Final Products

Main product:

Ancilliary Product - Poster:













Acilliary Product - Radio Advert:

6th April 2011

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

Mind Trap - Evaluation Question1

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Below is our poster evulated with the main product in mind:

Mind Trap - Poster Evaluation

In terms of our radio advert, there is a distinct theme that ties it in with the main product. We made sure that we used the same actors for the voices so that continuity would not be an issue, and we used the same voices in the background to link it with the film. However, I don't think that the radio advert is our strongest ancilliary product because we didn't really research into radio adverts, only the conventions of a radio advert. I think that if we spent some more time planning the radio advert, it would have been much better. Having said that, I think the radio advert is pretty good as it covers all the conventions of a radio advert.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?
From the audience feedback, I have learnt that our film is not to everyone tastes, perhaps because some audiences are more passive and like to be spoon-fed the plot rather than having a more thought-provoking plot. Also, I have learnt that in terms of the poster, the font size of the title needs to be as big as possible. However, with the posters I looked at in my analysis of existing products, the title of the film was not very big. I think this is perhaps because the poster uses the actors to sell the film, but since we didn't have famous actors in our film, there was nothing to draw the eye, so the title being big was the only thing that was going to draw the eye. Out of all the products, the poster received the most positive feedback as we were able to use our skills; I have a interest in Art and photography, and both Hayley and I share an interest in digital art and use Photoshop regularly. Regarding the film and the radio advert, we are not very strong actors/voice actors, so these two came off as weaker.


How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
The internet was probably the most helpful tool in the making of this coursework. Not only has it made it possible to make this blog for free, but it has provided us with existing products for us analyse and help us with our ideas, as well as providing information into 'Donnie Darko' and 'Memento' that we could use in addition to watching the two films. Also, it has provided a way of getting in touch with our target audience using FaceBook and Twitter, which meant that we were able to get their feedback easily, amking our coursework easier to evaulute as we hads more thean just our opinions of it. Furthermore, it enabled us to use different ways of displaying our work (i.e. SlideShare and PhotoBucket) so that our blog was interesting to look at. One diadvantage of the Internet, however, is that the connection speed is sometimes slow which makes uploading videos a long task.

Final Cut has also been one of the main aids in this coursework. Its advanced effects has enabled us to create a film that is better an ordinary film where only simple cutting techniques are used. However, it is quite a difficult program to get used to, espiecally when one has never used it before, and it is quite pedantic.

Photoshop was relied upon greatly in the making of this coursework as it helped us to create a professional-looking poster. Once one has grapsed the idea of Photoshop, it is a relatively easy program to use and it is easy to create artistic and professional effects. I think that the poster was the easiest task for us because both Hayley and I have experience of using Photoshop from our coursework last year and in our spare time, so we were used to the program.

30th March 2011

We have edited the new scene in and fixed any problems that we had, so now we have our final edit done. Below is the final edit:


We both feel that this version is a lot better than the first edit; the extra scene gives it more depth and more variation as where it is set and increases the tension. By using the innocence of children's voices, the whole film has more of a errie feel. Also, we shortened the shot where Lucy is putting on her coat and boots because it was much too long. Furthermore, we made Lucas' voice sound much more menacing by adding an echo to it and fading the voice in and out when he talks so that his voice can be heard clearly.
I posted the link on my Facebook profile (our demographic is teenagers and nearly all teenagers use Facebook) so that my friends could provide us with feedback:













Below are the responces:
-You did that? That's pretty good! I love the mix of black and white and normal, makes it more interesting
-Hmmm, it's ok I guess. I don't get how two girls live in a nice house like that though...aren't they meant to be teenagers? Where are their parents?
-It's awesome!
-4 stars
-The guy in this is scary! I like the creepy voice you give him
-First thing's first: Rosie...you can't act! :P But I thought the film was good
-Loved it! Soooo much better from all the short films which are all boring horror films
-It was alright...I've seen better.
-Thumbs up!
-I agree. I liked it
-Your editing is pretty good (apart from that little bit where you both look at the camera) and I like the plot...it's so different

Most of our feedback was positive, but I feel that the negative feedback was justified. I think our film is not meant for everyone and it is an acquired taste. Also, the fact that we filmed it at my house but neglected show that Lucy's parents are out and that Roxanne has come over to stay for the night seems to be a problem as we didn't make it clear in the film. This is one of the few things that unfortunately got forgotten. Also, it was not easy for us to get around this, as we were unable to film at Hayley's house and we didn't want to film in anyone else's house as this would put pressure on other people.
Furthmore, both Hayley and I are not good actors, but we didn't want to reply on other people to act in our film because complications could arise and it was easier for us to reply on each other rather than other people.

23rd March 2011

Luckily, we were given permission to leave school in the morning to film the extra scene that will boost our film over the 4:30 mark. The filming was successful; we were able to film the park scene easily as we made sure that we were there by 9:30AM so it was empty. Also, the weather was similar to the weather we had when we filmed the bulk of our film, so this was not as issue. Hayley was also able to wear the same costume that she wore throughout the rest of the footage, so this meant that lack of continuity was not an issue.

Now that we have the footage we need, we will edit the scene and slot it into the film to create our final edit. Also, we need to make sure that our cuts are smooth as possible and that the sound is as we want it to be. After we have fixed these things, the final cut will be done.

