Directors Commentary - 'Deadline'



Directors Chair Interview Q4: 'How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages'?

For all stages of the overall project we had relied heavily on new and old media technologies to help us make our media products as good as possible. The research stage involved us looking at numerous teaser trailers and we had used websites such as ‘YouTube’ and ‘Trailer addict’ which allowed us to search and find almost any trailer we wanted. This was especially useful when looking for trailers that matched our targeted genre such as Taken, The Town etc. Another part of the research stage was finding good locations for us to film. There were numerous occasions when we weren’t physically able to get to certain locations, so websites like ‘Google Earth’ and ‘Google Maps’ had helped us tremendously. The use of these new websites had made things a lot easier so we were able to conduct more research as a result of this. When researching the preferences of our target audience we used a new website called ‘Survey Monkey’ which allowed us to post questionnaires which asked a number of questions that had ultimately helped us when we started the production phase of the project. ‘Blogger’ was a website that we had used constantly which enabled us to record our planning, development and we could also make the necessary changes to improve our overall products. Organization tools such as storyboards, shot lists and plot ideas were all recorded onto our personal blogs and were easily accessible.

Last year we were given fairly average camcorders so the quality of our overall product had lacked as a result of this. This year we were given brand new ‘Panasonic HDC’ camcorders which enabled us to get more definition and higher quality shots. The camera also was much easier to use, primarily due to the responsive touch screen and simple layout. Another form of technology we used again was ‘I-movie 09’ which we had experience in due to last year’s project. We were familiar with the programs capabilities so we were able to edit much faster and add in new editing techniques that made the teaser trailer look more professional. These techniques included changing the colour and saturation of certain shots.

This year we had two ancillary tasks on top of the teaser trailer which included a poster and magazine cover. We had used ‘Photoshop CS5’ during the production phase of these products and it allowed us to use a wide variety of visual effects which had made our products look a lot more interesting. ‘Paintbrush’ was another program new program and was used to create the gun shot effect in our teaser trailer. This program was very similar to ‘Paint’ which made it quick and easy to use.

Directors Interview Q3: 'What have you learned from your audience feedback'?

Following the post-production of our media products we had focused on gaining a large quantity of audience feedback as this would inform us on if we had met our target audience’s preferences. We had posted our product on a number of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. These sites allowed people to post comments on what they thought of our product. We had also interviewed a number of people after the production. Although we had gained a lot of response’s our main source of feedback came through word-of –mouth where people could tell us directly their thoughts and opinions on our product and how we could have improved it.

One of our main points of praise from audiences was the choice of camera shots and music which combined well to give very atmospheric feel. The mise-en-scene was another point of interest for audiences such as the costumes and props. It created an enhanced sense of realism and seriousness which was one of our aims when creating the teaser trailer. One of the main criticisms with our trailer was the unclear narrative or plot which made it somewhat difficult for audiences to understand what was going on. However, our research on teaser trailers had informed us that teasers don’t necessarily have to make the story of the film clear, but they definitely have to make audiences want to watch more which according to our overall feedback was a goal we had achieved.

Directors Chair Interview Q2: 'How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts'?

‘Overall, we had gained a lot of good feedback on each of our media products and also on the media package itself. All of the products seemed to convey the genre of the film well and each created a very atmospheric feeling towards the audience. Although, the majority of the feedback we had gained was affirmative there was some constructive criticisms such as the poster and magazine cover including two different characters as its centrepiece. This aroused some confusion as to who the main protagonist was due to the lack of continuity between our poster and magazine cover. Another minor fault with our poster was the fact that it had the names of actors that were not present in the trailer such as Tom Cruise and Jessica Alba. This is obviously unrealistic but is easily corrected so it wasn’t much of a problem.

