Final Audience Feeback

I asked to people who were in my target audience to take part in a focus group. These type of people included teenagers from ranging from 17 and 18 year olds. The reason why i went for this age range is because my film is targeted familes with teenagers.

Here is the questonnaire of the questions that i asked people within the focus group i held:

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With the first question; "From looking at the two ancillary products and teaser trailer, what do you think works well in terms of persuading to watch the film upon its release?" the responces i got were:

"I like the way that the film poster and teaser trailer show the actual runaway of the son, but then the magazine shows the run after his runaway and arrival in the new city, showing different aspects of the film"

"With the teaser trailer in particular it leaves you on edge in terms of what will happen to the son when he gets to the new city and you don't know what the parents reaction will be, although you do get a sense of love and care for the son from his family because they are worried about his wearabouts when he returns home late one night"

The second question i asked was: " Is there anything in either the ancillary products or teaser trailer that you personally would change to improve?" the responces i recieved were:

"With the teaser trailer some of the edits could be a little faster to create a better mood of it being a trailer"

"With the teaser trailer the background sound could be more permoninate to build up tension"

The final question i asked was "How effective do you think the branding across all three of my media products?" the responces were:

"The way the dates on the film magazine and film poster are good because they match, however to make all 3 look effective you should of changed the date on the phone from october last year to august of this year, because the film is sent "now" not in the past or future"

"You give the idea that the son is running away early in the morning but when you see the phone it says its 15 58, to make it look more realistic you should of used a mid morning time"

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

My film would be released to Cinema, then it would becomes a “Friday/Saturday night film” on the television. The reason for this is because there would not really be many convergence methods that you could add to a drama crime film for Runaway.

If you take a film such as Avatar, this type of film there are many types of convergence methods that can come from this such as video games. The reason why a film such as Avatar has many convergence methods because you can have games and achieve different levels. With Runaway because it is a drama crime film there is not that much convergence that could come off the film.

Learning from Audience Feedback

Audience feedback helped me vastly with the production of my media products. After I finished my drafts I was able to post questions to people and they were able to give me there feedback about what they would improve, this let me improve my media products for the better. The reason for this is because other people in my target audience with often pick out different points for improvements.

The first audience feedback I received was by you tube comments and emails from people in my target audience to get their opinions on improvements, or even simpler changes.


























These are the subtitles that I was intending to use on my main media product, however I got some negative feedback about them saying:

“The titles on the video look ineffective especially with the white”

“The people names could be effectively used by placing them over the person’s face”

After reading these comments I decided to change the titles to a white colour that would show up better for the tag line if the text was white and the background was black:

















I kept the block capitals to make it stand out to the audience. Block capitals in black with a white background stand out the audience the most, however within a teaser trailer situation a black background matches the crime sub genre that the film classed under.

I also followed advise from my feedback by and having the names of the actor/actress at the bottom of the screen where they are first in shot:




















I decided to use a white text colour, although originally I was going to use black. In the end I did decide to go for a white colour because as this still shot shows the black does not show up very well.

Here is an editing still shot of using black text:

















Because of audience feedback i was also able to change some of the editing for the better. Using the actors names over the screen while they acted, this did make me have to use different editing techiques to re edit them.

How effective is the combination of your main media product and ancillary products?

My final media product and ancillary products are an effective combination.

Throughout all 3 of my products things are similar that make them up as a package.

Throughout all of my main media product the text type and colour has been the same. I used the same text font and a white colour with any text that was shown during my teaser trailer as this short amateur video shows:





The reason why i decided to have all the text font and colour identical in the teaser is because if the texts are constantly different it will confuse the audience and it will not look like part of package.

With the film poster and the teaser trailer the tag line of Runaway is included in them. The reason in why I have not included the film’s tag line; “A woman’s search to find her son…a son’s search to find his freedom” is because looking at other Empire film magazine front covers it is not included on the front page but it will be included within the pages inside the magazine about the film. For both the film poster and the film poster I have spread the tag line out. I spread them out in the teaser trailer so that a scene of the correct character is shown before their personalised tag line is shown. Here is the tag line spread out within my teaser trailer:





I also spread the tag line out over my teaser, this shows that there is thought process is spread out between the son running away and the mother worrying about where her son is, not because she doesn't care but beccause he ran away early in morning and she doesn't realise this until she awakes later on that morning.

Here is my film poster:






















The tag line is also a white text, this is very similar to the tag line that is used in the teaser trailer.

