The document provides information about the media products Jae Plummer created for an assignment. It discusses the influences and conventions of real media products that were used to develop Jae's trailer for a psychological thriller film. It also discusses how Jae's film trailer, magazine cover, and poster work together to promote the film. Feedback was gathered from surveys, social media, friends and family, teachers, and classmates to help improve the products. A variety of media technologies were used in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages including YouTube, blogger, editing software, cameras, and tripods.

1. A2 Media Evaluation
Jae Plummer

2. Question 1
• In what way does your media product develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?

3. Trailer Influences
• Black Swan
Black swan influenced the development of my main character.
I was particularly inspired by the way the girl in black swan
was characterised and I implemented the lonely and venerable
Generalisation into my character. I have stuck to the conventions
of the genre, which is a psychological thriller as well as including
a binary opposite as the girl is being stalked by a killer.
Shutter Island
This film inspired me to use a tense soundtrack as from watching
the trailer I feel that the soundtrack can also emphasise the feeling on screen,
which will effect the audience. The shutter island trailer soundtrack starts very
slow paced and then picks up speed as the trailer goes on. This is something that
I tried to emulate in my trailer as by building pace of the soundtrack this will
contribute to building a tense atmosphere for the audience. I feel that I have
Stuck to the conventions of the genre in terms of the soundtrack as it is used to
build a tense atmosphere for the audience hence intensifying what is on screen.

4. Challenging conventions
I decided to put my film trailer in black and white, which is not a typical
convention of a psychological thriller however I decided to challenge this
convention as I felt it would add to the feel of the trailer. By the trailer being
in black and white I felt that it added to what was happening on screen and
emphasised the isolation of the girl character. The black and white effect
also creates the feeling that we are in the girls dream as simple detail such
as colour is taken away and also suggests this is a nightmare as a pose to a
dream.
Sin City 2 (2014) is a more recent
example of a film that uses a black
and white effect and is a crime
thriller Genre. However some colour
is used to emphasise key things in the
film. Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
9T1nl0tJE6g

5. Ancillary Products
One of the ancillary products that I created was the
cover of a film magazine. The film magazine style
that I emulated was ‘Little White Lies’, which has a
niche target audience. The images show my front
cover next to two front covers that have been
created by the magazine. I feel that I have stuck to
the conventions of the magazine well in order for
my magazine cover to fit with the style of the
magazine. I have kept the masthead centralised,
which is a convention of every issue of this
magazine. As well as this I have also followed the
conventions of the images of the magazine. The
conventions of the images of Little white lies are
designed to look like drawings and I feel that I have
emulated this convention well in my magazine
through using the right combinations of editing
techniques. I again stuck to the conventions of the
text on the magazine cover as the only text on the
magazine cover is the films name that has
typography that links in with the rest of the
magazine.

6. Ancillary Products
The poster for my magazine was inspired by this Straw Dogs poster, which is a
film from 1971. The two main things that I was inspired by this poster was the
image, which is half a face I feel this effective and have incorporated this idea into
my own poster as I feel it creates a more uneasy direct address with the audience
as only one is on the poster.
The other feature of the Straw dogs poster I
took inspiration from was the use of a tagline.
Not a lot of posters do actual have a tagline
that or if they do it isn't in such big text. I
adapted a tagline based upon the events in the
film and also used the right typography and
colours so that it ties in with the poster and
the overall genre.
Again I feel that I have mostly followed the
conventions of a film poster as I have all of the
main conventions, for example film title, main
image and main actor’s names. However the
one convention I feel I have gone against is the
positioning of the tagline through the
inspiration from straw dogs, as the tagline is
usually positioned below the film title.

7. BBFC rating
I felt that my film would be classified as an 18 by the BBFC.
My film will be aimed at the target audience 18 to 40, due to the content
I would include such as:
- Violent content
- Bad language throughout
- Weapons such as knifes
- Strong horror

8. Question 2
How effective is the combination of your main
product and ancillary products?

9. Branding
Little white lies is a magazine that only features
independent films. I felt that this was the best magazine for
my film to feature on as it fits perfectly under the
independent film specification. I also feel my film is best
suited with the magazine style of little white lies magazine
as I was able to make the main image the focus and let it
speak for itself.
After Dark films is an independent film producer and
distributer and I feel this was the best company to
choose for my film rather than a company from the
‘big six’ such as 20th century fox as after dark films
specialises in horror films which is a similar genre to
my film trailer, which is a psychological thriller. An
example of a film that this company has produced is
a film called Kill Theory. As my film would be
independent it would mean that it could feature
upon the front cover of little white lies magazine
hence making a link between the two parts of
branding and the chooses made.

