question 2.

evaluation Q3.

FOCUS GROUP.

As a group, we organised a focus group whereby we gathered a group of people within out target audience age to get immediate feedback on our finished products.Using the recording camera, we recorded them giving their initial thoughts, creating a basis of hightlights and critisims of our tasks. I think this is a more realistic way of getting true feedback, as with questionnaires they are able to write out in a stylistic way, whereas with this form of feedback it is immediate. While we get their true opinions, we were also baring in mind that they dont have an idea of the conventions we followed and why. However, this process was very beneficial, as we were able to see where we went wrong, and where there was room for improvements if any.



GENRE.

The focus group were asked "which aspects of the trailer do you think identified it as a horror?" to which the second person replied "the jumping between scenes" in reference to the montage of shots at the end. This shows that the editing stages were vital, as the audience were able to identify it through that alone, regardless of the other horror-like conventions featured such as blood, death, weapons etc.

Another person commented on the music being "dark" suggesting it was fitting to our genre, and easily identifiable. It was suggested that the concept of an "empty village" was typically found in horror films, and that was also how they were identifying the genre.



INITIAL THOUGHTS.

the first person to speak claimed that although the music was very fitting, it "gave away the entire plot". This suggests that we may have included to many key elements of our plot, however another member of the focus group argued that because it wasnt in chronological order, it wasnt to revealing, and enticed the audience to want to know what happens next. A member of the focus group pointed out sarahs role as being a key image for them, as she was holding a knife with blood dripping down her face. They suggested that she "might be into defacing herself" which isnt entirely true- but is still positive feedback as this is an example of our plot not being to revealing, as the audience still do not know why this has happened to sarah and what her role in the film is.  Although not all members of the focus group agreed with the first point, they did point out that the beginning of the trailer was more abstract than the rest of it, however did go on further to say that it was enticing and overall a good film trailer.



ICONIC IMAGES.

It was immediately pointed out that the match dropping on the floor was significant to the trailer. they enjoyed the "old film" effect that we applied, and instantly understood that they were viewing this from the past, which is what we had hoped the audience would first understand. Lewis tied up screaming was also pointed out, adding "this shows the genre is more extreme horror rather than the usual subtle 'il scare you' sort of horror". The first member of the focus group said that the iconic image for him was 'mark screaming "run" as it was unexpected, and cut immediately too something else, making the audience want to know more.



ANCILLARY TASKS.

due to complications, i was unable to obtain recorded feedback for my other tasks, however i did recieve some written feedback after the focus group had been conducted. both images had been described as "striking"  although the match did cause some confusion among some members of the focus group in my poster. However, I took this as a positive, as it created the code of enigma i had hoped for, and left the audience guessing. It was noted that the taglines on the magazine were "effective" and "realistic" however they were confused on why i had chosen to outline my magazine in red- but i did this as i noticed it was a convention on Empire magazine.

Q4.

Q1.

main influence in my film poster.

I used the idea of the flame from the shutter island poster, and fused it with my own ideas and made it relevant to my plot. I slightly changed it, as i didnt include any images of the mental asylum that we used in our trailer, however the general layout of this poster played a huge role when it came to attempting to make my poster look as realistic as possible.

Defaced Trailer - Focus Group Feedback

Defaced trailer.

final movie poster.

 My poster was heavily influenced by the Shutter Island movie poster, which features the main character holding a flame, as does my main character in my poster. I chose this image as it looks skeletal, and i feel it reflects the title well. I like that the flame illuminates the face, yet hides it at the same time, so it is unclear as to who it is.

I feel that the tagline goes with the title and image well. It has various connotations with "defaced" such as who or what is getting defaced, why, and how the person in the image is related to it. the tagline plays on the plot of the film, and doesnt reveal to much on who or what is the threat.

We created our title in photoshop, as it is unique to this film. We were able to create a blood dripping effect, which depicts the idea of being "defaced" well and clearly defines the horror genre.
I featured promotional devices using social networking sites, and put the logo for facebook and twitter onto the poster, and a hastag. I also added a website called "www.defacedthemovie.com" as an addition advertisement.
We chose for our release date to be in october, as Halloween is during this month, which would entice our target audience further, into wanting to watch a horror film at this paticular time of year.

final draft of film magazine.

