Evaluation
What media technologies have you used to create your 3 media products?
What media technology I used to create my DVD cover and poster is Photoshop. Firstly, I had to use one image on each of both the front and the back of my dvd cover and had to modify them. What I did on the photo of Tyras which I used on my DVD cover was get rid of the logo in his shirt which was quite difficult to do at first but then I managed to get rid of it using the healing tool and the clone stamp. If I had kept the logo then the people who are looking at the DVD cover would become distracted by it and would ruin the whole mood of the DVD cover. Also what I did was get the picture of Dan and modified his eyes to make them look red and change his white skin to grey. The reason why I did this is because I wanted him to look evil and to shock the viewers of it into thinking he is the villain which he is because he is the devil. On the poster I added two images onto one canvas. And how I managed to do that was use the first picture which is of Karl and Tyras’s hands with a necklace in Karl’s hands, and then I had a picture of Dan’s head which I dragged down all the way down to the bottom to just show from his eyes upwards. What I did was modify his eyes, making them red and also changing the skin colour to grey and also I made the whole think black and white and making the background black and the hands white.The font style I used on the ‘Labradorescence’ text on the poster was NeedleTeeth Creepy. The reason why I chose this font is because it emphasis that the film I am promoting is a horror and not anything else. The font I used on the DVD front cover was Trojan Pro on some the text and Didot on the review and the slogan at the bottom of the cover, and at the back cover I used a font called Minion Pro, and on the credits near the bottom I used white font called Steel Tongs. I made the font white because on a dark background and a dark DVD back cover, I wanted to make it gloomy, dark, and scary to make it eye catching and so the audience will pay attention to it and read the story to know what the film is about. I used Final Cut Pro to create my trailer. What I did was add clips from the group transfer which we recorded in our spare time, and the drag them into the timeline on Final Cut. My trailer features a lot of text which helps tells the audience what the story is about, there is alot of clips as well of the situation that is happening for example, we had clips of Tyras, Karl, and me, and edit them out and finish the whole thing. I added music to it as well which our dark songs which feature a vocal of the Roberta Flack song, “Killing Me Softly”, and then after it says the company name I then use a proper instrumental trailer music which I found on YouTube and to make it fit within the timeline I had to cut parts of the music out. Also on some of the clips including the text I used transitions such as fading in and out, and fitted the text inbetween the clips.
Does your completed media products meet with your original intentions?
My original intentions for my poster was to use the hands of the necklace exchange for my poster, and seeing this is exactly what happened with my final design, it has met my full intentions. Although I added the picture of Dan which was not my original idea, it has made the poster much more interesting and I would say that I am proud of the design. As well I added the text and made it horror and I would say that this is very good and well made to promote the horror theme to the audience. My DVD cover design however, didn’t. I had to change the idea after finding out on my design that the idea wasn’t going to work, so I had to find another photo which was just a single photo of Tyras, and had to edit and get rid of the logo on the shirt and then add text to it. The trailer was supposed to be a lot more dramatic than it actually was, however, because the clips we had didn’t fit with my original idea. We had to change a lot of the story because on the first part of filming, Mary, who was supposed to be a character on the trailer didn’t turn up, and we had to use Tyras as a brother and not a sister, and the clips that we used none of them were with Dan in them. So I had to make the use of the clips we had and change the trailer up so it could be a lot more eerie and had to use a softer part of dramatic music and with a little bit less action in it.
What problems did you experience during the construction of your 3 media products?
When I first create the poster I had problems with changing the font to Steel Tongs. This is because when I wrote with them the font kept messing up for example when I wrote with a lowercase letter it would have text which says stuff like “produced by”, “directed by”, and “music supervisor”. I had found a solution when I instead used capital letter all throughout the text and that fixed the Steel Tongs font. On the dvd cover I used, when I added images to it they came out grainy and blurry and you could not visually see the text of the images properly. Although the DVD cover images are now much clearer that previously, it is still about 15% grainy, but visually is acceptable with the text. The trailer lastly, was the most difficult to produce and had to tell the story bit by bit to make the audience interested. In the end I used clips and text to help finally tell the story.
What comments have you had from your peers about your 3 media products?
The positive I have received is that they like the shot of the necklace exchange and what I did with it but they did not like picture of Dan. They had said that it was rushed and had to be developed alot better. They liked the background colour and usage of the gradient tool and the text but did also not like the use of Dan’s red eyes. On the trailer they liked the song and music but all said that there were too many transitions and wanted different clips to exchange the ones I had. The DVD cover they liked the idea and what I was trying to get across but hated the fact that it was blurry and grainy.
