Questions

1) In which area have you seen an improvement in from the foundation to your advanced portfolio?
I feel that there has been a great improvement in my creative thinking from my foundation to my advanced portfolio. During the production of my AS level magazine, I feel that I strongly stuck by the conventions of Indie Magazines. I took more time in thinking about what the audience expected rather than finding a balance between that and the audiences gratifications. I think that if I had focused on both of these, the adhering to conventions would give the audience what they expected, but if I had also considered gratifications, I could have ‘went outside the box’ and considered something that they would appreciate but would not necessarily expect. This is where my AS-Level and A2 work differ. I think that I took a lot more time and thought in more depth about what would make my more successful from my target audience’s perspective. A main convention of psychological films is that they are based around ghosts or evil spirits within the characters home. This is a convention that is rarely challenged, and so I decided to stick by it. However, after careful thought and creative insight I decided to add a twist. When considering my audiences age, I realised that they would have been in contact with an extremely famous and popular urban legend- Bloody Mary. It was after realising this that I decided to use this as a twist, to give my films story line a truthful and realistic angle, which would appeal and scare my audience. It is here that I feel I have been able to be the most creative, my creative skills have advanced so that I have been able to consider not only what my audience expects but what would pleasure them as well.
The idea of considering my audience also links to the fact that I feel that my researching abilities have advanced greatly during the creation of my advanced portfolio. I feel that during my A2 project I have been able to research my target audience to greater depths than when creating my foundation portfolio. I think that the skill of finding information has now advanced so that I now not only find the information but piece it together and draw conclusions from it. I have also been able to draw different conclusions by studying different theories, such as the cultivation culmination theories. An example of this could be if you compare my blog post on my foundation portfolio labelled ‘what I expect an indie fan to be like’ to my blog post on my advanced portfolio labelled “my target audience” or “audience theory”.

2) What challenges did you face in each portfolio? How did you resolve them? And if not, what did you do differently in advanced?
The creation of both portfolios bought new and different challenges for me to overcome. For me, I think that my main challenge has been the Technologies we have used. I’m not very skilled at using new types of computers and software. So therefore, I found it very difficult to adjust and had much to learn. Before taking A-level media, I had never had the opportunity to properly use a ‘mac’ computer, I found it extremely difficult to adapt to the software and became increasingly frustrated when what have been a simple task on my computer at home turned into an hour’s worth of lesson on the ‘mac’ computer. I tried to resolve this challenge by researching how to use different programmes and asking for help whenever I could. However, in the end I decided to use the software on my computer at home to complete some of the tasks... for example the contents page of my Indie Magazine and The Film Poster as part of my advanced portfolio. Although during my advanced portfolio the mac computer has allowed me to use prestigious pieces of software such as final cut pro to complete tasks at a high quality standard.
During my foundation portfolio, I feel that I could have examined and evaluated my work to a greater extent. This is a process that I found challenging as I had spent so much time creating my magazine that I struggled to see it from someone else’s perspective. To overcome this challenge, I made sure that I spent time away from my work before evaluating it. This enabled me to see the portfolio in a different light, and I was able to pick strong and weak points.

3) Which area is your strength? Please give examples of this within your a2 work.
Overall, I feel that the area of ‘research’ is my strong point. It is something that I enjoy as I find the background stories of different topics interesting. I feel that this is a strength because I make sure that I constantly refer back to my target audience through things like focus groups and questionnaires. This enables me to improve upon my work and focus upon the audiences gratifications. (Please see the blog post ‘focus group’). I have enjoyed researching the history of both indie magazines and psychological horrors, I have made sure that I have understood how both have developed.(please see audience theory). In addition to this, I have made sure that I have compared and contrasted a wide range of models, for example when I compared a whole page of film posters. It enables me to establish clear memes and conventions, whilst making note of what colours/ lay-outs were the most effective.

4) What would you do differently for both? Is there an area of weakness?
I think my main weakness throughout both portfolio’s has been my planning abilities. Due to the fact that my peers who had volunteered to take part in either my magazine or trailer take A-levels too, they are extremely busy. It is because of this that plans often had to be re-arranged as their own deadlines for subjects had to be met. I also struggled to ‘find a balance between tasks’, I would often find myself working on multiple things and starting tasks before I had finished others, this lead me to feel overwhelmed at times. I think if I was to do it again, I would make sure I would take time to concentrate on one task at a time and make sure that I would finish it before I started another one. This is would make me feel a lot more calm, and I would be able to focus on each task an equal amount.

5) What advice would you import to a prospective media student?
There are three main things that I would tell a prospective media student. The first is definitely that you should plan ahead and do as much work as you can at the start of the course so that you don’t end up getting stressed out and overwhelmed towards the end. Secondly, I would advise them to pick a portfolio that suits them and that they are interested in. This is because I think that if you enjoy something, you are much more likely to be willing to do the work and go ‘the extra mile’ when completing the tasks at hand. I would finally tell them to find a balance between things that are unconventional and conventional. This is because things that are unconventional often develop and become more popular and turn into tropes, memes and conventions. It is also important to stick to obvious conventions or ‘unwritten rules’ because they are popular and used most for a reason, you should show that you understand common features of the subject at hand.

Evaluation 4 - How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation?

