Evaluation Question 4 - How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I used Emaze again to present the fourth evaluation question.

Evaluation Question 3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

For the third evaluation question I made a Prezi to present my response.

Evaluation Question 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

For the second evaluation question I chose to make a presentation and share it on Sideshare.

Evaluation question 2 from Rory Hayden

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

For my first evaluation question I have chosen to create an Emaze presentation.

Film Poster - Badge of Dishonour

As part of the promotional package of every movie, there is a poster made which is often displayed in cinemas, billboards, magazines and online. Therefore for our film I must do the same in order to increase hype and advertise our movie. As you can see below I have continued with the grey scale theme that was published in the EMPIRE magazine. The film credits are displayed at the bottom so that bypasses can see who directed the film and see if there are any actors they recognise playing a character in the movie. The original background was a view of the scenery nearby the location that our film was filmed in. I decided to change this background because I didn't feel it was relevant to the story or theme and replaced it with a sketchy grey background that delivers a street feel. This colour scheme with the background also makes the poster stand out more to the public.

Film Poster Photoshoot

After making the magazine I did another photo shoot for the poster. In this I wanted to achieve more of a full body shot that introduced the character. I chose a location in the countryside near where the film was filmed with a nice view. This represents the character looking over the land that he cares for.

I decided to use this photo because there was no trees directly in the way and his body posture did not look too hostile as in he was the bad guy.

EMPIRE Magazine Front Cover - Badge of Dishonour

After analysing magazine covers including the magazine 'EMPIRE' I was prepared to create my own version of an 'EMPIRE' magazine cover that featured our film 'Badge of Dishonour'.  I used software on our school computers called Serif PagePlus to create the magazine and edit the photo. I cropped the photo I choose to use from my photo shoot to a close up of the detectives upper body with the gun prominent and the main focus in the shot. I choose to make the photo grey scale with an increased exposure and contrast. The cover models head overlaps the masthead which is a common convention in all magazine genres. I chose to have the tradition red EMPIRE masthead because it acts as a good secondary colour for the whole magazine as it contrasts with the grey background. The Badge of Dishonour logo is pinned across the centre and onto the cover model so that users relate it to the cover photo. The red puff in the bottom left overlaps the 'Badge of Dishonour' logo slightly so that it has a sticker effect. The rest of the text on the cover is fairly minimal because is is how the recent articles of EMPIRE have been in recent months.

Magazine PhotoShoot

After researching magazine covers it was time to start planning my own. I choose to use the main character of our film for he cover photo. I wanted a shot of him holding the gun and pointing it towards the camera as it would look as if hes pointing it at the reader and attract them. The best of the photos I took are below.

The location of the photo shoot wasn't too important as long as there was good lighting. This is because I plan to crop down to a more focused shot of the gun and top of the models body. As you can see I took a range of photos from different angles all with the same idea of the gun facing the camera.

I have chosen to use the photo below because it will fit best onto an A4 sized template after cropping it down. it fits bets because both the head and gun are near each other and do not take up much of the photo so there will be room to add text around it. As well as this the camera is just below eye level so the camera isn't looking up at the model like in the other photos. This is important for an empire magazine this is the style most of their photos follow. Furthermore, there is no shadow blocking the face in this photo unlike some of the others. Finally, the gun is upright and facing in the camera direction better than some of the others.

Magazine Front Cover Research

As part of the distribution stage of making a film, you need to advertise so that the film gets publicity. This includes magazines doing articles on your movie. In this case I am going to design a front cover for the magazine named 'EMPIRE'. Before I can do this I must do research into the conventions and typical design methods of magazine front covers. To start with I have analysed two magazines from different genres which are below.

Below is the next analysis of an EMPIRE film magazine (using Emaze) which directly relates to my magazine as I will be imitating an EMPIRE magazine.

Final Trailer Audience Feedback

To get feedback on our trailer we asked a group of three girls and three boys to watch our trailer on a large screen and then asked them a series of questions to see what they thought of it.



The feedback on a whole couldn't be much better with the trailer making the movie appealing to the right audience. We had targeted for a young male interest in the movie which is most we have achieved in most cases although there were some odd answers like the one girl who said they think it would be targeted at middle aged men. I think we can safely ignore this comment due to the other girls saying that they think the movie is targeted at young males. Two of the girls said that they would not be too interested in the movie but one did say that they would watch it which shows that it appeals to some women which was an aim of ours. By some saying they can not think of anything to improve it is a sign that our trailer has ultimately been a success.

Social media is a brilliant way to reach people far away to gain more feedback from other sources.  I sent the same message using the app 'Snapchat' to three people I know but don't see often, who are in their 20s.



