Although all my products slightly different, the font across all three media products, follow the same, bold simplistic font. In both the teaser trailer and the film magazine front cover the text is a white colour. With the film poster the text is red, I have however done this for a reason. The reason is that when you read a film magazine or see a film trailer you are given a fair bit of information about the film. However with a film poster you are given very little information so using a red and same font text, the red will make the audience think about pain and anger that may by associated with the people in the film.

Here is the tile for my teaser trailer:









Here is the title for my film poster:









Here is the title for my film magazine:










I also ensured that on both of my ancillary the dates were similar. The release date of the film is shown on the film poster is August 19th and the date for the film magazine is August, both in 2011. This maks sense because if the dates were months apart it would look very odd.

Here is the date on the film magazine front cover:






Here is the date on my film psoter:







Branding in very critical to creating a good media film pacakge. To do this i was considering using a still shot from the teaser trailer for the film poster and the film magazine, however i thought, and proved that used a still shot would of reduced the quality by alot.

What Social Group (s) does my film represent?

Women are represented in my media products, along with teenage boys. The woman that is in my film is a mother and a business woman. The son is in compulsory secondary education and is very rebellious and rarely turns up for lessons.

The family that live in this house seem to be a normal working to middle class family, that seem to do normal things, and live normal lives, with a rebellious teenager who has gone off the rails slightly.

Both my characters that are include in my teaser trailer are represented in a very stereotypical way. The son is a teenager and a stereotypical teenager is very rebellious. The woman in my film is a mother, she acts in a stereotypical manor because mothers are constantly worried about their children’s whereabouts and when the finally return they do becomes annoyed with their children because they know that the child probably didn’t think once if their parents were worried about them. This is apparent in my teaser trailer because when the son is walking home at 3 30am he sneaks into the backdoor of his house in hope that his parents won’t see him, however his plan fails when he returns home to discover that his mother is waiting for him to come home, he hopes that because it is so late his parents think that he will just come home at a more reasonable hour and they will be in bed, but the mother is waiting for him.

Challeging and Developing Coventions of Real Media Products.

The conventions of a teaser trailer are:

- They should be fairly short, usually about 60 seconds long

- Have a basic outline of what the film is about

- Questions that could suggest what will happen in the film

- If the audience like the clips in the teaser trailer, they are more likely to view the whole film, so the teaser trailer should include some things that will bring the audience to see the film when it is released

- The teaser trailer should start off at a slower pace and then when the trailer goes on the pace should speed up, this will also build up tension with the audience and then the teaser trailer will end of a high

While planning and producing my teaser trailer i constantly kept the conventions of a teaser trailer in mind, however in certain situations i had to challenge them. My teaser trailer is just over double the length that the teaser trailer, however with the film being about a child who runs away from his parents, i wanted to show the details in why he ran away from his parents. Although i can still differentiate my teaser trailer from a normal teaser trailer at different points. The first thing that differs my teaser trailer from a normal trailer is that a normal trailer would show different clips from the entire film, my teaser trailer shows about the first half of the film. After what is shown in the teaser trailer the film would be about the search for the child, completing in the child being found dead. He was killed by a gangster. If these clips were to be shown the length would take the trailer to a normal trailer, because it will be giving alot of details away.

My film obviously meets the convention about having a basic outline of the film and this is shown in a couple of different ways. The first way that shows what the film is about is given away with the title really.

Here is the title shown in the teaser trailer:





The reason why the title is a giveaway is because with the film being called Runaway, you will be given the idea that the film may be about somebody that runs away. Also with my teaser trailer while the mother and son are arguing there are cuts to the son running away through back streets. There is a clear pass in time with these cuts because when the son and mother are arguing, the son has just got back to the family home and the mother clearly states that it is 3 30am, which is shown in the video below. Also outside when the son is running it is daylight, so it is clearly not 3 30am. The reason why i did this was because you are constantly getting the idea that the son is planning on running away, this is meeting the conventions of a teaser trailer.

Here are the videos of the mother stating the fact that is it 3 30am and within the same argument the cuts to the son running away:








Questions that could suggest what will happen in the film are not featured in my film. However the film's tag line are include in my teaser trailer:





This tag line that is included in my teaser tailer gives the viewers an idea what might happen within the film. Especially with the first bit of the tag line which says "A woman's search to find her son...". This gives the viewer the impression that the woman starring in the film will be searching for her son, which is not shown within the teaser trailer.

