Evaluation

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

Analysing the three different horror trailers at the start of my research enabled me to use some 'traditional' methods of producing a horror trailer. I was able to receive a mixture of techniques due to the trailers' different genres and time periods, and incorporated these with my own original ideas. I challenged the trailers' effect of using different short scenes and quick shots for the opening, by opening my trailer with a slow and steady introduction. I understood that the other trailers had used jump-shots and cut parts from the films to create a build-up for the audience, but I wanted to create my build-up through a radio interview (as a voice-over) where a man is trying to find out about the girl; just as the audience is trying to find out about her. I wanted to keep the audience hooked, maybe even confuse them slightly, with the man asking questions about the "blue room", whether the girl "feels safe in the blue room", and also mentioning her parents.

I decided to begin my trailer from either a long-shot or mid-shot, as this would give me enough time to slowly zoom into the girl and create the tension that I wanted. I didn’t want to reveal her face straight away, but to evoke the audience’s curiosity as she sat there with her head bent and her hair over her face. I applied the “Bad T.V” effect at the beginning and at random points during the zooming in, as this created the disorientated effect I wanted and reflected how the supernatural can interfere with technology and create a bad signal.

Out of the trailers that I had analysed, all of them had begun with long scenes and a slow and paced melody, slowly revealing what the main film would be about. They then used a ‘jump-scare’ as the turning point in their trailer, and after this jump-scare, they would create a build-up of quick shots and speed up the pace of the non-diegetic sound before coming to the climax of the trailer. I used a similar technique in how I used the slowly zooming in at the beginning as the ‘introduction’ to the girl: the audience is slowly finding out about the girl through the man asking questions, and wondering what shehas done or why she is put in the 'blue room'.

I applied several quick-shots during the zooming in to create the build-up, and used these to cut in between the scene at random times, as if they were flashbacks in the girl's life. It also created the distorted and surreal tone I wanted, and because they could be seen as flashbacks, I edited the quick-shots in black and white so that they could also be represented as photographs. This would create a voyeristic effect and relate with how the girl's life is constantly being questioned and invaded.

I used the girl slowly turning her head and staring menacingly into the camera as the 'turning point' of my trailer. The camera slowly draws back and fades into the interrogation scene. In this part of the trailer, I transcended different parts of the scene, as if they were overlapping eachother, and built the tension through the camera slowly panning the women in a circle as they argue. How the different parts of the scene overlap eachother signifies the going back and forth in time, and cuts to significant points of the interrogation when the woman asks the most pressing questions on the girl's mother. After the turning point, I had changed my sample of non-diegetic sound from paced and slow to bolder and faster, as this built the tension and prepared my audience for the climax of the trailer.

I also went against the typical format and order of a horror trailer; instead of featuring a series of quick shots, cut scenes and voice-overs, I divided my trailer into two seperate scenes to give out different parts of information on the girl and what the overall film would be about. I used these as a base for my different flashbacks and quick-shots. Originally, I wanted the girl to be the devil reincarnation. But during the process of my research and planning, I realised that this lacked in originality and I didn't think I would really scare the audience with this idea. Afterall, so many horror films have already featured this, such as "Ghost Ship" and "The Omen", and I wanted to create an original character on my own. Nevertheless, no matter what character I decided to base mine on, I did want my jump-scare at the end of the trailer to involve the girl crawling up the stairs, and to speed this up during editing.

'Spider-walk' scene from "The Exoricist":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-4f_NMUxcY

I had decided to name the girl 'Eve', linking to the story of Adam and Eve and different views on evil and disobediance. I also decided to use this name as the title of my film, as it is simple, and therefore perhaps more effective, and it would also be easy to remember. It was at this stage where I thought about changing the girl to being the reincarnation of Eve, instead of the Devil, and having been banished from the Garden of Eden she became more evil and maybe is now back for revenge? Through this idea, I followed the ideas of many horror films where they use religious imagery to create an eeire and frightening theme. There is something very chilling about the supernatural, as we are unaware of their power and what they can do, and I hadn't heard of a horror film with this similar storyline of Eve becoming evil so I was

pleased that I had developed this.

