Final video - Love me

https://youtu.be/v0638YM48UM

Love Me magazine cover

There were many adjustments made from my AS magazine front cover to the creation of my new A2 cover. For example, there was a lot more emphasis on synergy of advertisement in my new cover, such as the font and background used in my cover. One of the fonts used in my cover is the same as the font which appears in our final production as well as the background being taken directly from the production itself. This means that an audience can directly relate the film trailer to the magazine cover. I also made the adjustment of removing any weapons from the cover, this is because it would be unsuitable for a cover to promote a film to all age groups with the presence of a weapon.

 

Masthead - Much like my AS cover, my masthead was placed behind the main image of my production. This allows the main image to be dominant in the cover, much like he is in the trailer and also continues the idea of enhancing the brand of the magazine because consumers can still identify the brand when still partially hidden.

Strap line - The name of the film is in a position where the film can be identified by consumers who may be unaware of the film and wish to learn more. This is why the film name is in front of the main image, but is positioned lower and coloured dimly so that the masthead still maintains focus.

Removal of reviews - Through further research into magazine covers, I discovered that reviews would be more appropriate on a film poster. Conventions suggest the magazine cover also needs to promote the magazine whereas posters solely advertise the film, therefore they would be more suited on the poster.

Superlatives - The use of "exclusive" and "amazing" highlight the quality of the magazine and encourage consumers to buy the film.

Main image - In comparison to our AS film, our A2 film has an element of mystery to promote the tension of the film. For this reason, our main image reveals very little about the antagonist. Despite this, the main image is still eye catching enough to draw in consumers.

Other films - My AS magazine cover involved very limited photos for other films to be used to advertise. To counter this, I took photos throughout the year that could be used in my magazine cover. These involved visits to festivals and also a road traffic collision. The use of my own original images promoted realism and allows the films to seem genuine.

Website - Many conventions from my AS film were still maintained in my A2 magazine cover. One of these was the magazine company website. This gives readers a direct connection to further information about the film on an alternate media platform, making the magazine both more diverse and accessible.

Bar code - Shows consumers the magazine is available to buy and also promotes realism.

Love Me film poster

There were many changes made from my AS media poster to my A2 poster. For example, my AS poster had the criticism of a lack of difference from my AS film cover. To combat this, I took a separate original image and used the same colour scheme and fonts to ensure synergy was maintained in my film poster. I also placed the film reviews on my film poster instead of my magazine front cover so that I could specifically advertise my film in the poster, whereas I could advertise the entire magazine in my front cover.


Main image - This is an original image we took for the production. We used it because it still hides the identity of the antagonist while giving the impression he is thinking. We also liked the idea that the tree could resemble ropes or vines that would be associated with being trapped, representing the kidnapping in our production.

Strap line - The name of my film is key in demonstrating what the film is on the magazine so is placed in front of the main image. This informs an audience about the name of the film and the red colour links to the magazine cover, promoting synergy.

Subheadings - The subheadings used in my AS poster have been removed and replaced by "coming soon". This is because my audience is already being informed about the film through the main image and reviews and too much detail would prevent the film from being able to self-advertise.

Character names - We promoted the main characters in the film above the strap line to inform the audience of who they can expect to see in the film. This also allows us to use the star power of the main characters to promote the film.

Sub text - The sub text is used to inform the audience about other people involved in the production of the film. It is placed at the bottom of the poster with small font so that it is not in focus but still has the ability to attract audiences who are interested in other cast members.

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

Canon DSLR camera

Arguably the most important new media technology we used in our production was the camera. The camera we used was given to us by the school drama department, who gave us the camera over multiple weekend periods. This meant we had the opportunity to film, make adjustments and re-film parts of our production at a later date, without issues of continuity. Our access to a high quality HD camera meant we had the ability to film footage of a more professional quality, allowing us to access to all our desired camera shots, angles and movements. The camera also had the capability to be used with other technologies or be used by itself, meaning we could access a variety of different techniques, such as tracks and still shots through use of a tripod as well as hand held shots using the hand strap to access shots such as POV shots and over the shoulder shots. Shots with the tripod had the ability to be adjusted to create a variety of effects, such as lowering to create a high angle shot and emphasise our antagonist's dominance, as well as tilting the camera to create a canted shot, symbolising the obscurity and distortion of our production and the antagonist.

