Audience Feedback

To make sure we are producing a trailer, poster and magazine cover that appeals to our target audience we printed off poster ideas and font ideas to ask people which ones they preferred. Audience feedback is a crucial part of our work because what the audience thinks really matters. We plan to take the poster with the most votes and keep the initial idea but develop it further to make sure it looks right and reaches the purpose and target audience. We also plan to do this with the fonts that we will use for the poster of the film and magazine cover. We plan to use the font that is the most popular with the audience but choose the colours and font size ourselves so that we can make sure the colours and size work with the image the audience have chosen. We do not want any conflicting colours or making the text too small as we want the text to stand out.

In class, my group and I printed off five images that are possible poster ideas including some images that already had the film name and tag line on. We showed members of class and asked them to pick their favourite based on if it suited the genre of our film and would attract them as an audience member to see our film. The most popular image with 8/12 votes was the image with the hand placed on the tree, displaying a heart ring. Audience feedback was quite positive for this image with comments such as 'interesting'. This poster was the one out of all the poster ideas we showed the class that they said would make them want to see our film. However we did have constructive criticism with comments such as to change the colour of the 'My Valentine' text as white does not really fit in with the genre of the film and it is not that scary. Also other comments included that the font in which 'Love Just Got Scary' is written is not very clear. However, the text being in the top centre of the image is a positive aspect of the poster and as it works well we will keep this the same when developing the poster further. This aspect is popular with the people we asked as it looks how a normal film poster would look. To make sure we take the comments we have been given into consideration, we will edit our chosen poster further making sure all the aspects that were commented on are improved so that the poster is effective and will attract people to our film and make them want to watch it.

The class' second favourite was the image of the woods with the title of the film in the top, left hand corner. This was popular because it was quite 'mysterious' however it did not come top as it does not convey the correct 'feeling' of a horror film. As further development our group are going to produce another two designs to get feedback on which is based on our chosen design.

We also showed the class a variety of fonts for the poster to get audience feedback on. (The images of this will be uploaded shortly).

Development ideas .....

After suggested by one of my group members, Georgia, we are taking inspiration from this music video. It shows a car crash and the main character (male) trying to deal with it. He realises that the girl may not have actually existed. We hope to add aspects of this into our clip to create the type of impact that this music video does. This is not going to be the exact plot line for our trailer however we like the plot and want to add the aspects of drama and excitement from it to our trailer.

In our group, we also had a discussion on how we can make the trailer more 'edgy' and 'exciting'. We had an idea that the trailer could have a 'reverse' theme as it goes back to before the crash happened. We plan to reverse the car crash and to show the clips of two hands holding and letting go play backwards too. We decided to do this because it will make our trailer different from others as well as show the story from a different perspective. In the next few weeks we plan to collect the last pieces of footage we need for our trailer which include a car driving in darkness, as the clip at the beginning is in daylight. The crash is filmed in darkness. This doesn't work well as time can't go that fast. By filming a car in the dark it will connect to the crash and the clip will then run smoothly. We also plan to film a party scene to show the base to the storyline which is the two main characters leaving a party getting into a car drunk. The car will then crash causing the girl character die and the driver who is her boyfriend to feel guilty. By incorporating the theme inspired by the 'Big Bang' music video by Rock Mafia and Miley Cyrus the boyfriend character will be expressing guilt which will make him contemplate whether his girlfriend actually existed.

Sounds

After discussing with my group, we have decided to add in a futher two sounds. This will help not only to make the trailer more 'gripping' and entertaining but make the audience understand the storyline a little more. The first sound we are using in the trailer is the car crash sound which I have previously posted on another blog entry. The second sound we are using is a party type sound which is a fast beat, modern type track. (a clip of this will be uploaded shortly). We plan to have this sound as a background for the party to create a 'young', 'modern' and 'party' vibe. This is to lighten the mood at the beginning of the trailer and show a party lifestyle from a teenagers point of view. The next clips we are using is a 'dark' and 'ery' sound. It is orginally a soundtrack from the TV series 'Vampire Diaries' which is scary and of the horror genre so we as a group, thought it would fit in with the horror/thriller genre we are producing. We want this sound to bring the mood down and make the audience feel more on edge, scared and anticipating something scary to happen. We want it to be evident to our audience on the typ of genre movie we are producing and we want them to feel worried. Below is the clip of the 'scary' music we are using.

Developments

Over the last couple of weeks, my group have taken more clips that relate to our storyboards and to develop our trailer further. Initially we just had filming of the beginning of the car, before it 'crashes' and our main character. We have now added further development to the car crash by adding a close up clip of the headlights which was taken by Linzi. Also we added a clip showing the connection between the main character and her boyfriend. This clip was of the hands of the main character portrayed by Georgia and her boyfriend. As futher developments we plan to film the car which is carrying our main character and her boyfriend, in the dark as currently the van is in daylight. We also plan to add a party scene to give the audience a quick snippet of the background story so that they understand the plot of the movie. When adding new clips to our trailer, we plan to edit it so that it runs smoothly and is easy to understand. Also, by using editing techiniques such as fast cuts it will help to add a 'scary' and 'edgy' vibe to the trailer.

Storyboard

This is just a rough storyboard of our initial plot.
1- The main two characters are at a party. They go together, with the main character (girl)'s boyfriend driving. They both drink alcohol at the party.

2 - The boyfriend drives home reassuring Georgia's character it will be ok even though he is aware he has had too much to drink. They are involved in a serious car crash.

3 - We learn that our main character has been killed in the accident leaving her boyfriend distraught and reeled with guilt. He knows it is his fault and still loved her.

4 - He is struggling to deal with her death as he knows he caused it.

5 - After going to is dead girlfriends graveside to try and feel closer to her he is astionished to find her standing near him in the graveyard. Is it really her? Is it a spirit? Is it his imagination?

6 - The main character continues to 'haunt' and cause chaos to her former boyfriend. It is believed she wants revenge for her death although she still loves him.

7 - He is unsure whether it is a ghost or his imagination. Things start to feel unusual and creepy and he is now starting to wonder if she even existed. Is his mind playing tricks on him? Is the spirit playing tricks on him?

8 - His dead girlfriend continues to terrorise him until it reaches a shocking end.

Exploration of texts for film poster

I have previously uploaded some fonts that were potential fonts for our film trailer poster before we knew the name of our trailer. Now we have come up with a name (My Valentine), I explored a variety of fonts which I thought worked with the name as well as fitted with the genre. I plan to print out these fonts and ask some people which font they prefer so that we as a group get a clear idea of what works, not only for our trailer but for the audience too. In our group we discussed the type of font we would like to use. For 'My Valentine' we want quite a subtle, 'nice' font so that a 'love' feel is conveyed. Then we want the text 'Love Just Got Scary' (which is the tag line) in a 'scary' font because that is the part of text that we want to appear daunting and show the audience the genre of film.

Poster Ideas

I have been experimenting with different photographs we took for the films poster. This is not our actual design. It is just part of research. I think the picture in this mock poster is good because it is creepy and portrays the type of feel we are trying to show but I think the colouring and the text are weak points and is something that needs to be researched more to make sure when the final poster is created, it is much more scary and 'sharp'. I experimented with a red colour because red connotes blood and danger and this will convey this type of feel to the audience which is the type of feeling we want to convey. The text needs to be 'spookier' and 'bolder'. We need the text to 'jump out' at the audience. I think for our final design, we will incorporate a picture of a hand which is similar to this. I think this idea is effective because it is scary and the audience will be asking questions. Who does the hand belong to? Why is it there? Are they alive? Are they dead? We will need to carry out research such as asking other people which fonts are effective and would stand out.