This feedback was easy to acquire through using social media and helps to show that our trailer is approved by people of many ages. The feedback is all good with even a few pointers for improvements. Milo Hughes said that he thinks there should be more blood which is a fair enough point but we can't have too much in order to keep to our age rating ....... Peter Price said they would change the font of the endorsement but this is a small issue which could be changed if we were to do it again but for now I think it looks professional.

The Editing Process

Once we gained enough footage, we made a start on making our film trailer as a group. We all had similar experience in using iMovie so we worked on the trailer together so we could all input our ideas together and learn together. We got the hang of it pretty soon because we made a short practice movie last year. below is a short video containing the footage of us editing part of the trailer. The hardware we used to edit was either a mac computer or a macbook; both had imovie software installed which allowed us to edit.

Final Film Trailer

Now that we have finished our trailer for the movie 'Badge of Dishonour' I have uploaded it to YouTube. We will continue to gain final feedback on the trailer in later posts.

Film Title / Logo

I designed our movie logo on Serif PagePlus using a font I downloaded called Fugaz One. Initially we had planned for our logo to be in some sort of detective badge but everything I tried looked a bit silly. When making this logo I was going for an action film kind of design while relating it to the police hence the navy colour. As you can see below I have also made a black coloured version because I am undecided about which one to use as the black also looks good. The gun symbol represents the films story and adds a nice finish to the text. My group and myself think the logo in either colour suits our movie well and will be using for our film trailer and distribution advertisement.

First Draft Audience feedback

In order to continue filming and producing the trailer we need to get feedback on what we have done so far. This will help us be guided in the right direction and enable us to amend our work so far according to the response from our target audience.



The first person said that the background noises at the start during the phone call were too much. we plan to change it to either silent or have quiet suspense sound effects. She also commented on how we spent an unnecessary amount of time of the detective on the toilet so we will cut out the last part where he pulls his trousers up. We have filmed some flashback clips which have been placed at the end of this draft. We have not yet edited them but we will make them a main part of the trailer and possibly open up the trailer. The third person pointed out how we had not added any British certification at the start or added any credits to the end. He also pointed out that the car scenes in the montage were a bit too long and not fast paced enough so we will look into cutting them down. The fourth person pointed out how we don't really have any act 2 yet so the middle section of the trailer is missing as at the moment it cuts from the opening to the end montage.

Early Film Trailer Footage / First Draft

After planning the sets and story we started filming some scenes to be used in our trailer. We have made a start on our trailer using the scenes we have as foundations to build the rest of our trailer around. Follow the link below to watch the first draft!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOjUcC6LYnc

Film Exhibition Research

Exhibition is the retail branch of the film industry which is usually located in movie theatres. This stage is at the end of the process after the film has been produced and distributed. The makers of the films earn the money back through paying customers in the movie theatre or when the film gets released as a DVD in shops. The exhibitor is the company who owns the movie theatre and therefore sells the experience to customers while providing the option of concessions like soft drinks and popcorn.

There has been a significant development in non-theatrical film exhibition in recent years due to advancements in internet technology. Home exhibition has been an option ever since the 1920s when portable 16mm equipment came to the market. However, it was not until the late 1980s that the home became a major site for film exhibition which was reinforced by digital ciema. A few years ago, to home view a film you would most likely buy a DVD and fifteen years ago you would be buying videocassettes. Now DVDs are being purchased far less than before and the main method of home viewing is through online services. These applications and services are available on many devices such as a mobile phone or a smart TV.

In the early years of cinema films were all silent; by the 1920s some grand cinemas had an orchestra. Fully synchronised sound arrived in the late 1920s which made cinema very popular. By the 1930s half the population of Britain went to cinema at least once a week. By 1939 there are 5500 cinemas in Britain and by 1946 cinema attendance in Britain was the highest to this day. Television sets in homes soon ruined the cinema craze when the amount in Britain rose from 15,000 sets in 1945 to 11 million in 1961. This caused cinema admissions to fall by 75%; cinema admissions did not change much until the 80s.

In 1985 cinema had its lowest point where less than 1000 cinemas were open in Britain. This was mainly due to the introduction of video hire. In the late 1980s cinema admissions started to improve with the rise of 'multiplex' cinemas. These were larger sites based out of town that could be accessed by car. The difference being that there were a huge choice of films with up to twelve different screens, and there was an improvement in technology as they had surround sound, digital film and the choice of 3D. These new technology improvements justified the raised price per a ticket.

Chief Inspector Auditions

In order to find an actor with the right characteristics for our character of the Chief Inspector, we auditioned a number of young people.




