A2 Media Studies Evaluation for OCR Specification G324

1. Evaluation
Harley Besser, Sophie Arthur, Daisy Ogunlana

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

3. The title ‘Sight&Sound’ is
always placed in the left top The date is placed in the upper
corner. This enables it to be right hand corner of the
recognisable for the reader. We magazine cover, it is in small
also chose the newer version of text; but still visible.
the logo as we felt it suited our
‘look 'better and is more
contemporary. We have kept a consistent
look throughout our
We have included an magazine cover by using
interviews and private chats only black and red font, we
with ‘famous’ people and also used a variety of font
people within the film ‘Truth styles. In total we used three,
Untold’ most of this this was to allow certain
information is linked to the titles to stand out more than
image on the cover. This is s others and for the more
that the audience stay important information to
interested with a slight attract more attention.
insight into the film an also
to raise more awareness of
‘Truth Untold’.
For our magazine cover we chose to
use a medium close up shot in order to
The layout of the magazine cover show detail of the background text
we have kept very typical and tried which says ‘Bloody Mary’ this gives
to too mess to much with its usual the audience a rough idea of what the
appearance so that it is still film consists of. However, the image of
recognisable. The colours have Sophie and Daisy is pushed in front
been kept very simple so that its towards the right bottom corner so
easy to read, the main image that they are the main attention. Yet
stands out much more than its still allows the two main titles
background and the image does ‘Sight&Sound’ and ‘Truth Untold’ to
not cover the master head unlike stand out. Half of faces were shown in
‘Empire’. Conventions of Sight order to show that they are discrete
and Sound with a main image to and even to connote that they are in
the right and cover lines to the ‘hiding’ from ‘Bloody Mary’.
left, consistent use of the S+S
colour scheme and linking that
through font colour of the
narrative of the film.

4. This poster contains minimal
information, this is because
we wanted to create the None of characters in
‘enigma’ effect’. The image the poster are smiling
consists only of the three or showing any emotion
main characters, Harley, what so ever, this is to
Sophie and Daisy. We did not create a tense effect
want to give away any more and so that the
detail, however we got rid of audience can not tell
all the colour and used the whether they are
tinted blue affected and friends, enemies etc. No
shadowed each corner; this iconography is shown
was so that the audience can either. In terms of props
see it is a thriller before even such as ‘thriller
seeing the teaser trailer. We weapons’ the main
wanted to portray a sense of weapon we wanted to
mystery. Also to follow the convey was the sense
conventions of a ‘teaser’ of the ‘unknown’ –
poster compared to a something you cant
‘theatrical release’ poster. see. Therefore
connoting that the
Every character is staring 'supernatural thriller
into the camera, this is to genre’ which is hat we
engage the audience to wanted.
make them feel as if the
characters are staring at None of the characters
them; making them feel n faces are completely
edge and more involved with shown either, this
the poster. The colouring connotes that maybe
used, the blues and the red their identity is slightly
were used to create a hidden and secretive;
‘gloomy’ affect to suite the whether its towards
thriller conventions. We each other, the
have agreed that it brings audience or ‘Bloody
across the feeling we wanted Mary’.
to, mysterious with a sense
of danger and suspect.

5. Truth Untold Teaser Trailer
Similarly to other teaser trailers, Truth Untold contains a few shots in which are important to
the film. We used the peak technique in the middle of our conventional ‘3 part’ structure
of a teaser trailer, where we began with slow shots explaining the film to then building
speed of certain shots within the film that are slightly scarier and build more tension to
then going back to slower shots. The main idea of a teaser trailer is to ‘tease’ it target
audience and leave them waiting and wanting to see the film! I believe we have done this
by creating a variety of fast, slow, challenging and sharp shots and putting them together
to give a rough idea of the films aspects. Teaser trailers are usually very short in length
and can last between 30-60 seconds, whereas a theatrical trailer are much longer. Our
teaser trailer begins with Harley, Sophie and Daisy showing there strong friendship since
they were kids to growing into teenagers, it then shows singular shots of them playing
‘The Game (Bloody Mary’). This is when the teaser trailer then hits its peak and fast, short
cut shots are shown of the three friends being attacked or even coming into contact with
‘Bloody Mary’. This is when it begins to slow down again including singular shots of
Harley, Sophie and Daisy distraught saying short sentences such as ‘She’s got her’,
‘Mary always wins’ and ‘Marys won’. We used a technique that we figured some teaser
trailers use but not many, this is by using one long short and cutting it into up to four
shots and mixing them with other shots in which we had cut as well. This was very useful
when the teaser trailer was at its peak as it helped us have a larger variety of shots and
create faster shorter cuts to create tension and fear. Our trailer lasts 1 minute and 5
seconds.

