Evaluation – Why is audience feedback important in the media?

I carried out multiple questionnaires for my poster. The reason I done this is to make sure that it up to a good level of quality. Audience feed back will point out the strengths and weaknesses of a product, and gives me the opportunity to make improvements. One question that I had asked people was what genre they think the short film is based on the poster. The people I asked mainly consisted of family members who did not watch my short film. This was done to eliminate any bias which would influence  the answer. The data that I had obtained showed that 15 out of the 24 people I had asked believed that my short film was of the comedy drama, and 8 of the 24 people asked believed that it was of the drama genre. Although the majority of the people I had asked answered correctly, a fairly big proportion believed it was of the wrong genre. However, many comedy films have elements of drama in it. Therefore it can be acceptable for a poster to contain elements of a drama film. If I could redo this task, I would add more comedic features to my poster to draw in higher numbers of fans of the genre. I had produced a graph to outline my findings in a clearer way.

One issue that was raised about my film poster was the fact the background image was a screenshot of a Facebook profile. A problem that could of risen from this is that audiences may believe that it is an advert for the social networking website rather than a poster. For this reason, a section of my questionnaire asked audiences if the poster looked more like an advert for Facebook rather than a film poster. If my feedback showed that most of the people that took part in my questionnaire believe that it was an advert for Facebook, I would have redrafted my work and design another poster. Failed marketing plans are very damaging to an organization as the costs cannot be recovered and it will affect sales. This is known as sunk costs.

Posters, reviews and trailers are all part of a marketing plan. It is important to be productive and get the best reception possible. A  failed marketing plan acts as a sunk cost as the money put into research and design cannot be recovered. Posters make a film companies money as they raise awareness of the film. The people that know that the film exists, the higher the ticket sales will be. Posters can be found in many places such as magazines, bus stops, newspapers and in the form of billboards placed on the side of buildings. Film reviews inform the public of the content of a film and the quality of it. It influences a persons decision whether or not the should spend their hard earned money on watch a film. Rating systems offer a quick insight into the quality of a film.

Research is important before one decides to make a product. For example, a film producer may decide to make a big budget action film, such as Terminator because it has a large audience that mainly consists of men. Higher ticket sales lead to greater profits. However, action films are costly to make and this needs to be taken into account. Issues will be raised about how the finance will be obtained and the end profit once costs and taxes has been deducted from revenue. Research also finds out what the audience wants. In the end, the consumer will judge the film based on posters and reviews. Finding out the audiences interest will gain higher sales. One film will effect the long term view of a director and production company. For example, James Cameron was a success from making the Terminator trilogy, and the audience were familiar of his work and is one of the reasons why his Avatar is the highest grossing film of all time. Therefore it is important to look at the long term effects before making a film.

Focus groups are group of individuals that fit the characteristics of your audience and acts as a form of sampling. One issue here is that the focus group, in this case my class, was not truly refelctive and representative of my audience. The group may have been too small and audiences outside of my class may disagree with the views from those who are in my class. Focus groups can be made to get feedback from a poster, trailer and a review. The feedback can be used to eliminate or minimize weaknesses. For example, if a poster is too vague in terms of how it tells the genre and storyline, it may be redesigned to make the genre and storyline slightly more appealing and easier to understand. This helps tailor the product to a specific audience.

Feedback can be found in many forms of media. Questionnaires are usually carried out by the production company to ensure films are up to a good standard. The production company works with the distribution company to make a marketing strategy. Marketing strategies involve advertising and feedback can be gained from focus groups that give their view on products. Film review analysts such as Little White Lies , Empire and various newspapers offer the public ratings and detailed reviews of films. This is done to inform the pubic of what the film is like and if it is worth a ticket price. Social networking sites also have official pages and accounts of a film. Viewers and potential viewers can voice their opinions by contacting the accounts through messages (Facebook) and tweets (twitter).  

