Film Poster and Film magazine feedback

In order to help us improve our film poster and magazine after Easter, I asked for feedback on both ancillary texts.
Positive:

• The use of the picture in the background with the juxtaposition between the barbaric gnarled trees behind me and the pure innocence of my character as I look away from the camera in sadness
• The use of interactive features such as interviews and competitions
• The use of Gothic imagery i.e. the trees subverts traditional magazine backgrounds

Negative :

• That the idea is too basic, that we should have created something original and different. This is something I agree with since I did think alot of complex ideas which would have been quite authentic yet unique but we had to think realistically and work with the time that we had.
• Charlotte added that it appeared as though it was created on paint, that again it was too basic, she said the picture was good but the use of the lexis where at times incorrect which of course does not make it professional at all and is as I have detailed in my previous post, something which I have picked up on.
• That it doesn't look authentic magazine, again the picture is good but we need to work on the formatting and use of imagery.

Positive:

• The use of the outer background i.e. me looking out into the distant yet dominant at the same time, as the thought the use of facial expression and positioning looked very effective.
• The positioning of Amiee and Chris's characters
• The use of the tagline as they thought this was very creative and summed up what the binary oppositions of the film were.

 Negative:

• Although the way Amiee and Chris are placed is good, they appear quite 'fake' and look as though they are just cardboard cutouts- Charlotte. I agree with this since they don't quite fit in with the picture and therefore lessens the authenticity.
• The use of the credits at the bottom should be smaller, so that it is  not the predominant focus

Problems with the film magazine

Since uploading our film magazine to Blogger I have realised that it contains a a significant number of errors, i.e. spelling mistakes and phrasing is sometimes inaccurate.However I have reached a problem, as when I try to change the text on Adobe Photoshop, it creates a duplicate layer.

Here you can see that I tried to find out whether I could replace the text with the correct spelling but unfortunately it did not work.

The following mistakes include: proposal, where the 'o' has been missed out, Lack of capitalisation for 'here', interview which has been spelt 'intreview' , look, where one of the Os's has been missed out, lack of punctuation at the end of the big chunk of writing i.e. full stop, needs the lexis 'countdown to the' where the to has been missed out, instead of the top 50 films it should be top 50 romantic dramas and the tag line underneath fusion, the first letters should all be capitalised. However at this present moment I am unable to figure out how to edit the text so I will need to ask one of the media teachers to help me.

Creating film magazine final

•  We began by importing this picture as we decided that we liked it the best since it conveyed a picture of innocence, and betrayal. The fact that unlike the poster, I am not gazing into the lens of the camera, instead I am looking away, which suggests two conflicting personalities- one wants to give up and succumb to the woes and miseries that life has presented to me and the other shows me dominant and challenging as I will not give up. This therefore suggests to the audience that perhaps this is what the film itself will showcase conforming to the conventions of both 'Utopian soloutions' indicating that the audience watch films as escapism from their own reality( despite the narrative being conventionally romantic and in some ways an accurate showcase of real life- However they enjoy watching 'other peoples reality') as well as 'The Maslows hierarchy of need' satisfying the  need of nurture and care, since through this picture a predominant female audience may feel obliged to feel maternal towards me. The use of the costume and the background/location has been kept the same in order to link with the poster itself.
• We thought that the use of a soft feminine colour would fundamentally indicate the target audience of the magazine. Because of this we chose a Pink/violet hue for the 'Fusion' title
• Underneath this we put 'Woman's first film weekly' in black straight narrow font to differentiate from the title and although it is smaller than the title we still wanted it to be one of the main focuses in order to reinforce that it is a woman's magazine. 
• Then to the left of the protagonist photo of me, I thought of- from the makers of 'The Proposal', comes the romantic drama of the year' Bitter Twisted Lies'! Here we take an exclusive look at the film itself and an interview with the lovely Ana De-Jesus herself, to see how she felt about being in her first lead role. I thought this was  a good description, using a colloquial informal tone to appeal to the audience as well as brief context on what we will talk about. It is also a key feature of  film magazines which is why I thought we should include it.