The reason for the inclusion of hand-held shots, which appear less professional than shots with the tripod is to promote realism in our production with a more natural appearing choice of shot. Furthermore, we focused the hand held shots on our antagonist while still masking his identity, promoting the fact he is human, much like members of the audience and emphasising the fact any normal person could be capable of such crimes. The camera has also been used throughout the creation of my blog, with a Canon camera being used to film our initial pitch, as well as creating our film draft.

Photoshop

There were many issues i found when first using Photoshop because it is software I was not familiar with. This meant it was vital that we created film posters and magazine covers for our AS production because it gave me experience with Photoshop and also enabled me to get feedback on improvements that could have been made when i created my A2 poster and magazine cover. Photoshop introduced me to a range of different tools, such as the magic wand tool and eraser tool, which I used to cut out the antagonist for my magazine front cover. I was also introduced to a range of different fonts, which gave different poster connotations as well as tools such as the gradient tool and "bevel and emboss" tool, which gave my poster and magazine cover more professional fonts. Furthermore, Photoshop allowed me to change the contrast and brightness of my film poster image, making it appear more dark and also increase the quality of the image by adding a "high pass" effect to a duplicated overlay layer of my photo.

iPhone

My iPhone and also the iPhones of everyone involved in the production of our film were used in a variety of different ways at various stages in production. For example, throughout our planning stage I used the iPhone HD camera to take still shots, such as the shots from my settings post and the images used in my magazine cover and film poster. I also used my iPhone to access the internet, allowing me to watch other trailers as well as search up other magazine covers and posters for inspiration and research into conventions. Our iPhones were also key for communication because we used messaging on iMessage and Facebook Messenger to organise our production without repeated need of call sheets. iPhones were specifically useful for communication because we could contact anybody at any point if any information needed to be updated or changed. Finally, we also used the iPhone voice recording software to record all of our voice overs. We then had the ability to import the voice over clips quickly and easily.

iTunes

We only used iTunes briefly in production, however it still played a key role. We uploaded the sound clips we had taken, such as the match strike and voice over clips to iTunes so that we could import them directly to iMovie. This saved us time because we could access the sound clips directly on the same platform.

iMovie/MacBook


All of the editing carried out for our A2 production was done using Aaron's MacBook and iMovie. The reason we chose iMovie is because at AS I used Adobe Premier Pro and had difficulty becoming familiar with the software. In comparison, iMovie is an Apple product, much like my iPhone, which I use every day, meaning getting to grips with the layout and editing tools was much easier. The software allowed us to edit in a variety of ways, such as layering multiple layers of sound and providing us with free effects and music from the iCloud Music Library. We were also able to use a variety of different audio and visual effects in our production, such as the sepia visual effect and thunder audio effect. Furthermore, we had access to tools such as the cutting tool, for trimming clips, film titles and also the slow motion tool, used in our knife drop scene. We made our film using the timeline feature of iMovie. This allowed us to move clips to their desired location as well as having the ability to layer the sound. This gave our production a more crisp and clinical final outcome because we could make minor corrections easily to ensure the film was fluid and there was no clash of sound.

Blogger

Blogger has been a very easy to use, simple website to create my blog on. One of the key reasons I have enjoyed using blogger is the ability to access it on different media platforms, such as my iPhone and also the school computers. This means I was able to work on blog posts at any point in time and allowed me to stay on top of coursework. Furthermore, I was able to gain feedback on my blog from both teachers and peers as they had quick access to my blog by searching in the URL.

Bubbl.us

Bubbl.us is a mind map creator which I used in the planning stage of my production. The software allows you to create 3 free mind maps before paying for the software and is very easy to use. This meant we could quickly design storyboards and develop our plot.

Social Media

There were many uses for social media in my media production, such as communications and also promoting awareness for our film. As already covered in one of my posts, we used Facebook to create a page for our A2 film and had the ability to inform our audience on the film's progress and also acted as a location where our friends and family could view our film draft to give us feedback and suggest improvements.

Powerpoint/Word

Powerpoint was used in my production when designing our initial plot and a Powerpoint presentation was designed for our initial ideas pitch. I am very experienced with Powerpoint so the creation of our slides to go along with our pitch was very quick and easy to create. I also imported any screen grabs I took into Powerpoint because I had the ability to crop them and save them as an image from Powerpoint because the cropping tool was not available in Blogger. Furthermore, before I was aware I could type posts directly to Blogger, I made my posts in Word and copied the work over.