I gained feedback in many ways. I had designed questionnaires and took the data into account when making corrections. The class as a whole also carried out peer assessments. This when my short film was screened in front of the whole class, and the students voiced the opinions and suggested ways in which it can be improved. The class recommended that my short film had very funny scenes, but could have used more dialogue. However, but this time it was too late to film again. Overall, my group and I were praised for our work and the audience enjoyed what they had seen. However, it can be argued that this is biased because the members of my class are friends and they know the actors and actresses.

I received feedback from my film review and this was very helpful. I had made several drafts for it which was read and assessed by members of staff. This gave me the opportunity to put forward the best work I can produce. It was crucial for me to get this bit perfect as it had to resemble the work of Little White Lies, and this is hard because they film review organization uses complex language, beyond my usual ability. However, my review is a strong piece of work that uses very good language and looks almost identical to the professional work carried out by Little White Lies.

Evaluation – How did you use new media technology in the construction & research, planning and evaluation?

New technology refers to the newest products and capital equipment. For example, electric cars are more cost and environmentally efficient that cars than run on fuel. New technology can also be found in the media industry. Examples are new technology is:

• DVD to Blue Ray
• Computers to lap tops and tablets
• Mobile phones to smart phones
• Analogue to Digital

 

Technological advances have changed to operations in media production, distribution and exhibition. The production stage has become a lot easier to run. Cameras are now lighter and can move a lot easier. The movement of the camera gives cameramen opportunities to shoot different from different angles and distances. This will make the product more appealing to consumers. The availability of advanced editing software can add special effects to films. Editing software can produce images that cannot be physically made in real life. For example, James Cameron had made the plot of Avatar, 20 years prior of its release. However, he could not make it due to the poor level of technology at the time, and he waited until it had been invented. It is also cheaper to make films. Film producers can buy cameras, computers and equipment easier and cheaper in comparison to the past. It has also made it cheaper for those who are not in the film industry, as everyone can buy cameras, edit their footage and upload it onto the internet on websites such as YouTube. Individuals can also publish their findings onto the internet on websites such as Sky News and social networking websites.

 

The distribution of media has also been made more efficient from technological advances. Film distributes can send their products in many ways. Film rolls sent to the cinema are now smaller and cheaper to make, as well as being less prone to damage. Films can now be viewed on DVD’s and Blue Rays. These products shower films at a higher quality. However, technological advances have also been misused. Films can be illegally uploaded to websites for people downloaded, on websites such as Pirate Bay. This is a cheaper and more convenient alternative to people who wish to watch a film, or download music. Films can also be purchased online and be put onto mobile phones. Apples app store and androids play store allow users to download films for a certain price. TV channels also let viewers watch their programme online or via their phone application e.g. BBC iPlayer and 4 on demand. Film popularity and awareness is heavily influenced by social networking. For example, a film fan may upload a link to the trailer of film to Facebook or Twitter to inform others that the film will be coming out soon. Therefore the consumer unintentionally carries out some of the marketing for film companies. This is known as the word of mouth.

 

The exhibition of media products have also changed. Viewers can watch films in 3D in the cinema and at home, provided they have a 3D TV or a projector that supports 3D images. 3D films look more realistic and provide audiences with a crisper image. Viewers can also watch films on website by playing a monthly subscription e.g. Love Film. Film companies provide many ways for consumers to obtain to their films so they can make the profit. This is more flexible and convenient for consumers.

Technology has changed the way in which people use media. This is because it is available in many different formats. For example, The Sun started off as a newspaper business, then expanded to online news and then to phone applications. Customers now have the option to search online or use the application for news. The way a person uses media will be based on their life style, for example, a person that does not have much free time may use their smart phones to read the news, rather than go to shop , buy a newspaper and look for  a news article that interests them. The phone application is more time efficient. Technology today has been made to suit the different needs of individuals, rather than groups of people.