16th March 2011

As I have mentioned previously, our first edit was deemed too short at 4:11. Today, Hayley and I planned an extra scene that would involve the children's play area in Crystal Palace Park. The scene would feature Lucy hearing children's voices playing in the park, but they are not there and the park is empty. The swings and the roundabout move, but they are empty.
This scene would fit some conventions because children's voices brings in the innocence of Lucy and the fact that they are not there can be linked to death and ghosts.
We decided that the best time to film this would be during the school day because the park will be empty, but we will need to get permission from the school to allow us to leave school.
Below are the notes that we made about the extra scene:

9th March 2011

This week, we re-edited our radio advert as when listened to it carefully, the transition from the voices to the announcer was a little rough. Below is the re-edited version:


This version is much better than the first version and with the poster, will create a good set of ancilliary products that will tie in well with our main product.

2nd March 2011

Our class had an audience feedback session where each of the groups showed their films and the others gave feedback on what was good and how it could be improved. The whole session was filmed for each group to edit out their respective bits to place on their blogs but, unfortunatley, we were unable to find the file. However, some of the points mentioned are shown below:

- Use effects to make Lucas' voice stand out more and be more creepy
- Make the voice on the other end of the phone call seem more like they are actually on a phone (the effects on Final Cut)
- Make the ending more of a cliffhanger by showing Lucas at a later stage.

With these peices of advice in mind we went back to editing our film. We are unable to do much concerning the 3rd point though as it would mean re-shooting and the person who played Lucas has now changed his hair colour and my living room furniture has been replaced. If we were to reshoot the clip would look out of place and ruin the continuety that we have tried to keep throughout the film. We will, however, endeavour to look at the first two points, as these will be easier for us to do as we can use the sound effects on Final Cut.

23rd Fedruary 2011

After finishing our poster some time ago, we have shown it to various people and asked what they thought of it. While they said that the composition of the shot was excellent and the use of Photoshop was both appropriate and well-done, most of them said that the title of the film needed to be bigger and needed to stand out more.
With this advice in mind, I spent a night on Photoshop, downloading suitable fonts (we are not allowed to download fonts on the school computers, which meant that we had to use the default fonts) until I found a font that looked good on the poster.
Here is the final poster:












Although we didn't change much, the poster now looks much more professional and the font that I chose aptly conveys the jumbled mess that is Lucy's mental state. It is rare that a film poster uses a stock font, so it was important that we changed it to make it look better. Both Hayley and I are happy with this draft of the poster, so I don't think that we will be doing anything more to it. Instead, we will focus on getting audience feedback on the film and finishing the final cut before the deadline.

16th February 2011

We have finally finished our first edit. Here is the completed first cut:

Both Hayley and I think that this is quite good for a first edit. However, at 4:11, it is too short. We think that we need to put in an extra scene, but time is tight and the deadline is near. Despite this, the film has to be at least 4:30, so we have to the extra scene and we have no option but to find time to do it.
Despite our feelings about the film, it is important that we get some other opinions. After all, we did not make this film as us as the intended audience.

9th February 2011

Whilst editing our first cut, we realised that we needed some music for the end credits as at the moment, it is silent. After much searching for some suitable music, we stumbled upon his piece of acoustic guitar:



We decided it would be the perfect music for the end credits as it suits our genre well and acoustic guitar gives it a softer edge.
We won't be using all the track because our end credts won't lat 3 minutes. Instead, we plan to use a chunk of it, but I think that we have to use different parts of the track to see which part fits the best.

2nd February 2011

We are now nearly finished with the first edit. Here is the same list from 12th January post, but with the things we have done crossed off:

- Finish first scene
- Finish second scene
- Finish third scene
- Finish fourth scene
- Do End credits
- Find music for end credits (copyrighting is an issue)
- Make hallucinations black and white - Make Lucas' voice more spooky (experiment with sound FX on FCP)
- Make Roxanne’s voice sound like a phone call (experiment with sound FX on FCP)
- Tighten up editing
- Figure out how to fade black and white into colour when Lucy answers the phone
- Dub a phone ringing over Lucy's ringtone?
- Do fade transitions
- Sort out sound (delete sound where we don’t need it, make sure sound is in sync with footage)
- Export and audience feedback (film audience feedback)

As you can see, we have done a majority of the things on the list, but we still need to do the end credits (which we plan to do after we have finished the film so we can determine how long/short they need to be in accordance with how long our actual film is) and export the file, but this cannot be done until we are finished.

26th January 2011

By using all of our spare time, we have now edited nearly 3 minutes of our film. However, we have suspicions that our film will not be long enough; I personally don’t think that we will reach our recommended time of 5 minutes. We have been told that 4:30 is not recommended but an acceptable time, but I still don’t think that our film will even reach 4:30.
Despite this, we still have to put credits on at the end, so this may boost up our time a little.
The only thing we can do is just keep editing and hope that we have enough footage. If we don’t have enough in the end, then at least we have time to film an extra scene if we need to. This was one of fundamental reasons why we decided to start doing the first edit as soon as possible; if we needed to reshoot some parts or shoot an extra scene or if we lost some footage, we would still have plenty of time to refilm. Also, editing now was a good idea because it means that we would have plenty of time to do as much audience feedback as we can after we have finished the first edit, and then have time to make any amendments.