We chose Rob Miles as the chief inspector because his acting stood out amongst the others and his appearance suits the part.

Young Detective Auditions

In order to find an actor with the right characteristics for our character of the young detective, we auditioned a number of young people.



We chose Ben Hafford as the young detective because his acting stood out amongst the others and his appearance suits the part.

Selection: Location, Stars, Props, Costumes

Below is a Prezi I have made to present my plot decisions.

NEW MOVIE PLOT

The original plot of the movie would be that a few young adult woman had been murdered all of the same cause within a few days of another. This would then lead to the investigation which uncovers that people within the police force were involved. Unfortunately we came to the realisation that on our tight budget we cannot afford to get some girls to allow us to pour blood over them and play dead on the ground. Therefore, we decided to stop wasting time and changed the plot!

Unlike the girls, the boys we asked were much more willing so the new plot is that the victims are male. Throughout the investigation it would be unravelled that these three boys that were murdered all bullied the chief inspectors daughter before she went down a bad path. The trailer will play out very similar to how it was planned before but the victims will be different.

Film Distribution

Film distribution from Rory Hayden

The Da Vinci Code Trailer Analysis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjRPTyazKds

Media Language/ Mise en Scene 

• The colours are very dominant e.g. Dark blues, deep glowing reds, greys and silvers.
• The trailer opens with light choral music in the background and the whispers of a man saying a confession.
• Short montage of the iconic Parisian building, the Louvre.
• Pan shots of historical buildings.
• Rapid editing that builds up tension and mystery through clips like the monk in the black hood.
• High quality marble flooring with rooms full of ancient paintings because a large majority of the film takes place in large historic buildings.
• Many of the historic buildings are mansions which suggests wealth and luxury from the families.
• High angle shot looking down on Tom Hanks' character as he looks up in shock and confusion.
• Eye shot of the mutilated corpse of old man, lit up by candles.
• Low angle shot of the cloaked monk holding a crucifix.
• Some iconic items are repeatedly shown like the crucifix which connotes us the idea that the movie is heavily based around religion. Or another example is the paintings which I feel hint intellect and even manipulation. The stained glass windows symbolise ancient art, funerals, long-dead people, and mystery.

Institution

• Hollywood film set in Paris
• Famous Hollywood director Ron Howard
• Imagine Entertainment fades in at the start of the trailer
• Casting of Tom Hanks as the main character gives the film immediate credibility due to his respect throughout Hollywood due to his previous mainstream blockbuster hits.

Genre

• Trailer demonstrates Hybridisation as it conveys conventions of several genres.
• Historical film because of the shots inside key art museums.
• Action film due to shots of a car reversing up a road and the explosions.
• Crime because of the reveal of secrets that have been kept secret for years.
• Romance as there is a possible relationship between Tautous's character and Hank's.
• Thriller as there are shots of pursuit by a villain and the murder of several victims.

Representation

• Representation of men as powerful and dominant due to the males dominating the screen time and the action shots.
• The male is shown as the protector when protecting Tautou.
• Representation of woman is limited although ultimately positive as she is seen doing active roles such as searching with a torch.
• Orthodox religion as a corrupt power and influence that is capable of keeping important secrets and manipulating people.
• Negative representation of religion as a cloaked monk believes he must self- flagellate and murder as a payment to god.
• The monk also has a physical defect which adds to the characters horror and connotes the monk as some sort of powerful monster
• Hank's character is a prolific lecturer and writer and Tautou's character is a high profile investigator

Audience

• Tries to appeal more to the intellectual viewer; choral, orchestral music, history, philosophies of religion.
• The trailer promises to reveal the solutions to important/life changing secrets which fulfils the audience for surveillance as the audience want to know the truth and understand.
• Special effects in car chases and explosions to satisfy modern appetite for believable action.

Ideologies/ Media values

• Upper class intellectuals are more interested in history and culture than lower class individuals.
• Men as protectors.
• Violence and crime as prevalent in western society.
• Those with religious beliefs are more likely to be obsessional or mentally ill; which is shown throughout as the monk is clearly committing crime.
• That God does either not exist or is unable to practically help anyone through prayer as we see a man at the start praying to God for help and then later on we see his mutilated corpse. This connotes unanswered prayers and false/pointless beliefs.

Narrative

• Voice-over opens story; the greatest secret ever will be revealed and there are secrets hidden in the art of the Louvre and people will die as a result.
• "The greatest cover-up in human history is about to be revealed."
• Structured mini- narrative featuring several hooks to grab audience attention
• Classical Hollywood narrative structure where two characters are involved in a fight against a corrupt institution and must overcome obstacles to reach their goal.