YouTube

I am very familiar with Youtube because I regularly watch YouTube videos and posted my AS film to YouTube. This meant I had the ability to access other film trailers for my research and planning stage from YouTube and also is where our completed presentation was posted to after completion. This was very useful because it could be viewed by our teachers and examined with ease.

Evaluation Task 3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

There was a variety of feedback given to me about my production, the majority of which was positive. This was very pleasing because I felt I had been rewarded for the hard work and time we had invested and acted as motivation for completing my blog. However, we also received a lot of critical feedback on our trailer and blogs. This was crucial in the development of our blogs because we had the ability to make adjustments and change parts of our trailers and blogs to ensure they were completed to the best possible standard, utilising conventions when necessary. This feedback was gained from my classmates, parents and also teachers from our school, gained when we showed them our second draft.

Film trailer

Positive feedback

The layout and pacing of our trailer - The audience could establish that our antagonist would play a key role in the production and gave character insight while still masking his identity.

Continuation of thunder sound - The audience felt the impact of the knife drop was emphasised by the continuation of the thunder sound into the next shot.

Choice of camera shot - Wide variety of camera shots throughout our film to express a variety of effects successfully. Specifically use of a canted shot during the kidnapping scene.

Ending of the trailer - Sudden scream after Rosey was dragged away was a good way to maintain audience suspense and anxiety.

Professionalism of editing - The use of effects such as the dream and black and white effects as well as good allocation of shots gave our production a professional appearance.

Background music - The music in the second half of the trailer worked correctly with the storyline to contribute to the intensity and highlight the kidnapping.

Antagonist voiceover - The used of a deepening effect was enjoyed by the audience because the manipulation of his voice symbolised the corruption of his mind.

Negative feedback/possible additions

Lack of visual effects - Our original production was very one dimension in terms of the effects we used, we were told to include additional effects using our iMovie software.

Too much continuity - Our first draft gave too much of the storyline away and did not fit the discontinuous structure of a film trailer.

Antagonist introduction - We did not give enough insight into the introduction of the antagonist and his motives, meaning the plot was confusing in the trailer.

Addition of Daniella voice over - Rosey's friend had very little involvement in the trailer.

Lack of suspense in ending - The final shot and titles in our trailer didn't leave enough impact on the audience.

Not enough sound - Early parts of the trailer lacked atmosphere.

Changing of subtitles - The titles did not have desired impacts or were too long to read.

Change of characters - Aaron did not fit the role of detective because he did not look old enough.

Stage 1

Our second draft was presented to our teachers and they immediately identified the lack of visual effects in the opening section of the film. It was also the case that some of the editing did not appear fluent, leading to the overall appearance of the first section of our trailer appearing unprofessional and lacking intensity. Our initial edit involved an abrupt edit away from a zoom shot of the church that we included to show the transfer from the establishing shot of the church to the antagonist inside, giving information of setting. This shot was criticised for being too sudden and had negative impacts on the quality of our trailer. We then substituted this shot for a longer zoom into the clock on the church, still providing the information on setting but appearing more fluid. Furthermore, we also added an increased amount of effects, such as “dream” when introducing the protagonist to distort the shot, representing the distortion of the antagonist’s mind and providing more character development within the opening section.

Stage 2

The second stage in our production involved making key changes to our production. The first change involved the replacement of Aaron as the detective un our film because he did not look old enough to play the role. This lead to problems with realism and crime thriller conventions because Aaron did not represent a detective with experience, giving implications that the case is not significant because of using an inexperienced detective and reducing the impact of the kidnapping. Aaron also did not appear old enough to be a detective, meaning presenting his character was difficult because he did not conform to stereotype and the challenge to stereotype was not a useful one. To change this problem, we replaced Aaron as a character with George, a much older man who fitted the detective stereotype more, looking like a more experienced and a better fit to the role of detective. We then converted Aaron’s dialogue to a voice over with a clip of George looking at missing boards with s black and white font, symbolising that the voice over resembled the flashback of George talking to Rosey’s family.

