For all of the products, I have gained audience feedback in one way or another. For the trailer, I used FaceBook and for the poster and the magazine cover, I created a survey using Microsoft Word. In terms of feedback for the trailer, it is difficult to infer anything more than we succeeded, and the trailer looks professional and crisp. All of the comments for the trailer were positive and I gained no constructive criticisms - from this, I can safely say that the trailer was a complete success, and there isn't much more I could improve if I was to do it again. I have learnt that my skills with Final Cut Pro were definitely put to the test, however they have improved greatly and I would say that I am at a good enough level to make a professional and convincing trailer.
In terms of what I have learnt from audience feedback on the poster, there is a fair amount to talk about. The fact that 100% of people said that the poster looks professional is a great success. On the other hand, only 60% said that they liked the font of the title. Although the title took me a lot of time to produce and get right, it appears that it isn't as good as it could possibly be. Although I had no written responses in this feedback, I can infer that the possible reason for why the title font is not as good as it could be is because it is too simple and does not tell the reader a great deal about the film. There are also no strong connotations that can be linked with the title, which again highlights the lack of depth. The other questions were answered in a positive manner, therefore the title is the only issue. As I have now completed the poster, I will not be changing it however if I were to do the promotional package again, this would be something that I would consider.
Finally, the feedback in regards to the magazine must be considered. The majority of the feedback that I received was positive apart from the question that asked if they liked the shape of the puff. As little as 50% said that they didn't, which was really surprising as other people I asked said that it worked really well with the genre of the magazine. As I was unsure for why this was the case, I asked a few of them why they didn't like the shape. All but one of the people said that it looked too much like a sticker and didn't work with the type of magazine that I was promoting. The other person said it was the colour (this was not what I asked so this will be discarded). The sticker look was actually what I wanted to achieve as it makes the page look slightly 3D and 'grabable'. Obviously 4 people disagree with my opinion, however this should be taken lightly as a wider range of people would have made this question more accurate. This is why I now know that it is important to ask a wide range of people (preferably 20) as well as asking them to write a written response for their choices. The reason for why I didn't ask for a written response this time round is because in the past, written responses put people "off" taking part in the questionnaire.
Thursday, 17 January 2013
Evaluation - How effective is the combination of your main products and ancillary texts?
For my promotional package, I had to create a trailer, a magazine cover, and a poster. It was important that the magazine cover and the poster linked well with the trailer as synergy was vital. As you know, the title of the film is "SHUTDOWN", which is presented in a destroyed font that is white and cracked. Although it would have been unique to create three different versions of the title for the three different media pieces, I wanted the audience to instantly recognise that it was the same film and that they were just different pieces of promotion. This synergy was very important as audience feedback from others stated that they all knew what the film was after seeing the trailer. I know that other films in the same genre have failed with this aspect as the poster for example is completely different from the trailer - the audience sometimes get confused and don't know if it is the same film.
Another way for why the combination of my main product and the ancillary texts are effective, is because of the colour scheme used throughout. In this case, I used lots of blacks, reds, and whites. Not many film companies used these colours as they are sometimes too dark for central images etc. however I wanted a monochrome look that allowed things in white to "jump" off the page and really stand out. The trailer is very dark throughout and the lighting does not look artificial at all. The poster is also very dark and so is the magazine cover. The magazine cover however uses red to its advantage as the red text tag lines are the important articles that the reader should know about. I think I did a really good job of keeping the colour scheme consistent throughout my promotional package and I see the end result as a great success.
Another aspect that I think is very important to discuss in regards to this question is how I delivered this concept that there was two binary oppositions - a good side and a bad side. In the trailer, this was very easy to bring across as I was able to show the zombies (bad) fighting the soldiers (good). The zombies were very shocking whereas the soldiers did look like humans who were on a mission. The poster was a little more difficult as many posters do not include a lot of content and usually do not tell the reader much about the film. After careful thought, I came up with the idea of using an eye with a reflection of a wounded soldier. This actually turned out to work very well as it looks as if an evil zombie is watching the soldier die in pain - many people will instantly think that the zombie has caused this mess and is going to do more damage. Finally, there was the magazine to consider. As you know, the central image is of a soldier pointing his weapon off-screen. Now although we cannot see what or who he is trying to eliminate, we can infer that it is something bad due to his facial expression and tensed up body. In a lot of cases, the imagination of the reader can be far more powerful compared to showing them exactly what the problem is. This is why I think I made the right choice in terms of the magazine image and how it was composed.