Advantages to media producers:

• Lower unit costs, so the overall profit will be bigger
• Greater reach, so higher sales
• To stay competitive

Disadvantage to media producers

• People carry out piracy, which reduces profits for film companies
• Technology is always changing, and is very costly to keep on buying new equipment

Advantages to audiences

• Consumers have a greater choice of media products and devices to use them on
• Better quality products e.g. special effects and 3D effect in Avatar
• More convenient as films can be viewed on phones and computers as well as the cinema

Disadvantages to audience

• Technology changes very quickly and there is stigma attached to having an old model of a phone
• Very costly for consumers

It can be argued that Technology has made producers more creative, and less creative. For example, James Cameron’s Avatar is the highest grossing film of all time, and has been applauded for its use of CGI and innovation. No other film has made a product like this. However, a lot of the film was made using computer graphics and required less human effort. Whereas Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) was a very creative film that did not use GCI. It can be argued that the film industry has lost its originality.

I have used a lot of new technology in my short film, despite having a low budget. I used a handheld camera to capture the whole short film. The cameras allowed us to upload the footage onto the computer. Another piece of advanced technology was final cut pro, which is arguably the best editing software available to the public. This software provided us with more options and editing techniques than iMovie, which used to make my thriller opening as a part of my coursework.  I also used my smart phone to take images which were used in my film review and blogs. These images were of very high quality (12 mega pixels). Photoshop is another piece of editing software, which was used to make my film poster and my film review. Photoshop was crucial as no other software was available for me to make my film poster, and to make my Little White Lies style film review.

	Technology used	Development from AS
Research and planning	Short film examples obtained from YouTube. Internet was used to gather information about audience demographics and statistics.	Further information was needed before we made the short film, in comparison to the making of my thriller opening last year.
Construction   Short film             Poster/Review	Handheld camera was used to capture the footage and was assisted with a tripod. The footage was then uploaded to and edited on final cut pro which was the editing software on the Apple Mac computers.     The poster was made and edited on Photoshop. The review was also made and edited on Photoshop.	More footage was required to make this that last year’s production. Different software was also used and training was required to use it. This software is better as more techniques can be used to edit footage.     I already knew how to use Photoshop from past experience. However, I had to try new techniques but this was fairy straight forward.
Distribution             Evaluation	The short film was uploaded onto YouTube for people to watch and be assessed.         I carried out a survey to get feedback for my poster. The data was then used to make a graph on the latest edition of Microsoft Excel. The graph was then uploaded onto my blog and made everything easier to understand. The evaluation has been uploaded onto my blog for it to be assessed	My short film was uploaded onto a YouTube by a member of the staff. This was exactly the same process as last year’s production work.         I have made many graphs for my other subjects in the past. However, I did not use any graphs to plot data for last year’s work.

 

 

 

Evaluation – How effective is the combination of your main products on ancillary texts?

The Poster

There is a very strong relationship between my poster and the short film. The start of my short film reveals that Charlie has organised a date with Charlotte over Facebook. The poster is a screenshot of Charlie’s Facebook profile and shows a conversation between him and Charlotte. The poster itself tells the audience that the film is about a date which was set up from Facebook. This tells the audience that the film has a young theme to it as it involves the first stages of a relationship between a newly made couple.  My poster promotes the film in a unique way. Facebook has over one billion active users and those who see my poster will be familiar with it. It will draw the audience’s attention may lead to carrying out further research on Facebook and liking the official page. The page will be shared my Facebook users onto other users timelines. The poster has strong elements of social networking and may also spread rapidly to Twitter users. My poster acts as a marketing tool and viewers will carry out a lot of the marketing on my behalf through the word of mouth. This would keep costs low and make the whole project more profitable.

My poster focuses on the dating and social part of the film. Facebook is associated with young individuals and so is dating. This all links in together and is an effective way of targeting my primary audience who are teenagers. Many film posters show the main character and the center to attract fans of the actor/actress. For example, the I Am Legend poster shows Will Smith at the center of the poster with his name across the top. Charlie’s face is on my poster as the profile picture and his name is beside it. In my film review I made it look like as if Charlie is an experienced actor, so having him on my poster will attract fans of his previous work.