  We used a white font for the majority of the text and then for Bitter Twisted Lies we used a bold dramatic red to stand out against the rest of the text. Underneath this we had the slogan: You've voted we've counted, The countdown to the top 50 Romantic dramas begins...Picture of  Titanic promo still  to suggest to the audience that this the number one Romantic Drama film. I also chose it because it is the number one Romantic film grossing an approximate 2 billion according to' Box Office Mojo'

                                               Then we wrote- See who's number one inside...
• Put bar code at the bottom so it looks authentic  and price at top with title £2

Our final film magazine

Creating film poster final

• Our first  step was to import the pictures unto Adobe Photoshop. We began by choosing a picture of me which we felt would work best on our poster in juxtaposition to Amiee and Chris. The photo we chose was me on top of the mound looking vulnerable( as I am placed at the back of the photo, although there is a hint of a challenge within my eyes, as I gaze adamantly at the couple before me- my best friend and my husband- but the picture shows that I will never get trampled on, that although my heart has been broken, I am not just the submissive housewife, I am domineering and in control. Therefore the  dominant picture of me on mound, works effectively as it shows the juxtaposition between the two characters. It also shows what the teaser trailer hints at, mostly I am portrayed as a victim of a betrayal and of innocence, yet scenes such as the argument scene subverts against the passive norms associated with a characterisation like mine, challenging conventions showing that I am an independent woman, who has her own voice and opinions. The use of costume as detailed in the previous posts  is white skinny jeans, brown high heel boots, grey and white striped vest, black cinch belt and a demin crop jacket to give me the appearance of a fashion icon, again celebrating my independence as a free woman, suggesting that the rest of the film sees me battling with my demons aka cancer and the fight against Chris's infidelity but it also  may detail the lengths I go to to keep my strength with me through these difficult and troubling times. The use of the wild abundant hair billowing out behind me reinforces my independence and free will.
• we then imported the photo of Amiee and Chris, where Amiee is turned away from Chris, wearing hair extensions, almost as though she is looking directly at me, which suggests that she is perhaps feeling guilty for the position that she has put me in but her love for Chris is stronger than her loyalty ties to me. The costume is a black open cardigan, a simple short peach linen shift on top of black leggings. The use of dark colours implement her sins against mine and Chris's matrimony, the hurt that she caused me, who was meant to be my best friend.

In contrast Chris is wearing a green hoodie, white t-shirt  and black skinny jeans. This reflects his laid back approach to life, that although he must feel a shred of guilt, his encompassing selfishness in his characterisation allows him no consideration for other peoples feelings, especially mine his ' boring housewife' .

The use of the colour green blends into the background, making him seem part of the environment but also showing his don't care calm attitude, the white juxtaposes the black of 'sin and suggests that he presents himself to me as a faithful husband  and yet the cracks in our marriage is evident in the film i.e. the lack of positive communication- we are either not talking or we are arguing.

• we then cut around the pictures and layered them on top of the woodland background, in order for the pictures to fit together.



Twilight film poster

• Next we quickly looked at another film poster so we could look out the layout and formatting i.e. we looked at Twilight

Two Lovers and the Last Song to see how we could format the credits in order to make it look more realistic.

