1. A2Media Evaluation
By Josh Cucyk

2. 1. In what way does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions
of real media products?
• Film Poster
• DVD Cover
• Film Trailer

3. Film Poster
• The film poster I have created ties in well with stereotypical conventions of a
horror film. In order to get the effects of the poster what I wanted , I
researched other horror posters such as Blair Witch Project and Paranormal
Activity. The colours used were generally dark, giving the sense of little hope
and fear. I used these conventions in my poster feel it gives it a eerie and dark
feel about the film. Although my poster follows some basic stereotypical
conventions it alters when it comes to pictures most film posters are covered
in a single main photo from main part of the film, where as mine has 2 photos
and neither are the main attraction in the poster. Similar to “THE BLAIR WITCH
PROJECT” the main attention grabber of the poster is a mini story explaining
what the story is actually about.

4. Film Poster
Other horror poster conventions:
• A centred main picture
• Cold dark colours
• Red writing or another use of red in the poster to represent blood
• A black or dark background to represent the darkness of the film.
My horror film poster conventions:
• A centred main piece
• A black background
• Red writing to represent danger
• Questioning the audience

5. DVD Cover
I feel that my DVD cover follows most conventions with the front cover been covered by one
main image which although basic shows you exactly how the film will be (hand held footage,
real footage). Another convention my cover follows is a strip of main photos from the film
giving more insight into the happenings in the film.
Other horror DVD cover conventions:
• main single photo on cover
• Actors/ actresses name’s on the cover
• Title of the film in large font across the cover
• Blurb on the back
My horror DVD cover conventions:
• Main photo
• Blurb on the back
• Title written on the side

6. Film Trailer
The film trailer I have created has many convention of a
hand held horror trailer/movie, and after studying and
analysing others, some of the conventions I found consist
of:
• Main character talking to himself with the camera
facing a mirror
• Quick changing scenes
• Contains film title and opening date
• Blackouts throughout with taglines on them (for
example: “witness the truth”

7. Opening scene
The start of my trailer is
unconventional as most start out
with a nice peaceful scene , where as
my establishing shot is of my
character in a dark room panicking
recording himself.
The second scene basically tells you what
the film is going to be about as my
character is standing in front of a mirror
and recording himself saying BLOODY
MARY. This is unconventional because in
most Hollywood blockbuster horror
movies you don't find out why the
character is being haunted until the end,
instead mine is at the start.

8. Taglines
Throughout the trailer I have added writing to the
trailer which is conventional with film trailers of all
genres. It is used to give clues about the narrative,
information on the film and some films use quotes
from reviews to make the film look better, film
makers will use reviews from journalist who have a
similar target audience to their film such as if your
film is a serious heart warming thriller, the film
producers will use quotes from the independent and
other highly acclaimed film magazines. Where as
when compared to a film such as Piranha 3DD they
will use quotes from the sun and “lad mags” as they
have similar target audiences.

9. What have you learned from your
audience feedback
• To gain audience feedback I have used
questionnaires to decide which DVD covers
and film posters to use. I have used that data
and made graphs so the data is easier to use
and see.

10. Feedback graph
Film poster
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Film poster 1 Film poster 2

11. Feedback graph
DVD Cover
0
2
4
6
8
10
DVD COVER 1 DVD COVER 2

12. Improvements?
When asked whether or not my trailer need
improvements this is what people answered.
• Yes, there needs to be some creepy music added
to add affect
• Build pace more
• Clips need to be connected better to make the
trailer make more sense
• Some of the tag lines don’t fit in with the trailer

13. Has this feedback helped me?
After looking at my results, I have learnt that all together my
products all fit in to the horror genre although some of my
products don’t follow regular conventions of horror films, I
believe it would make the viewer more interested as they
wouldn’t of seen many posters and film trailers similar to
mine.
The more negative feedback about adding a backing track
makes sense as the more I have been watching horror trailers
most of them have a backing track even if its quiet most of the
time, looking back to the start of the project I would probably
add one to the trailer.
Altogether I have got mostly good comments on my products
an I am pleased as the as the effect I had aimed for at the
start of the project has been understood and recognised.

14. How did you use media technologies
in the construction and research
planning and evaluation

15. Research and Planning
At the start of my project I used
YouTube and trailer addict to
watch trailers and it helped me to
decide on which genre I would
pick. I also used Google and
Google images to find horror film
poster and DVD covers to find out
the conventions they use and
which conventions I want to use in
my products. I also used a variety
of Microsoft documents, in the
end I used power point to analyse
my chosen DVD and film poster
covers.

16. Construction
• This part of the film making is where it began to be more hands on
technology, for example hand held cameras and editing programmes, as I
could finally put to practise some of my initial ideas.
• I used Macamedia fireworks and Adobe Photoshop Element to edit my
chosen pictures, for my DVD and poster cover. This was useful to get the
right effects I wanted to use to get maximum horror feel about the
products. As I felt that fireworks was the best programme to use for effect
and professionalism I decided to use it for my DVD cover and Film poster. I
used Photoshop to edit the photos I choose for the covers, I added effects
to them to give an eerie feel about them and for them to look more
professional.
• For the filming and editing of my trailer I used a digital video camera and
Pinnacle video editing. Once the footage was shot and uploaded onto
pinnacle all that was left to do was edit the clips together. I also used
pinnacle to add transitions (fades) and titles and taglines.

17. Overall how effective is the
combination of your main products
and your ancillary products
The two ancillary texts (DVD Cover and Film Poster) and my main product
(Film Trailer) all work well together to create what could be a realistic film.
Horror conventions are within all of my products and reflect those of real media
products. My DVD cover and film poster both share some similarities such as I
have used the same character on both ancillary texts and have focused on him
in all my products as he is the main character and he stars solely in my trailer.
With my film poster I have been unconventional as most poster are filled with
information and pictures of the film but I have opted to only use 2 photos which
aren't the main attention in the poster, Instead I have decided use writing to
grab the attention of the audience. This also links in with my unconventional
start of my trailer as it gives you the reason why the character is being
haunted.
After looking over everything I have evaluated, by combination of vast amounts
of new technologies, I believe my two ancillary texts and main product work
together in challenging, using and developing real media products.