To conclude, I believe that the effectiveness of my main product and the ancillary texts is very positive and high. The ancillary texts are easily linked to the main product and conventions have been followed. Audience feedback also highlights that the promotional package has achieved its original objectives and that it works very well as a zombie apocalypse film.
Another way for why the combination of my main product and the ancillary texts are effective, is because of the colour scheme used throughout. In this case, I used lots of blacks, reds, and whites. Not many film companies used these colours as they are sometimes too dark for central images etc. however I wanted a monochrome look that allowed things in white to "jump" off the page and really stand out. The trailer is very dark throughout and the lighting does not look artificial at all. The poster is also very dark and so is the magazine cover. The magazine cover however uses red to its advantage as the red text tag lines are the important articles that the reader should know about. I think I did a really good job of keeping the colour scheme consistent throughout my promotional package and I see the end result as a great success.
Another aspect that I think is very important to discuss in regards to this question is how I delivered this concept that there was two binary oppositions - a good side and a bad side. In the trailer, this was very easy to bring across as I was able to show the zombies (bad) fighting the soldiers (good). The zombies were very shocking whereas the soldiers did look like humans who were on a mission. The poster was a little more difficult as many posters do not include a lot of content and usually do not tell the reader much about the film. After careful thought, I came up with the idea of using an eye with a reflection of a wounded soldier. This actually turned out to work very well as it looks as if an evil zombie is watching the soldier die in pain - many people will instantly think that the zombie has caused this mess and is going to do more damage. Finally, there was the magazine to consider. As you know, the central image is of a soldier pointing his weapon off-screen. Now although we cannot see what or who he is trying to eliminate, we can infer that it is something bad due to his facial expression and tensed up body. In a lot of cases, the imagination of the reader can be far more powerful compared to showing them exactly what the problem is. This is why I think I made the right choice in terms of the magazine image and how it was composed.
To conclude, I believe that the effectiveness of my main product and the ancillary texts is very positive and high. The ancillary texts are easily linked to the main product and conventions have been followed. Audience feedback also highlights that the promotional package has achieved its original objectives and that it works very well as a zombie apocalypse film.
Tuesday, 15 January 2013
Feedback from others on trailer
Although the trailer is now finished, I still wanted to know what other people thought of it as Campbell and I did spend a lot of time on both the editing side and the filming side. Below is a screenshot that shows some of the comments we received on FaceBook:
Both Campbell and I are very pleased with the feedback that we received and the amount of interested it generated in such a short space of time. I think we have done really well with the creation of the trailer, and hopefully we succeed with our posters and magazine covers.
Feedback from others on magazine
In order to conclude the creation of my magazine, I have generated some feedback to see if there is any room for improvement. Below is the feedback that I received:
I am pleased with the feedback I have received as it all suggests that I have done a good job with creating the magazine. I am a little disappointed that only half the people liked the shape of the puff, so this may be a feature that I will have to change in the near future. Likewise I understand Phil's comment about the central image being too dark so I may make it a little lighter. Overall, I accept and understand the feedback that I have received.
I am pleased with the feedback I have received as it all suggests that I have done a good job with creating the magazine. I am a little disappointed that only half the people liked the shape of the puff, so this may be a feature that I will have to change in the near future. Likewise I understand Phil's comment about the central image being too dark so I may make it a little lighter. Overall, I accept and understand the feedback that I have received.
Feedback from others for poster
In order to conclude the creation of my poster, I have generated some feedback to see if there is any room for improvement. I originally planned on using SurveyMonkey to conduct this feedback however the servers were down. Below is the feedback that I received:
Based on the feedback that I received, I do not think that there is much room for improvement and the comments were generally positive. I think that I have been very successful with the poster that I have created and there isn't anything that I would do differently in the future.
Based on the feedback that I received, I do not think that there is much room for improvement and the comments were generally positive. I think that I have been very successful with the poster that I have created and there isn't anything that I would do differently in the future.
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