• Blurred it together using the blur tool, in order to make it look more authentic and as though it is a film poster
•  We experimented  with different colours  such as Black, white brown and red, before settling on a Dark red font for the title 'Bitter Twisted Lies...'
• I then asked Miss about our taglines, asking as to whether we should have the tagline ' Sometimes the person you love most, is your betrayer' then 'Love,Lust, Greed' underneath. However Miss said we should  just have the tagline- Love, Lust, Greed underneath the title as it is short, snappy and effectively conveys the overall themes and narrative of the film. I thought it would then be a good idea to have Love under Bitter to reflect how my love has turned sour, Lust under Twisted to show Chris's feelings for Amiee and the fact that it is under Twisted reflects that he is twisted because he is going  against our marriage vows, as well as Greed under Lies to show Amiee's selfish nature, the person who is meant to be my best friend- yet callously and carelessly begins an affair with my husband before sleeping with him.. We decided that since the brown did not stand out against the brown, it would better to use  a black since this stands out against the background alot more.
•  We then experimented with fonts for the title ' Bitter Twisted Lies'. First we tried the font Palace script font, which looked effective but  we wanted it bolder but wanted to keep the calligraphy format, to reflect the genre of the poster, in order to conform to the conventions of our film teaser. Therefore our magazine needs to do the same.
•  We decided on Ancestry SF, in a dark brown-red- which fitted with the background and made it seem quite rustic and earthy.
• We then moved onto the Credits  which we used in white Admuilg font, as it conformed to the conventions of authentic looking credits- Touchstone Pictures presents Charley's Johnsons ' Bitter Twisted Lies', a Film 4 Production  Ana De- Jesus , Amiee  Bretherick and Chris Styan, Music by Amir Malekzadeh, Co- Producer Ana De-Jesus, Costume Designer Louise Frogley, Production designer Nelson Coates, Produced by Charley Johnson and Ana De-Jesus. Underneath 'Coming soon Summer 2012. This formatting was based on the ' Last Song' Based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks. This was because I like how the credits were both placed, the use of font stylism as well as the size, which added to it looking like a real Romantic Drama poster.

Our final poster...

The two pictures which we chose.

Film poster shots: take two Period one

Since our previous film poster shots did not work when uploaded on the computers, we decided to do it again and incorporate a different idea. Charley suggested that we have me in the distant foreground isolated from Amiee and Chris, as their love for each other swamps me and I am left alone. Today we only did shots of me since Chris and Amiee did not have this lesson free. We did shots against the backdrop of the school field, the Autumn leaves on the floor, the trees bare creating quite a barbaric yet beautiful background, a juxtaposition of my two conflicting characterisations- innocence vs strong will. The use of costume was also extremely important. I was wearing white skinny jeans- representing purity and innocence as well as implementing my fashionable character, brown high heeled boots to display a sense of wild dominant power, that I may be segregated from Chris and Amiee but I am proud of who I am and I will never let anyone break me. I am also wearing a grey stripey vest top with a black cinch belt and a demin crop jacket. To display my wild dominance I have let my hair down, and the curls are gently blown behind me as the wind takes force. I also tried a range of different positioning including looking out over the hill, looking over my shoulder, looking to my right sadly, standing with my feet apart and looking directly at the camera a hint of a challenge gleaming in my eyes.

Costume White skinny jeans 
Brown buckled high heel ankle boots
 Demin crop jacket

 Grey striped top



 Cinch belt


Film poster shots

Location shots for film magazine and poster

We chose the school field for our location because it provides a typical and conventional 'Romantic Drama' setting  for the background of a film poster, yet for our magazine it subverts traditional use of black and white backgrounds and this was something inspired by Jack Kents film poster which also used a woodland background which worked effectively and it got full marks.

Another inspiration was the postmodern romantic comedy 500 days of summer which uses iconic and scenic park bench and woodland scenes which I have included below. I have also included a link to the video from which I attained it from.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfvbCELnI3U

evaluation activity 4- how did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages

This collage of photos here shows what technological devices we used split into the following sub sections:
Social networking/sharing sites, physical technology- hardware, software programs and information based sites.
Social networking/sharing sites
Blogger- This was used to note down all the information from lessons i.e. editing as well as enabling us to keep track of our progress and become the basis for our research and planning and other such posts. In both our portfolios we used Blogger, although I feel that I have used it more competently this year, since the posts are all relevant, concise with good use of digital technology to show the examiner specifically what I have done.
Youtube- This was used in both the research and planning stage to look into similar genred films as well a being the location in which our film was uploaded to. This allows interactivity as people can comment/dislike/ like or add response videos which allows your film to become widely advertised as such. In both my portfolios Youtube was used to upload our films. However in my advanced portfolio I used Youtube for exstensive research into similar products both student and professionally made, sound effects i.e. the clock ticking .
Facebook- This was used to upload our video in order to have a more immersive social interaction input in comparison to our foundation portfolio where it was just uploaded onto Youtube. Therefore it is useful to upload it unto Facebook because it allows more commenter's to give us feedback.
Physical technology
 HD VI video camera made by GE- this was used to film our footage and take costume/location/mise en scene shots. One of the most important features of this camera device is the HD definition aspect which allows us to have clearer shots, even when we were indoors, which meant that the action was clearer for the audience to pick up. However in some shots, there was clear pixellation on the screen, particularly in one of the bedroom scenes between Amiee and Chris, but in a way this acted to the effect of intimacy. In comparison to our foundation portfolio I found that the shots appeared less clear, despite being an advanced version of the camera we had last year.However this may be because the majority of the scenes were filmed outside which meant that the shots are usually going to be clearer.
Tripod-This was used to steady the shots creating still footage, particularly when we were creating complex shots such as pan/birds eye angle. However interestingly we did not use these experimental shots, since even with the tripod, there is was lack of control over making it steady. However our shots is in comparison to our foundation portfolio are alot steadier, indicating that the tripod is a useful media tool when filming.
Blackberry- This was used when I was practising film poster shots, trying out different effects. On the Blackberry I used a program called Photo Ultimate which allowed me to create such effects as was showcased in the Blog post that I made on it. This is in comparison to our foundation portfolio where I used basic hardware devices. The effect of the blackberry means that by taking pictures there, it is therefore more accessible where ever you are.
Software programs
Adobe Premeire Elements 7- This was used to edit our footage, making alterations such as cutting/ speeding up footage/ uploading music ect. The progression between our foundation and advanced portfolio is very evident. For example we used basic editing tools such as fade to black in order to conform to the conventions of a horror genre.This was inspired by the 'The Ring' where the used a fade out fade in sequence to transcend from a normative scene into the villain coming out of the televison. The use of this basic editing technique allows it to transcend effectively. However in our advanced portfolio we used the dip to white tool to signify a flashback, expressing a more advanced form of editing. This was inspired by 'Dear John' where Amanda Seyfried looks back on the time she spent with John and the happiness it brought her.
Adobe Photoshop- This was used for both a practise film poster creation as well as well as the official film poster. Primarily for the practise film poster it was only used for scale and magic eraser which cut away the background of the picture whereas Photoshop was used fully for  the real poster. This shows progression as this was not used in our year 12 production.
Adobe Illustrator- This was used in the secondary stage of the practising film poster process and created opportunities such layering backgrounds which I used to put flames at the back of the woman since the name was aptly called ' Sacrifice'. This was an interesting programme and something which I had not come across before.
Mindjet Manager- This was used for research and planning in order to show the development between each idea. In this instance I used it for Mise-en-Scene research looking into location costume ect and comparisons between other film characters. Again this is a new programme which I just discovered this year and was a really effective way of grouping information together.
Cubase- This music programme was used to record Amir's soundtrack composition and layer sound. This was a new programme similar to dance ejay which also has the same tools, but cubase is more professional, allowing us to make a more professional production.
Prezzi- This advanced Power Point programme is a cross between Mindjet Manager and Powerpoint with more interactive features such as embedding YouTube video. This was important for showing proficient use of IT and was again a new innovative programme that allowed me to group information but in a fun and interactive way.
Microsoft Powerpoint- this was used to briefly outline film magazine research and was something that although I had used before, I had not imported it unto Blogger, which shows variation in the use of IT
Microsoft Word- this was used to create mood boards and collages for Research and Planning. This shows advancement in correlation to the foundation portfolio because I did not create collages last year.
Microsoft excel- This was used  to derive questionnaire results asking participants a number of questions such as typical conventions. This again was not used last year and was  a good way of showing quantitative data.
Paint- This was used to put print screens and crop the pictures. This year I used Paint more to crop and alter print screens, to evidence my blogs instead of being standard text like I did last year.
Pearl and Dean- this was used to obtain audience statistics in order to apply the information to our own film.In both portfolios I used Pearl and dean.
Rotten Tomatoes- This was used to obtain film information on ratings and summary of the film. I used this in my advanced portfolio as I thought it would be good information to add to my research and planning.
IDMB- This film database gave cast information which I used to compare characters and again something which helped my research and planning stage.
Box Office Mojo- This was used to research into the top romance dramas in order to see what conventions made them so successful and was used  in both productions
Wikipedia- This was used to research into similar genre films and was used  in both productions.