Identify the specific strengths of your 3 products
On the poster I liked the font I used and I liked the images as well the fact that it was black and white and the whole thing shows that it is a dark movie. Dvd cover was exceptional, I liked the images I used and the dark theme of it, and with the trailer I liked how it showed the story, the music, and the transitions.
Making direct comparisons to “officially designed” media products, explain what could be improved about the design of your Poster and DVD Cover as well as your completed Film Trailer.
The poster with the hands (minus Dan’s head) that I originally and instantly came up with came from the 1993 film, Schindler’s List. I liked the idea of the hands reaching from one corner of the poster to the other indicating that the higher will keep them safe and protect them, and I liked the idea that it was black and white. The DVD cover’s idea came from the film, Drag Me to Hell, because the main character is at the front and on my one Tyras’s face has a shocked expression upon it, and on the trailer it was supposed to be in comparison with the film, The Woman In Black. The idea was that it has an eerie theme at the start with the music, and then seconds later I added an upbeat type of music to it to make it say, “Right, now it gets serious.” The things that I would change about the DVD cover is that I would have made Tyras’s face have a lot more shock and feeling towards it and a lot more bigger to have more of a reaction from the public who are going to be viewing it. Like on the Drag Me to Hell cover it was a lot more dramatic because of the flames in the background and her screaming, and compared to mine it shows that the film is a horror genre, and what I could’ve done was add more effects in the background such as flames or add some interesting uses of brushes around Tyras which would succeed it into thinking that its a horror mystery type of film. The strengths I have in my DVD front cover however is my style that I used on my title, “Labradorescence” and making some of the text red which indicates blood, and white which indicates life and hope. My weaknesses of my poster is that my text of the date which shows when its coming out should’ve been a bit more into the centre and I do wish now looking at it that the text was more brighter for the public to see and also I should just get rid of Tyras’s name at the top of the Labradorescence title compared to the Schindler’s List title it has no main character’s actor upon it, instead the Schindler’s List one says (in small font), “A film by Steven Spielberg”, and that should’ve been an idea of what I should’ve included in my poster by saying, ” A Film by Josh Thomas”. Dan’s eyes on his head could’ve been done better because the red eyes wasn’t done as I’d like it to be. I couldn’t make the eyes just be red instead I made the hinge on the right eye socket red. My strength of the poster however, is that it shows that its a horror poster because of the colour white which I used on the black cover and the font style (Needlefingers Creepy) as well as Dan’s head in the corner of the poster in which he has red eyes that make it show he is the villain and the film is somewhat about him. My trailer’s weak points are that the trailer overall could’ve been better. It could’ve had much more clips and only one better style of music instead of two different pieces of it. Like for instance in the Woman in Black trailer it mixes sound effects such as the clockwork ticking, the wind whistling outside, and with a voiceover as well. For me that would’ve been the best inspiration. The trailer should’ve featured more clips of Dan but there were none that were made, I should’ve used less or no transitions in the trailer and after the text, and also I should’ve had some clips that contained dialogue in them and have sound from the actors in my trailer, also less text. The strengths of my trailer are that the music has a slow eerie and then a dramatic climax to it. It has a lot of shots of the necklace and mentions of the necklace as its part of the story and is relevant to the film.
My Original Idea and its comparison
My Original Poster Idea and its comparison
My idea comparison came from
Who is your audience?
Film Title: Labradorescence
Genre: Horror
Socio economic status – Their Socioeconomic status is lower class (C2DE) and the reason is because higher class people would not be associated with gore and blood and darkness, they would be more associated with films such as “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” and “Love Actually”, the more British films that are targeted for the much higher class older people with more wisdom who are into romantic comedies . Lower class people have more of an option when it comes to deciding what to watch at cinema such as “Paranormal Activity” and “Iron Man 3”. Your typical audience member can be both aimed at men or women as it is a genre which has both genders are surprised and interested at the story that is being told. They are films that can play on an audiences fears and act with their emotion. They can be spooky, chilling, bloody, gothic, or natural, plus many more. Labradorescence is a gothic type of movie with much of a mystery in it, and I would say that it is to be aimed more specifically in the teenage market because they have great first impressions when it comes to watching a horror movie for the first time.
