Evaluation Q1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In the picture above, that I edited and created, 9 frames from my trailer can be seen that I believe are the key parts of my trailer that either drive the narrative forward or tell the audience something about either Emily or Will.

1 - Having an ident at the start of a trailer is incredibly conventional and it tells the audience the production company and gives them some credit before the trailer even starts.
2 - Emily (the protagonist) is immediately introduced visually (a birds eye view medium close up) and through audio (her voice is heard as a voice-over; 'So this is my life'). This highlights how important she'll be in the trailer and this soon becomes obvious to the audience as further shots of Emily are seen and the voice-over continues.
3 - I have used another convention of real media products as for my 3rd key frame I have chosen an inter-title. I put various inter-titles throughout my trailer which gives the audience additional information about the film and could entice them to want to see the film more if a marquee name is seen of an actor they like.
4 - Conventions used again through over-the-shoulder shots of the two protagonists meeting for the first time.
5 - Conventions of romance trailers used as the couple are shown happy at first.
6 - Conventions of romance trailers used again as the couple are not happy anymore (Todorov - disequilibrium).
7 - A key moment in the narrative - Emily's attempted suicide - uses conventions of drama trailers and is the moment of heightened emotion/tension.
8 - Emily's heightened emotions continue through montage editing of various shots of her looking sad (this in some ways slightly challenges the conventions of real media products as they would usually continue the narrative slightly and then do a short montage but in my trailer I decided to use montage editing straight after Will says asks how he can try to help.
9 - For a contrast in the montage some shots of Emily and Will happy together are used to show the contrast of emotion in the trailer - this uses the forms of real media products as in a montage various moments in the film are shown.

In-depth Trailer Evaluation (in regard to question 1):

(In this trailer evaluation video I have used YouTube's annotation function and in some cases you may need to pause the video to read all of the annotations).

Poster Evaluation (in regard to question 1):

Magazine Evaluation (in regard to question 1):

Evaluation Q2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Here is an additional link to the Prezi if the embedded link won't work (as sometimes Prezi doesn't allow it to work): https://prezi.com/hprtfy_ijxae/how-effective-is-the-combination-of-your-main-product-and-an/

I'd quickly like to point at that I believe synergy has been achieved through my 3 products. I have used the same typography as you can see below. This creates a branding for my film and would enable me to easily create merchandise to further my profits (by using the font) if I was actually releasing this as a film.

Evaluation Q3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I recently created a survey on SurveyMonkey. These questions were on my promotional package and can be found here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9XJXFQS

Below is a video of me explaining my methods of audience feedback, the strengths, weaknesses, what I have learnt and much more..

During the video it may be useful to refer to the Prezi below that I created as it shows all of the questionnaires and results from my feedback (except for the video of trailer feedback which can be found in this earlier post: http://katyfilmmakera2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/2nd-rough-cut-audience-feedback.html )

Evaluation Q4 - How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

It is worth noting that for my evaluation I also used YouTube Annotation Function. This worked how I wanted it to however it was a bit tricky to input the information as it would often delete words I had just entered. Despite that, I could still use it successfully.

In the 4 mind maps above you can see how I used various media technologies in the research, planning, construction and evaluation stages of my 2nd year of media. I have also outlined the strength and weaknesses of each technology. I tended to use all media technologies that were popular and well known (e.g. YouTube) therefore in most cases any weaknesses I found weren't that important as I could still use the media technology in either one of the stages above. 

Below are screen grabs of when I was using Adobe Premiere Pro and Photoshop. I feel as though through using the software mentioned (and other software) I have personally developed my skills on them as I used them in such a way to get the best 3 products, thus creating an overall promotion package. 

Below is a Prezi further answering this evaluation question.

Poster - 4th Draft

In this draft I added idents to the bottom of my poster as this is conventional of all posters. It's very subtle extra information which I believe adds to the overall sense of professionalism. I have used the picture from my ident for 'Outside The Box' pictures which therefore links to my trailer as you can see that same image in it. Other idents from Film4, Dolby and Working Title have been added which again makes the poster seem more professional.

Poster (3rd Draft) - Questionnaire Results

I showed various members of my target audience the 3rd draft of my poster and asked them to answer these questions. The answers/results can be seen above.

Poster - 3rd Draft

Following some feedback from a target audience member suggesting that the whole photo should focus on the two characters more I have increased the size of the photo (so that Emily and Will are more centralised and become more of a main focus for the poster). I also moved the text 'Some people are worth changing for.' so that it is in between these two characters and therefore directly relates to them both and their relationship. In addition to this I changed the colour of it to blue to match with the title of the film.