My poster does not necessarily convey a genre nor will the audience immediately know that it is a rom-com. However, elements of the poster do reveal some content of the film. For example, that conversation on the poster reveals that an date has been organised and the film will have themes of relationships and love. The poster clearly states who it is intended for. The profile picture is one of Charlie and a girl who are at a party. Younger people are more likely to relate to this and will have more of an interest than older people. Facebook is the most popular social networking website and its main age group is teenagers. Teenagers will be drawn into this as they are the pacemaker behind the social networking revolution.  The certificate also indicates that the film is aimed at teenagers. I had conducted a survey and the data suggests that my film poster is appropriate for a comedy film, as 15/24 people said that the poster looks likes it has been made for a comedy film. However, 8/24 said it looks like a drama film.

The film review

The film review was appropriate for my short film. My film review attempted to copy the style of Little White Lies, a British film review magazine. The magazine company reviews all types of films, and reviews a slightly larger number of British films than other companies. Little White Lies are known to be slightly harsh when rating films. I could have rated my short film 5/5 but it would be unrealistic, so my overall rating was 3/5. The review compared it to another rom-com, Some Like It Hot. This was a good addition to my review is it gives a clearer image of what the film is like and it will attract fans of the 1959 classic. The review promotes the film as it gives potential viewers and incentive to watch the film. The review is positive and encourages people to watch it. Higher audience’s numbers leads to higher profits.

The review does not reveal the whole plot, but gives hints to what it is about. It says how to couple have met and that Charlie went through a few problems on his way to meet his date. The twist of my short film is that Charlie’s date is a man, and I do not mention this in the film because it will reveal too much. However, I referred to Charlie as a ‘mans man’ and this raises questions about who he will actually meet. Like the real magazine, I used sophisticated language. However, it was not as complicated as other film reviews. This is because the film is aimed at teenagers, not grown middle aged adults. For example, the language used for the review of The Kings Speech would be hard to understand as the film is aimed and an older and more educated audience. The review itself gives the film positive feedback. However, the ratings box said that my film was not very well anticipated. This is common for the magazine to say and for the genre of the film. It is usually high budget Hollywood summer blockbusters that have the high anticipation ratings as they have larger audiences and carry out more advertising. For example, months before The Dark Knight Rises came out, huge posters were placed on buildings to keep audiences anticipated and build their interest.

All three of my media products (short film, poster and review) work together. They aim to target the correct audience and through the use of language and images. The review is positive and gives and incentive for people to watch it in the cinema, and the poster targets younger audiences as it is unique and they can relate to Facebook. Also, the short film has recent music as a part of its soundtrack which are popular with young audiences, such as ‘Gangnam Style’ and ‘Call Me Maybe’. Charlie Morgan is made to look like an experienced actor in the review, and an image of his face is present in both the review and the poster.

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

Short film

My short film had many similar conventions of a real Hollywood produced comedy film.  Many comedy films, particularly slapstick films such as Step Brothers, involve laughing at someone else’s expense. In my short film, Charlie got mugged by a girl. This was funny as his reaction was ‘oh my god!’ which was said in a comedic way and not in an aggressive or serious tone. The scene would be more serious and sympathetic if Charlie was badly hurt or emotionally damaged by it.

My short film is also similar to romance films. Many romance films introduce a comical misunderstanding or a mistaken identity situation. For example, Some Like It Hot (1959) shows a man, who falls in love with another man who dressed up as a women. Once he finds out that he is in fact a man, he then accepts it falls in love. In my short film, Charlie finds out his date was also a man, and accepts it. He looked passed the sexuality issues and the short film represents homosexuality in a positive way. My short film has elements of dominant western hegemony. These are common themes that are placed in films. My short film has a love story where are couple are still together after a shocking revelation where Charlie discovers his date is a man. Other examples of dominant western hegemony that are not present in my film are Justice and morals. My film is an example of a hybrid genre consisting of comedy and romance. Hybrid genres are growing at a fast rate as they appeal to larger audiences and are more profitable.  Examples of hybrid  genre films are Bad Boys (comedy and action), Scary Movie (comedy and horror) and Friends with benefits (comedy and romance).

