Michael Kinsella Media

Evaluation

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

My product both uses and challenges some of the conventions of film noir, one of the ways it uses codes and conventions of film noir was the plot itself. The plot of my film follows the conventional plot of a film noir in which it starts at the end and the main character is lead astray by a femme fatale. I have started the trailer with a phone call that is at the start of my film however it is towards the end of the timeline of the film. By doing this I reinforce the genre of the film, by doing this it gains a secondary target audience of film noir fans, making the institutions more likely to financially back the film.

However one way I challenge the conventions of film noirs is that the change in femme fatale. In my film rather than use a conventional femme fatale, the femme fatale in my film is in fact the main characters Jack’s friends Tyler. By doing this it keeps the audience guessing. This means my target audience of 15-25s are going to like the film more because they will be more likely to enjoy it because they may not like watching the same type of film multiple times as I found out in my research.

A way in which I reinforce the conventions of real media products is the use of film noir iconography. One of the most famous icons of film noir is the phone booth. This is the key piece of synergy within my media product. The effect this shows is that it shows genre, again increasing the likely hood of my secondary audience of film noir fans watching it, again making it more likely to be financially backed by a mainstream institution.

A way in which my film challenges the conventions of mainstream media products is that it is in black and white. All three of the products that I created were all in black and white. The use of black and white has shown to be successful in films like “The Artist” and it also gives a nostalgic feel for my secondary audience because the vast majority of film noirs are in black and white. This means that target audience members are more likely to go and see the film.

2) How effective is the combination of you main product and ancillary texts?

I believe the combination of my main product and my ancillary products work very well. An example of the union of my products is the use of black and white. I applied the black and white filter on windows movie maker which I used to edit my trailer and adobe Photoshop to apply an black and white mask on my magazine and film poster. Through the use of this synergy of the black and white the adverting campaign might gain momentum, thus making more people go and see the film.

The main piece of synergy between my media products was the phone booth. The phone booth was the main location of my film poster and my magazine cover and was the location at the start of my film trailer. This increases the likelihood of my secondary audience going to see the film because the phone booth is an iconic image of film noir.

I used location in my projects to show the genre of my products the main setting of my trailer and the two ancillary texts is a street corner where a phone booth is located. This use of synergy attracts my secondary audience of film noir fans and because of this the advertising campaign would be more effective because it will attract more of my secondary audience.

Through the use of mise-en-scéne in my products I was able to entice my target audience of 15-25 year olds into wanting to see my film. The key pieces of synergy in my work were a police badge and gun. Through this I was able to increase the likeyhood of my target audience wanting to go and see my film. This is because the majority of my target audience like films like “Taken” and “21 Jump Street” both action films and jump street being a police film as well which both did very well among my target audience group. So this show how my film could do well among my target audience.

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

In the construction of my media products the main technology I used other than a camera was the use of programs in post-production. When editing my film trailer I used windows movie maker due to its availability and easy to use interface. I believe this helped me in constructing of my trailer because it simple to use transitions between scenes and because of this it helped me achieve a well edited trailer.

With my poster and magazine cover I used a more professional piece of software. I used adobe Photoshop through doing this I believe I achieved a professional finish. This was because whist adobe Photoshop is not difficult to use it has a lot of advanced features which come to light for example I created a shadow of the main character in the film poster using Photoshop and I believe it adds a lot to the poster in terms of genre.

During the research and planning stages of my production I used social networking to help get market research by putting up a questionnaire on Facebook. By doing this I was able to get feedback from my target audience of 15-25 year olds the main users of the site. This gave me information that I then used in the production of the media products and because of this the advertising campaign would be more effective because it would draw in my secondary audience.

4) What have you learned from your audience feedback?

From my audience feedback I learned multiple things in the research and planning of my products. I used audience feedback to gain an understanding of which of my original poster and magazine covers my audience found more effective. I did this by posting pictures of it on Facebook and asking people to comment what they thought and which one in regards to my target audiences they preferred. By doing this I had primary research from my target audience and was able to select with evidence which film poster and magazine article worked best among my target audience.

Another instance of me using audience feedback was when I was when I was trying to establish whether a film noir would be effective within my target audience. To do this a asked my target audience their views upon film noirs they might of seen via questionnaire. By doing this I believe I achieved valuable information of what my target audience felt about film noir films. And thusly knew that my film genre would work among my target audience.