The conventions of a Drama film are:

- Need to be serious

- Must portray realistic characters

- Real life situations

- Target audience of mainly adults

Because i decided to change my genre half way through planning, it was because i was looking at the conventions of both genres. Thriller films have more gruesome scenes in that what my film feathered, even though the son will be killed. The viewing of his murder would not be shown in the film, the film would concentrate on the families reaction to the son's death and his funeral. So unlike thriller films such as Psycho.

Here is the iconic scene from Psycho (this sort of scene would not be included in my film so wouldn't make a good thriller film, however because it will focus of the families reaction, it will be a good drama film:














The first convention for a drama film is that it has to be serious. My teaser trailer does conform to this convention in different ways. The first way in which my teaser trailer conforms to this convention is that at no point during any of the teaser trailer and later in the film that would be created is the film meant to make you laugh.

Another convention is that realistic characters must be portrayed. The reason why my characters in my teaser trailer are realistic is because they are not trying to play any characters out of the ordinary, such as dragons or monsters. My cast are playing stereotypical people, i.e Mother and Son.

Here are my characters that are in my film:


















Another convention of drama film is that it has to contain real life situations. My teaser trailer also keeps to this convention. The film is about a rebellious teenager who is annoyed with his parents so he feels like he has not alternative but to run away from home, he decides to go to a new cities to avoid been seen. When running away he is wearing a red hoodie that he is using to try and blend in so he is not noticeable when he gets to a new city; Birmingham, when in Birmingham he is wearing his hood up, this type of thing would not be out of the ordinary because the son would want to try and disguise himself.

Here is a photo of the son trying to hide his identity:























This is a realistic situation because if a teenager was running away (which is also a realistic situation) they will always try their best to try a hide their identity from anybody who might be searching for them.

The final convention of a drama film is that the target audience should be mainly adults, again i kept to this conventionMy target audience is mainly female adults and older families, the reason for this is because the target audience need to be able to relate to the characters that are staring in the film. As this film is set of a family unit, mother and teenager, this will tend to be right target audience, however this can be extended to the average family because the film is a family situation, with everyday family problems.

Location can also depend on the films target audience, here are some still shots taken from the teaser trailer:
























When considering what certificate to class my film there were different things that i had to consider. When i first though about this i knew from my own knowledge that it would etiher a 12 certificate or a 15 certificate. I started off by look at the details of each certificate.

This is what the British Board of Film Classification say about the following Certificates:






















Discriminatory language or behaviour must not be endorsed by the work as a whole. Aggressive discriminatory language or behaviour is unlikely to be acceptable unless clearly condemned. Any misuse of drugs must be infrequent and should not be glamorised or give instructional detail. Moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted, provided disturbing sequences are not frequent or sustained. Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied, or appear pain or harm free. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.Moderate language is allowed. The use of strong language (for example, ‘f**k’) must be infrequent. Nudity is allowed, but in a sexual context must be brief and discreet. Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed. Sex references should not go beyond what is suitable for young teenagers. Frequent crude references are unlikely to be acceptable. Mature themes are acceptable, but their treatment must be suitable for young teenagers.Moderate violence is allowed but should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if justified by the context. Sexual violence may only be implied or briefly and discreetly indicated, and must have a strong contextual justification.
























The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour. Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable. Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised. Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised. There may be frequent use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’). The strongest terms (for example, ‘cunt’) may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable. Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context. Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable. No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds. Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.

When i anaylised these certificate descriptions i came to the conclude that my film, based on the teaser traailer i put my film at a 12. The reason why i did decide to put my film as a 12 is because it's lower than all of the 15 certificate descritption, for example it does not have any strong language in it. With the death that is involved later on in the film, it couldn't be taken any lower than a 12.

The coventions of a film magazine are:

- That the magazine's name is clearly shown

- Has to be noticeable to the audience

- Actors are used as a focal point of the magazine

- Graphics and colours are used to create a mood for the magazine

- Several cover lines dotted around the magazine to show a good content

- Barcode and price should be included


Here is my film Magazine; Empire:






















With the first convention about having the magazine's name clearly shown, i have challenged this slightly. The reason why i have challenged is because the central image of the son is covering part of the title.

Here is an Empire magazine that has been on the market:




















With this magazine that Empire have produced the central image is on top of the film magazine's name; Empire. However the reason in why Empire tend to do this to their magazine front covers is because the magazine have already got an established audience so the buyers of the magazine will always buy that particular film magazine, therefore Empire can afford to place film images over their title. I took this idea because i wanted my film magazine to look like it is about to/or has been on the film magazine market.