I feel it is worth explaining that by saying 'Some people are worth changing for.' I mean that Emily is so precious and important to Will that she is worth him changing his attitude towards depression and how he deals with her.


Further improvements to this poster included the text 'THIS SUMMER' becoming larger and a classification being put in the bottom right hand corner of the poster as it is required to advertise the classification of a film so that people are aware if they are allowed to view it in the cinema or not.


The title of the film 'Perfect Timing' was changed in terms of the font. I used a font that gives a more handwritten effect and has connotations of romance (which this film has). Therefore, I feel it is much more effective. The text above this was also altered in terms of typography to suit the coming of age, teen-angst element of this film.

Poster Questionnaire Results

It is clear that the second variation of my poster is more popular than the first one after asking 16 members of my target audience. Therefore, I will continue to progress using the 2nd format.

Poster - 2nd Draft

After completing the 1st draft of my poster I decided to make another draft using the same photo as the whole poster (as opposed to an image in the centre of the poster). Personally, I prefer this draft as I believe it looks more professional. Tomorrow I will ask members of my target audience which one they prefer (draft 1 or draft 2) and I will post the results. This will give me a better understanding of what my target audience wants to see in a poster that's targeting them.

Poster - 1st Draft

Here is the first draft of my poster. I used Adobe InDesign CC 2014 and as this was the first time using that software I have had to come to grips with the software itself by working my way around it and learning how to do the various things I need. 

Personally, I believe there are a lot of improvements that can be made although I felt that the overall poster could be uploaded as a first draft so the progression can be seen as I begin to improve it. 

I will now show more members of my target audience, collect some feedback and then improve my poster. 

Feedback On My Trailer's Classification

Classification Feedback by katysthename

5th Rough Cut - Perfect Timing

4th Rough Cut - Perfect Timing

In this rough cut I have changed the font of my inter-titles again and kept them consistent throughout except for the final text of 'Perfect Timing' and the final title screen which includes various production information as well as the website of my film. I have changed to a font called 'Loved By The King' which I downloaded and installed from DaFont. I think this font portrays the more teenage angst, coming of age side of my trailer through the script style typography. I think overall this suits the trailer more as it gives the preferred reading that the two characters want a relationship and they want it to work even if it's a struggle.

Here are the 3 steps I took to creating the new titles for my trailer.

3rd Rough Cut - Perfect Timing

In this rough cut I improved upon the quality of the trailer in terms of sound. I used more cross-fades so that sound did not abruptly cut in. As well as this I cut out the sound where Will says, 'You're so beautiful' as this sound wasn't of the highest quality and a hissing sound could be heard in the background. To create a better sense of professionalism I am only including sound that has been recorded well and has no 'hissing' sound.

I also added a fade to black where a MCU of Emily's hand can be seen as it flops down with a knife in her hand (implying that Emily has tried to commit suicide). This fade to black gives the audience a little bit of time to take in what has just happened in the trailer and let them adjust to and realise the fact that the scene is about to change.

In the screenshot below you can see where I have added the dip to black audio transitions. This transition can be adjusted by either lengthening or shortening it depending on how long I want it to last. This may be adjusted in later rough cuts if I feel a different length will be more effective.

The inter-titles I used have been re-arranged and the font changed. At 1:00 I now have a quote that is a mixture of lower case (for the quote) and upper case (for where the quote has come from). An inter-title simply saying 'THIS SUMMER' has also been added which lets the audience know when they should expect the film and look out for it in the cinema. The colour of the font has remained the same (white font on a black background) as I believe this simplicity really captures the audience's attention as there is nothing in the background to distract from the text itself.

The font that I have changed these inter-titles to convey the more serious, drama aspect of my trailer (as it follows the drama genre). This is coming away from the more 'rom-com' idea that was portrayed in my 2nd rough cut through the different font. I think the more serious font is a better choice as it gives more of an emphasis to Emily's depression instead of Emily and Will's relationship.

2nd Rough Cut - Audience Feedback

I showed the 2nd rough cut of my trailer to 4 members of my target audience, 3 of which are media students and 1 is a former media student. Therefore, I felt confident in knowing that the feedback they gave was reliable and also good as they all looked at it in a technical way as well as just watching the trailer for enjoyment. Please watch the video above to see their feedback.

It is also worth noting that I asked 2 females and 2 males and so their is no bias in terms of gender.

2nd Rough Cut - Perfect Timing

In my 4th day of editing I edited and then processed my 2nd rough cut.

