Voice Evaluation.

Although we have already written our own individual evaluation on our blogs, we decided to record our evaluation as a group and say what we thought of our complete package. We chose to use this approach to show a variety of different media used to voice our thoughts and opinions. Below is the video of our voice evaluation I have attached.

New Media Technologies.

During our process of completing our promotional package, we started off with YouTube in order to look at A2 level trailers and big blockbuster ones to gain a general understanding. Because we have never made a trailer before, research was essential. We needed to have an idea as to what makes a trailer and what particular conventions are used to appeal to their identified target audience. The YouTube site was very useful as there was a wide variety of trailers as anyone can upload a video onto it if they sign up for an account. This is also partly the reason why films have become slightly more popular as constant advertisements on the internet are unavoidable. After watching a vast amount of trailers, we were pretty confident with completing our task. We noticed that for gangster trailers, you would always know who the big boss is, guns and weapons are always there, blood plays a big role, voiceovers/dialogue to help shape up a vague teasing storyline and so on. We were hugely inspired by Reservoir Dogs, Snatch, Public Enemies, Godfather, etc. so we often referred back to them.

 

Once we had researched enough on trailers, we used Word to write rough ideas and notes down for guidance. 

After that was done, we then decided to research on film posters and magazine covers. To do this, we used Google. Google, like YouTube showed a variety of searches allowing us to have a far more adept knowledge. From the research, we found that many gangster posters used a red, white and black colour scheme to reflect the genre. We liked the idea of the consistency of colours as it would help link all of our products together making it look neat, recognisable and professional, therefore we used this technique.

 

Similar to what we did for the trailer research, we used Powerpoint to copy and paste the posters/magazine covers we gained inspiration from so we would have a good reminder as to what needed to be included in order to conform to the typical standards of gangster advertisements. 

During the filming process,  we used a HD video camera that belonged to a friend of ours who is also one of the characters in the film trailer. Originally, we were going to use the cameras supplied by the school but that became a problem as there were a couple that did not work creating a queue for the ones that do work, but were used by other students. Although it was a new technology that none of us in the group have used before, it was very straightforward as all cameras are fairly similar to one another. To help make the shots look as skilled as possible, a tripod was used. An advantage of using a camera is that it is small, light and straightforward. The camera also had really good quality, making our shots look superb. We also used this camera to take photos for the poster/magazine cover because of it's quality.

Once the filming process finished, we reached the editing stage. This was when my technological skills were used at best. I used Final Cut Express to edit the shots to produce a short trailer. Final Cut Express is a video editing software created by Apple Inc. which is designed for advanced editing. This was very new to us as we used Pinnacle for our AS coursework. Although we had a couple of lessons to learn how to use it, I still found it struggling at times to get used to it as I feel that we did not have long enough to learn how the software functions. However, I managed to understand how to work it as time went by and found it very easy to use. I found the software very useful as it offered a list of tools and effects, allowing our work to be edited nicely. The transitions and effects I used from Final Cut Express were effective and was noticeable that the outcome looked better than the outcome would look on Pinnacle. I enjoyed using this software as I feel that our work looks very successful. Our trailer used a lot of editing including: cutting unwanted scenes, reverse replay, slow-motion effects, light rays effect, speeding up shots, splitting scenes and so on.

For the music, Garage Band was used. It is a software that allows users to create music and/or podcasts. This is also created by Apple Inc. which means that this software would be reliable and beneficial. Once again, this was new and we had two lessons to play around with it to have a rough idea on how it works. Garage Band offered a countless amount of instruments and voices, although it is better than having a limited number, it was very dull to go through. Because we all had a different say to how we want the trailer to sound like, we made an agreement to make our own and choose which one would be best. This helped us as we were able to achieve a final soundtrack quicker than arguing over it. We used a soundtrack that was upbeat, with guitars and drum beats being the main focus as it was an inspiration from the film Public Enemies. Although we only used the soundtrack for the beginning of the trailer, we gained a good knowledge on how to work the software out for future reference. Instead of using the whole soundtrack created on this software, we used the song 'Beast in Me' by Johnny Cash. However, we wanted our work to be all unique without using the actual song, therefore the main character in our trailer offered to sing. 

For the distribution of the trailer, we used the internet approach as it is very popular in today's society. We used Facebook and Youtube as they are both well known sites. This was very easy to upload as we have all used those sites before.

Another way is through film posters and film magazine covers which required the use of Photoshop, another skill learnt through the process of completing this promotional package. Photoshop is advanced with many editing options, however I think that the outcome would only look effective if it was used well by a person who has already gained experience and skill from it. Therefore this job was given to two of our group members who study Photography. We used Photoshop to create many effects and the outcome of the two magazine covers and the poster looked outstanding.

A software that was used for all of the products was LiveType, a software to create animated title sequences for video projects. This allowed us to achieve an eye-catching font as the software focuses solely on text. We used this instead of Final Cut Express as we had constant issues with creating a piece of text. We came across this software as it was introduced by a friend of ours, therefore we had no idea how to use it so we had to frequently ask for his help. LiveType enabled us to have an unlimited amount of options for us to choose from. This was a really beneficial software as we had freedom to choose the best font, style and colour that we felt would make our work stand out even more. We chose the font to be plain, bold and in capital letters to show consistency and professionalism. We also had it white and black for the quote and red for the main title, so we would stick to the red, white and black colour scheme, conforming to the typical conventions of gangster films and linking all of the products together.

Overall, I am pleased with what the outcome of our polished promotional package look like by using new technologies. I feel that I have learnt a great deal of knowledge and skill and I would be happy to create a different trailer now I have gained sufficient understanding of the new technoligies I have come across during this whole process of completing our package. I also think that we have all worked hard as a group to help each other, and have successfully produced a trailer, poster and two magazine covers that not only link well each other, but it also reflects the genre, fulfilling our target audience's needs, wants and desires.