Upper/higher class movies – Love Actually
One of the main big British films that few people talk about is the 2003 Richard Curtis rom-com Love Actually. The reason why I think it is mostly popular with the upper class audience is because of its large ensemble which has actors such as Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley, Emma Thompson and Rowan Atkinson. These actors are famous because they have been huge hollywood films such as The Remains of the Day, (Emma Thompson), Four Weddings and a Funeral (Rowan Atkinson) Notting Hill, Pretty Woman (Hugh Grant). And the director, Richard Curtis, possibly chose these actors because of their magnificent portrayals of the characters they play, and when they put all their talents in a large ensemble for a film with a much different type of plot of a film that takes place five weeks before Christmas about love.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Another film that is appropriate for British audiences is The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel which also has a recognizable cast which includes Dame Judi Dench (James Bond Series), Bill Nighy (Harry Potter series, and also Love Actually), Maggie Smith (The Pride of Miss Jean Brodie), and Dev Patel (who featured as the main character in the Danny Boyle Academy winner Slumdog Millionaire). The cinematography of the film and the costumes that were designed for the characters and the dialogue that was used by them also tells you instantly that the film is a British film, as well as the actors themselves. This film was also nominated for a BAFTA award for Outstanding British Film, as well as Best Director, Best Actress for Dame Judi Dench, Best Supporting Actor for Tom Wilkinson, and Best Supporting Actress for Maggie Smith. I would say about 60 % of woman would watch this film and 40% of men would watch it as well, because the main character being Dame Judi Dench is a woman and mostly woman will relate to her character better than men would, and if the main character was a man then the story of the film would be completely different and men would have a clear understanding of the story of the characters.
Lower class class movies
Marvel’s Iron Man has developed a huge number of superhero comics such as Superman, Spider-man, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, and Iron Man. All these films have been adapted into film and have achieved substantial amount of money in the box office worldwide. All these films are favored by teenagers and a lot of the adult audience. The reason why it is so popular with audiences worldwide is because of the action sequences and the character developments. Most teenagers often read books and comics of superheroes, and Iron Man is not an exception. Upper class audiences would not relate to this film because of the many action sequences they find in the film, and also they will find the storyline slightly complicated and will probably have no recollection of the characters names and what their purpose is. Plus they are possibly not interested in comic book heroes as well as the films themselves.
Paranormal Activity
Paranormal Activity is one of the biggest horror franchises there is. It has already made four movies grossing just over 7 hundred million dollars on the worldwide box office. The film is more set to the lower class audience because of the many shocks and horror the film gives them. It features demons, ghosts, and terrifying activity between two characters. It is not probably suitable for the higher class because of this and they would prefer to see something realistic and not based around a make believe story. The poster features a camera vision of the two main characters on the first movie, Katie and Micah, and the slogan on the poster is, “What happens when you sleep?” and “Don’t see it alone” with the title “Paranormal Activity” in the colour red, and the whole poster dark. Older and more upper class audiences would not be keen to see horror films such as thus and would more likely to see real life stories or love films that are not deemed to be cheesy.
Age
The age of the audience is quite important when it comes to making a film. Its exceptional that every different age type has a specific film in which they like to view in the cinema. Little children perhaps might like to see a more magical, kiddish type of movie such as Toy Story or Hugo. They love adventure films which have a meaning towards them. They enjoy watching the development of the characters which they see. Parents who take their children to see family films often enjoy watching them as well as their children whether its Peter Pan or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory these are the films they should be watching because of the moderate humour and no violence or anything inappropriate to the child audience. Eighteen year olds on the other hand would want to see movies which are based around hardcore violence, blood, discrimination, sex, and scenes with nudity. Their type of films would probably be something like Pulp Fiction or The Exorcist, which both contain scenes of bloody violence, horror, and unexpected actions. They love the incredible action sequences and also the profanity and vulgar language in which they use in the film. They don’t really care about what the critics say about them because the people watching them are looking for profanity and humor. Because of the less moderate scenes of the murder and self-harming than the Exorcist, Labradorescence is a film I would say that is more suitable between the ages of 15 years – 35 years even though there are no sex scenes in it or hard drug use. There are scenes which the child audience I suggest would be less approving to them and more suitable to the audience who have previously viewed horror movies and enjoy them rather than minors who either view the first time alone or with their parents.