6. Themes/Narrative
‘Truth Untold’ is a psychological thriller, this is shown in the teaser trailer as ‘Bloody Mary’ is
described to be a game in which no one dares to play. However, the three characters,
Harley, Sophie and Daisy do and suffer the consequences; but through no part of the
teaser trailer is ‘Bloody Mary’ actually shown or seen by either the audience or the
characters within ‘Truth Untold’. This teaser trailer contains a strong element of the
unknown, this creates tension and keeps the audience continuously wanting to watch
more and find out more. Within our teaser trailer unlike most, we only included three
characters and they are all important and the main attention. We didn’t include more
characters as we want them to stand out and be the main aspect of the teaser trailer. This
also allows the audience to build a rough opinion of each character for themselves and
get to know them individually before watching the film. The film in which we would
compare our teaser trailer to would be ‘What lies Beneath’ this is a the trailer we felt
compared most to ours, it has a very strong sense of mystery and also doesn’t show any
real props such as weapons which leaves it again to the unknown.

7. Representation of Character
There are only three characters within the entire trailer and each of them are just as important
as each other. They are all girls which are best friends, this is not typical of a thriller in
the sense that there is no male character involved to ‘save’ or ‘protect’ the three girls, or
even one female which takes control. They are all young girls who are stuck in a
dangerous situation in which none of them can escape. Harley, Sophie and Daisy are all
vulnerable, innocent and helpless, Do they even stand a chance against the legendary
Bloody Mary? We have represented the characters as being vulnerable and helpless by
presenting them in long shots with just them in the frame and also close up shots of
there expression of fear to show that they are alone. None of the three girls are also
shown together when they are older which shows that they are facing this situation alone
but it is all three of them. The fact that the girls are older when ‘Bloody Mary’ occurs
shows that they have all grown up and gone there separate ways. At the very end of the
trailer we used smudged makeup for Harley and Sophie in order to show that they have
been through a rough time, however, daisy has tears running down her face showing she
isa much weaker character and is suffering a lot more.

8. Iconography
There are iconographic elements within this teaser trailer. There are mirrors, shadows,
reflections, candles, flashing lights etc. All of these together have helped us to create a
typical thriller teaser trailer. We watched a variety of teaser trailers including: Paranormal
activity 3, The host, Don’t be afraid of the dark and many more.. All of these helped us put
together obvious iconography for a thriller teaser trailer, this them made it easier for us
as a group to decide and pick what ones suite and work best with our teaser trailer ‘Truth
Untold’. We didn’t include props such as guns, knives etc as we didn’t want to mistake it
for an action thriller; we wanted to keep it clear and simple that is was a psychological
thriller. Therefore, lots of the iconography is within the characters themselves and their
‘look’ facial expressions in the trailer.