From my first draft, i have added various other taglines, such as an "oscars special" and "movie of the month". I tried to be as conventional as possible, making use of banners, a splash and other taglines advertising films.
I created a "plus" section as this is a common convention i found in empire magazine. I changed the image, and i believe it is far stronger than before, as it is an image of the character Lily with blood and skin dripping off her face.

I positioned the title "defaced" underneath the dripping of the blood on the face, as we edited blood dripping onto the title. It looks as though the blood is continuing to drip down the page onto the title, which is what i wanted to achieve.

 I chose to use a character as a main image rather than the actor as I thought that it would be more easily recognisable to the reader, especially with her skin peeling and blood on her face.

I chose to use a "plus" section to distiguish different areas of the taglines. I featured other genres in the taglines such as super heroes, to make it clear that it is a film magazine that engages in all genres, not just horror.

first draft of film magazine.

I drafted this version of my magazine in one go, using conventions i found in Empire magazine such as the taglines and banners and splash to influence my own.
I was trying out various techniques with the image, using the feathering tool and changing the gradient. I realized that the image was not as strong as i wanted, and there was to much of a focus on the building rather than the character Lily, who appears lost behind the asylum.

I thought I would use our original title the way it is displayed on my other products to help promote the film, and to define it and make it easily noticable. I went for the conventional colour scheme, which i thought also fitted well with the horror genre.

Target audience research/ age rating.

For my film trailer I started researching age ratings that would be appropriate, as most horror films have age ratings of "15" and "18" due to violent contentor gore. I realised that my trailer would fall into one of these categories. I went onto the BBFC website to obtain information on what would define a 15 and what would bring the age rating up to an 18.
i felt that i needed to do this due to the amount of gore and its extent that i intend to include in the trailer.

I found that: 

What might I see in a 15 rated film or video?

Any of the following:

• strong violence
• frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***').
• portrayals of sexual activity
• strong verbal references to sex
• sexual nudity
• brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence
• discriminatory language or behaviour
• drug taking

How much strong language is allowed in a 15?

There could potentially be a great deal. At 15 there is no upper limit on the number of uses of strong language (e.g. ‘f***’).
Occasionally there may be uses of the strongest terms (e.g. 'c***'), depending on the manner in which they are used, who is using the language, its frequency and any special contextual justification. However, continued or aggressive use will not normally be passed 15.

What about discriminatory or offensive terms?

There may be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory language, and the work could explore themes relating to this.
However, at 15 the work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour.

How much sex and nudity is allowed at 15?

At 15 sexual activity can be portrayed, but usually without strong detail. Some sex scenes can be quite long at this category.
Though nudity may be allowed in a sexual context there will usually be no strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.
There can be strong references to sex and sexual behaviour, but especially strong or crude references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context.

Sex and sex references are treated the same irrespective of sexuality.

What about sexual violence?

There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence (for example descriptions of rape or sexual assault in a courtroom scene or in victim testimony) but any portrayal depiction of sexual violence must be discreet and justified by context.

In an 18 Film....

Are there any limits on what sort of theme a work can have at 18?

No theme is prohibited at 18. Adults are free to choose their own entertainment provided the material is not illegal or potentially harmful, so it is possible some themes tackled at 18 may be offensive even to some adult viewers.

What sort of issues might I find in an 18 film or video?

18 works are for adults and can contain strong issues such as:

• very strong violence
• frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***') and / or very strong language (e.g. ‘c***’)
• strong portrayals of sexual activity
• scenes of sexual violence
• strong horror
• strong blood and gore
• real sex (in some circumstances)
• discriminatory language and behaviour

How much strong language can there be in an 18?

There is no limit on the number of uses of strong (e.g. 'f***') or even very strong language (e.g. ‘c***’) which can be passed at 18. Uses could be aggressive, directed, frequent or accompanied by strong violence.

What about discriminatory terms?

