Social media response

Tzetan Todorov's theory

Tzvetan Todorov suggested there were 5 stages to a narrative:

1. Equilibrium – A happy start
2. A disruption of this equilibrium by an event – A problem occurs
3. A realisation that a disruption has happened
4. An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption – the problem is solved
5. A restoration of the eqilibrium – A happy ending 

In our trailer some stages of Todorov's theory are shown. Stage 1,2 and 3 are shown in our trailer. The equilibrium is where the news report is shown, then there is a disruption of the equilibrium when the first murder occurs. The realisation of the disruption occurs when the girls are watching the news report on TV and where the lights go off.  

evaluation task 4

this is the camera we used the go pro hero3+ this was a very good camera as it shoots in 1080p and had multiple functions that we could of used to our advantage. one of the main aspects from the go pro is the wide angle shot so it caught everything in the background and gave away the location on the trailer and showed the audience it was in a residential area 

This knife was a significant prop in our film, It was used in multiple scenes by our antagonist, the knife is first shown in the scene of the first murder, it is the weapon that is used to kill the first victim. Antagonists usually have a weapon that they use on their victims and in our trailer the knife is ours.

This TV was used in two of the scenes in the trailer, we used the TV to put the news report from one of our actors onto the screen for the two girls to watch. This is shown in our last scene where the 'Stalker' comes in as the report ends. We put the report on the TV by uploading it to YouTube then going on YouTube on the TV.

This coat was used by our main character/antagonist, we thought that with the antagonist mis-en-scene was very important. By dressing in all black, it connotes darkness and mystery. Also the character had his hood up the whole time to hide his identity which then creates an enigma.

evaluation task 3

This is our audience response for our stalker trailer.  we got plenty of positive feed back that can help us when we want to improve our trailer. our audience responded well to our different transitions (the static tv transition) as it was something different and it showed it was a cctv camera trying to be portrayed. the negative feed back saying that the static was too loud in proportion to the other sounds in our trailer. we agree with that and we went back to adjust the sound, although when the transition did come into shot we made the whole class jump as no one was expecting it and it was very loud so a positive came out of the static tv transition being very loud.

At the beginning with the still shot of Tom during the news report our camera was a bit unstable and the shot was a bit shaky. we agree with this too, it was hard to hold the camera very still as we didnt have a big enough tri-pod. this made the camera mans job harder as the go pro is a very small camera to its easily jolted.

character interveiw

This is our actor interviews, in this we asked three of the main cast members a series of questions, which are based on movie production and there role in our trailer. From Left to Right we have Jack Nunn,who plays one of the victims, Alex Morgan who plays the main antagonist and Chloe Young, who plays another victim/protagonist.

Evaluation task 1

These are some screenshots from our trailer which I think are worthy of evaluation as they show some conventions an audience should expect from a trailer.

Screenshot 1: The first screenshot introduces the only character we see speak in this trailer, this character provides the basic story and background, but not enough to tell the audience everything,giving rise to an enigma code as we aren't told everything like the antagonists name but we are told he's dangerous. This screenshot is also located on scene and would appear more believable as we were going for a realistic news report, as the costume we used were smart clothing that an audience would expect to see from a news reporter. The camera was set up at a low angle to give the reporter a dominant view of the audience giving him the power.  

Screenshot 2: This second screenshot introduces a couple of other characters and at this point we are not shown the antagonist, leaving his appearance an enigma, the setting seems rather normal which could suggest the trailer is conventional as it starts of with a normal setting and then something disturbs the equilibrium. The camera angle is a long shot, which gives the setting and location to the audience it also enables us to see all the actresses on screen,also with female protagonists we are being conventional to horror films as normally in modern horror films we have seen an increase in female protagonists as it appeals more to the female audience, it can also appeal to a male audience as the 'Male Gaze' theory suggests.

Screenshot 3: This shot is a part of our story set up, as we want to make the audience believe that this film is based on a true story. The font we are using is orator it is a very basic font, but this is because we want people to be able to read the font, The background is black to make the text stand out, and black can also represent death and mystery, we also made the text white which can represent safety and innocence, which can represent the victims the audience see's in the trailer.

Screenshot 4: This high angle long shot, gives the audience the power, as unlike the victim on screen, we are able to see the antagonist behind him, this shot also introduces us to the third victim in the trailer. The audience at this point should feel a sense of fear as they should know what is about to happen. The victim is wearing just casual clothing suggesting he is not important, it also suggests the film could be a horror/thriller because a lot of this genre will take the normal and change it, we have taken a normal walk and made it slightly more spine-chilling. We also leave an enigma by not showing what actually happens. It is the first time we see the antagonist and it appears very threatening in all black which could represent evil, he also has a mask on which means the audience don't know who he is and it leaves the audience thinking what happens.

Screenshot 5: This screenshot is a low angle long shot, unlike the high angle we use to show the victim, we use low angle for the antagonist to walk past as he holds the power and looks imposing on the audience, this adds tension to the trailer. The location of this part of the trailer is in broad daylight and in a remote part of a town, this means very few people are likely to see the murder happen.