10. Creating synergy across products
Colour scheme
• The colour scheme across my three products are strong excluding the trailer as I
wasn’t able to incorporate the colour scheme I have flowing through my other two
products. As shown below the clear link is a blue and green colour that also interlinks
with the plot of the film as these colours give off a more fantasy feel hence indicating
a dream. Black is also a colour that is part of the colour scheme as it is incorporated
in all three products
Examples
of colour
scheme

11. Creating synergy across products
Construction of representations
• In film women are often represented as being a number of things such as weak
dependant and vulnerable and example of a female character with these traits is the
main character from black swan. I feel that I constructed a typical representation of a
vulnerable girl very well across all three products. I feel that in the trailer the camera
shots enhanced the characters vulnerability for example a tracking shot which shows
the character is being followed and has been identified as a ‘target’. The film
magazine also continues the vulnerable and troubled female character through the
mise-en-scene of makeup, which gives the impression the character has cried her
makeup off and crying is usually linked with weakness and vulnerability. The Film
poster again intensifies the representation of vulnerability as the poster shows a half
face image which is an extreme close up shot that highlights the makeup run down
the characters face. As well as this I feel that the overlaid image , which ahs sort of
given the image a hologram effect represents the characters confusion between
reality and dream, which is part of the films plot.

12. Creating synergy across products
Mise en scene
• Costume- Out of the three products the main character is seen wearing the same
jacket in the trailer and the magazine front cover therefore meaning that an audience
would be able to make a clear link. The jacket is not seen in the poster as the shot
used is an extreme close up.
• Hair and makeup- Throughout the three products the hair is the same style
throughout and the poster and film magazine show the same makeup used to give the
effect of make up running down the characters face, however this is not shown in the
trailer.
• Location- The same location, which is by train tracks is visible in all three products
hence meaning the audience will be able to link the three products together through
the location.
• Lighting- Lighting is not a huge factor across my three products due to the trailer
being in black and white the lighting will not make a difference. I therefore feel for
this reason the lighting throughout the three products will not be something an
audience will pick up upon to make a link between the products.
• Blocking- Due to there only being one character throughout my three products this
character will be the centre of everything and for this reason this part of mise en
scene doesn’t really apply to my products.

13. How Successful I feel I was
• I was most happy with how I created and portrayed a vulnerable character, which is
exactly what I intended through the camera work of the trailer.
• I think that as well as this I executed the camerawork very well as the camera was
held still and I incorporated as much different shots as I could for example tracking
shot and POV shot.
• I also thought I was successful with the change of pace and incorporating the
surroundings in order to do this for example the use of the change to signify the
change in pace.
Overall I think I am happy with the trailer that I have produced as I feel that it follows
the conventions of psychological thriller trailers. The reason I think this is because the
trailer is able to create a tense atmosphere for the audience without giving too much
away as well as leaving the audience on a ‘cliff hanger’ at the end of the trailer hence
creating suspense. This is often used at the end of trailers to create a desire for the
audience to go out and watch the film.

14. Theory
Levi Strauss binary opposites
The most common binary opposite is good vs evil. I feel that my trailer includes a massive
binary opposite, which could be described as a predator vs prey. The female character is
shown as a target and has contrasting characteristics with the ‘male’ character within the film.
The women character is shown as vulnerable and weak where as the male character is
threatening and strong.

15. Question 3
• What have you learnt from your audience
feedback?

16. Online feedback
Survey Monkey
Survey monkey allowed me to create an online
questionnaire that people can answer. The use of this gave
me answers from my target audience, which gave me the
right guidance of what to include into my products as this
means that I will be able to alter my trailer to my target
audiences preferences hence making the product better
suited to them. An example of this is shown below:
http://jaeplummera2media.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/target-
audience-survey-monkey.html
Twitter
I also incorporated the use of a social media platform to
engage with my target audience so that I was able to receive
some suggestions and preferences of on going work. I felt
this very useful as it meant that I was able to communicate
with my target audience through a more exciting way rather
than just using questionnaires in order to receive feedback.
An example of this is shown on the link below:
http://jaeplummera2media.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/targeti
ng-audience-research-through.html

17. Questionnaires
I used questionnaires a lot throughout the creation process in order to gain knowledge of my
target audiences preferences this enabled me to suit my ideas to them as this will be the films
primary audience.
I used questionnaires in order to receive feedback for the following:
Target audiences expectation of a psychological thriller:
http://jaeplummera2media.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/drafting-and-planning-questionaire.html
Film title selection:
http://jaeplummera2media.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/targeting-audience-quick-questionaire.html
Film logo first draft response (shown below):
http://jaeplummera2media.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/questionaire-for-first-draft-of.html
Presenting Questionnaire results
I used an app called ‘Pie Chart 3D free’ to
present my questionnaire results. I found
this helpful as it showed what percentage
of my target audience preferred one
answer to another.

18. Feedback of trailer
Teacher and class comments
When I had completed my first draft of my trailer I presented it
to the class and my media teacher in order to gain some
feedback. After viewing the trailer I was given some sort of
feedback from a few members of the class and teacher, which
included the following.
What went well:
- Good range of shots included
- Change in pace in the middle of the trailer
Improvements:
- Make transition between shots smoother.
- Put a film ident in for example 20th century fox.
- Slightly speed up the clip that was slowed down as it breaks
up the trailer too much.
It was fairly easy to do these improvements and I know feel
that my trailer is better because of these improvements and
therefore feel that feedback is important especially as a large
amount of the people in my class giving feedback would fall
under my target audience.

