media evaluation

1. A2 Media Studies Evaluation – ‘Seven Steps’ Film Trailer Lemon Bone Productions Nichola Lemon

2. In this evaluation I will be answering the questionIn what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?This would be looking at our teaser trailer, film magazine front cover and our film poster.

3. Film Trailer Rec 2 This film was released in July 2010, so it was a recent film when we had researched about trailers and horror films meaning that we could compare it with older trailer and see their similarities and differences. We liked this film trailer because it was hand held camera shots every time they were showing something that was being filmed. This was a good technique of camera shots because it captures a sense of real life and makes you think you are the person filming it, making you feel like you are there in the film. We used this is our film to show somebody running up some stairs, this was effective because you could hear them panting and it made you feel like you were the people who was running. It also made you feel and see what the person running away must have felt like. REC 2 was a good trailer to find that made you feel like you were there in the film and we think that we also captured that feeling in our trailer. At the beginning of creating our film trailer we had to do some research into film trailers and see what ones inspired us with techniques of filming and editing and how we could use these to create a effective trailer linking to the story line we had chosen. Rec 2 Our trailer Rec 2 Trailer

4. The Title of The Film ‘Seven Steps’ Title font and style We chose the title of our film to be ‘Seven Steps’. The reason we chose this title was because our story line is based around a myth about a girl, who falls down a flight of stairs and has nobody to save her. In the end she dies and her spirit takes people away. We thought this title would be appropriate because it doesn’t give a big hint what the film is actually about but still links into the story line. Other films which have done this could be Grave encounters. Grave encounters is a film about some ghost hunters who go into a psychiatric hospital and then it all goes wrong. This could be linked with our trailer because it doesn’t give away too much about the film but still has some connection to the story. Geo was the font type we selected for our film trailer. We though that this looked effective because it was sans-serif and it was easy to read. The title was simple but eye-catching. We chose yellow for the title because we thought that red was too predictable for a horror film trailer. For example the ‘Hills Have Eyes’ and ‘The Exorcist’ trailer that we looked at has got white and red for their title and we thought we would challenge this and change ours to yellow. We thought the alliterative title would make it more memorable. We also challenged forms and conventions of real media products.

5. Costumes and Props The costumes and props that we have used in our trailer have been things to make parts of it look old and dated, for example we used a dress, that looked quite dated, to make clips of the trailer old like it was a memory or something that happened in the past. This could also be shown in movie trailers such as the hills have eyes. Other props and costumes in the trailer would be our character at the end of it with a hoodie on. This would link in with films such as Deadtime use clothing, such as hoodies, to represent contemporary youth. How characters are introduced The characters are introduced as mysterious people which leave you wondering about who they are. This leaves the audience enticed and they want to find out more about the film. In the trailer you don’t see the little girls face which leaves you wondering who she is and why she is there. We have done this to make the audience ask questions, this a normal thing that you would find in horror movie trailers. For example they use this in Rec 2 when they show you a girl at the beginning and you don’t know why she is there or who she is, this is what we tried to bring across in our trailer. Our end character in the trailer Zach gets introduced to the trailer. When he comes on to the shot he says “they’re gone” this would suggest that the people he was with before and/or the little girl have gone missing. This would leave the audience confused and wanting to know more about what has happened to them. This also happens in the movie trailer Rec 2 because you are left wondering about the characters. .

6. Settings and locations Camerawork and editing The camerawork and editing that we used in our trailer was very similar to other handheld recorded film trailers. It makes you feel like you are in the film and you are experiencing what is going on. One example of a film which does this would be Rec 2 again, the hand held effect makes you feel like you are there. Other things we used with camerawork like other trailers have done would be quick cuts and shaky movements, this is another effect you can find in Rec 2. This brings a sense of fear in the trailer and confusion which entices the audiences to carry on watching. Another editing effect would be that we put slides of text through the camerawork but kept the audio, this makes the audience wonder about what is actually happening at that time because you cant see it. Rec 2 shows this when they cut between text and camera shots. The settings and locations that we used for our trailer was a cave in a chalk cliff in a woods. We chose this location because a lot of horror films and trailers have some sort of theme or scene in a forest or woods. We thought this would make a good setting for our trailer. We challenged the location and setting of other media products because we also had a location of a cave which you don’t find very often in horror movie trailers. This worked well because it made you think why we chose a cave and there must be some link into the story that there is a cave, and it still gave you that sense of fear.

7. Story and how the opening sets it up Genre and how the opening suggests it Our story line is based around a myth about a girl, who falls down a flight of stairs and has nobody to save her. In the end she dies and her spirit takes people away. The way our opening sets it up is by showing you the little girl and then she isn’t these, like it was a thought of your imagination. So it leaves you with some mystery and you know the girl is going to be a key part to the film. It also shows someone running, this would suggest that they are running away from something in fear, so you want to know what they are running away from, this shows the story line as there is something that you want to run away from but you can’t. I also think that the ending with the guy saying ‘they’re gone’ as the only speech in the trailer makes it seem like there is a dark, hidden side of the story that hasn’t been seen in the trailer. I think that you can tell from the opening of our trailer that the genre is horror. The movie starts with a typewriter motion which would suggest that it isn’t going to be a comedy movie as it starts off with a serious note which a lot of horror trailers do. Anything would be the quick cuts because it leaves you confused about what is actually happening in the trailer which a lot of horror film trailer do like Rec 2, they show lots of quick shots which don’t actually show you what would happen in the film. Another thing would be the screaming and not actually seeing the persons face when they are, Rec 2 is a good example of this because the girls face you cant see when she is screaming.

8. Poster Our poster uses forms and conventions of real media products by the way that it is laid out. The way the poster is layout is a normal way you would expect to see a film poster presented such as films like wanted. The centre alignment is a common factor of film posters and so is the sepia colouring. One way that our poster develops forms and conventions could be the catch line we put underneath the title which you don’t find on many film posters. One thing that might challenge forms and conventions would be the effects and quality of the photo, our photo isn’t as good as quality because we wanted that old effect to it to make it look dated which you wouldn’t find on real media products. Overall I think our film poster is a good recreation of our trailer and a real media product.

9. Magazine Front Cover Our magazine front cover was inspired by a poster of the film ‘the grudge’. Our magazine front cover uses forms and conventions of real media products by having the name of the film centre bottom of the front cover and in the colour of white and red, this is commonly found related with horror and scary movies. Ways our magazine would develop forms and conventions would be that we used photoshop to make our magazine front cover rather then actually taken the photo as it is. Some ways that our front cover challenged forms and conventions would be that it doesn’t have much text which would related to the mystery of the film trailer and how you don’t find much about it until you watch the film. It also doesn’t have any of the imagery from the trailer so it wouldn’t link in exactly but you would want to watch the film to find out it is.