the film producers some films do create billboards for there films. To create our billboard we researched the measurements of a standard billboard and scaled it down.

The billboard uses a scene from the film as well as the killers identity blacked out. The film title and the date of release are the only text on the billboard.

Evaluation of Final Film poster
I was really pleased how the film poster came out. The audience feedback overwealmingly came back positive. I think the key strengths of the poster is the black and white theme in the background and the bright blood on the chair which really makes it jump out. I think the poster is very eye catching and grabs the audience straight away.

We included a rope placed over the chair to indicate the idea of torture and put the credits and the bottom of the poster. We wanted to keep the image clutter free so not to spoil the powerful image.