 

Our teaser trailer had received a lot of good comments as it clearly informed the audience of the genre and created a lot suspense and tension. The red title shot at the end of the trailer was good as it was bold, eye-catching and helped to convey some of the themes of our product such as blood, danger and death. One criticism was with the unrealistic gunshot which I had created using a program called ‘Paintbrush’. I had originally aimed to create the gun shot effect using a website called ‘Footage Crate’ but was unable to do so due to limited accesses'.



Directors Chair Interview Q1: 'In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products'?

‘In our teaser trailer we have used, developed as well as slightly challenged the forms and conventions of real media products. Are aim at the beginning was making our teaser trailer seem as professional as possible but we also wanted to have some unique aspects and originality. Before we had even started the production process of our teaser trailer we had conducted extensive research on real media texts and the conventions they use to make their products as effective as possible. The targeted genre of our teaser trailer was crime/suspense thriller. We had found that these types of teaser trailers do a great job of building the tension for the audience by gradually increasing the pace of shots and their use of music to create atmosphere. In our teaser trailer we had replicated this convention by having a slow paced scene in the exposition of our trailer and then having a very fast paced conclusion. Teaser trailers are meant to excite and attract audiences without giving away the narrative of the film and we have definitely emulated this convention in our teaser trailer. Another aspect of crime thrillers was an assassin character which we had used in our teaser trailer. There were many examples of thrillers which use assassin characters such as ‘Vincent’ from the film ‘Collateral’ and ‘James Bond’ from the ‘Bond’ series. These assassin characters also have very smart costumes which is another convention we have adapted to our own assassin character. The smart costume represents professionalism and gives the trailer a higher sense of verisimilitude. One way in which we have challenged the conventions of crime thrillers, is by having our assassin character as the main protagonist in our trailer. This is quite uncommon as the assassin character in real media texts is usually the antagonist'.

'Our primary focus when creating our magazine cover was making it look as professional as possible. We wanted to replicate the forms and conventions of real media texts and had focused our research on two popular film magazines ‘Empire’ and ‘Total Film’. We had found that these magazine covers do a great job of drawing the audience’s attention through its use of visual effects, unique typography and striking images of the main characters. ‘Empire’ magazine was our main focus however as we had really liked the bold red title and the consistent layout the magazine had adopted which had made it very eye-catching and interesting.  Three particular Empire covers was are main source of inspiration such as (Public Enemies) July 2009 issue, (Quantum of Solace) October 2008 issue and (Inception) August 2010 issue. All of these particular cover centred on the main protagonist in the film and included mise-en scene such as black suits, guns and serious facial expressions which created a very dark atmosphere. We had used these conventions on our magazine cover by having the main protagonist in a black suit, looking very serious and focused. These specific parts of mise-en-scene had clearly informed the audiences of what genre our film was as we had gained good feedback from audiences. To create the magazine cover we had used Adobe Photoshop CS5 and we were able to implement other forms and convention such as barcodes, taglines and screenshots of the latest films which overall made our magazine cover look that much more professional'.

'Our film poster was a media product that we wanted to appear unique but at the same time we had still followed the main forms and conventions that professional film posters use to make it impactful and interesting. Firstly, we had used dark lighting and colour schemes to create a shady atmosphere. The use of black is common colour used in crime thrillers and can be used to represent the good and evil aspect in our film. Our poster had also centred on one of the key protagonists in our film which another convention that is used to inform the audience of the main character. We had again used ‘Adobe Photoshop CS5’ which allowed us to add in other characteristics or real film posters such as actor’s names, taglines and film credits. One way in which we have challenged the conventions of real film posters is the small range of colours we have used which is quite uncommon for thriller genre posters’.

Inspiration of Key Shots in Trailer

Presentation1.Pptx Media 

Final Teaser Trailer Analysis

Below is a detailed analysis of our teaser trailer which I had personally analysed.

Deadline Teaser Trailer Analysis

Magazine Cover Audience Feedback

Below is a video showing some of the feedback we had gained on our magazine cover. We had asked random people in our college what they had thought and had made sure to ask the people that were in our target audience.