This was the camera which we used.

The tripod which we used

This was the computer we used for most of our project.

Evaluation activity 3 - what have you learned from your audience feedback

In this lesson we showcased our film to our film to the whole class in order to receive positive feedback e.g. what worked well and constructive criticism e.g. things that were used ineffectively and that we would be able to apply to our film in order to improve it, so this is a very important part of our editing and film composition.Primarily we showed it to the class in order for them to watch it carefully and constructively, so that they may give us input and feedback.
Whilst I was watching the film I myself made some critical comments in order to help us improve on what we have got. This included the following:

• the ratio of speech and music is very unbalanced- this is because when played on YouTube it was significantly quieter than the dialogue context scenes, so this is something we have to play around with and see if we can get it at the right level. However what was strange was that on Adobe the ratio between them was more or less balanced so perhaps it was the speakers used.
• Transitioning between shots particularly the argument scene wasn't smooth. For example the argument scene had part of the dialogue cut midway through a conversation, so that it gave quite a jolty effect.

Audience feedback
Positive comments:
- They thought that the use of the non- diegetic love story soundtrack worked effectively in our film as it conveyed our Romantic Drama well.
- They liked the use of the of the juxtaposed 4 way split screen as it showed an unusual shot that had never been obtained before and as far as we know, we have never seen a film which has Incorporated a 4 way screen.
- They thought that there was a wide variety of shots which gave a the film a sense of diversity and uniqueness, even when it still had a number of generic conventions such as narrative and structure .
- They thought that the intertwining relationships between each of the characters was clearly conveyed e.g. the whole cheating on me scenario
Negative feedback
- The points that I had picked out was generally what was criticised and Miss Martin made particular emphasis on the transitioning and the soundtrack, so again we really need to focus on these particular points.
Outsider feedback
I then asked several people outside of Media to watch the video and make both positive and negative comments:
Nazifa
Positive comments
- The use of framing was good as it was centred in each shots and clearly established a particular emotion or scenario e.g. she liked the mirror scene where I was looking back at myself in disgust and how it transcended into the vomiting scene.
- She thought that the filming of shots was good and mostly steady
Negative comments
- The transitioning of shots at times weren't smooth and the argument scene was slightly shaky.
- Some of the voice overs were ineffective and ran at random points
- She did not like the use of the calligraphy font in the inter titles as she thought it appeared quite tacky in a sense, and felt that we should use a more standardised bold white font.

Cheryl
Positive comments
- She liked the mixture of voiceovers which were implemented by inter titles and felt that it worked well and made up for the minimal dialogue. She also said that this technique conformed to the generic conventions of the Romance genre
-She also liked the split shot and said that it was very unusual and went against the typical conventions
Negative comments
- She also said the transitioning of shots wasn't effective
- The narrative which I explained to her beforehand, parts of it wasn't evident in the film. For example the marriage between me and Chris was not clear as well as my cancer was not clearly portrayed as Cheryl said that without the background information that she had, she would have thought that both me and Amiee are pregnant, so she said we should of included a shot that made these two things clear e.g. the marriage shot that I had included in the script she said would have been really good.
Hannah
Postive feedback
- She liked the use of the voiceovers and titles and said that they worked effectively together, particularly the one over the bench scene where I say ' I need to talk to you about Chris' and then it dips to white and transcends into a shot of Amiee and Chris together kissing passionately.
Negative feedback
- She made the same general comments as everyone else and also said that we need to work on the structuring of the trailer.

To create a more immersive response we also shared our trailer on Facebook in order to have a wide selection of comments, since it is a social networking site.
I then picked the most useful comments to publish here both positive and critical to reinforce the other views made.