Stage 3

Thirdly, we made changes to the titles used in our film after we showed the first draft to our classmates because they felt some did not make sense or were wasted by introducing the cast members. We changed “Some are not destined to be” and “For others there is no choice” to “Love may be for some…” and “But not for all”. This was much more easy to read for the audience as well as presenting more suspense by building anticipation between titles. These titles also make sense by clearly referring to love in the titles, giving the audience insight to the plot and showing that the reason behind the kidnapping is because the antagonist wants to be loved. Furthermore, the previous titles were not understood by some audience members and were used to introduce the stars of the film, meaning they were wasted because the stars appear in the ending title causing others to be unnecessary.

After showing these updated titles to the teachers they agreed on the improvements, agreeing they fitted the narrative better in maintaining the focus on love without typical stereotypical love-related connotations manipulating the plot and weakening the intensity.

Stage 4

The penultimate change we made to our production was in relation to the ending of our trailer. The ending of a trailer is a key part because it is the last thing that happens and can be the part that audiences remember most recent in their memories. After showing our parents the production, they believed the ending title did not create enough suspense and did not generate enough atmosphere to maintain interest in the production. This meant we had to make the decision to add effects or change the ending to the production to create the desired impact to maintain interest. The first change we made was to include a voiceover of the antagonist saying “love me” with a deepening effect on his voice. This connotes that the antagonist is speaking to Rosey and is demanding that he loves her, this closely follows Rosey’s scream and is effective in asserting the antagonist’s dominance and portraying the battle between antagonist and victim, creating the desired suspense.

Furthermore, we also included a shot of an empty swing at the end of the production. This symbolises Rosey’s disappearance and presents her playful and harmless nature. In contrast, the swing closely follows the antagonist saying “love me”, connoting that the antagonist was not loved as a child and the empty swing could represent the antagonist’s shortage of enjoyment in early life.

Stage 5

The final changes we made were the addition of discontinuity to our production. Upon showing our class, some students felt the trailer gave too much of the story to the audience, this meant the whole meaning of “teaser” trailer was lost because the entirety of the plot was given away, preventing the ability for plot twists and further introduction of characters. To counter this, we filmed footage using Aaron’s car that appeared to be in the antagonist’s point of view, this meant we had footage of after the kidnapping that created discontinuity, as well as George’s flashback that introduced the audience to the idea of the kidnapping without them knowing about the situation.

This discontinuity meant the plot could be manipulated in the main production and left the audience unaware about how the trailer would grow into the main film, allowing audience interest to be maintained and increasing opportunity for changes to narrative in the main production.

Film poster

Positive feedback

Continuation of font - Created synergy throughout advertisement campaign

Layout - Gave plenty of room for the main image while successfully promoting the film

Colour scheme - Connoted to crime genre with dark visual effects and red writing

Negative feedback/possible additions


Reviews - Guardian review does not fit colour scheme of poster, "Gripping" is difficult to read with branches in the background.


Visual effects - The filter originally used was too vibrant and did not represent the connotations of a thriller.

Lack of content - The first draft of my film poster was minimalist and did not include enough information.

Stage 1

The first change made to my film poster came when I showed my first draft to my teachers. They said that the colours in the photo were too vibrant and did not represent the antagonist enough. This was because the main image was reserved to ensure the antagonist's identity was masked, making effects and filters on the image crucial. I darkened the colour and added a high pass overlay filter to the image, this meant the lack of colour resembled the lack of love and compassion the antagonist has and the high pass filter makes the image appear higher quality.

Stage 2

My first draft was also criticised because there was a lack of content. This meant the poster did not provide sufficient information to attract an audience to my film as well as making the poster appear empty and less eye catching. To combat this I included the names of the two main characters above "Love Me", this introduced the audience to the two main characters, meaning they could be attracted to the film to see the characters perform. I also included a large amount of small print at the bottom of the poster, this allowed audiences to read other information about the film, including other cast members.

Stage 3

The final change made to my magazine poster was potentially the most significant. This included the removal of the second review from The Guardian. The reason for its' removal was because the blue writing did not match the rest of the poster and the light colours damaged the poster's connotations. The writing in my second review was also difficult to read and obstructed the main image of the tree, meaning the connotations from the tree of entanglement of Rosey were lost. In conclusion, my feedback suggested I remove one of the reviews in favour of having one review for my poster.