Gender
There are different films and different genres to which a specific audience is the film makers target. They can be either men or they can be woman, and they both have a film on which they like to see. Preferably men would like to see things blow up or people shot down by guns, for this instance then men would like to see action films. Their more favorite films would be stuff like Die Hard, Fast and Furious, or The Expendables. Not only do they like stuff exploding stuff on screen but the actors who play the main characters have been given good criticism from the public as well. Such as Bruce Willis, Jason Statham, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Not only do men like seeing them on screen but few women enjoy seeing action films and are bound to enjoy watching the actors. Now what women have in their cinema and what they like to see are often smitten with Rom-coms such as Twilight or real life biopics such as Erin Brockovich. These are the ones more suitable for the female audiences because again the main characters are played by women and they have a major role in what they play. Plus women watch a lot of movies about love and drama and family, they like films that don’t have anything too unexpected in it. Twilight being one of the biggest teen blockbuster films there is has a huge audience from teenage girls not only because of the main character but because of the two male supporting characters played by Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner. Erin Brockovich is a biopic of real woman played by Julia Roberts, and she is an actress in which the audience would like to see. Labradorescence is more made for men than woman though it could be for both. This is because of the profanity, actions, and the horror being portrayed by the characters in the film. Men often like killing, death, profanity, and a shocking climax to the end much more than women who would rather watch a romantic comedy or something that doesn’t include distressful scenes of intensity.
Ethnicity
There are quite a substantial amount of films that have a certain audience it is based to. Whether its for the British audience, the French, or African audience. British filmmakers often make British films or they can make other ethnic films like Danny Boyle made Slumdog Millionaire which has an Indian cast and is based in Mumbai and available in two different languages: English and Hindi. Michel Hazanavicius, also better known as the director of the 2011 silent film, The Artist, is a French director. and has made the film in France and has a french cast, but has been a critical success in the United States and United Kingdom. The US also make films that are based in Africa, or anywhere else such as Hotel Rwanda and The Color Purple. These films have a majority of an African-American cast and they tell a story of what it was like back then in time. Since it is set in the United Kingdom, Labradorescence I say would be suitable for both races: white and black. This is because there is more than one race in the film; for example, the actor who plays Uncle Grant is white as well as the devil and the actors who play the brothers are black, so this shows that there is more than one race in the film thus making it available to anyone.
Sexuality
Although a majority of films have straight people as the main cast there are films that are aimed at people who are gay, lesbian, or bi. There have been times where in movies straight actors play gay characters such as the 2005 film Brokeback Mountain, the 1999 film Boys Don’t Cry, and a recent film, The Kids Are All Right. Some films including chick-flicks can also be aimed at gay men because of the influences of the female actors in the film and the importance of the characters in which they fall in love with. Its slightly known that lesbians often like films that are dark like Monster, or The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, rather than soppy rom-coms. But everywhere there has been a film fitted for everyone from any sexuality. Labradorescence is a dark, horror, which has no soppy storyline or any scenes where they sugarcoat the characters. It does not feature any characters that are gay, or bi, and does not feature any women in it. There are no sex scenes, romance scenes either moderate or strong, its just a drama film with loads of gruesome deaths and mystery which would be more suitable for straight than it is for gay, lesbian, or bisexual.
Geodemographic Location – There are films that are made over the world not just in the UK and the USA. Some directors travel to the end of the earth in order to create a setting for their film such as the director of the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Mark Herman, travel to Hungary to film the concentration camps and the life of the Jews and what and how the Nazi’s have took their dignity away from them. In some times American producers, actors, directors and the crew had to travel to the UK to start shooting. Like, for example, in 2012 Tom Hooper had to travel there to film Les Miserables. This is because the whole story is set in France but they had to find a place where they can recreate the whole production design of the streets, the factory, and the houses and hospitals. Especially with another example on location the Lord of the Rings had to travel to New Zealand to recreate Middle-earth and other locations in it which include the Shire, Gondor, Moordoor, and Rohan. The place where we are filming is in Northampton at Tyras’s house. The reason why we are filming in a house is because the movie is set in a house where there is a load of the paranormal happening. Its a horror movie so the places inside the house where we are filming is the living room, outside the house and the basement. The basement is where a majority of the paranormal is happening i.e. the killings. Also the house is where the fictional family live and this is where Trevor’s uncle is handing the necklace to him after coming back depressed from a party.
Certification
The BBFC is the British Board of Film Classification and was first founded in 1912 but began operating in 1913. Its headquarters are based in London, United Kingdom. Their job is to bring all the new releases of film into the board and clarify the ratings for them. They rate the films in the well-being of their nature. The BBFC have underlining rules of what in cinemas is required specific certification. Whether these films include specific areas such as moderate scenes of violence, sex, discrimination, race, gender, poverty, blood/gore, vulgar slang or language, or physical or mental disability. The reason they have this rule is to show the viewing public on the poster who should see the film so if a family want to see a film they don’t accidentally go into a horror movie which contains lots of blood, they want to see a movie with the clarification rating U. Also on the DVDs they have rating on the bottom right hand corner and on the back at the bottom have why its recommended for thus. So if on the front cover it says its available for someone over the age of 18, then they read the back of the cover and read why its suitable for them, and they would read off, “Huge Violence, Blood, Language, and Heavy drug use”. The BBFC have seven certificated ratings for film and also video games, they are;
- U – U for universal
- PG – Parental Guidance is needed
- 12 or 12A – Not recommended for children under 12
- 15 – Not recommended for children under 15
- 18 – Not recommended for non-adults and must have either license, passport or identification (ID) for proof of age
- R18 – Is highly restricted for people age 18 and can only be found in adult cinemas or violent video games with blood and gore and hardcore violence .
