Welcome to MANIA

As a group we decided to do a Social Realist film, based upon choices and decisions that our main protagonist has to chose.

View our Final Teaser Trailer

View our Final Poster

View our Final Website 

View our Draft Teaser Trailer 

View our YouTube Account

View our Twitter

View our Facebook

Something Extra

We produced an extra product in the form of our own extended project. We created a bloopers video to again show that we can use digital technology with ease, and to remember how much fun we had creating our trailer and ancillary tasks.

Our Best Bits

http://prezi.com/ry_ikzxwresi/present/?auth_key=upp9eit&follow=mqitlfwj20pb&kw=present-ry_ikzxwresi&rc=ref-36019491

Evaluation Question 3 Script

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

When looking at our audience feedback we used three main ways of asking our target audience – Facebook, Survey's and Verbal feedback. We ensured that there was an opportunity for internal and external feedback before and during the development of our trailer, to help broaden our knowledge and any potential areas that we could improve on.

We used Facebook, as this has the use of the 'like' button and the ability to comment on the video straight away and we were able to target a large audience quickly. We knew this would be a great site to use as it is the most popular social networking site and the one that most of our target market spend most time on. 

The video we posted onto Facebook received a total of 37 likes, so already we knew that people were enjoying our trailer because they had shown this through the like button. 

We used one person's specific feedback about our storyline, and how maybe there should be a further hook to the plot. This helped us to seek further development into the shots we used in the actual trailer and how we kept our audience hooked. Our teachers advised us to add shots such as the art gallery shots, the slap and the pregnancy test shot to add to the tension and drama of our protagonist's life.

It was clear also from our facebook feedback that the shots such as the paintbrush in the water at the end and the reverse shots were very effective.

Before we started filming, we sent out a survey using a well-know free Survey website called survey monkey. We used this as we were able to target our audience using e-mail as we could select the years (and therefore the ages) that we wanted to target. We asked questions such as who they rebelled against the most and why they may rebel. Although our concept of our trailer changed from focussing on rebellion to her family life and achieving her dream, the feedback we received was very useful because we used the comments about parents. We used these as our protagonist's art dream is almost a sense of rebellion against her father, so this research was key in the making of our  trailer.

We also used our fellow class students as well when searching and recieving feedback, through our screening day and throughout lessons. At one point we were struggling to decide which soundtrack to use and asked our classmates, who are within our target audince, to vote. They chose the piece of music with a better build-up towards our trailer and the timings of when the music finished as the other music option felt like a very sudden cut off. Using this emotional single piano was also effective when confirmed by our classmates as well when they told us 'they had goosebumps' whenever they watched it. This audience feedback helped us confirm the mood and emotion our trailer was going to depict and thus helped our end product. 

In terms of our poster, we created a vote on our Facebook page as well, to see whether our target audience preferred one of the options. We asked them again to 'like' which one they preferred and after 30 minutes, Poster option 1 was the clear favourite, with 80 likes and poster option 2 had just 3 likes, so this was an apparent indication of which one our target market preferred. We also asked for comments on why they had picked the other option and people said that they felt the picture was more effective and more eye catching rather than with option 2 poster, using a plain black background.

We learnt from our classmates as well from when we showed them our initial website, that we should change the font if possible, so that there was more continuity between our media products. Also the original background photo was one of our protagonist in the distance and they wanted a photo which showed more of her face and emotion that the trailer has. So we changed the photo with the advice of our target audience feedback.

Overall, audience feedback has been key to improving our trailer, poster and website, and helped us to see different options and how to improve our media products from their point of view, which was vital. 

http://maniafilm2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/audience-profile.html

http://maniafilm2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/target-audience-youtube.html

http://maniafilm2013.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/survey.html

http://maniafilm2013.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/update-on-our-social-networking-and.html

Evaluation Question 4 Script

How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation?

When planning our media text we made sure we took advantage of the media technologies which were available to us, so that we could be extra clear on our target audience and what our market want to see, before we start constructing and filming. We used a well-known survey site called Survey monkey, to enable us to ask our target audience, important and vital questions that we wanted to know about our genre and what they wanted to see. This technology meant that we could post this website link on any social networking site or send it in an e-mail and people are able to answer this anonymously, but only if they have the link. This means we were able to control who answered our survey, therefore making it more valid as we know it was going to the correct target age and gender.

We also used a new technology called Google Doc’s which is an online database, which stores word documents, or PowerPoint presentations, which are able to accessed by people who have the e-mail and password. This was particular useful when we used this to upload our script, which meant that other group members were able to access it at any computer and print off their own copy, therefore speeding up the process and meaning that people can view it whenever they need to as well. This is free and enabled us to progress with our planning faster as we were all able to access the same point and share resources to work as a team.