Strengths:
- Sarah it uses a variety of different shots that implement the fast paced narrative
- Kiran it cuts between slow and fast shots which creates tension and suspense
- Cheryl the use of the juxtaposed shot is really cleverly constructed and the way it has been used to start the film is original
Weaknesses:
-James although you try and play around with different shots, the transitioning and the continuity of shots is inconsistent
-  Alex The soundtrack although good, is too quiet to denote a dramatic effect on the film that it should have
- Nazifa the use of editing is weak in some places i.e. in the argument scene, what should be effective is not since Chris's words are cut off before transcending into the next scene

What could we do to improve it?
- work on the cont-unity of some shots perhaps, re shooting if we have to
- Making the storyline more clearer, when we explained the original storyline to them it was not made clear that me and Chris were married and Cheryl suggested that we should have a wedding scene or a flashback to that day in order to implement that to the audience, which interestingly was one of my original ideas

What generic expectations does it fulfil?
- use of the traditional love triangle, only its ' interesting how you use a terminally ill person in it' Sarah
- Music composition reflects the ups and downs of love Amy

Evaluation activity two- How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts

First of all I made a quick draft script basically outlining what I was going to talk about within and this has been included below:
 Introduction-
[Ana and Charley both introduce ourselves and their film ' Bitter Twisted Lies']
Ana- Hello my name is Ana De- Jesus
Charley- Hi my name is Charley Johnson and we are the creators of Bitter Twisted Lies our Romantic Drama genred film.
- talk about use of camera angles/shots composition/
- special effects/ editing/ stylism
-talk about all these factors in relation to our film poster and magazine
- e.g. Use of capturing particular facial expressions were used to symbolise each character e.g. me looking worried/shocked/upset which was reinforced in both the poster and the magazine.
I then created a proper script, to coincide with the voice-over as  I felt the script would be  effective in establishing the differences and the similarities between all of the ancillary products.