For my poster and magazine front cover, I applied a number of different effects and techniques that have been used when advertising a horror film. I went against the 'typical' format of a poster by designing mine on a horizontal layout, rather than a vertical one. I wanted the girl's face to take up half of the poster for a maximum impact, and could only do this effecitvely if my poster was horizontal. For both products, I stuck by the 'typical' colours of a horror poster and magazine colour by using dark, symbolic colours such as black, dark grey, and blood red. I also used yellow in my magazine front cover to make the product stand out and contrast with the black and red. I go into furthur detail of evaluating why I chose certain colours and effects i the next question and how these were effective for my target audience.

The Poster:

The Magazine Front Cover:

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

I felt the combination of my trailer with my poster and magazine front cover worked well together. I prefer my poster to my magazine front cover, but both symbolise the themes of my trailer and 'tease' the audience in what the overall film could be about. How the girl stares menacingly into the camera in the poster really attracts the audience as they feel they are being personally victimised by the girl and directly aimed at to watch the film.

Altogether, the main product and the poster and magazine front cover; there are different parts shown of the film. The magazine front cover shows the girl's mixture of identities and how she is fighting to be noticed- hence the slogan, "Eve is back". The poster shows the part where the girl changes her identity and plots revenge against those who judge her, like a "Jekyll and Hyde" schizophrenic theme, whilst the trailer 'teases' the audience into who the girl is and what she has done. I felt it was effective how I showed different parts of the overall film as I wanted to evoke the audience's curiosity and not simply show them one certain 'tone' or theme of the film. I felt using variety was very important.

Above all, I knew the main way to find out whether my poster and magazine front cover were effective was to find out from my target audience. I used Facebook as a way of sending three students from my college the poster and magazine front cover, and using the Facebook Chat to find out what they thought of it and any feedback/criticism they might have had.

Rob Stebbings (aged 18):

I asked Rob who commented on my use of colour in the poster and magazine front colour. He liked the realism of my poster, and how I achieved this through my choice of font. When I asked if he had any criticism, he replied that "maybe if you zoomed into the character's eyes a bit more it would have created a scarier effect. But other than that it's cool!"

Mike Bailey (aged 18):

Mike was more detailed in his feedback than Rob. He commented

on my editing skills in my poster, mentioning that "the technique of image layering is also incorporated, which would normally be seen at a professional level of media advertising, rather than at educational level. The use of text at the bottom of the poster also adds to the authenticity of the overall product."

I had also shown another student at my college, Paige Lawn (aged 17) my poster and magazine front cover during my lesson of Media at college. I spoke to her later that night and asked if she had any feedback. She replied:

"The poster looked so real when you showed me at college! I think it was the only one that was done horizontally, whilst all the others were vertical? So it stood out, and I liked that. The dark colours of the poster told me that the film was a horror or a thriller, and I really liked how you used red for the title only so that it stood out. I thought your magazine front cover wasn't as good as your poster. The poster looked professional, but I didn't think that the magazine did. I did like it though, I just think it needed toning down abit with the colours. I liked how you advertised the other horror trailers from your class on the front page, and didn't talk about actual horror films."

I analysed the poster by writing in note-form of why I chose to edit my poster in this way (click to enlarge). It was only after analysing my film poster where I noticed I had made the mistake of placing the film's classification next to the name of my production company. I quickly changed this and placed it bottom right of my poster, as this is the 'traditional' placement for a British film poster.

My analysis of the Magazine Front Cover in note-form:

- I used the same idea as the 'Empire' magazine I analysed during my planning, with placing the title of my magazine behind the image of the girl. This gave my main character a sense of power, in how she stands in front of it and you can't fully see the magazine's name. The title of my magazine is actually called 'Satire', and looking at my finished product I think I would have made the 't' more obvious so it is easier to tell what the magazine is called. I decided to have my title in red to match my film's genre, and the colour of the title will change with every issue, depending on what type of film they are advertising. 'Satire' magazine does not just promote horror films.