When starting our constructing, we had managed to borrow a very high quality camera to film our footage on. This was accompanied by a tripod which helped us achieve a steady shot, and meant that we were able to edit the focus and light exposure on the camera without having to hold it up. There was also an autofocus setting on the camera, however we turned this off when we wanted to time when we wanted a particular point focussed on. This was important when we filmed the shot of the main protagonist looking towards her father and there is a pull in the focus as it turns from the focus on her cheek to her father in the foreground of the shot. This is very effective as it automatically focuses the viewer on the object which is more visible to the eye and shows that we want them to take notice of the in-focus object or character in this case.

When it came to editing our footage, we used our school I-Mac’s which were equipped with the latest i-movie software. This software enabled us to cut, crop, edit, change, swap, zoom, slow down, speed up and manipulate our footage to the effect that we wanted. One of the importances of the i-movie software for our one was that it enabled us to download our iconic font (helveticamazing) onto the software so that it was an available option for our title at the end. This enabled continuity within our media products and without this ability; it would look dated and disconnected with our poster and website.

The i-mac’s also had an important technology of editing the sound, with particular gages and bars which we were able to see when the music or the dialogue was too loud or too quiet. With the i-movie software we were able to edit this and the volume, with options such as ‘ducking’ which meant the soundtrack beneath the clips were lowered slightly and the dialogue at that point was able to be heard better. There is also an in-built microphone in the computer, which was of a high quality. This meant that we were able to record overdubs of the dialogue which wasn’t quite loud enough and also add extra lines such as ‘Dad, please please don’t hurt me’ which added to the eerie effect of the contrapuntal sound of her doing her art and the voice being heard over the top of the footage.

We were also able to use websites such as dafont.com when constructing our trailer, poster and website as we could download a legally free font that we wanted to use, this was called helvetica amazing. This gave our branding of ‘Mania’ more of an individual touch rather then simply using the fonts which automatically come with imovie such as Times New Roman.

When looking towards our evaluation, we mainly used social media and online technologies to establish what was needed for improvement and for feedback. We uploaded our two poster options to FaceBook and asked users to ‘like’ which one they preferred and within an hour we have a total of 120 responses, which shows the extent of how fast online technology can move and how quickly people can find answers to questions.

We also used YouTube to upload our first draft as users are able to comment, and when uploading to YouTube we also received a link which we posted on our other sites we were involved with such as Facebook and Twitter. With these fast links and the ability for users of social networking websites to view a video or photo in a simple click, this meant that more people were able to respond to our ‘posts’ rather than say if we sent out a mailed questionnaire or asked questions in person.

Evaluation Question 4

How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation?

Final Storyboard

Film Production Company

Every film has the name of their production company at the start of the film. We decided that as a group we would create our own one, this was so our trailer would seem more genuine and professional. It’s also individualistic as it wouldn’t have been used anywhere else. So the audience can instantly recognise the production company and link it to our trailer.

We decided to call our production company ‘Absolute Productions’ this is because absolute can be seen as being true and realistic to daily life, this relates back to our 'social realist' genre, as social realist films focus on topical and real issues of a modern society.

 The use of droplets is a representation of our trailer; this is obvious as the use of water droplets occurs twice within the trailer. The first is at the beginning of the trailer and the second is at the end of the trailer when a paintbrush falls in to a bucket of water. The fact these are the beginning and end images shows the significance of this image.

Evaluation Question 2 Script

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?

As a group we decided that our ancillary tasks should all be linked so the audience are able to make a resemblance betweens the both the poster and the website. We chose to do this by having the same font in each task, as typography is a running theme throughout. We felt that this was effective as it meant the audience could instantly recognise our media task and could relate back to it.

We took a lot of inspiration form social realist films Fish Tank and This is England, we found that the titles were usually bold as to stand out and take your attention. We used this effect on our on all of our ancillary tasks, we used the font Helvetica amazing as we agreed that it stood out and has a gritty feel which relates back to our chosen genre.

The use of a tagline is an important factor in the advertisement of a film, it something that the audience will remember and will stay with them. Our chosen tagline relates back to the choice our main protagonist has to make, its hard hitting and also includes her love for art in the tagline

We the main inspiration for our poster from the film Fish Tank mainly due to the similar plot and genre, the photos of our main protagonist that we have used are also similar to those of Fish Tank.  The link has been made because both posters show a sad, fed up girl who wants to fulfil a dream she cannot achieve without risk. We decided to use different pictures for the website and poster to give our product more variety and to give the audience an idea of her struggle. The photos on the website all show our main protagonist in such a way that it makes the audience feel sympathy for her as the photos are mostly close ups of the girls face.

We looked at the websites for other films in our genre and found that the trailers were usually shown on the main page, this is so the audience can watch the trailer soon as they go on the website as it would be hard to miss, we decided ours should be the same, as by making it stand out more people are likely to watch it.

To combine our ancillary tasks and main product together we placed links to our Facebook, Youtube, Blogger and Twitter pages to allow an opinion from our audience, this was important as it meant our audience could participate in our media task and give us positive and negative feedback which could help further improve our final product. The date of release is also clearly shown on our website, this is to give basic information to the audience so they will know when to watch it.