Magazine cover

Positive feedback

Background - Synergy between magazine cover and film titles

Other films - Good use of original images taken throughout the year

Banner - Bonus poster acts as additional purchase content

Negative feedback/possible additions

Too much empty space - Not enough information on the cover

Main image - Doesn't stand out enough from masthead

Lacking realism - Does not look like an authentic magazine cover

Stage 1

There was too much empty space in the middle of the magazine front cover and when the class was shown our cover they said it was lacking detail. To combat this we included advertisement of the films our classmates had created, such as Delerium and Here I Come, giving audiences more reason to buy the magazine and promoting films of similar genre and budget. We also included the academy awards logo for our antagonist, Henry. This presented Henry as a well known, successful actor and presented him as being worthwhile watching, as well as creating synergy with our film poster by his name being clearly recognisable.

Stage 2

Secondly, after showing my peers the magazine cover they said the main image was not distinctive enough on the magazine cover. This is because Henry is wearing dark clothes and has his face covered, meaning he does not have many distinctive features and is not a key part of the cover. To combat this we gave Henry's image a white drop shadow, this made him clearly stand out in the cover and emphasised him as the centre of attention within the magazine, emphasising the importance of Love Me.

Stage 3

The final criticism from my teachers was that my magazine cover did not have enough features to make the magazine cover seem authentic, in a way that it could be seen on shelves. To combat this, we included some key magazine cover conventions that we were missing. The first addition was the state when the magazine was published as well as the price, this informs audiences of when the magazine is from and how much it costs, key parts in consumer valuations of products. Furthermore, we also included a bar code to the magazine cover. This made the magazine appear more purchasable because it could be scanned at a till, promoting realism and making it appear available to consumers.

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

In my media production and other texts, I felt it was key to demonstrate the stereotypes found in the crime thriller genre as well as utilising similarities in my texts to aid their use as promotional material. The use of similar fonts, effects, background and images were fundamental in making the texts like one another and this had the effect of allowing audience to be repeatedly reminded of the film and be more inclined to go and see the final production. My three texts were aimed to appeal to the 18-25 age bracket. This is because younger audiences typically enjoy building tension and suspenseful narratives, while still being old enough to self-regulate and decide not to watch the film if it is too intense.

On my magazine cover and film poster I chose to use the main antagonist of our production. The layout of my magazine cover was used to target male audience members, who would be most typical to the final production. This included a mid-shot of the antagonist with his face covered to mask his identity, allowing an audience to gain a greater understanding of the character, with the appearance of his eyes symbolising his human qualities and suggesting although sinister, his intentions may not be as dark as originally perceived. I also used the same background as my film trailer subheading background, allowing audiences to make the desired connections between texts. I also used a white outline around the antagonist to emphasise him as the poster’s centre of attention, with the lighting acting as a contrast to the dominantly dark film poster, allowing my texts to oppose each other and giving different connotations of the antagonist, manipulating the plot and further building suspense.

The same clothing was used in my film poster as well as my film trailer. The reasoning for the same clothing is because it allowed us to give little insight to the character and meant when we eventually developed the plot in the final film the twist of the antagonist searching for love and the kidnapping being a desperate attempt to halt his lonely demise would be more abrupt and shocking. The poster also had increased emphasis on the tree in the foreground as well as the antagonist himself. The magazine cover used the slight showing of the antagonist’s face to give connotations whereas my film poster used the presence of a vined tree to symbolise the entanglement of Rosey and her inability to escape, symbolising the fact she is unable to escape and building tension.

Another way synergy was shown between my two ancillary tasks was the lack of Rosey. By completely eradicating her from the other texts it made her kidnapping in the film trailer more impactful by connoting that she may still be missing. This helps to portray the antagonist to be a very dark and manipulative character, who is willing to do anything to prevent Rosey’s escape.

The key way I created synergy through my texts was the font Georgia, used for “Love Me”. I had experimented with this font during my AS text creation for “Deadline” and felt the connotations of the font could be easily transferred and developed for my A2 poster and magazine cover. The font challenged stereotypical thriller text conventions because it appeared more delicate than other, more impactful fonts used in thriller texts, however we felt this symbolised the class and delicate nature that Rosey possesses. We also made the font red, meaning audiences could infer the connotations of love in the narrative as well as having the opposite effect of audience members making the connection to blood. By creating multiple potential readings in my text suspense was built and viewership could be changed dependent on the individuals.