Screenshot 6: This image is a high angle shot, we have placed this scene in black and white, this is suggests the image is from a CCTV camera, which is what we wanted it to look like, this image also surprisingly gives the audience the power over the antagonist which is something we wouldn't expect, however it could suggest that there is a vulnerability in the antagonist, as we are able to view him from the high angle. 

Screenshot 7: This shows a birds eye view of the antagonist, it is one of our most effective shots because it is very menacing to the audience, because we can see the antagonist enter and exit the scene, we are also left with an enigma because we don't know how he got into the house. The music at this point has built up a lot of tension and the audience would believe a climax is coming.

Screenshot 8: Is a threatening close up, tracking shot, this shows the antagonists intent to murder and gives the audience some clues to what he is going to do, it is also menacing to the audience as the camera is only tracking slowly and we can't really see what's in front of him, leaving an enigma as to where is he going.

Screenshot 9: This shot was important because it really should have an impact on the audience as they have just seen the lights go out and the scream, the lightning suggests something bad has just happened and we thought it would be a good background cover to show our title, the title is also white, however this is primarily to make it stand out on the black background.

Stalkers directors commentary

This is our directors commentary where we explained why we used certain shots and expanded on our theories on how it would effect our target audience. Myself, jack Nunn, Ronnie Bennet and Thomas Popay took turns to explain certain shots of our trailer individually to show our knowledge of media and to tell our audience how we did our shots and how we truly wanted it to be portrayed. for example the first shot after the static tv transition it was supposed to show the audience that its a CCTV camera but it may of been hard to realise that while watching our trailer.

Evaluation Activities To Do ASAP

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of teaser trailers/poster/magazines)

You should go through the final version of the project and select nine distinct frames which you screengrab and drop into a photoshop. You will be using these to write about how typical or not of teaser trailers your particular design is, so choose them carefully.

Once you have the nine frames neatly in Photoshop, screengrab the whole thing and post to your blog, then write an analysis of how you have used such conventions.

The aspects you should consider across your nine frames are:

The title of the film
Setting/location
Costumes and props
Camerawork and editing
Title font and style
Story and how the trailer sets it up
Genre and how the trailer suggests it
How characters are introduced
Special effects

Remember to discuss narrative/genre/representation/media language/audience in your evaluation

Each one of these aspects should be a detailed post – try to be analytical and use media terminology in your response.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 2
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
You could record a voiceover to your trailer and make posts discussing how the 3 texts complement each other in advertising your film and appealing to your target audience

Enigma codes in my trailer.

Enigma codes were explored by Roland Barthes and described them as five different codes that were woven into any narrative. in my trailer the enigma code is the identity of our antagonist. we covered up our antagonists identity by the use of mis - en - scene, we did this by dressing him up in all black and covering his face with a black mask. this creates an enigma code as the audience is not aware which the identity of the antagonist. the color black is a very intimidating color and connotes danger and darkness. enigma codes are used to make the audience want to know whats going to happen next and making them feel more involved in the trailer making them more intrigued and more likely to go see the film. another enigma code is the cliff hanger at the end of the film, when the lights go out and we hear the scream. the scream could be considered and enigma code as screaming connotes as danger so it will make the audience think that they are in some sort of danger. this makes the audience  want to know what happened and keeps them on the edge of their seats. due to our film being a thriller we decided to add enigma codes to our trailer as enigma codes are a popular convention to thriller/horror trailers. lastly in our trailer we used certain editing techniques to capture the evilness of out killer. for example we used low angle shots to make him look more intimidating. this works as an enigma code as our killer looking bigger and more intimidating makes the audience wonder how will be be caught or what will he do to his victims.

Another theory which talks about different narratives. Todorus theory of narrative explains that a narrative that contains a 5 part code. in our trailer we have 3 parts of todorus's theory. firstly his first code is the equilibrium meaning everything is normal. this happens in our film when we have the two girls watching the news report. the second part is the equilibrium breaking. this happens when the 'Stalker' starts the killing under the bridge. this creates certain enigma codes and it lets the audience wonder who is the killer? and what is his motive for all these killings. the third part of his theory is acknowledgement of the equilibrium breaking, this is in a different order as we see it in the establishing shot of our news report as it tells the audience that the police knows ab out this killer and a retaliation is expected in the film. this shows the audience that the stalker has been acknowledged and their would be some sort of fight or case scene to reinstate the equilibrium.

for this response i have given myself a high level 3 as i have used a wide range of terminology, two theorists and have used a wide range of examples from my trailer.

(22 MARKS)

The hyperdermic needle theory

        my film Stalker is a horror film and adheres to several code and conventions of the horror genre for example it includes the hypodermic needle theory. According to the Hypodermic Needle Theory, a media text injects its messages straight into the passive audience. This means that the audience is seen as a passive mass who will immediately accept the presented version of events. Therefore, when watching our stalker trailer the audience would believe that the Stalker in our film ( that has escaped from a mental asylum ) would go on a murdering spree.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Trailer 2014 Movie - Official [HD]

STALKER movie trailer

Questionnaire analysis

These results show that the majority of people we asked were between the ages of 16-20; also it shows the most of the people we asked were male. We decided to set our age certificate to 15, so the questionnaire results are still helpful to us as only 5% of the people we asked were under 15. 