Script
We have chosen to include the conventional green trailer preview screen, containing the rating of the film in order to explicitly show exactly which target audience we are aiming for, so that the viewer may be clearly aware of this fact. To maintain this authenticity we also used an introductory logo production company ' Film 4' because of the fact that it is an independent film maker institution of British origin  and as we do not have any special effects or CGI so we felt this would be most appropriate, as well as for the genre as well. One of the most famous film 4 romance genre films is Elizabeth which made nearly 83 million and Enduring Love  directed by Rodger Michael.One of the key features of our teaser trailer is our use of shots. For example  quick montage shots set up the fast paced narrative , that reflects the dangerous nature of  their passionate affair and this is contrasted against isolated shots of me, usually by myself disconnected from society and the people I love, which allows the audience to empathise with my character conforming to the Uses and Gratification model which allows the audience to feel maternal towards me. Another interesting shot to note is the use of the juxtaposed screen split 4 ways both me and Amiee doing almost the same thing, in one rubbing our stomachs and the other holding a pregnancy test both looking worried, and the movements are synchronised to appear as one,as though we are both controlled by the dominance of Chris's love but also to find out as to whether or not we are pregnant and which one is. So why you ask did we place this at the front, why start with a shot that is enigmatic yet gives it all away. Because we wanted to create something different, something unique, something has never tried before. After all as Keith Barry Grant said audiences enjoy repetition vs variation. Although you should replicate some generic conventions there should be a degree of difference in order for the audience to fully engage with the media text . This is exactly what we did with ours... who wants a film that has been repeated over and over again, you should not have to waste you time spending money on a film that you will only watch passively like the hypodermic syringe model, instead you want to be involved with the film and I feel that we have a balance of both. To make this even more effective we used the time stretch tool to slow down the shot slightly, in order for each frame to disappear at a different time, as though it was scheduled to do so. Despite having a diverse range of shots, there was many shots which we wanted to include but were unable to film successfully. For example a birds eye angle shot of Amiee and Chris in bed was tried using the tripod held at a high angle but was not executed correctly as well as a point of view shot of the camera looking through my eyes as I ' walk upstairs'. However this again was taken out from our final piece since the footage was blurry and stilted, a mistake we made in our foundation portfolio and of course would not have liked to do again. The film ends with a two shot of Amiee and Chris surprisingly in the domestic setting of a kitchen which shows that their affair is serious and is further shown through the use of the lexical dialogue ' when are you going to tell her its over' to which Chris replies 'I will I promise' and they slowly embrace each other in an act of love rather than passion as we are so accustomed to. This then fades in and fades out into the title sequence bitter twisted lies which interestingly  uses a red and black font suggesting that love is dead. The music abruptly stops here which allows the audience many different interpretations. What would you think? will I seek revenge or will I make my way in the world fighting for what I believe in, creating an independent persona. I don't need anybody, why should I when the people I loved were my betrayers. As the poster tagline title rightly said lust, love, greed. Its up to you to figure out whom is the embodiment of which word.  In terms of our  main location we chose Charley's house for practicability reasons since it was the easiest to access and therefore meant that we would be able to film more frequently and on a regular basis. We also used it because it was a conventionally feminine household i.e. Charley's bedroom consisted of a flowery white and pink duvet and matching curtains which implemented my role as a  traditional housewife, an important factor to get across to the audience. It also created an authentic romantic drama stylismdiegetic sound  to an extreme closeup of the clock ticking using asynchronous Youtube sound to create a slow ticking effect to emphasise the dread that I am feeling in this situation. To implement this we also used an establishing shot of Leatherhead's doctors surgery before zooming into the places name to inform the audience. Mise-en scene was another important feature of the film. in order to portray certain media stereotypes the use of costume props was essential in providing an authentic replica. For example as Amiee is what would be classed as a scarlet woman stereotype, her use of clothing consists of tight bright clothing, in order for her to stand out against my character who although is more liked by the audience because of exposed vulnerability, Amiee is the one that matters to Chris. My costume however despite being fashionable is well covered in order to present me as a prim and proper respectable submissive yet stands up for what she believes in stereotype. The use of makeup contrasts greatly as well, whereas mine is natural and light, Amiee has heavily accentuated eyes in order to stand out and as a cry for attention conforming to the Maslows hierarchy of needs. A key feature which establishes the film is lighting and sound. Primarily sound was used recording the composition on a music programme named cubase which allowed as to layer sound. The music was titled 'love story' and was specifically chosen to replicate the ups and downs of love, denoted in the rise and fall of pitch done deliberately at certain moments. For example at the beginning the non-diegetic sound begins slow as though introducing the audience to the film before alternating in pace and pitch, almost quite jagged and morbid in a sense reflecting the narrative. The lighting also contributes to certain moods and atmospheres. For example a mixture of dark and soft lighting is used for the montage shots and the alternation of the two is dependent on the pace of the shot. For example and over the shoulder shot of Chris and Aimee is drawn out and uses very dim lighting in order to convey a more serious effect whereas the softer more brighter lighting shows them teasing each other and messing around as though they are not taking this affair seriously. In my shots however the lighting alternates between normal day time lighting i.e. the centred mirror over the shoulder shot to reflect the authentic nature of the frame in comparison to harsh lighting shots for example the wide shot of the waiting room which suggests that it connotes the severity of the situation and my feelings of animosity towards the situation in question. As the overall construction of the film it is fair to say that we have played around with a fair range of diverse shots, that have been out of our comfort zone.This is because we wanted to move away from the basic editing ability of our foundation portfolio and create a sophisticated interesting media text that looked authentic. However have we actually done this, created a film which shows our full potential? The honest answer is no, with timing and difficulties with adobe, our final piece did not work as an overall media text, yes it had diverse shots an interesting storyline, but when there is inconsistency of continuity, creating jolty incomprehensible transitions, the piece does not come together well.

To find out as to whether all of our ancillary texts, the film magazine and poster contributed to the overall film teaser trailer, I needed to have an in-depth analysis, explaining choices as to why we created our products in a certain manner.

Running theme-  Throughout our ancillary texts and our film teaser trailer, there is a continuum of a  scenic woodland environment, which conforms to the conventions of a romantic drama, in terms of the Mise-en- scene used i.e. Location. Below is our film poster, film magazine and  a teaser trailer shot in order to express how the woodland has been used in conjunction.

Teaser trailer shot- In this shot me and Amiee are sitting on a bench in the centre of the shot drinking Costa Coffee. The use of woodland background here, is to show us talking in a typical environment rather than to reinforce the narrative.