19. Feedback of poster
Family and friends feedback
Once I had completed the first draft of my film poster I
presented it to friends and family in order to receive feedback,
this was important as the people who I asked all fall into the
category of my target audience. The feedback I received was
what went well and improvements to make.
What went well:
-Film title adds a nice identity to the poster
-Colour scheme
-Main image creates direct address through the one eye
showing
Improvements:
- Seems a little plain and a tagline could be added
- Positioning of text of actors names would be better suited
another place on the poster.
I felt that the feedback given was useful and helped me to
target my research and planning upon these improvements. I
took inspiration from a straw dogs poster for the tagline to be
positioned the way it is and the sizing as tag lines are normally
smaller than it is on my poster. Repositioning the text of the
actors names was very easy and was just simply a case of
experimenting different positionings in order to find the best
outcome.

20. Feedback of magazine
Teacher comments
In order to receive some critic from my teacher I showed him my first
draft of my magazine front cover. I received some feedback that included
what went well and areas that I should look to improve or change.
What went well:
- Colour scheme
- Positioning of film title, main image and masthead is good
Improvements:
- Change the edit of the main image in order to match the style of the
magazine it is for (little white lies).
- Change film title to match style of magazine.
I found it fairly easy to respond to this feedback as I am very comfortable
with experimenting and editing and in the end I felt I found the right edit
for the main image. I also felt that I chose the right font for the film title
text as well as the colours of the text so that it ties in with the rest of the
magazine. Below shows the improvements I made to the film title and how
the film title looks next to a real example from the magazine.

21. Question 4
• How did you use media technologies in the
construction and research, planning and
evaluation stages?

22. Blogger
I used blogger as the blog platform to show my progress throughout the three projects including drafting and
planning, organisation, targeting an audience and similar products.
The use of a blog allowed me to express ideas and work in a more interesting way as I was able to incorporate different
types of media for example YouTube videos. Using a blog for coursework is a lot easier compared to using handwritten
work as the use of a blog means that I was able to edit any mistakes quite easily where as written work mistakes
cannot be removed and means I would need to start again.
Another advantage of using blogger is that I had the app on my phone meaning that it was accessible to make a post If
I was to have an idea or a moment of inspiration.
YouTube
YouTube was something I used a lot especially when looking at different
similar products and analysing them. I was also able to use the YouTube app
making it accessible for me at any location. I used YouTube to analyse the
trailer for black swan for example:
http://jaeplummera2media.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/research-into-similar-
products-analysis_8.html

23. Technology used-Trailer
Tools used
To shoot the clips for my trailer I used a recording camera. As the camera was made to record
moving images rather than still images it meant that it was adapted to the task of shooting clips
for a trailer. Some of these features were a strap on the side of the camera, which meant the
camera was steady when using it hand held.
Another tool used alongside the camera was a tripod. This meant that I was able to record a shot
while the camera remained still in order to capture a clip that has good quality and the camera is
not shaking. However the tripod was something I only used a few times as I wanted to give a
POV perspective a lot of the time meaning the camera was hand held.
Editing
Once I had all of the footage that I needed I then put it all into a software called movie plus. This
software enabled me to do things such as crop footage to remove any that is unwanted and slow
or speed footage up and do different cuts between clips such as a fade cut. I Found the editing
process fairly simple as I found the software easy to use. I felt that I was experimental when
editing the trailer as I incorporated different editing techniques for example speeding up a clip
for effect.

24. Technology used-poster
Tools used
To get the images for the poster I used a still camera, which was the cannon
EOS 450D. This meant that I was able to capture good quality Images in
order to give myself a good platform for the editing process. When taking
pictures I attempted different shots so that I gave myself a choice of
pictures and decide, which would be best fitting.
Editing
To edit my images I used the two features on pageplus called cut-out studio
and photo lab. Cut-out studio enabled me to cut out an image from its
background so that I was able to overlay it over a different background as I
did with my poster. The photo lab meant that I was able to edit and add
effects to an Image I used effects on my image in order to add effect and so
that it fits the genre and plot of the trailer.

25. Technology used-Magazine cover
Tools used
To get the image for the magazine cover I again used a still camera, which
was the cannon EOS 450D. This meant that I was able to capture good
quality Images in order to give myself a good platform for the editing
process. When taking pictures I attempted different shots so that I gave
myself a choice of pictures and decide, which would be best fitting.
Editing
To edit my images I used the two features on pageplus called cut-out
studio and photo lab as I did with my poster. The Cut-out studio enabled
me to cut out an image from its background so that I was able to overlay it
over a different background as I did with my poster. The photo lab meant
that I was able to edit and add effects to an Image I used effects on my
image in order to add effect and so that it fits the genre and plot of the
trailer, as well as fitting with the conventions of the magazine where the
covers look like they have been drawn and have an artistic style.