Kwame Mensah-Sarpong: Question 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product?

Our promotional package contained many contained effective similarities and also some conventions of the genre in order for audiences to able to identify our film and that it will be effective individually and as a combined product.

We used the images of our main character, 'Barry White' in our movie poster and in a magazine front cover in order to promote our film. Through this, we were able to create different images to try and create an idea of how our character is in our film. These two different images enable audiences to see that our character contains different personalities through his posture, props and clothing.

For our trailer, we were able to show a brief outline of what our story is about and some scenes that may be in the film. The fast paced editing and violence that are shown, give audiences the idea of what conventions used to show that it is a British gangster movie. This is the main product in our promotional package, and through this, audiences are able see the main idea of what we are trying to promote.

The magazine and the poster are also as effective as our trailer because the images of our main character that are used for these products, mirrors the personality that is seen in the trailer.

Finlay McGow Q4 How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluating stages?

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

Media technologies were involved throughout the production of our media product. There are two types of technology that are involved hardware, which is mainly the filming equipment, including cameras and sound recording equipment. We also used software to produce everything else that goes with our product, for example I am using word processor to write this response.

Another example of digital technology that we used was, I-movie it was the editing software that we used to construct our trailer ready for it to be realised. I found that on the whole this editing software was easy to use but it did lack that fine tuning aspect to make everything seem perfect. Another product that we used to for our production was Garage Band to produce the soundtrack for our trailer, again I found that this piece of software was generally easy to use, but lacked that precision needed to make a top quality piece of work.

More products that we have used throughout our production have been Prezi. We have used Prezi to try and present our work and research in new and different ways, which makes it more interactive than a PowerPoint presentation. Here is a link to where we have used Prezi
(http://shadkayf.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/magazine-brainstorm.html) Another piece of software that we have used is Microsoft Excel which we have used to collate our research and present it in graphs which allow for easy reading and extraction of information.

Finlay McGow Q3 What have you learned from your audience feedback? Finlay McGow

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

The initial idea that we had for main product was that of a British Gangster film. We choose this genre based on its dry humour, action sequences and sophisticated and creative editing which are often not found in other genres of film. Based on this we set about our questionnaires which were aimed at seeing

* What our audience like

* What they watch

* How they find out about it.

Throughout the process of market research we learned that the genre we had chosen would not be the most popular, as it is a more independent style of film. However one of the questions that we asked were about, how people feel about gangster films. The result of this was mainly positive with the vast majority answering that they don’t mind the genre. This would suggest that they are open minded, although perhaps would prefer a more mainstream approach as they may not be diehard fans of the genre.

We have also set up a Facebook page to allow people to interact and give us feedback on what they think of our productions. Although through our product research it doesn’t prove that our audience is in tune with the internet or uses it, I think the question were unfair, in that they did not give much option for the internet to be shown as an important source of promotion. However from experiencing that nearly everyone has a Facebook we created the promotion page. http://shadkayf.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/social-media-promotion.html This page allows the audience to interact and get the up to date information, about the progress of the film and inside news about it. This spurs interest in the project.

Finlay McGow Q2 How effective is this combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

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

We have chosen throughout our main product and ancillary texts to go with a mainstream look to a product which would be mainly associated with a more independent audience, as its theme are not widely recognised. The idea was to make the audience feel more comfortable with the genre with the trailer, poster and magazine all being friendly to take in.

Throughout our products we have aimed to keep core values to be shared between all of them to make it easily translatable and share core values, which try not to contradict each other through mixed messages. The main theme that we have running through our main product and its ancillary texts, is the cricket theme. This theme links all the products and makes them easily relatable to each other. Most notably is the running theme of a cricket bat which is used in all three, and the tagline “let the innings begin” shared between the poster and trailer.

Other themes that we have running through our pieces are the suit which gives the character his identity and makes him easily identifiable throughout all three texts. The suit also gives the audience an insight into the character, and what the story could be about. This starts peoples intrigue into the product and will help promote the product.

Finlay McGow Q1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media product?

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? on Prezi

Audience Feedback

Magazine cover

-Make the 'Gone For 6' font more clearer

-Banner at the bottom, change the colour and shape maybe? i.e. ripped effect. Make the font brighter/different colour

-Tagline, add the film name on top

-Get rid of the blood dripping from the 'Gone For 6'

-Language, seems a bit mainstream, focus more on producers + directors, try and make it a bit more understated

-Possibly include some information on other films, a bit too focused on our product.

-Image, raise it a bit more so it's more central, makes it more intimidating.

-Maybe a quote from film/interview?

Poster

-Include certification, Blackberry/Facebook/Twitter icon

-Font needs to be changed, image and text don't seem to be related

-Make the cricket bat more visible

-Get rid of the blood dripping from 'Gone For 6'

-Include image/shot of character in a hoodie?

-Tagline needs a little bit more work, otherwise the connotation of the image is misread

-Change the 'Coming Soon' to a release date, gives audience more information + it looks a bit more realistic

-Background effect, make it more gritty to add that British Gangster film realism

Trailer

-Work on the soundtrack more, so it flows more smoothly

-Include a Voiceover

-Scenes need to be more shorter, especially the clothing scenes

-change the running order, especially at the beginning, to introduce the characters better/outline the plot more

-Desaturate some scenes, adds the gritty realism for a British Gangster film

-Maybe shoot more scenes?

Kwame Mensah-Sarpong: Question 1 - In what ways does yout media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

We used the conventions of the British gangster genre in a very straightforward way.

The narrative follows a very conventional storyline as it is about a young gangster trying to scale the heights of his “profession.” This is also seen in films like Rock’n’Rolla, Layercake and Snatch. We did this to allow the audience to easily identify the films as a British Gangster film. If this was a real media product, this would ensure it commercial success by making its promotional package more accessible to the audience.

The movie poster consists of our main character, Barry White; from a low angle shot makes him look intimidating. This emphasises the idea that he has been through a journey to get to this stage which. This can be seen in other gangster posters like Rock’n’Rolla, and Snatch. This is something that will enable audiences to identify it as a British gangster film. This ensures that its commercial success as it will be able to reach audiences.

The magazine front cover enforces the isolation of our character and encourages our product to be able to emerge into other independent streams of the media. This enables us to reach other audiences ensuring commercial success as it is the main feature of the magazine. Due to the intriguing image that has been displayed on the front cover; this will make audiences want to explore the genre of British Gangster.

The editing in the trailer is a main convention of British Gangster films as we have enabled the fast editing to emphasise the tension that is in the film through the extreme violence and action that will take place in the movie.

The voiceover used in the trailer invites the audience to feel what our main character, “Barry White” is feeling and what his problems are. It also invites the audience to see how he is able to solve those problems.