When deciding our location the questionnaire results helped us massively, as we were unsure on where the film would be located. With 40% of the people saying to use a house, we decided to use that. Also we agreed with 20% of the people as we chose to film some of our shots outside near a park. 

The questions on the Antagonist also helped us a lot. Our group was unsure whether to make the antagonist visible or non-visible. The results of the question swayed us in favour of visible, with 65% of people saying so. Also the results of the question on antagonist characteristics helped us show what the character will be like in the trailer. In the trailer the antagonist is seen to be creepy, mentally unstable and intimidating. 

When asked what their favourite horror sub-genre was the majority of people said thriller, so we decided to make our film a Thriller. Before we recorded this questionnaire, we were unsure whether to do a thriller or a psychological horror. 

When we asked what people's favourite film was the most popular answer was Taken. Taken's genre is a thriller, which is going to be the genre of our film, so with it being people's favourite film it shows the thriller genre is fairly popular. 

The question that asked what you expect to see in a horror film helped us a lot. The main answers were Murders, suspense and jump scares. In our trailer we will try to use all of these things throughout. We will try to create suspense by using creepy music; the creepy music will also link with jump scares. In the trailer the main antagonist is a serial killer so there will definitely be murder shown in our trailer. 

So overall the questionnaire results were very helpful and they helped us decide many things that we were unsure about beforehand. The questionnaire helped decide the characters, the genre, the location and what happens in the film. So, carrying out this questionnaire proved to be very worthwhile.

animatic storyboard

Poster for stalker

This is our movie poster we created to go with our trailer. The poster follows the dark, threatening theme from the trailer and magazine cover, the dark them also helps set the genre for the audience and this helps draw people to watch the film. The main images in the trailer are from the trailer or from other productions that we have produced and shows the main actors as well as the main antagonist in the main image, this suggests the film will mostly be set around him. The main title to the film is set in a large font at the top of the page this gives it prominence in the poster and because it is in a white font the word stands out far better than most of the imagery. The tagline "Wherever you go, He"ll be watching" is threatening and directed at the audience, this makes it more personal and draws the reader in. The poster also has the main credits for the film which can tell the audience who produced it and who is starring in the film, this information is vital as a reader might want to know who is in the film as some people only see films if they have a certain actor or actress. As well as this the poster contains the release month and year which gives an idea of when the film will be released. We have also positioned the 'company' logo in the bottom corner this is to tell the audience who the production company is and this can inform the reader what the film budget is.

magazine cover for stalker

This is the magazine cover, we designed it on paper, then using Photoshop we used several of the unique effects available to add a menacing effect to the front cover, the audience would feel threatened by a faceless antagonist, this doesn't allow the audience to feel for the antagonist they don't get to relate to him and in this way we feel frightened by his presence, the red colour in the title links to blood which in our trailer is threatened but not shown. The faceless antagonist anchors the text title stalker and is the main selling point of this issue of Empire. The bright colours used in the other articles helps show the audience what else is in the article as well as advertising other films. The text used is big and bold with certain words emboldened to make certain words standout. The barcode and price are both located in areas where they can be seen and are commonly found.

The skyline and main magazine title are both big and bold at the top of the page the 'exclusive preview' suggests to the audience the magazine will have articles and information that no other magazine will have and this would attract more readers, as the audience we are constantly looking for something that gives us more information especially if its about something we really enjoy like films. The main title 'Empire' is a major magazine company with a large readership of about 800000 people, this means films featured on the magazine are likely to be popular, the magazine is also well respected making film reviews important. The puffs shown on the front cover are shown big, they offer free things, this attracts a younger audience, and its bright colours draws the eye especially on a dark background. The smaller articles along the right-hand side of the cover are from recent films Nightcrawler and Gone Girl these films are both psychological thrillers which links to our film as we kind of wanted this feel to our trailer, there is a clear thriller film genre in this months issue of Empire. The 'exclusive interview' at the bottom of the magazine draws the audience to read further into the magazine as two of the movies stars are being asked questions, the audience would want to know more about these actors, so they can get to know them better and it humanizes the otherwise big actors.

poster pictures

These are the photos we are using in our poster and magazine cover. we thought about using the schools English storage cupboards to create a creepy location

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - Official Main Trailer [HD]

In the opening minutes of the trailer we see allot of fire and action conventions showing the audience that the film would be action we also see dwafts and a dragon showing that it would be a fantasy film having mythical characters.

in this trailer we see a derelict castle with a kings head? falling off his neck. this could mean hard times for the main protagonists as this could mean their legacy could be over as they are in a ruined castle and perhaps metaphorically heads coming off and loosing. this sets the tone for the movie telling the audience that the dwarves and a hobbit must fight to survive against these 4 other armies.

the trailer also  shows us the armies in the film letting the audience know who would be fighting and what characters may return eg legolas which will prove exciting for lord of the rings fans and hobbit fans.

the sound used in this trailer makes the audience know what armies are good and bad and tells the audience the feeling despair of the trailer