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

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

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

In creating my product I had to be constantly aware of the effect it may have on the audience. For example I had to look at different audience theories, as horror movies are known for having negative effects on a viewer. In looking at the film, I had to research into the mass audience, as opposed to a niche audience, as that was who my film was targeted at. Looking at the effects model, I had to consider that my piece of work could have an influencing effect on an audience that a passive audience are powerless against, naturally in seeing the violent images, typically seen in a horror film and trailer. Though, in creating a horror trailer through audience research it was made clear that what attracted an audience were these violent images. The fear in creating a horror film, is the risk of The Bobo Doll Experiment being applied to violence seen in real life. The experiment by Bandura, showed a group of children who watched a video where a doll was being violently attacked lead them to react in the same way, copying the violence they had seen. This can be applied to cinema and particularly horror films as there are accounts where violence in cinema is copied as shown in the Jamie Bulger case. Though, this is more common in a younger viewer, so to avoid such effects I have restricted my film to an 18 minimum. Obviously, this doesn’t account for when the film is sold and may be shown to people under the restriction, however it does mean that the film is clearly certificated to prevent that from happening. Similarly, if my film is leaked on the internet it may be available for a younger audience; I can hope to avoid this by releasing the film as soon as possible after it has been shown in cinema. In terms of adult viewing possibly being influenced by the violence in my film, in order to attract the audience there must be violent images as shown by my survey it is what attracts a viewer. In my audience response there was no clear indication that the audience may be influenced by the trailer, or the violent images. This draws on the idea that the audience may be attracted to the film for catharsis, this can be developed in looking at users and gratifications theory. This essentially leaves the power of the product with the audience, in this instance my audience research proves that an audience is drawn to the product for both diversion and escapism. A horror film can be cathartic in being able to escape from reality and feel suspense, fear, anger, almost overwhelming emotions to leave the cinema feeling calm almost unloading all these emotions, being in control of their consumption helping them with shaping their personal identity. It can also aid in a social identity for the young adult target audience, as they may go with friends as a social event. When asked if they would watch the film the audience predominantly said yes as it looked good. Though one member of the audience said they would be too scared so they probably wouldn’t go unless it was with friends, proving that this theory applies. One piece of audience feedback that particularly interested me however, was the idea that due to the style of filming and the fact that the characters are trapped within a confined space there will be a slight big brother feel. In some ways this reinforces the theory by Steve Hall that the active audience will read a message within the text. This taught me there are many complex levels to the film. The mise-en-scene, specifically setting of the underground bunker, type room in darkness, would make the audience feel inclosed themselves in the dark cinema. This increases fear, increasing the effects previously said. This removes responsibility from the director, ignoring the initial intention, or meaning and allowing the active audience to create their own interpretation.

Overall, my audience research taught me about the mass audience, and the mainstream fans of horror. This brought me to focus on how my film can target and appeal to these audiences. In researching the audience, I learned how the conventions of not only horror but also narrative can be adapted to make the film more appealing. In filming I learned what shot types appeal to the audience, and what elements draw an audience to a film. Similarly, creating the ancillary tasks I learned about conventions how the typical features of a magazine and poster can be adapted to create a new exciting product that can appeal to a wider audience. Specifically though, in creating the horror film my audience research has taught me a lot about applying theory of audience to my audience response, in measuring the effects of my trailer and film. In doing so I have most interestingly learned that film can be open to interpretation, the effect a film -or specifically a horror film- can have on an audience is dependent on the person.

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

Slideshare technologies from missbrockman

Throughout my project I used a range of different technologies to produce and present my planning, production and final products. By combining the strengths of each technology I was able to create successful final products. For example I used, Photoshop to edit an image that was later featured in my trailer, which I made on imovie. Due to advances in modern technologies, and these technologies being ready available to me I was able to make a successful products. Throughout the process of creating the products I depended on these technologies for even the simplest processes such as uploading images to the computer using a USB, which before would have been taken on camera, printed and had to be scanned in. Now, I am able to upload the image, or footage seconds after taking it. In the process I was able to use technological convergence, using an ipad and iphone for example specifically during my research stage.
My most vital element in technology particularly, a somewhat new advance in technology is Web 2.0. Web 2.0 allows reader to physically interact  -through user generated content- with the web rather than it being only for physical viewing, like a book. For example, currently I am typing a post to go on my Blog, that will be open on the internet for viewing, others are then able to view this post, and interact with it themselves by posting a comment. Web 2.0 has enabled me to present my ideas, and physically display my thoughts for others. Websites, such as Blogger, Prezi, Educreations allow me through Web 2.0 to physically interact with the internet and post my ideas in an exciting intriguing way, such as my evaluation. In my evaluation I was able to use a range of programmes to present my ideas for viewing.
Web 3.0 develops meaning in the data of computers we are otherwise oblivious to, it essentially means are we able to type and the computer through codes can deduce meaning. In search engines we can ask a question and the computer itself is able to answer that question. With developments such as Siri 2011 on iphone, you can ask Siri a question and Siri is then able to with instruction search the net and find a suitable answer, this makes projects such as this significantly easier as it means any questions we ask, or searches needed can be answered immediately  Even the simplest things can be vital, we may want to know if it is sunny tomorrow as we need to do filming and we cannot do that in the rain, Siri can answer that question more accurately than we could.

Final Draft 'Victim' Horror Trailer

Fourth Draft 'Victim' Horror Trailer

Third Draft 'Victim' Horror trailer