9. Audio/Visual Style
We created a tense effect by using a simple mid shot of the three main characters hugging as
young kids and them a long shot of them playing on a round about in there local park,
this is a happy atmosphere however we added a sound called ‘House invasion’ which is
very calm and gives a ‘gloomy’ effect. The mixture between a happy atmosphere and
scary sound creates tension as the audience knows it isn’t going to stay happy for long;
in which it doesn’t. The lighting is often dark in thrillers and we stuck to this for the
middle and end of our teaser trailer as this is when ‘Bloody Mary’ really kicks in. Low key
lighting allows the audience to feel nervous and on edge and curious as to why the
lighting is dim. Close ups are very common in thrillers, however we used our close ups in
a fast pace when our teaser trailer hit its peak as it creates more tension. We also used
close up shots at the end of the trailer to show facial emotions and to allow the audience
to relate to the character and almost feel sorry for them. We also used long shots
throughout the middle of the teaser trailer to show the space around each individual
character, this creates tension as the audience is almost waiting for something to quickly
fill that space. We used a lot of fast pace, short cuts in order to show the audience there
is a lot of action within the film and also slow pace shots to linger on a particular shot
and show the seriousness of the film, ‘Truth Untold’.

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

11.  We created 3 different media texts which overall looked well together. We
think that our magazine cover stands out the most in terms of the style as it
works well with the sight and sound magazine and fits the house style in
which it uses.
 All three of our products have the same elements such as the theme, the
colours all stick to one house style of red, black, blue and white. We chose
these colours as red connotes danger and the black and white colours are
basic but also connotations of death and of freedom, (white) and blue –
coldness/fear, which allows the red to stand out.
 Our magazine cover and poster both have the same image of two of the
characters which gives it a consistent look. The only difference is the poster
has another picture in the background and they have different effects. Plus
it allows the products to link but the poster helps to create a focus on the
‘main’ character as she dominates the background.
 The consistent look with the texts and colours throughout all three of our
media products links them together. It shows you the main characters in
the print work and the colours give the audience a clue about it being
thriller.

12.  Our poster has an image of one girl in the background faded
and two girls in front with extra brightness on them. This
represents the girl in the background as being the hidden one
with a slight mystery to her. It doesn’t show too much and
doesn’t give the storyline away.
 Just like the poster, the magazine doesn’t give away much. It
has one image of two girls that look possessed or maybe
distressed. The font is red and black which hints the film is a
thriller. It has that ‘Independent’ film look to it that relates to
Sight and Sound. The look we tried to achieve is not that of a
big blockbuster film more likely to be on an empire cover.
 The teaser trailer obviously gives abit more away of the film
than the poster and magazine. It still gives you very little
information about the narrative of the film but gives enough to
lure the viewer in and make them want to watch it.

13.  We ended the thriller on one of the characters putting
their hand over the camera, this gives off a lot of
suspense and leaves the audience thinking and
guessing. The text on the captions are red on a black
background. This automatically connotes danger. We
chose the font style that we used as we thought it
looked like it belonged to the thriller genre. however,
then with an element of ‘class’ attached to it. The Seri
fonts used for our Truth Untold title connote this.

14. This shows the consistency between the poster and the
magazine cover.
They both have the
same image of the
two girls on the right
hand side but just
with different effects.
The title of the film
is in the same font
and the same red
The other text on both of our colour on both the
media products is the same on poster and
both. The only difference is that magazine.
ones white and ones black.
These are easily identified with
our teaser trailer as we have
kept a similar house style. There
is a strong link between them all
and the emphasis on the
characters help this.

15. These are our captions we have
used throughout our trailer. Just like
out other media products, we have
used red and white text and we
chose a black background as it
makes it consistent. The font style is
the same for every caption.
Therefore, consistent but yet again
connoting that sense of being a little
more ‘classy’ and belonging to the
‘supernatural thriller’ genre as
opposed to the cliché’ horror.

16. This is out title page which is shown at the end of the trailer. The title is the same
colour and the same font style as we used on our magazine cover and poster. This
gives a consistent look and makes it look professional.
The writing at the bottom is white which is the same as we have on our poster. This
also adds to the same consistent look. We only said ‘Coming Soon’ so that it is more
of a tease and that coming soon could be any time, gives a stronger sense of a
‘tease’ leaving the audience suspicious. This is also good for creating an enigma and
hopefully creates a stronger interest.