- The main picture was simple to take and simple to edit. How I overlapped the seperate images creates a 'Jekyll and Hyde' theme and how the girl is battling with two identities. It also implies how what you see is never what you get, what goes on behind closed doors, and not everything is how it seems. How she raises her hand up is ambiguous as it suggests that she is either raising her hand up to protect herself or lashing out at a victim.

- She is wearing the same nightie as she wore in the trailer. The white symbolises a ghostly theme and maybe purity, when in reality the girl's personality is anything but pure. I blurred the image slightly to create a distorted tone and brought focus onto the girl's necklace. I wanted to use the same approach as I had to my poster- with the audience paying attention to detail and applying a few things to the girl that the audience may realise if they looked closer.

- I used the slogan "Eve is back" with emphasising the word "back" in a glowy tone to represent an eeire and supernatural theme. I felt the slogan was simple and to the point, and would attract the audience in how they would be drawn to the word "back" and they wouldn't have to spend a long time reading several sentences.

- I also put the word 'Exclusive' in capital letters to attract the audience's attention and by also adding an exclamation mark. This would persuade the audience into purchasing the magazine as they would wonder what is "exclusive" in the magazine. Instead of promoting actual horror films, I decided to advertise the horror films in my media class, including "The Opiate" and "Friction".

- I used the same three colours throughout so that the magazine didn't appear 'clumsy' or too over-done. These three colours were red, black, and yellow. I wanted to use the same colours of red and black, as I had used in the poster, with the yellow contrasting with these and again attracting the eye of the audience.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

From my audience feedback, I learnt that it is the quality of the camera shots and editing that can make a horror trailer effective; rather than the actual storyline. I also learnt that certain images and what they can symbolise are equally as effective, as shown in the beginning of my trailer when the camera is slowly zooming into the girl. The majority of my viewers said that this was the most frightening part of the trailer, as it built suspense and they didn't know what to expect. Like most horror trailers, I created suspense and then made my audience jump by inserting several 'jump-scares' during this, and this was the easiest and most simple part of the trailer to film.

Some viewers criticised my trailer by pointing out that it didn't really "flow". Some advised that I needed to show more characters and to reveal perhaps more of the girl and what she does to her victims in order for it to be more effective. I agreed with them to a certain extent, and the point made about including more content on the girl and her victims was something I had struggled with during the whole of the filming and editing. However, I reminded myself that this was only a teaser trailer and therefore it should be no more than around a minute. I felt I had included all the vital content needed in a horror trailer, and I didn't want to give too much away. I felt I had created the right amount of mystery for my audience by showing them some content (through the 'photographs') and I wanted to leave them guessing on what the film is about. Afterall, this is the aim of a teaser trailer; it is meant to tease the audience and evoke their curiousity. Thankfully, most of my viewers favoured my technique, so I didn't change it by including more footage.

By uploading my trailer onto YouTube, I was able to receive a mixture of comments and feedback from other YouTube users by what they had posted. This was effective as I had made my trailer public and for anyone to see, so I was inviting different members of age groups, genders, and nationalities to view it and give their feedback:

YouTube also enabled me to upload videos of audience feedback. There was one video which wouldn't upload via blogger, so I had to upload it through YouTube and here is what Isabel Higuero (aged 17) had to say after viewing my trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oHlxkO5BGg

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

For the filming of my trailer, I used a 20 X Optical Zoom Sony Digital camera which I found easy to hold as it was light and provided me with a hand-strap. For the majority of my filming, I wanted to create an edgy 'hand-held' effect as this would reflect the character's disorientated lives. Nevertheless, I still carried Tripod with me during the filming in case there were any shots that needed still and steady filming. Interestingly enough, the times I did need a Tripod were for when I wanted to film the 'photographs' of the trailer- pointing the camera downwards to zoom into Mikki when she was crouched in the shower, and also for some parts of the corridor scene. I was thankful that my trailer didn't require a Tripod for most of the trailer as this enabled my actors and I to move on quickly to the next scenes without having to spend time setting up the equipment.