There may be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory language at 18, and the work could explore themes relating to discrimination.
Though a work as a whole must not be in breach of any relevant legislation, it is possible for discriminatory language or themes to be the main focus of the work, and for main characters to engage in discriminatory behaviour.

How much sex and nudity is allowed at 18?

There can be strong and detailed portrayals of sex at 18, including full nudity. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.
Very strong, crude and explicit sex references are permitted at 18.
An 18 film or video might also contain depictions of real sex, as long as the film or video is not a sex work.

Can there be strong violence?

Yes, at 18 violence can be strong and be portrayed with strong detail. There may even be dwelling on the infliction of pain or injury, or scenes of strong sadistic or sexual violence.
The strongest gory images are permitted at this category

After reading these guidelines I have concluded that the full film feature overall would have to be classified as an 18 production, due to the rape scene and the strong portrayal of violence (eg. someone hanging.) However as the trailer only presents the implication of rape without nudity, only showing the legs of the characters, and does not show any strong gore/contain bad language, it is more accessible by a wider audience.

empire analysis 3.

The main image is johnny Depp as his character Jack sparrow, on the setting of the film "pirates of the Caribbean." his image is obstructing the mast head slightly, infront of the M and P.
the main coverline is situated to the righthand side of the image, and only consists of 3 main words.
coverlines- there are 8 additional coverlines, all advertising different action films- a genre I noticed from my research that has dominated Empire magazine.
the main colour scheme is black,white and yellow.
There arent any additional images, and there is a splash advertising an onset exclusive to a film.
 The bar code is the bottom right hand corner, situated there to prevent it from obstructing the main image.
There is a header "movies biggest year ever" and the "biggest year" is in yellow like the "2011" in the main tagline, to emphasize its importance and the colour yellow is very eye catching.
the date and price is this time printed above the bar code due to the obstruction of the "M". I found that this is unconventional for Empire as it is usually in the "m" in the mast head.

empire film analysis 2

main image- 3 different characters from different films- all of the same genre (action.)  Robin Hood seems to be the main focus as he is in the middle. They are all also dressed in character.

Main tagline-
the name of each film (which happens to be the name of each character) is placed infront of each of them. However, "robin hood" in a a much bigger font, and is in plain white infront of him, also indicating the main focus is on him. "iron man 2" and "prince of persia" are also infront of their characters and in a smaller font. They are also in red with a white background. underneath the names, the tagline reads in a white font "three world- beating on set exclusives!" in white. I think the white is used because robin hood is in white, to signify its importance. there are 13 words in the main tagline.

The barcode is just up from the bottom left hand corner, so it doesn't obstruct the image. the price and date is conventionally in the "m" of Empire. The dominant colours in this edition are red, white and yellow.

There is one additional coverline reading "summer starts here" with a yellow background. There is also a splash advertising "lord of the rings blu-ray special" with the image of the "ring" as a boarder around the advertisement.
There is a footer and a header. The "lord of the rings" splash leads off the footer, and the fact they have chosen to advertise this in this way suggests it is the most important or focused on.
The header advertises this issue as " Explosive Blockbuster Issue" in white.

Empire film cover analysis.

Main image- the main image is obstructed by the mast head, which after looking at various "Empire" covers I found to be unconventional. However, the Main image is a medium close up of an actor playing his character, which is a convention ive noticed in film magazines.

coverlines- there are there are 3 extra taglines which isnt as much as some other film magazines, and 2 of them are quite small print. The colour scheme is predominantly red white and black, however there are elements of green and yellow in the text.

there is a header, featuring only 1 advertisment. They are offering free posters of avatar and dracula vs. frankenstein.

there are 4 additional images.
2 of the images are next to the header, advertising small versions of the free posters available inside.
the other 2 additional images are of the two other main characters in the film "twilight" which is in the main tagline.
The main tagline has 9 words, and 3 are in yellow which are stating the film, and which one out of the several it is.
The bar code is conventionally situated in the bottom left hand side of the page, so it doesnt obstruct the main image. The date and price is above the "M" as it nearly always is in "empire" magazine.