 

Film review 

The review I made was very similar to one written by Little White Lies. I tried to copy the style of the film review magazine. The magazine uses sophisticated language as it aimed at a more educated audience, and tends to rate films harshly in comparison to other magazines such as Empire. I copied this style of writing and made it quirky and avoided giving it high ratings. I could of rated my short film 5/5 but the magazine rarely rates films this high and it would be unrealistic if I done so. The magazine always uses an image of a character from the film rather than a location and I used an image of Charlie. The layout of my review in terms of space, fonts and titles is identical to that of Little White Lies. The reason I done this is because I want my review to be as professional as possible. The sales for Little White Lies are growing because of the increasing fan base due to the high quality of the magazine.

 

Film poster

However, my film poster challenges the conventions of traditional film posters. My film poster is a Facebook profile of Charlie Morgan. No other film poster has used the background of a social networking site as a main frame. This may be due to permission difficulties or it may seem too risky as it will not appeal to everyone. My poster is very inventive as I reveal information to the audience in a way that is similar to the short film. For example, I replaced the Facebook profile cover picture with the title of the film. A status revealed information about the film such as the actors and release date. The ‘recent activity’ log showed ‘liked pages’ that were related to online dating. A Facebook conversation box showed a conversation between Charlotte and Charlie. This is similar to my short film as inventive titles were also used e.g. the film company’s name printed on a shower and a phone alarm titled as ‘Starring Charlie Morgan’. The reason I used a Facebook screenshot as the frame of my poster is because audiences will be drawn into it as it has never been done before. Facebook has over 1 billion active users so many viewers will recognise the poster and be drawn into as they are familiar with the social networking site. Facebook’s main users are teenagers which is the audience my short film is aimed at. The poster acts as stronger marketing tool that a normal poster. I have advertised the website, Facebook and Twitter links more obviously  I have showed a link to the film trailer and the offcial film page will have a high number of ‘shares’ and will appear on many users timelines.

Final film review

Film Review – Photoshop session 3

The picture that I have used for my review was taken from my phone during the filming stage of my project. I had the option to take a screen shot from the editing software on the Apple computers but I rejected this because the images would of been very low quality and hard to see. The picture I took using my phone is of very high quality (12 mega pixels) and was in the short film. The picture was very hard to add into the review. Once it was uploaded, it was too big and had to be resized. Once it was resized, the corners had to be rounded like the images in the magazine. Once this once done, it had to placed correctly so it does not overlap the edges of the page or the text. After this, I showed my teachers and classmates for feedback and they were impressed.

Film Review – Photoshop session 2

Step 1

I added the box which contains a short comment on ‘anticipation’, ‘enjoyment’ and ‘in retrospect’. Each of these was also given a rating out of 5. I cannot be too generous when giving my film a rating because Little White Lie’s tend to be more strict and harsh with their ratings compared to magazines such as Empire. The purpose of this overview box is that younger and less intelligent audiences can get a quick insight into the film if they do not want to read the whole review. Ratings out of five are also popular among other film related magazines and websites.

Step 2

In this part of the session, I added the film title, the name of the directors, actors  and the release date. This is also in the Little White Lie’s magazine, in the middle of the page below the picture. Personally I believe I done this part very well because I done this exactly like the magazine. I used different colours (grey and black) to separate the text. For example, ‘D i r e c t e d b y  Rejawan Haydar’. The words ‘Directed by’ are in grey and my name is in black. The letters are also separated just like the magazine. My reason for this is that I want my magazine to look as professional and realistic as it can be. This part is crucial to get right because the space and layout needs to be takeninto account. It is important that enough space has been left for the picture. The picture is the most eye-catching part of the poster as images are a quick source of information.