20 x Optical Zoom Sony Digital Video Camera:

Tripod:

For the editing of my trailer, I used Final Cut Pro which helped create most of the effects I wanted for my trailer. Once I had uploaded my scenes and started putting them together, I experimented with different effects and video transitions, ones that I had not come across before. The one effect I used the most in my trailer was the "Bad T.V" effect which I applied to the beginning of the scene where the camera is slowly zooming in as well as the captions. This effect added to my trailer's tone of 'bad connection' (as implied in the beginning with the radio tuning), and the unnerving presence of ghosts. I felt the effects I used on Final Cut Pro were professional, and the video transitions I used (such as 'fade in fade out dissolve', 'dip to colour dissolve') helped put my scenes together and made my trailer much more effective and when I had first uploaded the content.

I used my own camera, a 10 megapixel Canon digital, to take the pictures of the locations and to also film my audience's feedback and answers. I know my camera captures and shoots in a high quality, and I wanted to have my pictures and videos in the best definition I could use. I did have access to the college's camera, but the quality wasn't as good as mine and I would have had limited time on it as there were other pupils who needed to use the camera as well. Using my own camera enabled me to upload my pictures and videos from home, and spend time over altering the sizes and editing the quality. I also decided to show my storyboards and drafts of my poster and magazine front cover by taking pictures on them with the camera and posting them on blogger. I felt this would test my camera's quality and was a faster way of putting the pictures on blogger, rather than having to rely on the college's scanner as I do not have one at home.

10 Megapixel Canon Digital Camera:

To access blogger, and to upload my trailer and research into my target audience, I used an Apple Mac computer which I was able to go on only at college. At home, I used my own laptop to type up my research and planning, and both the Mac and my laptop provided me with sufficient internet so I was able to work fluently without many internet connection problems. I did come across a few problems with the blogger website itself, as it wouldn't allow me to upload two videos of a draft scene and an audience feedback. With the other videos, I was able to convert them into a Quicktime movie and upload them straight onto the site, but for some reason I do not know, this wouldn't work with these two particular videos. I was able to solve this problem by uploading them via YouTube and posting the video link onto the page.

Apple Mac:

Planning

Actors

Taking Drama as one of my A-Levels benefited in the planning of my trailer as I organised who was to star in it. Taking into consideration the fact that the girl needed long hair (referring back to "The Ring" inspiration) and that she needed to be fairly small (wanting her to be a child of 7-10 years old); I asked a girl in my year named Mikki- Louise Wolf if she wanted to play the part of the possessed girl. I have worked with Mikki on numerous occassions during my AS and A2 Drama classes, and she excelled brilliantly in her part as a scitzophrenic girl in our recent Drama exam (January 2010) so I knew that she would be ideal for the part as she could play this role very well.

However, I didn't want to immediatly choose one girl and not give other possibilites a chance. From my drama class, I also asked Louise Taylor as she is a petite 5 foot and also good at acting. I also asked Chloe Giddins and Jessica Pointing, who are both fairly small with long hair, and then organised auditions in the Drama room and got the girls to perform some of the actions the girl would do in the trailer. Some of which included turning their heads slowly and glaring at the camera from beneath their hair, crawling menacingly up the stairs, and stumbling across a corridor.

I organised the auditions with Nicola Muntz who also takes both Drama and Media, and afterwards we discussed who was ideal for the part. We agreed that Mikki played the role perfectly, and as I had preferred Mikki to play the part from the beginning; we gave her the role. However, I liked how Chloe came across as uneasy and almost slightly insane in her acting, and thought about how I could apply this to the role of the girl's mother. She too comes across as desperate and nervous when she is being interogatted by the police officer, so I decided to give the role of the mother to Chloe.