17. Feed Back On Our Teaser Trailer
Student A: “ I liked the effects especially when the girl is being
dragged up the stairs by a spirit, this shot makes we want to and
watch the film and lastly I also enjoyed the fast paced editing it
brings the message across of how quick the situation had taken
place.
Student B: “didn’t like the shot where the girl was being dragged
up the stairs, because it came across felt that the shot came
across as being unrealistic. Overall I give it 4 out of 5.
Student C: “ I like the plot of the trailer, I also enjoyed watching the
3 friends establish their friendship simply because it something that
we call can relate to, I also liked the how the sound fits well with
the situation”

18. Feed Back On Our Magazine Cover
“I felt that the background image of the film
magazines met the forms and conventions of a
sight and sound magazine”
“The Font of the title is different to
other thriller fonts, this makes this
magazine different and unique”
“I Like the contrasting colours of the two girls it, the
girl behind seems to be in the dark it gives me the
impression that she may be hiding something
whereas the girl in front shows half of her face this
give me the impression she is hiding something as
well”

19. Feed Back On Our Teaser Poster
“I like the fact that the two girls are bigger than
the girl in the middle it gives me the impression
that they have more power over the girl in the
middle”
“I don’t like the image colour of the poster, or the
font that is used within the poster, it doesn’t not
come across or tick the boxes as a thriller genre
“I like how the images where shot it establishes
the title “Truth Untold”, the fact that we only see
half of the two girls faces allows us to imagine
that they are hiding something and we then see
the full face of the other girl she this allows me
to think”

20. Feed Back From
The Media Department

21. 3. What have you learned from your
audience feedback?

22. What Have You Learned From Your
Audience Feedback ?
In order for us get an suitable feedback from our target audience which were 15 -35 year olds,
we believed that our film would suit the female targeted audience due to the plot of the film
having the idea of 3 friends playing a game which leads to shots of torture and violence.
On the other hand we wanted it to be equal view from all the members from the audience so we
asked both males and females to watch our trailer. We looked at the comments as a group that
we had received from the audience feedback and we had gathered that the male were drawn in
to the effects and the fast pace editing within the trailer, however, the females within the
audience dislike the fact that the girl was being dragged up the stairs one even said that shot
came across unrealistic.
It could also have a large potential audience of men due to the main characters being three
young females!

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

24. The way in which the media technology helped us research into thriller trailers, posters and
magazine covers was mainly through the help of the internet. We typed in keywords such as
‘thriller film magazines’ or ‘thriller conventions’ and even ‘psycho thriller film posters’, ‘teaser
trailers’, ‘thriller teaser trailers’. Google was probably our biggest help as it generated many
different variety's of examples and information; this helped us to come up with our own ideas
and even use ideas in which we found and turn them into our own.
YouTube also showed us that there is a range of different genres within thriller that we could
choose from to produce our own practical work. The thriller genre that we looked at the most
was psychological thriller; we put a lot of attention onto Paranormal Activity 3 , this teaser trailer
also helped us with our visual elements and iconography. We also looked at a variety of Film
magazines and posters on the internet and also old ones in which our teacher had collected. For
example, Empire and Sight & Sound.

25. We didn’t come across any major problems when researching film posters, magazines, teaser
trailers or even theatrical trailers. It was quite easy as the internet provides more than enough
information. However, one minor issue we had was when we was searching on YouTube for
examples of teaser trailers as most of the trailers on YouTube were the full length theatrical
trailers. We did manage to find some and we then just focused on the ones we thought
connected to our idea in which we wanted to produce ourselves. The site www.comingsoon.net
is a site in which was very useful and everything we needed to analyse was in place. YouTube,
was also very useful, this is where we found ‘What lies beneath’ and then linked it to Truth
Untold and made similarities but made them our own, such as the effects used to convey
mystery as I have already spoke about on previous slides. The schools blog - archive was very
useful and helped us to realise what exactly we want from our trailer, magazine cover and
teaser poster. We used this to look at old previous work, from here we was able to see other
peoples mistakes and also other peoples benefits and what worked and what didn’t; I think this
majorly helped our teaser trailer, magazine cover and teaser poster successful. Our school
intranet was also useful when I t came to research, all of these factors together were a huge
source of research and helped us.