In the research stages of my texts, where I looked at other independent production texts, I found that information about the production company and those involved in the film’s creation are often used in the trailers and posters, whereas direct information about cast members are more regularly found on magazine covers. My film poster served purpose to indicate to audiences briefly about who was involved in the film itself as well as the production process. This credited everyone involved and indicated to audiences who they can expect to see in the film and who was involved. As well as this, my film poster also included a review from the independent. This indicated to audiences that my film is highly regarded by various media outlets and serves to further promote my film.

On the other hand, my magazine cover focussed more directly on the involvement of the film’s antagonist. Inclusion of a web address made the production more accessible to my audience, who at the age of 18-25 are typically regularly involved with online resources, meaning my film can be promoted on a digital platform. I also included the nomination of Henry (the antagonist) for multiple academy awards. This means that despite having no star power, audiences are likely to relate Henry to a quality production, stimulating viewership.

There were a variety of different effects used on my film poster and front cover for contrasting effects. I wanted my magazine cover to have a more naturalistic appearance, meaning there was less emphasis on filters and the connection of the antagonist as a human who shares characteristics with audiences could be signified. In contrast, the antagonist has a very different pose in my film poster, where his face is fully out of view and he is not identifiable in the poster. This means I adjusted the HUE and lighting of the cover as well as the pixilation. The dimness of colour and lighting connoted to the audience that there is a lack of life in the antagonist, symbolising him as a lifeless being and connoting his dark and evil plans. Changing the pixilation also meant we could make the poster appear dated, suggesting that the antagonist’s desire for love has been prolonged and has reached a desperate state.

In evaluation, I believe my three texts are successful in the overall creation of my production. This is because I have accessed typical thriller conventions while still maintaining individuality throughout the entirety of my production, meaning it has a variety of USPs. I also believe my texts successfully address my target audience and through use of synergy act as a useful way to promote and inform about my film. As well as attracting audiences, I believe they will be encouraged to naturally promote my film, as well as accessing other features, such as the film website and social media services, showing my texts are useful tools for accessing alternative platforms.






 

Evaluation Task 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms of conventions from real media products?

Frame 1 - Production company logo


My first frame of analysis is the introduction of our film company logo. This is a key part of our trailer because it challenges typical company logo conventions by adding to the atmosphere of our production. Typical production companies use recognition of their brand to advertise our film and in comparison we have made our production logo specific to our film because it is the first Nightfall Studios production. This means our production company is yet to be distinguished and would not be identified by consumers whereas production companies such as MGM and Walt Disney Studios are well known and their brand logo attracts audiences. Despite us changing our logo to fit the style of film, our logo is still representative enough that it could be used for other productions of similar genre and the image is very eerie and iconic so would be memorable to consumers and create synergy between productions. The reason we used the alleyway image for our production is because it conforms to the convention of dim lighting and unknown locations regularly found in thriller films. This means the logo acts as an establishing image for our trailer by setting the scene of a dark and sinister plot with mysterious settings. Furthermore, the flashing streetlight implies that we are a shining light within the thriller genre and despite a hostage related production, our company produces high quality productions.

Frame 2 - Antagonist introduction

My second frame involves a low angle mid shot of the antagonist. The most important character in my production is the antagonist, Henry. The introduction of this character was key because he remains unnamed and wears very minimalist black clothing. This means that he does not conform to conventions of thrillers because costume is a key part in character presentation within the thriller genre. For example, in the 1999 film "Fight Club" the main character and his sub-conscience, a person he has imagined through his insomnia wear very contrasting clothes to emphasises their performance. For example, the main character wears a suit jacket and looks somewhat professional whereas his sub-conscience wears old leather jackets and appears the more rugged of the two. This is typical of the thriller genre because their costume symbolises the roles they play in the production and is contrasting to the costume of our antagonist. The reason for us leaving the antagonist from having any iconic appearance is because it allows the audience to ask questions of the antagonist because of no significant features in terms of appearance but unusual behaviour. Furthermore, this shot is crucial because the ripple edit of the antagonist disappearing symbolises the disappearance of Rosey later in the trailer, where in both cases there appears to be no evidence of the sudden disappearance and also places emphasis on the mystery of the main character, with the dream filter potentially suggesting this could be inside the antagonist's mind with the voice over representing his thoughts. Another key part of this frame is the setting. To further address the lack of character presentation through our antagonist's costume, we gained permission to film in a local church for a brief period. This gives the connotation that the antagonist may be seeking guidance and signifies that he may have had a troubled and unloved childhood, leaving the audience intrigued about his past. This conforms to stereotypical thrillers such as Silence Of the Lambs, where antagonist Hannibal Lecter's loveless childhood mutated him into a ruthless killer.