Deciding the role of the police officer was difficult as the people I auditioned for the part didn’t come across as intimidating and dominant as I wanted them to be. Nicola watched as I tried to show them how I wanted them to act, and afterwards she suggested that I play the part of the police officer. I thought about it but then struggled with deciding who should film the scene. I asked Oliver Robin, a pupil in my media class who’s skilled in filming, whether he could quickly film the scene whilst I starred in it, and thankfully he agreed to do so.

Locations

During the planning of my trailer, I had wanted all along to shoot it in the college. Although I had access to film in my home, the college provided more locations and rooms that appeared more eerie and frightening. I kept in mind that the girl is locked up and is forced to spend most of her time in a cold and bleak room or basement, and so I didn’t want to film it in a “homey” location. Organising the different locations also helped me develop the storyline of the trailer and what I wanted to show to the audience.


Drama Room
The drama room was perfect for filming the beginning of the trailer. I wanted to slowly zoom into the girl at the beginning to create tension, and the drama room provided dark and eerie lighting which contributed to the creepy effect I wanted. It also lead me to decide to use the drama room for the interrogation scene between the girl’s mother and the police officer/social worker, as some of the dreary lights created an intimidating “spotlight” effect.

Corridor
I wanted to show the girl being dragged/struggling with her mother, and experimented with different locations for this scene. I did originally want to use the stairs, and have the girl being dragged by her hair as the mother runs down them. But during my first ‘draft-film’, I found it difficult to film and the overall image looked clumsy. I also wanted to keep the camera still to focus purely on this scene, so I decided to place the camera at the end of the corridor, and have the girl and her mother slamming through the corridor doors and being dragged across this way. The length of the corridor made the overall image look daunting, as used in the iconic horror film, “The Shining”.





Shower Room, Drama Stage, College Roof , and Stairs
These three locations provided the series of quick shots I used in the trailer. I did want the camera to quickly zoom into the girl as one of the quick shots and thus it wouldn’t matter where we shot this as it’d only last no more than a couple of seconds. However, I experimented with placing Mikki in the shower, hunched in a corner, and I felt the white background of the shower created a ghostly effect so I used this. It also helped me create a few more quick shots at the time, such as whipping the shower curtain open to reveal a dead girl on the floor, through a point-of-view shot.

I wanted to use a trapdoor on the drama stage as a “basement” and also experimented with how to use this during filming. Originally, I wanted to place Mikki inside the “basement”, but this would only be a still-shot and as I had already used this in the shower scene, I decided to still place Mikki in the “basement” but to film her slamming her hand out of it, filming from a distance. The college roof was used for the camera to pan the girl as she looks out into the distance, with her back to the camera. I could have used any location for this, as it was outside, but from a height the camera is able to show more of a foggy view out into the distance. The height also signifies Mikki as powerful, and creating a mysterious image as she looks forward- is she plotting something? Is she searching for someone?

I decided to use the stairs from the D.T/Photography Block where I knew the stairs were old and stone, and using inspiration from "The Exorcist" I decided to feature the girl crawling up the stairs, perhaps at the very end of the trailer. This would give the impression that the girl was coming after the viewer, and the bleak appearance of the stairs fitted in with the daunting and bleak atmosphere.

Costumes & Props

I wanted to keep the costumes and props fairly simple for the shooting of my trailer. I had learnt from my Drama Exam that trying to remember a great deal of props can affect filming and acting, and sometimes it can make the overall image look clumsy. For me, the top priority of my trailer was making sure the acting and filming was accurate, but I knew that some props were needed to contribute in making my trailer as effective as possible. For Mikki, I decided to dress her in a white dress/nightie which could symbolise either purity or ghosts. The overall image would also relate to the girl in “The Ring” where she wears a similar costume.