This is our film magazine which shows me turned away from the camera looking over my shoulder in a mix of disgust and sadness. The use of the background here was used to play with generic magazine conventions since Empire Europe's biggest film magazine( in  terms of profit and publishing) mainly features action/thriller/horror, which I found from my extensive magazine research. It was this which made me conclude that we should create our own film magazine.The use of 'Fusion'was emboldened in a feminine purple colour to celebrate femininity and the title was chosen to represent it being the first woman's film weekly. The use of the background woodland also subverts traditional black and white backgrounds, which is why we chose it in order to be different.

The use of the background within our poster was for the characters to contrast against it, almost as though they are disconnected from it. For example I appear as though I belong within the background which suggests that I seek and find solace in it, whereas Amiee and Chris appear as they don't belong there, implying that I am isolated from them, that when they betrayed me all ties were cut, and there is nothing they can do to have their places back in my heart again, since there crimes are so unforgivable.

Our first  step in our marketing campaign would be to release two key pictures in order to create a sense of enigma, making the audience want to go watch it since they want to find out what will happen in the film. I have deliberately chosen these pictures because they give enough away to keep them intrigued but there is also a layer of mystery which surrounds it. For example the use of Amiee and Chris at the front are both enveloped around each other, implying that they are in a relationship. However Amiee is looking out towards me, whom is looking dominant and strong yet cut off from the rest of the cast. This may suggest to the audience that we may hate each other or that we have a complex relationship, but it is unlikely that they will gain the whole narrative from this picture which is why I have chosen it.

Then we would release the film poster :

 
The effect of the film poster being released after the ambiguous pictures forms interest. For example, the title is released 'Bitter Twisted Lies' which conveys to the audience that the narrative will be a web of deceit, the words literally conveying the themes within the teaser trailer.
Then the teaser trailer will be released, and below I have included frames which replicate similarly positioning/ emotions and feelings of characters.The effect of the correlation between the two, gives the audience more of a desire or want to go see the film when it is released.

For example this shot here shows Aimee and Chris wrapped around each other, clinging on desperately as passion succumbs which differentiates to the film poster, since there the two characters seem more loving towards each other, giving the two juxtaposing contrasts; they are not what the seem in the poster. You get a clear idea when you watch the teaser that they are selfish and vindictive.

This shot of me looking shocked, shows me in a similar standing position where I am looking directly at the camera breaking the fourth wall, a concept usually associated with postmodernism. However our film is definitely conventional Romantic Drama, but we have tweaked  certain aspects in order to fulfil Keith Barry's Grant's theory of repetition and variation.This denotes that although you want to keep certain elements the same, there has to be an element of difference. Therefore the audience are kept engaged.

All of these elements contribute to the overall poster and links in as it reveals the content of  the teaser trailer with similar use of poster shots.This also introduces main characters, so the audience can identify with certain characters dependent on the situation and scenario. The Film poster then attracts attention for the upcoming film. 

The next step is to show the trailer, this of course we have not created, but if we had to make one, we would include more information such as revealing that I have cancer, that I find out that Chris and Amiee have cheated on me ect. The effect of this further informs them about the film and it also allows them to get more excited, as at this point the release date would have been printed. Since it is a summer film, it should be released on the 5th of August, where as it is a school holiday, younger citizens can also go to see it. This would be good for generating financial income since the age group of 15-24 have the most disposable income. Incidentally it also the main predominant target audience for a romantic drama.

Then finally  in the month of July, just before the film comes out magazine is published.

This shot from the film magazine is very similar to the film poster i.e iconic  scenic background but the positioning is different since I am not breaking the fourth wall and therefore conforming to the conventions of a typical romantic drama stereotype. For example here it is clear to see that I can be seen as the submissive housewife or the other woman. This again promotes the theme of conflicting characterisations. 

 This can relates to the film teaser trailer in the frame where I am in the waiting room anxiously for the news I am about to receive i.e.as this shot shows same positioning/facial expressions. On the other hand the scenic background has not been used here but that is because it would not have been appropriate in our film.

Film magazine

Title font and styles

Here you can see there isn't a continuous theme through the fonts and stylism used which is perhaps something that have linked our ancillary texts together better.

Genre 

As the first shot this immediately sets the genre, it is easy to hazard from this split screen shot is a Romance genre film, shown through the use of pregnancy icons i.e. the rubbing of stomachs and the pregnancy tests.

Our voiceover...