How did you use media technologies in the from 19105hj

Evaluation 3 - What have you learnt from audience feedback?

In order for my trailer and ancillary tasks to be as realistic, persuasive and effective as possible, I constantly referred to the traget audience of Psychological Horror films. Due to the fact that my target audiences age was 18-28, a similar age to my own, I was able to constantly reference and question my peers in class. Being able to easily contact members of my target audience was extremely helpful, I was able to establish a clear idea of what they expected from the media products and what would gratify them most.

Before beginning my main or ancillary tasks, I decided to compose a focus group/ questionaire aimed at a handful of members of my target audience. I asked basic questions such as; "in general, what do you find frightening?", I also asked more in depth ones such as "what type of characters do you expect to see in a psychological horror?". After analysing the results I was able to construct an idea of what was necessary for a successful psychological horror. Speaking to my tarket audience within the early stages, enabled me to learn what I needed to create in order to forfill the audiences expectations. It gave me prior knowledge on what was needed to amplify feelings of fear and tension in my trailer.

When creating my ancillary tasks, my target audience gave me constructive critisism on my work. Things said such as "the mast head looks to plain, you should change it" enabled me to access a new perspective and realise the features that were letting my work down. The target audience gave me feedback on the 3 versions I had created of my poster and magazine cover, seeing how the they have enabled my work to improve and progress has reinforced to me how important it is to refer to your audience. If I hadnt I would have just created one version and not have made the improvements at all. In addition, after further analysis of my target audience, ideas such as the 'ABC scale' enabled me to edit features of my work so that they were aimed at my audience specifically. For example, as my audience are classed as D/E on the scale I used a bright and bold colour scheme on the magazine so that connotations of youth and thrill were shown.

Throughout the creation of my trailer, I made sure that I referenced my target audience so that I could learn about what I needed to improve/ include. This meant that I was able to change even the finest details so that it improved the experience for the viewer. Contacting my target audience on a regular basis also gave me a 'fresh outlook' on my work, as I found that it was hard to judge what was good/bad after staring at it for so long!

I feel that if I did not recieve any audience feedback on my work, then it would be completely off the mark. I would risk an inaccurate interpretation of audience preference being shown in my work. Thus meaning that my products would have not been accurate, realistic or appealing. Speaking to my target audience has enabled me to learn the importance of 'the finer details', often when refering to my audience they would notice things that I had not picked up on. Using focus groups, face to face feed back, social networks and questionaires allowed me to construct products that were persuasive and gratifying for viewers.

Evaluation 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Evaluation 1 - In which ways does your media produce use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My Psychological Horror Trailer - 'Bloody Mary'

magazine cover final

This is my third and final design of my magazine cover. I ended up changing the design significantly compared to my previous two covers. In order to create my magazine I had to consider the audiences expectations and audience gratifications. I had to adhere to conventions of film magazines so that the audience could anticipate what the film would be like. I also had to consider what features would pleasure the audience and make them want to purchase the magazine. This is why I used one main image on the cover, I noticed that othe magazines would keep the design simple, so that the  audience could easily understand which would be the main characters. When considering audience gratifications, I decided to add actors names in a larger font as a means of celebrity endoursement. The audience will idolise and have interest in celebrities and so would purchase the magazine and thus find out more about the 'Bloody Mary' film.
It was important that I considered coherancy when creating both of my ansillary tasks. In order for both to look professional and for the audience to link both the poster and cover togther, I ensured that I used the same fone when writing the title of the film 'Bloody Mary'. Additionally, as I mentioned previously, I have chosen the font style of 'bloody mary' to be similar to that of the gothic horror era, this is so that it acts as a 'double mode of address', it will adress the obvious target audience but may also attract the attention of a possible older audience, who will relate the font to films they have seen in their youth. They will be attracted to buy the magazine/ watch the movie.
Due to the fact that my target audience would be classed as E & D on the ABC scale (students & working class). I ensured that I used a bright and bold colour scheme, that with held connotations of youth and fun but also connotations of horror.
I have also changed the title of the magazine to 'shock'. I feel that this name is more appropriate to a film magazine, as in my opinion the point of film is to change the audiences perspective in some way and to suprise or 'shock' them when they end up changing an opinion.
I also ensured that I used words that would inrtigue possible readers such as 'top' and 'hot', they connotate that the magazine will be the best and be interesting to read. I ensured that captions were short and snappy so that it would appeal to a youth audience. 'HOT TOPIC' sounds brief but acts as a form of colloquialism, which will appeal to my target audience.
I also structured the layout of the magazine so that it adhered to western cultural conventions and would thus uppeal to my audience. I considered how the audience would read the text (from left to right) and layed the page out so that I could fit as much information as possible in the order I wanted, without the page appearing overwhelming or 'too packed'.
After referring my second design of the cover, members of my target audience told me that the white back ground made the text appear dull, and unproffesional. So i went back to the drawing boards and chose grey. I felt a darker colour would work more effectively as it denotes connotations of horror. However, black appeared to harsh against my previous colour scheme so I chose grey.

Overall, I am pleased with my final cover. I feel that it adheres to conventions of film magazines and is tailored to my target audience. However, to improve I would have liked to perhaps simplify the colour scheme to one or two colours... I feel that four is a bit much.