For the costumes during the interrogation scene, I wore a smart, dark coat to signify my sincere and intimidating character, whilst Chloe wore her hair down to imply a loss of control; wearing a fleece of the colour yellow to symbolise a lack of courage. For the props, I decided to use what we found in the locations. The Drama room provided me with a table and chairs needed for the interrogation scene, whilst giving me the right lighting so a spotlight wasn't needed. In the beginning of the trailer, when the camera slowly zooms into Mikki, we struggled with what to use in order to keep the filming as steady as possible. I experimented with keeping the camera still whilst using its zoom button, but this didn't give me the slightly 'distorted' effect that I wanted. Instead, I used a swivel chair and asked Oliver to slowly push me forward whilst I filmed. The creaking of the wheels also added to the creepy atmosphere, but during editing I decided not to use this but to use a voice-over or a piece of music instead.

Organisation of Locations and Actors

During the process of gathering my actors and deciding which locations to film in, I had to look into when my actors would be free and when the locations would be accessbile. This was the disadvantage of filming during college times, I was restricted in my time-keeping as the locations were sometimes needed for lessons and my actors had different timetables from me. This caused me to work and film swiftly with no time-wasting, so perhaps this benefited me in how I was less likely to be distracted, as I would be if I filmed at home.

I created a timetable for when my actors and locations would be free, and worked around this. It was helpful as I set specific times and dates for when I wanted to film the draft scenes for my trailer, the full trailer, and also for taking photographs for the magazine front cover and poster.

Storyboard, Shot-list, and Working Script

Storyboard:

Shot-list:

Working Script:

Before filming, I did make some changes to the storyboard that I felt were needed in the trailer. I wrote these in red, some of which included the voice-over the of the radio conversation at the beginning, the change of the ending with the girl crawling up the stairs, and using sub-titles after she turns her head: "she knows who you are" and "and she will come for you". I also made some changes during editing, such as changing the speed of some movement, altering the brightness and contrast, and over-lapping some scenes together. I also added in the "Bad T.V" effect which caused some parts of the trailer to flicker or jump, as if there was bad signal, again adding to the effect I wanted. I did this to make my trailer seem more professional and 'flow' more, rather than placing seperate scenes next to eachother. Looking at the finished product, I felt my trailer was much more effective with the changes made and my classmates agreed that the effects made a huge impact.
Draft Scenes
Before filming my trailer, I decided to film several draft scenes to see how they would look. I tested the beginning scene where the camera slowly zooms into the girl and the corridor scene. These two scenes required the most amount of re-takes as I felt they were vital in the trailer and they needed to be perfect. It also gave me the chance to change my mind and see if I preferred certain ways of Mikki being dragged across the corridor or a different expression on her face when she turns to look at the camera.
Draft Beginning Scene

Draft Corridor Scene

Poster and Magazine Front Cover Drafts

The following images helped me produce my poster:

Throughout the process of my research and planning, I had based my ideas on the imagery and themes used from "The Ring". The first picture of the girl in the white dress almost sent chills down my spine when I first saw it, and I felt the simple picture of her glaring from beneath her hair was much more effective than having lots of different images and actions for the poster. I felt if I would feature Mikki pulling the same pose as she does in the opening of the trailer, with her hair in her face and her head bent, but instead of using a white background I would choose dark (the same lighting as in the drama room). I would place her at the left hand side of the poster, and in the background I would use a similar image from "The Exorcist" poster. I would have a figure, in shadowy black so you can't see their appearnace, staring onto the girl from behind her. This could be the social worker or police officer, but I wouldn't have them holding a suitcase. I feel the shadowy effect of the figure in the distance will add the mystery to the poster as the audience wonders who they are- a victim? A villain? The girl's parent?