26. For the film magazine and poster we had to use the same techniques by researching them on
the internet. However, with the film magazine and poster we printed examples off and then
annotated them to make ourselves familiar with what worked and what aspects were most
important. We also learnt the specific names and where they were place so that we knew
exactly what was needed to be done before producing our own; to avoid confusion. For
example, the Masthead, banners, pugs, images, cover lines and more.
When it came to finding the music for a teaser trailer, we researched as many as we could on
www.freeplaymusic.com in the end we narrowed it down to five that we liked as a group; this is
because we couldn’t all agree on just one. We then out them onto our trailer and found that
‘House Invasion’ suited it best. Blogger was very useful as it helped to keep our work in place
and on track, this is much easier than having to keep continuously carrying sheets of paper
round. It also contains the dates and times in which certain material was posted which enabled
us to keep up to date with our work and improve it. It also allowed us to look at other peoples
blogs and share ideas. YouTube was also useful as people across the internet can watch our
teaser trailer and post comments, we can also see how many views our teaser trailer is getting
and we know that YouTube is a trustworthy site.

27. When we was making our trailer, we used Adobe Premier 6.5 to help us create and edit our
trailer. We didn’t not come across any difficulties seen as we have used this software to create
our previous trailer “no second chances." The process of this trailer was slightly different,
simply because we had to muddle our story line to prevent it coming up one event after the
other this also prevents giving too much of the story away, this was one of the things that
create a slight problem for us.
Added to this during the editing we came realised that some of our shots where long so we
had to use the cut tool to shorten the shot, we then used a range of effects such as fade ins
and fade outs which would allow the all shots we want to flow and fall into place correctly,
there was a particular shot that we didn’t like towards the end we then used a reverse shot
when daisy falls down the stairs.
However, by making the footage go backwards it makes it appear as though something
maybe ‘Bloody Mary’ is dragging her up the stairs but you can not see her. This is shocking
and creates more tension.
Added to this we has to ensure that we had the correct sound that matched our trailer/ story
line, we had a few problems at first with the sound going pas the peak of the trailer but it was
all resolved after a few cuts.

28.  To construct our poster and magazine cover we used two various media
technology's , Photoshop CS3 and Picnik. The two programmes allowed us to use
various tools to edit and create our poster and our magazine cover Certain editing
techniques worked better when using Photoshop because we felt it allowed us to
have more control over alterations. Both images were edited in Photoshop because
we had more options when making the image ‘black and white’ , such as we could
change the colour pigments in the image by the using the slider. Also because we
wanted to create a mysterious image and wanted to really highlight his face because
this is significant throughout the campaign we made the image high contrast and
found that we could get a much higher contrast while using Photoshop instead of
Paint shop Pro. On the other hand Paint shop Pro allowed us to put the structure
together easier and when adding elements such as adding text, pugs and the
magazine title. This was a problem that occurred because we first of all decided to
use Photoshop to create the layout of the magazine and poster, therefore Paint shop
Pro was a lot more straight forward . We were also more familiar with Paint Shop Pro
from our AS coursework so this made it slightly easier when making the posters and
magazine.

29. To construct our poster and magazine cover we used two
various media technology's which are , Photoshop CS3
and Picnik.
Magazine Picnik: was an online website where we could edit our photo
we brightened Sophie's face we also added few features
such as “touch up “ feature where you can add mascara,
lip colour and also apply the red eye effect
As for our poster we tinted the image blue and used a fade to
make it look more realistic.
We were able to go through a number of fonts on picnik we
was able to make it bigger, rotate it, change the font size
and colour
Photo Shop CS3: On photo shop we were able to cut out the
unwanted areas of the image we didn’t want and then
layer our photo on to the background image we were able
to cut the logo out of the original image using the magic
wand tool and from there we pasted the logo on to our
own.
As for the magazine cover, we layered Harley's single picture
on to the cut and cropped image of our magazine cover.

30. Image of Harleys
first picture that we
edited on picnik by
using the blue tint
ready to be layered
on