Frame 3 - Plot outline

The third frame is a panning mid shot of the missing board the police are using to keep track of the disappearances in the local area. This is a way we have developed a convention because we made the police board appear tatty and damaged, as if to suggest it is an old board and they are yet to discover any of the missing people. Props such as missing boards and wanted posters are regularly used in crime thriller films and help to show the audience that the police, and potentially those involved with the missing people are doing everything in their power to track them down - failing to do so in this case.To further symbolise the idea of the old missing board we used another convention in this frame to emphasise the age of the police board. We used a black and white flashback to suggest the board may have been in that condition some time ago and there is still no sign of the missing, signifying the ruthlessness of the antagonist and implying the other girls from the poster may be those who refused to love him. This prop allows the audience to ask further questions later on in the trailer and is very effective as a point of reference when gaining more understanding about both Rosey and the antagonist. This also increases audience sympathy towards Rosey and her friend, signifying the danger they may possibly be in and allowing the plot twist of the antagonist just wanting to be loved.

Frame 4 - Props

My next frame is a close up involving props and is heavily focused on the impact of it being revealed that Rosey has gone missing. To portray this impact properly while maintaining the character of Rosey's mother, we challenged stereotype and used a small, pink knife in the scene. In typical thrillers, a much more intimidating knife is used when showing a knife drop, such as the knife drop in the 1997 film, Kiss the Girls. The reason we have challenged and developed media conventions is because the purpose of the knife drop in the Kiss the Girls trailer is to build suspense and has no background to the film plot. In contrast, the knife drop in Love Me serves the purpose of building suspense and emphasising Elizabeth's shock when she discovers the news about her daughter, but also highlights a lack of preparation for such news because she is wielding a small knife, clearly used for food preparation purposes and nothing more. Highlighting a lack of preparation shows the audience that the disappearance is a great shock and invites the audience to hope for Rosey's safe return. Furthermore, Elizabeth's red nail paint also symbolises her helplessness in the situation and signifies her dependency on the police officer to find her daughter. 

Frame 5 - Visual effects & Settings

My fifth frame is an establishing shot based on a setting location we discovered which we felt would be perfect for our film. To make this clip appear effective we utilised the blurriness of the camera as it struggled to focus with the instability of the car. The gradual transfer to focus made the establishing shot clear and gave implications that Rosey may have just awoken or just been allowed to see. This is the only establishing shot in the trailer and is broad enough that an audience member is still left unsure of where Rosey is and what the antagonist is planning for her. However, this challenges conventions because typical thriller films have large amounts of establishing shots to indicate to the audience where the action is taking place, whereas we wanted to leave the audience unsure of the location to increase mystery and sinister undertones from the antagonist. 


Much like frame 3, this shot also used a black and white filter but for a different purpose. The black and white filter means an audience could infer that the view is through the eyes of the antagonist, meaning the black and white would symbolise the lifeless and soulless character being portrayed, much like his costume with a lack of colour. This again connotes a lacking presence of love in the antagonist's life and acts as plot development.


Frame 6 - Titles

My sixth frame involves our use of titles during Love Me. Through lots of research, we discovered that thriller films of the past typically used titles accompanied by voice over that fitted the story line of the narrative. For example, in Quentin Tarantino film "Reservoir Dogs" titles such as "Six Perfect Strangers" and "To Pull Off The Perfect Crime." that accompany the introduction of characters and 