The second convention is that it has to be noticeable to audiences. My film magazine is noticeable to audience in different ways. The first way that my film magazine is noticeable to audiences is by having the two titles (the film magazine name: Empire and my film name: Runaway) near to eachother. The name of the film magazine is behind the image, however because it is a new film and people may not be as aware of the film name so i placed the film title over the top of the son's hoddie, leaving his face in full view to the audience. The image dominates the whole magazine front cover and is easily eye catching with the use of colours.

The thrid convention which is the actors being the focal point of the magazine i have achieved easily, the son's face is in the centre of the film magazine and it is also the first thing that you look at when you view the film magazine, as it stands out so much.

The fourth convention is that graphics and colours are used to create a mood for the magazine. I feel i have achieved this because i decided to use red thoughout most of the magazine to meet its connotatinos. The two connotations that i felt suited this film type were anger and pain, felt by all characters. The son who is running away from his family because he si angry, he doesn't like his family at the moment as they are trying to help him stay and school and get some qualifications, however he does not want this, he wants to be out getting drunk all the time. Pain will be felt by the mother and the rest of his family back at home when the realise that he has ran away because they will be worried for his safety.

Several cover lines dotted around the magazine to show a good content are a convention that i feel i have also achieved, i used different film magazines espically Empire magazines for assistance on the puffs dotted around the magazines.

Puffs that i have included in my film magazines include:

"First Look! Steven Spielberg's new film New York, New York!"

"Exclusive! Behind the scenes of The Kings Speech!"

"Plus: An exclusive interview with the creator of the Oscar award winning AU79!"

The final coonvention i have easily achieved which is to include a barcode and price tag.

Here is my Barcode and Price tag:


















Here are the conventions for a film poster:

- Must use a single dominate image

- Title of the film

- Must contain actors a directors names, along with anybody else invloved with the film in small text

- Either a simple "Coming Soon" or the actual release date of the film

- The film's tag line

Here is my film poster:






















My film poster has achieved the first convention of using a single dominate image. The image of the son on the poster is the only image that is actually on the film poster.

My film poster also includes a small paragraph at the bottom of the poster that include the film company, director's name, producer's name, and other people who might be involved with the film.


The thrid convention is also achieved in my film poster is that a date for release is included.

The tag line for the film is also include in the film poster which is; "A woman's search to find her son... A son's search to find his freedom".

Sub-Genre to my Film Package

My film Runaway does have a sub-genre to it. The sub-genre that my film would be included in would be a crime sub-genre. The reason why my film would be included in the Drama Crime genre would be because, not shown on the teaser trailer, but if I was to make the rest of the film what would happen is that the son would be killed. However this would not be shown on the film, the film would focus on the families reaction and investigation to the son’s death along with his funeral. This would let my film move into the crime genre.

Another thing that would add to the crime element of my film is that obviously when the son runs away from his home to a large city, he hasn’t really got much with him apart a few clothes as you see him pack these in the teaser trailer. Because the son hasn’t got anything to eat, he starts to steal different things from supermarkets and local shops. Therefore if the teaser trailer was to be made into a full length film, this would also add to the crime genre aspect of the sub-genre of the film.

How i Reached my Target Audience

I had identifed my target audience as been for middle aged people, espically women in family situations. The reason why i decided to make these target audience is because usually women are the people who are at the heart of domestic situations, steriotypically.

I distributed questionnaires out to people who were in family situations that i knew. I have some relatives who do not have any children, however i decided not to ask these people because i thought that, with my film idea they won't be able to relate to of as what would happen in this type of situation as a mother would be able to. I then proceeded to ask people espically mothers or homely people, such as family members, teachers, work colleagues and my neighbours to fill out a copy of the questionnaire:

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Getting my target to fill out my questionnaire helped me because i was able to gain knowledge of how to create my film teaser trailer, and things that i could include in it.

On question 3 i did disagree with most of my audience feedback; "Do you like the front cover of film magazines to have an image from the film on it or a image from a photo shoot?" the majority of people that i asked said that i should use a still image from the film. I disagreed with the majority because i wanted the quality of my image to be good. For my film poster however i did use a moving image still shot, the only reason for why i used this is because i wanted to actually caputure the "runaway" moment.

Using new media in my production.

Using new media was very important to me in creating my film and ancillary products. Using digital technology assisted me with production of my film, in creating my film i was able to use Adobe Premier which is an advanced editing software peice.

I used Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 for the post product of my film. The advantages with using Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 were that you have the option to add up to three different sounds to one particular clip. This can in handy for me when the son was running away, because i could add sounds and made the moving image that was on my footage look more affective, it also made my film pacakage look more realistic.