The changes I made are as follows:

- Changed soundtrack to 'The Final Soundtrack'
- Further work on filters/grading
- Added in extra clips near the end for the montage

The Final Soundtrack

Further Thoughts on the Soundtrack

Please watch the video below to see me explaining my soundtrack and the decisions I have made involving it. 

Below are some screenshots from Vegas Movie Studio HD (the video editing software I have a home). 

Editing (Day 3) // Production

Today I continued to edit my trailer and I focused on video effects such as grading, and levels (in terms of lighting and colour). 

The aim of this editing session was to try and heighten the moods in my trailer through the colours and levels of light I choose. 

 As you can see in this screenshot I also had to adjust some of the levels on the diegetic dialogue that I recorded on filming day 6. To do this I right clicked on the audio and then clicked 'Audio Gain' and adjusted the level to the volume I felt was appropriate. Unfortunately, for this clip in particular Will talks very quietly and when I increase the gain so that I can hear him the background sound also increases to a level that makes the file sound very fuzzy. I will need to either get around this by putting additional effects on to 'clean' the sound or I will have to cut this dialogue from the trailer. 

1st Rough Cut - Feedback

After showing my 1st rough cut to a group of my target audience I collected feedback from them. The response was balanced; with some good and some bad things said.

The audience seemed to enjoy the overall trailer in terms of it's structure however they didn't like the music choices throughout the trailer (except for the first short segment of acoustic music).

In response to this I will re-write the 3 other pieces in my trailer so that they suit the mood I wish to convey more.

Below is a video of me explaining where I currently am with my trailer (and ancillary products). This film was taken just after receiving feedback from one of my peers. It is worth noting that a couple of hours before this I received feedback from other peers, who were all part of my target audience, and both male and female, to ensure a large range of opinions could be heard and that the response wasn't bias or unreliable in any way.

1st Rough Cut - Perfect Timing

During my third day of editing I finished and then processed the 1st rough cut of my trailer. I realise that in the past I have uploaded 2 rough cuts of my original trailer but since then I have changed the structure of it, therefore making this the 1st proper rough cut of my trailer.

Editing (Day 2) // Post-Production

Today I continued editing in my 2 hour media lesson. I've got to the end of my trailer and now I have an overall structure although it isn't exactly how I want it to be.

Editing (Day 1) // Post Production

Today in my media lesson I imported my files from day 6 of filming and started editing my trailer again (hence why the title of this post is 'editing - day 1' even though i've already edited in the past). I edited around 30 seconds of the trailer and felt I made good progress.

Magazine Cover - 5th, 6th & 7th Draft

In the 5th draft of my magazine cover (which can be seen below) I changed the puff so that the background of it was a solid blue colour and the font was dark brown. I think the solid colour behind the writing works much better and during a discussion with some of my target audience the puff before (where there was no solid background) was a concern as many people felt they couldn't see the words inside the puff easily.

Following the 5th draft, I made further minor improvements (which can be seen in my 6th draft, below). I changed the typography on my puff by making all of the words upper case (in capitals) as this follows the conventions of film magazines (such as Empire) much more due to the fact that the words now stand out more (and many film magazines use all capitals inside their puffs).

In addition to this I changed the colours slightly by making them more bold (for example, the words 'Plus!' and 'Extra!' are in a slightly darker, but brighter shade of blue. As well as this the words 'FILMS, INTERVIEWS & MORE' now have a slightly transparent black outline so that the words stand out slightly more but don't become the main focus on the magazine cover (as I want this to be the mast head and the name of the film).

I showed my 6th draft to a couple of members of my target audience and one pointed out how the words 'AYOADE ON AYOADE' should be moved slightly up. I have done this and it can be seen below in the 7th draft of my magazine cover. By putting those words further up in the text box it's made the different lengths of words work better as the words at the bottom do not stick out so much.

Magazine - Variations of Draft 4 - Questionnaire Results

It is clear to see from these results that the initial version of draft 4 is favoured. Various members of my target audience preferred the writing on the first version as they felt it was simple and contrasted well with the masthead of the magazine. 

I also prefer the first version of draft 4 and therefore I will put the other two to the side and continue improving on that version of my magazine cover.

Magazine Cover - Variations of Draft 4

Following the feedback from the 4th draft of my magazine cover I worked on it by making some of the text more bold, changing some of the colours slightly and changing the font of the words 'Perfect Timing'. I made text such as 'Plus!' and 'Extra!' bolder by adding a thin black outline and reducing the opacity of this outline (therefore, making the black outline not stand out too much).