Films that have been rated under the BBFC
Spy Kids
Spy Kids, a 2001 film, is a film more related to the audience of children. The reason being because of its main characters they are children around ten and eleven years of age, and they are the main focus of the film. Plus as well its has moderate action sequences but none to gruesome that it contains too much killing, blood, swearing, or anything that seemed to be inappropriate to children. There is no sexual references or scenes and more humor and comedy there is to the film. The BBFC thought that this is a family film so it can be viewed by everybody.
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is a very well highly active action movie, and its rated as a 12. This is because of the many partly violent action sequences that are conducted in the film, including unrealistic scenes like one of the main characters kicking another female character out of the Burj Khalifa building in Dubai, and falling from a high storage car park in a car. There is also a small part of a moderate love scene, and a some moderate language such as words like damn, hell, or ass. Also included extraordinary stunts like climbing the Burj Khalifa building, jumping over a huge, hot computer fan, and a car chase in the blinding sand over the air. Because of all this the BBFC have deemed this inappropriate for the viewing public to be below the age of 12.
American Pie Series
American Pie is possibly one of the best examples on why it should be rated as a 15. There are four original installments of the film with the same original characters. The BBFC has classed the film as a fifteen and this is because of the huge sexual references and language each of the characters use and the strong scenes of nudity and huge usage of vulgar language which include the f-word and the c-word. The characters also do some humorous but ridiculous things such as one of the characters (Michelle) claiming that she stuck her flute up inside her, and other characters in the film (Finch and Stiffler) having intimate relation with each other’s mothers. There is no gang related activity here are no scenes whatsoever that contain blood, horror, or deep violence with killing. Because of all this there is no reason why this should be appropriate to minors.
Inglorious Basterds
Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds has gained a lot of critical success, however the BBFC has rated it an 18 film, meaning it s only classified to adults. This is because of the huge propaganda in the movie as it has minor use of the f-word but loads of bloody battle and violence. There are a couple of scenes in the movie that have so much blood and destruction, for example there is one scene where one of the basterds hits one of the Nazi’s head with a baseball bat, and also one where the theatre in the film is blown up and all the Nazi’s including Hitler are striked down by guns and bullets and time bombs. Also there is a scene near the start and end where the main character played by Brad Pitt is killing and then descalping the Nazi’s, and some of the ones he keeps alive he engraves the swastika symbol on their forehead to show everyone that he who wears it is a Nazi. There is also physical violence in which the character played by Christoph Waltz strangles the character played by Diane Kruger, and near the beginning of the film orders three of his men to kill the daughters of the man he was interrogating killing two out of three of them when the one remaining escapes.
The certification for our film, ‘Labradorescence’
Our film, Labradorescence, is not made for everyone as it’s a horror film which contain moderate, but not critical scenes of self-harming. It also contains swearing and scenes which shouldn’t be viewed for children. Although there are no sex scenes or shooting, there are scenes of depressions and the actions towards. Like, for instance when the character Trevor comes back from a party depressed and later goes on and slashes himself with a knife. There are no scenes of lightheartedness such as hugging or kissing, but there are uncomfortable scenes where all three of the characters end up killing themselves whilst there is atmosphere of paranormal around the house. This film is rated fifteen because they reckon that this audience would be able to handle the tragedy of the film whereas children would experience things which they shouldn’t such as blood, murder, and death, which would create in their minds that this is appropriate to life. The reference to this film is like the 1973 film, The Exorcist, which doesn’t contain any nudity, sex scenes, but it does contain scenes of vulgar language and distressful scenes of gore and violence, much more than Labradorescence which contain moderate features of blood. There are scenes in the Exorcist which contains scenes such as self harming, profanity, and discomfort to viewers of this film. Therefore the film rating given from the BBFC for Labradorescence would be a fifteen because it is not crucially uncomfortable like the Exorcist but the moderate scenes of violence, knives, and killings are not to be viewed to people of a young age. It’s more type of Paranormal Activity than it is the Exorcist.
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