gives the audience insight about what the plot of the film is. We used this convention to give an audience insight about the reasons for the kidnapping but we were also reserved with the titles so that there were still mysterious values to our antagonist. Furthermore, our film title, Love Me, conforms to typical thriller films. This is because short and memorable titles are memorable to an audience and are used so that they are more likely to be remembered and recalled. Other films that fit this convention are "Taken" and "Snatch". The reason we chose to name our film Love Me is because it instantly provides background into the plot of the film and indicates to the audience that there will be a one sided battle for love in the film. However, this does not fit typical thriller conventions because thrillers tend to focus on the loved ones of the kidnapped as they try to save the hostage from their captor. In contrast, our trailer focuses more on the antagonist and his struggle for someone to fall in love with him, emphasising the lengths he is willing to go to. As well as this, "Love Me" acts as a demand and once the trailer has been watched, it seems to act as a demand, spoken by the antagonist as he asserts dominance over his captor. We also used a cream background with a smokey overlay and a flickering word effect. This is because the title are contrasting from the rest of the second half of the trailer, moving into a lighter background in comparison to a dark setting. This makes the titles appear as separate from the rest of the trailer, allowing continuity for an audience member as they read the text and also highlighting the darkness in the rest of the trailer.

Frame 7 - Shot type & camera angle

For my seventh shot I have used what I feel is the key shot in the entire production, a canted long shot. Through use of a tripod and an adjustment of focus we had the ability to create a canted camera angle long shot. A canted shot is where the shot is tilted to one side to portray unease. We used this shot because it demonstrates a variety of different angles and shots while still maintaining continuity of the production. The shot portrays the POV of Daniella as she helplessly watches her friend being taken by the antagonist. The blurriness in shot resembles the fact that Daniella is dazed after being knocked to the ground. The canted angle also adds to the helplessness of Daniella and implies that the kidnapping has come as a huge surprise and that the girls are desperate to prevent it. The shot also includes the colourful fence surrounding the play park, therefore adding to the shot of the play park earlier on in the trailer, which we used to emphasise the lack of love shown to the antagonist as a child as well as symbolising the playfulness typically seen with love. Lastly, the canted shot signifies the distortion of the antagonist's mind, showing how his idea of love is inaccurate and potentially dangerous.

Frame 8 - Magazine cover

My eighth frame is the magazine cover I created to advertise my film. This is because I feel it is the piece of media which best represents the conventions of the thriller genre and how I utilised them. The main image of my magazine cover is of the antagonist and is the most important part of the cover. He fits the stereotype of an emotionless character who feels no pain committing crimes. In contrast, the name of the production is a binary opposite to the main image because "Love" has very different connotations to the emotionless image. This emphasises the confusion in the antagonist's mind and also informs the audience that the love the antagonist desires will be taken with force and not come naturally. Another key part of the magazine cover is the inclusion of other films. This is a convention used by most magazines and means audiences who do not have interest in the main image production can still be advertised to through use of other films. I created three original film ideas using photos I had taken myself throughout the year and also the film names of some of my friends' production to advertise other films. This also illustrates that my magazine company "Action magazine" is diverse and appeals to a variety of audiences, while still maintaining the conventions of the thriller genre. Red text is also a convention regularly adopted by magazine companies because it is a very distinguishing and eye-catching colour. This emphasises the importance of my magazine company and also is developed through it's connection to love but also blood, leaving a potential audience unaware of how the film will develop.

Frame 9 - Film poster

My final frame is the film poster i created for my production. This follows conventions because it has the main image as the focus of the poster. This emphasises the importance of my film and also the significance of the antagonist to the plot, being further highlighted with the branches of trees which signify the trapping and entanglement of Rosey in the film. We also followed the convention of creating synergy through our advertising campaign. Synergy allows audience members to make connections between different pieces of media created for the same production and we used it in the form of the same font and similar colour scheme. Much like in my front cover, "Love Me" is red and has the same connotations as the red colour used for "Action". However, my poster also challenges conventions because my main image is more subtle than typical film posters. For example, in the Orphan cover, the main image introduces the audience to the antagonist and gives insight to her personality, such as her stare representing evil intentions and a sinister character. In contrast, I adjusted the hue (colour shade) and brightness of the poster to promote the lifelessness and darkness of the character instead of the use of the character himself. The reason for this is because we didn't want to reveal the character's face but still wanted to connote his demented tendencies, therefore increase emphasis on filters and adjustment was key to show the audience character background. Finally, the conventions of reviews and also main characters were also used to promote my film. Despite being an independent production company  whose characters have little credibility and star power, informing the audience who is in the film can attract those who wish to see an actor or actress perform their role. The review acts in a similar way as praise from a trusted source can encourage potential audiences to watch the film and see if the review is accurate.