We got the main inspiration for our poster from Fish Tank mainly due to the similar plot and genre. The use of a classification is important as it establishes your target audience, we used the rating 15 in our poster, and this is due to the sexual and emotional scenes seen in the trailer.

We used the Cannes film festival as a possible award in our trailer and on our poster, this is to let the audience to know about our genre as the Cannes film festival is usually associated with short independent films. Our ancillary tasks mostly conform to code and conventions of a social realist film, the shot of the dad with the belt in our trailer demonstrates this has it shows the struggle our main protagonist has in her way.

I believe combination of our main product and ancillary texts worked together effectively; each one is clearly linked as they use the same font and colour schemes throughout.

Evaluation Question 3

What have you learnt from your Audience Feedback?

http://maniafilm2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/audience-profile.html

http://maniafilm2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/target-audience-youtube.html

http://maniafilm2013.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/survey.html

http://maniafilm2013.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/update-on-our-social-networking-and.html

Evaluation Question 2

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?

Roland Barthes (Enigma Code)

The Enigma Code is a theory by theorist Roland Barthes which suggests that a text (whether that be television, film, a poster etc) has a mystery which helps to attract the audience and make them more intrigued in the piece. It makes them ask questions regarding the text. For example in Thriller films or mysteries the question the audience may be wanting to know the answer to could be 'who committed the crime'.
Our trailer has elements of Barthes enigma theory as it is never revealed to the audience whether or not our main protagonist fulfills her dreams of art or stays at home with her abusive father.
This factor makes our trailer have an aspect of mystery which can lead to the audience becoming more intrigued in our product.

Publicity

To make sure that our trailer was seen by a wide variety of audiences we made sure we created accounts on the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter.
We also have a Youtube account so people interested in our trailer can track our progress and view various videos we have made during the process.
We made use of the website Survey Monkey, this was to create a survey for our audience so they could give feedback to our ideas.
It is important that we made our trailer widespread, as it allows our audience to give an opinion on our trailer and so we can receive feedback which can help us to further improve our trailer.
We placed links to these sites on our website and blog so the audience can easily access information.

The Kuleshov Effect applied to our Trailer

The Kuleshov Effect is a film editing montage effect demonstrated by Russian filmmaker Lev Kuleshov in the 1910s and 1920s. It is the process of taking a single shot of one thing (e.g. a man's face) and placing a variety of shots after it. Kuleshov used the experiment to indicate the usefulness and effectiveness of film editing.
Below is a video of the Kuleshov Effect in action.

The Kuleshov effect can be applied to our teaser trailer as there are certain instances where we have used editing to create a certain idea without actually showing it literally. For example, when the main female is sitting on the bed with the male and he says "have you not done this before" we instantly assume that he is talking about sex, despite actually seeing any sexual references. Purely because it is a male and a female sitting on a bed the audience think it is about sex. Additionally, when we see the medium shot of the father walking towards the screen with the belt in his hand, we automatically assume he is going to use it in a violent way on his daughter. This effect is useful as we can inform the audience of what  is happening without actually having to show it visually.

Feedback from Screening

We were given the opportunity to present our trailer to the year 12 media classes in our school. This was a fantastic opportunity to get feedback on whether they felt we matched the conventions of our genre and whether they would be inclined to go and see the film.

We handed out a questionnaire to each person containing a variety of questions from "Would you watch this film?" to "What are the three main themes?". As you can see from a few of the responses above, everyone generally had the same answers. All of the participants noticed that it was a social realism, as well as being aimed at females and for the 16-21 year old age group. We also received an overwhelming amount of compliments on the adventurous story line as the participants thought it was quite challenging. The majority of the responses noted that the main themes were abuse, relationships and having a dream.

From the feedback, we can feel confident that through our use of shots and work in post production we have created an effective and appealing social realist teaser trailer.

Reflection

The overall experience of making a teaser trailer has been challenging, however extremely rewarding. As a team we have worked together to create a high quality trailer, website, poster and blog. We gelled well as a group as we could each bring something different to the final product. Bronwen is skilled when it comes to using iMovie software, the Wix website and most of the technical aspects. She was also the director during the filming of our trailer. Joe participated as an actor and spent a lot of time researching before we produced our product, which was essential as we needed to fit the brief and match our genre. I spent a lot of time in pre-production designing the storyboard and researching different theorists. I was also selected to be the main actress in the trailer. Acting was not something I had done much of before however the task was fun and successful. Over the past year, each of us have enjoyed working together and we believe we have become experienced, well rounded individuals in the media department. 

Audience Profile

This was our audience profile so that we could clearly direct our trailer at our specific target audience. Having a specific character in mind helped us to make our decisions and include aspects such as the Sex scene, the bad boyfriend and the pregnancy test into our trailer because we knew that our character 'Gemma' would be attracted to it.

Click on the picture to see the 'ideal' viewer