Using Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 also let me edit the footage with more editing techiques avaiable than the simpler software, such as the one that i used for my AS coursework; Windows Movie Maker. When i used Windows Movie Maker last year i decided that i would not use it again because it did not have many effective edit options on it, luckily Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 has more complex editing techiques on there.

Another thing that i found really usefull was using the embeding codes. This enabled me to get videos from youtube and other websites and put them inro my blog for the research and planning. I could also usee the embeding codes to place questionnaires onto my blog.

Coventions of my media products.

I researched all sorts of different films, to come to a decision of what genre my film package would come under. I looked at the film Vera Drake for insperation, and this helped me come to the conclusion that my film ideas would come under the genre; Drama film.

When i first began this project i was considering doing a triller/horror genre. The reason why i considered this genre is because i was going to start the film with a vulerable man running away and been kipnapped by gangesters, this would of added horror elements to the film. After completeing some audience research about different film ideas i decided to make a film about a son who is slightly out of control and decides to run away from his family, keeping the runaway concept in my film, which also allowed me to keep the name that i decided for the film; "Runaway".

Vera Drake focuses of real family life situations. Which my film also does, as my film is about a tennager who runs away from his family. Vera Drake uses conventions of a drama film, such as using everyday life situations.

Final Products

Old Ancillary Products

Here are my old ancillary products, i have only got to make a few slight ajustments after this stage.

Improving my Film Magazine

Most people who did take part in my ancillary research said that i should use things from pervious film magazines to make mine look more offical and realistic.

I scanned in or got these off to internet to use on my film magazine:

Audience Feedback on Second Draft of Ancillary Products

For my Second peice of ancillary feeback for i am going to be getting feedback via a questionnaire:

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Question 1:













Question 2:














Question 4:














Question 5:














With questions 3 i asked people who took part in the questionnaire to give their views and opinions for my film magazine front cover.

Here are some of the comments:

"Try using the real "Empire" logo from an actual Empire film magazine from the internet."

"Where you have put the "puff" you can't really see what it says inside it, try moving it to the right hand side a little way up from the barcode and slightly down from the film poster."

"The barcode is very unrealistic, the only thing i can suggest to make it look more realistic is to scan a real varcode from a magazine you already have."

With question 6 i also asked people who took part in my questionnaire to give their views and opinions for my film poster.

Here are some of the comments:

"To make your film poster of "Runaway" look like a film poster you would see on the current film market, you shouldchange the text of the bottom ("Starring the award winning Sean Beddows. Directed and produced by Richard Beddows")so it is on one line with the text much smaller."

"To make the film poster look similar to other film poster you really need to put a viewing certificate on the poster (make it look offical though)."

"To make better use of the rather empty space in the middle you could move the film's tag line to the more spacious part of the film poster, as it looks rather crampt at the top of the film poter."

Second Draft of Film Poster

Second Draft of Magazine Front Cover

Using Paint.Net for my Film Poster

I uploaded my newly edited photo to Paint.Net.













I then looking through the font types, taking into account the feedback i was given from my first draft i decided to use a less formal font, so i used Verdana.













I then added my name above the film title Runaway, the reason why i did this is because most film poster sadd the director's and producer's name on the poster.













I then added the tag line for my which is "A Woman's search to find her son...a son's search to find his freedom". I also added the line "Starring the award winnng Sean Beddows. Directed and produced by Richard Beddows".

Using Paint.Net for my Magazine Front Cover

I have decided that for to improve my film magazine front cover using my feedback i am going to do this with Psint.Net. The reason why i have decided to use Paint.Net for my film magazine front cover is because you can completely tranform the image and it makes it look more effective.
















Once i opened Paint.Net i then imported my film magazine front cover to Paint.Net so i could make the improvments needed.













When i opened my film magazine front cover i could then started editing it from my audience feedback.













Once i had uploaded the image to Paint.Net because i didn't have a great deal of experience with using the software i had a little play around with it to get familiar with the process.

When I opened the transparencey is was only on 0 so i decided to boost this up to 100because it makes the image more bold and also shows more detail of the image.













I then changed the colour balance to ensure that the red had more dominance in the magazine front cover. Although you will not see much red in the final magazine front cover i need to make the red more domiant to make sure that the tone of colour is exactly right.














I then used curves to make the more bolder effect that i was going for more effective.













After i made the image bolder i then auto leveled the image to make it have more of a black and white effect to it.













Without the text this is what my final magazine poster will look like.