I now have 3 variations of my magazine cover which I plan to show to my target audience and get them to decide which one they prefer. 

Magazine Cover Draft 4 - Target Audience Feedback

Over the past couple of days I have asked 5 members of my target audience what they thought of my magazine cover. I mainly had to do this through social media (on Facebook) hence why most of the 'further comments' are in my hand-writing. However, both males and females of ages that varied (within my target audience) were asked to complete the questionnaire to ensure that my feedback came from a range of people.

One target audience member wrote a lot of feedback which I have put below as there was too much information to write on my initial sheet of paper. I do feel this feedback is worth sharing so I have put it below.


1. Yes - the only convention I would say it doesn't follow is that unless it is a specific like 'collector's edition' there are generally more varied articles shown on the cover, especially in a 'generic' film magazine as a more specifically genre-d magazine would have fewer potential stories in it due to the limited number of films it could cover.

3. Not exactly - most magazines use stronger colours over pastels (like the colours you have) to grab the attention of the potential reader/buyer. However, the cover does look appealing it's just I think fewer people would notice it in a shop unless they specifically picked up on the fact it doesn't use bright colours and is therefore by comparison more interesting?

4. Yes, as it has Wilhelmina (Emily) on however I would suggest maybe making the type for 'Perfect Timing on the cover the same as in the trailer.

Layouts from Filming // Production

Here are some of the layouts I used back when I was filming. This enabled me to organize the equipment more effectively and tell my actor(s) what I wanted them to do.

Magazine Cover - 3rd & 4th Draft

Below is the 3rd draft of my magazine cover:

I completed this 3rd draft one day after-school by looking at different magazine covers and following the conventions that I found out during my research of magazine covers. The main convention which can be seen in this draft is the use of a 'puff'. I have chosen a golden outline which I feel stands out along with an unusual slightly transparent purple and pink background. The text inside simply tells the consumer some more of the content inside the magazine. 

I continued to improve my cover but I focused on the layout of successful magazines. 

Here is the 4th draft of my magazine cover:

In this draft I centred the main text 'Perfect Timing' as a lot of magazines seem to conventionally do this. I changed the white text to an off-white colour and I added a very slight black shadow to make this important text stand out more.

I also added more text in the same style as 'Plus!' but instead with the word 'Extra!'. These are both buzz words which attract the target audience's attention. The puff was also moved to the left hand side as I feel this looks better in terms of the layout.

Below are some screenshots of the editing process of my magazine cover.

In both of these screenshots you can see how I tried adjusting the puff to make it more visible. 

Magazine Cover - 1st & 2nd Draft

Here is the first draft of my magazine cover (for one of my ancillary products). I am using Adobe Photoshop 2014. This software is new to me so during the making of this first draft I have been coming to grips with different aspects of the programme. 

After completing this I collected feedback from various people.

A film producer told me to remove one of the quotes at the bottom as two weren't needed. He also thought it was important to add who said the quote (e.g. The Times).

One of my media teachers felt as though the masthead ('Visionary') was not big enough. She also thought the words 'PERFECT EXCLUSIVE' should be turned into a banner (by adding a background), and she felt that the small writing of the issue date and price didn't conform to how that information is usually portrayed on magazine covers. She suggested that I should add more information about the content inside the magazine.

After taking this feedback on board here is the 2nd draft of my magazine. I will continue to improve this through further feedback and lots of discussion with my target audience.

In addition to this I added some extra information on the magazine (on the left hand side where it says 'Plus!'). This is conventional of magazine covers as they always have some text that tells the consumer the kind of information inside the magazine so that they are more enticed to buy the magazine. 

I also scanned in a barcode and placed it in the bottom right hand corner of my magazine on it's side as it is conventional to do so. 

What Software? // Post-Production

Now that I have definitely finished filming I felt it was necessary to do a post on the software I am using for my trailer and my ancillary products. Below is a slide show which gives you all the information you need to know about them.

Reflection On Filming - Spoken Commentary

Here you can watch a video of me explaining the overall process of the filming of my trailer and what I feel I have learnt from it. This is accompanied by different shots from the different days of filming.

Rushes From Day 6 of Filming

Here are the rushes I edited together from my final day of filming. I felt as though the day went successfully and I got a large amount of footage which I can use throughout my trailer to make it follow the conventions of a trailer more.

Initial Ideas for Ancillary Products

Here are two ideas I drew up for my two ancillary products.

Some poster ideas:

A Magazine Cover Idea:

 I may use one of these photos for my magazine cover as they are my two favorites out of the ones I have taken so far and I believe they would work well for a magazine cover.