Film Review – Photoshop session 1

Step 1

I placed rulers on the page because it will make it easier for to place the text, so it does not clash with the images or other pieces of text. This is very important because the layout must match that of Little White Lies. It also makes to work look tidier and more appealing to the audience and gives it a professional look. The appearance of the film review must be appealing as it reflects the premium price of the film magazine. The three columns on the bottom of the page will be filled with 3 columns of the review. The bottom of the third column will give a quick overview of the film with ratings out of 5.

 

Step 2

The text was copied and pasted into Photoshop from Microsoft word. However, further changes had to be made. The font I used to draft my review on Microsoft word was ‘Calibri (Body)’ and this had to be changed to ‘Times New Roman’ which is the font that Little White Lie’s use. Also, the paragraph style had to match that of the magazine and was changed to the ‘Justify’ layout. Once the layout was changed to ‘Justify’, some sentences were left with uncompleted words. Words were split up into two sentences as they would not fit into the end. For example, the world romantic was spelt as ‘rom-antic’. One sentence ended with ‘rom-‘and the following sentence started with ‘antic’. This was a problem because far too many sentences were like this and this is unappealing to the audience as it gives them great difficulty when reading it. I fixed the problem by finding space in the sentences and making sure separated words were on the same sentence.

 

 

Film Review – My final draft

I carried out my own research before making my own review for my short film. I looked at reviews for all types of films, but more time was spent analysis and picking out trends for reviews of comedy and romance films. I compared reviews for the same films from different film magazines to see what the main differences are. The key differences were the language and rating systems. I will make my film review in the style which Little White Lie’s do their film reviews. The language used in this magazine is slightly more sophisticated than others because it is aimed at a higher social class and more educated audience. My final draft was reviewed by several teachers and I received positive feedback.

 

Film Review – Date Night

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and it’s time to roll out the romantic comedies. Taking a break from CGI filled, action packed battles in summer blockbusters. Charlie Morgan stars as Charlie, young man in search for his soul mate. The essence of comedy is laughing at someone else’s expense. In the case of ladies’ man Charlie Morgan, there is more than enough to laugh at. The handsome, middle class, mature teenager boasts a handful of social benefits, including a fashionably attired wardrobe and an irresistible smile. At first glance, you may think Charlie has everything, but Charlie gets more than he bargained for. In other words, he is not a just a ladies man; he is a man’s man!

Charlie discovers his own romantic limitations when he falls for Charlotte (Saif Shah), a character who has her own ideas about romance. Recently graduated lover boy Charlie Morgan and his secretive computer pen pal Charlotte have been writing to each other for months and have grown closer with every message sent. Charlie has been working out in the gym and practising his pick-up lines to impress his blond haired beauty. Charlie loses his smooth exterior and his masculinity after he is struck by a series of unfortunate events such as being mugged for his phone by a girl.

In some ways, Date Night feels like Billy Wilder’s Some Like it Hot as Charlotte has many aspects of the character of ‘Daphne’ from the 1959 classic. It is complete with all the suave dialogue and the sweeping moments of love.  The audience will be drawn into Morgan’s new role as he has moved away from his usual effortless ladies’ man who prowls around bars tooled with his killer pick-up lines that no woman can resist. His performance was convincing and the audience will be drawn into his new role. His timing is perfection and he nailed all kinds of comedy, physically and verbally. No one is better at talking to the camera than he is. Shah’s unique role backed up his acting ability as he moved away from his usual intimidating roles to play a lead role in rom-com. His work gave insight into how completely different individuals are in fact similar in many ways.

Anticipation – The title sounds like another rom-com from the last decade, but the cast proves otherwise   3

Enjoyment – A hilarious insight into the stereotypes of online dating       3

In retrospect – Fun, uplifting and you will probably watch it again          4

Empire film review – ‘Due Date’