As I am using the idea of this being the devil reincarnation, or the reincarnation of Eve, I originally came up with the slogan "be careful what you sin for" (this being a play on words of "be careful what you wish for"). This was to link with punishment and disobediance, and also revenge. The girl's parents can be seen as "evil" for locking the girl in the basement, or abusing her as a way of restraining her, and thus they are seen as "sinning". They are then in risk of becoming part of their daughter's revenge. However, after thinking about it I found the line to be quite cheesy. Instead, I decided to use the line "she knows who you are..." and on a seperate line, "... and she will come for you." I felt that using a line such as this would be directly aimed at the viewer, with the use of the word "you", and this would appeal to them into watching the full film if they felt personally targeted.

Poster Drafts

Originally, I wanted to use a similar image from "The Ring" where the girl is sitting down in a corner against a dark and blurry background. However, once taking this picture and uploading it, I realised that it didn't really target the audience. I decided to still use the image of Mikki sitting on the chair with her hair in her face, but to use this as a faded image for the background within the main picture of the girl's face. I decided to use the same stratagy as I had for the magazine front cover, and take a close-up of Mikki as she stares menacingly into the camera, and perhaps have the image only showing half of her face. I drew another draft of my poster and preferred what I had come up with.

First Poster Draft:

Second Poster Draft:

For the magazine front cover, I used inspiration from my friend who takes photography, and I felt the following picture she did for her AS Coursework was appropriate for the message I wanted to bring out in my magazine front cover:

The picture signify's a mixture of identities, as the girl is constantly being judged- is she evil, or should she be entitled to revenge? Is she a victim? I also felt the picture gave a "Jekyll and Hyde" image of how the character is fighting with their different personalities, and I felt it would be effective for a magazine front cover as the different faces and expressions of the girl would attract the public, and it is also quite an unusual image to

have on the front cover of a magazine.

Magazine Front Cover Draft:



Creating drafts of my poster and magazine front cover enabled me to change some ideas and explore in different advertising techniques. I decided to use 'Empire' as the magazine to advertise my film, as it is "the biggest selling film magazine in Britain", and attracts my target audience of 15-24 through its pop culture: "Empire is populist in both approach and coverage unlike less irreverent and more 'serious' magazines such as Slight and Sound." As well as reviewing both mainstream and arthouse films, 'Empire' also features a regular 'Top 10' in which the magazine lists its choice of "the top ten examples of something film-related." Readers are invited to voice their opinion if they disagree with the choices made, proving that 'Empire' is a magazine which takes its audiences' opinions seriously and into consideration.



This front cover of this 2008 issue of 'Empire' magazine, despite being a Turkish issue, still shows a extreme close-up shot of the actress, and although there is no action in the image, it is effective because she seems to communicate with the buyer as she stares closely at them. There is no clue as to what type of character she is, her facial expression doesn't imply that she is a villian or a heroine, and the mystery in this, as well as the intimacy of the picture, will attract the buyer.

In the following issue of 'Empire' magazine, the main character stares menacingly into the buyer's eyes. There seems to be a connection between them and the buyer, rather than a distance. I liked how both the character and the buyer are represented as on the same 'level' almost, and decided that I too wanted my character staring into the buyer's eyes on the front cover. Because I will have 2 or 3 faded images of the character's face around or on top of this (as shown in the example image furthur above), I decided that it will be the middle image of the character's face, the image with the most focus, that will be staring menacingly into the camera and appear the most intimidating. I decided to annotate the front cover as a way of gathering more ideas and tips.



Audience Feedback

After showing my trailer to some members of my target audience, I decided to film them and their feedback. I asked for any comments or constructive criticism on my trailer that they may have had, and was pleased with what they had to say as their feedback was often positive. Some of the comments they made on my trailer were expected, after having done research into my target audience and knowing what they would want to see. I also found that particular members of my target audience with different interests and view-points made different comments on certain parts of my trailer. For example, the following video shows me asking the girl what she thought of the trailer, and as she does A2 Music, she focused mainly on my trailer's use of volume and soundtrack.

I also asked two male members of my target audience and asked what they thought of my trailer. I was pleased as they commented on what I hoped to achieve in my filming and editing, such as creating the suspense and mystery and making the audience hooked onto what they were seeing and wanting to find out what's about to happen next.